- 480 BC
__NOTOC__ Events
By place
Greece
* May — King Xerxes I of Persia marches from
Sardis and ontoThrace andMacedon ia.
* The Greek congress decides to send a force of 10,000 Greeks, including hoplites and cavalry, to theVale of Tempe , through which they believe the Persian army will pass. The force includesLacedaemon ians led by Euanetos and Athenians underThemistocles . Warned byAlexander I of Macedon that the vale can be bypassed elsewhere and that the army of Xerxes is overwhelming, the Greeks decide not to try to hold there and vacate the vale.
*August 11 — TheBattle of Thermopylae ends in victory for the Persians under Xerxes. His army engulfs a force of 300Sparta ns and 700Thespiae under theSparta n King,Leonidas I . The Greeks under Leonidas resist the advance throughThermopylae of Xerxes' vast army. For two days Leonidas and his troops withstand the Persian attacks; he then orders most of his troops to retreat, and he and his 300-member royal guard fight to the last man.
* A member of the Agiad royal family, and the son of King Cleombrotus and nephew of King Leonidas, Pausanias becomes regent for Leonidas' son,Pleistarchus , afterLeonidas I is killed atThermopylae .
*Phocis and the coasts ofEuboea are devastated by the Persians. Thebes and most ofBoeotia join Xerxes.
* KingAlexander 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 Greekcolony ofPydna and advances his frontiers eastward to the Strymon, taking inCrestonia andBisaltia , along with the rich silver deposits of Mount Dysorus.
* The Atheniansoldier andstatesman ,Aristides , as well as the former Athenianarchon Xanthippus , return from banishment inAegina to serve underThemistocles against the Persians.
* August — The Persians achieve a naval victory over theGreeks in an engagement fought nearArtemisium , a promontory on the north coast ofEuboea . The Greek fleet holds its own against the Persians in three days of fighting but withdraws southward when news comes of the defeat atThermopylae .
* Breaking through the pass atThermopylae fromMacedon ia into Greece, the Persians occupyAttica .
*September 21 — The Persians sackAthens , whose citizens flee to Salamis and the Peloponnesus.
*September 28 — TheBattle of Salamis brings victory to the Greeks, whose Athenian generalThemistocles lures the Persians into the Bay of Salamis, between the Athenian port-city ofPiraeus and the island of Salamis. The Greektrireme s then attack furiously, ramming or sinking many Persian vessels and boarding others. TheGreeks sink about 200 Persian vessels while losing only about 40 of their own. The rest of the Persian fleet is scattered, and as a result Xerxes has to postpone his planned land offensives for a year, a delay that gives the Greek city-states time to unite against him.
* An eclipse of the sun discourages the Greek army from following up the victory of Salamis. Xerxes returns to Persia leaving behind an army underMardonius , which winters inThessaly .Roman Republic
* Roman troops march against the Veintes.
Sicily
* Xerxes encourages the Carthaginians to attack the Greeks in Sicily. Under the Carthaginian military leader,
Hamilcar ,Carthage sends across a large army.
* The Greek city ofHimera inSicily , in its quarrel with Acragas, enlists Carthaginian support. With the help ofGelo , thetyrant of Syracuse, and Theron of Acragas, the Carthaginians are defeated in the Battle of Himera. After the defeat, Hamilcar kills himself.Persian empire
*The Imperial treasury at the
Persepolis Palace is completed after a building time of thirty years.By topic
Arts
* The archaic period of
sculpture ends in Greece and is succeeded by the Severe (Early Classical) period (approximate date).
* A sculpture of a "Dying warrior" is made in the left corner of the east pediment of theTemple of Aphaea inAegina (approximate date). Today, it is preserved at the "Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek" inMunich ,Germany .
* The sculpture of a "Kritian boy " is made onAcropolis ,Athens (approximate date). It is now preserved in theAcropolis Museum inAthens .Births
*
Euripides , Greekplaywright (d.406 BC )
* Antiphon, Attic orator (d.411 BC )
*Philolaus , Greek mathematician and philosopher (d. c.405 BC )Deaths
*
August 11 —Leonidas I , Agiad King of Sparta (died atThermopylae )
*Xenophanes , Greek philosopher (b. 570 BC)
*Hamilcar , Carthaginian general (suicide after his defeat in the Battle of Himera)
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