BC490-471 Darius and Xerxes of Persia

In the twenty years from 490-471 BC Darius I of Persia (pictured) had been previously defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon in 491 BC by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades.

Darius I died in 486 BC and was succeeded by his son, Xerxes.

Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea.

The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. Athens had enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League, to fight the Persians. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.

By 480 BC, Gelo, the tyrant of Greek Syracuse, backed by support from other Greek city-states, was attempting to unite the island under his rule. This threat could not be ignored, and Carthage in alliance with Persia, declared war on Greece.

Carthage fielded its largest military force under the leadership of general Hamilcar. En route to Sicily, Hamilcar suffered losses due to poor weather. Landing at Panormus (Palermo), he was then defeated by Gelo at the Battle of Himera and died. This loss severely weakened Carthage, and the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic.

BC210-191 Terra Cotta Soldiers and Punic Wars

In the twenty years from 210-191 BC the first Emperor of China, Shi Huang, died and was buried with 8,000 life-size terra cotta soldiers (pictured); the Second Punic War ended in 202 BC; the Second Macedonian war started in 200 BC; and the Seleucid War started in 192 BC.

With his brother Hasdrubal's death, and without backup from Carthage, Hannibal was losing the war in Italy and Spain. Scipio captured the local Carthaginian cities in Spain, made several alliances with local rulers, and then invaded Africa itself.

With Carthage now directly threatened, Hannibal returned to Africa to face Scipio. At the final Battle of Zama in 202 BC the Romans defeated Hannibal and the Second Punic War ended.

Carthage sued for peace, and Rome agreed on condition that Carthage give up its foreign colonies, pay a huge indemnity, and desist from forming an army or navy again.

Hannibal took a leading role in rebuilding Carthage, and succeeded so well that a vengeful Rome forced him to flee to Asia Minor in 195 BC, where he served several local kings as a military adviser, finally serving in the court of the Seleucid Empire.

The Second Macedonian War (200-196 BC) broke out after ambassadors from Pergamon and Rhodes brought evidence before the Roman Senate in 201 BC that Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire had become allies.

Rome launched a second Macedonian war with aid from its Greek allies. It was an indecisive conflict until the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC made Rome the victor.

By the Treaty of Tempea, Rome forbade Philip V to interfe with affairs outside his borders. It was a condition he adhered to for the rest of his life.

The Seleucid War broke out shortly after, in 192 BC. It was caused by the Greek Aetolian League asking Antiochus III of Seleucid Syria for assistance in ridding them of Roman interference.

The Aetolian League was unhappy with the amount of territory ceded to them by Rome in return for their aid in the Second Macedonian war, and wanted to rid Greece of the Romans.

Because Antiochus III had given Hannibal shelter, Rome responded to the arrival of Antiochus's small army by sending a force of 30,000 troops under Scipio Africanus back into Greece, driving out the Seleucids.

The first Roman victory was at Thermopylae in 191 BC, and more were to follow.