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Historical Period

Half a century of war between the Greek city-states and Persia, from the Ionian Revolt and Marathon to Salamis and final victory.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Greco-Persian Wars · 499–449 BC
Greece against the Persian Empire

The Greco-Persian Wars

From the Ionian cities' revolt against the Great King and the burning of Sardis, through Darius's punitive expedition broken on the plain of Marathon, to Xerxes' vast invasion — the doomed stand at Thermopylae, the wooden walls that triumphed at Salamis, and the deliverance at Plataea. Slide across half a century in which a handful of quarrelsome city-states turned back the greatest empire on earth, and Greece found the confidence that would shape its golden age.

499 BC
The Ionian Revolt
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499 BC

The Ionian Revolt
  • Military

    Ionia rises against the Great King

    A Greek hoplite fighting a Persian warrior
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    The Greek cities of Ionia throw off Persian rule, and Athens sends ships to their aid.

9 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 499 BC

Full Chronicle

The Greco-Persian Wars

From the Ionian cities' revolt against the Great King and the burning of Sardis, through Darius's punitive expedition broken on the plain of Marathon, to Xerxes' vast invasion — the doomed stand at Thermopylae, the wooden walls that triumphed at Salamis, and the deliverance at Plataea. Slide across half a century in which a handful of quarrelsome city-states turned back the greatest empire on earth, and Greece found the confidence that would shape its golden age.

  1. The Ionian Revolt

    • Ionia rises against the Great King

      The Greek cities of Ionia throw off Persian rule, and Athens sends ships to their aid.

  2. The Ionian Revolt

    • The burning of Sardis

      Ionian and Athenian troops storm and burn Sardis, the seat of Persian power in the west.

  3. The Ionian Revolt

    • Miletus falls at Lade

      The Persian fleet crushes the Ionians at Lade, and Miletus is sacked, ending the revolt.

  4. The First Persian Invasion

    • Victory at Marathon

      A Persian expedition lands at Marathon and is routed by the outnumbered Athenians under Miltiades.

  5. The Invasion of Xerxes

    • The stand at Thermopylae

      Xerxes invades with a vast army; Leonidas and 300 Spartans die holding the pass at Thermopylae.

    • The sea-victory at Salamis

      Themistocles lures the Persian fleet into the straits of Salamis, where it is shattered.

  6. The Invasion of Xerxes

    • Plataea frees Greece

      The Greek army destroys Mardonius's forces at Plataea, and a second victory at Mycale ends the invasion.

  7. The Greek Counter-offensive

    • The Delian League

      Athens leads a new alliance of maritime states to carry the war to Persia and free the Greeks of Asia.

  8. The Greek Counter-offensive

    • Double victory at the Eurymedon

      Cimon destroys a Persian army and fleet in a single day at the Eurymedon river.

  9. The Greek Counter-offensive

    • The Peace of Callias

      A negotiated peace, traditionally dated to 449 BC, ends half a century of war with Persia.