- Kree-sus
- Descendant of Gyges
- King of Sardis and all of Lydia
- Thought he was the happiest man alive because money, wife, kid, but this wise man from Athens, Solon, said no. His life wasn't over yet and it could get bad.
- Croesus decides to attack Persia but asks the Oracles at Delphi first
- Oracle says two things:
- 1) "You will destroy a great empire"
- Problem: this does not specify which empire will be destroyed, Croesus or Cyrus?
- 2) "You will not be destroyed until a mule sits on the throne of Persia"
- Croesus thought it meant a real mule, but it was talking about how Cyrus was half-Mede half-Persian
- Croesus fights Cyrus and loses. He retreats back to Sardis where some horses eat some snakes. He recognizes this as symbolic: the Lydians are the snakes and the horses are Persians. He will be destroyed.
- Sardis is overtaken because of camels.
- Croesus us tied up to a stake and set on fire.
- He yells, "Solon, Solon... SOLON! HE WAS A MAN!" for he realizes that Solon was right and nothing in life is guaranteed.
- Cyrus wants to know who this Solon person is. Fortunately a magic Apollo cloud comes along and puts out the fire.
- Croesus and Cyrus become pals.
- Croesus tries to convince Cyrus not to go against Tomyris, but Cyrus doesn't listen.
- Cyrus dies, Croesus lives pretty happily in Persia until he dies.
- Given Miletus by Darius
- Is a tyrant
- Starts to fortify Miletus
- Artaphernes notices and convinces Darius this is bad.
- Darius brings him to Susa to be his best friend
- Histiaeus sends a secret message via the tattoo on a man's head (shaved him, tattooed him, waited for the hair to grow, sent him away) to Aristagoras, his nephew and son-in-law.
- Convinces Aristagoras to rebel against Darius.
- Artaphernes finds out.
- Aristagoras fails, Histiaeus gets captured by Artaphernes and beheaded.
- His head is sent to Darius who cries and has his head washed and buried properly.
- Son-in-law and nephew to Histiaeus
- Convinced by Histiaeus to rebel against Darius
- Gives Miletus its freedom in order to get them on his side
- Goes to Sparta and asks for help from Cleomenes but fails
- Convinces some Athenians to help him
- Miletus refuses to take him back because now that they have tasted freedom they will not go back to tyranny
- Aristagoras sends letters to his contacts in Susa, but Artaphernes intercepts them.
- Aristagoras killed by Artaphernes.
- Grandfather, Astyages, tried to have him killed off as a baby
- Harpagus, who was supposed to kill him, gave him to a shepherd to kill, to avoid having blood on his hands.
- The shepherd kept Cyrus and gave his recently dead baby to Harpagus
- Cyrus grew up and took over the Persian throne. He was half-Mede, half-Persian (like a mule)
- Cyrus attacked Croesus and took over Lydia and Sardis.
- Cyrus defeated Croesus by listening to Harpagus' advice about the camels.
- Cyrus hears Croesus crying out about a man named Solon and saved Croesus, who became his friend.
- Cyrus decides to attack a lady named Tomyris.
- He dies.
- Lived in Susa
- Was supposed to kill the king's grandson, Cyrus, but didn't.
- The king feeds Harpagus the flesh of his own son.
- Harpagus helps Cyrus become king for revenge
- Becomes an adviser to Cyrus.
- When Cyrus attacks Sardis Harpagus has him put the camels in front of the infantry and cavalry of their army so that the first things the Lydian horses will see and smell are camels. Horses hate the smell of camels. The horses of the Lydians freaked out and this helped the Persians/Cyrus win.
- King of Persia
- Related to Cyrus
- Very forgiving
- When he receives the dead head of his enemy Histiaeus he cries and has it washed and buried with proper honor.
- Sends enjoys/messengers to Athens and Sparta to ask for earth and water as signs that they would accept him as king.
- His messengers are pushed down wells to "find their earth and water."
- He sends an army to punish them, but in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC/E the Athenians cause the Greeks to win and Darius' army is defeated.
- Darius has a servant reminded him "Don't forget Athens, don't forget Athens, don't forget Athens," every day before he ate his evening meal.
- He dies before he can have revenge.
- Son of Darius.
- Wants to avenge his father and attack Athens.
- Whips the Hellespont because it broke his bridge of boats.
- Accepts Demaratos of Sparta as his adviser.
- Related to Mardonius.
- Goes to Athens to fight, these are the Persian Wars.
- Looks at his army and cries because life if short
- Laughs when Demaratos tells him that the Spartans will fight no matter what.
- Defeats Leonidas at Thermopylae, along with 300 other Spartans and their allies.
