In 502 BC, the people of Naxos, an island in the Aegean Sea controlled by the Persian Empire, revolted. The former rulers of Naxos appealed to Aristagoras, the Greek tyrant of the Ionian city-state of Miletus, for aid. Aristagoras agreed, hoping to annex Naxos for himself once the conflict was resolved. In order to prosecute the campaign, Aristagoras, in turn, sought out the aid of Artaphernes, the satrap of Lydia and brother to Darius I of Persia. Artaphernes agreed to supply Aristagoras with a fleet of ships under the command of the ...

See also:

Ionian Revolt, Ionian Revolt - The Revolt of Naxos, Ionian Revolt - The Ionian Revolt, Ionian Revolt - The Sack of Sardis, Ionian Revolt - The Revolt Spreads, Ionian Revolt - The End of the Revolt

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Abdera was a town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Nestos, and almost opposite Thasos. Its mythical foundation was attributed to Heracles, its historical to a colony from Clazomenae in the 7th century BC. But its prosperity dates from 544 BC, when the majority of the people of Teos migrated to Abdera after the Ionian Revolt to escape the Persian yoke (Herodotus i.168); the chief coin type, a gryphon, is identical with that of Teos; the coinage is n ...

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Anaxagoras (c. 500 BCE–428 BCE) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who was likely born about 500 BCE (Apollodorus ap. Diog. Laert. ii. 7.). He was as a member of what is now often called the Ionian School of philosophy. At his native town of Clazomenae in Asia Minor, he appears to have had some amount of property and prospects of political influence; he supposedly surrendered both of these out of a fear that they would hinder his search for knowledge. Although a Greek, he was probably a Persian citizen, perhaps even a soldi ...

Including:

• Anaxagoras - Cosmological theory

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Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the geographical peninsula of modern Greece, but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Turkey (then known as Ionia), Sicily and southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia), and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, southern France, sout ...

Including:

• Ancient Greece - Origins
• Ancient Greece - The rise of Hellas
• Ancient Greece - Social and political conflict
• Ancient Greece - The Persian Wars
• Ancient Greece - The dominance of Athens
• Ancient Greece - The Peloponnesian War
• Ancient Greece - Spartan and Theban dominance
• Ancient Greece - The rise of Macedon
• Ancient Greece - The conquests of Alexander
• Ancient Greece - Society
• Ancient Greece - Social Structure
• Ancient Greece - Way of Life
• Ancient Greece - Education

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Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC 500s BC - Events and trends. 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 509 BC September 13 - The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September. 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created in Rome 507 BC - Cleisthenes, Greek reformer, tak ...

Including:

• 500s BC - Events and trends
• 500s BC - Significant people

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The history of Athens is the longest of any city in Europe: Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. It was the birthplace of democracy and it became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC. Its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilisation. During the Middle Ages, Athens experienced decline and then a recovery under the Byzantine Empire. Athens was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting from Italian trade. After a long period o ...

Including:

• History of Athens - Origins and setting
• History of Athens - Early history
• History of Athens - Reform and democracy
• History of Athens - Classical Athens
• History of Athens - Byzantine Athens
• History of Athens - Ottoman Athens
• History of Athens - Modern Athens
• History of Athens - Notable Athenians
• History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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The Battle of Marathon (490 BC) was the culmination of King Darius I of Persia's first major attempt to conquer the remainder of the Greeks and add them to the Persian Empire, thereby securing the weakest portion of his Western border. Battle of Marathon - Background. Hippias, tyrant of Athens, had been expelled in 510 BC by his people, with the assistance of Cleomenes I, King of Sparta. He fled to the court of Darius to seek assistance. With the failure of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC - 494 BC), Darius ...

Including:

• Battle of Marathon - Background
• Battle of Marathon - Battle
• Battle of Marathon - Aftermath
• Battle of Marathon - Conclusion
• Battle of Marathon - Date of the battle
• Battle of Marathon - Marathon run

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Abdera was a town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Nestos, and almost opposite Thasos. Its mythical foundation was attributed to Heracles, its historical to a colony from Clazomenae in the 7th century BC. But its prosperity dates from 544 BC, when the majority of the people of Teos migrated to Abdera after the Ionian Revolt to escape the Persian yoke (Herodotus i.168); the chief coin type, a gryphon, is identical with that of Teos; the coinage is n ...

