![[Aegean map]](greeks.gif)
[Up: classical timelines] [Robot Wisdom home page]
Greece
45,000 BC to 440 BC: #Heracles #Argonauts #Theban cycle #Trojan cycle #Homer #Hesiod #'Homeric' hymns #Sappho #Aesop #map #Aeschylus #Pindar #Herodotus
440 BC to 322 BC: Sophocles : Euripides : Thucydides : Aristophanes : Xenophon
427 BC to 322 BC: Plato and Aristotle
322 BC to present: Plutarch
Rome
200,000 BC to 44 BC: Plautus : Ennius : Cato : Terence : Varro : Julius Caesar
106 BC to 43 BC: Cicero
44 BC to 17 AD: Nepos : Lucretius : Sallust : Catullus : Vitruvius : Virgil : Horace : Augustus : Livy : Priapea : Tibullus : Sulpicia : Seneca the Elder : Propertius : Ovid
19 BC to present: Velleius : Phaedrus : Valerius Maximus : Seneca the Younger : Petronius : Pliny the Elder : Silius Italicus : Frontinus : Persius : Lucan : Quintilian : Josephus : Martial : Valerius Flaccus : Statius : Rufus : Tacitus : Pliny the Younger : Suetonius : Juvenal : Marcus Aurelius : Apuleius : Gellius : Florus : Cassius Dio : Justin : Historia Augusta : Ammianus : Aurelius Victor : Eutropius : Augustine : Claudian
The Greek timelines here are largely based on Thomas Martin's 1996 book-length overview at perseus.org. [ToC] [site critique] I'll include links to each of his pages (tagged eg [tm1.1]) but also many links to resources not on the Perseus site. (Martin includes some local Perseus links at the bottom of each page, as well.)
Greek backgrounds [tm2.0]: geography [tm2.1] natural resources [tm2.2] diet [tm2.3] sea as 'highway' [tm2.4] climate [tm2.5]
45,000 BC: hypothetical 'daughter of Eve' dubbed Ursula in northern Greece, will spread across Europe [info]
8000 BC: Aegean being navigated to obtain obsidian [passim]
7000 BC: hunter-gatherers on Greek mainland planting wheat and barley, limited herding of sheep and goats; also wild deer, pigs, birds, fish, acorns, olives, and legumes. [info] [timeline]
6400 BC: first farming community at Nea Nikomedeia. [info] They lived in cottages with thatched roofs, and five 'fertility goddess' figurines were found in the largest and most central. (Also stamp seals and carved frogs.) Their main foods were wheat, barley, lentils, sheep, and goats. Clay 'bullets' fired with slings were a popular weapon.
6100-5300 BC: Sesklo culture spreads widely across northern Greece. The center at Sesklo has 3500 people living on 30 acres surrounded by a defensive wall [image] [pic] [general] [links]
c5000 BC: Athens acropolis occupied [occ71]
4000 BC: Cycladic culture in Aegean includes cemetery, copper smelting, and figurines that added Cycladic faces and a priapic male to the usual fat-female style. [info] [ditto] Evidence of trading with Bulgaria.
c3500 BC: sheep used for wool; early stages of olive and grape cultivation, for export as oil and wine, all around the Aegean [passim]
c3000 BC: hypothetical date of Indo-European entry into Aegean region [info] fortress at Troy [info]
3000-2600 BC: Eutresis culture dominates Greece [info]
2500 BC: Cycladic 'folded arm' figures (ie, lying down), seated harpists, house-models, and 'frying pans' [pix]
no-date: Greek-speakers share common culture but no national political unity [tm2.6]
c2000 BC: longships with sails, first palaces on Crete [passim]
c1800 BC: hypothetical date of Phaistos disk [info]
c1600 BC: Minoan culture on Crete, eruption of Thera [history]
trade: amber, gold, copper, tin, furs, wine, olive oil, ivory, ostrich eggs, gypsum, lapis lazuli, carnelian, andesite, obsidian, coriander, frankincense, myrrh, pottery, seals, carved ivories, textiles, furniture, stone and metal vessels, weaponry, flax, hides, wool [cite]
c1450 BC: Mycenean takeover on Crete info [pix] ditto
no-date: Mycenean kings control distribution of wealth, keep records in Linear B script [tm2.7] gods mentioned: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Dionysus, maybe Ares or Hermes (not Apollo or Aphrodite) [occ481]
Linear B: glyphs, ditto [mirror]; archeology, economics, Homer? [no?], [pix] info&pix, Ventris, tutorial, samples, PDF dictionary; theory, Basque?!; DMoz
no-date: hypothetical Egyptian influence on Greece ('Black Athena' theory): [summary]
c1225 BC: Mycenean palace on Athens acropolis (cf legendary Theseus?) [occ71]
c1200 BC? hypothetical date of Trojan War [info]
deforestation causes ecological catastrophe?
