Seeking to secure his empire from further revolts and from the interference of the mainland Greeks， Darius embarked on a scheme to conquer Greece and to punish Athens and Eretria for burning Sardis. The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC， with the Persian general Mardonius conquering Thrace and Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece， this time across the Aegean Sea， under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the Cyclades， before besieging， capturing and razing Eretria. However， while on route to attack Athens， the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon， ending Persian efforts for the time being. Darius died in 486 BC and responsibility for the conquest passed to his son Xerxes I. In 480 BC， Xerxes personally led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the ‘Allied’Greek states led by Sparta and Athens at the Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to overrun most of Greece. However， while seeking to destroy the combined Greek fleet， the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of Salamis. The following year， the confederated Greeks went on the offensive， defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea， and ending the invasion of Greece.
The allied Greeks followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Mycale， before expelling Persian garrisons from Sestos （479 BC） and Byzantium （478 BC）. The actions of the general Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans， and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership， as the so-called Delian League. The Delian League continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades， beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from Europe. At the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC， the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom for the cities of Ionia. However， the League’s involvement in an Egyptian revolt （460 BC–454 BC） resulted in a disastrous defeat， and further campaigning was suspended. A fleet was sent to Cyprus in 451 BC， but achieved little， and when it withdrew the Greco-Persian Wars drew to a quiet end.
希波战争：大流士父子无功而返
希波战争是在公元前499～前449年波斯与古希腊城邦之间的一系列冲突。公元前547年，波斯的居鲁士大帝征服了爱奥尼亚，但此后爱奥尼亚的希腊语城邦一直在寻求独立。波斯人为了便于统治，遂给这些城邦委任了僭主。
公元前499年，米利都和阿里司塔哥拉斯的僭主在波斯的支持下出海远征纳克索斯岛失败而被解任。阿里司塔哥拉斯人趁机鼓动整个小亚细亚的希腊语地区起来反抗波斯的统治，由此拉开了爱奥尼亚叛乱的序幕。随着叛乱的发展，越来越多的小亚细亚小国被卷入到这场纷争中。雅典和俄瑞特利亚则为阿里司塔哥拉斯人提供军事援助，于公元前498年协助后者占领并焚毁了波斯的地方首府萨第斯。公元前497～前495年，战况一时陷于胶着；公元前494年，波斯人随后重组军队进击叛乱的震中米利都，在拉德海战中彻底击溃了叛军，次年将叛乱镇压了下去。
为了确保波斯帝国日后不受叛乱的威胁，同时加大对内陆希腊人的影响，大流士一世决定先发制人征服希腊，并发誓要向雅典和俄瑞特利亚报萨第斯被焚的一箭之仇。波斯人的第一次入侵始于公元前492年，由波斯将军马多尼乌斯指挥军队攻下了色雷斯和马其顿，但这支部队却因征途中的小差错而功败垂成。于是波斯人又于前490年派去了第二支军队，在达提斯和阿塔佛涅斯的指挥下横渡爱琴海后占领了基克拉泽斯，随之又围困了俄瑞特利亚并将其夷为平地。然而，在随后的挥师雅典中，波斯人却在马拉松战役中被雅典军队打败。波斯人的第一次入侵就此止步，大流士也在前486年死去，并把征服大业传给了儿子薛西斯一世。公元前480年，薛西斯一世亲率一支古代历史上屈指可数的大军开始了对希腊的第二次入侵。波斯军队在温泉关战役击败了由斯巴达和雅典领导的希腊联军后曾一度占领了希腊的大部分土地，然而他们的海军却在接下来的萨拉米斯海战中被希腊联合海军击溃。次年，希腊人转守为攻在帕拉提亚战役中再次得胜，从而终止了波斯的侵略。
希腊联军乘胜追击，在米卡勒战役中扫除波斯海军残部，并在公元前479年和公元前478年分别击溃屯于塞斯托斯和拜占庭的波斯守军。在围困拜占庭期间，希腊联军的帕萨尼阿斯将军的所作所为让许多希腊城邦疏远了斯巴达，他们转而接受雅典的领导，形成了所谓的提洛同盟。提洛同盟在随后的战斗里将波斯军队彻底驱逐出欧洲，在公元前466年的欧里梅敦战役中，同盟军取得了胜利，并最终解放了爱奥尼亚全境。但是，提洛同盟在公元前460年～前454年间因介入埃及叛乱而遭受灭顶之灾，他们被迫停止进军。公元前451年，他们还派出过一支海军到塞浦路斯却无功而返，希波战争就此悄然停火。
Peloponnesian War：The dramatic end to the golden age ofGreece
The Peloponnesian War， 431 BC to 404 BC， was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. In the first phase， the Archidamian War， Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica， while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese attempting to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC， with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty， however， was soon undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese. In 415 BC， Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily； the attack failed disastrously， with the destruction of the entire force， in 413 BC.Sicily Battle was the final phase of the Peloponnesian war. In this phase， Sparta， now receiving support from Persia， supported rebellions in Athens’subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia， undermining Athens’empire， and， eventually， depriving the city of naval supremacy. The destruction of Athens’fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war， and Athens surrendered in the following year.
Greek warfare， originally a limited and formalized form of conflict， was transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states， complete with atrocities on a large scale. Shattering religious and cultural taboos， devastating vast swathes of countryside， and destroying whole cities， the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece.
伯罗奔尼撒战争：希腊黄金时代的戏剧性结束
伯罗奔尼撒战争是雅典人与以斯巴达为首的伯罗奔尼撒联盟之间的一场古希腊战争。这场战争从公元前431年一直持续到公元前404年。
历史学家将这场战争传统地分为三个阶段。在第一阶段，斯巴达发动了多次入侵阿提卡的战争，雅典人则利用其海军优势袭击伯罗奔尼撒海岸，试图将动乱迹象消灭在帝国之内。这一时期的战争因签署了尼西阿斯和约而于公元前421年结束，然而该条约很快就遭到破坏，伯罗奔尼撒半岛又爆发了新的战争。公元前415年，雅典派出大规模远征军进攻叙拉古西西里岛，此次进攻损失惨重并于公元前413年全军覆没。西西里战役是伯罗奔尼撒战争的最后一个阶段。在这期间，斯巴达接受了波斯人的支持，支持爱琴海和爱奥尼亚的雅典人城邦的叛乱，挖空雅典人的帝国，最终剥夺了城市的海军霸权。由于雅典舰队在伊哥斯波塔米的毁灭有效地结束了这场战争，次年雅典投降。
希腊战争原本是一个有限和正式的冲突形式，后来却变成了城邦之间的全面战争，其手段残暴，规模宏大。战争打破了宗教和文化禁忌，毁灭了大片的农村，摧毁了整个城市，伯罗奔尼撒战争标志着公元前5世纪希腊黄金时代的戏剧性结束。