040 - War Hawks and Peace Doves

In this episode, we discuss the aftermath of the Persian Wars and how the Athenians and Spartans both come to terms with the new state of affairs; the formation of the Delian League under Athens to carry on the war effort against Persia at sea; and the post-war political factions in Athens (Themistokles and Xanthippos vs Kimon and Aristeides) and in Sparta (Leotychidas and Pausanias vs Pleistarchos) and their struggle to dictate Athenian-Spartan foreign policy in the 470s BC

Winter 479/8 BC - The Athenians begin to rebuild and refortify after the Persian destruction of the city; Sparta, alarmed by the growth of Athenian power and daring, send envoys to urge the Athenians not to rebuild their walls, but Themistocles rejects the idea and tricks the envoys; the Athenians rebuild walls using old statues as ‘fill’, while Themistocles is on diplomatic mission to Sparta; upon his return, Themistocles also persuades the Athenians to complete fortifications at Piraeus, which effectively attach it to the city of Athens; while Cimon promotes cooperation with Sparta, Themistocles is hostile and attempts to rouse anti-Spartan feelings; Themistocles also secretly proposes to destroy the beached ships of the other allied navies at Pagasae in order to ensure complete Athenian naval dominance but was overruled

478 BC - Cyprus (an important Persian naval base) and Byzantium (vital for the Black Sea trade route) are recaptured by the Hellenic League fleet under Pausanias; Athens, under Aristides and Cimon, dissatisfied with Spartan leadership of Pausanias; while Pausanias is occupying Byzantium, his arrogance and his adoption of Persian clothing and manners offends the allies and raises suspicions of disloyalty; after being recalled to Sparta for his behavior at Byzantium, Pausanias is tried and acquitted on charges of Medism but he is not restored to his command so he returns to Byzantium as private citizen; the Hellenic League fleet at Byzantium rejects the Spartan Dorkis as Pausanias’ replacement; Sparta thereafter abandons struggle against Persia, Athens receives hegemony with the approval of the allies

Winter 478/7 BC - Formation of the Delian League with Athens as hegemon to carry on war against Persia and to seek vengeance and compensation for injuries received; members include cities in Aegean islands, on the coast of Thrace, in Hellespontine (and Bosporus) region, and on the coast of Asia Minor; standard offensive and defensive alliance; assembly of delegates meets at Delos, each with an equal vote; Athens has supreme command in war, chief executive duties and presides at league meetings; some members contribute ships, other cash payment to league funds; Aristides assessed first tribute (phoros) of league members at 460 talents; Athenian magistrates named Hellenotamai (treasurers of the Hellenes) appointed to take charge of league funds, with treasury at Temple of Apollo at Delos; each member bound to Delian League alone; Peloponnesian League, Hellenic League, and Delian League separate and distinct entities

477 BC - Cimon begins to increase his power at the expense of Themistocles; As strategos, Cimon takes Eion on the Strymon River from Persians with Delian League fleet

476 BC - Leotychides leads a fleet and army to reoccupy Thessaly and to punish the pro-Persian Aleuadae, but he fails; when he returns to Sparta, he is charged with accepting a bribe during operations in Thessaly, so he flees to the temple of Athena Alea in Tegea for sanctuary and is sentenced to exile in absentia; his grandson Archidamos II ascends the Spartan throne in his place (r. 476-427 BC)

476/5 BC - Cimon takes Skyros (non-Persian territory), Dolopian pirates are enslaved, and the island is settled with a cleruchy; at Skyros, Cimon discovers the ‘bones of Theseus’ and brings them back to Athens in response to a Delphic oracle

475 BC - Themistocles serves as choregos for Phrynichos’ Phoinissai (Phoenician Women); the death of Xanthippos (father of Pericles); Spartan debate reveals division of opinion on foreign policy, as Hetoemaridas opposes the imperial ambitions of those Spartans who desire to regain naval hegemony in a war against Athens

473 BC - Pausanias is recalled to Sparta because he is suspected of plotting to seize power either by conspiring with the Persians or by instigating a helot uprising; he takes refuge in the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House to escape arrest; his asylum is respected but the Spartans wall in the sanctuary and starve Pausanias to death; Sparta then tries to implicate Themistocles in Pausanias' alleged treasonous crimes; when he is charged with Medism, he flees to Argos, where he introduces democracy to Sparta's hated rivals; from there, he travels throughout the Peloponnesus to stir up anti-Spartan sentiment

473/2 BC - Cimon campaigns against Karystos, a Greek city of Euboea which had medized, and forces them to join the Delian League

472 BC - Aeschylus composed Persai (The Persians), with Pericles as choregos; Themistocles acquitted on charge of Medism in absentia 

Winter 472/1 BC - Themistocles loses the confidence of the Athenian people, partly due to his arrogance and partly due to Spartan influence, so he is formally ostracized

471 BC - The Mantineans and Eleans, possibly persuaded by Themistocles, establish democratically-controlled cities by uniting various scattered towns through synoecism; both foundations upset Spartans for whom it is easier to dominate scattered towns than centralized cities; Sparta, backed by Cimon, demands that the Athenians punish Themistocles, who flees the Peloponnese to Corcyra and becomes a suppliant of Admetus, king of the Molossians; he subsequently travels to Macedon and then catches a ship to Asia Minor