1200-750 BC: Dark Age [tm3.0]
c1200 BC: utter collapse of Mycenean civilisation, near-total emigration from all population centers but Athens [tm2.8] 'Sea Peoples' wreak havoc thruout near east [info] Philistines settle in Levant (apparent Mycenean origin: cite) Israelites first mentioned around this time? [parallels] [theories]
Linear B forgotten, Greeks effectively illiterate [tm3.1]
no-date: twelve-month calendar with month-names varying locally [occ108] [info] [Athens]
legendary(?) invasion of central and south Greece by 'Dorians' from northern Greece [tm3.2] (no archeological evidence) credited with founding Sparta [tm6.2] conquered Delphi and Corinth; unknown to Homer [occ197]
most communities have 20 or fewer people, mainly herding sheep and goats; pottery lacks artistry [tm3.3]
1050 BC? status-hierarchies begin recovery after more-egalitarian period [tm3.4]
c950 BC: much richer grave goods in tomb at Lefkandi, incl near-east imports [tm3.4]
900-750 BC: emerging from Dark Age [tm4.0]
c900 BC: rich grave goods more widespread (ie, economy is recovering) [tm4.1]
c900 BC: weapons of iron in graves, iron-technology probably imported via Cyprus (tin for bronze had not been imported since 1200?) [tm4.2] (implies forests had recovered enough to fuel smelting-furnaces)
c850 BC: evidence of foreign trade, agriculture using iron tools, 'geometric' pottery style [tm4.3] repopulation [tm4.4] settlements in Ionia (Anatolian coast) [tm5.5] (Greeks may have settled Ionia before 1000BC: occ299)
age of aristocracy (informal, not rigidly hereditary) [tm4.5] value-system depicted in Homeric epics [tm4.6] Iliad depicts warrior-ethic of 'arete' (excellence) [tm4.7] Odyssey explores ethics for women as well [tm4.8] bands led by chiefs [tm4.14]
950-750 BC: Phoenician alphabet adapted to Greek language [tm4.9] [tm5.10] [review] Phoenician settlements in Spain [tm5.5]
no-date: the status of slaves in this era is uncertain [tm5.20]
info: Oxford
info: Oxford
Oedipus
info: Oxford
info: Oxford, overview, summaries
Kypria (Cypria, 11 books)
preliminaries of Trojan War
Zeus decides to relieve earth's overpopulation; judgment of Paris; sacrifice of Iphigeneia; death of Troilus
Iliad
Aethiopis (Aithiopis, 5 books)
attributed to Arctinus of Miletus
Penthesilea the Amazon, and Memnon, join the Trojans; Achilles kills them and also Thersites; Achilles is killed by Paris and Apollo, his body is rescued by Ajax and Odysseus. Subsequently, Thetis takes him from his pyre to Leuce, which implies that he was granted immortality, a tradition that contradicts that of Homer's mortal Achilles.
Iliupersis (Ilioupersis or The Sack of Ilion, 2 books)
the sack of Troy
Little Iliad (4 books)
attributed to Lesches of Mytilene
Odysseus obtains Achilles' arms, Ajax goes mad; Deiphobus marries Helen; the making of the Trojan Horse
Nostoi (The Returns, 5 books)
the returns home of Greek heroes besides Odysseus, focusing largely on Agamemnon and Menelaus.
The Odyssey (24 books)
Telegony (2 books)
800 BC: Euboea has trade-colony on Syrian coast [tm5.6]
c800 BC: early evolution of Spartan legal system, inspired by Lycurgus [tm6.4] [Xenophon] [Plutarch] emphasis on discipline because outnumbered by hostile neighbors [tm6.5] men wore hair very long; enslaved 'helots' were treated cruelly [tm6.6] [tm6.8] [EB11] [fanpage]
800-700 BC: Athens and Attica experience population burst among free peasants, who demand more political power [tm6.20]
776 BC: traditional date of first Olympics games [tm4.10] suggests movement towards wider community [tm4.11]
775 BC: Euboean colony near Naples processes iron ore [tm5.6]
750-500 BC: Archaic Age [tm4.9]
graphic arts less naturalistic, more 'old-fashioned' looking than later 'Classical' phase [tm5.0]
supposedly-blind poet in Ionia [tm4.9] somehow retold war-stories dating back 400+ years?
bios: Perseus, ancient
criticism: Lang, Harris, Pindar
Iliad
vivid account of the climax of the Trojan War
"Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans..."
