| 499-494 |
Ionian Revolt is crushed by Darius, King of Persia |
| 496 |
Birth of Sophocles |
| 493 |
Phrynicus fined for reminding the Athenians of Persian
infamy in his play Fall of Miletus
Miletus
(sacked in 494 by the Persians)
Archonship of Themistokles in
Athens |
| 490 |
 Battle
of Marathon (winning general: Miltiades) |
| 489 |
Trial and death of Miltiades |
| 486 |
Comedy is introduced into the Great Dionysia |
| 485 |
Death of Darius; Xerxes becomes King of Persia
Birth of the sophist Protagoras at Abdera
Birth of the sophist Gorgias in Sicily |
| 484 |
Aeschylus' 1st dramatic victory, but the play is lost |
| 483 |
 Athens makes a big Silver Strike
at the Laurion mines and Themistokles
persuades Athenians to build a fleet with the money |
| 481 |
Birth of Protagoras |
| 480 |
 Battle of Thermopylae (losing general:
Leonides)
Battle of Salamis (winning general:
Themistokles) 
Cosmologist Anaxagoras
settles in Athens
Birth of historian Herodotus
(approximate date)
Birth of Euripides on Salamis (approximate date) |
| 479 |
Battle of Plataea
 |
| 477 |
 Formulation of the Delian League.
Athens, the city-state with the most impressive fleet, promises safety to remote colonies
and islands living in the shadow of the Persian Empire, if everyone contributes to the
cost of the endeavor. But what starts as a defensive alliance quickly degenerates into a
protection racket, and voluntary contributions soon become required. The
"Delian" League gets its name from the sacred - and neutral - isle of Delos, the hub of a wheel
(CYCLADES) of
islands in the Aegean. |
| 476 |
Phrynichus wins Great Dionysia with Phoenissae, a play about the
Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis (Themistokles is choregos!) |
| 472/1 |
Aeschylus wins with Persians, also about Salamis (Pericles is
choregos!) |
| 470/469 |
Birth of Socrates |
| 468 |
Sophocles wins first victory over Aeschylus (lost Triptolemus) |
| 467 |
Aeschylus wins with Seven Against Thebes (with Laius,
Oedipus, and the satyr play Sphinx, all lost) |
| c. 463 |
Aeschylus wins with Danaid trilogy (only Suppliants survives) |
| 462/1 |
 Ephialtes'
democratic reforms cause the powers of the Areopagus to be abolished; Athens' alliance
with Argos |
| 461 |
 Pericles begins his 29-year stint as strategos in Athens.
1st Peloponnesian War begins between
Athens and Sparta (war ends in 446 BC). Ephialtes is assassinated. |
| 460 |
Birth of natural philosopher Democritus
Birth of historian Thucydides |
| 458 |
Aeschylus' Oresteia wins 18th 1st prize (only surviving
trilogy!) |
| 457 |
Athenian long walls completed: they are now in perfect position to defend
themselves against attack, whether from "foreign or Hellenic aggressor"
(Pericles) |
| 456 |
 Death of Aeschylus. Legend tells
us that an eagle mistakenly identified his bald head as a rock and deliberately dropped a
tortoise on it from a great height to break open its shell. |
| 454 |
 Athens
moves the Delian League Treasury to Athens.
With this action, the "Delian League" becomes the "Athenian Empire." |
| 450 |
Trial and departure of Anaxagoras on charge of atheism |
| 449 |
PEACE WITH PERSIA. After the Battle of Plataea (479 BC), all Greeks had
agreed not to rebuild anything the Persians had destroyed in order to keep the memory of
their insolence and impiety fresh. But when Pericles makes peace with Persia, he suggests
that the oath is no longer valid. Sparta and others refuse to discuss this, and Pericles
decides that since the Athenians had suffered the most damage defending all of Greece from
the Persians (after all, the Acropolis and and its buildings had been burned
to the ground...), it is perfectly legitimate to use the funds from the former Delian
League treasury (conveniently already in Athens...) to embark upon his Great Building
Program, proof positive of Athens' superiority. |
| 447 |
 Construction on the Parthenon is begun with Delian League
funds. |
| 446 |
30 Years' Peace between Athens and Sparta |
| 445 |
Birth of comic playwright Aristophanes
Sophocles' Ajax |
| c. 444 |
Protagoras arrives in Athens |
| 443 |
Pericles ostracizes the conservative Thucydides (not the
historian)
Sophocles is elected
Treasurer of the Confederacy of Delos |
| 442 |
Sophocles' Antigone |
| 441 |
1st victory of Euripides
Sophocles elected general
(riding on popularity of Antigone) |
| 439/8 |
Euripides' Alcestis wins 2nd prize |
| 431 |
Outbreak of the 2nd Peloponnesian War - Sparta versus Athens
See Dr. J's Illustrated Pericles' Funeral
Oration
1st prize: son of Aeschylus
2nd prize: Sophocles
3rd prize: Euripides' Medea |
| 430 |
The plague hits Athens |
| 429 |
Sophocles' Oedipus the King (AKA Oedipus Tyrannos)
Death of Pericles from the
plague
Birth of Plato (approximate date) |
| 428 |
Euripides' Hippolytus |
| 427 |
The Sophist Gorgias begins the sophist craze in Athens |
| 425 |
 Athenian victory over the Spartans at Sphakteria but
Cleon rejects peace offer from the Spartans
Aristophanes' Acharnians |
| 424 |
Historian Thucydides exiled for poor military performance |
| 423 |
 Aristophanes'
Clouds unfairly defames Socrates as a sophist |
| 422 |
Aristophanes' Wasps |
| 421 |
Aristophanes' Peace
The Peace of Nicias between Athens and Sparta |
| 416 |
The Athenian army brutally quashes revolt on Melos |
| 415 |
Sicilian Expedition begins (Alcibiades/Nicias in charge)
Alcibiades goes over to the Spartan side
Mutilation of herms in Athens (act of gross impiety)
Protagoras on trial in Athens for impiety
Euripides' Trojan
Women wins 2nd prize |
| 414 |
Aristophanes' Birds |
| 413 |
The Athenian navy is destroyed at Sicily |
| 411 |
Oligarchy takes over in Athens
Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae |
| 409 |
Sophocles' Philoctetes |
| 408 |
Euripides' Orestes and his departure from Athens |
| 406 |
Athens victorious in sea-battle at Arginusae |
| 405 |
Death of Sophocles (while reciting the Antigone?!)
Death of Euripides (in far-away Macedon)
Aristophanes' Frogs (bemoaning the loss of these playwrights)
Posthumous presentation of Euripides' Bacchae - 1st prize
Sparta destroys Athenian
fleet at Aegospotami |
| 404 |
 Athens surrenders. Sparta wins Peloponnesian War.
The Thirty (another oligarchy) takes
over in Athens |
| 403 |
Democracy is restored in Athens |
| 401 |
Posthumous presentation of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus by his
grandson, Sophocles |
| 399 |
Trial and death of Socrates |
| 395 |
Death of Thucydides |
| 386 |
Death of Aristophanes |
| 384 |
Birth of Aristotle |
Birth of Demosthenes
|
 |
 |
| 360 |
Plato founds his Academy |
| 347 |
Death of Plato |
| 322 |
|
|
| Death
of Demosthenes
|
Death
of Aristotle |
| 338 |
 Philip of Macedon conquers Greece with the definitive Battle of
Chaironea
|
| N.B.
When faced with contradictory information in various sources, I have relied on the Cambridge
Companion to Greek Tragedy for the last word on dates of plays, and on Bury and
Meiggs' History of Greece for historical events. |