470 BC - The island of Naxos revolts from the Delian League but is blockaded by Athens and forced to surrender; first example of succession and suppression of a league member; became subject to Athens, contrary to league ‘charter’, which guaranteed autonomy to its members; this action is considered high-handed and resented by the other Greek city states; with tribute the Athenians were increasing their navy, while other states, seeking to avoid the hazards, hardships and expenses of military service, began to provide cash payment instead of ships to league; process of changing from payment in ships to payment in cash, happened both voluntarily and under compulsion from Athens

Primary Sources:

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

Text/Plutarch's Life of Aristides

Text/Plutarch's Life of Cimon

039 - The Greek Counterattack

In this episode, we discuss the tensions between the Spartan-Athenian alliance during the winter of 480/79 BC over how to deal with the lingering Persian threat; Mardonios' strategy of turning the Athenians and Spartans against each other; the eventual makeup (sort of) of Athens and Sparta; the combined Greek counterattack against the Persians in the spring of 479 BC, culminating in the twin victories at Plataia (in Boiotia) and Mykale (in Ionia), which effectively ended the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars; and the Athenians' first attempt on the Thrakian Chersonesos, which would come to define their foreign policy in the rest of the century

Spring 479 BC - The Greek fleet assembles at Aegina under the Spartan king, Leotychides, and sails to Delos to keep watch on the Persian fleet at Samos; Mardonios once again occupies Attica, so the Athenians withdraw to Salamis; Mardonios' peace offer of an allegiance is refused twice by the Athenians, though the Athenians threaten to come to terms unless Sparta sends an army against the Persians

Summer 479 BC - When the Spartan regent Pausanias assembles a large Peloponnesian army at the Isthmus of Corinth, Mardonius retires to Thebes in Boeotia; in the ensuing Battle of Plataea, Mardonius is killed and the Persian army is annihilated in flight, except for the troops under Artabazus which escape through Thessaly and Thrace to Asia Minor; the Theban leaders who "medized" are executed and thank-offerings are dedicated at Delphi for victory over Persia including serpent column listing 31 cities faithful to “the Hellenes”; at the same time, the Greek fleet under command of Leotychides at Delos heeds envoys from Samos and sails to Asia Minor to liberate Ionia; when the Greeks land at Mycale, many Ionians and Aeolians turn on the Persians and join with them; after the Greeks slaughter the Persians and burn their ships, the Athenians enroll in the Hellenic League the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and other islanders who campaigned with them

Winter 479/8 BC - The Greek fleet at Samos sails to the Hellespont to destroy Xerxes’ bridge but find it no longer in place; Leotychides leaves with Peloponnesian contingents, while Xanthippos and the Athenians make an attempt on the Thracian Chersonese; they lay siege to Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont (which was held by a strong force of Persians), capture the fortress, and then sail home

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 9)

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

Text/Plutarch's Life of Aristides

038 - Behind the Wooden Walls

In this episode, we discuss the aftermath of the Greek loss at Thermopylai, as the Persians advanced southwards to Athens and the rest of the Greeks fled to Salamis and to the Peloponnesos; the lead-up to and the naval Battle of Salamis itself (in 480 BC), in which Themistokles tricked the Persians into fighting in the narrows between Attika and Salamis, resulting in a stunning Greek victory at sea; and the battle's aftermath, which saw Xerxes' fleet and the bulk of his army retreat back to Asia

Late Summer 480 BC - The Greek fleet withdraws south from Artemisium after an indecisive engagement with the Persian fleet and news of the Greek army's defeat at Thermopylae; while the Peloponnesians fortify the Isthmus at Corinth, the Athenians evacuate their women and children to Troezen and their old men and possessions to Salamis; meanwhile, Xerxes moves south with his army, devastating Phocis and destroying Thespiae and Plataea for their loyalty to the Greek cause, while the Persian fleet sets out and reaches Phaleron; the Persians burn and loot Attica, now abandoned except for those few on the acropolis; when their wall was finished, the Peloponnesians wish to retire to the Isthmus and make their defense in the Peloponnese, but Themistocles, with support of Aegina and Megara, threatens to sail with Athenians to Italy, if Peloponnesians withdraw; Themistocles sends his slave with message to Xerxes, tricking the Great King into fighting in the narrows between Attica and Salamis; and a stunning Greek victory vindicates his naval strategy; the Persian fleet flees at night to the Hellespont to guard the bridges for the army to retreat and then to winter at Samos to ensure the Ionian Greeks don't rebel again; after the Persian army retreats north to Thessaly, from there Xerxes leads the bulk of his army overland back to Asia, but he leaves Mardonius behind with a force for an expedition against the Greeks the next spring

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 8)

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

Text/Plutarch's Life of Aristides

037 - Molon Labe

In this episode, we discuss the death of Dareios and the ascension of his son Xerxes to the Persian throne; Xerxes' preparations for a much larger, second Persian invasion of Greece (in 480 BC); the formation of the Hellenic League and their own preparations and tactical maneuverings in order to defend Greek liberty against Persia; the simultaneous multi-day land and naval battles at Thermopylai and Artemision in central Greece; and the folklore that surrounded Thermopylai afterwards and its monuments

