Exploration & Expansion in the 5th century BC

45 sourced entries, 497 BCE to 400 BCE, oldest first. Also see Exploration & Expansion across every century or everything else in the 5th century BC.

• 497 BCEThe Persians launch an expedition on the Hellespont and later Caria.source
• 495 BCEAdditional colonists were sent to the colony at Signia.source
• 494 BCEThe Thracians and Scythians drive Miltiades the Younger from 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.source
• 493 BCEA Phoenician-manned Persian fleet restores Persian control of Cyprus.source
• 492 BCEWar with the Volsci is averted because a pestilence affects the Volsci. Rome sends additional colonists to Velitrae and establishes a new colony in Norba.source
• 492 BCEThe first expedition of King Darius I of 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.source
• 491 BCEDarius I sends envoys to all Greek cities, demanding "earth and water for vassalage" which Athens and Sparta refuse.source
• 490 BCEDarius 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.source
• 490 BCECarthaginian navigator Himilco is the first known explorer from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the northwestern shores of Europe (approximate date).source
• 485 BCEGelo, the tyrant of Gela, takes advantage of an appeal by the descendants of the first colonist of Syracuse, the Gamoroi, who had held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the lower class of the city. He makes himself master of that city, leaving his brother Hieron to control Gela.source
• 483 BCEXerxes I of Persia is encouraged by his cousin and brother-in-law, Mardonius, supported by a strong party of exiled Greeks, to take revenge for the defeat that Darius I suffered at the hands of the Greeks at Marathon in 490 BC. In response, Xerxes prepares for a major expedition to crush the Greeks. To avoid a repeat of the significant losses to the Persian fleet that occurred in 492 BC, Xerxes has a canal cut through the promontory of Mount Athos.source
• 480 BCEMay – King Xerxes I of Persia marches from Sardis and onto Thrace and Macedonia.source
• 476 BCEConvicted 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.source
• 474 BCEHiero builds Castello Aragonese on the island of Ischia.source
• 474 BCEConsuls: Lucius Lucius Furius Medullinus and Gnaeus Manlius Vulsosource
• 471 BCEThe colony of Pixunte (Pixous) is founded in Magna Graecia.source
• 460 BCEEgypt revolts against Persian rule. The Egyptian leader, Inaros, asks Athens for assistance, which is willingly provided as Athens has plans to trade with and colonize Egypt. A force of 200 Athenian triremes, which is campaigning in Cyprus, is immediately ordered to Egypt to render assistance.source
• 460 BCEDucetius, a Hellenised leader of the Siculi, an ancient people of Sicily, takes advantage of the confusion that follows the collapse of the tyranny in Syracuse and other Sicilian states. With the support of the Syracusan democracy, he drives out the colonists of the former tyrant Hieron from Catana and restores it to its original inhabitants.source
• 460 BCEThe construction of a sculpture of a Young Warrior (subsequently found in the sea off Riace, Italy) is begun and completed approximately ten years later. It is now preserved at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Reggio Calabria, Italy.source
• 458 BCEThe Athenians start constructing the Long Walls to protect the route from the main city to their main port (Piraeus).source
• 454 BCEPericles leads a naval expedition in the Corinthian Gulf, in which Athens defeats Achaea. He then attacks Sicyon and Acarnania, after which he unsuccessfully tries to take Oeniadea on the Corinthian Gulf, before returning to Athens.source
• 453 BCEDucetius founds the town of Palicesource
• 451 BCEThe Persian fleet moves against a rebellious Cyprus to restore order. Kimon, who returns to favour, though not to power, in Athens, plans an expedition to help Cyprus. He gains Pericles' support.source
• 450 BCEAfter minor preliminary successes (including the capture of Inessa from its Greek colonists), Ducetius, a Hellenised leader of the Siculi, an ancient people of Sicily, is decisively defeated by the combined forces of Syracuse and Acragas. Ducetius flees to exile in Corinth.source
• 447 BCEPericles leads Athenian forces in the expulsion of barbarians from the Thracian peninsula of Gallipoli, in order to establish Athenian colonists in the region. Thus Pericles starts a policy of cleruchy (klerouchos) or "out-settlements". This is a form of colonisation where poor and unemployed people are assisted to emigrate to new regions.source
