Today in class we learned about some of the Greek gods and goddesses.  The gods and goddesses interfered with mortal life, and even had love affairs with mortals, and even had kids with them.  Greeks made myths about their gods and goddesses t make them seem like greater gods, and to mkae them very interesting.
Zeus- ruler of heaven and Earth. Father of Athena. God of the sky, and father of the Greeks.
Athena- goddess of wisdom and skill and warfare. Special patron of heroes
Apollo- God of music, Son of Zeus, and twin of Artemis, who is related with the moon.
Poseidon- Brother of Zeus, and god of the sea.
Aphrodite- goddess of love.
The Persian wars between Greece and the Persian Empire began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia.
After the Athenians won their battle against the Persians their casualties was fewer than 200, and the Persian casualties was 6,000.
Thermopylae and Salamis-
In 480 BC, Darius the Great's son and successor, Xerxes, planned to invade Athens and crush it.  Greek was heavily divided, and some city-states wanted to fight Xerxes, and some wanted to let him destroy Athens.  When Xerxes was pushing through Greece, he came to a pass called Thermopylae that was blocked by 7,000 Greeks, with 300 Spartans.  Even though the odds were heavily against the Greeks they held the Persians off for days, when finally everyone retreated except the Spartans, who gave their life, all 300.