486 BC - Egypt revolts from the Persian Empire; as he prepares to put it down, Darius dies from some illness (after 36-year reign) and is succeeded by his son, Xerxes

485 BC - Xerxes suppresses the Egyptian revolt in person, removes Egypt’s special privileges, and reduces it to satrapy status; the Aleuadai of Thessaly send envoys to Susa urging Xerxes to invade Greece and finish what his father started

484-481 BC - Xerxes begins to prepare for a full-scale invasion of Greece, by mustering an enormous army and navy from all provinces of his empire; he also undertakes a three-year project to dig a canal through the isthmus of the Mount Athos promontory, puts a bridge over the Strymon River and food deposits for the route through Thrace, and another bridge across the Hellespont from Abydos on Asiatic coast to Sestos on the European side

484 BC - Babylon revolts from the Persian Empire but is quickly subdued; the Babylonians are given leniency due to Xerxes' fondness for them

482 BC - Babylon revolts for a second time; it is quelled by Megabyzos and this time there is no leniency, as Babylon is forced to merge with Assyria into one satrapy

Spring 481 BC - Xerxes assembles his army in Cappadocia and proceeds to Sardis, and sends heralds to all Greek poleis, except Athens and Sparta, requesting for "earth and water"

Fall 481 BC - The Greeks hold a conference at Corinth; 31 Greek states agree to end their quarrels (i.e. the war between Athens and Aegina ceases at this time) and to fight to the death to preserve Greek liberty; they create the Hellenic League, the first union of Greek states since the mythical times of the Trojan war; Sparta presides over meetings and has supreme command over both land and sea forces;  they send spies to investigate the Persian army at Sardis and envoys to Argos, Corcyra, Crete, and Syracuse; Argos and Crete opt to remain neutral as Delphi advises, Corcyra agrees to join, and Syracuse refuses alliance

Winter 481/0 BC - Xerxes' massive army gathers and winters at Sardis

Spring/Early Summer 480 BC - Xerxes crosses Asia into Europe and joins with fleet at mouth of Hebros River; they begin to make their west through Thrace; 2nd meeting of Hellenic League at Corinth to determine where to meet Persians in the field; they decide to send a force of hoplites, under the Spartan Euainetos and aided by the Athenian Themistocles, to guard the pass of Tempe in Thessaly; but the Hellenic League abandons Tempe when they are informed by Alexander of Macedon that their position could be turned by the Persians; as a result, when Xerxes' army and fleet enters Macedon, the Thessalians medize

Late Summer 480 BC - In need of a new plan after their withdrawal from Tempe, the Hellenic League decides to hold the narrow land pass at Thermopylae in Malis with a small advance force under the Spartan king Leonidas, while the fleet, under the Spartan Eurybiades and Athenian Themistocles, was to defend their approach via the sea at Artemesion, in hope that these land and naval forces can cooperate in stopping the joint advance of Xerxes, whose strategy depended on close communication between his own land and naval forces; after much difficulty, brought on by stiff Greek resistance, thunderstorms, and perhaps treachery, the Persians win the simultaneous land and naval battles at Thermopylae and Artemision; King Leonidas and his army are annihilated (“Go, stranger, and to Lacedaimon tell that here, obeying her behests, we fell), and the Greek fleet withdraws south back to Athens

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 7)

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 8)

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

Text/Plutarch's Life of Aristides

036 - The Marathonomachoi

In this episode, we discuss the events leading up to the first Persian invasion of Greece (in 490 BC), including both sides' preparations for war, shifting alliances amongst the Greeks and Persians, and regnal squabbles at Sparta; the Battle of Marathon itself and its aftermath; the folklore that surrounded the battle afterwards and its monuments; the ongoing military feud between the Athenians and Aiginetans; and the internal political happenings at Athens during the 480s BC

492 BC - Mardonios, brother-in-law of Darius, is appointed as commander of the Persian army, establishes democracies in Ionian cities in place of former tyrannies, and sets out on a land and sea campaign to recover Thrace, which had broken from Persia during the Ionian revolt; Macedon once again recognizes the Great King as overlord, but the wreck of many ships in a violent storm as the Persian fleet tries to round Mount Athos on the Chalkidiki peninsula necessitates their return to Asia; however, with Thrace and Macedon under their control, Persian power now extends to the northern border of Thessaly

491 BC - Darius sends ambassadors to all Greek cities of the islands and central/southern Greece, requesting "earth and water" (i.e. submission); Athens and Sparta both resist, and Athens appeals to Sparta over suspected medism of their rival Aegina, so as a token of their reconciliation and alliance Kleomenes forces Aegina, a Peloponnesian ally, to furnish hostages to Athens; this leads to an internal squabble between the two Spartan kings, which results in Kleomenes convincing Leotychidas to get Demaratos exiled and to replace him as Eurypontid king; Demaratos thus flees to Persia, where he becomes advisor to Darius

Winter 491/0 BC - Darius makes preparations to punish Athens and Eretria for aiding the Ionian revolt and to take vengeance for the burning of Sardis (“Remember the Athenians!”)

