The destruction of Athens, took place between 480 and 479 BC, when

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

was captured and subsequently destroyed by the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

. A prominent Greek city-state, it was attacked by the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

in a two-phase offensive, amidst which the Persian king Xerxes the Great had issued an order calling for it to be torched. The Persian army commander Mardonius oversaw the razing of several structures of political and religious significance throughout the city, including the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

, the Old Temple of Athena, and the Older Parthenon. Two years later, the Greek coalition retook Athens and dealt a devastating defeat to the Persian army during the Battle of Plataea, killing Mardonius and setting the stage for the eventual expulsion of all Persian troops from southern Greece. Athens' destruction by the Persians prompted the Greeks to build the Themistoclean Wall around the city in an effort to deter future invaders, and the event continued to have an impact on Greek society for a prolonged period; a number of Athenian artifacts that had been taken to Persia during the

Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Polis, Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world ...

were returned to Greece during the

Wars of Alexander the Great War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, and according to the Greek historians

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

and

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, b ...

, it was the legacy of the Persian assault on Athens that ultimately influenced

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

's decision to burn down the Palace of Persepolis as he was completing his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BC.

First phase: Xerxes I (480 BCE)

In 480 BCE, following the

Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae ( ) was fought in 480 BC between the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenid Persian Empire under Xerxes I and an alliance of Polis, Greek city-states led by Sparta under Leonidas I. Lasting over the course of three days, it wa ...

, all of

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

fell to the Persian army. Thespiae and Plataea, the two Greek cities that had resisted Xerxes, were captured and subsequently razed.

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

was left open to a Persian offensive, and the remaining population of Athens was thus evacuated, with the aid of the Greek fleet, to Salamis. The Peloponnesians began to prepare a defensive line across the

Isthmus of Corinth The Isthmus of Corinth ( Greek: Ισθμός της Κορίνθου) is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The wide Isthmus was known in the a ...

, building a wall and demolishing the road from

Megara Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

, thereby abandoning Athens to the Persians. Athens fell a first time in September 480 BCE. The small number of Athenians who had barricaded themselves on the Acropolis were eventually defeated, and Xerxes then ordered his troops to torch the city. The Acropolis was razed, and the Old Temple of Athena and the Older Parthenon were destroyed: Shortly thereafter, Xerxes lost a large part of his fleet to the Greeks during the Battle of Salamis. With the Persians' naval superiority removed from the war, Xerxes feared that the Greeks might sail to the

Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

and destroy his pontoon bridges. According to Herodotus, Mardonius volunteered to remain in Greece and complete the campaign with a hand-picked group of troops while advising Xerxes to retreat to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

with the bulk of the Persian army. Attica was abandoned by the Persians, with Mardonius over-wintering in Boeotia and

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

.Holland, pp. 327–329 Some Athenians were thus able to return to their burnt-out city for the winter, but they would again have to evacuate in the face of another Persian offensive in June 479 BCE.

Second phase: Mardonius (479 BCE)

Mardonius remained with the rest of the Persian army in northern Greece. Herodotus described the composition of his special troops: Answer of Aristides to the ambassadors of Mardonius

Answer of Aristides to the ambassadors of Mardonius

Mardonius remained in Thessaly, knowing an attack on the Isthmus was pointless, while the Allied Greeks refused to send an army outside of the Peloponessus.Holland, pp. 333–335 Moving to break the stalemate, Mardonius offered to the Athenians peace, self-government, and territorial expansion (with the aim of thereby removing their fleet from the Allied forces), using Alexander I of Macedon as an intermediary.Holland, pp. 336–338 The Athenians, keeping with them a delegation from

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

on hand to hear the offer, rejected it. Thus, the Persians marched south to take possession of Athens once more, forcing the residents to evacuate. This time, Mardonius brought even more thorough destruction to the city, and some authors considered that the city was truly razed to the ground during this second military offensive. According to Herodotus, after the negotiations broke off:

Recovery of the city

Athenians rebuilding their city under the direction of Themistocles

The Persians were decisively beaten at the ensuing Battle of Plataea, and the Greeks were able to recover Athens. They had to rebuild everything, including a new

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

on the

. These efforts at reconstruction were led by Themistocles in the autumn of 479 BC, who reused remains of the Older Parthenon and Old Temple of Athena to reinforce the walls of the Acropolis, which are still visible today in the North Wall of the Acropolis. His priority was probably to repair the walls and build up the defenses of the city, before even endeavouring to rebuild temples. Themistocles in particular is considered as the builder of the northern wall of the Acropolis incorporating the debris of the destroyed temples, while

Cimon Cimon or Kimon (; – 450BC) was an Athenian '' strategos'' (general and admiral) and politician. He was the son of Miltiades, also an Athenian ''strategos''. Cimon rose to prominence for his bravery fighting in the naval Battle of Salamis ...

is associated with the later building of the southern wall.

