Ancient Greece

Darius I Invades Greece

492 BCE

The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece (492–490 BC) at the Battle of Marathon, which ended Darius I's attempts to subjugate Greece.

Greeks defeat Peritans at Marathon

490 BCE

The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes.

The Battle of Salamis

480 BCE

Battle of Salamis. In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes was attacking Greece. Things looked very bad for the Greeks, when the Greek navy, under the command of the Athenian general Themistocles, wrecked the Persian fleet at Salamis and kept the Persians from taking over Greece.

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

The Battle of Thermopylae: Spartans v. Persians. The battle of Thermopylae was the first between the Persians and Greeks during the Persian invasion of 480-479 BC. The Greek force was very small but was determined to make a stand against the huge Persian army.

◦Thirty Years Peace Between Argos and Sparta Begins

445 BCE

Greece make peace with Argos and Sparta for thirty years because of another wars started or an breakout wars.

◦Athens Invades Megara

424 BCE

Many excellent historians have discussed the causes of the Peloponnesian War (431-404), and many more will do so, but Thucydides, who lived at the time of the war, should be the first place you look

◦End of the Peloponnesian War

404 BCE

The destruction of Athens' fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, and Athens surrendered in the following year. Corinth and Thebes demanded that Athens should be destroyed and all its citizens should be enslaved, but Sparta refused. The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world.