Spring 490 BC - Datis and Artaphernes lead the Persian fleet from Cilicia in southern Asia Minor across the central Aegean, with the aim to exact punishment on Eretria and Athens and to install Hippias as tyrant; they take Naxos and burn its temples as retribution; Delos is spared and honored, though, while other islands are forced to give troops and hostages

Summer 490 BC - The Persian fleet sails to Euboea, forces Karystos to capitulate, and then proceeds to Eretria; the Persians pillage and burn Eretria's temples in revenge for the temples at Sardis and enslave its population; then they arrive with Hippias at the northern end of the plain of Marathon (an area of strong Peisistratid influence); Athens sends Pheidippides to Sparta for help, who covers 140 miles in one day; the Spartans, though, cannot send forces till after the full moon; so after Miltiades passes a motion to meet the Persians in the field, the Athenians march to Marathon, where they are joined by 600 Plataeans; the polemarch Callimachus follows the battle strategy of Miltiades (by using a double envelope), and the Persians are defeated (6400 Persian and 192 Athenian casualties, including Callimachus); the Persians then sail to Athens, but a possible shield signal (by the Alkmaionidai) is flashed to alert them that the Athenians had rushed back to Athens to prevent their landing; Datis and Artaphernes then return to Asia, where they are likely punished for their failures

489 BC - Miltiades undertakes an expedition to force the Aegean islands to renounce their allegiance to Persia; despite initial successes, he is injured and fails at Paros; upon his return, he is tried by Xanthippos for deceiving the people and fined a hefty sum of fifty talents, but dies shortly thereafter from his wound; Kleomenes' plot against Demaratos is discovered so he flees to Thessaly and then attempts to organize the Arcadians and helots against Sparta; in order to prevent this uprising, he is invited back to Sparta but shortly after his return, he goes mad and kills himself; Leonidas takes over as Agiad king of Sparta

Winter 488/7 BC - Ostracism of Hipparchos, a relative of Hippias (condemned to death in absentia); first successful ostracism on the Athenian historical record

Winter 487/6 BC - Ostracism of Megakles, leader of the Alkmaionidai and friend of Hippias

486 BC - The Spartans send Leotychidas with Aeginetan envoys to Athens for the Aeginetan hostages; Athens refuses and so Aegina captures a number of leading Athenians; war between Athens and Aegina results, in which the Athenians defeat a small Aeginetan naval squadron in the Saronic Gulf but are repulsed when they land on the island

Winter 486/5 BC - Ostracism of Kallias, son-in-law of Miltiades and friend of Megakles

Winter 485/4 BC - Ostracism of Xanthippos, brother-in-law of Megakles

483 BC - Athens discovers an unusually rich vein of silver in the Laurion mines with profits of 100 talents a year to the state; instead of distributing 10 drachma to each citizen, Themistocles persuades the people to pass a decree supposedly to build a large fleet of 100 triremes for the war with Aegina, but secretly he is aware of Persian preparations for another invasion (he is likely opposed by the hoplite-focused faction of Aristides); in addition, 100 of the richest men in Athens are made responsible for building and equipping one trireme each (first reference to what becomes the trierarchic system); timber for the 200 ships is imported from Macedon, where king Alexander, despite being a Persian vassal, remains pro-Athenian

Winter 483/2 BC - Ostracism of Aristides, political opponent of Themistocles

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 6)

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

Text/Plutarch's Life of Aristides

035 - The Ionian Revolt

In this episode, we discuss the events of the “Ionian Revolt,” in which the eastern Greeks revolted from the Persian Empire, including the failed Naxos expedition, Miletos' role in the rebellion and its spread throughout the western coast of Asia Minor and Kypros, the Greek sack of Sardeis, the three-pronged Persian counteroffensive in Kypros, Karia, Ionia, the Hellespont, and the Propontis, the Persian naval victory at Lade, and their subsequent sack of Miletos; the Spartan destruction of Argos at Sepeia; the early life of one of Athens' key political figures for the next four decades, Themistokles; and the internal political happenings of Athens during the 490s BC 

500 BC - Naxos in a state of internal strife (stasis), in which the demos seizes power and the aristocrats flee to Miletus where they are on friendly terms with the tyrant Histiaios; with Histiaios in Susa with Darius, the governor Aristagoras enlists the support of Artaphernes, the Persian satrap in Sardis, to conquer Naxos and the Cyclades, but his force of 200 ships fails to take Naxos after a four months' sieg

499 BC - Aristagoras convinces the Milesians and the rest of Asiatic Greeks to revolt from Persia in order to establish their own democratic institutions (isonomia); Kleomenes of Sparta turns down Aristagoras’ appeal for an alliance, but the Athenian ekklesia agrees to send twenty ships to help the Ionians and the Eretrians send an additional five ships (Herodotus remarks that “these ships were the beginning of evils both for Hellenes and Barbarians”)

498 BC - The squadron of twenty-five ships from Athens and Eretria sets sail for Miletus, and the combined Greek forces take and accidentally burned down Sardis, the seat of a Persian satrap, including the temple of the native goddess Cybele, but are defeated by the Persians during their return to Ephesus, which causes the Athenians to sail home

