The Persian Wars opposed the Greeks to the Persians (confused by the Greeks with the Medes, another Iranian people) at the beginning of the 5th century BC. AD
The revolt of Ionia
The revolt of Ionia represents a decisive episode towards the confrontation between Greeks and Persians. It originated from the will of Darius I to control the sources of supply of wheat and timber for shipbuilding in Greece. For this he must attack, with the help of Ionian Greek contingents, initially the Scythians, who had founded a powerful empire in southern Russia and whose commercial relations with the Greeks were fruitful and active. There is no doubt also the desire to control the gold trade route, extracted from the Ural Mountains or Siberia and in which the Scythians traded extensively. Certainly the expedition against the Scythians is a failure, they apply the technique of scorched earth in front of the Persian army. The Persian army even escaped disaster and encirclement thanks to the loyalty of the Greek contingent guarding the bridge over the Danube (Ister).
However Darius has ensured control of Thrace while King Amyntas I of Macedonia recognizes the suzerainty of Persia (513 BC). In 508, the island of Samothrace fell under the Persian yoke. Even Athens solicits around -508 the Persian alliance. From this campaign Darius draws the conclusion that he can count on the loyalty of the Ionian Greeks. The latter, on the other hand, believe that they can revolt against Persian domination without excessive risk because the expedition against the Scythians has shown that the Achaemenid Empire is not invulnerable.
The origins of the revolt
Ionia suffers in its interests from this domination. It is made up of 12 Greek cities founded since at least the 8th century BC:Miletus, Ephesus, Phocaea, Clazomenes, Colophon, Priene, Teos, Chios, Samos, Eritrea, Myonte and Lebedos. To this must be added the cities of Aeolid, a region located to the northwest of Ionia, including that of Smyrna. These cities which had been seized by Cyrus II, or rather his general Harpage around 540 BC. AD, were prosperous at the time of the conquest. Since then, only Miletus had succeeded in concluding a treaty of friendship guaranteeing him relative independence. However, it was Miletus who was behind the uprising of 499.
Yet Persian domination is not heavy. Each city retains its institutions on the express condition of accepting and maintaining the Greek tyrant or the Persian satrap or functionary whom the “Great King” pleased to send. Darius I and his successors respect the customs of the different peoples of their empire and sometimes take it upon themselves to call zealous officials to order. But Miletus feels its prosperity threatened by the arrival of the Persians.
Since 512, the Black Sea has been a "Persian lake", Thrace has become a satrapy. However, Miletus obtains wheat and all kinds of raw materials there. In addition, the people of Miletus have seen their "intellectuals" leave, fleeing from Persian domination. The Persians remain, in the eyes of many Ionian Greeks, barbarians resistant to the "charms" of Greek civilization who retain their language, their religion and their customs. Finally, Persian colonization closes access to the northern seas when Sybaris, the western warehouse of Miletus, falls under the blows of Croton (510). Moreover, the Persians systematically favor the Phoenician rivals of Tire and Sidon.
Finally, the capture of Byzantium by the Persians closed the straits and trade towards Pont-Euxin. Doubtless also we should not neglect a desire for emancipation of the Ionian cities which pushes them on the one hand to reject the tyrants imposed by the Persians, and on the other hand to free themselves from the Achaemenid yoke. When the revolt broke out, its first consequence, in many cities, was the ousting of tyrants and the proclamation of isonomy.
The role of Miletus and the search for help from Greece in Europe
Sovereignty therefore becomes a priority again. This aspiration to freedom is theorized by Aristagoras of Miletus. Under the banner of liberation, it brings together the Ionian cities. The objective of retaking Byzantium and Cyprus from the Persians seems realistic and pushes the Greeks of Asia to revolt. This is being prepared in great secrecy at Naxos and Miletus. The tyrant of the latter is Histiae retained in Susa by Darius and whose man-lige, directing the city in his absence, is his son-in-law Aristagoras, nephew of a former tyrant of the city. This one at first is allied with the Persians to take back Naxos (500 BC) which revolted but quickly fell out with the Persian general.
At this time, he receives advice from Histiae enjoining him to revolt against Darius. No doubt he also fears to bear the responsibility for the failure in front of Naxos. After a tense council of the Milesians, where only the discordant voice of Hecataeus, a predecessor of Herodotus, opposed the project, Aristagoras raised the standard of revolt (499) and seized several Persian or Phoenician ships. He then proclaims the equality of the Ionian cities. However, this alliance lacks a clear project and above all means; we must therefore hope for help from Greece in Europe.
Aristagoras therefore left in the winter of -499 for mainland Greece to seek military aid. The moment is inauspicious because Sparta is divided by the rivalry of the two kings Cleomenes I and Demarate. As for Athens, it is barely recovering from the convulsions following the implementation of Cleisthenes' reforms. In the end, only two cities responded to the call, Athens (20 boats) and Eretria (5 boats) out of gratitude for Miletus who had once helped her against Chalcis. In total, this hardly represents more than 2,000 men. For the Greek cities of Europe, the problem seems to be remote and local conflicts are considered more important.
The stages of the conflict
However, it will take more than six years for the Persians to put down the rebellion. Indeed the first battles are favorable to the Ionians. The Greek fleet annihilates the Phoenician fleet during a first battle on the coast of Pamphylia, probably around 498 BC. On land, the Persians are preparing to besiege the city of Miletus when Charopinos, the brother of Aristagoras, with the help of the Athenian contingent, organizes a diversion and ravages Sardes, the ancient capital of Croesus who was the seat of a satrapy. But on their return the satrap Artaphernes, who was besieging Miletus, intercepted them on the heights of Ephesus and won the victory (spring 498).
At the end of the summer of 498, the Greek expeditionary force - or at least what remains of it - packed up to return to Athens or Eretria. This defection does not prevent the revolt from gaining momentum. In the fall of 498, the uprising reached Cyprus, with the exception of Citium, as well as the Propontis and the Hellespont as far as Byzantium. Then Decay revolts in its turn. At the beginning of 497, the Persians' situation was critical, but Darius I reacted quickly and simultaneously raised three armies and a new fleet. In one year (497) the revolt was crushed in Cyprus and then in the cities of the Hellespont. As for the Carians, they were defeated on the Marsyas river in the fall of 497, despite the help of the Milesians, then at Labraunda in the summer of 496. It seems that around this time Aristagoras fled to Thrace where he died shortly after (497) in a dark fight. As for Histiea, he becomes a pirate in the Aegean Sea. He is killed shortly afterwards.
