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Greek–Persian War (490 BC) - events| 500 BC–490 BC | Persian Empire, Greece | King Darius the Great is enraged by mainland Greek intervention in Asia Minor. He demands earth and water, the symbols of submission, from the Greek city-states. Some, including Aegina, submit but Athens and Sparta disdainfully reject his demand and in 490 BC the Persian Wars begin. | | 492 BC | Greece | The Persian general Mardonius, nephew and son-in-law of King Darius I the Great of Persia, subdues Thrace and Macedon, but the Persians lose part of their fleet on the promontory of Mount Athos (Chalcidice). | | 490 BC | Greece | King Darius I of Persia launches an expedition to mainland Greece, seeking revenge on the Athenians and Eretrians who backed the Ionian revolt against Persian rule. The city of Eretria is destroyed and Athens is in danger. The Persians land in the Bay of Marathon, north of Athens, where they meet in battle against the Athenians, supported by the Plataeans. The runner Philippides (or Pheidippides) is sent to Sparta to get help, but the Spartans delay sending troops, and the Greeks under Miltiades the Younger defeat the Persians without their help. The decisive role of the city-state of Athens in this anti-Persian coalition and the Spartans' failure to back the venture will have great ramifications for Greek politics in the 5th century BC. | | 483 BC | Persian Empire, Greece | King Xerxes of Persia, having crushed the Egyptian revolt, prepares for his great expedition against the Greeks. The plan is for a land army to cross the Bosporus and to skirt round the Thracian and Macedonian coast, with a fleet always in support. He has a canal cut through the promontory of Mount Athos and builds a pontoon (floating bridge) over the Hellespont (Dardanelles) for his invading army to cross. According to Herodotus, it is 3km/2 mi long and consists of 676 ships positioned in two rows. | | 8 August 480 BC | Greece | A small force under King Leonidas of Sparta holds the invading Persian land force at the pass of Thermopylae (leading from Thessaly to Phocis in central Greece), inflicting heavy casualties on them. The Spartans are wiped out but their bravery becomes almost legendary. | | 9 September 480 BC | Greece | The Greek city of Athens is besieged and burnt by the Persians, but the Athenians, under general Themistocles and Aristides, who has recently been recalled from exile, destroy the Persian fleet in a naval battle in the Bay of Salamis. The Persian army retires to winter in Thessaly. | | 479 BC | Persian Empire, Greece | King Xerxes of Persia leaves the conduct of the war in Greece to his general, Mardonius, and the Persians are defeated at the Battle of Plataea. They are also defeated at sea in the Battle of Mycale, off the coast of Asia Minor, and their ships are destroyed. The task of freeing the Ionian cities from Persian domination begins: the Athenians under the command of Xanthippus proceed to the Hellespont and capture the town of Sestos. | | 467 BC–466 BC | Greece, Persian Empire, Asia Minor | Athenian statesman Cimon carries the war against Persia into Asia Minor and rallies all the cities of Lycia to the Greek cause by winning the battle of the River Eurymedon. Persia is decisively defeated, though it remains an enemy of the Greeks. | | 449 BC | Greece, Persian Empire | The Greek city-states finally make peace with Persia, the so-called Peace of Callias, which is maintained for most of the next century. There is no longer any formal need for the Delian League and the Athenians now have to force members to pay their contributions. The Peace of Callias traditionally marks the transformation of the Delian League into the Athenian Empire. |
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