A map of the Ancient Greek world: the mainland, Peloponnese, Aegean islands, and Ionian coast. Original by MaryroseB54, Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Alterations from linked file by Trevor Culley, 2019.

Cyrus’s generals take the reins for a bit and the Persian conquerors face their most grueling task yet: subduing the Ionian Greek city states. Persia’s first interaction with the Greek speaking world was a drawn out, and possibly brutal conquest of the western coasts of Anatolia, but when they were done the empire was larger, more secure, and ready to keep pushing its boundaries south into the wealthy territory of Babylon.

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