Andrews 1
Sydney Andrews
Professor Merrill
HUM 201
8 June 2019
Ancient Greece Timeline of Events and
People:
561-527 B.C. –Peisistratus: Greek tyrant who
catered to the common citizens of Athens (giving
them tax breaks and more opportunities to become
prosperous), to obtain their support and remain in
power, consequently undermining the aristocratically
dominated structure of the city state.
Olive oil: The market for Athenian olive oil becomes
quite lucrative during Peisistratus’ rein.
Export/Trade: Athens is in a physically ideal place
to ship goods (oil) to other settlements and countries
around the Mediterranean-sea. It becomes a thriving
trade city.
527-510 B.C. –Hippias: Son of Peisistratus; he
brutally murdered a group of criminals and one of
their wives, after they assassinated his brother. Strict
tyrant, who incurred resentment enough to spark a
revolution.
508 B.C. –Cleisthenes: Athenian aristocrat/lawgiver
and ruler associated with the instatement of
democracy in Athens, and reformer of the Athenian
constitution/governmental system.
508 B.C. –Isagorus: Athenian aristocrat who turns to
the Spartans in order to carry out a coup, help him
overthrow Cleisthenes, and seize power over Athens.
Noble who is overthrown along with the Spartans in
the people’s revolution.
Sparta, to get help with fighting the Persians, in two
days. Help was denied, and he died after making this
journey.
490 B.C. –Battle of Marathon: The Greeks gain an
incredible victory over the Persian army, despite
being underprepared, and outnumbered two-one.
490 B.C. –Themistocles: War hero of the battle of
Marathon, and one of the first democratic polititians
and military leaders. He built the Athenian navy and
revolutionized the Greek style of warfare in order to
defend against the Persians in the event of another
attack.
483 B.C. –Silver Vein Discovery: The Athenians
discovered an extremely valuable silver vein in their
country, and instead of dividing it amongst
themselves, Themistocles convinced the citizens to
use the money to build the greatest naval force in the
world at the time.
486 B.C. –Persian King, Darius, Dies
486 B.C. –Xerxes Comes to Power: Xerxes 1, the
son of Darius, comes to power, and vows to destroy
the Athenians. He leads an immense army of two
million men toward Athens and the rest of the Greek
city-states.
508 B.C. –The People’s Revolution: Athenian
citizens rebel against government leaders/ Isagorus
and the Spartans in order to obtain freedom from
tyranny.
480 B.C. –Battle of Salamis: Themistocles
cunningly traps the huge Persian army into a fight
with the Greek navy in the narrow straights between
Athens and the island of Salamis, rather than on land.
The advanced trireme ships of the Greek navy are
able to defeat the large Persian fleet, resulting in a
grand victory for the outnumbered Greeks. And the
achievement of naval superiority throughout the
world.
490 B.C. – Pheidippides: Athenian citizen ran 26
miles, from Marathon to Athens, to warn his fellow
country-men of a Persian invasion on the shores of
marathon, and then 116 more miles, to neighboring
478 B.C. –Forming of the Delian League: A group
of Greek city-states, led by Athens, form an alliance
to keep the Persians at bay and defend against any
future attacks.
472-71 B.C. –Democratic Ostracism of
Themistocles
Andrews 2
495–429 B.C. –Pericles: Athenian noble/aristocrat,
and intellectual and cultural leader, who proposed
planned, and carried out an immense reconstruction
(and new construction) project of destroyed Greek
temples and monuments. He organized the
construction of the Parthenon, as a symbol of the
Athenian empire, and proposed the attempted
vanquishing of the Athenian rival state: Sparta.
This led to the downfall of Athens.
469/470--399 B.C. –Socrates: Famous Greek
philosopher, educator, and thinker, who developed a
method of reasoning, and understanding people and
ideas that employed testing hypotheses, and asking
questions. He questioned assumptions and
conventions of his day.
–Spartan razing of Athenian fields/crops and
cities
–Athenian Plague: Plagues brought to Athens by
rats on war-ships wipe out a third of the Athenian
population.
429 B.C. Pericles Dies: Pericles is struck by the
plague, and dies in the midst of the Peloponnesian
war.
–Athenian Generals Sentenced to Death by
General Assembly: Athenian democracy breaks
down and generals who had won a naval skirmish
against the Spartans were sentenced to death by their
own people, for supposed negligence of other
military efforts. War efforts were devastated by this
blow to the military leadership.
416 B.C. –Athenians accept the task of protecting
Sicilly from Sparta: Seeing the opportunity to
humiliate the Spartans and conquer more new
territory, the Athenians rushed into a poorly planned
and pointless war campaign on the isle of Sicily. The
results were the loss of two whole fleets of men and
triremes, plus a huge number of army men, crippling
the Athenian military.
–Persian Empire Subsidizes the Naval
Development of Sparta
404 B.C. –Athens Surrenders to Sparta: The Spartan
leader Lysander accepts Athens surrender, dismantles
the Athenian navy, and tears down the city wall.
399 B.C. Socrates is Tried and Executed: Looking
for a scapegoat for their downfall, Athenians accused
Socrates, who had always been skeptical of the status
quo, and of blindly following traditions, of
“corrupting the youth,” and “refusing to recognize
the god’s recognized by the state”.
Andrews 3
I was particularly interested in the tradition of the Olympic games. I enjoy watching the
Olympic games today, so it was intriguing for me to learn more about the culture and practice of
the early/original Olympic games. The ancient Olympic games have been dated back as far as
776 B.C. They were originally part of a festival for Zeus, and became a favored, and very
patriotic event in which the men of Greece participated (women were not allowed to participate,
or watch these games). I think that the Olympic games are a prime example of Greek culture, in
that they provided a level playing field for all athletes from any class or race, to compete against
each other in physical exercises and display “heroic” qualities, just like every voice may have
been heard in their democracy. These contributed to, and reinforced the idea of a heroic
archetype among men, which the Greeks so seemed to cling to as part of their culture. And the
fact that athletes participated in all events completely in the nude, also seems to go along with
the Greek ideology of human magnificence, as is displayed in their art, and literature as well as
their theatre.
I also enjoyed learning about the trireme ships, which helped make Athens one of the
greatest imperial powers of the world. These ships were first used by the sea-faring Phoenicians,
and were named for their design which included three lines of rowers down each side of the ship.
Up to thirty rowers could fit in one of these lines, and they were extremely agile and
maneuverable, which made them superior to the Persian ships for fighting in the narrow straights
of Salamis, in the battle of Salamis. I think these ships stuck out to me, because they
demonstrated the resourcefulness of the Athenian military power and intellect.
Additionally, I was interested in the pottery made by ancient Athenians, that has become
famous for its unique style of decoration/painting. It was fascinating to me, that so much effort
would be put into items which were in such high demand (as vessels for water, wine, olive oil,
and other liquids). This idea stuck out to me as a testament to the industry of the ancient Greeks,
and an example of their competitive nature, as these designs were constantly improved and
refined by rival artisans trying to one-up each other.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that the Athenians, in their simple democracy, had a
formal way of essentially impeaching those in power, whom they felt threatened by. I was struck
by the similarity of their governmental rights to demand the best from their politicians and to
defame and disempower those who did not meet their standards, and our modern constitution
which allows us to do the same thing, (though through a more complicated republic, rather than
true democratic system). This process that the ancient Athenians conducted, stood out as a
testament of their fierce desire to maintain their independence and freedom, though they often
took it to the extreme, by ostracizing those who they simply might not have gotten along with.