Greek States Quotes

• Herodotus "Just as I heard them related to me."
• Battle of Marathon- "Our purpose will be shaken, and we will submit to Persia"
• Battle of Marathon- "They were the first Greeks, so far as we know, to charge at a run, and the first who dared to look without flinching at Persian dress and the men who wore it."
• Battle of Marathon- "His servant never failed to repeat to him the words 'Remember Athens'"
• Battle of Marathon- "Amongst the Athenian commanders opinion was divided"
• Battle of Thermopylae- "A man from Malis, Ephialtes... came in hope of a rich reward, to tell the king about the track which led over the hills to Thermopylae"
• Battle of Thermopyale- "Suppose a thousand of them take the field- then that thousand will fight you" (Demaratus)
• Battle of Thermopylae- "The result was that the army split... thought it unbecoming for the Spartans under his command to desert the post they had originally come to guard"
• Battle of Thermopylae-  "The Persians would be unable, in the narrow pass, to use their cavalry"
• Battle of Salamis- "The Persians found Athens itself abandoned except for a few people"
• Battle of Thermopylae- “They would rather make an end of the fleet that was assembling then be led by the Athenians”
• Battle of Salamis- “If they quarrelled over the leadership, Hellas must perish”
• Battle of Salamis- "Fighting in a confined space favours us but the open sea favours the enemy."
• Battle of Salamis- "Xerxes, now absolute master of Athens"
• Battle of Salamis- “What are a few planks and timber? (Mardonius)
• Battle of Salamis- “Greek nation- the community of blood and language, temples and ritual, and our common customs; if Athens were to betray all this, it would not be well done.”
• Battle of Salamis- "in the races, the man who starts before the signal is whipped.' 'yes, but those who start too late win no prizes" (Adeimantus to Themistocles)
• Battle of Salamis-  "Since the Greek fleet worked together as a whole, while the Persians lost formation and were no longer fighting on any plan"
• Battle of Plataea- "We do claim the privilege of commanding the other one" (Sparta)
• Battle of Plataea- "We shall endeavour to fight like men. Give us our orders; we shall obey" (Athens)
• Battle of Plataea-  "Xerxes and Mardonius had his head cut off and stuck on a pike"
• Battle of Salamis- "Mardonius rendered satisfaction to the  Spartans for the killing of Leonidas"
• Battle of Plataea- "Their lack of armour, fighting without it against hoplites" (Persians)
• Battle of Plataea- "Neither side was willing to begin the general engagement"
• Battle of Plataea-  "He has only a few day's supplies left. (King Alexander on Xerxes)
• Battle of Plataea- "From this was made the gold tripod which stands next to the altar on the three-headed bronze snake" (Serpent Column)
• Battle of Mycale- "Having taken these precautions against the Ionians who they thought might cause trouble if they got the chance."
• Battle of Mycale- "Plataea was fought early in the day, but the action at Mycale did not take place until evening...the same day of the same month"
• Battle of Mycale- "The Athenian troops distinguished themselves more than any others in this battle."
• Ionia post War- "It was accordingly proposed by the Peloponnesian leaders to turn out the Greeks who had supported Persia and settle the Ionians in their commercial centres; the Athenians, however, strongly disapproved; for they had no wish to see Ionia depopulated."
• Thucydides- "The most noteworthy"
• Thucydides- "I was present myself... or else I heard of them from eye-witnesses whose reports I have checked."
• Thucydides- "My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public, but was done to last forever."
• Thucydides- "To make the speakers say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation."
• Growing tensions- "The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable"
• Walls- “They themselves did not like the idea of Athens or any other city being fortified, but chiefly because they were urged on by their allies, who were alarmed both by the sudden growth of Athenian sea power and by the daring which the Athenians had shown in the war” (Sparta)
• Epidamnus- "The Corinthians agreed to come to their assistance."
• Epidamnus- "They hated the Corcyraeans because they failed to Corinth the respect due from a colony to the mother city."
• Epidamnus- "Demanded in the most threatening and abusive language that the Epidamnus should reinstate the exiled party"
• Epidamnus- "They demanded that the Epidamnians should send away the troops and settlers that had come from Corinth."