Fighting the Persian Wars

What body of water did the Persians cross to attack Greece?

• the Pacific Ocean

• the Aegean Sea

• the Red Sea

• the Arno River

Why did the Persians think it would be easy to conquer Greece?

• Because they knew the Greeks were peace-loving.

• Because they were better educated than the Greeks.

• Because they had more land and people than the Greeks.

• Because they had more people in their assembly than the Greeks.

What was an important result of the Persian wars?

• They caused Greeks to invent new gods.

• They led to the decline of Sparta.

• They enabled Persia to conquer Europe.

• They preserved Greek independence.

What was one reason Persia attacked Greece?

• Persia wanted revenge.

• Persia needed farmland.

• Persia wanted Greek culture.

• Persia needed better schools.

What were the Greeks able to use to win the Battle of Salamis?

• their knowledge of Persian strategy

• their knowledge of Greece’s waterways

• their large population of warriors

• their large area of land

The following passage might have been written by an Athenian soldier around 480 B.C.E. "I will stand shoulder to shoulder with the brave men of Greece—Spartans as well as fellow Athenians—and fight to the death, if that is what it takes to stop these murderous invaders [Persians]." What does this passage tell us?

• The Athenians and Spartans would have stronger armies than the Persians.

• The Athenians and Spartans would join together to fight a common enemy.

• Greece had never been invaded before.

• Greek men had never fought without women before.

What was most surprising about the outcome of the Persian wars?

• The Persian Empire fell apart after the wars.

• The Persian Empire attacked Greece again 30 years later.

• The Greeks won while fighting in a foreign land.

• The Greeks won with less land and fewer people.

What do the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Salamis, and the Battle of Thermopylae have in common?

• They were all fought by ships at sea.

• They were all won using clever strategy.

• King Xerxes led the Persians in all of them.

• Spartans fought to the death in all of them.