BOOK III

THE GOLDEN AGE

480-399 B.C.

B.C.

478:

Pindar of Thebes, poet

478-67:

Hieron I dictator at Syracuse

478:

Pythagoras of Rhegium, sculptor

477:

Delian Confederacy founded

472:

Polygnotus, painter; Aeschylus’ Persae

469:

Birth of Socrates

468:

Cimon defeats Persians at the Eurymedon; first contest between Aeschylus and Sophocles

467:

Bacchylides of Ceos, poet; Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes

464-54:

Helot revolt; siege of Ithome

463-31:

Public career of Pericles

462:

Ephialtes limits the Areopagus; pay for jurors; Anaxagoras at Athens

461:

Cimon ostracized; Ephialtes killed

460:

Empedocles of Acragas, philosopher; Aeschylus’ Promotheus Bound

459-54:

Athenian expedition to Egypt fails

458:

Aeschylus’ Oresteia; the Long Walls

456:

Temple of Zeus at Olympia; Paeonius of Mende, sculptor

454:

Delian treasury removed to Athens

450:

Zeno of Elea, philosopher; Hippocrates of Chios, mathematician; Callimachus develops the Corinthian order; Philolaus of Thebes, astronomer

448:

Peace of Callias with Persia

447-31:

The Parthenon

445:

Leucippus of Abdera, philosopher

443:

Herodotus of Halicarnassus, historian, joins colonists founding Thurii (Italy); Gorgias of Leontini, Sophist

442:

Sophocles’ Antigone; Myron of Eleutherae, sculptor

440:

Protagoras of Abdera, Sophist

438:

Pheidias’ Athene Parthenos; Euripides’ Alcestis

437:

ThePropylaea

435-34:

War between Corinth and Corcyra

433:

Alliance of Athens and Corcyra

432:

Revolt of Potidaea; trials of Aspasia, Pheidias, and Anaxagoras

431-04:

Peloponnesian War

431-24:

Euripides’ Medea, Andromache, and Hecuba; Sophocles’ Electra

430:

Plague at Athens; trial of Pericles

429:

Death of Pericles; Cleon in power; Sophocles’ Oedipus the King

428:

Revolt of Mytilene; Euripides’ Hippolytus; death of Anaxagoras

B.C.

427:

Embassy of Gorgias at Athens; Prodicus and Hippias, Sophists

425:

Siege of Sphacteria; Aristophanes’ Acharnians

424:

Brasidas takes Amphipolis; exile of Thucydides, historian; Aristophanes’ Knights

423:

Aristophanes’ Clouds; Zeuxis of Heraclea and Parrhasius of Ephesus, painters

422:

Aristophanes’ Wasps; death of Cleon and Brasidas

421:

Peace of Nicias; Aristophanes’ Peace

420:

Hippocrates of Cos, physician; Democritus of Abdera, philosopher; Polycleitus of Sicyon, sculptor

420-04:

The Erechtheum

419:

Lysias, orator

418:

Spartan victory at Mantinea; Euripides’ Ion

416:

Massacre at Melos; Euripides’ Electra(?)

415-13:

Athenian expedition to Syracuse

415:

Mutilation of the Hermae; disgrace of Alcibiades; Euripides’ Trojan Women

414:

Siege of Syracuse; Aristophanes’ Birds

413:

Athenian defeat at Syracuse; Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris

412:

Euripides’ Helen and Andromeda

411:

Revolt of the Four Hundred; Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae

410:

Restoration of the democrary; victory of Alcibiades at Cyzicus

408:

Timotheus of Miletus, poet and musician; Euripides’ Orestes

406:

Athenian victory at Arginusae; deaths of Euripides and Sophocles; Euripides’ Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis

405-367:

Dionysius I dictator at Syracuse

405:

Spartan victory at Aegospotami; Aristophanes’ Frogs

404:

End of the Peloponnesian War; rule of the Thirty at Athens

403:

Restoration of the democracy

401:

Defeat of Cyrus II at Cunaxa; retreat of Xenophon’s Ten Thousand; Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus

399:

Trial and death of Socrates