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522 BCE
◦Darius I Invades Greece
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.” -
490 BCE
Greek Defeat Persians at Marathon
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. -
480 BCE
Battle of Salamis
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. -
480 BCE
Battle of Thermopylae
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. -
451 BCE
◦Thirty Years Peace Between Argos and Sparta Begins
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. -
431 BCE
◦Athens Invades Megara
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 -
429 BCE
◦Death of Pericles
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. -
404 BCE
◦End of the Peloponnesian War
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.
