The Impact of the Persian Wars on Classical Greece

Bibliographic Data

ID23720526
AuthorsP J Rhodes (corresponding author)
Year2007
Pages31-46
Publication date2007-02-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueCultural responses to the Persian wars (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressOxford (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279678.003.0002
OpenAlexW2494235753
ISBN9780199279678
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited8

This chapter examines some of the key ways in which the memory of Darius' and Xerxes' campaigns influenced subsequent events (and the ways in which those events were portrayed) until the final overthrow of the Persian empire by Alexander in 330 bc. After examining the background to the enmity between Greece and Persia, the chapter shows how the initial fear of Persian return and the later possibility of alliance with Persia impacted on the relations between individual Greek states. Crucially, the role that a state had played in the wars came to be manipulated for propaganda (most notably in Athens' justification for her imperial dominance). It also illustrates some of the ways in which ambiguity towards Persia manifested itself in the literature and politics of the classical period; seen variously as either potential allies or enemies still waiting to pounce, the Persians were also alternately portrayed as terrifying despotic invaders or effeminate eastern weaklings.

Alliance · Ambiguity · Ancient history · Archaeology · Dominance (genetics) · Empire · Linguistics · Persian · Political science · Politics · State (computer science) · Ancient Near East History · Byzantine Studies and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy

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