490s BC

This article concerns the period 499 BC – 490 BC.

Events

499 BC

By place

Greece

• After a failed attack on the rebellious island of
  Asia Minor to revolt against Persia, thus instigating the Ionian Revolt and beginning the Greco-Persian Wars between Greece and Persia.^[1][2] The pro-Persian tyrant of Mytilene
  is stoned to death.
• Thracian Chersonese, which has been under Persian suzerainty since approximately 514 BC, joins the Ionian revolt. He seizes the islands of Lemnos and Imbros
  from the Persians.
• Aristagoras seeks help with the revolt against the Persians from Cleomenes I, king of Sparta, but the Spartans are unwilling to respond.

498 BC

By place

Greece

• Macedonia
  .
• Persia). Artaphernes, who has sent most of his troops to besiege Miletus, is taken by surprise. However, Artaphernes is able to retreat to the citadel and hold it. Although the Greeks are unable to take the citadel, they pillage
  the town and set fires that burn Sardis to the ground.
• Retreating to the coast, the Greek forces are met by the Persians under Artaphernes and defeated in the Battle of Ephesus.
• Hellespont also revolt against the Persians. Cyprus also joins the rebellion, as Onesilus removes his pro-Persian brother, Gorgos, from the throne of Salamis
  .

• The earliest surviving of the Greek poets Pindar's epinikion (Pythian ode 10) is written.

497 BC

By place

Greece

• Artybius ends the rebellion in Cyprus.^[3]
• Hellespont and later Caria.^[4]

By place

Greece

• Peisistratus), wins the archonship of Athens
  as leader of the peace party which argues that resistance against the Persians is useless.

• Tisicrates of
  stadion race at the 71st Olympic Games
  .

• The former
  Tarquinius Superbus, who had been exiled by the Romans in 509 BC, and his ally Octavius Mamilius, of Tusculum, together with the Latins are defeated by the Roman Republic army in the Battle of Lake Regillus, near Frascati
  . The outcome of this battle establishes Roman supremacy over the Latins.

• King Goujian of Yue defeats and mortally injures King Helü of Wu

Roman Republic

• A temple is built on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills, in Rome, in honour of the god Mercury and was dedicated on 15 May.^[5]
• The number of Roman tribes is increased to 21.
• Additional colonists were sent to the colony at Signia.
• The
  launch an invasion against Rome, but are defeated, and in retaliation Rome plunders Suessa Pometia.^[6]
• Roman troops
  Sabines
  .
• Roman troops defeat an army of the Aurunci near the town of Aricia.^[7]
• The beginning of discord between the plebs and patricians leading to the
  first secession of the plebs.^[8]

• King Helü of Wu, reigning as the last king of Wu until 473 BC
  .

By place

Persian empire

• Having successfully captured several of the revolting Greek city-states, the Persians under Artaphernes lay siege to Miletus. The decisive Battle of Lade is fought at the island of Lade, near Miletus' port. Although out-numbered, the Greek fleet appears to be winning the battle until the ships from Samos and Lesbos retreat. The sudden defection turns the tide of battle, and the remaining Greek fleet is completely destroyed. Miletus surrenders shortly thereafter, and the Ionian Revolt comes to an end.^[9]
• The Persian leaders Artaphernes and Mardonius grant a degree of autonomy to the Ionian cities. They abstain from financial reprisals and merely exact former levels of tribute. The Persians abolish the Greek tyrannies in Ionia and permit democracies.
• The Persians burn down the
  Temple of Apollo at Didyma.^[10]

• The Phoenician allies of the Persians retaliate fiercely against the Greeks, whom they perceive as pirates, unleashing savage reprisals..
• The
  Chersonesos. Miltiades loads five boats with his treasures and makes for Athens. One of the boats, captained by Miltiades' eldest son, Metiochos is captured. Metiochos is taken as a lifelong prisoner to Persia.^[11]
• The Spartan king, Cleomenes I inflicts a severe defeat on Argos at Sepeia near Tiryns (approximate date).^[12]

Roman republic

• The Senate appoints Manius Valerius Maximus to the office of dictator to deal with a series of military threats, and a popular uprising.
• The dictator Valerius
  circus maximus
  .
• The Roman consul
  Velitrae
  .
• The Roman consul Titus Veturius Geminus Cicurinus defeats the Aequi at the request of Rome's Latin allies.
• At the end of the military campaigns, the plebs retire to the
  Secession of the Plebs. To end the secession, the plebeians gain acceptance from the patricians that they may choose two leaders to whom they give the title of Tribunes
  . The office of the tribunate is thereby established.
• The
  aediles, magistrates of ancient Rome who are in charge of the temple and cult of Ceres
  , are first established. They are two officials of the plebeians, created at the same time as the tribunes, whose sanctity they share.

By place

Persian Empire

• A Phoenician-manned Persian fleet restores Persian control of Cyprus.

Greece

• The Athenian people elect Themistocles as archon, the chief judicial and civilian executive officer in Athens. He favours resistance against the Persians.
• Themistocles starts the construction of a fortified naval base at Piraeus, the port town of Athens.
• Among the refugees arriving from
  Miltiades
  , who has a fine reputation as a soldier. Themistocles makes him a general in the Athenian army.

Roman Republic

• The
  secession of the plebs
  concludes.
• The
  Gaius Marcius
  distinguishes himself in the battle for Corioli, and earns the cognomen Coriolanus.
• During his second consulate, the Roman consul Spurius Cassius Vecellinus concludes a treaty with the Latin League, the Foedus Cassianum, confirming Roman primacy in Latium.

