BC470-451 Pericles and Ephialtes of Athens

In the twenty years from 470-451 BC Pericles (pictured) and Ephialtes led Athens at the time of the war between Athens and Sparta in 458 BC.

After the Greek victory at the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the Persians were no longer a threat and the other Greek states were no longer willing to submit to Athenian leadership. Naxos tried to secede from the Delian League, but was forced to submit.

After the fall of the conservative politician Cimon in 461 BC, the new Athenian leaders, Pericles and Ephialtes, clashed with Sparta and in 458 BC war broke out.

The war was inconclusive but did lead to a truce lasting 30 years between the Delian League (led by Athens) and the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) which enabled the Greeks to fight another battle with the Persians -- a sea battle off Salamis in Cyprus.

290-309 Diocletian Splits Empire into West & East

In this 20 year period  the Roman Emperor Diocletian (pictured) appointed Maximian as co-emperor, but the threats from all parts of the empire were such that in 293 he appointed the Germans Constantius (married to Maximian's daughter) to rule the west and Galerius (married to Diocletian's daughter) to rule the east - though the boundaries were fluid, each man helping the other.

In 293 the Persian throne had been seized by a new king who drove the Romans out of Armenia - Galerius in 298 defeated the Persians and wanted to advance further, but Diocletian checked him, negotiating a stronger Roman position with the Persians, giving the Romans full control of Armenia and northern Mesopotamia.

By late 290s, peace restored to the Empire, enabling Diocletian to pay attention to administrative affairs - particularly the murder of emperors by soldiers. He proclaimed that emperors were ordained by the gods to rules, and introduced an elaborate ceremonial intended to mark the emperor as being superior to normal human beings, requiring prostration before the emperor by commoners and kneeling and kissing the hem of the robe by higher ranks. He also created rules for imperial appearances whereby emperors were not allowed to act like normal human beings.

He also reformed the structure of provincial government, by increasing the number of provinces by dividing them into smaller units, and then each province into twelve dioceses. He also stripped the governors of command over the armies. He also initiated a capitation system of taxation, requiring regular censuses (which later lea to extensive legislation prohibiting peasants from leaving the land under which they had been entered into the census).

Then he attempted a policy of social uniformity by imposing upon everyone the observance of Roman traditions. Hence the Great Persecution of the Christians.

He outlawed marriage with close female relatives (a Roman custom that had not been applied to non-Romans); and banned the Manichaean religion (founded in 240 by Mani, a resident of Persian controlled Mesopotamia, inspired by Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism, by which believers gained salvation through him - very similar to Christianity).

Starting with his own household, he threatened to dismiss anyone who refused to act like a Roman, and in 303 prohibited Christian religious assemblies, demolished churches and burnt liturgical books, arresting church leaders who refused to act like a Roman. These measures were pursued with determination in the east, especially Africa, but less so in the west where few Christians.

In 303 Diocletian abdicated - persuading Maximian to do likewise - giving power to Constantius in the west and Galerius in the east who appointed their own co-rulers.

Galerius appointed his nephew Maximinus as co-ruler, and urged Constantius to appoint Severus, a general, as his co-ruler in the west, but within a year, in 306, Constantius died, precipitating his son, Constantine, to pronounce himself Emperor of the West, but acting as senior emperor Galerius coerced him to be Severus' co-ruler and so Severus became Emperor of the West.

Constantine acquiesced for the moment and distinguished himself by establishing his authority over Britain, Gaul and Spain and in his new capacity as co-ruler rescinded his father's edicts against the Christians and became their savior.

Meanwhile Maximian's son, Maxentius, followed Constantine's lead and took advantage of dissent in Rome to have himself declared as Emperor in 306.

Galerius refused him recognition and ordered Severus to remove him by force, but faced with Maximian suddenly re-claiming the emperorship from his son, Maxentius, Severus was forced to abdicate and was eventually killed.

Galerius finally invaded Italy in 307, wanting the re-instatement of Severus, but was defeated and had to withdraw.

Then Maxentius argued with his father about who was the rightful emperor.

In the meantime, Constantine remained neutral as the co-ruler of the west - despite the fact that he had married Maxentius' sister and was therefore involved in the family struggle whether he liked it or not.

When the army sided with Maxentius, Maximian fled to Constantine's court in the west.

610-629 Mohammed and a New Moslem Era

This twenty year period covers the year that Heraclius became Eastern Emperor (610-641) and the flight of Mohammed to Medina in 622 heralding a new Moslem era.

Boniface IV was pope in Rome until 614 and lived the life of a monk, as did his successors.

Emperor Heraclius spent 20 years fighting the Persians and repelling invaders, and in 628 he retrieved the true relic of the cross from the Persians, restoring it to Jerusalem.

Like Jesus in his own time, Mohammed did not make anyone in power look at him as a possible rival. He was just one of hundreds of disgruntled men from relatively wealthy families who wanted a part of the action.

And the former Roman provinces, under the control of Christian bishops embroiled in one theological argument after another -- were easy pickings. 

570-589 Slavs Invade Balkans, Persians Capture Syria

In this 20 year period, King Alboin of the Lombards (pictured) was murdered in 572 by his wife, the Gepid princess, Rosamund.

In the 580s, the eastern empire with the Franks as allies mounted a counter-offensive against Lombards in Italy, but a far greater danger was the advance of the Indo-European Slavs.

The Indo-European Slavs had invaded the Balkans from the North and, like the Germans and Celts before them, they emerged from the western region of Russia and the Ukraine, pushing to the South and North the previous occupants of eastern Europe.

Within fifty years, the Slavs deluged the Balkans, driving Latin speakers into the mountains.

Around this time, too, the Eastern Empire and the Persians were engaged in a monumental struggle. The Persians captured Syria, Palestine and Egypt.

And, another ecclesiastical curse -- the cult of Arianism, popular among the Germanic people -- was finally wiped out.