BC490-471 Darius and Xerxes of Persia

In the twenty years from 490-471 BC Darius I of Persia (pictured) had been previously defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon in 491 BC by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades.

Darius I died in 486 BC and was succeeded by his son, Xerxes.

Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea.

The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. Athens had enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League, to fight the Persians. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.

By 480 BC, Gelo, the tyrant of Greek Syracuse, backed by support from other Greek city-states, was attempting to unite the island under his rule. This threat could not be ignored, and Carthage in alliance with Persia, declared war on Greece.

Carthage fielded its largest military force under the leadership of general Hamilcar. En route to Sicily, Hamilcar suffered losses due to poor weather. Landing at Panormus (Palermo), he was then defeated by Gelo at the Battle of Himera and died. This loss severely weakened Carthage, and the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic.

BC350-331 King Philip II of Macedon

In the twenty years from 350-331 BC, King Philip II of Macedon (pictured) controlled everything north of Thermopylae.

The Kingdom of Macedon played little part in Greek politics before King Philip II ruled. He was an ambitious man who had been educated in Thebes and wanted to be accepted as the new leader of Greece.

Philip II of Macedon first established Macedonian dominance over Thessaly and Thrace, and gained his first opportunity to be drawn into Greek affairs when the Thebans appealed to him for help against the Phocians in 346 BC.

His intervention in the war between Thebes and Phocis brought him great recognition, and he created a 'Macedonian party' in every Greek city by using his great wealth to bribe Greek politicians.

The Athenian leader, Demosthenes, roused the Athenians to resist him and in 339 BC Thebes and Athens formed an alliance to resist Philip's growing influence.

They were defeated by Philip II of Macedon at Chaeronea in 338 BC. He tried to win over the Athenians after their defeat, but his efforts met with limited success.

He organized the cities into the League of Corinth, and announced that he would lead an invasion of Persia to liberate the Greek cities and avenge the Persian invasions of the previous century. Before he could do so, he was assassinated in 336 BC.

Philip was succeeded by his 20-year-old son, Alexander, who immediately set out to complete his father's plans. He wanted to bring back Athens back to glory by destroying the Persian King.

He travelled to Corinth where the assembled Greek cities recognized him as leader of the Greeks, then assembled his forces from all over Greece. The core of his army, though, was his hardy Macedonian mountain-fighters. While Alexander was campaigning in Thrace, he heard that the Greek cities had rebelled. He captured Thebes, razed the city to the ground, leaving only one building standing, the house of Pindar, a poet who had written in favour of his ancestors.

In 334 BC Alexander crossed into Asia, and defeated the Persians at the river Granicus. He settled affairs in Anatolia, then advanced south through Cilicia into Syria, defeated Darius III at Issus in 333 BC. He then advanced through Phoenicia to Egypt, which he captured with little resistance, the Egyptians welcoming him as a liberator from Persian oppression, and the prophesied son of Amun.

Darius was now ready to make peace and Alexander could have returned home in triumph, but he was determined to conquer Persia and make himself the ruler of the world. He advanced through Syria and Mesopotamia, and defeated Darius again at Gaugamela in 331 BC. Darius fled and was killed by his own followers, and Alexander found himself the master of the Persian Empire, occupying Susa and Persepolis without resistance.

Alexander's empire included Israel, but he did not attack Jerusalem directly. A delegation of Jews met him and assured him of their loyalty by showing him certain prophecies contained in their writings -- similar to the Egyptian's prophesied son of Amun.

While Alexander the Great was compaigning, the Greek cities were making renewed efforts to escape from Macedonian control. At Megalopolis in 331 BC, Alexander's regent Antipater defeated the Spartans, who had refused to join the Corinthian League or recognize Macedonian supremacy.

In Italy, Rome's allies -- part of a Latin alliance with Rome in control -- were also demanding their independence but Rome refused.

In 340 BC the Latin cities rose up against Rome and were defeated within two years. In 338 BC Rome dismantled the Latin League and took control of the lands of its former allies.

In 350 BC the Temple of Artemis (Diana) was built at Ephesus, Turkey.