Ancient Greek Warfare

Definition

In the ancient Greek world, warfare was seen as a necessary evil of the human condition. Whether it be small frontier skirmishes between neighbouring city-states, lengthy city-sieges, civil wars, or large-scale battles between multi-alliance blocks on land and sea, the vast rewards of war could outweigh the costs in material and lives. Whilst there were long periods of peace and many examples of friendly alliances, the powerful motives of territorial expansion, war booty, revenge, honour, and the defence of liberty ensured that throughout the Archaic and Classical periods the Greeks were regularly engaged in warfare both at home and abroad.

More about: Ancient Greek Warfare

Timeline

  • 800 BCE - 700 BCE
    Homer's Iliad is composed with mention of medical treatment in Greek warfare.
  • 800 BCE - 500 BCE
    Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
  • c. 700 BCE
    Corinthians adopt the trireme from the Phoenicians.
  • 660 BCE
    Corcyra wins a naval battle against their founding city of Corinth.
  • c. 650 BCE
    Sparta crushes Messenian revolt.
  • c. 650 BCE - c. 350 BCE
    Hoplites are the major protagonists in Greek land warfare.
  • 580 BCE - 376 BCE
    Carthage and Greece fight for dominance in Sicily.
  • c. 550 BCE - c. 366 BCE
    Peloponnesian League alliance between Sparta, Corinth, Elis and Tegea which establishes Spartan hegemony over the Peloponnese.
  • 539 BCE
    Etruscan & Carthaginian alliance expels the Greeks from Corsica.
  • 525 BCE
    Sparta and Corinth unsuccessfully attack Polycrates of Samos.
  • 499 BCE - 493 BCE
    Ionian cities rebel against Persian rule.
  • 494 BCE - 493 BCE
    Spartan forces under Cleomenes I attack the city of Argos.
  • 493 BCE
    The first fortifications are constructed at Athens' port of Piraeus.
  • 492 BCE
    Darius I of Persia invades Greece.
  • 11 Sep 490 BCE
    A combined force of Greek hoplites defeat the Persians at Marathon.
  • c. 483 BCE
    Themistocles persuades the Athenians to significantly expand their fleet, which saves them at Salamis and becomes their source of power.
  • 480 BCE
    Tyrant of Syracuse Gelon defeats the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera.
  • 480 BCE
    Thebes sides with Persia during Xerxes invasion of Greece.
  • 480 BCE
    Agrigento defeats Carthage at the battle of Himera.
  • Aug 480 BCE
    The indecisive battle of Artemision between the Greek and Persian fleets of Xerxes I. The Greeks withdraw to Salamis.
  • Aug 480 BCE
    Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and other Greek allies hold back the Persians led by Xerxes I for three days but are defeated.
  • Sep 480 BCE
    Battle of Salamis where the Greek naval fleet led by Themistocles defeats the invading armada of Xerxes I of Persia.
  • 479 BCE
    Xerxes' Persian forces are defeated by Greek forces at Plataea effectively ending Persia's imperial ambitions in Greece.
  • 478 BCE
    Spartan general Pausanias is given command of a force and takes both Cyprus and Byzantium.
  • 476 BCE - 463 BCE
    Delian League operations are led by Athenian commander Cimon
  • c. 475 BCE
    Athenian general Cimon defeats Spartan general Pausanias and takes Byzantium.
  • c. 466 BCE
    Athenian general Cimon twice defeats the Persians at Eurymedon on the southern coast of Asia Minor.
  • 465 BCE - 463 BCE
    Athenian general Cimon conquers Chersonesus in Thrace and the north-Aegean island of Thasos.
  • 460 BCE - 445 BCE
    First Peloponnesian War.
  • 457 BCE
    Sparta wins the battle of Tanagra during the 1st Peloponnesian War with Athens.
  • 453 BCE
    Pericles erects trophy at Nemea after Athenian victory over the Sikyonians.
  • 450 BCE
    Athenian general Cimon dies on Cyprus fighting the Persians.
  • 448 BCE
    Pericles leads the Athenian forces in the Battle of Delphi.
  • 440 BCE
    Hoplites become increasingly lighter-armoured, as new battle tactics required more mobility.
  • 433 BCE
    A naval battle between the victorious combined forces of Corcyra and Athens against Corinth.
  • 431 BCE - 404 BCE
    The 2nd Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League) which involved all of Greece.
  • 431 BCE - 404 BCE
    The Cycladic city states side with Athens in the Peloponnesian war against Sparta and her allies.
  • 431 BCE - 404 BCE
    Thebes sides with Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
  • 431 BCE
    Athens invades Megara.
  • c. 430 BCE - 415 BCE
    The Histories of Herodotus is published. The work is divided into nine chapters, each dedicated to one of the Muses.
  • 429 BCE
    Athens successfully campaigns in the Corinthian Gulf regions during the Peloponnesian War.
  • 429 BCE
    Peloponnesian forces led by Sparta begin the siege of Plataea.