Read more here: » Abdera Thrace: Encyclopedia - Abdera Thrace

Hippias, tyrant of Athens, had been expelled in 510 BC by his people, with the assistance of Cleomenes I, King of Sparta. He fled to the court of Darius to seek assistance. With the failure of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC - 494 BC), Darius was intent on subjugating the Greeks and punishing them for their part in the revolt. In 492 BC Darius dispatched an army under his son-in-law, Mardonius. This army reduced Thrace and compelled Alexander I of Macedon to submit again to Persia. However, in attempting to advance into Greece much of the fleet was wrecked in a s ...

See also:

Battle of Marathon, Battle of Marathon - Background, Battle of Marathon - Battle, Battle of Marathon - Aftermath, Battle of Marathon - Conclusion, Battle of Marathon - Date of the battle, Battle of Marathon - Marathon run

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The Persians takes place in Susa, the capital of Persia, and opens with the chorus (representing Persian nobles) and Queen Mother Atossa awaiting news of King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks. This is an unusual beginning for a tragedy by Aeschylus; normally the chorus would not appear until slightly later, after a speech by a minor character. A messenger then arrives, delivering news of the defeat, the names of the Persian leaders who have been killed, and the relieving news that King Xerxes had escaped and is returning. Then he ...

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The Persians, The Persians - Summary, The Persians - Discussion, The Persians - Reception & legacy, The Persians - External link

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The island was colonized at an early date by Phoenicians, attracted probably by its gold mines; they founded a temple of Heracles, which still existed in the time of Herodotus. Thasus, son of Phoenix, is said to have been the leader of the Phoenicians, and to have given his name to the island. In 720 BC or 708 BC Thasos received a Greek colony from Paros. In a war which the Parian colonists waged with the Saians, a Thracian tribe, the poet Archilochus threw away his shield. The Greeks extended their power to the mainland, where they o ...

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Thasos, Thasos - History, Thasos - Information, Thasos - Communities, Thasos - Historical population, Thasos - Other

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The beginning of the 5th century saw Sparta at the height of her power, though her prestige must have suffered in the fruitless attempts made to impose upon Athens an oligarchical régime after the fall of the Peisistratid tyranny in 510. But after the Persian Wars the Spartan supremacy could no longer remain unchallenged. Sparta had dispatched an army in 490, under the command of Datis and Artaphernes, to aid Athens in repelling the armament sent against it by Darius: but it arrived after the Battle of Marath ...

See also:

History of Sparta, History of Sparta - Prehistoric period, History of Sparta - The expansion of Sparta, History of Sparta - The 6th century BCE, History of Sparta - The 5th century BCE, History of Sparta - The 4th century BCE, History of Sparta - The 3rd century BCE, History of Sparta - Intervention of Rome, History of Sparta - Medieval Sparta, History of Sparta - Modern Sparta

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Homer mentions "Dia"; literally the sacred island "of the Goddess". Karl Kerenyi, speaking for the ancient Greeks, explains: "This name, Dia, which means 'heavenly' or 'divine', was applied to several small craggy islands in our [ Aegean ] sea, all of them lying close to larger islands, such as Crete or Naxos. The name "Dia" was even transferred to the island of Naxos itself, since it was more widely supposed than any other to have been the nuptial isl ...

See also:

Naxos island, Naxos island - Historical population, Naxos island - Mythic Naxos, Naxos island - Reference, Naxos island - Revolt of Naxos, Naxos island - Greek and Byzantine Naxos, Naxos island - The Dukes of Naxos, Naxos island - Ottoman Naxos 1564–1821, Naxos island - Other

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At the end of the 6th century BC, Darius the Great ruled over an immense realm, from western India to eastern Europe. In 513 BC Darius, for the first time, conquered Thrace and Macedon. Macedonian king Amyntas I became his vassal. But the conquest of Asia Minor (546 BC) left the Ionian Greeks under Persian rule, while the other Greeks were free, a state of affairs that was going to cause trouble sooner or later. Persian satraps (governors of provinces) of Asia Minor installed tyrants in most of Ionian cities and force ...