- Defeats Athens and camps inside their city.
- Fights at Salamis in 480 BC/E, but loses
- Retreats back home to Susa, a failure.
- Related to Xerxes.
- Loves mischief and causing trouble.
- Wants to rule all of Hellas/Greece.
- Convinces Xerxes to go to war against the Hellenics/Greeks.
- When Xerxes loses at Salamis in 480 BC/E Mardonius offers to stay behind with an army and try to defeat the Greeks/Hellenics by land because he knows everyone will blame him for the Persians losing since it was his idea in the first place.
- Xerxes doesn't care about Mardonius' life and allows him to stay.
- Related to Xerxes.
- Prince of Persia.
- Alive during the Pelopponesian Wars.
- Signs a treaty with Sparta/Astyochus.
- Gives Spartan troops money.
- Is convinced by Alcibiades to back off and help less, letting Sparta and Athens kill each other off.
- So-lawn
- "He was a man!"
- From Athens
- Created the laws of Athens, told them no one but himself could change anything in the laws for ten years, and then he skidaddled and traveled.
- Met Croesus and told him "You cannot tell if your life was happy until your life is over." He did not believe Croesus was the happiest man alive.
- Exiled from Athens
- Came back to Athens around 480 BC/E during the Persian Wars
- Put in charge of the navy/ships
- Convinces Eurydiades to stay at the isle of Salamis to fight there
- Sent letters secretly to Xerxes to convince him to attack the Greeks, so that the Greeks couldn't run away.
- Fought in the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC/E
- Eventually got kicked out of Athens years later
- Went to Persia
- Died there, either from disease or poison or both.
- Al-kib-ee-awww-deez
- From Athens, super beautiful
- When he wrestled as a child he would bite his opponents and they would say "You bite like a woman!" and he would say "No. I bite like a lion."
- During a game of dice, also in childhood, he threw himself in front of a horse and cart shouting "You on if you must!" because he was winning the game and didn't want to lose.
- He was very good at public speaking.
- He was accused of betraying the Athenians.
- He ran away and joined the enemy, Sparta, during the Pelopponesian Wars. Why should Sparta trust him? Because Athens, his city, is one of justice. Athens is being unjust. Therefore, it is no longer his city.
- During the fight over Miletus, the isle of Chios, and the isle of Lesbos, he makes friends with some Athenians on the isle of Samos.
- Astyochus, admiral of the Spartan fleet, is given orders to kill him.
- He flees to seek help from Persia, but before he gets there the house he is staying in is set on fire and he is arrowed and javelined to death.
- Klee-ahh-meh-knees
- King of Sparta
- Only slightly deranged
- Asked by Aristagoras to send troops to fight against Darius. Almost says yes, but stopped by his daughter.
- Father to Gorgo.
- Brother to Leonidas.
- Spreads rumours against his co-ruler, Demaratos, and gets him kicked out of Sparta.
- Desecrates a grove sacred to the gods.
- Goes crazy-pants.
- Is first exiled because of what he did to Demaratos and then imprisoned.
- He kills himself by slowly flaying himself alive, starting at the ankles. Ew.
- For more info see Kleomenes
- Deh-ma-ra-tus
- King of Sparta
- Kingship taken away because of rumour his co-ruler, Cleomenes, spread about how his father was not really the king.
- Fled to Persia
- Became friends with Darius (no surprise there)
- Became adviser to Xerxes and told him that no matter what Spartans would always fight.
- Gore-go
- Became Queen of Sparta
- Daughter of Cleomenes
- Niece/Wife of Leonidas
- Convinced her father not to trust the Ionian, Aristagoras, and saved Sparta from siding with the Persians.
- When Demaratus sent a secret message on a wax tablet she was the only one to be able to figure out to melt the wax to see the message underneath.
- For more of Gorgo click here
- King of Sparta, after Cleomenes died.
- He was raised as a regular Spartan instead of as a king and knew how to fight.
- He was married to his niece, Gorgo.
- He, along with 300 other Spartans, fought against the Persians at Thermopylae.
- He was killed in battle, betrayed by a fellow Greek who showed the Persians a goat trail that led around to the back of the Spartan army.
- Eurybiades (your-ih-bye-uhh-deez)
- From Sparta in Greece
- Led all Greek/Hellenic navies in the Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C/E
- Was convinced by Themistocles to stay at Salamis and not flee
- Uh-sty-uhh-kiss
- Spartan admiral (in charge of navy/ships)
- Fought during the Pelopponesian War
- Was allies with Alcibiades (an Athenian)
- Created a peace treaty with Tissaphernes (a Persian)
- Fought to protect Miletus
