In the Fertile Crescent, another empire is growing in Persia, the first stirrings of the Persian Empire itself. After the fall of the Assyrians the Neo-Babylonians have filled the power vacuum. Perhaps some people feel as though the new power is weak enough to shrug away. Judah certainly thinks so, and the Palestinian nation rebels, only to see its people deported. But the Persians are a truly cosmopolitan people and take advantage of the best and brightest of their captives, elevating several young men to positions of power, as described in the Hebrews’ Book of Daniel. But though the Persian society offers many attractive advantages and many people fall away, some Hebrews cling to the God of their fathers and dream of a day when they can return home. In the mean time they seclude themselves in ghettoes and solidify their teachings, focusing on restitution for wrongs and rewards for the steadfast.
The Hebrews get their chance to return under the reign of Cyrus the Great. That doughty Persian is a mercenary lord, hired out by the Medes before establishing a power for his own people. He looks to the west out of the Persian steppes and finds the view to his liking, but unlike past warlords, he bypasses the Babylonians altogether and takes Lydia in Asia Minor, subjugating Croesus and gaining control of the rich king’s trade routs. Now with money to spare, Cyrus turns to the other Persian lords and to the Ionic Greeks and with these hired forces dominate the Fertile Crescent. Cyrus is a good king, for he takes steps to honor the gods of the lands he has conquered, to include Yahweh of the Hebrews. It is this favorable disposition that allows those holdouts to return home to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
Some years pass and Darius come to the throne. Perhaps the peoples have not learned from Judah’s example, because the Ionic Greeks revolt against Persian influence, only to be systematically punished and deported. But Darius is concerned by the reports that Athenian ships were spotted aiding the rebels, so he determines to take all of Greece by force and solve this problem. The Greeks know that they are facing the might of the whole East, but they love their comparative freedoms and prepare for war. In this they are successful, when the Persians are caught by surprise at Marathon and duped into thinking that the Athenians yet have soldiers in their polis. So they sail away, vowing revenge.
Sparta did not get a chance to spill Persian blood thanks to a religious festival being held at the time of the invasion. But they shall now reassert themselves as the greatest land force in Levant. The Persians have returned under Darius’ successor, Xerxes. Years has this man spent in preparing to avenge his forebear’s failure and the charms of his beautiful Hebrew wife are not sufficient to discourage his personal attendance when the new Persian army crosses into Europa. Down the coasts march the Persian army, with the heavy Persian fleet ducking and swaying in the surf nearby, sustaining the army with their supplies. And there at Thermopylae are the Spartans, led by one of their kings, Leonidas, and attended by other free Greeks. There they give the Persians bloody combat, even casting off the attentions of the infamous Immortals, the crack soldiers of the East. But time is running out and the Persians at last circle around through the mountains to surround the Greeks, prompting Leonidas to send away many of the volunteers, staying behind with his 300 Spartans and a few brave others to hold the line.
After the fall of the brave 300, Xerxes has only to drive out the Athenians before he can march upon the Peloponnesius. But he has one great obstacle to overcome yet: the Athenian navy. Not to be outdone by their rivals, the Athenians have withdrawn to their own Thermopylae at a place called Salamis. There the Persian fleet is decimated, leaving the over-sized Persian army to struggle for the next few years before fighting out of the country and back to beloved Anatolia.
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