<P> The basic unit of politics in Ancient Greece was the polis, sometimes translated as city - state . "Politics" literally means "the things of the polis" where each city - state was independent, at least in theory . Some city - states might be subordinate to others (a colony traditionally deferred to its mother city), some might have had governments wholly dependent upon others (the Thirty Tyrants in Athens was imposed by Sparta following the Peloponnesian War), but the titularly supreme power in each city was located within that city . This meant that when Greece went to war (e.g., against the Persian Empire), it took the form of an alliance going to war . It also gave ample opportunity for wars within Greece between different cities . </P> <P> Two major wars shaped the Classical Greek world . The Persian Wars (500--448 BC) are recounted in Herodotus's Histories . By the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persian Empire ruled over all Greek city states and had made territorial gains in the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper as well . The Ionian Greek cities revolted from the Persian Empire, through a chain of events, and were supported by some of the mainland cities, eventually led by Athens . To punish mainland Greece for its support of the Ionian cities (which uprising by that time had already been quelled) Darius I launched the First Persian invasion of Greece, which lasted from 492 BC till 490 BC . The Persian general Megabyzus re-subjugated Thrace and conquered Macedon in the early stages of the war, but the war eventually ended with a Greek victory . Darius's successor, Xerxes I, launched the Second Persian invasion of Greece . Even though at a crucial point in the war, the Persians briefly overran northern and central Greece, the Greek city - states managed to turn this war into a victory too . The notable battles of the Greco - Persian Wars include Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea .) </P> <P> To prosecute the war and then to defend Greece from further Persian attack, Athens founded the Delian League in 477 BC . Initially, each city in the League would contribute ships and soldiers to a common army, but in time Athens allowed (and then compelled) the smaller cities to contribute funds so that it could supply their quota of ships . Secession from the League could be punished . Following military reversals against the Persians, the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens, further strengthening the latter's control over the League . The Delian League was eventually referred to pejoratively as the Athenian Empire . </P> <P> In 458 BC, while the Persian Wars were still ongoing, war broke out between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League, comprising Sparta and its allies . After some inconclusive fighting, the two sides signed a peace in 447 BC . That peace was stipulated to last thirty years: instead it held only until 431 BC, with the onset of the Peloponnesian War . Our main sources concerning this war are Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War and Xenophon's Hellenica . </P>

A greek in another southern european country in the past (7)