Editing Classical antiquity (section)

===Classical Greece (5th to 4th centuries&nbsp;BC)===
{{Main|Classical Greece}}
[[File:Map athenian empire 431 BC-en.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Delian League ("Athenian Empire"), just before the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 431&nbsp;BC.]]

The classical period of ancient Greece corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries&nbsp;BC, in particular, from the end of the [[tyrant#Athens|Athenian tyranny]] in 510&nbsp;BC to the [[death of Alexander the Great]] in 323&nbsp;BC. In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant [[Hippias (son of Pisistratus)|Hippias]], son of [[Peisistratos (Athens)|Peisistratos]]. [[Cleomenes&nbsp;I]], king of Sparta, established a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by [[Isagoras]].

The [[Greco-Persian Wars]] (499–449&nbsp;BC), concluded by the [[Peace of Callias]] ended with not only the liberation of Greece, [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]], [[Thrace]], and [[Ionia]] from [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian rule]], but also with the dominance of [[Athens]] in the [[Delian League]], which resulted in conflict with [[Sparta]] and the [[Peloponnesian League]], resulting in the [[Peloponnesian War]] (431–404&nbsp;BC), ending with a Spartan victory.

Greece began the 4th century with [[Spartan hegemony]], but by 395 BC the Spartan rulers dismissed [[Lysander]] from office, and Sparta lost its naval supremacy. [[Athens]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Corinth]], the latter two of which were formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the [[Corinthian War]], which ended inconclusively in 387&nbsp;BC. Later, in 371&nbsp;BC, the Theban generals [[Epaminondas]] and [[Pelopidas]] won a victory at the [[Battle of Leuctra]]. The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of [[Theban hegemony]]. Thebes sought to maintain its dominance until it was finally ended by the increasing power of [[Macedon]] in 346 BC.

During the reign of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip&nbsp;II]], (359–336&nbsp;BC), Macedon expanded into the territory of the [[Paeonians]], the [[Thracians]] and the [[Illyrians]]. Philip's son, [[Alexander the Great]], (356–323&nbsp;BC) managed to briefly extend [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]]n power not only over the central Greek city-states but also to the [[Persian Empire]], including [[Egypt]] and lands as far east as the fringes of [[India]]. The classical Greek period conventionally ends at the death of Alexander in 323&nbsp;BC and the fragmentation of his empire, which was at this time divided among the [[Diadochi]].