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" This is particularly relevant on the influence of religion in that period. It was not uncommonly for wars to be delayed or even abandoned because of the predictions of oracles and the one in Delphi, which had a primary role in the Greeks' religious life, had a long history of interference in the Greek politics.
There must also be mentioned that the feelings of sympathy towards the Persians were also determined for most of the Greek cities by the approach of the Persian Army. An example is the people of Thessaly, which submitted only after the Greeks evacuated the valley of Tempe.
Overall, it was the combination of these factors that led to the fact that in the year 480 B.C. only about 30 of a few hundred Greek cities decided to oppose the Persian power. Fortunately for Greece, two of the cities who decided to make a stand were Sparta, which had the most powerful land army among the Greek cities, and Athens, which had the best fleet and sailors of that time. This land and naval forces, led by people with the character of Leonidas or genius of Themistocles changed the history in this part of the world and spared the Greek world, and with it, maybe the whole of Europe, of the terrible faith of being the tributaries of East for who knows how many years.
Bibliography
Burn,...
Persia and the Greeks: The Defense of the West, c. 546-478 BC. London: Edward Arnold, 1962.
Evans, J.A.S. Herodotus and the Battle of Marathon Historia 42.3, Boston G.K. Hall, 1982
Hammond, N.G.L. The Campaign and the Battle of Marathon. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1968.
Herodotus: "Books VI, VIII, IX" the Histories, Reprint edition, Penguin Books, September, 1996.
Hignett, C. Xerxes' invasion of Greece, Oxford, 1963
Green, P. The Greco-Persian Wars. rev. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996
Lazenby, J. The Defense of Greece 490-479 BC. David Brown Book co., 1993.
Montanelli, I. Storia dei Greci (History of the Greeks), Rizzoli, 2002
Pritchett, W.K. Marathon. University of California Publications in Classical Archaeology, no.4. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960.
Salam's, Battle of," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Thermopylae, Battle of," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Salam's, Battle of," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Bibliography
Burn, a.R. Persia and the Greeks: The Defense of the West, c. 546-478 BC. London: Edward Arnold, 1962.
Evans, J.A.S. Herodotus and the Battle of Marathon Historia 42.3, Boston G.K. Hall, 1982
Hammond, N.G.L. The Campaign and the Battle of Marathon. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1968.
Herodotus: "Books VI, VIII, IX" the Histories, Reprint edition, Penguin Books, September, 1996.
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