• 446 BCEDucetius, the Hellenised leader of the Siculi, an ancient people of Sicily, returns from exile in Corinth to Sicily and colonises Cale Acte on the north coast with Greek and Siculi settlers.source
• 443 BCEPericles founds the colony of Thurii near the site of the former city of Sybaris, in southern Italy. Its colonists include Herodotus and Lysias.source
• 437 BCEPericles, concerned for Athenian trade with Greek settlements to the East, and in order to counteract a new and possibly threatening Thracian–Scythian alliance, leads Athens' fleet to Pontus on the Black Sea and establishes friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.source
• 436 BCEFollowing Pericles' visit to the Black Sea, a large Athenian colony is founded at Amphipolis. This is disconcertingly close to an outpost of Corinthian influence at Potidaea in the Chalcidice. Corinth feels it is being indirectly pressured by Athens.source
• 433 BCEPericles renews alliances with the Rhegium on the southwest corner of Italy and Leontini in southeast Sicily, threatening Sparta's food supply route from Sicily.source
• 432 BCEThe Greek colony of Heraclea in Southern Italy is founded by colonists from Tarentum and Thurii.source
• 430 BCEThe army of Sparta loots Attica for a second time, but Pericles is not daunted and refuses to revise his initial strategy. Unwilling to engage the Spartan army in battle, he again leads a naval expedition to plunder the coasts of the Peloponnesus, this time taking 100 Athenian ships with him.source
• 425 BCEWhat some historians call the Rich style begins in Greece.source
• 421 BCEThe city of Cumae, the most northerly of the Greek colonies in Italy, falls to the Samnites.source
• 419 BCEDespite the Peace of Nicias still being in effect, Sparta's King Agis II gathers a strong army at Philus and descends upon Argos by marching at night from the north. His allied Boeotian forces fail him, but he is able to conclude a treaty with Argos. In 419 BC, the Argives, at the instigation of Alcibiades, attacked Epidaurus; and Agis with a large force from Lacedaemon set out and marched to the frontier city of Leuctra. No one, Thucydides tells us, knew the purpose of this expedition. It was probably to make a diversion in favour of Epidaurus.source
• 415 BCEAthenian orator and politician, Andocides is imprisoned on suspicion of having taken part in the mutilation of the sacred busts called "Hermae" shortly before the departure of Athens' military expedition to Sicily. These mutilations cause a general panic, and Andocides is induced to turn informer. Andocides' testimony is accepted, and those whom he implicates, including Alcibiades, are condemned to death. Andocides is sent into exile.source
• 415 BCEAfter learning that he has been condemned to death in absentia, Alcibiades defects to Sparta and Nicias is placed in charge of the Sicilian expedition. The Athenian forces land at Dascon near Syracuse but with little result. Hermocrates heads the Syracusan defence.source
• 415 BCEThe Athenian expedition to Sicily sets sail under Nicias, Lamachus and Alcibiades. After his departure with the armada, Alcibiades is accused of profanity and is recalled to Athens to stand trial.source
• 408 BCEAlcibiades enters Athens in triumph after an absence of 7 years. He leads the religious procession from Athens to Eleusis, thus atoning for his alleged impiety in 415 BC when he was held to have joined in profaning the Sacred Mysteries. Alcibiades is appointed commander-in-chief with autocratic powers and leaves for Samos to rejoin his fleet.source
• 408 BCEThe Spartan admiral Lysander arrives at Ephesus in autumn and builds up a great fleet with help from the new Persian satrap, Cyrus.source
• 406 BCECallicratidas is appointed as the navarch of the Spartan fleet, replacing Lysander. Callicratidas assembles a fleet and sails to Methymna, on Lesbos, to which he lays siege. This move threatens the Athenian grain supply.source
• 404 BCELysander sails to Samos and conquers it for Sparta.source
• 403 BCEAndocides, Athenian orator and politician, who has been implicated in the mutilation of the Herms on the eve of the departure of the Athenian expedition against Sicily in 415 BC, returns from exile under the general amnesty.source
• 400 BCELondon has its origins on a rise above marshy waters at the point where the Walbrook joins the River Thames. The Celtic king, Belin, rebuilds an earth wall surrounding a few dozen huts and orders a small landing place to be cut into the south side of the wall, along the river front, where a wooden quay is built (approximate date).source
• 400 BCEThibron embarks his army at the Isthmus of Corinth and sails to Ephesus on the Ionian coast. Upon arrival, he recruits an additional 2,000 soldiers and starts his campaign against Tissaphernes.source