Geopolitics & Diplomacy in the 5th century BC

50 sourced entries, 499 BCE to 400 BCE, oldest first. Also see Geopolitics & Diplomacy across every century or everything else in the 5th century BC.

• 499 BCEMiltiades the Younger, the ruler of the 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.source
• 498 BCEAlexander I succeeds his father Amyntas I as king of Macedonia.source
• 495 BCEThe number of Roman tribes is increased to 21.source
• 495 BCEKing Fuchai of Wu ascends to the throne after his father, King Helü of Wu, reigning as the last king of Wu until 473 BC.source
• 494 BCEThe dictator Valerius defeats the Sabines, and is awarded a triumph plus the honour of a curule chair in the Circus Maximus.source
• 494 BCEThe Roman consul Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus defeats the Volsci, and a Roman colony is planted at Velitrae.source
• 494 BCEThe 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.source
• 493 BCEThe Athenian people elect Themistocles as archon, the chief judicial and civilian executive officer in Athens. He favours resistance against the Persians.source
• 493 BCEDuring his second consulate, the Roman consul Spurius Cassius Vecellinus concludes a treaty with the Latin League, the Foedus Cassianum, confirming Roman primacy in Latium.source
• 493 BCEThe secession of the plebs concludes.source
• 487 BCEThe Athenian Archonship becomes elective by lot from all the citizens, an important milestone in the move towards radical Athenian democracy. There are nine archons and a secretary. Three of the archons have special functions: the basileus, or sovereign; the polemarch (originally a military commander); and the archon eponymous (chief magistrate), who gave his name to the year.source
• 487 BCESiaspiqa becomes ruler of the Kushite kingdom of Meroe, likely succeeding Amaniastabarqa.source
• 486 BCERome enters into a new treaty with the Hernici.source
• 482 BCEThe Athenian archon Themistocles secures the ostracism of his opponents and becomes the political leader of Athens. The Athenian soldier and statesman, Aristides, is one of those ostracised due to his opposition to Themistocles' naval policy.source
• 480 BCEKing Alexander I of Macedon is obliged to accompany Xerxes in a campaign through Greece, though he secretly aids the Greek allies. With Xerxes' apparent acquiescence, Alexander seizes the Greek colony of Pydna and advances his frontiers eastward to the Strymon, taking in Crestonia and Bisaltia, along with the rich silver deposits of Mount Dysorus.source
• 478 BCEThe Delian League is establishedsource
• 476 BCECimon 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".source
• 471 BCEAthenian politician Themistocles loses the confidence of the Athenian people, partly due to his arrogance and partly due to his alleged readiness to take bribes. As a result, he is ostracized and retires to Argos.source
• 469 BCEThemistocles, after being exiled from Athens, makes his way across the Aegean to Magnesia, an inland Ionian city under Persian rule.source
• 467 BCEQuintus Fabius Vibulanus becomes consul of the Roman Republic for the first of three times.source
• 466 BCEThe Greek colony of Taras, in Magna Graecia, is defeated by the native population of Apulia. As a result, the Tarentine monarchy falls, with the installation of a democracy.source
• 466 BCEThe Tyrant, Thrasybulus, is driven out by the citizens of Syracuse, Sicily. The city moves to a democratic system of government.source
• 461 BCEIn Athens, Ephialtes and Pericles finally get agreement to the ostracism of Kimon, who had become unpopular for his unsuccessful pro-Spartan policy.source
• 458 BCEPericles continues Ephialtes' democratising activities by making the archonship a paid office and the lower class of Athenian citizens eligible to hold the office.source
• 453 BCEAchaea, on the southern shore of the Corinthian Gulf, becomes part of what is effectively now the Athenian Empire. The Delian League had changed from an alliance into an empire clearly under the control of Athens.source
• 451 BCEHostilities among the Greek states come to a formal end with the agreement to the Five Years' Truce. Kimon negotiates a five year truce with Sparta, in which Athens agrees to abandon its alliance with Argos, while Sparta promises to give up its alliance with Thebes. During the same year Argos signs the first "Thirty-Years Peace" with Sparta.source
• 451 BCEAn Athenian law sponsored by Pericles is passed giving citizenship only to those born of Athenian parents. This marks an end to the policy where residents who were from other cities could be given an honourable status.source
