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CLAS 1000 (2008)
Timeline of some major events and policy decisions in Greece, c. 550-399 BCE
Date
Event
broader consequences in Greece
c.546-5
Darius of Persia defeats Croesus,
king of Lydia
Persians acquire Greek-speaking
subjects
499
Ionian revolt
Athens, as ally of Ionian rebels,
comes into indirect conflict with
Persia
494
crushing of Ionian revolt
Persians replace most ruthless
governors; Persian westward
expansion delayed
490
Darius invades Greece
490
Battle of Marathon
increase in Athenian prowess
483
silver discovered at Laurium
in Attica
Themistocles uses money for
military expansion
480/479
second Persian invasion under
Xerxes
480 (Aug.)
battle of Thermopylae
479
Battle of Salamis
greatest Athenian naval victory
479
Battle of Platea
greatest Spartan land victory, end
of Persian invasion
478
Delian League founded
Athens converts alliance into empire
c.484c.420
lifetime of Herodotus
first major Greek historian
460’s-440’s
skirmishes in Greece
battles among allied states as
proxies for Athens-Sparta
conflicts
446
Thirty Year Peace
Sparta gives up designs for naval
hegemony; Athens gives up
designs for land hegemony
2
451/50
Athenian citizenship law
increased status of Athenian women;
citizen group solidified
447-432
Parthenon rebuilt, along
with other Acropolis buildings
imperial funds spent on Athens;
increasing resentment of allies
454
treasury of Delian League
moved to Athens
primacy of Athens solidified;
increasing resentment of allies
454-3 and
434-3
extant portions of tribute lists
amounts show 1/60 of tribute
paid by allies to Athens
431
Peloponnesian War begins
430
“plague” at Athens
Attica loses up to 30%
of population, including
Pericles
427
Spartans send fleet to Mytilene,
Athenians debate
Mytiline is spared at last minute
421
Peace of Nicias (after armistice
of 423)
conclusion of first part of war,
essentially a stalemate
416/5
Athenian destruction of Melos,
neutral Dorian colony
sign of moral decline (Thucydides),
increases resentment toward Athens
415
mutilation of the herms
Alcibiades flees Athens
415-413
Sicilian Expedition
catastrophic Athenian defeat
413-404
Spartan garrison at Decelea
Spartan base in Attica allows
incursions
411
oligarchic coup at Athens
410
restoration of Athenian democracy
404
Athenian defeat at Aegospotami
end of Peloponnesian War
and Athenian Empire
404
coup of the Thirty at Athens
reign of terror
403
restoration of Athenian democracy
under Spartan leader Pausanias
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399
trial of Socrates
Socrates forced to drink hemlock
c.455c.400
lifetime of Thucydides
second major Greek history
major figures in sixth and fifth century Greek history (mostly covered by Sowerby)
Solon
Cleisthenes
Croesus
Darius I
Histiaeus
Xerxes
Mardonius
Themistocles
Demaratus
Aristides (“the just”)
Ephialtes
Pericles
Cleon (leading Athenian politician after death of Pericles)
Nicias (leading Athenian politician and general after death of Pericles; known for
moderate approach to war and military intervention, but sent to lead Sicilian
Expedition)
Alcibiades
Lysander (Spartan general who took command at Athens after their defeat in 404)
some important terminology
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•
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stasis: Greek word meaning “faction,” “civil discord,” “internal revolt”
hubris (also spelled “hybris”): a word which appears in both Greek and English. It
refers to a sense of superiority and insolence which leads to destruction (ate
[pronounced AHH-tey] in Greek). An exploration of hubris is an important part of
the work of Herodotus as well as Greek tragedy, especially Aeschylus.
pentecontaetia: means “fifty years,” used in reference to fifty-year span between
the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, and also in reference to Thucydides’
discussion of the period.
An entirely idiosyncratic and personal choice of passages of Herodotus and
Thucydides:
Book I.1ff. of each writer: justification of each for writing history. Particularly telling
about methodology and the belief of each in the importance of their subject matter. The
construction of speeches in Thucydides (a combination of working from memory and
recreating “what should have been said on each occasion”) is highly controversial to this
day.
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Book I of Herodotus: although even the Greeks had problems with some aspects of this
book (Solon and Croesus could not have met because of the chronology), it is a
masterpiece of ethnographic (i.e., anthropological) and psychological understanding,
particularly about Croesus. The book is also fascinating for its depiction of events of
sufficient interest to contemporary Greeks that they portrayed them in art. Examples of
these include Cleobis and Biton, statues of whom are in the archaeological museum in
Delphi, and vase painting of Croesus on the pyre.
Book IX of Herodotus: tale of the Persian defeat.
Overview of Herodotus: conceptions of hubris in history and tragedy. If at all possible,
the reader should compare Herodotus’ take on the Persians with that of Aeschylus in his
tragedy The Persians.
Thucydides II.34-46: Pericles’ funeral oration and his description of the “plague” at
Athens, which follows immediately (II.47-55)
Book III of Thucydides (III.37-49): debate over Mytilene, in comparison with end of
Book V (V.84-116), “the Melian dialogue.”
Books VI and VII, the Sicilian expedition, are worth reading as a separate work.
Finally, the reader should look at Thucydides’ account of the oligarchic coup in Athens in
411/410 BCE. at VIII.47-98.