The Carians pull themselves together and inflict a serious defeat on the Persians the following autumn at Pedassos (496). Finally, long and painful negotiations began and the Carians did not lay down their arms definitively until 494. Miletus then found herself alone. At the beginning of the year 494, the Persians massed their troops against Miletus. The city was to be assaulted both by land and by sea. A naval battle between approximately 350 Greek ships and 600 Phoenician, Egyptian and Cypriot ships took place off the island of Ladè in the summer of 494. The Greek fleet was wiped out. The city is taken and razed shortly after and its population deported to the banks of the Tigris. In the year 493 the Persians subdued the last rebel cities and islands (Chios, Lesbos and Tenedos) while their fleet victoriously skirted the coasts of Hellespont and Chalcedon.
The consequences of the Ionian defeat
This defeat causes in mainland Greece, in particular in Athens, a deep reaction of sadness. Thus the poet Phrynicos composed a piece entitled The Taking of Miletus which made the public burst into tears (its author being sentenced to a fine of 1000 drachmas for having recalled unfortunate events). The Persian military intervention in Asia Minor, however, turned Darius towards the West and perhaps aroused in him expansionist ideas, or at least the desire to establish favorable regimes in Greece itself. The role played by Athens and Eretria shows him the need to impose his authority on both shores of the Aegean Sea. However, if we except the fate of Miletus, Darius uses a relative moderation imposing certainly a strong tribute on the revolted cities but leaving them their autonomy.
First Persian War
The campaign of 492
Indeed, Darius I did not forget the help, even derisory, provided by Athens and Eretria. He is therefore preparing a punitive expedition against mainland Greece. For this he instructs his son-in-law Mardonios to take over Macedonia and Thrace, theoretically subject but whose Persian garrisons had been evacuated during the revolt of Ionia. In the spring of 492, Mardonios gathered his fleet and his army in Cilicia then crossed the Hellespont and crossed Thrace and Macedonia. The fleet sails to Thasos, submits it to passage, and follows the European coast to Acanthos.
Assailed by a violent storm, when rounding the cape of Mount Athos, the fleet lost half of its ships. Then an attack of tribes of Païoiens surprising the Persian camp makes many victims. In total, the sources count more than 30,000 deaths between the two events. Of course, we must be wary of the figures for military personnel and the losses announced, which are often questionable, but it is clear that Mardonios must give the order for the retreat. This does not discourage Darius, he simply now considers it necessary to prepare the next expedition more carefully.
The Persian expedition of 490
The whole year 491 was devoted to military and diplomatic preparations for this offensive. Many Greek cities receive ambassadors asking for their submission. Some comply, but both Athens and Sparta refuse and put to death (according to Herodotus) the Persian ambassadors, without however taking real measures to forestall the future offensive.
The Persian army, led by generals Artaphernes (army) a nephew of Darius and Datis (fleet), this time directly crossed the Aegean Sea, straight on Euboea and Attica, after however having taken the control of Naxos and Delos (490). There are 100,000 to 200,000 Persian soldiers depending on the version, but contemporary historians estimate that the real number is between 25,000 and 50,000, which is already considerable for the time. In total the Persian fleet probably represents 600 triremes. It reached the southern tip of Euboea, ravaged Carystos, which refused to open its gates, then Eretria, abandoned by its Athenian allies, destroyed and whose population was deported to Ardéricca near Susa, thus marking the first stage of the revenge of the Great King.
The Battle of Marathon
The Persian army landed, on the advice of Hippias, the former tyrant of Athens, at the beginning of September 490 on the beach of about 4 kilometers which borders the plain of Marathon forty kilometers from Athens. The Athenians do not wait for the enemy behind their ramparts but led by the strategist Miltiades, the Athenian and Plataean hoplites, about 10,000 men, go to meet the Persians. On September 13 the Persians decided to attack Athens by land and sea. Part of the Persian troops, including the cavalry, re-embarked, with the objective of landing at Phaleron in order to quickly reach the Acropolis. The remaining troops, about 21,000 soldiers, then crossed the Charadra, the small stream that crosses the plain of Marathon before losing itself in the coastal marshes, in order to prevent the return of the Athenian troops to the city.
These, with their allies from the city of Plataea, occupy two small heights, the Pentelic and the Parnes and await the reinforcements promised by Sparta, reinforcements which are slow. Faced with the evolution of the situation, the Athenians no longer had a choice:they had to beat the Persians in the plain of Marathon, then get ahead of the enemy ships and reach Athens to protect it. Miltiades, one of the ten Athenian strategists knows the weakness of the Persian army for having fought with them during the offensive against the Scythians. Indeed this army is made up of soldiers of different origins, not speaking the same dialects and not used to fighting together. In addition, the Persian weaponry, with wicker shields and short pikes, does not allow melee combat.
On the contrary, the armament of the Greeks is that of a heavy infantry, the hoplites, protected by a helmet, a shield, a cuirass, leggings and brass braces (bronze). Added to this are a sword, a long spear and a shield of skin and metal blades. Finally the hoplites fight in close ranks (phalanx) their shields forming in front of them a wall. Miltiades decides Callimachus the Polemarch to extend the line of Greek soldiers, so as not to be overwhelmed by numbers, and to strengthen the wings at the expense of the center. Indeed the Persians have their best troops in the center and it is therefore a question of surrounding them.
The Athenians therefore charge as soon as they come within arrow range. It is indeed improbable, given the heavy equipment of the hoplites, that they carry out a charge of more than 1500 meters as affirmed by the historians of the time. As expected, the wings of the Persian army, composed of scattered troops raised in the empire or poorly motivated Ionians, disbanded and climbed back in panic on board the ships. But the center of the Greeks is sunk and yields. The Greek troops positioned on the wings gave up pursuing the routed Persian troops and fell back on the center of the Persian army in a perfect pincer movement. This in turn collapses.
