15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
==Rise to Prominence==
[[File:Greek-Persian_duel.jpg|250px|left|thumbnail|Greek hoplite and Persian warrior fighting]]
At around 508 BCE, Cleisthenes rose to power as a leader of Athens. He is typically credited with being the father of Athenian democracy. While Athenian democracy looks very different from our own democratic systems, his reforms gave more power to the common gentry.<ref>For more on this period of Cleisthenes' rise to power, see: Fine, John Van Antwerp. 1983. ''The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Pr, pg. 122.</ref> Both the nobility and common free citizens of Athens were able to participate in the city's government assembly. Common citizens were also able to be appointed to key government posts. While one might assume these democratic style reforms led to the rise of power, the reality is Athens was already beginning to benefit from its control of key trade along the Mediterranean.<ref>For more on Athens' maritime power, see: Nijf, Onno van, and Fik Meijer. 2014. ''Trade, Transport and Society in the Ancient World a Sourcebook'', pg. 33.</ref> The region of Attica is not highly fertile, leading to Athens becoming a city highly dependent on its external links to colonies and trade.
The bases of city wealth helped Athens to use that wealth in subsequent events that were to shape all of the Greek world. Athens was involved in the rebellion in Ionia, along the coast of Asia Minor, that saw the Greek cities revolt against their Persian overlords. These revolts were put down; however, Persia was agitated by Athens' support for the rebels. This led to Darius, the Achaemenid Persian king, to invade the Peloponnese peninsula to take revenge against Athens. In particular, the burning of Sardis by the Ionian rebels greatly upset the Persians, given that city's great wealth and importance to the Persians.<ref>For more on the Ionian revolt, see: Mac Sweeney, Naoíse. 2013. ''Foundation Myths and Politics in Ancient Ionia''. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, pg. 175.</ref>
The invasion then sparked what ultimately developed to be the Greco-Persian wars of the 5th century BCE, where Athens played a leading role among the Greek city-states involved. The initial beginning of this war in 492-490 went well for the Persians, as they destroyed the Greek city of Eretria and captured territory in the Cyclades and Thrace. However, at the Battle of Marathon a force of about 10,000 Athenians and Plataeans were able to defeat the Persians, perhaps the first significant victory of the Greeks against the Persians. This created a setback for the Persians as they could not invade Greece for another 10 years. The second invasion of Greece by the Persian army and fleet was much larger, forcing Athens to create alliances, in particular with Sparta. Initially the Persian force was successful at the battle of Thermopylae against the Greek allies, although possibly at great loss. After the battle of Plataea, the Persians were defeated and were forced to retreat once again. From this point Athens and the Greek allies were on the offensive and this begins Athens' leadership in an alliance that eventually formed the Delian league, which continued the wars against the Persians, mostly now in Egypt and Cyprus.<ref> For more on the Greco-Persian wars, see: Green, Peter, and Peter Green. 1996. ''The Greco-Persian Wars''. Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref>
==Leader of the Delian League==
Athens became renown not just for its democratic system, which lasted for over 100 years, but also as a place for scholars and philosophers. From the time of Pericles, philosophers and scholars alike traveled to Athens from throughout the Greek world to study under Athens patronage. The famous Platonic school and the Lyceum were two institutions of learning that became famous within Athens and helped to shape Western though. Famous philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates were all associated with Athens at some point in their lives. The Parthenon (Figure 2) and Acropolis became inspirations for architecture in the Classical Age and Western Enlightenment in the late 17th and 18th centuries, when Greek thought became influential once more. Among relatively few cities, Athens was given the status of a free city, where its schools and institutions continued to thrive in the Roman period. This insured that Athens continued to be influential despite its lost political and economic power.<ref> For more on Athens' impact, see: Waterfield, Robin. 2004. ''Athens: A History, from Ancient Ideal to Modern City''. New York, NY: Basic Books.</ref>
<div class="portal" style="width:85%;">
==Related DailyHistory.org Articles==
*[[How did Early Empires facilitate the Rise of Investment Banking?]]
</div>
{{Mediawiki:Ancient Greece}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Wikis]]