Greek etext: [Perseus]
Butler translation: Perseus, Oregon, MIT, eServer, PGut, Oz, txt
Other translations: Lang-PGut, Murray-1924 Pers, Myatt-partial
Commentaries: Perseus, study guide, website, Socrates?, Nagy
Odyssey
war-hero Odysseus (aka Ulysses) has many adventures on his way home from Troy to Ithaca, and to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus
"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed halls of Troy."
depicts Greek sea-traders [tm5.6]
Greek etext: Perseus
Butler translation (1900): Perseus, MIT [onepage], Oz , AONet, MSUS, Pair, onepage, txt [ditto] [ditto] [PGut], concordance
Other translations:
Chapman 1616,
Pope, Cowper 1791, Butcher-Lang 1879 [onepage] [PGut] [Bartleby], Murray 1919 Pers, [more]
Commentaries: Perseus, Pope, Socrates?
fragments
c750 BC: emergence of communal religion, mythology [4.12]
c750 BC: prophet Amos in Israel-Judah [KJV] (1st written book of Old Testament)
poet from Boetia [tm4.13] didactic where Homer was narrative [tm6.32]
bios: Perseus, ancient
quotes: Bartlett's
The Theogony (1022 lines)
"And Heaven came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her. Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's members and cast them away to fall behind him."
creation myth with Mesopotamian parallels; concern for origin of justice [tm4.13] Pandora and the nature of women [tm5.30]
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, OMACL, Fordham
Commentaries: outline, pronunciations, Eliade?
Works and Days (832 lines)
"Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire-- a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be."
views Zeus as god of justice (unlike Homer's unjust Zeus) [tm4.13]
addressed to his 'very foolish' brother Perses
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, OMACL, Diotima
Shield of Heracles
"...So he arose from Olympus by night, pondering guile in the deep of his heart, and yearned for the love of the well-girded woman..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, OMACL
fragments
no-date: arbitrary rule of chiefs inspires desire for more just arrangements [tm4.15] Hesiod articulated this idea [tm4.16] wealth from trade and agriculture shifted power away from traditional aristocrats [tm5.13] military power of hoplites also important [tm5.16]
c750 BC: emergence of Greek 'polis' [tm1.1] urban center with patron-god [tm5.1] increased equality for all citizens, rich or poor; one larger unit was 'ethnos' [tm5.2] [tm5.14] [essay] populations averaged 1000; rugged terrain discouraged larger units [tm5.3] female citizens had diminished rights; favored the cult of Demeter [tm5.15] household duties of women [tm5.27] women outside the home [tm5.28] marriage conventions [tm5.29]
the poor were granted equality for unknown reasons [tm5.17] ...perhaps simply force of numbers [tm5.18] the gradual shifting of power to non-aristocrats [tm5.19] rights of slaves were paradoxically reduced [tm5.21] most slaves were barbarians but some were fellow-Greeks captured in wars
c750 BC: Corinth prospers as trade-center [tm5.11] under rule of Bacchiads [tm6.17]
c750 BC: Greek pottery at 80 sites around Mediterranean [tm5.6] contacts with Near East cultures inspires cultural revival [tm5.10]
750-650 BC: fighting tactic uses 'phalanx' of 'hoplites' in armor, wielding iron weapons [tm5.16] [essay]
750-550 BC: population explosion forces men-only to emigrate [tm5.8] Greek colonies in southern France, Spain, Sicily, southern Italy, North Africa, Black Sea (max 1500 sites) [tm5.5] colonies maintained ties with mother-city [tm5.7]
c750-500 BC: late-archaic city-states develop shared concept of citizenship, slavery; but differ widely in power of aristocrats [tm6.0] cities had tutelary deities: Poseidon at Corinth, Hera at Argos, Athena at Athens [occ482]
no-date: Sparta emphasizes miltary discipline; geography cuts them off from sea [tm6.1] council of 30 elders [tm6.3] rigorous education for boys [tm6.9] boys who failed could not be full citizens [tm6.10] male-bonding to the max [tm6.11] Spartan women shared many freedoms [tm6.12] property laws favored women [tm6.13] childbearing was the highest virtue [tm6.14] culture was ultra-conservative in most ways [tm6.15]
c730 BC: first Assyrian mention of Ionian ('ia-u-na-a-a') pirates raiding Levantine coast [essay]
730-710 BC: Sparta wars against Messenia [tm6.7]
706 BC: illegitimate-sons from Sparta forced to colonise Taranto, Italy [tm5.9]
c700 BC: Oracle at Delphi (temple of Apollo) gaining international renown; consulted espcially about colonisation-projects [tm5.12]
no-date: Sparta shifts from two-king to one-king rule [tm6.2]
no-date: 'tyrants' overthrow oligarchies in many city-states [tm6.16]
no-date: Athens credits its polis to legendary Theseus [tm6.19]
no-date: emergence of 'lyric' poetry, accompanied on lyre, with varied rhythms [tm6.32]
c675 BC: Archilochus of Paros [tm6.32] [etext] [fragments] "Wayward and wildly pounding heart, There is a girl who lives among us Who watches you with foolish eyes..."