497 BC - Cyprus joins the revolt; Aristagoras flees Miletus to Myrkinos in Thrace; Persia begins their three-pronged counteroffensive (Cyprus/Caria, Ionia, and Hellespont/Propontis)

496 BC - Cyprus and Caria brought back into Persian control; Anaxagoras is killed fighting against local Thracians; the Scythians lead a large expedition southward to raid Thracian Chersonese, but are driven back by Miltiades (who also captures the island of Lemnos and Imbros in Athens' name--these are later colonized by poor Athenians)

Winter 496/5 BC - Hipparchus, a former political ally of Hippias and friend of the Persians, is elected as an archon, which signifies the ascendancy of a pro-Persian peace faction in Athens; the first ostracism on Athenian record is leveled against him but it fails

494 BC - Sparta under Kleomenes defeats and destroys Argos in the Battle of Sepeia greatly strengthens Sparta’s control over the Peloponnesian League and stabilizes the league’s organization; Persians besiege Miletus by land and sea, confronted by Ionian fleet of 350 ships (majority of ships from Chios, Miletus, Lesbos and Samos); treachery of large sections of the Samian and Lesbian ships leads to Persian victory in the Battle of Lade

Winter 494/3 BC - Persians take by storm and sack Miletus; temple with oracle of Apollo at Didyma plundered and burned; city not destroyed but prosperity ends

493 BC - Phrynichos at Athens presents and is fined for his play, The Capture of Miletus; the Persians subdue the rest of the Ionian towns on the Anatolian mainland, as well as the islands of Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos; the Phoenician fleet, campaigning in the Hellespont, reestablishes Persian control over the European coast of the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosporus; Miltiades flees the Thracian Chersonese, escapes the Phoenician fleet, and arrives in Athens; after crushing the revolt, the Persians compel the Ionian cities to make treaties with one another and reassess their tribute

Winter 493/2 BC - Election of Themistocles to eponymous archonship

492 BC - Miltiades and Themistocles become the most prominent figures in Athenian politics

Winter 492/1 BC - Miltiades is brought to trial on charges of tyranny while in the Thracian Chersonese (though acquitted, he is perhaps prosecuted by Xanthippos)

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 5)

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 6)

Text/Plutarch's Life of Themistocles

034 - Rising Tensions

In this episode, we discuss the final subjugation of the Ionian poleis to Persian-backed tyrannies, Dareios' failed invasion of Skythia, Megabazos' conquest of Thrace, and the submission of Makedon that brought Persia right up to the foothills of Mount Olympos, at the very borders of mainland Greece; the diplomatic follies of the Athenians; and whether war was or was not inevitable, at least in the last decade of the 500s BC

540-498 BC - Rule of Macedonian king, Amyntas

515 BC - Famed doctor Demokedes flees the Persian court for his home polis of Croton; Syloson, the brother of former Samian tyrant Polykrates, enlists the aid of Persia; after brutally retaking Samos, the remaining Ionian poleis submit to Persian-backed tyrannies

513 BC - Darius crosses to Europe for Scythian expedition; forces include Miltiades, Athenian tyrant of the Thracian Chersonese; Histiaios of Miletus opposes plan to break up bridge of boats; ultimately Darius extends Persian rule over the Thracian Chersonese but fails to subdue the troublesome Scythian tribes along the northwestern shores of the Black Sea

512-511 BC - Darius leaves Megabazos with a large force (80,000) as commander in Europe; he conquers southern Thrace along the northern Aegean coastline

510 BC - Amyntas submits to Macedon becoming a Persian vassal kingdom; Darius appoints Artaphernes as satrap of Sardis and Otanes as commander of forces on coast, while he, Megabazos, and Histiaios of Miletus (his new Greek advisor) return to the royal court of Susa 

510-500 BC - Otanes captures many Greek cities in and near the Hellespont

507 BC - Athenian delegation arrives at court of Artaphernes in Sardis

505-500 BC - Potential medizing of Kleisthenes and the Alkmaionidai?; Darius warns Gadatas, satrap of Phrygia, about his harsh treatment of the Greeks

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 4)

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 5)

033 - The "Great King" Dareios

In this episode, we discuss the ascension of Dareios to the Persian throne; his consolidation of the empire and eastern campaigns into the Indus River valley; Zoroastrianism and the role Ahura-Mazda played in his reign; and his reform program, with a focus on his creation of a new script (Old Persian), his new capital of Persepolis, a tour of the bureaucratic satrapies, the Royal Road, his "sort of" Red Sea/Nile River canal, and the creation of and influence of the gold “Daric" coin

522 BC - Following death of Cambyses, Darius wins civil war and is crowned king of Persia

522-520 BC - Darius puts down revolts to his kingship throughout the empire; afterwards he reorganizes the empire, dividing it into 20+ satrapies; Lydians and Ionians assigned to a satrap in Sardis, Greeks in the Hellespont and Propontis subjected to the satrap in Daskylion; these Greek cities are ruled by tyrants favorable to Persia, and are free of satrapal interference so long as they meet requirements of tribute and military service

519 BC - Construction of the new royal capital at Persepolis begins

519-515 BC - Darius campaigns east into modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India

515 BC - Construction of the Royal Road begins

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 3)

