"This book covers one of the defining periods of European history. The series of wars between the Classical Greeks and the Persian Empire produced the famous battles of Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, as well as an ill-fated attempt to overthrow the Persian king in 400 B.C., which helped to inspire the conquests of Alexander the Great. To tell the story of these momentous events, of the lives of great men and women of the societies and cultures that produced them, and to explain how and why they came into conflict was the aim of Herodotus, the 'Father of History' whose account of the wars is our principal source and the first book to be called a history."--BOOK JACKET.

Includes maps of: Persian Empire; Ionian Revolt, 499-94; Battle of Marathon, 490 - Phase One; Battle of Marathon, 490 - Phase Two; Xerxes' Invasion, 480-79; Battle of Thermopylai, 480; Battle of Salamis, 480; Battle of Plataia, 479 - Phase One; Battle of Plataia, 479 - Phase Two.

Introduction -- Chronology -- Background to war : the coming of the Persians -- Warring sides : Persia, Sparta and Athens -- Outbreak : Dareios sends an expedition to Greece -- The fighting : Xerxes' invasion of Greece -- Portrait of a soldier : Aristodemos the Spartan -- The world around war : Persian architecture -- Portraits of civilians : Demokedes and Demaratos -- How the wars ended : the Greeks attack the Persian Empire -- Conclusion and consequences : the Peloponnesian War.