c675 BC: Callinus of Ephesus, 1st elegiac couplets [def] [sample]
657 BC: tyrant Cypselus overthrows Bacchiads in Corinth [tm6.17]
c650 BC: Spartan poet Tyrtaeus [tm6.5] [tm6.8] [tm6.11] [samples]
c650 BC: Semonides (Simonides) of Amorgos [annotated poem] [samples] [etext] ditto [German]
c650 BC: introduction of chickens? [tm2.3]
c650 BC: hoplite mercenaries from Asia Minor hired by Psammetichos of Egypt [info]
"Be favourable, O Insewn, Inspirer of frenzied women!"
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, OMACL, PGut
Commentaries: Perseus, Diotima
To Dionysus To Demeter [Diotima] To Hermes To Aphrodite To Aphrodite To Dionysus To Ares To Artemis To Aphrodite To Athena To Hera To Demeter To the Mother of the Gods To Heracles the Lion-Hearted To Asclepius To the Dioscuri To Hermes To Pan To Hephaestus to Apollo To Poseidon To the Son of Cronos, Most High To Hestia To the Muses and Apollo To Dionysus To Artemis To Athena To Hestia To Earth the Mother of All To Helios To Selene To the Dioscuri
640-630 BC: Sparta (pop 9000) again wars with Messenia, enslaves c30k?; King Aristodemus of Messenia sacrifices daughter [tm6.7]
no-date: Athenian citizens' assembly elects 'archons' [tm6.22]
c632 BC: Athenian peasants foil tyrannic coup-attempt; democracy gaining foothold [tm6.21]
no-date: Athenian peasants frequently lose land and freedom when harvest is poor, widening gap between rich and poor [tm6.24] [subsistence]
630 BC: sons from Thera drafted to colonise Cyrene in Libya [tm5.9]
c630 BC: Mimnermus of Colophon, love poems [tm6.32] [samples] ditto [Bartlett's] [info] [notes]
c625 BC: Spartan poet Alcman (Alkman) [tm6.32] [tm6.12] [etext] [quotes]
625 BC: Periander succeeds Cypselus as Corinth's tyrant, continues economic expansion [tm6.17]
no-date: Ionian school of philosophy [tm6.33] influenced by Near East, innovates concept of nature ruled by laws [tm6.34] orderly 'cosmos' that can be understood via logic of cause and effect (in contrast to superstition and magical thinking) [tm6.35] intellectual progress via rational debate [tm6.36] [Burnet]
625-545 BC: Thales of Miletus (Ionia) [tm6.34] [detailed] [fragments] [Burnet]
621 BC: Draco formulates unsuccessful lawcode for Athens [tm6.23]
621 BC: Josiah reforms (invents?) Judaic monotheism in Jerusalem [timeline]
c610-545 BC: Anaximander of Miletus, wrote first book in prose, a treatise on nature [tm6.34] [detailed] [fragments] [Burnet]
bios: Perseus, Tufts, Sappho, Wharton
"Come thus again; from cruel cares deliver; of all that my heart wills graciously be giver-- greatest of gifts, your loving self and tender to be my defender."
