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There were a series of revolts amongst Greek cities states in Asisa Minor, 10 years prior to the battle of Salamis. These became known as the Ionia Revolts and were aided by the city state of Athens. The Persian Empire which controlled Asia Minor sent their army to Athens to punish them for supporting these revolts. The Athenians fought the Persians at Marathon and won the battle. When Xerxes took over the kingdom after his father Darius death, he gathered an army of over a million men to burn Athens to the ground. At first the Persians fought against a small band of Greeks at a small stretch of land known as Thermopylae meaning the hot gates. Xerxes' army fought against 300 Spartans lead by king Leonidas and several thousand other Greeks. Several weeks later the Persians marched and sailed down to Athens. At Athens they burned down the temples on the Acropolis to avenge their loss to the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. A few days later the Persians fought the Athenian navy under the command of Themistocles and a coalition of Greek city-states in the narrow straights of Salamis. Outnumbered 3 to 1 the Greek coalition navy defeated the Persian navy at Salamis, allowing the Greek states to be free from Persian influence. As a result Athenian cultural flourished and gave rise the Classical Greek Civilization.

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17y ago

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