The Persian Wars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Herodotus

Herodotus was born around 484 BCE in Halicarnassus, but he lived most of his life in Athens as a resident alien - a metic. Although others before him had written 'histories', these had largely been simply stories of past events (like Homer's 'The Iliad') instead of efforts to EXPLAIN the past.

This is why Herodotus is so often called the Father of History - his failure to meet the standards of modern scholarship and objectivity, however, earns him the title 'Father of Lies.' He died around 420 BCE, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War.

Answer: Ionia

The other three areas are all on the main Greek peninsula. The cities of Ionia - including Miletus, Ephesus, Chios, and Samos - had accepted Persian rule for several decades, as the Persian strategy was to allow conquered lands to keep most of their independence.

But around 500 BCE, as radical new political ideas like democracy swept through Greece, the Ionian cities suddenly found Persian rule unacceptable and rebelled.

Answer: Athens and Eretria

Yes, there is a Greek city named Eretria, not to be confused with the nation of Eritrea that won its independence from Ethiopia in the 1990s. Although these cities sent both fleets and armies to aid the Ionians, King Darius I of Persia was able to brutally suppress the rebels by 494 BCE - and the support of the Athenians and Eretrians was the perfect excuse for the Persians to invade Greece.

Answer: No

Because Persia was interested in attacking only those Greek city-states which had supported the Ionians, the other Greek cities did not feel particularly threatened. We must also remember that the Greek cities had never been united and frequently fought amongst themselves - so that some Greeks were relieved by the attack on their neighbors. Because of this, the only city-state to stand with Athens and Eretria against the Persians was the small town of Plataea.

Answer: Miltiades

Before the Battle of Marathon, the Persians had already sacked the city of Eretria, and they did not expect much resistance from the Athenians, whose forces they greatly outnumbered. After a week of dissent and anxiety as they watched the Persian encampment only a mile away, the Greeks finally decided to make an unprecedented move: Athenian and Plataean hoplites (heavily armored infantrymen with interlocking shields) rushed across the plain to attack the Persians in formation, at a run.

The collapse of the Persian flanks allowed the Greeks to trap the center, and within a few hours the Greeks had managed to defeat a much larger army.

Answer: Xerxes

The Persians' second assault on Greece was delayed both by the unexpected death of Darius I in 486 BCE and by other issues that arose over their enormous empire. When the assault finally did come, it was motivated more out of a desire to stabilize the western borders of Persia than out of vengeance for Marathon.

Answer: Sparta

Sparta was a natural choice for this leadership role, as its population was highly militarized. Although the Greek city-states were far more unified for the second Persian War than for the first, some cities still sided with the Persians against their neighbors. Thessaly, Argos, and Thebes were among these.

Answer: Thermopylae

At Thermopylae, a relatively small number of Greek hoplites was able to hold back thousands of advancing Persians for days - until Greeks allied with Xerxes showed the Persians a mountain trail that would let them attack the Greeks from the rear. Leonidas, a Spartan king, sent his Greek allies home to fight another day, while he and the other 300 Spartans held the pass as long as they could before they were killed.

Their legendary bravery bought their allies time, as did the heroic efforts of the smaller - but heavier and better-armed - Greek navy in the nearby strait of Euboea.

Answer: Salamis

This battle largely ended the Persian Wars. Xerxes fled home with most of his armies, leaving a small force behind to inflict whatever casualties and damage it could. This force was defeated by a Spartan-led coalition at Plataea in 479.

Answer: Delian League

The members of the Delian League - which did not include Sparta - were supposed to pay funds towards the common effort. These funds eventually went to a treasury on the sacred island of Delos, but when the treasury was moved to Athens, it became clear that the alliance had become an empire, with Athens's 'allies' as its subjects.

While the League was successful in freeing Ionia and removing the Persians from the Aegean Sea, many found Athenian rule more distasteful than Persian rule. It was the building of the Athenian Empire through the Delian League, with all the accompanying power shifts, that led to the Peloponnesian War less than fifty years later. I hope you've enjoyed this quiz!