Greek etext: SacredTexts
Translations: Wharton-1895, Cox-1925, eServer, Sappho, Diotima, Ohio
Commentaries: Harris [ditto], [tm6.32]
c600 BC: Alcaeus of Lesbos, political poet [tm6.18] [tm6.32] [samples] ditto, ditto [notes]
c600 BC: Stesichorus the poet
c600 BC: most Greek citizens have a slave or two [tm5.23] working conditions varied [tm5.24] some were owned by the polis or by the temple [tm5.25] they rarely revolted; could be granted freedom [tm5.26]
594 BC: Solon's lawcode instituted to avoid civil war, establishes 4-class system; 400-member council chosen by lot [tm6.25] social mobility, balance of legal power, ex-archons serve in 'Areopagus' [tm6.26] the democratic experiment looked foolish to some [tm6.27]
594 BC: Solon's poetry [sample] ditto [Plutarch] [quotes&links]
586 BC: destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians [timeline]
c584 BC: Corinth overthrows dynasty of tyrants [tm6.17]
bios: Perseus, page images
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Latin, website, eServer, Fordham, Bartleby, page-images, PGut [ditto], Latin, French gifs
Commentaries:
c575 BC: first Sacred War in defense of shrine at Delphi [occ503]
c570-478: Xenophanes of Colophon [tm6.36] [samples] [ditto] [ditto] radical monotheist, taught Parmenides [notes] [Burnet]
563 BC: [world history]
560-486 BC: Persia under Cyrus and Darius conquers most of world from Afghanistan to Egypt; establishes government by local 'satraps' [tm8.2] taxation-policies produce vast wealth for Persian monarch [tm8.2.1] religion was Zoroastrian dualism [tm8.2.2] subject peoples allowed to follow own religion (eg Jews) [tm8.2.3]
556-468 BC: Simonides of Ceos [samples]
c550 BC: Croesus of Lydia conquers Ionia [tm8.3.1]
c550 BC: first Greek coinage [tm5.10]
c550 BC: Anaximenes of Miletus [info] [fragments] [Burnet]
546 BC: Pisistratus becomes Athens' 1st tyrant, initiates public works, taxes produce [tm6.28]
546 BC: Croesus and Lydia crushed after attacking Persia; Persians now rule Ionia too [tm8.3.1]
c540 BC: tyrant takeover of Samos, undertake public works [tm6.18]
c540 BC: Ibycus of Rhegium (s. Italy) [samples] ditto [notes]
c540 BC: Theognis of Megara, elegiac poet [etext] [quotes]
c540-c480 BC: Heraclitus (Heracleitus) of Ephesus [IEP] [Burnet] [Harris]
536 BC: first of six consecutive olympic wrestling victories by Milo [tm4.10]
534 BC: Mar: Pisistratus organises first yearly 5-day 'Great Dionysia' with phallic parade and tragedy competition [occ191]
c533 BC: 'first actor' Thespis wins tragedy competition [occ576]
c530 BC: Pythagoras emigrates from Samos to s. Italy; teaches that nature is mathematical [tm6.34] [Burnet] [quotes]
c530 BC: lyric poet Anacreon of Abdera [samples] ditto [notes]
527 BC: Hippias succeeds Pisistratus as tyrant of Athens, rule less successful [tm6.28]
c525 BC: Athens displacing Corinth as wealthiest polis, due partly to better clay for pottery [tm5.11]
c515-c450 BC: Parmenides of Elea [Burnet]
no-date: Phrynichus the tragedian
510 BC: Hippias overthrown by Alcmaeonids (with Spartan help) [tm6.29] will return 499BC with Persians [tm8.3.3]
508 BC: tyrant Cleisthenes institutes reforms in response to threat of archon Isagoras (and the Spartans) [tm6.29] [essay] village 'demes' organised into ten tribes with 50 representatives and one 'general' each [tm6.30] the success of this rule-by-persuasion implies the villages were already ripe for democracy [tm6.31]
507 BC: Athens send ambassadors to Persia for support against Sparta, misunderstandings eventually result in Persian invasion [tm8.1] embassy launched in naive optimism [tm8.1.1] ambassadors unprepared to refuse making gesture of submission [tm8.1.2]
no-date: Sparta increasingly threatened by Athenian successes [tm7.2]
c500 BC: Hecataeus the historian
500-322 BC: Classical Age [tm7.1] [detailed timeline]
500-400 BC: Golden Age of Athens [tm7.0]
c500-428 BC: Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (Ionia) [fragments] ditto [Burnet]