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 4)

Text/The Behistun Inscription

032 - Kambyses

In this episode, we discuss events in the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of the Persian king, Kambyses, with a focus on the achievements and the political maneuverings between the Egyptian kings Amasis II and Psammetichos III, the Kyrenean kings Battos III and Arkesilaos III, the Samian tyrant Polykrates, and the Naxian tyrant Lygdamis; Kambyses' successful conquests of Kypros and Egypt; his failed campaigns in north Africa against the Nubians, Kyreneans, and Carthaginians; and his “madness" (as told by Herodotos) which ultimately brought his reign to an end

570-526 BC - The reign of Egyptian king, Amasis (Ahmose) II 

550-530 BC - The reign of Cyrenaean king, Battos III

ca. 546-524 BC - The reign of Naxian tyrant, Lygdamis

538-522 BC - The reign of Samian tyrant, Polykrates

530 BC - Following news of Cyrus' death, his eldest son Cambyses II at Pasargadae is hailed as the next king while his younger son Bardiya becomes satrap of Bactria

530-522 BC - The reign of Persian king, Cambyses II

530-525 BC - Cambyses plans for an invasion of Egypt; Cyprus voluntarily submits to the Persians and Polykrates switched allegiances from Amasis to Cambyses

530-515 BC - The reign of Cyrenaean king, Arkesilaos III

527 BC - Phanes of Halicarnassus, who had served as a mercenary for Amasis, also flips sides and becomes advisor to Cambyses; he manages to avoid an Egyptian eunuch chasing after him, by going to Lycia before the Persian court in Babylon

526 BC - Amasis dies from natural causes; he is succeeded by his young son, Psamtik III

526-525 BC - The reign of Egyptian king, Psamtik (Psammetichos) III

525 BC - Cambyses and his forces invade Egypt; Ionian and Aeolian Greeks of Asia Minor fight for the Persians, while Greek and Carian mercenaries also serve in Egyptian army; in the Battle of Pelusium, on the eastern Nile Delta, the Egyptian army is routed and they flee to Memphis; Cambyses lays siege to Memphis and when the city is taken, Psamtik and other prominent Egyptians are executed; Egypt becomes a subject of the Persians; then Cambyses campaigns along North Africa; while the Libyans submit willingly, the Nubians (Ethiopians), Cyrenaeans, and Carthaginians resist and so the Persian army returns to Egypt

525-524 BC - The Spartans and Corinthians attack Samos and Naxos to remove Polykrates (unsuccessful) and Lygdamis (successful) as tyrants

525-522 BC - Cambyses rules Egypt "madly"

522 BC - Polykrates is tricked into appearing before the court of Oroetes, the Persian satrap of Magnesia, where he is arrested and executed; with Cambyses off in Egypt, his brother Bardiya makes his own claim to the Persian throne; in his effort to get back to Pasargadae, he accidentally stabs himself, purposefully commits suicide, or is assassinated; a dynastic civil war erupts for control of the Persian Empire

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 2)
Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 3)

031 - Kyros the Great

In this episode, we discuss Kyros' conquests of the Lydian kingdom, the Greek city-states in western Anatolia, the nomadic step-tribes of central Asia, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire; the contingents and battle tactics of his multi-ethnic military; the administration of his multi-state empire that stretched from Anatolia in the west to the Hindu-Kush Mountains in the east and to the Aral Sea and the Jaxartes River in the northeast; and his other deeds and qualities that were deemed to be so exceptional by later historians that he earned the moniker "the Great"

560-546 BC - The reign of Lydian king, Croesus

559-530 BC - The reign of Persian king, Cyrus II

556-539 BC - The reign of Babylonian king, Nabonidus

Winter 548/7 BC - After consulting the Delphic oracle of Apollo, Croesus is convinced that he should attack Cyrus to eliminate the Persian threat and so he enters into an alliance with the Spartans, alongside his other allies in the Babylonians and the Egyptians

Fall 547 BC - Battle of Pteria between the forces of Croesus and Cyrus results in stalemate; Croesus returns to Sardis and calls his allies for reinforcement

Winter 547/6 BC - Cyrus surprises Croesus and marches into Anatolia; in the Battle of Thymbra, the Lydians are defeated and the Persians take Sardis; Croesus is to be executed on a burning pyre but Cyrus gives him clemency at the last minute

Fall 546 BC - The Temple of Apollo at Delphi burns to the ground (seen as highly symbolic)

545 BC - Cyrus leaves behind a satrap (governor) and military garrison at Sardis and leads his army back to Ecbatana; along the way, the Lydians revolt (with the help of many Ionian poleis), so Cyrus dispatches his most senior generals to put down the revolt

545-542 BC - The Persian general Harpagos leads an assault on the Greek poleis of the Anatolian coastline; all either submit willingly, are defeated in battle and then submit, or flee westwards; the Asiatic Greeks, Lydians, Carians, and Lycians are now Persian subjects; the Persians though honor their native customs and religious beliefs

545-539 BC - Cyrus campaigns against nomadic step-tribes of central Asia

Fall 539 BC - Cyrus defeats Babylonian forces at Opis; then he marches his army onto Babylon and storms the city; all of Babylonia falls under Persian control; Cyrus appoints his eldest son and heir, Cambyses II, as satrap of Babylon