Construction of the Themistoclean Wall

The Themistoclean Wall, named after Themistocles, was built right after the destruction of Athens with the hope of defending against another invasion. A lot of these building efforts were accomplished using '' spolia''. The Parthenon was only rebuilt much later, after more than 30 years had elapsed, by

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

, possibly because of an original vow that the Greek temples destroyed by the Persians should not be rebuilt. File:Architectural remains of the Old Athena Temple built into the north wall of the Acropolis.jpg, Architectural remains of the Old Athena Temple built into the north wall of the Acropolis by Themistocles File:Acropolis North wall Older Partenon columns.jpg, Column drums of the Older Parthenon, reused in the North wall of the Acropolis, by Themistocles File:Parthenon ancient & Pericles, Maxime Collignon.jpg, The Older Parthenon (in black) was destroyed by the Achaemenids, and then rebuilt by

in 438 BCE (in grey). File:City walls Kerameikos Athens.jpg, Ruins of the Themistoclean Wall

Ramifications

Burning of the Palace of Persepolis by Alexander the Great

Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse Incendie de Persepolis 1890

In 330 BCE,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

burned down the Palace of Persepolis, which had served as the principal residence of the defeated Achaemenid dynasty. He made this decision after a drinking party and supposedly at the instigation of his companion Thaïs, though according to

and

, setting fire to Persepolis was intended to be retribution for the destruction of Athens during the

Modern archaeological excavations

''Perserschutt''

Numerous remains of statues vandalized by the Persians have been excavated and are known collectively as the '' Perserschutt'' () following the efforts of German archaeologists Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Georg Kawerau in the 19th century. The statue '' Nike of Callimachus'', which was erected next to the Older Parthenon in honour of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

and the Greek victory during the

Battle of Marathon The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens (polis), Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Achaemenid Empire, Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaph ...

, was severely damaged by the Persian army. The statue depicts Nike (the personification of victory) in the form of a woman with wings on top of an inscribed column. Its height is and it was made using

Parian marble Parian marble is a fine-grained, semi translucent, and pure-white marble quarried during the classical antiquity, classical era on the Greece, Greek List of islands of Greece, island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. A subtype, referred to as Parian ' ...

. The head of the statue and parts of the torso and hands were never recovered. Xerxes also took away some of the artifacts, such as a bronze statue of Harmodius and Haristogiton, which was recovered in the city of

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

during the

and subsequently returned to Greece after nearly two centuries. Acropolis excavation pit where remains of Archaic statues were found.jpg, Acropolis excavation pit where remains of Archaic statues were found, northwest of the Erechtheum ACMA 698 Kritios boy 4.JPG, The Kritios Boy was recovered, decapitated in the Perserschutt. ACMA 681 Kore Antenor 4.JPG, The Antenor Kore, recovered from the Perserschutt Friso.jpg, Part of the damaged Hekatompedon pediment File:Moscophoros22.jpg, The damaged Moscophoros ACMA 679 Kore 2.JPG, The damaged Peplos Kore File:Kouros' Head to horse, Acropolis' museum, Athens.jpg, The damaged Rampin Rider File:The Capture of the Acropolis by the Persians.jpg, ''The Capture of the Acropolis by the Persians''

References

Sources

* Holland, Tom (2006). ''Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West''. Abacus, .

External links

*{{cite book , last1=Shear , first1=Leslie , date=1993, title=The Persian destruction of Athens , url=https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/148190.pdf Ancient Athens Greco-Persian Wars 480 BC 479 BC War crimes War crimes in Greece Razed cities Iranian war crimes Massacres committed by Iran Massacres in Greece Looting in Greece Looting in Europe Sieges of Athens