=527.= Hippias and Hipparchus succeed their father, Pisistratus, at Athens, in the government of that city.

=525 (527).= Conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, King of Persia.  He completely subdued it, and, after an attempted rising, crushed Egypt with merciless severity.  Cambyses treated the Egyptian deities, priests, and temples with insult and contempt.

AEschylus, Greek tragic poet, born.

=522.= Pseudo-Smerdis usurps the Persian throne.  Cambyses had slain his brother Bardes, whom Herodotus calls Smerdis.  A Magian, Gaumata by name, resembling Bardes in appearance, impersonated the murdered prince.  A revolution ensued and, owing to the death of Cambyses by his own hand, Pseudo-Smerdis became master of the empire.

=521.= Darius I, by defeating Pseudo-Smerdis, who had reigned eight months, ascends the Persian throne.

=521-516.= The Temple at Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuilt.

=520.= [C] Birth of Pindar, the chief lyric poet of Greece.  He was in the prime of life when Salamis and Thermopylae were fought.  His poems have as groundwork the legends which form the Grecian religious literature.

=516.= [C] Invasion of Scythia by Darius, King of Persia, who seems to have acted according to an oriental idea of right, in that he claimed to punish the Scythians for an invasion of Media at some previous time.

=514.= Hipparchus, of Athens, assassinated by Harmodius and Aristogiton.

=514.= [C] Birth of Themistocles, a famous Athenian commander and statesman.  He was largely instrumental in increasing the navy; induced the Athenians to leave Athens for Salamis and the fleet, and brought about the victory of Salamis.

=510.= Hippias expelled from Athens.  The democratic party is headed by Clisthenes, the master-spirit of the revolution inaugurated for the overthrow of the despotic and hated sons of Pisistratus.  The Athenian democracy was reorganized by Clisthenes.

=510.= The Crotonians destroy Sybaris.  Croton and Sybaris were two ancient Greek cities situated on the Gulf of Tarentum, Southern Italy.  Little is known of them except their luxury, fantastic self-indulgence, and extravagant indolence, for which qualities their names remain a synonyme.

=510.= Expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome.  Founding of the Republic; consulship instituted.  See “ROME ESTABLISHED AS A REPUBLIC,” i, 300.

=506.= [C] The Persians subject Macedonia, and extend their dominion over Thrace.  The Thracians occupied the region between the rivers Strymon and Danube.  They were more Asiatic than European in character and religion.

[C] Date uncertain.

=500 [D] (501, 502).= Rising of the Greek colonies in Ionia against the Persians.  Harpagus, who had saved Cyrus in his infancy from his grandfather, while governor of Lydia reduced the cities of the coast.  Town after town submitted.  The Tieans abandoned theirs, retiring to Abdera in Thrace; the Phocians, after settling in Corsica, whence they were driven by the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, went to Italy and later founded Massalia (Marseilles) on the coast of Gaul.  Thus the Greek colonies became a portion of the Persian empire.  The insurrection of the Ionians continued for six years, the fate of the revolt turning at last on the siege of Miletus.