In total about 6,400 Persians are killed, most drowned while fleeing, and seven ships are destroyed, while the Athenians lose about 200 citizens. Such a difference is not extraordinary, even if the figure of the Persian losses is undoubtedly exaggerated. Indeed, there is frequently a ratio of one killed among the Greeks to 20 or 30 for the Eastern armies in the various battles opposing them to the peoples of Asia.
But it is necessary to prevent the second offensive of the Persians with the attack of the best elements of their army which had re-embarked before the battle of Marathon. The Persian fleet needs about ten hours to double Cape Sounion and reach Phaleron. By a forced march of seven or eight hours, with a battle in the legs, the Greek hoplites arrive approximately one hour before the enemy fleet. The Persians, seeing the failure of the maneuver, give up landing. Thus ended the first Persian War. This strategic victory became symbolic for the Greeks and conferred great prestige on Athens. In fact for the Persians it is mainly a failed landing and a minor failure. Their expedition succeeded in subjugating all the islands of the Aegean Sea, in any case a large number, to the power of Darius I.
According to some historians (whom Herodotus rejects), it was on this occasion that Phidippides (or Philippidès) would have run to announce the news giving its name to the marathon. Nevertheless, the distance of the marathon chosen for the Olympic Games was definitively fixed in 1908 at 42.195 km, the distance linking Windsor Castle and the Royal Box of the Olympic Stadium in London. That said, whether the episode of Philippides is true or not, the sporting achievement here is collective with the forced march of the Athenian hoplites in order to prevent the Persian landing at Phaleron.
The reaction of Darius to this defeat is from the outset to prepare his revenge and a new expedition. It is impossible for the ruler of such an empire to dwell on a defeat. But a revolt then broke out in Egypt, led by the satrap Aryandès and occupied the last months of Darius. He died in -486 and was succeeded by his son Xerxes I.
Second Persian War
Persian preparations
It is certain that for the Persian sovereigns the defeat of Marathon is an additional reason to finish with Athens and it is necessary to consider the expedition of 480 BC. AD as a desire for revenge and a punitive expedition. Xerxes is encouraged by his impulsive and brutal character but also by the many exiles from Athens at the court of the Great King as well as by his brother-in-law Mardonios (while his uncle Artabane is against it).
For this expedition the preparations are very long. First of all Xerxes must suppress the revolts of Egypt and Babylon, which he does with great brutality. Then from 484/483, he plans the invasion of Greece, leaving nothing to chance. This is how he encourages Carthage to attack the Greeks of Sicily and Italy in order to deprive the Greeks of their possible help. The combination of the two expeditions in 480, that of Xerxes, and that of the Carthaginians on Agrigento and Syracuse, is not a mere coincidence and is part of a skillfully and patiently developed plan. The Carthaginians are defeated on land and sea at Himera by Gelon of Syracuse but no help reaches Greece to fight against Xerxes (it also seems that Gelon made excessive demands for the price of his help).
In addition, the Persians allied themselves with certain peoples or certain cities in mainland Greece itself, not to mention the Ionians who had again become vassals of the empire since the crushing of their revolt 15 years earlier. Thus Locrida and especially Boeotia with Thebes sided with the invaders, thus yielding to what is called "medism".
The chosen invasion project is the one defended by Mardonios, the son of a sister of Darius I, therefore a cousin of Xerxes I. It consists of resuming the invasion project by land of -492 through Thrace and the Macedonian coast. For this it is necessary according to Mardonios to have a considerable land army corps supported by a fleet bringing supplies and responsible for avoiding the counter-attacks of the Greek fleet on the rear of the Persian army. To avoid the frequent and brutal storms from the North-East in the Mount Athos region and not to repeat the disaster of 492, a channel cuts the Isthmus of Acté. It is 2.4 kilometers long and wide enough for two triremes to pass abreast. Bridges are built on the Strymon by detachments of Persian scouts. In addition the Phoenicians and the Egyptians are responsible for building a double bridge of boats on the Hellespont from Abydos to a promontory located between Sestos and Madytos. The first bridge is made up of 360 ships and the second of 314 which are firmly anchored and bound edge to edge by ropes. Then planks are laid and covered with earth while high wooden barriers, serving as a parapet, are installed so that the animals are not frightened by the sea. Finally, towns are selected to become the main warehouses centralizing the supplies necessary for such an army. These are the cities of Doriscos, Eion and Therma located respectively at the outlets of the fertile valleys of the Hebre, Strymon and Axios as well as Leukè Actè on the Hellespont and Tyrodiza.
Staff
A thorny question is that of the workforce, because the figures of the historians of Antiquity appear fanciful. Thus Herodotus speaks of more than 500,000 sailors, 1.7 million infantry and about 80,000 cavalry. And again it's just the fighters. Contemporary historians have estimates that vary quite widely.
* Numbers of the Persians:from 75,000 men (according to the historian Delbrück) to 300,000 (for Hanson) and from 20,000 to 60,000 horsemen divided into 6 army corps. The fleet has a number of units of about 1200 triremes provided mainly by the Phoenicians, Egyptians and Ionians. More than the numbers, what matters to contemporaries of the event is the impression of an impressive mass levy. “Asia has emptied itself of all its males,” wrote Aeschylus in his tragedy The Persians.
* Effectiveness of the Greek coalition:here too the estimates are highly divergent and range from 7,000 infantry to 35,000 hoplites (to which must be added 40,000 more summarily armed servants). On the other hand the Greeks do not have cavalry. At sea the Greek fleet has only 360-380 triremes or pentecontores. If we assume that each ship has a full crew (about 150 rowers, about ten officers, about ten crewmen and about 15 soldiers) this represents about 70,000/75,000 men.
