HOW THE GREEKS DEFENDED EUROPE AGAINST ASIATIC INVASION AND DROVE THE
PERSIANS BACK ACROSS THE AEGEAN SEA
THE Greeks had learned the art of trading from the AEgeans who had
been the pupils of the Phoenicians. They had founded colonies after the
Phoenician pattern. They had even improved upon the Phoenician methods
by a more general use of money in dealing with foreign customers. In
the sixth century before our era they had established themselves firmly
along the coast of Asia Minor and they were taking away trade from the
Phoenicians at a fast rate. This the Phoenicians of course did not
like but they were not strong enough to risk a war with their Greek
competitors. They sat and waited nor did they wait in vain.
In a former chapter, I have told you how a humble tribe of Persian
shepherds had suddenly gone upon the warpath and had conquered the
greater part of western Asia. The Persians were too civilised to plunder
their new subjects. They contented themselves with a yearly tribute.
When they reached the coast of Asia Minor they insisted that the Greek
colonies of Lydia recognize the Persian Kings as their over-Lords and
pay them a stipulated tax. The Greek colonies objected. The Persians
insisted. Then the Greek colonies appealed to the home-country and the
stage was set for a quarrel.
For if the truth be told, the Persian Kings regarded the Greek
city-states as very dangerous political institutions and bad examples
for all other people who were supposed to be the patient slaves of the
mighty Persian Kings.
Of course, the Greeks enjoyed a certain degree of safety because their
country lay hidden beyond the deep waters of the AEgean. But here their
old enemies, the Phoenicians, stepped forward with offers of help and
advice to the Persians. If the Persian King would provide the soldiers,
the Phoenicians would guarantee to deliver the necessary ships to carry
them to Europe. It was the year 492 before the birth of Christ, and Asia
made ready to destroy the rising power of Europe.
As a final warning the King of Persia sent messengers to the Greeks
asking for "earth and water" as a token of their submission. The Greeks
promptly threw the messengers into the nearest well where they would
find both "earth and water" in large abundance and thereafter of course
peace was impossible.
But the Gods of High Olympus watched over their children and when the
Phoenician fleet carrying the Persian troops was near Mount Athos, the
Storm-God blew his cheeks until he almost burst the veins of his brow,
and the fleet was destroyed by a terrible hurricane and the Persians
were all drowned.
Two years later they returned. This time they sailed straight across
the AEgean Sea and landed near the village of Marathon. As soon as the
Athenians heard this they sent their army of ten thousand men to guard
the hills that surrounded the Marathonian plain. At the same time they
despatched a fast runner to Sparta to ask for help. But Sparta was
envious of the fame of Athens and refused to come to her assistance.
The other Greek cities followed her example with the exception of tiny
Plataea which sent a thousand men. On the twelfth of September of the
year 490, Miltiades, the Athenian commander, threw this little army
against the hordes of the Persians. The Greeks broke through the Persian
barrage of arrows and their spears caused terrible havoc among the
disorganised Asiatic troops who had never been called upon to resist
such an enemy.
That night the people of Athens watched the sky grow red with the flames
of burning ships. Anxiously they waited for news. At last a little
cloud of dust appeared upon the road that led to the North. It was
Pheidippides, the runner. He stumbled and gasped for his end was near.
Only a few days before had he returned from his errand to Sparta. He had
hastened to join Miltiades. That morning he had taken part in the attack
and later he had volunteered to carry the news of victory to his beloved
city. The people saw him fall and they rushed forward to support him.
"We have won," he whispered and then he died, a glorious death which
made him envied of all men.
As for the Persians, they tried, after this defeat, to land near Athens
but they found the coast guarded and disappeared, and once more the land
of Hellas was at peace.
Eight years they waited and during this time the Greeks were not idle.
They knew that a final attack was to be expected but they did not agree
upon the best way to avert the danger. Some people wanted to increase
the army. Others said that a strong fleet was necessary for success. The
two parties led by Aristides (for the army) and Themistocles (the leader
of the bigger-navy men) fought each other bitterly and nothing was done
until Aristides was exiled. Then Themistocles had his chance and he
built all the ships he could and turned the Piraeus into a strong naval
base.
In the year 481 B.C. a tremendous Persian army appeared in Thessaly, a
province of northern Greece. In this hour of danger, Sparta, the
great military city of Greece, was elected commander-in-chief. But the
Spartans cared little what happened to northern Greece provided their
own country was not invaded, They neglected to fortify the passes that
led into Greece.
A small detachment of Spartans under Leonidas had been told to guard
the narrow road between the high mountains and the sea which connected
Thessaly with the southern provinces. Leonidas obeyed his orders. He
fought and held the pass with unequalled bravery. But a traitor by the
name of Ephialtes who knew the little byways of Malis guided a regiment
of Persians through the hills and made it possible for them to attack
Leonidas in the rear. Near the Warm Wells--the Thermopylae--a terrible
battle was fought.
When night came Leonidas and his faithful soldiers lay dead under the
corpses of their enemies.
But the pass had been lost and the greater part of Greece fell into the
hands of the Persians. They marched upon Athens, threw the garrison from
the rocks of the Acropolis and burned the city. The people fled to the
Island of Salamis. All seemed lost. But on the 20th of September of the
year 480 Themistocles forced the Persian fleet to give battle within the
narrow straits which separated the Island of Salamis from the mainland
and within a few hours he destroyed three quarters of the Persian ships.
In this way the victory of Thermopylae came to naught. Xerxes was forced
to retire. The next year, so he decreed, would bring a final decision.
He took his troops to Thessaly and there he waited for spring.
But this time the Spartans understood the seriousness of the hour.
They left the safe shelter of the wall which they had built across the
isthmus of Corinth and under the leadership of Pausanias they marched
against Mardonius the Persian general. The united Greeks (some one
hundred thousand men from a dozen different cities) attacked the three
hundred thou-sand men of the enemy near Plataea. Once more the heavy
Greek infantry broke through the Persian barrage of arrows. The Persians
were defeated, as they had been at Marathon, and this time they left for
good. By a strange coincidence, the same day that the Greek armies won
their victory near Plataea, the Athenian ships destroyed the enemy's
fleet near Cape Mycale in Asia Minor.
Thus did the first encounter between Asia and Europe end. Athens had
covered herself with glory and Sparta had fought bravely and well. If
these two cities had been able to come to an agreement, if they had been
willing to forget their little jealousies, they might have become the
leaders of a strong and united Hellas.
But alas, they allowed the hour of victory and enthusiasm to slip by,
and the same opportunity never returned.