Din Timelines

World History Timelines

499 To 400 Bce

499

x - Sardis destroyed by Athenian and Ionian troops.

x - Aristagoras, ruler of Miletus, plus the island of Cyprus, led by Onesilus, instigate the Ionic Revolt against Darius I of Persia ?+ amoungt the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor. Athens and Eretria give support to the Greek cities. u.493

498

x - Macedon regains its indepedence from Persia. Alexander I of Macedon becomes king.

c - Sparta does not respond, but Athens and Eretria support the Ionians by sending troops and ships to attack Sardis. The city captured without opposition and burnt, but the Persians still hold the central stronghold.

497

x - Greece ?+ Potidaea is struck by a tsunami.

496

x - Sophocles, Athenian dramatist and statesman, born.

x - China ?+ King Gon Jian of Yue defeats and banishes King Fucha of Wu, gaining a temporary hegemony during the Spring and Autumn Period

x - Pythagoras, Greek philosopher and mathematician, dies.

x - Darius I ?+ soon recaptures Cyprus with the help of the Phoenician navy.

x - Battle of Lake Regillus: A legendary early Roman victory, won over either the Etruscans or the Latins.

x - Sun Tzu, military philosopher and author of The Art of War, dies. most likely a colloquial date

495

x - Temple to Mercury on the Circus Maximus in Rome is built.

c - Zeno of Elea, Greek philosopher, born. d.c.430 CE

c - Pericles, Athenian politician, born. d.c.429 CE

494

x - Battle of Lade - Persia defeats the fleet of the Ionians, ending the Ionic Revolt.

x - The protest of the plebeians and the establishment of the Office of the tribunbus plebis in Rome ?+. Two tribunes of the plebs and two plebeian aediles are elected for the first time.

493

x - Peiraeus, the port town of Athens, is founded.

x - Ionian revolt ends when Miletos is sacked by Persians.

x - Empedocles is born in Acragas, Sicily.

x - Battle of Lake Regillus fought by the Romans.

492

x - A Persian army fails in an attempt to attack Greece ?+ .

x - Mardonius leads a naval expedition against Greece. Thrace and Macedon are subjugated but Mardonius is injured in a night attack by the Thracians. The Persian fleet is destroyed by a storm while trying to round Mount Athos.

x - First expedition of against Greece, under the leadership of his son-in-law Mardonius. This marks the start of the campaign which culminated in the Battle of Marathon in 490.

490

x - First Persian War- Athenians led by Miltiades defeat Persians at Marathon. 192 Athenians and 6,400 Persians die.

x - Greek-Persian Wars. u.479

x - Persians under the command of Artaphernes and Datis sack Eretria.

x - Phidippides runs 40 kilometers from Marathon to Athens to announce the news of the Athenian victory; origin of the marathon long-distance race.

c - Phidias, Greek sculptor, born. d.c.430

c - Empedocles, Greek philosopher, born. d.c.430

488

x - Leonidas succeeds his brother Cleomenes I as king of Sparta, who was judged insane.

x - Miltiades, Athenian general, dies.

487

x - Aegina and Athens go to war.

c - Comedies are added to the City Dionysia Greek festival.

486

x - Egypt revolts from Persian rule.

x - China ?+ First part of the Grand Canal of China is built.

x - Darius I ?+ of Persia dies, while attempting to organize another attack on Greece, his son, Xerxes I ?+, ascends the throne.

485

c - Herodotus of Halicarnassus born.

484

x - Xerxes I ?+ subdues the revolt in Egypt.

483

x - Xerxes I ?+ resumes preparations for the invasion of Greece. He orders a canal to be cut through the promontory at Mt Athos. Begins the construction of two floating pontoon bridges across the Hellespont.

482

x - Xerxes I ?+ reconquers Babylon ?+ after the city revolts. Its walls &; temples are razed and the statue of its patron god Marduk is melted down.

481

x - Athens and Sparta found the Hellenic League against the Persians.

x - China ?+ End of the "Spring and Autumn period".

480

x - Start of the second Persian war: Xerxes I leads a huge combined land and sea invasion against Greece.

x - In the Bay of Salamis, Themistocles with an armada of 483 Greek ships; with "Greek fire" ships ram into the larger Persian vessels, setting them on fire and winning the battle.

x - Xerxes I ?+ of Persia leads his armies against the Greeks to punish them for aiding the Ionian cities in 499. The Athenians flee from Athens, which is then burnt by the Persians

x - Literature The Greek dramatist Euripides ?+*¢ is born.

479

x - The Persian army is defeated. Xerxes I ?+ flees to Asia.

x - Xerxes I returns to Sardis leaving Mardonius in charge of the army. Mardonius conquers central Greece but is unsuccessful in gaining an alliance with Athens. He is killed and his army defeated at the Battle of Plataea.

x - A Greek fleet under Pausanias captures Cyprus, then sails to the Hellespont to seize Byzantium.

x - The Greeks defeat the Persians again at Mycale, destroying the last of the Persian fleet.

478

x - A group of Greek cities and islands form the Delian league, headed by Athens, drive the last of the Persians from the Greek cities and islands in Asia Minor.

475

x - The city of Eion falls. Its Persian garrison were besieged since the previous year by the Athenians led by Cimon.

471

x - Battle of Dipaea; infantry "war" between two Greek polis.

x - Lex Publilia Voleronis recognizes concilium of the Plebeians and Tribunes. Plebians are granted more rights and tribunes.