See also:

Greco-Persian Wars, Greco-Persian Wars - Origins, Greco-Persian Wars - Darius' invasion, Greco-Persian Wars - Xerxes' invasion, Greco-Persian Wars - The Greek counterattack

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The ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, says that Phocaea was founded by Phocians under Athenian leadership, on land given to them by the Aeolian Cymaeans, and that they were admitted into the Ionian League, after accepting as kings the line of Codrus.2 Pottery remains indicate Aeolian presence as late as the 9th century BC, and Ionian presence as early as the end of the 9th century BC. From this an approximate date of settlement for Phocaea can be inferred.^{See also:}

Phocaea, Phocaea - Geography, Phocaea - History, Phocaea - Coinage, Phocaea - Notes

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The distinguishing features of ancient Greek society were the division between free and slave, the differing roles of men and women, the relative lack of status distinctions based on birth, and the importance of religion. The way of life of the Athenians was more common in the Greek world than Sparta's special system. Ancient Greece - Social Structure. Only free people could be citizens entitled to the full protection of the law in a city-state. In most city-states, unlike Rome, social promenece did not al ...

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Ancient Greece, Ancient Greece - Origins, Ancient Greece - The rise of Hellas, Ancient Greece - Social and political conflict, Ancient Greece - The Persian Wars, Ancient Greece - The dominance of Athens, Ancient Greece - The Peloponnesian War, Ancient Greece - Spartan and Theban dominance, Ancient Greece - The rise of Macedon, Ancient Greece - The conquests of Alexander, Ancient Greece - Society, Ancient Greece - Social Structure, Ancient Greece - Way of Life, Ancient Greece - Education

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The cities called Ionian in historical times were twelve in number, an arrangement copied as it was supposed from the constitution of the Ionian cities in Greece which had originally occupied the territory in the north of the Peloponnese subsequently held by the Achaeans. These were (from south to north) Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city — an ...

See also:

Ionia, Ionia - Geography, Ionia - History, Ionia - Legacy

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The name of Athens in Ancient Greek was Athḗnai (Ἀθῆναι, IPA /ʔa.ˈtʰɛː.nai/, pronounced roughly At-heh-nigh). This is a plural form: the city was called "The Athenses" since it was originally a group of villages which coalesced into a city. The name has no definite etymology in Greek. The Greeks believed the city was named for its protectress, the goddess Athena, but it is equally possible that the goddess took her name from the city. Athens began its history as a Neolithic hill-fort on top of the Acropolis ("high city" ...

See also:

History of Athens, History of Athens - Origins and setting, History of Athens - Early history, History of Athens - Reform and democracy, History of Athens - Classical Athens, History of Athens - Byzantine Athens, History of Athens - Ottoman Athens, History of Athens - Modern Athens, History of Athens - Notable Athenians, History of Athens - Ancient sites in Athens

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Encouraged by Xerxes' failures, the Greeks of Asias and the islands revolted again. In 478, a fleet under Pausanias captured Byzantium and started a rebellion in Cyprus. At this point the Peloponnesians withdrew from involvement (apparently due to various disputes), but Athens carried on, forming the Delian League in 478 BC. The records become scanty, but Cimon destroyed a Persian army and fleet around 467 near river Eurymedon in Asia Minor. About 459 Athens sent 200 ships in support of a revolt in Egypt, although after driving the Persians ...

See also:

Greco-Persian Wars, Greco-Persian Wars - Origins, Greco-Persian Wars - Darius' invasion, Greco-Persian Wars - Xerxes' invasion, Greco-Persian Wars - The Greek counterattack

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In 431 BC war broke out again between Athens and Sparta and its allies. The immediate cause was a dispute between Corinth and one of its colonies, Corcyra (modern-day Corfu), in which Athens intervened. The obvious cause was the growing resentment of Sparta and its allies at the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs. The war lasted 27 years, partly because Athens (a naval power) and Sparta (a land-based military power) found it difficult to come to grips with each other. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenia ...

See also:

Ancient Greece, Ancient Greece - Origins, Ancient Greece - The rise of Hellas, Ancient Greece - Social and political conflict, Ancient Greece - The Persian Wars, Ancient Greece - The dominance of Athens, Ancient Greece - The Peloponnesian War, Ancient Greece - Spartan and Theban dominance, Ancient Greece - The rise of Macedon, Ancient Greece - The conquests of Alexander, Ancient Greece - Society, Ancient Greece - Social Structure, Ancient Greece - Way of Life, Ancient Greece - Education

Read more here: » Ancient Greece: Encyclopedia II - Ancient Greece - The Peloponnesian War