  • 427 BCE
    Plataea finally falls to the Spartans after a two year siege.
  • 425 BCE
    Athenians capture Pylos. Spartan general Brasidas is injured in attempting to retake the city.
  • 425 BCE
    Athenian and Corinthian hoplites fight a street battle in the suburbs of Solygeia.
  • 425 BCE
    Pylos campaign, under Cleon and Demosthenes' command Athens defeats Sparta at Pylos.
  • 424 BCE
    The Athenian expeditions against Megara and Boeotia are a failure with a particularly heavy defeat near Delion.
  • 424 BCE
    Spartan Brasidas' campaign in Thrace.
  • 424 BCE
    Spartan general Brasidas takes Amphipolis, Thucydides failed to prevent this and is exiled.
  • 424 BCE
    A force of Athenian peltasts defeat Spartan hoplites on Sphaktria in the Peloponnese.
  • 422 BCE
    The Athenians, led by Cleon, try to retake Amphipolis but are defeated by Brasidas.
  • 422 BCE
    Spartan general Brasidas employs Myrkinian and Chalkidian peltasts to defeat a force of Athenian hoplites at Amphipolis.
  • 418 BCE
    Sparta, led by Agis II, defeats Argos and her allies at the battle of Mantinaea.
  • 415 BCE - 413 BCE
    Athenian expedition to attack Syracuse.
  • c. 415 BCE
    Alcibiades persuades the Athenian assembly to send a military expedition to Sicily.
  • 414 BCE
    Athens constructs fortifications at Sounion.
  • 413 BCE
    The Athenian expedition in Sicily ends in disastrous defeat and the Athenian generals Nicias and Demosthenes are executed.
  • 412 BCE
    The Spartan general Astyochus sacks Kos.
  • 412 BCE
    Sparta allies with Persia.
  • 410 BCE
    Alcibiades leads the Athenian fleet to victory over Sparta at Cyzicus.
  • 407 BCE
    Athenian general Alcibiades makes his naval base on Samos.
  • c. 407 BCE
    The Athenian fleet is defeated by Lysander of Sparta at Notium.
  • 406 BCE
    Agrigento is attacked and destroyed by Carthage.
  • 404 BCE
    End of the Peloponnesian war, Athens defeated By Sparta at Aigospotamoi, Rule of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens.
  • 397 BCE
    Dionysius I of Syracuse employs wheeled seige towers and bolt throwers for the first time in Greek warfare at the seige of Motya.
  • 396 BCE
    Spartan Agesilaus II's campaign into Ionia.
  • 395 BCE - 386 BCE
    The Corinthian Wars between Sparta and an alliance of Athens, Corinth, Argos, Boeotia and Thebes.
  • 395 BCE
    Spartan general Lysander is killed by Theban forces at the Battle of Hallartos.
  • 394 BCE
    Spartan king Agesilaus II defeats a Theban coalition at the battle of Coronea.
  • 390 BCE
    Athenian leader Iphikrates employs peltasts to defeat Spartan hoplites at Lechaion near Corinth.
  • 382 BCE - 379 BCE
    Sparta establishes a garrison at Thebes.
  • 378 BCE - 377 BCE
    Spartan king Agesilaus II campaigns in Boeotia.
  • 375 BCE
    Thebes defeats Sparta at the Battle of Tegyra.
  • 371 BCE
    Thebes, led by Epaminondas, defeats Sparta in the Battle of Leuctra.
  • 367 BCE
    Celtic mercenaries fight with the Spartans against Thebes.
  • 366 BCE
    Theban general Epaminondas builds a fleet to harass the Athenian Empire.
  • 364 BCE
    Macedonian general Perdiccas III successfully defends Amphipolis against Athenian attack.
  • 364 BCE
    Theban general Pelopidas is victorious but killed at the Battle of Kynoskephalai.
  • 362 BCE
    Indecisive Battle of Matinea where Thebes fought against Sparta and Athens. Theban general Epaminondas is killed.
  • 349 BCE
    Phocion leads an Athenian campaign in Euboea.
  • 340 BCE
    Phocion defeats Philip II of Macedon at Byzantium.
  • 338 BCE
    Philip of Macedonia defeats the Greek allied forces of Athens, Thebes and Corinth in the Battle of Chaironeia.
  • May 334 BCE
    Alexander the Great invades the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
  • 327 BCE
    The argyraspides, a special unit of hypaspist, is formed.
  • 284 BCE
    Lysimachus drives Pyrrhus out of Macedon.
  • 280 BCE - 275 BCE
    King Pyrrhus of Epirus wages the Pyrrhic War against the Romans in Italy, defence of Tarentum being the pretext.
  • Jul 280 BCE
    Pyrrhus defeats the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea.
  • 279 BCE
    Pyrrhus defeats the Romans at the Battle of Asculum.
  • 275 BCE
    The Romans defeat Pyrrhus of Epirus at the Battle of Maleventum.
  • 273 BCE
    Pyrrhus of Epirus attacks Macedon and Sparta.
  • 229 BCE
    Corcyra is captured by the Illyrians.
  • 225 BCE
    Macedonians bring an army across the Isthmus to face another Achaian force trying to take Corinth.
  • 205 BCE
    Philip V of Macedon take Samos.
  • 146 BCE
    Rome sacks Corinth and dissolves the Achaean league. Greece is ruled by Rome.
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