-
432
Legal Persecution of Perikles and his circle
Perikles adversaries decided to drag him and anyone closely associated with him through the law courts. Aspasia was targeted, so were Phidias and Anaxagoras. -
440
Perikles leads the Samian War
The Athenians decide to punish Samos for not following their directions. The Samian navy was defeated and Samos conquered after an 8 month siege. Perikles led the naval forces, as he often had in the past. He was the strongest proponent of keeping the navy strong and using that strength to maintain their empire. -
440
Aspasia gives birth to little Perikles
Aspasia immigrated to Athens from Miletus in 450. She was a teacher of rhetoric and one of her students was Perikles. Later she became Perikles' partner. There was a great deal of scandal when they set up housekeeping together. Aspasia was known as a brilliant thinker and speaker. Many idolized her, including Socrates, and others reviled her bitterly because of her influence with Perikles. -
445
Perikles divorces
Perikles divorced his first wife. -
445
Perikles
Perikles divorced. -
451
Cimon returns from exile
Perikles works out a deal with Cimon. Kind of a political "marriage" between the two rival parties to work for the good of Athens. It seems that they agreed that Cimon would handle foreign affairs and Perikles would handle domestic affairs. -
454
Perikles leads naval expedition to Sicyon and Acarnania
Early battles in the 1st Peloponnesian War. Athens was supporting Megara and Argos, some of its allies, against Spartan influences. He also tried to conquer Oeniadea but failed. -
461
Kimon ostracized because of links with Sparta
Perikles is able to consolidate his power and the rule of "radical democracy" with the exile for 10 years of Kimon. He was able to prove that Kimon had "traitorously" linked up with Sparta against Athens. Ephialtes, his elder political mentor, is assassinated and this propels Perikles to leadership of his party. A leadership that becomes so strong that even when Kimon returns in 451 B.C., he is unable to mount any kind of challenge ot Perikles. -
463
Perikles begins to prosecute Kimon
Perikles becomes the key prosecutor of the very wealthy and powerful conservative leader of the aristocratic faction within Athens. Representing the populist faction, the democrats, like Themistocles and his father before him. Perikles continues to establish his own power base to challenge the aristocrats. -
464
Anaxagoras arrives in Athens
Anaxagoras, a philosopher from Ionia, arrives in Athens. Perikles befriends him and he and Euripides the tragic poet become a key part of the circle around Perikles which brought significant change to Athens. The "Golden Age" of Periklean Athens. He taught that all things are interrelated and are organized according to laws created by the Cosmic Nous. A universal consciousness that flowed through all living things. -
471
Themistokles is ostracized from Athens
Themistocles is ostracized. His exile becomes lifelong when the Spartans, who wanted him out of Athens permanently, arrange for him to be implicated in a plot with Pausanias their own treasonous general. The idea sold in Athens and Themistocles has to flee Greece or be assassinated. -
472
Sponsors The Persians by Aeschylus in the Dionysia
Perikles sponsorship of this tragedy by the playwright Aeschylus was a signal to the city that he was ready to assume leadership roles and that he had the financial wherewithall to do that. Sponsorship showed that you were one of the wealthiest men in the city. The play honored the democratic leader Themistocles and helped to established his claim to leadership of that faction in opposition to the conservatives led by Cimon. -
Pericles' Legacy
His legacy was a contribution to the history of democracry -
Birth of Perikles the Athenian
Perikles "surrounded by glory" is born in Athens. His mother, Agariste, belonged to the wealthy, powerful and very influential Alcmaeonid family. She was a niece of Cleisthenes, the Athenian reformer. His father Xanthippus also was a very powerful political and military leader. Perikles' mother when she was pregnant had a dream that she would give birth to a lion. Perikles father was ostracized and exiled in 485, when Perikles was 10. When he returned, five years later, he assumed power. -
Cleisthenes the Reformer
Leader of the Alcmaeonid clan, one of the royal families of Athens, Cleisthenes ended the tyranny of Hippias, and led the populist change in government which followed the overthrow of the tyrant Isagoras who had banished him. He established the principle of "equal justice before the law" and the idea that government should be "what was best for all the people". -
Themistokles begins building the port of the Piraeus
Themistokles begins the building of a new port for Athens. The Piraeus offered three fine natural harbors which could be easily fortified. This was the first step in the long-range plan he had to build Athenian naval supremacy. -
Laurium silver mine
The discovery of a massive seam of silver provided Athens with a rich new source of income. Many thought it should be divided among all the citizens. Themistokles argued that it should be used to build a fleet of ships. -
The Battle of Thermopylae
The massive Persian invasion was held at bay for a short time by the bodyguard of the Spartan king Leonidas and other allied Greeks. The bravery of the suicidal stand inspired the rest of Greece to resist the invasion and domination by the Persian Empire. -
Naval Battle of Artemisium
This simultaneously fought naval battle stopped the advance of the Persian fleet, but was rendered irrelevant because of the slaughter at Thermopylae. The Greek fleet had held its own, but had suffered serious losses. Every able-bodied Athenian had served in the fleet. Athens had been abandoned by the population. -
The Battle of Salamis
The pivotal naval battle of Salamis destroyed the Persian fleet and rendered the campaign against the Greeks unwinnable. Xerxes returned to Persia and left his general Mardonius in charge. The tide turned for the Persians and their army was destroyed at Plataea in 479. On the same day, the shattered remnants of their fleet were also destroyed at Mycale. -
Death of Themistokles
Themistokles was so greatly admired by the Persians whom he had defeated, that the Emperor Artaxerxes made him governor of the province of Magnesia. Eventually, his wife and children were smuggled out to join him. He lived a life full of honors and so greatly was he admired by the people of Magnesia that they provided financially for the needs of all of his lineal descendants for the next 600 years. -
1st plague
typhus arrives in Athens, first casualties -
Perikles dies in the Plague
The plague, which appears to have been some form of tyhpoid, struck three times. The first in 430. The second time in 429, killed Perikles. But he had already watched both of his legitimate sons and his sister die. -
Cimon's Military Adventures end in disaster
Following his return, Cimon led Athenian forces into battle in Egypt and Cyprus in 451-450 B.C. Both adventures were very costly in men, materials, ships, etc. These were illustrations of Cimon's aggressive foreign policy, which was the opposite of how Perikles had done things. Cimon died of disease during a siege on Cyprus in 449. -
Perikles and the Peace of Callias
Perikles used Callias, who was the brother-in-law of Cimon, to negotiate a deal with the Persians ending hostilities with Athens. He did this, it appears, to strengthen the Athenian ability to control their empire without having to confront the Persians.