The gathering of the Persian troops takes place in a remarkable way. The fleet gathers in the bay of Phocaea and that of Kyme in Ionia while the land troops winter in Sardis and Cristalla in Cappadocia. When Xerxes arrived in the spring of 480 with his elite troops, the huge army set off and joined Abydos to cross the bridges of boats. According to Greek sources, the bridge on the right is used by infantry and cavalry, the one on the left by valets, slaves and beasts of burden. In total, according to tradition, this passage lasted seven days and seven nights. Then the army moves towards Sestos then Doriscos where the junction with the fleet takes place.
The reaction of the Greeks
Most of the Greek cities remain for a long time without worrying about the Persian peril, especially after the Athenian victory at Marathon. The Greeks reconnect with their old demons of internal quarrels as soon as the danger has passed. Thus Miltiades, after a failure before Paros in 489 BC. J.-C., is treated ignominiously by Athens and dies shortly after. From 487 to 486 Athens tries in vain to seize its old rival Aegina while Sparta continues its hegemonic policy in the Peloponnese, thus becoming the most powerful city of Greece. Inside Athens, political struggles opposed the Democrats, who had returned to power just after Marathon, Xanthippe, the father of the future Pericles, and Aristide, who was more moderate and had the support of a few aristocrats. It is in this context that a third man appears:Themistocles. He was archon in 493/492 at age 30 and strategist three years later (490/489). Ambitious and unscrupulous, he is eloquent - important thing in the public life of Athens -, courageous and tenacious. He probably understood before the others that the future of Athens depends on the creation of a large permanent fleet. Archon plans to substitute the deep and sheltered port of Piraeus for the bad and wide open roadstead of Phaleron. This project, initially put on hold, was activated by Themistocles, elected strategist after Marathon. His arguments are multiple. Such a fleet will allow Athens to protect itself against Aegina whose inhabitants have a certain propensity for piracy which hinders trade. There is of course the Persian danger which Themistocles considers to be far from over but which is undoubtedly less mobilizing than the argument over Aegina, a “closer” danger for the Athenians. There are also economic arguments. Faced with the rapid growth of the population, it is necessary to seek supplies from further and further away, beyond the Hellespont or towards Magna Graecia (Sicily and southern Italy). For this it is essential to have a fleet that will be able to control the trade routes. Finally, a fleet represents work for a significant part of the inhabitants of the city (rowers, construction and maintenance of ships, etc.).
There remains a major problem, namely the financing of such a project in a city where the finances of the State are not flourishing. It was then that in 483 the silver mines of Laurion were discovered to the south-east of Athens. Themistocles obtains that the product of the farm of the mines, approximately 50 to 100 talents per annum, is devoted to the construction of this fleet. His main opponent opposed to the project is exiled and Themistocles, hands free, orders the immediate construction of 100 triremes. The hundred richest citizens each receive a loan of a talent to build and arm a trireme. Then one hundred talents are offered to 50 naucraries (group of citizens), on condition that they build and maintain two triremes. It's time. In 480 Athens had around 200 triremes ready to set sail.
Battle of Thermopylae
The Congress of Corinth
The Persian preparations obviously did not go unnoticed and a congress of the various Greek cities met in Corinth at the end of autumn 481. For once the immediate interests of Sparta and Athens merged. Athens fears revenge from the Persians for its earlier successes and Sparta finds that its great rival in the Peloponnese, Argos, is contacted by the envoys of Xerxes. All the great Greek cities, except Cyrene, Argos, Syracuse, Corcyra and Phocaea, send representatives to the temple of Poseidon at Corinth. Sparta, as the most powerful of the cities, presides over the congress. A general reconciliation occurs, as for example between Athens and Aegina, and 31 cities engage by oath in a defensive league against the Persians and prepare contingents of soldiers. The command of the troops is entrusted to two Spartans, King Leonidas I for the infantry and Eurybiade for the Greek fleet. But during the winter of 481/480 the Greeks dithered on the campaign plan and could not oppose the conquest of Thessaly by the Persian troops in the spring of 480.
The Greeks then choose in August, while the Persians invade Pieria, a very strong defensive position at Thermopylae which commands access to Boeotia and central Greece. As for the fleet, it settles in the north of Euboea in a place called Artemision in order to prevent the Persian fleet from circumventing this position. Indeed the Persians, to keep in touch with their fleet, must take the only important road which passes through Thermopylae (the "Hot Doors", because of the thermal springs there). There, between the Maliac Gulf and the mountain, the narrow causeway passes in a defile, some passages of which do not exceed 10 meters in width and which, moreover, is blocked by the remains of a wall built in a zigzag pattern. Finally, the marshes are numerous and form an additional obstacle.
Between the approximately 7,000 to 10,000 men at the disposal of Leonidas and the fleet of Eurybiades (with Themistocles at the head of the contingent of Athenian ships, by far the most numerous) the liaisons are constant.
The storm of Artemision
On leaving Thessaly the troops of Xerxes move south. The infantry leave the city of Therma and arrive thirteen days later in the Trachinian plain (between the Asopos valley and the city of Anticyre). The Persian fleet sets off about ten days later so that the arrival of land and naval troops is joint. Eurybiades, faced with the size of the Persian fleet, left the Artemision and went along the Euboean Canal to occupy the stranglehold of Chalcis, leaving Leonidas at the mercy of a landing on his rear. But this maneuver, if it does not appear very daring, encourages the Persians to progress further south than expected and to anchor at Cape Sepias, near a rocky and steep coast where they cannot tow their ships on dry land and where the depth of the waters prevents many ships from mooring securely. A violent three-day storm will destroy about 400 ships. Several thousand men drowned. The main consequence is that Xerxes, although he retains numerical superiority, is no longer able to divide his naval forces in such a way as to convoy the army while fighting the Greek fleet. At Chalcis, Eurybiades regains confidence and goes back to take his guard at the Artemision. Mais malgré la tempête, la supériorité numérique perse apparaît si imposante qu’Eurybiade et son adjoint, le corinthien Adimantos, font demi-tour.
