Ancient Greece

Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeats the Persian Empire and spreads Greek Culture throughout the region (331 B.C.)

331

At this time, Alexander the Great was 22 years old as a Macedonian leader when he defeated his Persian rival, King Darius III. He is important because not only was he known for conquering the Persian Empire, but also for being one of the greatest military geniuses of all times.

At age 17, Aristotle becomes a student of Plato atthe academy; he later teaches Alexander the Great (367 B.C.)

367

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist from who was born in Stagira, Greece. At age 17, he enrolled in Plato's Academy. Later, in 338 he began tutoring King Phillip II's son, and most importantly, Alexander the Great. After, Aristotle founded his own school, The Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of his time studying, teaching, and writing, until his death in 322 B.C.

Sparta defeats Athens; the Peloponnesian War ends (404 B.C.)

404

The Peloponnnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and it's empire against the Peloponnesian Legue led by Sparta. There were three phases of the war; the Archidamian War, the Sicilian War, and the Ionian or Decelean War. In one of the last battles Sparta won because Athens surrendered, and the war was over.

Pericles rules in Athens (460-429 B.C.)

460

Pericles was a statesman in ancient Greece and, the leader of Athens from 460-429 B.C. He was important because not only did he rule Athens but, during that time he organized the construction of the Acropolis, and the Parthenon. Also, another important thing he did was the one who helped form a democracy in Athens, based on majority rule.

Pericles leads the Athenian government. A council of 500 is chosen by lottery among all male citizens over the age of 30. They serve as decision makers and assemble 40 times a year with all Greek citizens, to approve or reject the decisions (460-429 BCE).

460

There is importance to both Pericles ruling and the government he formed. Him as a person was very important to Athens because it was after the Persian wars and he played a huge role in getting Athens back on their feet (rebuilt and repaired the city from the war). But other than that he also formed the Athenian government into an oligarchy. That was important because it was one of the first solid oligarchies in Greece.

Cleisthenes establishes the first democratic constitution (a set of laws to define and limit the governments power). Free speech and political involvment is extended to all Greek citizens (505 BCE).

505

What Cleisthenes did was he allied with the popular Assembly against the nobles so that he could make a democratic reform. However, he was mainly known for making individuals have a political responsibility, instead of having a membership in a clan. So, this was important because he changed the way Pericles laid Athens government out (oligarchy). Instead of having an assembly, he made it closer to the kind of government we have now.

A democratic constitution sets rules for governence in Athens (507 B.C.)

507

This idea occured in the Athens government and it was important that the made it a democracy because the citizens finally got to take part in making their civilization better. What the government decided to do was they would draw 500 names from a pool of all the citizens in Athens, and those people would be responsible for making new laws and changing old ones. However, nothing would become a law until the rest of the citizens voted on it; they were allowed to vote yes for the law, or no.

Athens depvelops a written code of laws (621 BCE).

Jan 1, 621

This was important then because I guess in a way it could have settled everyone down. Once they had all those rules, everyone would have to follow them so there would be no arguments over what should happen - which could also help stop Tyranny to happen or someone overthrowing the government. This is important now because they made those laws when they became a democracy. So, that's basically how most countries ended up starting a democratic government and making laws for everyone to follow.

Tyrants rule some Greek city-states as a result of the pooer classes' discontent with the ruling class. (In tyranny, the power of the ruler is not limited by the people or by the law) (650 BCE).

Jan 1, 650

This was an important event to happen because without Tyrants ruling different countries in that time, we wouldn't have known how to deal with it now (and what to expect). Tyranny does still happen in a few countries but it's probably way less than it would have been without the past, because now we have ways of stopping it with help from other countries.

The first Olympic Games take place (776 B.C.)

Jan 1, 776

The Olympic Games occurred in Olympia, Greece, and the people who came to this event were the athletic competitors, their trainers, ten Hellanodikai (Olympic judges), and the orginizers of the Olympic Oath. This is important because the Greeks are the ones who first started the Olympic Games we now have every four years, and of coarse the Winter and Summer games too.

The Persian Empire is defeated by greek city-states; the Persian wars end (497 B.C.)

Mar 2, 2022

The wars between the Greeks and Persians were called Greco-Persian wars. These were a series of battles and conflict, from around 499 B.C. - $49 B.C., between the Empire of Persia and Greece. There were many different locations of the battles and wars like Greece, Egypt, Thrace, Cyprus, Aegean Islands,etc. The Greco-Persian wars started when Cyrus the Great conquered a part of Ionia. When Cyrus struggled to rule each city, the Persians appointed tyrants to them, causing trouble with the Greeks.

Solon becomes sole ruler in Athens and makes reforms to government. The poorer classes are included in making government decisions through an elected council, and many people are freed from slavery due to debts (584 - 559 BCE).

Mar 2, 2022

Solon was important because he was said to have laid the foundations for Athenian democracy with his attempted reforms to legislate against political, economic, and moral decline in Athens. So, this was important to us now because most countries have a democratic government.