• 450 BCEThe success of the first Decemvirate prompts the appointment of a second Decemvirate which also includes plebeians amongst its members. This second decemviri adds two more headings to their predecessor's ten, completing the Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum), which will form the centrepiece of Roman law for the next several centuries. Nevertheless, this Decemvirate's rule becomes increasingly violent and tyrannical.source
• 449 BCEPericles proposes the "Papyrus Decree" allowing the use of 5,000 talents to finance the massive rebuilding program of Athenian temples. This leads to a meeting ("Congress") of all Greek states in order to consider the question of rebuilding the temples destroyed by the Persians. The Congress fails because of Sparta's opposition.source
• 449 BCEThe Greek city-states make peace with the Persian Empire through the Peace of Callias, named after Callias II, the chief Greek ambassador to the Persian Court, an Athenian who is a brother-in-law of Cimon. Athens agrees to end its support for the Egyptian rebels still holding out in parts of the Nile Delta, while the Persians agree not to send ships of war into the Aegean Sea. Athens now effectively controls all the Greek city states in Ionia.source
• 445 BCEThe Plebeians demand the right to stand for election as consul but the Roman senate refused to grant them this right. Ultimately, a compromise is reached, and consular command authority is granted to Consular Tribunes ("Military Tribunes with Consular powers" or tribuni militares consulari potestate).source
• 444 BCENehemiah, the Jewish cupbearer to Artaxerxes I at Susa, is given permission by Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem as governor of Judea, in order to rebuild parts of it.source
• 439 BCELucius Quinctius Cincinnatus is made dictator of the Roman Republic for a second time to deal with the Maelius controversy. He appoints Gaius Servilius Ahala as his Master of the Horse.source
• 435 BCEA dispute arises between Epidamnus' oligarchs and democratic forces in the Greek colony. Most of the colony's inhabitants originate from Corinth or Corcyra (Corfu). Epidamnus' oligarchs are exiled and then appeal to Corcyra for help, while the democrats enlist the support of Corinth. Corcyra is then attacked by Corinth as the dispute heats up.source
• 428 BCEThe Greek colony of Cumae in Italy falls to the Samnites, who begin to take control of the Campanian plain.source
• 427 BCEThe Quaestorship is opened to the Plebs.source
• 423 BCEGaius Sempronius Atratinus and Quintus Fabius Vibulanus are elected as consulssource
• 421 BCEAlcibiades engineers an anti-Spartan alliance between Athens and the democracies of Argos, Mantinea and Elis.source
• 412 BCEThe Athenians vote to use their last reserves to build a new fleet.source
• 412 BCEThe Spartans sign a treaty of mutual help with the Persian satrap of Lower Asia, Tissaphernes. By the treaty of Miletus, Persia is given complete freedom in western Asia Minor in return for agreeing to pay for seamen to man the Peloponnesian fleet.source
• 410 BCEAlcibiades installs a garrison at Chrysopolis under Theramenes to exact a tithe from all shipping that comes from the Black Sea. This revenue enables the Athenians to put an end to the regime of the Five Thousand and restore their traditional institutions in full. Democracy is restored in Athens. The new demagogue Cleophon dismisses peace overtures made by Sparta.source
• 410 BCEEvagoras re-establishes his family's claim as kings of Salamis which has been under Phoenician control for a number of years.source
• 409 BCEThe city of Rhodes is founded.source
• 408 BCEIn 408 BC, the three city-states of the island of Rhodes (Ialysos, Kamiros, Lindos) unite and create the homonymous city on the northernmost part of the island.source
• 404 BCEThe Spartan general, Lysander, puts in place a puppet government in Athens with the establishment of the oligarchy of the "Thirty Tyrants" under Critias and including Theramenes as a leading member. This government executes a number of citizens and deprives all but a few of their rights.source
• 403 BCEMarquis Wen of Wei ascends to power in Wei. He sponsors Confucianism and employs able political advisors such as Li Kui, Wu Qi, and Ximen Bao.source
• 403 BCEThrasybulus restores democratic institutions to Athens and grants amnesties to all except the oligarchic extremists. He is helped by Lysias, the Athenian orator, in arguing the case against the oligarchy.source
• 403 BCEThe states of Han, Zhao and Wei receive official recognition as Marquesses from the Eastern Zhou dynasty, confirming the Partition of Jin. This is one of the traditional starting points of the Warring States period.source
• 403 BCEMarquis Lie of Zhao becomes the ruler of the state of Zhao.source
• 400 BCEAmyrtaeus of Sais successfully completes a revolt against Persian control by gaining control of all of Upper Egypt.source