C’est alors qu’Achéménès, l’un des demi-frères de Xerxès et amiral de la flotte perse, détache une escadre de 200 navires et 40 000 hommes environ pour contourner l’Eubée par la haute mer cependant que le reste de la flotte s’installe au mouillage des Aphètes, mouillage plus sûr que celui du cap Sépias. Prévenus de cette diversion, qui leur interdit la fuite par le canal de l’Eubée au Sud, et de ce nouveau mouillage, les Grecs tentent un coup de force et lancent une attaque surprise sur les Ioniens alliés des Perses et leurs coulent une trentaine de navires avant de regagner leur point d’attache de l’Artémision. Enfin, une nouvelle tempête éclate et fait de nouveau dégâts sur une flotte perse dont les navires sont sur leurs ancres alors qu’à l’Artémision les Grecs, à leur habitude, tirent les navires sur la terre ferme, ce qui les met à l’abri. Surtout, cette nouvelle tempête cause la destruction totale de l’escadre envoyée pour contourner l’Eubée.
The battle
Dans un premier temps, sur terre, les troupes de Léonidas tiennent fermement leur position et repoussent les Perses, infligeant de grandes pertes, y compris aux fameux Immortels, les troupes d’élites de Xerxès. Mais Léonidas est trahi par un certain Éphialtès, fils d’Eurydémos, un citoyen de Malia, qui livre aux Perses le moyen de contourner l’armée grecque, par le sentier d’Anopée. Léonidas décide alors de se sacrifier avec les 300 hoplites Spartiates, ainsi que 700 soldats des cités de Thèbes et de Thespies, pour laisser aux Grecs le temps d’organiser leur défense et à l’armée de se retirer en bon ordre. Les Grecs résistent héroïquement autour du roi spartiate et sont tous massacrés sur ordre de Xerxès. Cette bataille devint l’emblème de la résistance grecque à l’envahisseur et de l’esprit de sacrifice des Spartiates. Au sommet du Kolonós, théâtre de l’ultime résistance spartiate, sur lequel fut érigé un mausolée, une inscription du poète Simonide de Céos (556 - 467), commémore cette action :« Passant, va dire à Sparte qu’ici ses fils sont morts pour obéir à ses lois ».
Le sac d’Athènes
Xerxès reprend sa progression sur mer et sur terre en ayant à l’esprit la prise d’Athènes. Au passage les villes de Béotie sont contraintes à la capitulation et Thèbes ternit sa réputation par une reddition sans gloire. Les Perses pénètrent enfin en Attique et s’avancent vers Athènes. Pour les Athéniens, la situation est difficile. La ville ne possède pas de remparts à l’époque. Aussi sous l’impulsion de Thémistocle, la population est évacuée en particulier vers Égine, Trézène et Salamine tandis que les bannis sont rappelés, tel Aristide, avec l’annulation de tous les décrets d’exil portés pour des raisons politiques. Cimon, le fils de Miltiade, pourtant l’un des adversaires de Thémistocle, dépose son ex-voto sur l’Acropole pour bien signifier que le temps de l’« Union Sacrée » est venu et qu’il est temps de combattre non pas à cheval mais sur les vaisseaux. La cité est ainsi abandonnée à l’exception de quelques centaines d’irréductibles qui souhaitent défendre l’Acropole et qui vont payer ce geste de leur vie. Les Perses en effet prennent la ville d’Athènes, puis l’Acropole, et la pillent de fond en comble, massacrant les quelques Athéniens encore présents qui résistent dans un combat sans issue.
Bataille de Salamine
La situation à la veille de la bataille et la stratégie de Thémistocle [
The Greek fleet is at anchor at Artemision when the Battle of Thermopylae begins. She must also repel an assault by Xerxes' fleet during a very indecisive battle where several dozen ships are lost. Also the Greek leaders unanimously decide to leave the Artemision, especially since Leonidas is dead and the land army of the united Greek cities is withdrawing towards the south. In the night, surreptitiously, the fleet led by Eurybiades takes the Euboea Canal and sails south.
The situation for the Greeks is not encouraging, as reported by Diodorus of Sicily. The defeat of Thermopylae, the submission of Boeotia, the capture of Athens sow discouragement in people's minds. Cleombrote I, brother of Leonidas and king of the Spartans, thinks only of protecting the Peloponnese by building a wall towards the Isthmus of Corinth. As for the fleet, it moved to Salamis at the request of Themistocles. This plan, to hold the Isthmus of Corinth and the Gulf of Salamis, implies the total abandonment of Attica, which also explains the capture of Athens, abandoned by its inhabitants on the advice of Themistocles.
Themistocles has a precise plan which he imposes against the advice of Eurybiades. It is a question of fighting in the narrow bay of Salamis because he is convinced, rightly, that the Persians will not be able to undertake the maneuver of encirclement by the wings sketched out at the Artemision. Moreover, he is convinced that in this narrow pass the enemy ships will interfere with each other and will be as many prey for a boarding or a ramming by the solid Greek triremes. Finally he is convinced that by cutting the Persian army from its fleet it will turn around. He says the following, reported by Plutarch:
“You will never be able to stop the flow of this immense army on earth. Ce qu’il faut, c’est lui couper les vivres en anéantissant sa flotte de transport. Reduced to starvation, she will have no choice but to turn back. This is your only chance of salvation. »
Eurybiades prefers to defend another, more cautious point of view. Now that the Greek fleet has ensured the evacuation of Attica, it is necessary to return to the proximity of the land forces in order to undertake combined actions. This point of view is shared by the Corinthians, the second fleet of the coalition. Thémistocle reçoit cependant le soutien d’Égine et de Mégare, il est vrai directement menacées en cas de repli sur l’Isthme de Corinthe de la flotte grecque. C’est alors que Thémistocle, selon Plutarque et Hérodote, utilise la ruse et fait parvenir un message à Xerxès, par l’intermédiaire d’un Grec probablement originaire d’Ionie nommé Sicinnos, l’informant du désir de fuite d’une partie des généraux grecs par la passe occidentale de la baie d’Éleusis encore libre. Cette manœuvre, nous dirions aujourd’hui « de désinformation », fonctionne pleinement et une partie de la flotte perse termine l’encerclement des Grecs tandis que l’îlot de Psyttalie est occupé par un détachement avec pour objectif de recueillir les équipages perses et achever les Grecs lorsque la bataille éclatera.