530 BC - Cyrus dies while campaigning in the far northeast against the Massagetai

Primary Sources:

Text/Nabonidus Chronicle
Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 1)
Text/Xenophon's Cyropaedia

030 - Herodotos and the Rise of Persia

In this episode, we discuss the life, influences, drawbacks, and positives of the “Father of History”, Herodotos; and the political events of the Near East in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC, including the rise of the Medians and Neo-Babylonians and their destruction of the diminishing Assyrian Empire, and culminating with a young vassal king from the Persian city of Anshan, named Kyros, who overthrew the Medes and elevated the Achaemenid Persians among the other chief powers of the time (the Lydians, the Neo-Babylonians, and the Egyptians)

ca. 1000 BC - The Scythians, Cimmerians, Parthians, Medes, and Persians (as part of the Indo-European migrations) arrive on the Iranian Plateau

ca. 900-612 BC - Assyria dominates the Near East

ca. 725 BC - Sargon II of Assyria receives tribute from the tribes of the Zagros Mountains (included on the list are the Medes)

708-686 BC - The reign of first Median king, Deiokes; Ecbatana becomes the capital

705-675 BC - The reign of first Persian king, Achaemenes; Anshan becomes the capital

686-633 BC - The reign of Median king, Phraortes; the Parthians and Persians come under Median control and become their "vassals"

675-640 BC - The reign of Persian king, Tespis

646 BC - Assyrian king Ashurbanipal destroys the Elamites; the Persians, now under control of the Medes, incorporate the old kingdom of Elam (west of the Zagros along the coast)

640-580 BC - The reign of the Persian king, Cyrus I

633 BC - Median king Phrarotes dies in battle; the Scythians begin to dominate Media

627 BC - The death of the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal

626 BC - Nabopolassar and Babylon revolt from the Assyrian Empire and establish a new ruling dynasty (known as the Neo-Babylonians)

626-605 BC - The reign of Babylonian king, Nabopolassar

625 BC - Cyaxerxes overthrows Scythians, re-establishes Median control over the Zagros

625-585 BC - The reign of Median king, Cyaxerxes

614 BC - The Medes and the Babylonians march against Assyria and sack the religious capital of Assur; Cyaxerxes' daughter, Amytis, is married to the crowned prince of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II, uniting the two kingdoms

612 BC - The Medes and the Babylonians capture and destroy the Assyrian political capital of Nineveh, signaling the end of the Assyrian Empire; a balance of power now exists among the four chief nations of the area: Egypt, the Neo-Babylonians, the Medes, and the Lydians

605 BC - Naboplassar dies, succeeded by his son Nebuchadnezzar II to Babylonian throne

605-562 BC - The reign of Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II

600-585 BC - Cyaxerxes wages war against Urartians and Lydians

585 BC - The Battle of the Halys River in Cappadocia between the Lydians under Alyattes and the Medes under Cyaxerxes ends in a draw due to the total eclipse of the sun (predicted by Thales); the Halys River is established as the boundary between Lydia and Media; shortly after the battle, Cyaxerxes dies and is succeeded by his son, Astyages

585-550 - The reign of Median king, Astyages

580-559 BC - The reign of Persian king, Cambyses I

580 BC - Plagued by visions that his grandson would be his ruin, Astyages marries his daughter, Mandane, to a minor vassal---the Persian king, Cambyses I

576 BC - Mandane gives birth to Cyrus II; Astyages has another vision of his ruin and orders the child to be killed but his general Harpagus choses not to do it himself and delegates the job to a shepherd who instead raises the kid as his own

566 BC - The 10-year-old Cyrus is discovered and sent to live with his real parents

559 BC - Cambyses dies and the 17-year-old Cyrus becomes king of Persia

552 BC - Cyrus leads a revolt against his grandfather, Astyages; at the Battle of Hyrba, while leading the Persian cavalry, he trounces the Median cavalry

551 BC - An indecisive Battle of the Persian Border between forces of Astyages and Cyrus

550 BC - In the Battle of Pasargadae, Cyrus routs Astyages' army and becomes sole ruler of the Iranian Plateau; since Medes and Persians are so closely related, seen as a change in dynasty and the beginning of the Achaemenid Persian Empire

Primary Sources:

Text/Herodotus' Histories (Book 1)

029 - The First Greco-Punic War

In this episode, part 2 of 2 on the Greco-Etruscan-Carthaginian relations during the 6th/5th centuries BC, we discuss the tyrannies that arose and fell in Sicily in the first half of the 5th century BC at Rhegium/Zancle (Messana), Himera, Syracuse, Gela, and Akragas; the First Greco-Punic War and its aftermath/legacy; the decline of Etruscan power in Campania; the changes in the Carthaginian constitution following the war; and finally, the sea explorations of Himilco (northwest Europe) and Hanno the Navigator (western Africa)

