Classical Greece - 5th Century BC

5th Century BC

From the perspective of Athenian culture in Classical Greece, the period generally referred to as the 5th century BC encroaches slightly on the 4th century BC. This century is essentially studied from the Athenian outlook because Athens has left us more narratives, plays, and other written works than the other ancient Greek states. In this context, one might consider that the first significant event of this century occurs in 510 BC, with the fall of the Athenian tyrant and Cleisthenes' reforms. However, a broader view of the whole Greek world might place its beginning at the Ionian revolt of 500 BC, the event that provoked the Persian invasion of 492 BC. The Persians (called "Medes") were finally defeated in 490 BC. A second Persian attempt failed in 481-479 BC. The Delian League then formed, under Athenian hegemony and as Athens' instrument. Athens' excesses caused several revolts among the allied cities, all of which were put down by force, but Athenian dynamism finally awoke Sparta and brought about the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. After both forces were spent, a brief peace came about; then the war resumed to Sparta's advantage. Athens was definitively defeated in 404 BC, and internal Athenian agitations mark the end of the 5th century BC in Greece.

Since the beginning, Sparta had been ruled by a "diarchy." This meant that Sparta had two kings serving concurrently throughout its entire history. The two kingships were both hereditary and were either from the Agiad dynasty or the Eurypontid dynasty. Allegedly, the hereditary lines of these two dynasties spring, respectively, from Eurysthenes and Procles, twin descendants of Hercules. Eurysthenes and Procles were said to have conquered Sparta two generations after the Trojan War.