Historical sources on the Greco-Persian Wars

Extract A

"These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby [keeping safe] the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due [recognition]; and withal to put on record what were their grounds of [dispute]. According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began to quarrel." 

Extract B

"So when the battle was set in array, and the victims showed themselves [encouraging], instantly the Athenians, so soon as they were let go, charged the barbarians at a run. Now the distance between the two armies was little short of eight furlongs. The Persians, therefore, when they saw the Greeks coming on at speed, made ready to receive them, [even though] it seemed to them that the Athenians were [gone mad], and bent upon their own destruction; for they saw a [small number] of men coming on at a run without either horsemen or archers. Such was the opinion of the barbarians; but the Athenians in close array fell upon them, and fought in a manner worthy of being recorded. They were the first of the Greeks, so far as I know, who introduced the custom of charging the enemy at a run, and they were likewise the first who dared to look upon the Median garb, and to face men clad in that fashion." 

Extract C

"These were the Greeks who awaited the attack of the Persian in this place: of the Spartans three hundred hoplites; of the men of Tegea and Mantinea a thousand, half from each place; from Orchomenos in Arcadia a hundred and twenty; from the rest of Arcadia a thousand; from Corinth four hundred; from Phlius two hundred; of the men of Mycenae eighty." 

Extract D

"By this time the spears of the greater number were all [broken], and with their swords they hewed down the ranks of the Persians; and here, as they strove, Leonidas fell fighting bravely, together with many other famous Spartans, whose names I have taken care to learn on account of their great [courage], as indeed I have those of all the three hundred. There fell too at the same time very many famous Persians: among them, two sons of Darius, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, his children by Phratagune, the daughter of Artanes. Artanes was brother of King Darius, being a son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames; and when he gave his daughter to the king, he made him heir likewise of all his [possessions]; for she was his only child." 

"Thus two brothers of Xerxes here fought and fell. And now there arose a fierce struggle between the Persians and the Lacedaemonians over the body of Leonidas, in which the Greeks four times drove back the enemy, and at last by their great bravery succeeded in bearing away the body." 

Extract E

"There fell in this combat Ariabignes, one of the chief commanders of the fleet, who was son of Darius and brother of Xerxes; and with him perished a [great] number of men of high repute, Persians, Medes, and allies. Of the Greeks there died only a few; for, as they were able to swim, all those that were not slain outright by the enemy escaped from the sinking vessels and swam across to Salamis. But on the side of the barbarians more perished by drowning than in any other way, since they did not know how to swim. The great destruction took place when the ships which had been first engaged began to fly; for they who were stationed in the rear, anxious to display their [courage] before the eyes of the king, made every effort to force their way to the front, and thus became entangled with such of their own vessels as were retreating." 

Contextual information:

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian from Halicarnassus, a city on the south-western coast of what is now Turkey. He wrote his Histories in the mid-fifth century BCE to record the wars between Greece and the Persian Empire, interviewing survivors and travelling widely to gather his accounts. He is regarded as the earliest writer to systematically research and record past events. 

Bibliographical reference:

Adapted from Herodotus. The History of Herodotus (G. Rawlinson, Trans. 1858–60, Vol. IV, pp. 112, 224–225, 425). John Murray. (Original work written ca. 440 BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain. 

Extract A

"But as the power of Hellas grew, and the [getting] of wealth became more an object, the revenues of the states increasing, [governments run by one powerful man] were by their means established almost everywhere — the old form of government being [inherited rule] with definite rights — and Hellas began to fit out fleets and apply herself more closely to the sea. It is said that the Corinthians were the first to approach the modern style of naval [building], and that Corinth was the first place in Hellas where galleys were built; and we have Ameinocles, a Corinthian shipwright, making four ships for the Samians." 

Extract B

"The Lacedaemonians, after [defeating] the tyrants of the Hellenes, most of whom had arisen in later times, [took control] in most cases, though Athens was conquered by them in former times, and in general managed the affairs of the cities by [setting up governments friendly to Sparta]. This lasted till shortly before the Persian war and the death of Darius the successor of Cambyses, that the Sicilian tyrants and the Corcyraeans [built up] any large number of triremes. For after these there were no navies of any account in Hellas till the expedition of Xerxes; Aegina, Athens, and others may have [owned] a few vessels, but they were principally fifty-oared. It was quite at the end of this period that the war with Aegina and the prospect of the barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles to persuade the Athenians to build the fleet with which they fought at Salamis." 

Extract C

"In addition to other improvements suggested by the former sea-fight which they now adopted in the equipment of their navy, they cut down their prows to a smaller compass to make them more solid and made their cheeks stouter, and from these let stays into the vessels' sides for a length of six cubits within and without, in the same way as the Corinthians had altered their prows before engaging the squadron at Naupactus. The Syracusans thought that they would thus have an advantage over the Athenian vessels, which were not constructed with equal strength, but were slight in the bows, from their being more used to sail round and charge the enemy's side than to meet him prow to prow, and that the battle being in the great harbour, with a great many ships in not much room, was also a fact in their favour. Charging prow to prow, they would stave in the enemy's bows, by striking with solid and stout beaks against hollow and weak ones." 

Extract D

"For a short time the league held together, till the Lacedaemonians and Athenians quarrelled, and made war upon each other with their allies, a [conflict] into which all the Hellenes sooner or later were drawn, though some might at first remain neutral. So that the whole period from the Persian war to this, with some peaceful intervals, was spent by each power in war, either with its rival, or with its own revolted allies, and consequently became more practised and experienced in its dangers." 

Contextual information:

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general who lived through the Peloponnesian War. He began writing his History of the Peloponnesian War shortly after the conflict broke out in 431 BCE, and his account covers events up to 411 BCE. He wrote as a direct observer of many of the events he describes, and his work is regarded as one of the earliest examples of rigorous historical writing. 

Bibliographical reference:

Adapted from Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War (R. Crawley, Trans. 1874, Book I §§ 13, 14, 18; Book VII § 36). Longmans, Green and Co. (Original work written ca. 431–411 BCE) 

Copyright: Public domain.