| c.558 |
Cyrus becomes king of Anshan. |
| 550/549 |
Cyrus defeats Astyages, king of Medes, and takes Ecbatana. |
| 547/546 |
Cyrus defeats Croesus, king of Lydia, and captures Sardis. |
| 539 |
Cyrus conquers Babylon. |
| 530 |
Cyrus is killed fighting the Massagetae and buried at Pasargadae. Cambyses becomes king. |
| 525 |
Cambyses conquers Egypt |
| 522 |
Death of Cambyses. Confusion in Persian empire |
| 521 |
Cambyses' successor (whether his brother Bardiya/Smerdis or an impostor) is killed by a conspiracy of seven Persian nobles. One of them, Darius, becomes king. |
| 521-519 |
Darius crushes rebels throughout Persian empire. He commemorates his achievements in an inscription on a cliff at Bisitun. |
| c 519 - 510 |
Campaigns of Darius in east (conquest in India) and west (failure against Scythians, success in Macedonia and Thrace). |
| 508 |
Expulsion of the tyrants at Athens, and beginning of democratic government. |
| 500 - 494 |
Ionian revolt against Persian rule eventually crushed. |
| 490 |
Battle of Marathon. |
| 486 |
Death of Darius. He is succeeded by his son Xerxes. |
| 485 |
Rebellion against Persians in Egypt is put down. |
| 481 |
Rebellion in Babylonia crushed. |
| 480 |
Xerxes' army invades Greece. Conquest of Macedonia and Thessaly. Victory at Thermopylae. Defeat at sea in Battle of Salamis. |
| 479 |
Athens sacked and burnt. Persians defeated on land at Plataea, and by sea at Mykale. |
| 465 |
Xerxes and Darius, his heir, are both murdered. His younger son becomes king Artaxerxes I. |
| 466 (?) |
Battle of Eurymedon. Delian League under Cimon defeats Persians |
| 461 -456(?) |
Rebellion of Egypt eventually crushed despite Athenian help. |
| 431 - 404 |
Peloponnesian War beween Athens and Sparta. |
| 423 |
Death of Artaxerxes I. Succeeded by Darius II. |
| 404 |
Athens loses war, due to Persian help for Sparta. Darius II succeeded by Artaxerxes II. |
| 401 |
Battle of Cunaxa near Babylon. Cyrus fails to replace his brother Artaxexes II, despite help from 10,000 Greek mercenaries. |
| 387/6 |
The King's Peace returns Ionia to Persian control. |
| 359 - 338 |
Reign of Artaxerxes III. Reconquest of Egypt. Unrest in Persian empire ends. |
| 356 |
After brief reign of Artxerxes III's son Arses, his grandson Darius III becomes the last Achaemenid king. |
