Classical Greece is the period of ancient Greek history from the end of the Athenian tyranny and the reforms that led to democracy, to the death of Alexander the Great. It includes the Persian Wars, in which Greek city-states defeated the invasions of Darius and Xerxes, and the flowering of Athens under Pericles, when the Parthenon was built. The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta exhausted the Greek world, and Sparta and then Thebes in turn held supremacy. The period produced the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the history of Herodotus and Thucydides, and the philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Philip II of Macedon ended the independence of the city-states, and his son Alexander carried Greek culture across the Near East.
Before and after
- 530 BCEDeath of Cyrus the Great
- 525 BCEBirth of Aeschylus
- from 525 BCE to 404 BCETwenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 520 BCECarving of the Behistun inscription
- from c. 510 BCE to 323 BCEClassical Greece
- c. 510 BCEThe Roman Republic is founded
- from 509 BCE to 27 BCERoman Republic
- 509 BCEOrigins of Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
- c. 509 BCECleisthenes lays the foundations of Athenian democracy
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from c. 2,601 BCE to 1,901 BCEThe Indus Valley cities reach maturity
- c. 1,051 BCEThe Phoenician alphabet spreads
- from 351 BCE to 1494Construction of Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
- from 323 BCE to 30 BCEHellenistic period
- 323 BCEConstruction of Temple of Ephesian Artemis
- from 279 BCE to 1480Construction of Lighthouse of Alexandria
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 6th century BCE.