The Persian soldiers were ill-equipped; they were embarrassed by their
long robes, the head was poorly protected by a felt hat, the body
ill-defended by a shield of wicker-work. For arms they had a bow, a
dagger, and a very short pike; they could fight only at a great
distance or hand-to-hand. The Spartans and their allies, on the
contrary, secure in the protection of great buckler, helmet and
greaves, marched in solid line and were irresistible; they broke the
enemy with their long pikes and at once the battle became a massacre.
=Results of the Persian Wars.=--Sparta had commanded the troops, but
as Herodotus says,[77] it was Athens who had delivered Greece by
setting an example of resistance and constituting the fleet of
Salamis. It was Athens who profited by the victory. All the Ionian
cities of the Archipelago and of the coast of Asia revolted and formed
a league against the Persians. The Spartans, men of the mountains,
could not conduct a maritime war, and so withdrew; the Athenians
immediately became chiefs of the league. In 476[78] Aristides,
commanding the fleet, assembled the delegates of the confederate
cities.
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