![]() The defeat at Marathon had raised the stakes for the Persians. Phase two of the Greco-Persian Wars took place in 480/479 BCE. For the Athenians and other Greeks, the victory at Marathon was the stuff of legends and was memorialized in poetry, painting, and a monument at the site to the fallen Greeks. ![]() The Persians successfully sacked Eretria, but were unexpectedly routed by a joint Athenian-Plataean force at Marathon. The first phase of the Persian Wars occurred in 490 BCE when a punitive Persian force was sent in response to Athenian and Eretrian involvement. For the Persians, rebellion was a sacrilege it was the king's duty to restore order and punish the offenders, including the Athenians, who had aggressively sent ships into Persian territory and broken their treaty with Persia. The bulk of the revolt was suppressed relatively quickly. Several Ionian cities joined Miletus, while Athens and Eretria sent modest naval support. ![]() Herodotus attributed the revolt to the personal ambitions of the tyrant of Miletus. Herodotus leaves the most complete record of the Persian Wars, including an account of how the Athenians and Persians first came into conflict during the Ionian Revolt of 499-494 BCE. The Gatehouse of Xerxes' Palace at Persepolis, 5th Century, BCE (Artstor/UCSD Slide Gallery)Herodotus & the Persian Wars ![]()
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