At several major battles in the Persian Wars....?

Question

At several major battles in the Persian Wars, there were nearly as many Greeks fighting for the Persians as against them. Why do you think this was so?

Answer 1

~There was no "Greece" at the time. Most of the Greek city states had been annexed by and were part of the Persian Empire. Remaining in the empire, particularly under Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes was the smart and safe thing to do. The loyal citizens fought for the rightful sovereign and against the "Greeks" who were in rebellion. It was much like the American "Revolution", where about 1/3 of the population supported the independence movement, 1/3 remained loyal to the Crown and 1/3 were uncommitted.

Miltiades and Themistocles may have had the opportunity to unite Greece into a single nation or empire after Salamis, but they blew the opportunity. Only with Philip and Alexander did Greece became a unified entity.

Answer 2

Because we're all human and invariably, each person will have their own choices, war is one of the pivotal moments where one must choose whether to fight or not, and if so, what faction to be a part of. The Greeks who fought for the Persians simply felt that rule by the Persians would be the same if not better than the current Greek city states and their respective rulers. Fear probably played an important role too, I would conjure that an ample amount of Greeks didn't think they could stand up to the Persians, so they joined their ranks in hopes of saving what they had. It's a complex thing, hopefully that simplified it some.

Answer 3

For two reasons: First, the Persians had already conquered (and reconquered) the Greek Ionian city states of the Asian Minor. Secondly some city- states that by allying with the Persian would rise in preeminance at the expence of their Greek rivals. Theba is good example in this case

Answer 4

Actually, the Persians did not 'conquer and annex most of the Greek city-states.' Persia only controlled the Ionian coast of Asia Minor. Macedonia, Thessaly, Thebes, and others were independent, but 'medized' (what the free Greeks called them, naming them ater Medes, another term for Persians) because they were afraid of Persia destroying their cities, which is exactly what they did to Athens. Thus the Athenians, Spartans, and Corinthians were about the only major Greek poleis to actually fight against Persia, because they refused to give in, even if it meant being destroyed.

Answer 5

The Persian king of kings payed very well.

Answer 6

The fact u wanna search is why Greeks came to Persia in the first place. Were they influenced by their relegion, practices, culture, trade etc?

Answer 7

because they wanted to fight for their guys