‘Persian Wars’ is a modern umbrella term denoting the attacks by the Achaemenid kings Darius I (522–486 BC) and Xerxes I (486–465 BC) on Greece in the period between the Ionian Revolt (c. 500–494 BC) and the middle of the 5th cent. The expansion of Persian rule to the European continent (from 513/12 BC) and the concomitant Achaemenid claim to world dominion had put an end to the hitherto peaceful nature of Greco-Persian contacts. The defe…
