Kammala jumla mai zuwa: A cikin Ionia (ƙetaren Aegean na zamani na Turkiyya) biranen Girka, waɗanda suka haɗa da manyan cibiyoyi kamar Miletus da Halicarnassus, ba su iya riƙe 'yancin kansu ba kuma sun shiga ƙarƙashin mulkin Daular Farisa a tsakiyar karni na 6 BC. A cikin 499 BC Helenawa sun tashi a cikin Ionian Revolt, kuma Athens da wasu biranen Girka sun tafi don taimaka musu. A cikin 490 BC, Sarkin Farisa mai girma, Darius I, bayan ya danne biranen Ionian, ya aika da rundunar jiragen ruwa don hukunta Helenawa. Farisawa sun sauka a Attica, amma an ci su a
Yaƙin Marathon da sojojin Girka suka yi a ƙarƙashin jagorancin janar Miltiades na Athens. Har ila ana iya ganin dutsen da aka binne mutanen Atina a Marathon. Shekara goma bayan haka, magajin Darius, Xerxes na ɗaya, ya aika da rundunar da suka fi ƙarfinsa ta ƙasa. Bayan Sarkin Spartan Leonidas I ya jinkirta shi a Thermopylae, Xerxes ya ci gaba zuwa Attica, inda ya kama Athens kuma ya ƙone ta. Amma Atinawan sun kwashe birnin ta teku, kuma a ƙarƙashin Themistocles sun ci rundunar sojojin Farisa a Yaƙin Salamis. Bayan shekara guda, Helenawa, a ƙarƙashin shugaban Spartan Pausanias, suka ci sojojin Farisa a Plataea. Jirgin ruwan Athenian sai ya juya ya bi Farisa daga Tekun Aegean, kuma a cikin 478 BC sun kama Byzantium. Sa'ad da yake yin haka, Athens ta haɗa dukan ƙasashen tsibiri da kuma wasu abokanta na ƙasashen waje cikin ƙungiyar da ake kira Ƙungiyar Delian domin ana ajiye dukiyarta a tsibirin Delos mai tsarki. Spartans, ko da yake sun shiga cikin yaƙin, sun janye zuwa ware bayan shi, yana ba Athens damar kafa ikon ruwa da kasuwanci da ba a yi jayayya da shi ba.