Staff
How many troops were involved in the Battle of Salamis? Difficult to answer precisely.
* For the Greek forces we can consider that the figure of 350/380 triremes is credible, which represents almost the entire Greek fleet. Outre les navires d’Athènes, plus de la moitié de la flotte, nous avons 40 navires de Corinthe, une trentaine d’Égine, entre 15 et 20 pour des cités comme Mégare, Sicyone... le reste étant négligeable.
* It is for the numbers of the fleet of Xerxes that it is more difficult to decide. Ancient historians, such as Herodotus, Diodorus of Sicily or the Panegyric of Athens by Isocrates give the figure of 1200 ships. These figures are fanciful and do not seem to take into account the losses suffered during the storms and during the battle of Artemision. In addition, it must be considered that the Persian fleet must ensure the supply of the army, guard the neuralgic points (straits, depots, etc.). We must probably admit a figure of 500 to 600 ships at least, which allows Xerxes to keep the numerical superiority and to compensate for the inferiority in combat of his troops.
Weapons Vigil
While the Persian fleet ends the encirclement of the island of Salamis in the night, the Greek generals are still procrastinating. However, Aristides arrives from Aegina, having managed to get through the Persian blockade, and informs Eurybiades and Themistocles that the blockade is total and that the fleet has little choice left. Désormais, toute possibilité de retraite étant coupée, il faut combattre. Themistocles' ruse has just succeeded. The tactic used is simple. The narrowness of the strait means that only the first lines of ships will fight, which annihilates the numerical superiority of the Persians. Previous land battles have shown that the combat value of the Greeks as well as the armament are superior, which in the case of boarding enemy ships is an advantage. Finally the Persian crews, in fact especially Phoenicians or Ionians, will be tired because having traveled an average distance of about ten kilometers for some from their anchorages in Phaleron.
Two imperatives are imposed on the Greeks. First of all settle slightly below the strait so that the Persian mass settles in the bottleneck, but also do not retreat too much so that the Persian ships cannot take advantage of their numerical superiority. Il faut aussi éviter un débarquement perse à Salamine ou se sont réfugiés un nombre important d’Athéniens, protégés par un détachement d’hoplites commandés par Aristide.
The Persians are also preparing for battle with in particular this incredible installation of the throne of Xerxes on the slopes of Mount Aegalee which dominates the strait. Shortly before dawn on September 29, 480, Xerxes installed himself on his throne with his ministers and officers, his secretaries responsible for noting brilliant actions and faults to be punished, and his guard of Immortals. At the same time the fleet moves into position. On the right are the Phoenicians of the fleets of Tyre, Sidon led by the Persian generals Megabazus and Prexaspes. In the center the battle corps is led by Achaemenes, half-brother of Xerxes, who holds the role of Grand Admiral and directs more precisely the fleets of Cilicia and Lycia. Finally on the left wing are the fleets of Ionia, Pontus and Caria led by an Achaemenid prince, Ariabignes and where Artemis I, queen of Halicarnassus, is fighting, the only one who dared to tell Xerxes, a few days before, that 'it was better to avoid the fight.
The battle
Right from the start, the Persians make a mistake described by Diodorus of Sicily as follows:
"The Persian ships kept their rank as long as they sailed out to sea, but on entering the channel they were obliged to draw some of their ships out of line, which caused great confusion. »
The Persians make a mistake out of overconfidence and are disorganized from the start of the battle. It was then that the Greek fleet appeared and, without breaking its lines, descended on the Persian ships. There remains a point on which historians are still in disagreement, and that is to know what was the axis of the two lines of ships at the time of the impact. For some it is assumed that the Greek fleet is backed by the island of Salamis and that the Persian fleet is aligned more or less parallel to the shore of Attica. For others, on the contrary, the Greek fleet completely bars the strait, which then gives a battle axis perpendicular to the axis of the strait. This second hypothesis seems to be the most commonly accepted at the present time. In any case, whatever the alignment of the fleets at the start of the battle, the main action takes place in the strangulation of the Strait of Salamis and in the two channels provided by the islet of Psyttalie between Salamis and the 'Attica.
The Greek right wing, led by Eurybiades, and made up of Lacedaemonian, Corinthian and Aeginetan ships, flinched at the start and retreated temporarily, under the probable boos of the civilians massed on the shores of the island of Salamis. Themistocles directs the rest of the fleet, namely in the center the fleets of Megara, Chalcis and Athenian ships, and especially on the left wing a homogeneous fleet of about 120 Athenian triremes. Facing them stand their old adversaries, the Phoenicians.
Herodotus recounts the outbreak of this battle as follows:
“The Athenian Aminias of Pallene, sailing outside the line, struck a Persian vessel and could not extricate himself; the rest of the fleet coming to his assistance, the melee began. Mais, d’autre part, les Éginètes prétendent que ce fut le vaisseau envoyé à Égine qui engagea la lutte. »
Cette rivalité de gloire est la traduction d’un conflit ancien entre les deux cités mais aussi la traduction d’un fait avéré :Athéniens et Éginètes furent les plus ardents des [1] lors de la bataille. It should not be believed, moreover, that bravery is on the side of the Athenians and their allies alone. The presence of Xerxes I who watches over the battle, his severity in the repression of cowards or incompetents, the rivalries between Greeks, make the Greeks of Ionia serve the Persians very loyally and fight fiercely. Sailors from Samos like Theomestor or like Phylacos, the son of Histiae, sink Greek ships and will later receive many rewards from Xerxes. It takes all the skill of the sailors of Aegina to contain the assault of the ships of Ariabignès.
