Osprey Men-at-Arms 69 : The Greek and Persian Wars 500-323 BC

In the early 5th century BC, after the fall of the Lydian Empire, the Persian Wars began. It was an ideological conflict which pitted a proud, democratic, freedom-loving people against a tyrannical and mighty empire. The immediate cause was the revolt of the Greek cities in Ionia, a revolt which was eventually successfully put down by the 'Great King' Darius, who followed this with the attempted invasion of the Greek mainland, an attempt which failed disastrously at the legendary battle of Marathon. The Persians tried again however, with the ascension to the throne of Darius' son, Xerxes, who assembled an awesome army with which to invade and crush for good the rebellious Greeks. The stories of these and the many other battles fought between these two deadly enemies, are here brought to life by Jack Cassin-Scott, who details the tactics, organisation and uniforms of the armies of both sides. With numerous illustrations and museum photographs throughout, plus eight full page colour plates drawn by the author himself.

Contents

• The Ionian Revolt
• Marathon
• Thermopylae
• Salamis
• Plataea and Mycale
• The Peloponnesian War
• Alexander the Great
• The Plates