GREECE 



3668 



GREECE 



Greece. Map ox the country snowing its boundaries as Uennei by Treaty ot Lausanne, 



regions N. of the Danube, Hellas 

 became conscious of the existence 

 of an entirely new menace. 



The yoke of Persia was light; 

 she suffered her subject peoples to 

 rule themselves after their own 

 fashion so long as they paid their 

 tribute and provided contingents 

 to her armies when called upon. 

 Nevertheless, in 500 B.C. the Ionic 

 cities of Asia Minor revolted against 

 their satrap and called upon their 

 kinsmen across the sea to come to 

 their aid. The revolt was crushed ; 

 but aid had actually been sent by 

 Athens, while Sparta, acknow- 

 ledged by the Greek states of the 

 W. as the premier military state, 

 contented herself with threats. 



Darius sent envoys to demand 

 from all the Hellenic states " earth 

 and water," symbols of the recog- 

 nition of Persia's sovereignty. 

 Many took prudence to be the 

 better part of valcur, and yielded. 



Athens and Sparta took the lead 

 in refusing with contumely. The 

 result was that in 490 Darius dis- 

 patched an expedition which was 

 to teach the Athenians a lesson, 

 since their active participation in 

 the Ionic revolt had excited his 

 particular indignation. Had 

 Athens elected to submit, or had 

 she been wiped out, the future of 

 the world would in all probability 

 have been entirely changed ; but 

 although it was in vain that she 

 appealed to the other Greek states, 

 she had made up her mind to 

 stand for freedom at all costs. The 

 Persian host landed on the plain of 

 Marathon ; the little Athenian 

 army, supported by none save the 

 loyal city of Plataea, hurled the 

 Persians into the sea. 



The glorious victory of Marathon 

 (490) taught the Greeks a different 

 lesson from that which Darius had 

 intended ; it was a complete de- 



monstration of the enormous su- 

 periority of the Greek armament, 

 discipline, and tactics over those of 

 the Persians ; it meant that Greek 

 troops well led could hold their own 

 against Asiatics, in face of almost 

 any odds. Ten years later Xerxes, 

 the son of Darius, having resolved 

 no longer to tolerate the defiance of 

 his power by the insolent Westerns, 

 gathered a vast army and fleet to 

 crush their resistance once for all. 

 But in the meantime Athens, 

 guided by Themistocles, had de- 

 voted herself zealously to the de- 

 velopment of her fleet, and in the 

 face of the vast preparations of 

 Persia the other Greek states had 

 realized that they must either fight 

 by the side of Athens or perish. 



Even then the selfishness of the 

 southern Dorians made them re- 

 luctant to advance be} 7 ond the 

 Isthmus of Corinth, which could be 

 made impregnable. Still, the fear 