499 BC: Ionian revolt against Persian rule supported by Athens, not by Sparta [tm8.3.2] initiates Persian Wars [tm8.3]
c495-c435 BC: Empedocles of Acragas [Burnet]
494 BC: Ionian rebellion crushed by Persia [tm8.3.2]
490-479: far-richer and more-numerous Persian forces try to conquer Greece [tm8.0]
490 BC: Persian fleet burns Eretria, lands at Marathon [tm8.3.3] Athenians win unexpected victory [tm8.3.4] messenger runs 26 miles to warn Athens about Persian fleet [tm8.3.4.1] victory boosted Athenian confidence [tm8.3.5]
487 BC: Athenian archons chosen by lot [tm9.2]
c485-416 BC: experiment of democratic votes forcing some 10-20 Athenians into ten-year exiles (ostracism) [tm9.2.4] humorous anecdote of 'Aristides the Just' [tm9.2.5] ostracism-experiment as bold but risky [tm9.2.6] [Plutarch] [background]
480 BC: Xerxes of Persia leads masive army across Hellespont and successfully invades northern Greece, but 31 city-states vow to resist under Spartan leadership [tm7.1] [tm8.4] the Spartans fought heroically at Thermopylae [tm8.4.1] Athenian navy outmaneuvers Persians at Salamis [tm8.4.2]
480 BC: Persians destroy olive-tree sanctuary of Athena on acropolis (left unrepaired for next 30 years, as reminder) [tm9.4.6]
479 BC: after levelling Athens twice, Persians are vanquished [tm8.4.3] victory over common enemy unites Greeks in idealism [tm8.5] Athens would emerge as dominant polis [tm9.0]
478 BC: Spartan commander Pausanias rejected as leader of mop-up operations, in favor of Athenians [tm9.1] Spartan militarism inappropriate for post-war attitudes [tm9.1.1]
477 BC: Spartans at first accepted transfer of leadership to Athens [tm9.1.2]
no-date: cities around Sparta joined in 'Peloponnesian League' under Spartan dominance, while Athens led a theoretically-more-democratic 'Delian League' of cities that still felt threatened by Persia [tm9.1.3] Aristedes of Athens set the dues each Delian-city owed the league [tm9.1.4] these dues funded Athenian shipbuilding (hi-tech 'triremes') and Athenian crews [tm9.1.4.1] Athenian poor gain power via naval-crew pay [tm9.2]
469-399 BC: Socrates [phil]
465 BC: earthquake near Sparta touches off prolonged revolt of serfs ('helots') [tm9.2.1]
465-463 BC: Athens abandons democratic ideals and beseiges Delian-secessionist Thasos [tm9.1.5]
no-date: Athens grows in power; Persians expelled from every Greek outpost [tm9.1.6] Athenians exhibit double-standard of democracy for themselves but not for the other delian cities [tm9.1.7]
462 BC: Sparta asks for Athenian aid in suppressing helot revolt (then cancels request, fearing democratic influences) [tm9.2.1] sporadic hostilities continue until 445BC [tm9.3.2]
461 BC: anti-Sparta sentiments lead to anti-aristocrat legal reforms in Athens [tm9.2.2] 'radical democracy' filled many positions of authority by lot [tm9.2.3]
c460 BC: Pericles wins popularity by arranging stipends for jurors (promoting democracy) [tm9.3]
acted in his own plays; first to use 2nd actor; introduced more-dignified costumes; believed to have written 80-90 plays of which 7 survive; respected as army veteran as well [tm10.2.4] [occ577]
bios: Perseus
quotes: Bartlett's
criticism: Aristophanes
The Persians (472)
"...their proud steeds Prance under them; steel bows and shafts their arms, Dreadful to see, and terrible in fight..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Calgary, Sask, Oz
Commentaries:
The Seven Against Thebes (467)
"...now the seer, the feeder of the birds (Whose art unerring and prophetic skill Of ear and mind divines their utterance Without the lore of fire interpreted)..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Oz
Commentaries:
The Suppliant Women (463, aka The Suppliants)
"...of all the lands of earth, On this most gladly step we forth, And in our hands aloft we bear-- Sole weapon for a suppliant's wear-- The olive-shoot, with wool enwound!"
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Oz
Commentaries:
Agamemnon (458, 1st of Oresteia trilogy)
"Thus upon mine unrestful couch I lie, Bathed with the dews of night, unvisited By dreams-- ah me!"
