What role did Athens play in the Persian War and Peloponnesian War

In the Persian War it intervened in the Ionian Revolt, burning downthe provincial capital of Sardis and so drawing Persian attentionon the Greek city-states of mainland Greece which were outside thePersian Empire.

Persia then sent a punitive expedition against Eretria and Athensin retaliation; Athens defeated it at Marathon.

Persia then mounted a full scale invasion of mainland Greece inwhich Athens was part of the defensive force which was defeated atArtemesion, then repelled the Persians at Salamis, Plataia andMykale.

Athens then led the Delian of a couple of hundred city-statesaround the Aegean Sea, which defeated the Persians at severalbattles, most decisively at Eurymedon and Cyprus, at which stagePersia gave up trying to impose peace on the Greeks and left themto their usual fighting amongst themselves.

Athens then converted the anti-Persian league into an empire of itsown and for a period lived well on the proceeds. By using part ofthe proceeds to maintain a strong fleet, it converted the leagueinto an empire of its own, and used the power to meddle in theaffairs of cities outside its empire. This brought it intoconfrontation with the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League, and theensuing 27-year war devastated the Greek world.

Athens eventually lost, after Persia intervened on the side of thePeloponnesians, and was stripped of its empire, becoming thereaftera second rate power, and no longer able to afford the highlifestyle which its empire had provided for it.