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Xerxes was successful where his father, Darius, had failed. When Xerxes entered the city of Athens, he killed anyone who stayed behind, carried off the riches of the city, and razed Athens. The Athenian population was evacuated to the nearby Island of Salamis. The Athenians built a navy of warships called triremes, after discovering a silver mine on its territory. Leonidas and the other Spartans lost their lives at Thermopylae nothing was in the way of Xerxes army and the city of Athens. On the third day, the Persians found a small path in the mountains and came around the other side of the defenders. For three days the Greek force of 10,000 men held back Xerxes army of possibly 250,000 soldiers. In August 480 BC, Xerxes army came in contact with a small Greek force led by the Spartan king, Leonidas in Northern Greece at a place called Thermopylae, a narrow mountain pass. Xerxes made a floating bridge so his army could cross the Hellespont, the body of water that separates AsiaВ from Europe, then he cut a canal through the Mount Athos peninsula, so his ships would avoid the storms that wrecked his father's fleet at the cape. In 480 BC, Xerxes led a mighty invasion force from the north, as his father had tried earlier. Greek hoplites win battles every time they go up against any other type of army, in this case the Persians on the Plain of Marathon.Дarius died before he had a chance to attack the Athenians again, however, his son, Xerxes was now king, and he vowed to avenge his father's defeat. The Persians returned home, unable to defeat the Athenians. Around 6,500 Persians died at Marathon, while the Greeks suffered 192 dead. The Persians were drawn into the weak Athenian middle and surrounded. By thinning the middle of his phalanx, Miltiades was able to widen his army. Miltiades decided to attack the Persians.

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The Spartans were observing a religious festival to Apollo and would not march until the next full moon, one week later. Miltiades sent a day-runner named Pheidippides to Sparta, 140 miles away, to ask for help. Miltiades was the perfect commander for this battle, since he was once a general in the Persian army. Looking down from the mountain, the Athenian commander, Miltiades, could see that he was severely out-numbered by the Persian invaders. The Athenians marched out to Marathon with a force of 10,000 hoplites. Marathon, where the Persians landed, was actually Hippias' family land. Hippias hoped to be restored as tyrant of Athens, acting on behalf of the king of Persia. The invasion force destroyed the city-state of Eretria and then landed at Marathon, twenty-five miles from Athens.ДЄlong with the Persians traveled Hippias, the last tyrant of Athens, who had been forced to leave the city when Athens became a democracy. These boats carried 25,000 infantry and 5,000 horse. Not as ambitious as the first, Darius sent boats directly across the Aegean Sea, hopping from one island to the next. In 490 BC, Darius began his second invasion attempt. The attack on Athens and Eretria would have to wait for another time. Without the support of the navy, Darius' army was forced to return to Persia. Darius' invasion was cut short when his navy was shipwrecked off the Mount Athos cape, an area notorious for bad storms. Refusing to surrender, Athens and Sparta, two Greek city-states, killed the envoys. Those who submitted and agreed to be part of the Persian Empire peacefullyВ where passed byВ without harm. Ahead of his vast army and navy, Darius sent envoys demanding a jar each of earth and water. Now Darius turned his eyes on Athens and Eretria, and vowed to make them pay for their involvement in this failed rebellion.Дarius' first invasion attempt was from the north. However, King Darius of Persia reacted and destroyed the Ionian fleet of ships at Lade and burnt the city-state of Miletus in 494 BC, the Ionian Revolt was crushed. With the help of Athens and Eretria, on the Greek mainland, the Ionians burnt the Persian city of Sardis. The Ionians started a revolt in 499 BC, led by Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus, an Ionian city-state in the Persian Empire. Greeks living in Persia along the Aegean coast inВ Asia Minor were called Ionians. Cyrus conquered one area after another, but allowed the conquered people to worship as they pleased, as long as they gave the great king annual tribute and military service. Persia was a mighty empire, created by Cyrus, the Great. The Greco-Persians Wars were two wars fought between the Persian Empire and some of the independent Greek city-states.

The persian empire