Osprey Essential Histories 36 : The Greek and Persian Wars 499-386 BC

One of the defining periods in European history is the series of wars between the Classical Greeks and the Persian Empire which produced the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis. Herodotus, 'the Father of History', whose account of the wars is used as the author's principal source of information, recounts these momentous events. He tells of the lives of these great men and women, of the societies and cultures that produced them, and seeks to explain how and why they came into conflict.

Contents

• Introduction
• Chronology
• Background to War
• Warring Sides
• Outbreak
• The Fighting
• Portrait of a Soldier
• The World around War
• Portrait of a Civilian
• How the War Ended
• Conclusion and Consequences