Cependant la combattivité des Grecs d’Ionie, ou des Phéniciens face à Thémistocle sur l’aile gauche, ne suffit pas à contrebalancer l’erreur initiale qu’avait été le désordre introduit dans leurs lignes dès avant l’attaque. The jostling, the panic lead many Persian ships to present the side instead of the bow which in a fight at the spur is prohibitive especially against the Greeks who manage to hold their alignment. The Athenians apply a particularly effective sawing maneuver - a thrust forward then retreat to gain momentum and move forward without deviating from the axis of attack - which sows devastation in the Phoenician ranks. /P>
The battle is already engaged when a sea breeze rises - according to Plutarch - which does not bother the Greek ships whose superstructures are low but clearly disadvantages the Phoenician ships in particular whose stern is high and the deck is raised. If it is implausible that Themistocles waited for this breeze to approach the Persian fleet, especially since he had no choice of the time of the engagement, it is on the other hand very possible that he waited this propitious moment to engage its reserves which, with the help of the breeze, complete the confusion in the opposing ranks.
The disaster proves irremediable when during the fight the fleet of Xerxes loses one of its admiral commanders Ariabignès, the brother of the Great King, killed by a javelin while boarding a Greek trireme. His body is fished out by Queen Artemis of Halicarnassus who will take it to Xerxes. This woman, who had advised against the battle, realizes that all is lost. But she is full of resources, if not scruples, and does not hesitate to free herself from sinking the ship of Damasithymos, king of Calynda (in Lycia). Most surprisingly, she received praise from Xerxes for this feat of arms because in the confusion it appeared that she had just sunk an enemy ship. It is unlikely that many Calydians survived to accuse him. It is about this episode that Xerxes is credited with the famous phrase:
“My men became women and my women became men. »
On the evening of the battle
The rescue-who-can becomes general but the problem is to be able to get out of the trap that constitutes the tangle of ships in the narrow neck of Salamis to reach the anchorage of Phaleron. The reflux of the Persian boats took place in the most complete disorder at the end of the day, the battle having lasted about twelve hours. Aristide, at the head of a detachment of hoplites, lands on the islet of Psyttalia and annihilates the troops that Xerxes had installed the previous night. As for Xerxes himself, he must have left his observatory rather quickly because the Athenians seized his throne in the evening, which many years later was proudly shown to pilgrims in the Parthenon.
However Themistocles does not wish to pursue the Persian fleet on the high seas because despite the disaster it probably retains its numerical superiority. It seems that the Greeks do not immediately understand the scope of their victory and that they expect a new assault the next day. The Persian fleet is unable to do so, demoralized by this disaster. The crews took refuge in Phaleron under the protection of the army while the Egyptian ships which had bypassed the island of Salamis from the south to block the western entrance to the strait also returned unmolested. In the evening, silence returns to the place of this battle, as Aeschylus writes in Les Perses:
"A moan mingled with sobs reigns alone over the open sea until the hour when the dark-faced night comes to stop everything. »
During this battle, the Persians lost at least 200 triremes, not counting those that fell into the hands of the victors, and the Greeks about forty...
The aftermath of Salamis
The situation after the bitter defeat of Salamis is not however hopeless for the Persians. Their army is intact except for the small troops massacred on the islet of Psyttalia by Aristide's hoplites. La flotte perse reste, en dépit de ses pertes, supérieure en tonnage et les immenses ressources de l’empire peuvent permettre la construction de nombreux navires alors que pour les [2], la destruction des chantiers de l’Attique est une perte irremplaçable. This is why the attitude of Xerxes I after the battle raises many questions and this from Antiquity where we speak of the pusillanimity of the Great King. Indeed, leaving the command of his army to Mardonios, his brother-in-law, the one who already led the expedition of 492, Xerxes abandoned his troops to return to his capitals Susa and Persepolis.
In this he follows the advice of Mardonios and Queen Artemis I of Halicarnassus, namely to leave a large army in Greece, Herodotus speaks of 300,000 men which is undoubtedly excessive, who will winter in mainland Greece, then attack the Peloponnese in spring. As for Xerxes, his presence is no longer useful, since his main objective is achieved, namely the destruction of Athens. This presentation of the facts allows the Persian king to keep up appearances and not return to his empire defeated. Xerxes crosses the Hellespont in the last days of the year 480 not without difficulty because the Thracians, enraged by the requisitions of the summer, launch numerous raids on the Persian troops.
As for the winners, they are surprised by the inaction of the Persians and do not seem to understand at first the extent of their success. When it appears that the Persians are retreating, Themistocles in the euphoria of victory proposes to cut off the road to Asia from Xerxes by crossing the Aegean. But Aristide and Eurybiades object caution. Moreover the Greeks lost more than 40 ships at Salamis and cannot replace them as quickly as their adversaries. Finally, sending the entire fleet so far from Greece while the refugees from Athens are still on the island of Salamis and the Greek coasts are unprotected is quite risky. The season finally becomes dangerous for navigation. For Aristide, a possible defeat of Athens would play into Sparta's hands, especially since Sparta is in the process of finishing the wall which bars the isthmus of the Peloponnese and therefore no longer feels the Persian threat with the same acuity.
Bataille de Platées
Négociations
Mardonios le nouveau généralissime perse déclare après Salamine :« Les Chypriotes, les hommes de Phénicie, de Cnide et d’Égypte, seuls étaient vaincus, non les Perses qui n’ont pu combattre. » Cet état d’esprit est révélateur de la volonté des Perses de continuer le combat malgré le départ de Xerxès Ier. Cependant Mardonios estime impossible la poursuite des opérations à l’approche de la mauvaise saison et prend ses quartiers d’hiver en Thessalie. Il en profite pour lancer d’intenses manœuvres diplomatiques auprès d’Athènes qu’il espère détacher du reste de ses alliés. Mais l’ambassade envoyée dans la capitale attique, sous la direction d’un prince de Macédoine, Alexandre, se voit répondre que « tant que le soleil suivrait son chemin habituel » les Athéniens ne feraient pas alliance avec le souverain perse. Inquiets les Spartiates envoient eux-aussi une ambassade afin de contrer l’argumentation des Perses. Elle est reçue assez fraîchement par les Athéniens furieux que l’on puisse douter de leur détermination. Ils précisent que « le fait d’être Grec, de partager le même sang et la même langue, d’avoir des sanctuaires et des sacrifices communs ainsi que des mœurs semblables » leur interdit la trahison.
