a great Athenian general, took command in this crises known as the battle of Marathon. His army was outnumbered four to one. On the muddy plain the Persians were unable to use their best weapons. (Horse drawn chariots). Militades allowed his center to collapse. The Persians collapsed on the weak center but soon found themselves surrounded by the Greek Phalanx. They retreated and left 6,000 dead on the plain of Marathon. A messenger ran from the victory to the center of the Acropolis, a full 27 miles plus a few feet, to announce the victory. Unfortunately he died on the spot, but that run is celebrated every four years in the Olympics.

This was the son of Darius I who ten years later vowed to avenge his father=s humiliating defeat. In 480 B.C. Xerxes led a tremendous Persian army across the Hellespont, the strait separating Asia and Europe. Then he marched around the coast of the Aegean to Greece.

The greatest example of Spartan heroism in World History. Leonidas (King of Sparta) with 5,000 Greeks defended this narrow pass against the massive Persian Army. Eventually a Greek betrayed the secret access to the straight and the Persians began to move. Leonidas picked 300 men and defended the pass until the last man was dead. This bought the Greeks time about 5 to 6 days altogether. However when the Persians reached Athens they burned the city. Only one battle lay between the Persians and total victory.

over eight hundred Persian War ships attacked four hundred Greek ships in the narrow straight of Salamis. The Persian ships were large and less maneuverable. King Xerxes had his throne set up where he could see the battle and he saw his ships being out run by the Athenian navy. Then a storm appeared. The smaller faster Greek ships made it back to safety while the Persian ships were destroyed.

Because of the loss of this sea route the Persians were stuck far from home. They took most of their army back and left a smaller contingent to fight on. They were routed in 479 B.C. . The Persian Wars were over and the years that were to follow (479-429) would be the most glorious ones in Ancient History. They were known as the Greek Golden Age.

477 B.C. the Greek city states formed this league which was originally for the protection of Greece from the Persian Threat following the Persian Wars. The Greek City States were to become members voluntarily and pay tribute to form a powerful fleet for protection. The treasure was kept on the island of Delos until Athens decided to move it.

due to the pilfering of the Federation funds for the beautification of the Athenian Acropolis and further tyranny carried out by Athens against all the city-states in areas of commerce and taxation, many city states felt unjustly treated and were anxious to get out of the sphere of influence of Athens. One city-state separated from the Federation and when Athens tried to suppress the rebellion other city-states joined against them. Eventually Sparta joined the battle. At this point Pericles tried to negotiate his way out of the mess. However Sparta refused to attend and war broke out. Pericles brought all the citizens inside the wall he had built just for this purpose. His plan was to let the strong Athenian Navy win the war. This however would take time, and many citizens had to wait patiently inside the walls of Athens for the conclusion of the War. Unfortunately plague broke out because of all those people living together in rather unsanitary conditions and many people died. The citizens of Athens had had enough and voted Pericles out of office and opted for a quick land engagement.

was the general that replaced Pericles and went out to fight Sparta on land. This of course ended in disaster. Eventually Pericles was re-elected but only after his two natural sons died of malaria and he himself was quite ill.

These Macedonians were rough Greek speaking Southern Europeans. Seeing the situation in Southern Greece Philip planned to conquer all the city-states. In 338 B.C. troops from Athens and Thebes united to fight Philip at Chaeronea.

Philip and Alexander (who led the Calvary) defeated all the 300 representatives of Thebes and captured 2,000 Athenians. Antipater and Alexander were sent to Athens to sue for peace. The Greek city states were to pay tribute and arms for a great Persian enterprise and promise never to fight against Philip. This was readily agreed to and the age of Greek independence came to an end.

Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C. by Pausanias one of his officers. Alexander, idolized by the army and supported by Olympias (who was suspected of having urged on Pausanias), seized the throne, overcame all opposition, and prepared to conquer the world. Alexander was 20 years old. He was a handsome, energetic young man who loved sports. He was a fine runner and an an excellent horseman and hunter. Military action always pleased him and he looked forward eagerly to the tests of battle. His greatest fear had been that his father would conquer so many towns that there would be none left for him to take when he became king! Educated by the philosopher Aristotle, Alexander had learned to admire Greek civilization. It is said that he kept Homer=s Iliad under his pillow at night and enjoyed reading the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. AMentally he was and an ardent student, who was too soon consumed with responsibilities to reach maturity of mind. Like so many men of action, he mourned that he could not be also a thinker. He had, says Plutarch a violent thirst and passion for learning, which increased as time went on... He was a lover of all kinds of reading and knowledge, and it was his delight, after a day of marching or fighting, to sit up half the night conversing with scholars and scientists. Possibly at Aristotle=s suggestion he sent a commission to explore the source of the Nile.

Alexander first known encounter in battle came against the Thebean Sacred Band. This too, became an uncontrollable passion: the sound and sight of battle intoxicated him; he forgot then his duties as a general, and plunged ahead into the thickest of the fight; time and again his soldiers, fearful of losing him, had to plead with him to go to the rear. Alexander first rounded up the ringleaders in the conspiracy and had them decapitated. He then marched quickly to Thrace where they capitulated. Next he made a move to Athens and they offered him two crowns. Soon all the city states in Greece except Sparta pledged men and material to the Asiatic campaign. From there he went to Pella to put the capital in order, then he went to the Barbarian Tribes and subdued them planting his flags on the banks of the Danube. Suddenly there was a threat from the Illyrians who were advancing upon Macedonia, he marched two hundred miles through Serbia, surprised the invaders in the rear, defeated them, and drove the remnant back to their mountains. Acting on news that Alexander had been killed, Thrace and Athens revolted AGAIN!!! Two weeks later Alexander defeated the Thracian army and burned the city and sold the women and children into slavery. He forgave Athens and set out again to conquer the World, finding out however, that the Macedonian treasury was in debt $3,000,000 or 500 talents. He set out with 35,000 men to the Persians 1,000,000 and guess who won. By 327 B.C. Alexander=s empire extended east and west from India to Greece, and north and south from the Black Sea to Egypt. Soon his army wouldn=t go any farther and Alexander fought his way back from India. Not having any more territory to conquer led the young ruler down the path of opulence and drink. After many drunken stupors he caught a fever and died probably of Malaria in 323 B.C. When asked who should be his heir he said, Athe strongest@.

After Alexander=s death the Empire was divided into three parts. Macedonia and Greece were controlled by the Antigonus Gonatus group. Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemy group. Syria and Persia were controlled by the Seleucid group.

Alexander had helped to found cities such as Alexandria in Egypt which became a center of great learning for hundreds of years until the Moslems burned the library there. Alexander stimulated trade among various parts of the empire. He also encouraged scientific investigations. The specimens of plants and animals collected by the specialist who accompanied his army proved valuable to biologist of the period. He had advanced the idea that people whether they were Macedonians, Greeks, or Persians should feel a sense of kinship with each other. They brought Greek ideas and took back Persian ideas, this synthesis made the entire world a better place.

lasted from 322-290 B.C. During this period there were important changes in art, literature and philosophy, but not much of it was any better than what they had. However science really flourished during this time. This was due mostly to the Library in Alexandria and the Patronage of the Ptolemy=s and other wealthy Aristocracies around the Mediterranean.

calculated the circumference of the earth and was very nearly right. Aristarchus of Samos suggested the theory that the earth moves around the sun. Hipparchus developed the technique of finding the position by latitude and longitude. He was also one of the first to use trigonometry for the study of astronomy.