Key events in Socrates Lifetime

480bc Anaxagoras arrives in Athens-invited to set up a "school"

479bc Xerxes , king of Persia, defeated at Plataea

472    Aeschylus’ drama the Persians performed at pericles request

470    SOCRATES is born of Antiochid tribe, ward of Alopece

454   Aeschylus ‘ Orestes trilogy performed

450   Anaxagoras leaves Athens, fearing punishment, Archelaus succeeds him

445   Athens enjoys a "30 years peace" with Sparta

433   Chaerephon consults the Oracle on Delphos-
         He asks "who is the wisest" is told: "There is no one wiser than Socrates"

432   Peloponesian war breaks out again

431   Pericles Funeral oration given in Thucydides History

431-430Battle of Potidaea- Socrates and Alcibiades participate

424   Socrates serves as a "hoplite" at Delium

423   Aristophanes play the Clouds is performed

422   Socrates serves as a hoplite at the battle of Amphipolis

421   nominal peace of Nicias which lasts for 2 to 3 years

416-415? Agathon wins firdt drama proze and feast is held afterwards- the SYMPOSIUM

       Alcibiades is disgraced in a "religious scandal"

       Alcibiades flees Athens and works for the Spartans

       Euripedes play the Trojan Woman is performed

413   Athens enters into warfare in Sicily against Syracuse
        Coupd’etat in Athens- "Oligarchy of the 400" takes control
        Aristophanes play Lysistrata is performed

407   Alcibiades is recalled to Athens only to leave shortly thereafter in disgrace again

406   Trial of the ten Athenian generals en bloc for negligence at the battle of Arginisai
        Socrates is head of the panel of Judges and is sole dissenter – grants separate trials
        Sophocles and Euripedes die

404/3 Athens capitulates to Sparta

        The brutal Spartan commander, Lysander, appoints a Commission of Thirty

        To rule Athens. They become the Terror, the "Tyranny of the Thirty"
        There is a violent oligarchical revolution.
        Socrates dissents in the arrest of Leon of Salamis by the order of Critias and the Thirty.
         Meletus is in the group that carries out the arrest order.

403   Order is restored by a group that institutes a Democracy
 

        Anytus, Meletus and Lycon lead the party and movement.

        Amnesty is declared. The laws are revised and codified.
        Meletus prosecutes the poet Andocides for "impiety" –Anytus defends him.
        Meletus accuses Socrates of "impiety" and "corrupting the young"