Ancient Greece

◦Darius I Invades Greece

522 BCE

Darius I "the Great" (549-486 BCE) was a king of Persia who ruled for 35 years, from September 522 BCE to October 486 BCE. He was the third Achaemenian king and was considered by many to be “the greatest of the Achaemenian kings.”

Greek Defeat Persians at Marathon

490 BCE

This force had been hanging around in the hils around the plain of Marathon to avoid the Persian cavalry which would play havoc with them if it caught them in the open on flat ground. On the tenth day they saw the cavalry being embarked on the Persian fleet and seized the opportunity, running down and catching the inferior Persian infantry without its cavalry protection.

Battle of Salamis

480 BCE

The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle between the Greek city-states and Persia, fought in September, 480 BC in the straits between Piraeus and Salamis, a small island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens, Greece.

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

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

451 BCE

The violation of the Thirty Years' Peace [in the form of the Corcyrean and Potidaean incidents and the Megarian Decree] is referred to by most modern historians as the immediate cause of the Peloponnesian War.

◦Athens Invades Megara

431 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

◦Death of Pericles

429 BCE

One of the victims of the plague that swept Athens in 430 BC was Pericles himself. According to the historian ThucydidesThe plague seized Pericles, not with sharp and violent fits, but with a dull lingering distemper, wasting the strength of his body and undermining his noble soul.

◦End of the Peloponnesian War

404 BCE

Sparta offered Athens reasonable terms, given the time. No soldiers were slaughtered, and no temples were razed. The Athenian Long Walls, as well as the defenses of the Piraeus, were demolished. These two structures had long been a thorn in the side to Sparta.