Herodotus tells us that no Greek could hear even the word Persian without terror. But then Greece found itself in a battle for survival against this power. How was it possible for the Greeks to face and defeat this all powerful empire?

Tag words: Persians; hoplites; Herodotus; Histories; Victor Davis Hanson; The Western Way of War; Spartans; skirmishers; cavalry; Greek warfare; phalanx; Thucydides; History of the Peloponnesian Wars; Battle of Mantineia; Battle of Leuktra;