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Myatt, Fordham, Bartleby, Oz
Commentaries: study guide
Eumenides (458, aka The Furies, 3rd of Oresteia trilogy)
"And in his breast Zeus set a prophet's soul, And gave to him this throne, whereon he sits..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Fordham, Bartleby, Oz
Commentaries:
The Libation Bearers (450, aka Choephori, Choephoroe; 2nd of Oresteia trilogy)
"What sight is yonder? what this woman-throng Hitherward coming, by their sable garb Made manifest as mourners?"
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, Bartleby, MIT, Oz
Commentaries:
Prometheus Bound (430?)
"And now, Hephaestus, thou must execute The task our father laid on thee, and fetter This malefactor to the jagged rocks In adamantine bonds infrangible..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Bartleby
Commentaries: study guide
c525-450 BC: Bacchylides' Odes (rival of Pindar) [bio] [Greek] [English] [info]
bios: Perseus
Odes
"Water is best, and gold, like a blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus
Commentaries: Nagy, MIT
Pythian 4
"Apollo now in his land, proclaimed by oracle that Battos would be founder of fruitbearing Libya, so that he'd finally leave the holy island and plant a city of fine chariots on a chalky breast of earth..."
Translations: Perseus
no-date: Epicharmus (comic dramatist)
483-376 BC: Gorgias the sophist
c460-410 BC: [sample court day]
460-370 BC: Hippocrates of Cos, physician [oath] ditto [quotes] [etexts] "Those who are mad from phlegm are quiet, and do not cry out nor make a noise; but those from bile are vociferous, malignant, and will not be quiet, but are always doing something improper." [Sacred Disease]
c460-370 BC: Democritus [IEP]
454 BC: Pericles's naval assault on the Persians in Egypt ends in disaster [tm9.3.2]
451 BC: Pericles gets citizenship limited to children of two Athenians [tm9.3.1] [essay]
450 BC: Cimon killed by Persians in battle to recover Cyprus [tm9.3.2] [Plutarch]
c450 BC: Pythagorean societies in south Italy suppressed [occ476] [Burnet] [Harris]
450-404 BC: Alcibiades [essay]
c450-380 BC: Euclides, founder of Megarian school of philosophy
c450 BC: Athens has 40k citizens, 300k total [tm5.3] gigantic income from Delian dues and spoils of war [tm9.1.6] houses and apartments tended to be small [tm9.4.1] crowded architecture promoted community [tm9.4.1.1] civic virtue demanded the rich finance public works ('liturgies') [tm9.4.2] benefactions paid for landscaping, defensive walls, and conversation-shelters called 'stoas' [tm9.4.2.1] public buildings are modest, some even open-air [tm9.4.3.1]
447 BC: Pericles launches extravagant public-building program [tm9.4] funded by taxes, possibly with some misappropriated Delian League funds [tm9.4.3] built Parthenon on the acropolis [tm9.4.4] Pericles won support for his extravagance by deft rhetoric [tm9.4.5]
Parthenon's new gold-and-ivory-covered ('chryselephantine') wooden statue of Athena was 30 ft high [tm9.4.6] temple's basic design was simple, based on Egyptian model, with Doric columns [tm9.4.6.1] the appearance of simple lines was achieved by subtle complexities [tm9.4.6.2] brightly colored, dynamic Ionic frieze added to Doric simplicities [tm9.4.6.3] [paintcolors] the frieze was unique in depicting mortal Athenians along with the representations of gods [tm9.4.7] completed 432BC
445 BC: Pericles engineers peace-treaty with Sparta [tm9.3.2]
c445-360 BC: Antisthenes the Cynic
443-428 BC: Pericles elected general 15 straight times [tm9.3.3] [Plutarch]
441-439 BC: revolt by Samos brutally suppressed by Pericles [tm9.3.3]
bios: Perseus
The Histories (440BC, 9 books)
"These are the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, which he publishes, in the hope of thereby preserving from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the Barbarians from losing their due meed of glory..."
Greek etext: Perseus
Translations: Perseus, MIT, Felberbaum, Fordham, MU, VT, PGut1 PGut2 [extract-Egypt] [fragment]
Commentaries: EB11, Macan-Pers, How-Pers, Lang
Greek language: guide
histories: Smith ebook, Tarbell ebook (art)
essays: AHB
occ = MC Howatson's Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
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