Western Civilization I / Unit 3 WC1 0230 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds

Sequencing Greece and Persia, 776 to 371 BCE

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The idea

The exam asks for the order of four or five events across this unit, and the trap is that Greek and Persian events interleave. The method is to build the Persian spine first, then hang Greek events on it. The spine: Cyrus five fifty, Babylon five thirty-nine, Darius five twenty-two, Marathon four ninety, Xerxes four eighty, Plataea four seventy-nine.

In practice

Now hang the Greek events. The Olympics begin in seven seventy-six, before any Persian date. Solon's reforms about five ninety-four fall before Cyrus. Cleisthenes in five oh eight falls after Darius's accession and before Marathon. The Ionian Revolt in four ninety-nine sits between Cleisthenes and Marathon. The Delian League forms after four seventy-nine; the Peloponnesian War runs four thirty-one to four oh four; Leuctra in three seventy-one comes last. Read the merged line: Olympics, Solon, Cyrus, Babylon, Cleisthenes, Ionian Revolt, Marathon, Xerxes, Plataea, Delian League, Peloponnesian War, Leuctra.

Where people slip

Two pairs are close enough to test. Cleisthenes comes after Darius's accession, not before, and the Ionian Revolt comes before Marathon, because the revolt caused the invasion. If a question puts Athens's democracy before Persia's empire, it is wrong: Cyrus preceded Cleisthenes by forty years.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

Builds on

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