500 - 323 BC - Greek
Classical Period - Part III (404 - 323 BC) |
404-336 BC |
Troubling Times and the Rise of the Macedonians |
404-371 BC |
Sparta serves as hegemon, establishing military rule within the
Greek states
Sparta plunges into war with the Persians |
390's BC |
Causes a resurgence in Athens, allowing it to rebuild its walls
and navy |
395-387 BC |
The Boeotian War
Spartan aggression leads Thebes and Athens to ally against Sparta.
In 394 BC, Corinth and Argos join the alliance
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Lysander," 27,
p. 313-4. Plutarch contends that blame could be placed on Lysander,
the Thebans, or both.
|
399 BC |
Socrates is placed on trial for corrupting the youth, introducing
religions innovations, and not worshipping the state gods
- Plato Apology,
p. 425. According to Plato, Socrates reads at his trial
a "pretended
affidavit of [his] accusers," which states, "Socrates is
a criminal and a busybody, prying into things under the earth and
up in the heavens, and making the weaker argument the stronger, and
teaching these same things to others." Socrates, however,
refutes and explains away these charges.
- Plato Apology,
p. 434. Socrates defends himself saying, "I am no
criminal...However, when I said some time ago that I was
heartily disliked by many, you may be sure that it is quite
true. An this is what will convict me, if anything does...the
prejudice and dislike of so many people."
Socrates is found guilty, but refusing to stop teaching, he chooses
death
- Plato Apology, p. 443. Socrates says, "I cannot keep
quiet" since "it is the greatest good for a
man every day to discuss virtue and the other things,
about which you hear me talking and examining myself
and everybody else, and that life without enquiry is
not worth living for a man."
- Plato Crito, p. 457-8. Plato tells
a story of Socrates being tempted by a friend to escape from prison
while awaiting execution. Socrates succeeds in reasoning with his
friend Criton that if Socrates escapes, there will be said "plenty of ugly
names to [Socrates'] disgrace." Furthermore, the suspicions
raised about Socrates would be vindicated if he escaped.
- Plato Phaedo, p. 466. Plato records
an eyewitness account of the death of Socrates. Socrates believed
that "one
who has spent his life in philosophy should be confident
when he is going to die, and have good hopes that he will win the
greatest blessings in the next world when he has ended."
- Plato Phaedo, p. 521. After Socrates
drank the Hemlock and died, Plato writes, "This was the end
of our comrade...a man, as we would say, of all then living we
had ever met, the noblest and the wisest and most just."
|
387 BC |
King's Peace is reached between Greeks and Persians |
385 BC |
Plato founds the gymnasium or Academy |
384 BC |
Aristotle, pupil of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great,
is born
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p. 275. Plutarch regards Aristotle
as "the most learned and most celebrated philosopher
of his time."
|
382 BC |
Philip of Macedonia is born |
370's BC |
Revolts and battles weaken and defeat the Spartan military machine
- Thucydides Peloponnesian War, 1.75,
80. At a Spartan debate over whether to declare war on Athens,
Thucydides reports, "Finally
there came a time when we [the Spartans] were surrounded
by enemies, when we had already crushed some revolts..."
|
371-362 BC |
Thebes becomes the hegemon
- Thebes concludes its own peace with the Persians
|
359-352 BC |
Philip II of Macedonia rises to power, conquering neighboring
city-states |
356 BC |
Alexander, son of Philip II and Olympias, is born
and is taught by Aristotle
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p.
269. Plutarch claims that Alexander was descended from
the Olympian god Hercules.
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p.
273-4. Plutarch tells the tale of Alexander's bond with his
horse, Bucephalus. After purchasing the horse, Alexander
found it very difficult to subdue. Despite its uncooperativeness,
Alexander states, "What an excellent horse do they lose
for want of address and boldness to manage him!" Later
he states, "I will pay...the whole price of the horse." Turning
Bucephalus toward the sun so that the horse could no longer
be afraid of its shadow, Alexander succeeds in subduing
the horse and gaining a companion.
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p.
275. "Alexander received from [Aristotle] not only
his doctrines of Morals and of Politics, but also something
of those more abstruse and profound theories which these
philosophers, by the very names they give them, professed
to reserve for oral communication to the initiated, and
did not allow many to become acquainted with."
|
352-338 BC |
Philip II and his Macedonians battle Athens |
351 BC |
Demosthenes, an Athenian considered to be the greatest orator
of Ancient Greece, speaks out against Philip's aggression
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Demosthenes," p. 354. Plutarch says, "So
it happened to Demosthenes, who, first venturing upon
oratory for the recovery of his own private property, by this acquired
ability in speaking, and at length, in public business,
as it were in great games, came to have the pre-eminence
of all competitors in the assembly."
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Demosthenes," p. 360. According to Plutarch,
although Demosthenes may have harbored many ill feelings towards
Philip of Macedonia, Demosthenes chooses the topic of Macedonian
aggression to further his own public image and to compete against
rival orators. "The object which he chose for himself
in the commonwealth was noble and just, the defence [sic]
of the Grecians against Philip; and in this he behaved
himself so worthily that he soon grew famous, and excited
attention everywhere for his eloquence and courage in speaking.
He was admired through all Greece."
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Demosthenes," p. 360. Because of Demosthenes'
great fame as an orator, "the King of Persia courted
him, and by Philip himself he was more esteemed than all
the other orators."