507 BC - Cleander becomes tyrant of Gela
498 BC - Cleander dies and his son, Hippocrates, succeeds him as tyrant of Gela
494 BC - Samian fugitives (following their failed revolt against Persia) flee westwards and seize the city of Zancle (Messana) at the behest of Anaxillas, the tyrant of Rhegium
491 BC - Anaxillas changes his mind and kicks the Samians out of Zancle, repopulates the city, and rules as tyrant over it along with Rhegium
491 BC - Hippocrates dies and Gelon overthrows his sons to become tyrant of Gela
488 BC - Theron becomes tyrant of Akragas
485 BC - The Syracusan people force the Gamori (their aristocratic class) out of the city; they seek assistance from Gelon who uses his military to take Syracuse for himself; Gelon then makes himself tyrant of Syracuse and his brother, Hieron, takes over as tyrant of Gela
483 BC - Gelon forcibly removes the inhabitants of Kamarina and Megara Hyblaea to Syracuse; Gelon and Theron make an alliance
481/0 BC - Representatives from Athens arrive at the court of Gelon, seeking aid in their upcoming clash with Persia, but Gelon declines
480 BC - The Greek forces of Himera, Akragas, Syracuse, and Gela (all led by Gelon) defeat Hamilcar and Carthaginians in the Battle of Himera (Hamilcar loses his life); in commemoration, a Temple of Victory is built at Himera and afterwards Gelon and Akragas begin to beautify Syracuse and Akragas with new monuments of their own
478 BC - Gelon dies and his brother, Hieron, becomes tyrant of Syracuse; their brother, Polyzalos, takes over as tyrant of Gela
476 BC - Anaxillas dies and Micythus acts as regent tyrant of Rhegium
474 BC - Hieron and Cumaean Greeks defeat the Etruscans in a naval battle near Cumae; Etruscan power effectively eliminated in Campania (relegated to north Tyrrhenian Sea)
473 BC - Rhegians and Tarentines are defeated by Iapygians
472 BC - Theron dies and his son, Thrasydaeus, becomes tyrant of Akragas
471 BC - Thrasydaeus tries to attack Hieron but is routed in battle and forced to flee to Megara, where he was arrested and publicly executed; Micythus founds colony of Pyxus
467 BC - The two young sons of Anaxillas retake the throne of Rhegium; Micythus steps down peacefully; Hieron dies and his brother, Thrasybolous, becomes tyrant of Syracuse
466 BC - Thrasybolous was ousted as tyrant of Syracuse
461 BC - Leophron was ousted as tyrant of Rhegium and Zancle
ca. 460 BC - The Sicilian Greek cities had all broken away from the dominions of Gelon and Theron and had overthrown the tyrants’ heirs

Primary Sources:

Diodorus Siculus' Library of History (Book 11)

028 - The Rise of Carthage

In this episode, part 1 of 2 on the Greco-Etruscan-Carthaginian relations during the 6th/5th centuries BC, we discuss Carthage's foundation myths and early history as just another Phoenician colony, Tyre's decline and Carthage's rise as the dominant economic superpower in the western Mediterranean, the alliance between the Carthaginians and Etruscans against the western Greeks, and the Battle of Alalia and its aftermath

814 BC - The traditional foundation date of Carthage
ca. 650 BC - Carthage had grown to become a regional trade hub, centered on the north-south trading circuit of the Tyrrhenian Sea and west-east Levantine-Iberian circuit
586-573 BC - The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, sieges Tyre; this wrecked havoc on Phoenician trade presence in the west, which allowed Carthage to step into the vacuum and rise to economic superpower in the western Mediterranean
ca. 580 BC - The Carthaginians and Elymians of Segesta engage in military hostilities with Greek colonists who try to colonize the land opposite of Motya; fearing future hostilities, the Carthaginians formed a military alliance with the powerful Etruscans of central Italy
ca. 560 BC - the Carthaginian general, Malchus, "conquers" Motya, Panormus, and Solus
ca. 550-530 BC - Mago was "king" of Carthage
ca. 535 BC - Battle of Alalia took place off coast of Corsica, in which the Phocaeans (who had fled westwards after Persia took their city) were completely expelled from the island by the Carthaginians and Etruscans; Corsica fell under Etruscan control
ca. 535-510 BC - 25-year war to pacify the island of Sardinia for Carthage
ca. 530-510 BC - Hasdrubal was "king" of Carthage
ca. 530 BC - Tartessos and Gades are brought to heel; Carthage controls southern Spain
ca. 525 BC - Phoenicians refuse to sail against their kinfolk and thus the plans of the Persian king, Cambyses, to conquer Carthage are thwarted
524 BC - The Etruscans are defeated outside of Cumae by the Cumaean Greeks, who reasserted their power in Campania, while lessening that of the Etruscans 
515 BC - Dorieus, angry that Cleomenes took over the Spartan throne, leaves Sparta and attempts to colonize Cinyps in north Africa but is expelled by Carthage
512 BC - Doreius again tries to colonize, this time at Eryx in Sicily but is once again stopped by Carthage and this time he loses his life
ca. 510-480 BC - Hamilcar was "king" of Carthage
509 BC - Etruscan power is further diminished in central Italy, when Rome overthrows their yoke, abolishing their monarchy and establishing the Roman Republic; Carthage and Rome become commercial allies by signing a treaty
ca. 500 BC - By this point, Carthage had gained control over the north African coastline from modern-day Morocco to the border of Cyrene