Classical Greece was a period in Ancient Greece history that lasted 200 years during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. This era of Greek history had a profound influence on the Roman Empire and laid the foundations of Western society and politics. The Athens in particular left more written works, literature, and plays than other city-states, which has given historians a unique perspective and greater understanding of the Athenians.

499 BC	Miletus led rebellion against Persians with assistance from Athens
493 BC	Themistocles acquires power in Athens, using it to invest in international trade and naval power
490 BC	The Persian king, Darius, wanted to punish Athens by invading Greece but lost the battle in Marathon
481 BC	Athens and Sparta joined the Hellenic League to fight Persia
480 BC	Leonidas sacrificed 300 soldiers at the Battle of Thermopylae so the rest of the army could escape. Their enemy was Darius and the Persians.
480 BC	The Persian king Xerxes started to invade Greece
480 BC	Syracuse pushed back Carthage’s attack
480 BC	Xerxes sacked Athens
480 BC	Xerxes but lost the naval battle at Salamis
479 BC	Battle of Mycale freed Greek colonies in Asia
478 BC	The Hellenic League conquered Byzantium and Cypress from the Persians
471 BC	Themistocles was ostracized
461 BC	Pericles promoted peace and democracy
461 BC	Peloponnesian War broke out between Sparta and Athens
457 BC	Athenian statesman Pericles began the Golden Age. He had been trained by Anaxagoras who believed in a dualistic Universe and atoms
454 BC	Athens attacked the Persians in Egypt but they ultimately lost
450 BC	The first bank was founded in Athens
450 BC	Herodotus started to write history in a way that involved systematic collection of materials. He was known as the “Father of History”
450 BC	Hippocrates, the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine, contributed to medical practice in ancient Greece. His efforts established medicine as a distinct field and profession.
440 BC	Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, advocated that everything is mutable
438 BC	The Parthenon was inaugurated in Athens
435 BC	Phidias finished the statue of Zeus at Elis, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World
433 BC	Aegina, Megara, Corinth, and Sparta ally to fight against Athens, Rhegium, Corfu, and Leontini
431 BC	The second Peloponnesian War broke out between Sparta and Athens
429 BC	Pericles passed away due to the Athenian Plague
429 BC	Hippocrates advocated that diseases have physical causes
427 BC	Archidamus II dies. The Greek admiral Alcidas who was sent to help Lesbos raided Ionia and fled after witnessing the might of the Athenians. The Athenian Plague also returned
424 BC	The Battle of Mantinea ensued. Sparta was victorious over Argos, which violated their treaty; Alcibiades was thrown out, ending the alliance.
416 BC	Alcibiades restored to power
416 BC	Massacre of the Melians occurred.
415 BC	Syracuse was able to fight off an invasion from Athens with the assistance of Sparta
410 BC	The Erechtheion temple was built at the Athens acropolis
404 BC	Athens lost the second Peloponnesian War. Sparta imposed a group of aristocratic Spartans known as the Thirty Tyrants, ending Athens’ supremacy
403 BC	Athens restored democracy
399 BC	Socrates was tried for “corrupting the youth” and “impiety” and carried out his own execution (by drinking hemlock)
399 BC	Dionysius the Elder invented the catapult in Syracuse
395 BC	Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos, initially backed by Persia, revolted against Sparta. This conflict became known as the Corinthian War
388 BC	Plato founded the first university, an academy of philosophy
375 BC	Plato wrote the Republic, a Socratic dialogue concerning the definition of justice and moral behavior of individuals and city-states
373 BC	The temple of Apollo at Delphi was razed
371 BC	Sparta was finally defeated by Athens, Rhodes, Byzantium, Mytilene, Chios, Thebes, and others
367 BC	Aristotle enrolled in Plato’s Academy
359 BC	Philip II Temenid became the Macedonian king
356 BC	The temple of Artemis was rebuilt in Ephesus
354 BC	King Mausolus’ tomb was built in Halicarnassus
344 BC	Philip II of Macedonia conquered Epirus, Illyria, and Thessaly
342 BC	Aristotle tutored Alexander Temenid of Macedonia
338 BC	Philip II defeated Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea while uniting several Greek cities, forming the League of Corinth
336 BC	Philip II of Macedonia was assassinated by Pausanias of Orestis. His son Alexander succeeded him
335 BC	Aristotle founded the Lyceum of Athens
334 BC	Alexander the Great defeated the Persians at Dardanelles
333 BC	Alexander the Great conquered the regions from Syria to Palestine from the Persian Empire
332 BC	Alexander the Great conquered Egypt
331 BC	Alexander the Great defeated the Persians at the battle of Gaugamela and destroyed Persepolis, ending the Achaemenid Dynasty
325 BC	The first papyrus was written in Greek
324 BC	Alexander the Great invaded Punjab, India