My Cultural Timeline of the World continues:
749 – 350 BC
612 BC — Fall of Assyria
586 BC — Destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians
563 BC — Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) is born
551 BC — Confucius is born
550 BC — Cyrus the Great founds the Persian Empire
549 BC — Construction begins on the Temple of Olympian Zeus*, in Athens, Greece. The Romans referred to the temple as the largest in Greece. This and many other major tourist attractions have been incorporated into Gary’s Walking Tour of Athens, available for sale on the website for just $1.49. *= UNESCO World Heritage Site
Temple of Olympian Zeus
539 BC — Fall of Babylon & liberation of the Jews by Cyrus
508 BC — Democracy begins in Athens. Solon laid the groundwork for democracy by establishing a comprehensive code of law. Cleisthenes and Pericles instituted the ideas of freedom and equality as Athenian government became “democratic.”
490 BC — Battle of Marathon (Greece defeats Persia)
483 BC — Death of Buddha
480 BC — Xerxes (ruler of Persia) invades Greece at the Battles of Thermopylae & Salamis
479 BC — Death of Confucius
470 BC — Socrates is born
458 BC — The Oresteia, by Aeschylus is performed
432 BC — The Parthenon* is completed. The building was erected on the Acropolis by Phidias and dedicated to Athena, patron goddess of Athens.
The Parthenon
It housed a huge statue of Athena which was considered one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” It is often considered the most perfect building ever constructed and is the finest example of Classical Greek architecture. It survived a fire in the middle of the 3rd Century and then was partially blown up while being used as a gunpowder magazine in 1656. This and many other major tourist attractions have been incorporated into Gary’s Walking Tour of Jerusalem, available for sale on the website for just $1.49. *= UNESCO World Heritage Site
431 BC — Beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars, struggles for supremacy among the Greek City-States.
429 BC — Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, is performed
427 BC — Plato is born
404 BC — End of the Peloponnesian Wars. Athens emerged victorious.
399 BC — Death of Socrates
384 BC — Aristotle is born
