Classical Period
| Events | Time | Additional Explanations |
|
Xerxes marches on Greece. Battle of Thermopylae. Persians burn the Acropolis. Athens and allies defeat Persian fleet at naval battle of Salamis. |
480 BCE |
Classical Period (480-323). Transitional (480-450). |
|
Battle of Plataea. Greeks defeat Persian army. |
479 BCE | |
| Delian league lead by Athens. | 477 BCE | |
|
Earthquake in Lakonia. Helot revolt against Sparta in Messenia. |
465 BCE | |
| Peloponnesian Wars: "First Peloponnesian War". | 461-445 BCE | |
| Perikles leads Athens through its "Golden Era" (ca. 460-429). | 460 BCE | |
| Aeschylus produces "the Oresteia" trilogy of tragedies: (Agamemnon, Libation Barers, Eumenides) in Athens. | 458 BCE | |
| Delian league treasury moved from Delos to Athens. | 454 BCE | |
| Sophist Protagoras visits Athens. | 450 BCE | |
|
Acropolis and other major building projects begin in Athens. Construction of Parthenon (449-432). Sophocles produces the tragedy "Ajax". |
449 BCE | |
| Thirty-year peace treaty signed between Athens and Sparta in winter 446/445. | 446 BCE | |
| Sophocles produces "Antigone" in Athens 430-429. | 441 BCE | |
| Peloponnesian War (431-404) resumes Euripedes produces "Medea" in Athens. | 431 BCE | |
| Plague epidemic in Athens. | 430 BCE | |
| Death of Perikles. | 429 BCE | |
| Peace of Nicias. | 421 BCE | |
| Construction of Temple of Athena Nike (420-410). | 420 BCE | |
| Athenians resume hostilities Spartans defeat Athens at Mantinea. | 418 BCE | |
| Athens razes Melos. | 416 BCE | |
|
Athens expedition to Syracuse. Alcibiades defects to Sparta. |
415 BCE | |
| Syracuse defeats Athens. | 413 BCE | |
| Aristophanes produces "Lysistrata". | 411 BCE | |
|
Athens surrenders to Sparta. Thirty tyrants rule Athens. |
404 BCE | |
| Democracy restored in Athens. | 403 BCE | |
| Trial and execution of Socrates. | 399 BCE | |
| Plato establishes the Athens Academy. | 380 BCE | |
| Sparta defeated in Leuctra. | 371 BCE | |
| Thebes defeats Sparta at Mantinea. | 362 BCE | |
| Philip II, becomes King of Macedonia. | 359 BCE | |
|
Macedonian army defeats Athens and its allies at Chaeronea. League of Corinth founded. |
338 BCE | |
|
Phillip II Assassinated. Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia. |
336 BCE | |
| Aristotle founds the Lyceum in Athens. | 335 BCE | |
| Alexander the Great defeats Persian army at Granicus river in Anatolia. | 334 BCE | |
| Alexander the Great defeats Persians at Issus. | 333 BCE | |
| Tyre capitulates to Alexander after siege. | 332 BCE | |
|
Alexander invades Egypt. City of Alexandria founded in Egypt. Alexander defeats Persians at Gaugamela. |
331 BCE | |
| Alexander's army reaches Bactria (Afghanistan). | 329 BCE | |
| Alexander marries Roxane (princes of Bactria). | 327 BCE | |
| Alexander's army reaches India. | 326 BCE |






