What was Greekness?

The Persian Wars, 490-479 BC

In this course, Professor Paul Cartledge (University of Cambridge) explores the Greco-Persian Wars of 490-79 BC. We begin by exploring the concept of Greekness before turning in the second module to think about the extent to which the Greeks formed a unified resistance to the Persian threat. In the third module, we look at our main source for the Greco-Persian Wars – Herodotus' Histories – before turning in the fourth module to the means by which the Athenians and Spartans commemorated their victory over the Persians, including the Serpent Column at Delphi and the Parthenon in Athens. Finally, in the fifth module, we think about what might have happened if the Persians, not the Greeks, had won the Greco-Persian Wars.

What was Greekness?

In this module, we think about what it was that the all the Greeks had in common. What, if anything, defined 'Greekness'? As we move through the module, we consider the rapid expansion of the Persian Empire as well as the Ionian Revolt of the early 5th century BC.