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Demosthenes," p. 363. Despite Philip's initial
respect for Demosthenes, this soon changes, "for whatever
was done by the Macedonian, [Demosthenes] criticised [sic]
and found fault with, and upon all occasions was stirring
up the people of Athens and inflaming them against him."
Demosthenes convinces Thebes to join forces with Athens against
Philip
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Demosthenes," p. 369. "The
cities of Greece were inspirited once more by the efforts of Demosthenes
to form a league together. The Thebans, whom he had provided
with arms, set upon their garrison, and slew many of
them; the Athenians made preparations to join their forces with
them; Demosthenes ruled supreme in the popular assembly,
and wrote letters to the Persian officers who commanded
under the king in Asia, inciting them to make war upon
the Macedonian."
|
353 BC |
Mausoleum of the dynast Mausolus, designed by Pythius, is built
at Halicarnassus |
348/7 BC |
Plato dies |
338 BC |
At the battle of Chaeronea, Philip II
and his son Alexander crush the Athenian and Theban armies
- Demosthenes flees for Athens
- Philip becomes master of all Greece
- Because of Alexander's military skill and his father's fear that
Alexander is actually the son of Zeus, this battle drives a wedge
between Alexander and Philip II
|
337-336 BC |
Philip II forms the League of Cornish
- With Philip and "his descendants" as hegemon, the states
swore to protect each other
Philip marries a girl named Cleopatra as a war-bride. Because
she is Macedonian, their son would become the rightful heir to the
Macedonian throne since Alexander's mother Olympias was not Macedonian. This further disrupts the
relationship between Alexander and his father Philip II. |
337 BC |
Philip declares war on Persia out of revenge for Xerxes' destruction
of Greek temples |
336 BC |
Philip is assassinated by one of his
bodyguards (possibly with the consent of his wife Olympias)
Alexander, his son, succeeds him
as king of Macedonia
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p. 274. After Alexander succeeds
in subduing Bucephalus, his father Philip says, "O my son,
look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia
is too little for thee." Apparently, Alexander took
those words to heart.
Darius III becomes king of Persia |
|
Alexander the Great and His Conquests |
335 BC |
Alexander the Great suppressed the barbarians along Macedonia's
northern frontier
- Upon rumors of his death and an ensuing Theban revolt, Alexander
the Great conquered and destroyed Thebes to warn other Greeks
|
334-330 BC |
Using an expeditionary force of 30,000
infantry and 5000 cavalry, Alexander conquers Asia Minor at the Battle
of Granicus on the Granicus River |
334 BC |
Alexander the Great cuts a famous knot in Gordium. According to
tradition, anyone who could master the knot would become master or
ruler of the world |
333 BC |
At the battle of Issus, Alexander captures the family of Darius
III, but Darius himself escapes |
332/1 BC |
Alexander conquers Egypt and is proclaimed
Pharaoh
Founds the city of Alexandria, which contained a library
(containing over 500,000 books) and the famous lighthouse (which
was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World)
Alexander consults the oracle at Siwa and hears from the oracle
that he is the son of Zeus -Amon
- Plutarch Parallel Lives, "Alexander," p. 296. "For
when [Alexander] was master of Egypt, designing to settle a
colony of Grecians there, he resolved to build a large
and populous city, and give it his own name."
|
331 BC |
At the battle of Arbela, Alexander the Great uses scythe-bearing
chariots to deal a severe blow to the Persian army
- Darius escapes Alexander's clutches once again
|
330 BC |
Alexander defeats the Persians at the
battle of Gaugamela in modern-day Iraq
Alexander marches to Babylon and then to pursues
Darius to Hecatompylus
- At Hecatompylus, Alexander scares some of Darius' own men into
assassinating their leader
- Alexander becomes master of the Persian empire and is proclaimed
King of Asia
|
326 BC |
In June, Alexander confronts a people
known as the Malli. During the siege of the Mallian city, Alexander's troops are confronted with a wall.
Alexander proposes to climb over the wall, but his men object because
of the Mallian archers. Alexander, to prove to his men that success
is within their grasp, climbs to the top of the wall and begins cutting
down the enemy with his sword. His men, horrified, put ladders
into position to try to rescue their general. In their haste, the
ladders break. In the end, Alexander receives an arrow wound
to the lung, almost killing him.
- Arrian The Campaigns of Alexander,
"The King had now reached the top. Laying his shield on the
wall, he forced some of the defenders back into the fortress,
cut down others with his sword, till he stood there alone,
not one of the enemy within his reach. The sight of him filled
his men with terror for his safety; scrambling, they made a
dash for the ladders, but under the excessive load they broke
and hurled the climbers to the ground.
…
Suddenly a thought crossed his mind: by staying where
he was he might be killed with nothing accomplished; but if
he leapt down into the fortress, he might break the spirit
of the enemy, or at least, if it was his fate to die, death
would come in glorious battle to be remembered and retold by
future men."
Alexander the Great travels down the Khyber pass to India, where
he fights King Porus at the Jhelum River (near Harappa)
- Despite a Macedonian victory, casualties are extremely high and
Alexander's troops plead to return home
Due to monsoon rains and starvation, three-fourths of Alexander's
army dies on the coast of the Persian Gulf |
324 BC |
Alexander and his army return to Babylon
- While planning an invasion of Arabia, Alexander catches swamp fever
(perhaps malaria)
- Alexander's generals ask him who will take over the empire when
he dies. Alexander responds that his empire should go "to
the strongest"
|
323 BC |
Alexander the Great dies in Babylon on
June 10 at 32 years old |