War and Conflict

The Trojan War is wrapped in mystery and legend. The finding of a domed citadel by Schliemann, that could have been seen by Homer in his time, proved that Troy did exist and appeared to have been destroyed in battle. The Trojan War Epics written by ancient writers, including Homer, in the first century BCE are based on oral tradition and the heroics and escapades of the Greek gods and goddesses. Virgil wrote the Aeneid to give the Roman Empire a sense of dynasty through its hero Aeneas, a Trojan soldier, who led his soldiers to Carthage before arriving in Rome to establish the Roman Empire. Virgil’s poem has a very loose relationship to the Trojan War as it is a work meant to inspire Romans. But it has no bearing on the Greek civilizations.

The Second Messenian War was fought in the second-half of the seventh century BCE. It was fought between Sparta and Messenia and ended in total victory for the Spartans. The Messenians were enslaved in large numbers and brought to Sparta to live and work as helots (communally owned slaves) in Spartan society.

Tyrtaeus was a Spartan poet who probably lived in the late seventh century BCE. His poems focused on emphasizing Spartan martial prowess and on encouraging young Spartans to fight with strength and honor against the Messenians in the Second Messenian War. Tyrtaeus is an example of Spartan artistic endeavor — which was generally focused on promoting Spartan social values and obedience to the law.

The land battle of Plataea and the naval battle of Mycale took place at approximately the same time in 479 BCE. They both ended in decisive victories for the ancient Greeks and brought to an end the attempted Persian conquest of the Greek mainland.

Thebes and Athens became military rivals during the late Archaic and early Classical eras because the Athenians supported the rights of the Plataeans (a smaller city-state located several miles south of Thebes) to live independent and free of Theban dominance. This rivalry was important because it led to the Thebans supporting the Persian Empire when it attempted to invade Athens.

Agamemnon was the fictional king of the ancient Greeks in Homer’s The Iliad. He starts the Trojan War after Helen of Troy, the wife of his brother Menelaus, elopes with Paris, the son of the Trojan king. There is some historical evidence to suggest that Agamemnon may have been a real person, but general historical consensus is that he was a fictional creation of Homer’s, based on a semi-mythological figure who lived in the fourteenth century BCE.

Athens was ruled by a series of tyrants for much of the sixth century. Beginning with the rule of Pisistratus and continuing with his son Hippias and his brother Hipparchus. Hippias became paranoid and oppressive as a result and lost the support of the Athenian people. In 508 BCE the Athenian nobility encouraged the Spartans to invade and overthrow Hippias. The Spartans, following the direction of the Oracle at Delphi, duly obliged.

Gelon was the ruler of Syracuse at the time of the Greco-Persian Wars. He, like many other rulers at the time, was a tyrant with near-absolute power. During the invasion of mainland Greece, by the Persian King Xerxes, in 480 BCE, he was asked to assist the Greek resistance. At the time Syracuse was one of the wealthiest and most powerful Greek city-states and their assistance would have been very useful. Gelon, however, demanded full control over all Greek forces and when the Athenians and Spartans refused he withdrew all offers of support and left the rest of Greece to defend itself.

Hostility between Sparta and Athens first began in the late sixth century, when Sparta sent an army to intervene on behalf of the Athenian aristocracy, who feared the loss of their power. The Spartan soldiers were turned back by the Athenian people, who fought to defend their city and the democratic reforms enacted by Cleisthenes. This created a natural and long lasting animosity between the two city-states. Their rivalry would dominate the next few hundred years of Greek history.

Mardonius was one of the most high ranking members of the Persian army under King Xerxes. After Xerxes retired from Greece in 480 BCE (to return to the capital and preserve his authority), Mardonius took over command of the Persian forces in Greece. He led the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea where he was defeated and killed on the battlefield.