Classics

By seagulls2017
  • 621 BCE

    First written code of Athens by Draco

    Draco's code allowed the rich political power, control of the poor and, control of the land. Preserved by Aristotle in: The Athenian Constitution
  • 594 BCE

    Solon becomes archon

    Solon becomes archon and rewrites Draco's code. These laws covered a wide range of subjects including adultery, inheritance, and theft.
  • 570 BCE

    Pythagoras born

    Pythagoras born
    Pythagoras the sophist was born
  • 561 BCE

    Peisistratus came to power

    Peisistratus, a tyrant of Athens, came to power. Later his two sons (also tyrants) would rule.
  • 560 BCE

    Peisistratus seized power

    Peisistratus the tyrant seized the Accropolis. Peisistratus was formally a well known Greek statesman.
  • 546 BCE

    Alcmaeonids left Attica

    Alcmaeonids were a powerful family that lived in Athens. They were exiled when Peisistratus came to power.
  • 528 BCE

    Hipparchus and Hippias in power

    Hipparchus and Hippias the tyrants (sosn of Peisistratos the tyrant) come into power.
  • 525 BCE

    Cleisthenes becomes chief Archon

    525 - 524
  • 510 BCE

    Alcamaeonids fight back against Hippias

    Hippias was another tyrant of Athens. Cleisthenes, an Alcmaeonid, used connection with the oracle of Delphi to convince Sparta to help overthrow Hippias.
  • 508 BCE

    Cleisthenes dramatic reform

    Cleisthenes allies with popular assembly against nobles.
  • 508 BCE

    Isagoras becomes Archon

    Isagoras becomes Archon and manages to exile Cleisthenes.
    Isagoras exiles hundreds of Athenians and tries to get rid of the Boule. However the council resisted and Isagoras was thrown out of the acropolis and banished. Cleisthenes returns and introduces a dramatic reform.
  • 500 BCE

    Anaxagoras born

    Anaxagoras born
    Anaxagoras the sophist
  • Period: 499 BCE to 449 BCE

    Persian War

    A series of conflicts between Persia and Greek states.
  • 496 BCE

    Sophocles born

    Sophocles born
  • 496 BCE

    Socrates born

    Socrates born
  • 492 BCE

    Perisan sack

    First invasion of Greece by the Persians
  • 490 BCE

    Battle of Marathon

    Greek victory with Persia driven out of Greece for ten years
  • 487 BCE

    Archons first appointed by lot

    Archons first appointed by lot rather than by the Ecclesia.
  • 487 BCE

    Cleisthenes introduces ostracism

    Cleisthenes introduces ostracism which meant being exiled for ten years.
  • 485 BCE

    Gorgias born

    Gorgias born
    Gorgias the sophist
  • 480 BCE

    Persian sack

    Second invasion of Greece and Athens evacuated. Persians burn the Acropolis.
  • 480 BCE

    Athens defeat Persians

    Athens defeat Persians at naval battle of Salamis
  • 480 BCE

    Euripides born

    Euripides born
  • 479 BCE

    Greeks defeat Persian army

    Greeks defeat Persian army at the Battle of Plataea and end the invasion of Greece.
  • 478 BCE

    Sparta withdraws alliance with Persia

  • 461 BCE

    Pericles comes to power

    Pericles will be in power until 429.
  • 459 BCE

    War between Greek states

  • 459 BCE

    Thrasymachus born

    Thrasymachus born
    Thrasymachus the sophist
  • 451 BCE

    Pericles filed law confining citizenship

    "It was decreed, on a motion of Pericles, that a person should not have the rights of citizenship unless both of his parents had been citizens"
  • 451 BCE

    Non- Athenian Sophists got rid of

  • Period: 449 BCE to 431 BCE

    Golden age of Athens

    The so called golden age of Athens is usually dated around 449 to 431. This time frame was between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
  • 447 BCE

    Construction on Acropolis and Parthenon

    Construction begins on Acropolis and Parthenon led by Pericles
  • 446 BCE

    Thirty-year peace treaty signed

    Thirty-year peace treaty signed between Athens and Sparta
  • 441 BCE

    Antigone written

    Antigone written
  • 440 BCE

    Revolt of Samos

    Milesians came to Athens with loud complaints against the Samians. Samos revolted and battled against Athens. Samos surrendered.
  • 433 BCE

    Finances put on war basis

    Situation serious enough to put finances on war basis.
  • 432 BCE

    Spartans declare war on Athens

    Sparta declares that Athens has broken the Thirty Year Peace and prepares for war.
  • 431 BCE

    Medea written

    Medea written
  • 430 BCE

    Plague of Athens

    Devastated Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Plague returned several times (429 and 427/426)
  • 430 BCE

    Oedipus written

    Oedipus written
    430/429
  • 429 BCE

    Cleon comes to power

    Represented the 'commercial class'
  • 429 BCE

    Plague returns

    Plague returns to Athens
  • Period: 429 BCE to 404 BCE

    Peloponnesian war

    War between the Greeks and the Spartans
  • 428 BCE

    Hippolytus written

    Hippolytus written
  • 428 BCE

    Plato born

    Plato born
  • 427 BCE

    Plague returns

    Plague returns to Athens again 427/426
  • 425 BCE

    Chaerephon visited oracle

    Chaerephon visited oracle at Delphi
  • 425 BCE

    Captured Spartans at Sphacteria

    During the Battle of Sphacteria ( a land battle), the Greeks defeated the Spartans
  • 423 BCE

    Aristophanes writes clouds

    Aristophanes writes clouds for the first time
  • 419 BCE

    Re- write of clouds begins

  • 404 BCE

    Athens surrenders to Sparta

    Athens surrenders to Sparta and then Sparta was the ruling state of Greece.
  • 403 BCE

    Democracy restored in Athens

  • 399 BCE

    Socrates put on trial and executed

    Socrates put on trial and executed for his 'crimes' against the state and the gods.
  • 395 BCE

    Plato writes

    Plato writes
    Plato writes some of the last days of Socrates