By place Greece • May – King Xerxes I of Persia marches from Sardis and onto Thrace and Macedonia. • The Greek congress decides to send a force of 10,000 Greeks, including hoplites and cavalry, to the
Vale of Tempe, through which they believe the Persian army will pass. The force includes
Lacedaemonians led by Euanetos and
Athenians under
Themistocles. Warned by
Alexander I of Macedon that the vale can be bypassed elsewhere and that the army of Xerxes is overwhelming, the Greeks decide not to try to hold there and vacate the vale. •
August 20 or
September 8-10 – The
Battle of Thermopylae ends in victory for the
Persians under Xerxes. His army engulfs a force of 300
Spartans and 700
Thespiae under the
Spartan King,
Leonidas I. The
Greeks under Leonidas resist the advance through
Thermopylae of Xerxes' vast army. For two days Leonidas and his troops withstand the
Persian attacks; he then orders most of his troops to retreat, and he and his 300-member royal guard fight to the last man. •
Pausanias becomes regent for King Leonidas' son,
Pleistarchus, after
Leonidas I is killed at
Thermopylae. Pausanias is a member of the
Agiad royal family, the son of King
Cleombrotus and nephew of Leonidas. •
Phocis and the coasts of
Euboea are devastated by the
Persians.
Thebes and most of
Boeotia join Xerxes. • King
Alexander I of Macedon is obliged to accompany Xerxes in a campaign through
Greece, though he secretly aids the Greek allies. With Xerxes' apparent acquiescence, Alexander seizes the Greek
colony of
Pydna and advances his frontiers eastward to the
Strymon, taking in
Crestonia and
Bisaltia, along with the rich silver deposits of Mount Dysorus. • The
Athenian soldier and
statesman,
Aristides, as well as the former
Athenian archon Xanthippus, return from banishment in
Aegina to serve under
Themistocles against the
Persians. • August – The
Persians achieve a naval victory over the
Greeks in an
engagement fought near
Artemisium, a promontory on the north coast of
Euboea. The Greek fleet holds its own against the
Persians in three days of fighting but withdraws southward when news comes of the defeat at
Thermopylae. • Breaking through the pass at
Thermopylae from
Macedonia into
Greece, the
Persians occupy
Attica. •
September 21 – The
Persians sack
Athens, whose citizens flee to
Salamis and then
Peloponnesus. •
September 22 – The
Battle of Salamis brings victory to the
Greeks, whose
Athenian general
Themistocles lures the
Persians into the Bay of Salamis, between the
Athenian port-city of
Piraeus and the island of
Salamis. The Greek
triremes then attack furiously, ramming or sinking many
Persian vessels and boarding others. The
Greeks sink about 200
Persian vessels while losing only about 40 of their own. The rest of the
Persian fleet is scattered, and as a result Xerxes has to postpone his planned land offensives for a year, a delay that gives the Greek city-states time to unite against him.
Aeschylus fights on the winning side. • An eclipse of the sun discourages the Greek army from following up the victory of
Salamis. Xerxes returns to
Persia leaving behind an army under
Mardonius, which winters in
Thessaly.
Rome • The Romans achieve a significant
victory against
Veii after a close-fought battle. Tensions between the Roman classes flare during the battle.
Quintus Fabius and the consul
Manlius perish in the fighting. • The tribune
Titus Pontificius unsuccessfully advocates an
agrarian law.
Sicily • Xerxes encourages the Carthaginians to attack the Greeks in Sicily. Under the Carthaginian military leader,
Hamilcar,
Carthage sends across a large army. • The Greek city of
Himera in
Sicily, in its quarrel with
Akragas, enlists Carthaginian support. With the help of
Gelo, the
tyrant of
Syracusae, and Theron of Akragas, the Carthaginians are defeated in the
Battle of Himera. After the defeat, Hamilcar kills himself.
Persian empire • The Imperial treasury at the
Persepolis Palace is completed after a building time of thirty years.
By topic Arts • The
archaic period of
sculpture ends in
Greece and is succeeded by the Severe (Early
Classical) period (approximate date). • A sculpture of the
Dying Warrior is made in the left corner of the east pediment of the
Temple of Aphaea in
Aegina (approximate date). Today, it is preserved at the
Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek in
Munich,
Germany. • The sculpture of the
Kritios Boy is made on
Acropolis,
Athens (approximate date). It is now preserved in the
Acropolis Museum in
Athens. • Work begins on the detail
Musicians and Dancers on a wall painting in the Tomb of the Lionesses in
Tarquinia. It is finished some
ten years later. == Births ==