I agree it's credible. Darius may have believed he needed to punish The Athenians for the burning of Sardis (a lex talionis thing) but he might have forgotten because of more immediate concerns.

Interesting perspective .

That was an astute and hilarious observation.

@@alanpennie8013 Agreed the Athenian forces were destroyed at Ephesus so "honor" would have been satisfied.

Hard times call for hard men. 👍

One wonders what sort of footwear he used.

@@trentw.3566 Nike?

@@KonstanzArrens Likely he ran barefoot, like the great African marathoner in recent decades, but if he did have shoes...that would be important to know just what they were. Proto-Nike's, lol.

Makes it even more embarrassing that the Tiny Athenians Dominated them 🤣

If I had a nickel for every time an otherwise unstoppable central Asian empire would have conquered an at the time minor power if not for a storm wreaking their ships I'd have 2 nickels Which isn't much but it's weird that it happened twice.

@@HxH2011DRA They weren't in dreadnoughts....

Because that story doesnt sell but you're right. They all fought and died and barely anyone cares except for the Spartans. Idk why people glorify that city. They had hegemony for like a decade before they lost it and by the time of Alexander they were a joke.

The 1962 film acknowledges the thespians.

The Thebans would have been fighting on the Persian side, so the less said about that the better. This is wrong. The Thebans fought on the Spartan side at Thermopylae, but afterwards defected and fought on the Persian side at Plataea. A remarkably consistent record of getting it wrong.

It's not simple enough I guess. The Thebans surrendered at one point and were spared after they were branded "with the King's mark."

Personally I'd say no. Whilst the Sasanians honored their Achaemenid past, the Byzantines viewed themselves as Romans, despite them speaking Greek in trade and governing occupations.

As i understand it, Tyranny means the rule of one man, so it could be either a small or large place's ruler. It must be put in contrast to oligarchy and democracy to be understood perhaps, but clearly the word's original is very much detached from its use nowadays

Yes, a city ruler who achieved power without consent. If you want something to compare it to in modern history look at Latin America's history, their caudillos (leaders) and their countless coups.

@@ilFrancotti thanks makes sense. So it did originally have some negative connotations. Wasn’t necessarily a bad leader just took it over with no ones permission

@@mattstakeontheancients7594 I think that tyrants were looked on as somewhat dubious since their power was not legitimately acquired. But in his Politics Aristotle was prepared to offer advice to tyrants on how to stay in power.

The key feature regarding a Tyrant versus a King or an oligarchy or rule based on some for of democracy is the way in which he attains power in said polis. He is either installed by an outside power such as how Persia installed Persian friendly locals of influence as Tyrants throughout the city-states of Ionia and Aeolis in western Anatolia or alternatively the tyrant seizes power (through use of force or political intrigue or both) such as Peisistratus in Athens during the 6th Century. Because of how they came to power Tyrants always had the cloud of illegitimacy hanging over his rule of affairs of the state. For this reason you often saw many of the self-installed Greek tyrants come to power with deep pockets bearing lots of gifts to placate or lessen the resistance of the people and aristocratic class whose power had been supplanted. Many tyrants immediately set about major public building programs that eventually changed the skyline of several Greek cities during this period of time. More times than not a tyrant would eventually lose power but sometimes his reign was actually considered good and his heir would assume power when he died such as the case of Pisistratus in Athens. Upon Pisistratus' death his two sons Hippias and Hipparchus took control but from the outset they ran into problems due to their lack of skills in governing that their more able father possessed. Hipparchus was murdered causing Hippias to become very paranoid and despotic. Upon learning that Hippias was liaising with the Persians in Anatolia (ostensibly to strengthen his power) the Alcmaeonidae family formed an alliance with Sparta and together overthrew Hippias who escaped to Persian held Anatolia.

Apparently so. But The Athenians were on the shitlist anyway because of the burning of Sardis. Sparta choosing to join in the war was more of a surprise.

Dubious claim. The Phoenicians and Greeks already covered most of the Mediterranean before Cyrus was ever King of Kings. People in Anatolia had known about the Greeks for centuries but no one cared. The Mycenaeans were just as accomplished as the Hittites and the Egyptians. The only surefire "on the map" event is Alexander taking Babylon. THAT made the entire Persian empire bow to the Greeks and spread their culture across the Old World into India.

Were the Persians truly defeated? The succeeded in occupying and wrecking Athens after all, and keep their control over Ionia.

@@andywomack3414 I believe they lost Ionia for nearly 100 years, so it was a serious (if local) defeat.

The Assyrians were so sadistic, their exit from history is kind of a relief. It's like they were a bronze age holdover of a more barbaric time.

I think it’s a lot more likely they all belonged to a Anatolian language family

@@ChevyChase301 the same. lol "[Armenian, like Hittite, Luwian, and Lycian, retains the third laryngeal initially, ... These and other archaisms lead to the conclusion that Armenian is an Anatolian language and can be compared to more advantage with Lycian and Hittite than with the IE languages proper.]" SAME SAME SAME SAME SAME LOL Is macedon Greek? Same same same same same lol Are Veneto Italian the same as Sicilian Italian today? Even when they're drunk soccer people? close enough.. Same same same.

No

@@decimusausoniusmagnus5719 fair enough (If Medes is Kurds, then totally Armenia)