470s BC

This article concerns the period 479 BC – 470 BC.

Events

479 BC

By place

Greece
  • The Persian commander Mardonius, now based in Thessaly, wins support from Argus and western Arcadia. He tries to win over Athens but fails.
  • Mardonius attacks Athens once more and the Athenians are forced to retreat, whereupon he razes the city. The Spartans march north to support Athens against the Persians.
  • August 27
    • The Battle of Plataea in Boeotia ends the Persian invasions of Greece as the Persian general Mardonius is routed by the Greeks under Pausanias, nephew of the former Spartan King, Leonidas I. The Athenian contingent is led by the repatriated Aristides. Mardonius is killed in the battle and the Greeks capture enormous amounts of loot. Thebes is captured shortly thereafter and the Theban collaborators executed by Pausanias.
    • Meanwhile at sea, the Persians are defeated by a Greek fleet headed by Leotychidas of Sparta and Xanthippus of Athens in the Battle of Mycale, on the coast of Ionia in Asia Minor.
  • Potidaea is struck by a tsunami.

478 BC

By place

Greece
  • Despite Spartan opposition, Athens works on refortifying and rebuilding after the Persian destruction of the city in 479.
  • The Delian League is established[1]
  • With the help of the Athenian statesman and general, Cimon, Aristides commands an Athenian fleet of 30 ships that the Spartan commander Pausanias leads to capture the Greek cities on Cyprus and Byzantium, taking them from the Persians and their Phoenician allies.[2]
  • While Pausanias is occupying Byzantium, his arrogance and his adoption of Persian clothing and manners offends the allies and raises suspicions of disloyalty. Pausanias is recalled to Sparta, where he is tried and acquitted of the charge of treason, but he is not restored to his command.
Sicily
China

477 BC

By place

Greece
  • The Spartan co-ruler Leotychides and the Athenian leader Themistocles lead a fleet and army to reoccupy northern Greece and to punish the aristocratic family of the Aleuads for having aided the Persians. Leotychides is caught accepting a bribe during the operations in Thessaly.
  • Greek maritime cities around the Aegean Sea no longer wish to be under Spartan control and at Delos offer their allegiance, through Aristides, to Athens. They form the Delian League (also known as the Confederacy of Delos) with Cimon as their principal commander.
Roman Republic

476 BC

By place

Greece
  • Convicted in Sparta on the charge of accepting a bribe from the Aleudae family whilst leading an expedition to Thessaly against the family for their collaboration with the Persians, the Spartan King Leotychidas flees to the temple of Athena Alea in Tegea, Arcadia. A sentence of exile is passed upon him; his house is razed, and his grandson, Archidamus II, ascends the Spartan throne in his place.
  • Cimon of Athens increases his power at the expense of Themistocles. He ousts Pausanias and the Spartans from the area around the Bosporus. The Spartans, hearing that Pausanias is intriguing with the Persians, recall him and he is "disciplined".
  • Under the leadership of Kimon, the Delian League continues to fight Persia and to remove the Ionian cities from Persian administration. The conquest of Eion on the Strymon from Persia is led by Cimon.

By topic

Literature
  • The Greek poet Pindar visits Sicily and is made welcome at the courts of Theron of Acragas and Hieron I of Syracuse. They commission some of his greatest poetry. It is through these connections that Pindar's reputation spreads all over the Greek world.

475 BC

By place

Greece
  • Cimon leads an Athenian attack on the island of Skyros and expels the indigenous inhabitants who are regarded as pirates.[3]
  • The first recorded eruption of Mount Etna occurs.[4]
China

By topic

Arts

474 BC

By place

Italy

By topic

Literature
  • The Greek poet Pindar moves to Thebes after two years at the Sicilian Court of Hiero I of Syracuse. While at Thebes, he composes lyric odes to celebrate triumphs in the Olympic Games and other athletic events.

473 BC

By place

China
Japan

472 BC

By place

Greece

By topic

Literature

471 BC

By place

Greece

470 BC

By place

Greece
  • Suspected of plotting to seize power in Sparta by instigating a helot uprising, Pausanias takes refuge in the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House to escape arrest. The sanctuary is respected, but the Spartans wall in the sanctuary and starve Pausanias to death.

By topic

Architecture
Art

Births

474 BC

472 BC

471 BC

470 BC

Deaths

479 BC

478 BC

477 BC

476 BC

475 BC

473 BC

470 BC

References

  1. Hammond, N. G. L. (1967). "The Origins and the Nature of the Athenian Alliance of 478/7 B. C." The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 87: 41–61. doi:10.2307/627806. ISSN 0075-4269.
  2. Balcer, Jack Martin (1997). "The Liberation of Ionia: 478 B.C." Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 46 (3): 374–377. ISSN 0018-2311.
  3. Smith, Sir William (1857). History of Greece. p. 227.
  4. "Mount Etna | Eruptions, History, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  5. Meiggs, Russell; Hornblower, Simon (2015-07-30), "Delian League", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2074, ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5, retrieved 2023-09-08
  6. Favorini, Attilio (2003). "History, Collective Memory, and Aeschylus' "The Persians"". Theatre Journal. 55 (1): 99–111. ISSN 0192-2882.
  7. "Socrates | Biography, Philosophy, Beliefs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
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