Reprise des hostilités
Au printemps Mardonios envahit alors de nouveau l’Attique, qui est une fois de plus évacuée par ses habitants, réoccupe Athènes et s’installe en Béotie. Une coalition des forces du Péloponnèse se crée, au printemps 479 av. J.-C. dirigée par Pausanias, régent de Sparte et neveu de Léonidas Ier. Elle comprend des troupes de Sparte, sans doute 10 000 hoplites et 30 000 à 35 000 supplétifs, plus 8 000 Athéniens et quelques milliers d’hommes venant des autres cités de Grèce, tel Corinthe, Épidaure, Mégare, Platées, Trézène, Chalcis, Phlionte, Égine, etc. Les Grecs alignent au total environ 110 000 soldats soit 3 fois moins que les Perses, mais nous avons déjà vu que ce n’était pas un handicap. Cela constitue cependant la troupe grecque la plus considérable jamais réunie, même s’il faut sans doute minorer là aussi fortement les effectifs réels.
Les Grecs franchissent l’Isthme de Corinthe, arrivent près d’Éleusis afin de passer en Béotie. Mardonios choisit un emplacement, au sud de Thèbes près de Platées, qui doit favoriser sa cavalerie. En face, les Spartiates tiennent l’aile droite et les Athéniens l’aile gauche.
La bataille [
Pausanias passe pour un général avisé, apte à déceler les points faibles de l’adversaire, mais Mardonios est considéré lui-aussi comme un excellent tacticien et le meilleur général perse. De plus le départ de Xerxès Ier lui laisse les mains libres pour mener la bataille à sa guise. Chacun des deux généraux souhaite, à Platées, amener l’adversaire à se lancer contre ses propres positions.
Dans un premier temps Pausanias prend position sur les contreforts du mont Cithère tandis que Mardonios installe son camp fortifié sur l’autre rive du fleuve Asopus. Une attaque de la cavalerie perse sur les positions grecques échoue mais Mardonios fait harceler les lignes de ravitaillement de ses adversaires et les points d’eau. Pausanias change alors de position et s’installe dans la plaine où un petit massif de collines protège son armée d’une attaque frontale des cavaliers ennemis. Mais au bout de dix jours le manque d’eau et de vivre le contraint à se retirer, en pleine nuit, vers une position plus proche des ses anciennes lignes, où le ravitaillement est plus facile. Cette retraite se fait dans une certaine confusion et les différentes unités grecques perdent le contact.
C’est alors que Mardonios commet une erreur d’appréciation fatale. Il estime que la désorganisation chez les Grecs lui permet de lancer un assaut, le 27 août 479 av. J.-C., au lieu d’attendre que les querelles entre les divers contingents grecs ne divisent ses adversaires. L’attaque perse se heurte à une farouche résistance surtout de la part des Spartiates qui, bien que coupés du reste de l’armée, occupent une position de surplomb les protégeant de la cavalerie adverse. C’est dans ce combat que Mardonios est tué. La mort de leur chef, puis l’assaut donné contre leur camp retranché et l’arrivée des autres unités grecques qui venaient de vaincre les Béotiens, alliés aux Perses, entraînent la défaite des troupes de Xerxès Ier et leur massacre en grand nombre. Bien peu, semble-t-il, parviennent à s’enfuir et à rejoindre un autre corps de l’armée perse dont le chef, Artabaze en conflit avec Mardonios, faisait déjà demi-tour vers l’Hellespont avec environ 40 000 hommes. Quant à Thèbes qui avait collaboré avec les Perses elle est prise rapidement et ses chefs sont exécutés. Les pertes grecques sont estimées à environ 3000 morts, il est par contre impossible d’évaluer celles du camp perse. Un énorme butin est pris dans le camp de Mardonios.
Le cap Mycale
La victoire grecque est parachevée par la victoire navale du cap Mycale, à l’automne 479, où la flotte perse, du moins les navires non détruits à Salamine, qui avait été tirée à terre près du cap Mycale est totalement détruite par un incendie au cours d’une attaque menée par les Grecs. Cette victoire parachève la victoire des [3] et est traditionnellement considérée par les historiens comme la fin de la deuxième guerre médique. En réalité à partir du printemps 478 les Grecs, et en particulier les Athéniens conduits par le stratège Cimon, se lancent à la conquête des différentes positions Perses en Chersonèse, sur l’Hellespont et dans les îles de la mer Égée. La prise de Sestos en 478, ville d’où Xerxès Ier était parti à la conquête de la Grèce trois ans plus tôt, en est le symbole. Peu importe que la paix - dite paix de Callias - ne soit officiellement signée qu’en 449 av. J.-C., peu importe que l’unité hellénique du congrès de Corinthe en 481 ne survive pas, car le triomphe grec dans ces guerres médiques est total et inaugure la période la plus glorieuse de la Grèce antique en particulier pour Athènes.
Conclusion
Les Athéniens vont exploiter les victoires des Grecs dans leur propagande, en élevant le combat entre Perses et Grecs comme duel homérique. Sur les vases, cette représentation se multiplie. La victoire apporte non seulement la gloire mais aussi la prospérité. La flotte athénienne devient pour près d’un siècle, jusqu’au désastre d’Aigos Potamos, la grande puissance de la mer Égée et de la mer Noire. Salamine est en effet plus une victoire sur les Phéniciens, grands concurrents des Grecs, que sur les Perses. La victoire dans des conditions dramatiques et difficiles donne au Grecs, et singulièrement aux Athéniens, l’énergie pour que le miracle grec s’accomplisse.
La guerre d’Alexandre
Bien qu’a priori coupée du contexte des précédentes guerres médiques, l’invasion de l’empire perse par Alexandre fut présentée par celui-ci comme une revanche que les Grecs devaient obtenir, un siècle et demi après. Il exploitait un ressentiment vivace chez les Grecs, auquel s’ajoutait chez certains le souvenir des interventions financières du roi des Perses qui décidèrent souvent du vainqueur dans les conflits au cours du IVe siècle av. J.-C. Ce ressentiment avait en tout cas motivé plusieurs expéditions grecques contre l’empire perse, notamment celle de Naucratis.