466

x - Battle of Eurymedon. The Persians are defeated by Cimon of Athen in a naval battle off the Eurymedon River in Asia Minor.

465

x - Xerxes I ?+ of Persia is killed by the captian of the royal guard. Xerxes's son Artaxerxes I ascends the throne.

x - Themistocles accused of 'Medising' is given asylum in Persia.

461

x - War begins between Sparta ?+ and Athens. u.446

460

x - Pericles becomes head of the Athenian State. Pericles preferred to make peace with Persians and oppose Spartans.

x - Athens supports a rebellion that captures Memphis, the capital of Egypt. The Persian Garrison however holds out for 4 years until an army arrives from Persia. The Athenians withdraw to an island in the Nile and held out for two years.

c - Hippocrates dismisses the magical attributes of opium but acknowledges its usefulness as a narcotic and styptic in treating internal diseases, diseases of women and epidemics.

457

x - 7 Wonders ?+ The Statue of Zeus built in Olympia.

x - Battle of Tanagra and Oinophyta, a Greek polis

456

c - The Greek satirist Aristophanes is born.

454

x - Artaxerxes I of Persia reconquers Egypt.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ plays are first performed in the Attic drama festivals.

450

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes Rhesus ?*.

x - Rome ?+ Twelve Tables of Roman law are published.

x - Cimon leads 200 ships against Persians in Egypt and Cyprus. Cimon dies in battle, no further large scale battles between Delian League and Persians.

c - Herodotus visits Greek trading colony of Olbia to gather information on Scythians.

448

x - The Greco-Persian War came to end with the "Peace of Callias".

c - Aristophanes ?¢, an Athenian playwright who wrote comedies is born.

447

x - Battle of Coroneia Greek infantry war.

445

x - Rome ?+ The Lex Canuleia allows Patricians and Plebeians to intermarry.

444

x - Nehemia rebuilds Jerusalem and its walls.

442

x - Euripides ?+*¢ wins his first first prize in the Attic drama festivals. Approximate time when Commedies are given official state support in the Lenaia January Dionysian festival.

441

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes his first tragic play.

438

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play Alcestis ?*

433

x - Empedocles dies.

x - The Parthenon in Athens is completed.

431

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play Medea ?*¢

x - The Peloponnesian War ? between Sparta and Athens. u.405

429

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play The Heracleidae ?*

x - The Athenian leader Pericles dies in a plague.

428

x - Euripides writes Andromache ?* u.424

x - Anaxagoras dies.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes Hippolytus ?*

427

x - Pisistratus of Athens dies, and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus take over.

c - Plato ?+*¢ born.

425

x - Death of historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus.

x - Archidamian war: Athenian leader Cleon got an army and he invaded Sparta at Pylos. The invasion fails.

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes The Acharnians, a play pleading to end the war with Sparta ?+.

424

x - Artaxerxes I of Persia dies. His son Xerxes II takes the throne but he is murdered by his brother Sogdianus after a few weeks. Sogdianus is then murdered by his half brother (bastard son of their father) who then takes the throne and rules under the assumed name of Darius II.

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Knights.

x - Persia Death of Artaxerxes. Palace intrigues lead to the successive assassinations of two of his sons, Xerxes II and Sogdianos. Eventually a third son takes hold under the name of Darius II.

x - Peloponnesian War ?+ Battle of Delium.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play Hecuba ?*.

423

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Clouds, his satire about Socrates.

422

x - Euripides writes The Suppliants ?*

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Wasps.

421

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Peace, again asking for peace between Sparta and Athens.

x - Peloponnesian War ?+ The Peace of Nicias which is supposed to be a thirty year truce between Athens andSparta ?+ ending open hostilities in the war.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes Heracles ?*u.416

420

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play Electra ?*.

x - Peloponnesian War ?+ Alcibiades, nephew of Pericles, became strategos of Athens begins maneuvering for open war.

415

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play The Trojan Women ?*.

414

x - Euripides writes the play Iphigenia in Tauris ?*. u.412

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Birds.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the play Ion ?* u.412

413

x - Peloponnesian War ?+ Athens is defeated by Syracuse, loosing her entire fleet.

412

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes Helen ?*

411

x - Peloponnesian War ?+ Battle of Syme between Sparta and Athens

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the plays Lysistrata and Thesmorphoriazusae.

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes The Phoenissae ?* u.409

410

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes The Bacchantes ?* and Iphigenia at Aulis ?*

408

x - Euripides ?+*¢ writes the plays The Cyclops ?* and Orestes ?*¢

407

x - Cyrus, younger son of Darius II, king of Persia, is named Satrap of Asia Minor in replacement of Tissaphernes. Cyrus is instructed to support Sparta and helps finance Lysander's fleet, eventually contributing to the victory of Sparta.

405

x - Peloponnesian War The Athenian Fleet is destroyed at the Aegospotami River while taking on supplies by a combined Corinthian and Spartan navy

x - Aristophanes ?¢ writes the play The Frog.

x - The Peloponnesian War ? ends with Sparta ?+ as the victor, organizing an oligarchy to rule Athens.

404

x - Sparta conclusively defeats Athens, and takes control of the Athenian State.

x - Death of Darius II, king of Persia. He is succeeded by his son Artaxerxes II.

403

x - Beginning of the period of Warring States in China.

x - Athens rebels against the oligarchy and restores its own democracy.

401

x - Cyrus is killed by his elder brother Artaxerxes II at the Battle of Cunaxa near Babylon. Last mention of gerhon or spara shielded infantry in Persian army.