By topic

Literature

• The Athenian poet Phrynicus produces a tragedy on the Fall of Miletus.^[13] The Athenian authorities ban the play from further production on the grounds of impiety.

492 BC

By place

Greece

• The first expedition of King
  Persia against Greece commences under the leadership of his son-in-law and general, Mardonius. Darius sends Mardonius to succeed his satrap (governor) in Ionia, Artaphernes, with a special commission to attack Athens and Eretria
  .
• The Persians under Mardonius subdue and capture
  Macedonia
  .
• Mardonius loses some 300 ships in a storm off Mount Athos, which forces him to abandon his plans to attack Athens and Eretria.
• Tisicrates wins the
  stadion race for a second time at the 72nd Olympic Games.^[14]

• When Camarina, a Syracusan colony, rebels, Hippocrates, the tyrant of Gela, intervenes to wage war against Syracuse. After defeating the Syracusan army at the Heloros River, he besieges the city. However, he is persuaded by the intervention of forces from the Greek mainland city of Corinth to retreat in exchange for the possession of Camarina.

Rome

• Following the conclusion of the
  secession of the plebs, a famine strikes Rome. The consuls avert the crisis by obtaining grain from Etruria
  .
• War with the
  colony in Norba
  .

By place

Greece

• Darius I sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding "earth and water for vassalage" which Athens and Sparta refuse.^[15]
• The Greek city of Aegina, fearing the loss of trade, submits to Persia. The Spartan king, Cleomenes I tries to punish Aegina for its submission to the Persians, but the other Spartan king, Demaratus, thwarts him.
• Leotychidas) by bribing the oracle at Delphi
  to announce that this action was divine will. The two Spartan kings successfully capture the Persian collaborators in Aegina.

• Gelo, who had been his commander of cavalry.^[16]

• During this year there was a famine in Rome. General Gais Marcius Coriolanus suggested that people should not receive grains unless they agree to abolish the Office of Tribune. Because of this, the Tribunes had him exiled. In response, Coriolanus takes refuge with the leader of the Volsci, eventually leading the Volscian army in a war against Rome. It was only due to entreaties from his mother and wife that he abandoned his war against Rome.^[17]
• On the Via Latina, a main road leading out of Rome, the Temple of Fortuna Muliebras was finished.^[18][19]

By topic

Art

• The construction of a
  Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.^[20][21]

By place

Greece

• Darius I sends an expedition, under Artaphernes and Datis the Mede, across the Aegean to attack the Athenians and the Eretrians. Hippias
  , the aged ex-tyrant of Athens, is on one of the Persian ships in the hope of being restored to power in Athens.
• When the Ionian Greeks in Asia Minor rebelled against Persia in 499 BC, Eretria joined Athens in sending aid to the rebels. As a result, Darius makes a point of punishing Eretria during his invasion of Greece. The city is sacked and burned and its inhabitants are enslaved. He intends the same fate for Athens.
• Miltiades
  . Some 6,400 Persians are killed at a cost of 192 Athenian dead. Callimachus, the war-archon of Athens, is killed in the battle. After the battle, the Persians return home.
• Before the Battle of Marathon, the Athenians send a runner, Pheidippides, to seek help from Sparta. However, the Spartans delay sending troops to Marathon because religious requirements (the Carneia) mean they must wait for the full moon.
• The Greek historian Herodotus, the main source for the Greco-Persian Wars, mentions Pheidippides as the messenger who runs from Athens to Sparta asking for help, and then runs back, a distance of over 240 kilometres^[22] each way.^[23] After the battle, he runs back to Athens to spread the news and raise the spirits. It is claimed that his last words before collapsing and dying in Athens are "Chairete, nikomen" ("Rejoice, we are victorious").
• Hippias dies at Lemnos on the journey back to Sardis after the Persian defeat.
• Agiad house, his half-brother, Leonidas
  .

• Carthaginian navigator Himilco is the first known explorer from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the northwestern shores of Europe (approximate date).

By topic

Architecture

• The Athenians begin the building of a temple to Athena Parthenos (approximate date).
• Stelae are once again allowed in Athenian cemeteries, having been banned since 510 BC.

Births

496 BC

• dramatist and statesman (d. 406 BC)^[24]

• Pericles, Athenian politician (d. 429 BC)

490 BC

• Empedocles, Greek philosopher (d. c. 430 BC)
• Zeno of Elea, Greek philosopher (d. c. 430 BC)

Deaths

498 BC

• Macedonia (b. c. 540 BC
  )
• Cleander, tyrant of Gela

497 BC

• Onesilus, King of Salamis

496 BC

• Sun Tzu, military philosopher and author of The Art of War (most likely a colloquial date) (b. 544 BC)^[25]
• King Helü of Wu, king of the Chinese State of Wu
• Marcus Valerius Volusus and Titus Herminius Aquilinus, both former Roman consuls died at the Battle of Lake Regillus
• Octavius Mamilius, ruler of Tusculum also died at the Battle of Lake Regillus
• Iccus of Epidaurus, Olympic boxer, died while boxing Cleomedes of Astypalaea

495 BC

• Pythagoras of Samos
• Tarquinius Superbus, former king of Rome died in exile in Cumae

• Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus

493 BC

• Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, former Roman consul.^[26]
• Cleisthenes^[27]

491 BC

• Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela^[28]

490 BC

• Hippias, tyrant of Athens
• Callimachus, war-archon of Athens
• gens Claudia
• Pheidippides, messenger and soldier of Athens

References