The inhabitants of Sparta organize their society on military lines and consider themselves the descendants of the Dorians

The inhabitants of Messenia revolt against Spartan rule and are reduced, in retaliation, to the status of serfs or helots

The city-states of the Peloponnese unite in a defensive league under Spartan leadership

The Athenian ruler Hippias is toppled by the nobles of Attica, with the help of Sparta

Pheidippides, given the task of running from Athens to Sparta to request help at Marathon against the Persians, completes the journey in two days

300 Spartans, led by Leonidas, die attempting to hold the pass of Thermopylae against the advancing Persian army

A Spartan army, led by Pausanias, wins a victory at Plataea, completing the rout of the Persians on the Greek mainland

In the last joint campaign by Sparta and Athens the strategically important city of Byzantium is liberated from Persian rule

Pericles is one of a radical group in Athens, eager to curb the reactionaries controlling the Areopagus, and hostile to Sparta

An earthquake in Sparta leads to an uprising by the helots, who take up a defensive position on Mount Ithome

Sparta appeals to its allies for help against the helots, and Athens - against the wishes of Pericles and his group - sends an army

Sparta causes offence in Athens by dismissing the Athenian army without using them against the helots

Athens makes provocative alliances with two city-states opposed to Sparta

Simmering hostilities between the allies of Sparta and Athens develop into endemic conflict among the Greek city states of the Peloponnese

An army commanded by a Spartan king turns back mysteriously during an invasion of Attica, leading to rumours that Pericles has bribed the king

Pericles negotiates a treaty, scheduled to hold for thirty years, establishing spheres of influence for Sparta (the mainland) and Athens (the Aegean coast and islands)

Pericles breaches his own Thirty Years Treaty, sending 30 triremes in support of a city state in dispute with Corinth, an ally of Sparta

Sparta demands withdrawal of the Athenian ships from the Peloponnesian coast, but Pericles will offer only independent arbitration

A sudden attack on Plataea (an ally of Athens) by Thebes (an ally of Sparta) begins the Second Peloponnesian War

The Persians, renewing their interest in the Aegean, fund the Spartans in the building of a fleet to match that of Athens

The last remaining Athenian fleet is surprised and destroyed by the Spartans in the Hellespont

The famous Long Walls of Athens, her impregnable defence, are dismantled by the Spartans in the final act of the Peloponnesian War

A Spartan army is overwhelmed at Leuctra by a smaller number of Thebans under Epaminondas

Sparta's ancient political system comes to an end, but the ordeal by flogging lingers on as a tourist attraction in the temple of Artemis

A rebellion by Spartacus and other slaves from a gladiators' training camp at Capua lasts for two years before it is suppressed