What effect did the persian wars have on the role of athens in the greek world?
Athens was initally the object of the Persian invasion of Greece. Forced to defend itself and repel the Persian invasion, Athens developed its navy to defeat the Persians at the battle of Artemisium and at Salamis. While Sparta was only a land power, it was Athens with her powerful navy that was able to defend the Greek islands. After the battle of Plataea and the withdrawal of the Persian King Xerxes back to Asia Minor, Sparta saw no need to pursue the Persians outside of Greece. However, the Athenians under Themistocles saw it differently – trying to prevent another attempted invasion of Greece and the islands, Athens rallied the Greek island states together to carry on the war. In doing so, Athens formed a league – the Delian League – in which all states would contribute to the prosecution of the war against Persia. As the major naval power and the head of the new Delian League, Athens became the major power in Greece as Sparta was forced to deal with problems at home as the rebelli
