Blog Post #5

Chapter 3: State and Empire in Eurasia/North Africa

The collision between the Greek cities and Persia started when a  group called "Ionians" revolted against the Persians. Persia at the moment was known as the world's largest empire. The Ionians were a number of Greek settlements who were under the Persian ruling as it's empire extended its domination to the west. The Ionians demurred the Persians domination, so with the support of the Athens, they act upon their dissatisfactions. Outraged with the riot, Persians launched "major military expeditions" to generally punish the Greeks and particularly the Athens for supporting the riot. Despite the Persians lost, its empire was still the largest empire in the world.

The Greeks, however had an ardent impact from the war especially the Athens, who assisted in winning the battle. The Athens gained so much pride when they defeated the Persians. From the Greeks perspective, their victory against the Persians made their men have the courage to fight for what they valued so much, for freedom. Moreover, their victory also radicalized Athenian democracy and was the Golden Age of Greek culture. During this period, the temple of Athena was built, theater was born from the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Whereas, Socrates just began his career as a philosopher and an "irritant in Athens." Furthermore, the Persians only grew to be cruel than they were before. The Persians represented Asia and despotism and created an imperialism of its own. This lead to many more complications that followed.

Both the Greeks and the Persians encounter consequences and complications after the war. The Greeks victory led to motivation for it's men to fight for freedom and for what they believed in. The Persians had more reasons to be aggressive and continued to be cruel. There was another war later on but that led to the defeat of the Athens and the Greeks exhausting themselves. In later years, the Greeks glory days ended but the spread of its culture just started.