The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC.
Sources of Information:
Human Heritage, pages 171-173
http://people.hsc.edu/drjclassics/lectures/history/PersianWars/persianwars.shtm http://www.sikyon.com/athens/ahist_eg02.html
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/ppersons1_n2/persianwar.html http://www.essortment.com/all/persianwaranci_rhnf.htm
· The Battle of Marathon—took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes, and was the culmination of the first attempt by the of Persia, under King Darius I, to conquer Greece.
· The Battle of Thermopylae—took place over three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August or September 480 BC, at the pass of Thermopylae ('The Hot Gates'). It was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
· The Battle of Salamis—was a naval battle fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Achaemenid Empire of Persia in September 480 BC in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens. It marked the high-point of the second Persian invasion of Greece which had begun in 480 BC
· The Battle of Plataea--(479 BC) Battle between Greek and Persian forces near Plataea in Boeotia on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron. A largely Spartan force, including helots, defeated the Persian army of Xerxes I, led by Mardonius; the victory marked this battle as the final Persian attempt to invade mainland Greece.