Answering Three questions

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1 Describe the Persian War, including how and why it began and what its consequences were. Why is it important in Greek history?
The Persian wars also known as the Greco-Persian wars were a series of conflicts that began in 499BC upto 449BC between the Hellenic world and the Empire of Persia. The wars between the greeks and the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered Ionia in 547 BC. Persians ruled the cities of Ionia tyrannically. Ionia cities were independent before the Lydians of Western Asia conquered them. King Alyattes II of Lydia attacked Miletus, one of the cities of Ionia, which led to an alliance between Lydia and Miletus. The predecesor of King Alyattes, King Croesus set to conquer the other Greek city states. In 553 BC, Prince Cyrus of Persia led a rebellion against the Median king Astyages. In 550 BC he emerged the victor and the Achaemenid empire was formed to replace the Median kingdom. Croesus attacked the persians but eventually he was defeated and Cyrus took over Lydia. The persian army thought that greeks would be easy to conquer but the greeks were heavily armed with navy ships and weapons. The persians fought three battles the Marathon, the Thermopylae and Salamis but during all the battles the greeks drove the persians away. During the third battle the persian king Xerxes sent huge numbers of persian warriors as he wanted the greeks to be defeated. But the greeks had strong armies and defeated the persians during the Salamis battle. The persians were defeated and fled away. The greeks created the Delian league that would help them to quickly prepare for war if any war broke out. The persian war was important to greeks because greeks attained their democratic culture after the wars. The defeat of the persians ended the hopes of extending their empire to the west. Both Athens and Sparta were established as greek powers after the wars. The books written by Herodotus give a chronology of the Persian wars. In the end, Persia was defeated and greeks got a new sense of individuality and democracy.
2 Describe and discuss the evolution and nature of Greek democracy
Cleisthenes, referred to as the father of Athenian democracy established the first democracy in 507 BC. Plato the athenian philosopher contrasted the system of ‘rule by the governed` known as democracy with the alternative system of monarchy, ‘rule by one individual. Prior to greek democracy, the greek city states were ruled by few, ri...