by chance and necessity rather than by purpose. In these respects his philosophy was more
scientific than those of Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle. In other respects, it is true, he acquiesced
in current superstitions; but in this he was no worse than many more recent men of science.
CHAPTER VII Athens in Relation to CultureTHE greatness of Athens begins at the time of the two Persian wars ( 490 B.C. and 480-79 B.C.).
Before that time, Ionia and Magna Graecia (the Greek cities of south Italy and Sicily) produced
the great men. The victory of Athens against the Persian king Darius at Marathon ( 490), and of
the combined Greek fleets against his son and successor Xerxes ( 480) under Athenian leadership,
gave Athens great prestige. The Ionians in the islands and on part of the mainland of Asia Minor
had rebelled against Persia, and their liberation was effected by Athens after the Persians had been
driven from the mainland of Greece. In this operation the Spartans, who cared only about their
own territory, took no part. Thus Athens became the predominant partner in an alliance against
Persia. By the constitution of the alliance, any constituent State was bound to contribute either a
specified number of ships, or the cost of them. Most chose the latter, and thus Athens acquired
naval supremacy over the other allies, and gradually transformed the alliance into an Athenian
Empire. Athens became rich, and prospered under the wise leadership of Pericles, who governed,
by the free choice of the citizens, for about thirty years, until his fall in 430 B.C.
The age of Pericles was the happiest and most glorious time in the history of Athens. Aeschylus,
who had fought in the Persian wars, inaugurated Greek tragedy; one of his tragedies, the Persae,
departing from the custom of choosing Homeric subjects, deals with the defeat of Darius. He was
quickly followed by Sophocles, and Sophocles by Euripides, who, however, extends into the dark
days of