The Age of Pericles | Athens and the Persian Wars (Lecture 2)

Lecture 2: In this lecture, we take a close look at the two invasions by the Persians that stimulated the fabulous growth of Athens in the 5th century. From the Persian point of view, Athens and the rest of Greece were insignificant territories on the far western borders of a great empire. Yet the Athenians successfully resisted the Persians in 490 at Marathon, and when the Persians returned in greater numbers 10 years later, the Greeks defied overwhelming odds to defeat the Persians at sea in 480 at Salamis and, again, a year later at Plataea. The descriptions of Herodotus reveal the impact on the Greeks of their victory. Heaven had decreed that Persia should not rule the west. In this lecture, we examine the beginning of a split between east and west that still overshadows the modern world.

Suggested Reading:
Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. by J. Marincola. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001.

Lecture 3: https://rumble.com/v5e8prh-the-age-of-pericles-the-athenian-empire-lecture-3.html