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Recommended Reading:

• Powerpoint presentation
• Our major ancient source for the events of the Persian Wars is the Histories of Herodotus, particularly Books 6-9.
• Plutarch’s biography of Pericles.
• Our major ancient source for the events of the Peloponnesian War is the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, of which Pericles’s “Funeral Oration” is a part.
• Journalist Jim Lacey has written a fresh account of the Battle of Marathon, attempting to explain its importance to modern readers.
• The success of the feature film 300 has occasioned a number of new books on the Battle of Thermopylae. One of the better ones is Ernle Bradford’s Thermopylae: The Battle for the West.
• Jeffrey Hurwit’s The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles focuses on the construction of the Parthenon and other public buildings still visible today.
• Links on Democracy:
  • “Pericles’s Funeral Oration” is the most famous statement in praise of Athenian democracy.
  • Aristotle is more critical of democracy, but his comments on it are scattered throughout his Politics. This article tries to pull together the relevant passages for students to access more conveniently.
  • Herodotus records a famous debate among Persian leaders about the relative merits of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy.
  • 19^th-century classical liberals believed democracy was the best form of government to restrain the upper classes’ tendency to oppress the common people, but more recently scholars such as Hans Hoppe have argued democracy promotes high time preference and is harmful to the progress of civilization.
• “Pericles’s Funeral Oration” is the most famous statement in praise of Athenian democracy.
• Aristotle is more critical of democracy, but his comments on it are scattered throughout his Politics. This article tries to pull together the relevant passages for students to access more conveniently.
• Herodotus records a famous debate among Persian leaders about the relative merits of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy.
• 19^th-century classical liberals believed democracy was the best form of government to restrain the upper classes’ tendency to oppress the common people, but more recently scholars such as Hans Hoppe have argued democracy promotes high time preference and is harmful to the progress of civilization.

The Persian and Peloponnesian Wars – Quiz

1. Athenian politics was dominated by __________ from 461 to 429 B.C., during which time tribute money greatly enriched Athens.
2. The Athenian practice of ________ provided for the 10-year banishment of anyone who was seen as a potentially divisive figure in the city.
3. The __________ was a military alliance which eventually muted into an Athenian empire.
4. The decisive engagements of the second Persian invasion in 480 B.C. were a naval battle at ________ and a land battle the following year at ________, both of which the Greeks won.
5. The hoplites of Athens and Plataea defeated a Persian force at ________ in 490 B.C., thus repelling the first Persian attempt to conquer Greece.
6. True/False: Following the Persian Wars, Sparta withdrew to the Peloponnesus, but Athens began an expansionary policy.
7. True/False: The Sicilian Expedition of 415 marked a decisive turning point in Athens’s favor in the Peloponnesian War.
8. When Greek city-states in Asia Minor revolted against the Persians in 499, which city in mainland Greece assisted them, thereby incurring the wrath of Darius?

Show answers

1. Pericles
2. Ostracism
3. Delian League
4. Salamis, Plataea
5. Marathon
6. True
7. False
8. Athens