Ancient Greece

Definition

Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, known in Greek as Hellas or Ellada, and consisting of a mainland and an archipelago of islands. Ancient Greece is the birthplace of Western philosophy (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), literature (Homer and Hesiod), mathematics (Pythagoras and Euclid), history (Herodotus), drama (Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes), the Olympic Games, and democracy.

More about: Ancient Greece

Timeline

  • c. 6000 BCE - 2900 BCE
    Neolithic Age settlements in Greece, beginning of agriculture.
  • c. 3200 BCE - 1100 BCE
    The Cycladic Civilization in Greece.
  • 2300 BCE
    Bronze is used in the Aegean.
  • 2200 BCE - 1500 BCE
    The Minoan Civilization flourishes on Crete, Greece. King Minos establishes the first navy in the region.
  • 2000 BCE - 1450 BCE
    Minoan civilization in Crete and the Aegean.
  • 2000 BCE
    Early Greeks settle the Peloponnese.
  • 1900 BCE - 1100 BCE
    Mycenaean civilization in Greece and the Aegean.
  • 1650 BCE - 1550 BCE
    Eruption of Thera and consequent tidal waves, destruction of Akrotiri and other Aegean centres.
  • c. 1100 BCE
    Greeks implement use of individual tombs and graves.
  • 1100 BCE
    Dorian peoples occupy Greece.
  • c. 1000 BCE
    The first distinctive Greek pottery is produced, the Proto-geometric style.
  • c. 900 BCE
    Sparta is founded.
  • c. 900 BCE
    The Geometric style of Greek pottery is first produced.
  • c. 800 BCE - c. 700 BCE
    Homer of Greece writes his Iliad and Odyssey.
  • 800 BCE - 500 BCE
    Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
  • c. 800 BCE - 500 BCE
    Archaic period of Greece.
  • c. 740 BCE - c. 433 BCE
    Greek poleis or city-states establish colonies in Magna Graecia.
  • 733 BCE
    Corinth founds the colony of Syracuse in Sicily.
  • 683 BCE - 682 BCE
    List of annual archons at Athens begins.
  • c. 660 BCE
    Pheidon is tyrant in Argos.
  • c. 657 BCE - 585 BCE
    The Kypselidai are tyrants of Corinth.
  • c. 650 BCE
    Sparta crushes Messenian revolt.
  • 650 BCE - 600 BCE
    Age of law-givers in Greece.
  • 650 BCE
    Earliest large scale Greek marble sculpture.
  • c. 625 BCE
    Black-figure pottery created in Corinth.
  • c. 625 BCE - 600 BCE
    The orientalizing style of Greek pottery becomes popular in Corinth.
  • 594 BCE - 593 BCE
    In Athens the archon Solon lays the foundations for democracy.
  • 580 BCE - 376 BCE
    Carthage and Greece fight for dominance in Sicily.
  • c. 560 BCE
    Pisistratos becomes tyrant in Athens for the first time.
  • c. 550 BCE - c. 366 BCE
    Peloponnesian League alliance between Sparta, Corinth, Elis and Tegea which establishes Spartan hegemony over the Peloponnese.
  • 546 BCE - 545 BCE
    Persian conquest of Ionian Greek city-states.
  • 539 BCE
    Etruscan & Carthaginian alliance expels the Greeks from Corsica.
  • 535 BCE - 522 BCE
    Polycrates rules as tyrant of Samos.
  • 530 BCE
    The Andokides Painter invents red-figure pottery.
  • c. 530 BCE
    Red-figure pottery style takes precedent over black-figure.
  • c. 525 BCE - c. 456 BCE
    Life of Greek tragedy poet Aeschylus.
  • 522 BCE
    Darius I (Darius the Great) succeeds to the throne of Persia after the death of Cambyses II.
  • 514 BCE
    Fall of the Peisistratid tyranny in Athens.
  • 514 BCE
    The tyrant of Athens Hipparchos is killed by Harmodios and Aristogeiton - the 'tyrannicides'.
  • c. 508 BCE
    Reforms by Cleisthenes establishes democracy in Athens.
  • 499 BCE - 493 BCE
    Ionian cities rebel against Persian rule.
  • c. 498 BCE
    Ionians and Greek allies invade and burn Sardis (capital of Lydia).
  • c. 497 BCE - c. 454 BCE
    Alexander I reigns as king of Macedon.
  • c. 495 BCE
    Birth of Pericles.
  • 492 BCE
    Darius I of Persia invades Greece.
  • 11 Sep 490 BCE
    A combined force of Greek hoplites defeat the Persians at Marathon.
  • 487 BCE - 486 BCE
    Archons begin to be appointed by lot in Athens.
  • 486 BCE
    Xerxes succeeds to the throne of Persia after the death of Darius I.
  • c. 484 BCE - 407 BCE
    Life of Greek tragedy poet Euripides.
  • c. 483 BCE
    Themistocles persuades the Athenians to significantly expand their fleet, which saves them at Salamis and becomes their source of power.
  • 480 BCE - 323 BCE
    The Classical Period in Greece.
  • Jul 480 BCE
    Xerxes I makes extensive preparations to invade mainland Greece by building depots, canals and a boat bridge across the Hellespont.
  • Aug 480 BCE
    The indecisive battle of Artemision between the Greek and Persian fleets of Xerxes I. The Greeks withdraw to Salamis.
  • Aug 480 BCE
    Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and other Greek allies hold back the Persians led by Xerxes I for three days but are defeated.
  • Sep 480 BCE
    Battle of Salamis where the Greek naval fleet led by Themistocles defeats the invading armada of Xerxes I of Persia.
  • 479 BCE - 432 CE
    The period of Thucydides' Pentecontaetia in ancient Greece.
  • 479 BCE
    Xerxes' Persian forces are defeated by Greek forces at Plataea effectively ending Persia's imperial ambitions in Greece.
  • 478 BCE - 404 BCE
    The Delian League in Greece, led by Athens.
  • 478 BCE
    Sparta withdraws from alliance against Persia.
  • c. 469 BCE - 399 BCE
    Life of Socrates.
  • c. 462 BCE - 458 BCE
    Pericles introduces democratic institutions in Athens.
  • c. 460 BCE - c. 380 BCE
    Life of Greek comic poet Aristophanes.
  • c. 460 BCE - c. 320 CE
    Period of full and direct citizen democracy in Athens.
  • 460 BCE - 445 BCE
    First Peloponnesian War.
  • 457 BCE
    Hegemony of Athens over central Greece.
  • 451 BCE
    Thirty years peace between Argos and Sparta.
  • c. 451 BCE - c. 403 CE
    Life of Athenian statesman and general Alcibiades.
  • 449 BCE - 448 BCE
    Peace between Greece and Persia.
  • c. 449 BCE
    Peace is agreed on by Athens and Persia, sometimes referred to as the Peace of Callias.
  • c. 449 BCE
    Ionian cities become independent from Persia under the Peace of Callias.
  • 447 BCE - 432 BCE
    The construction of the Parthenon in Athens by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates under the direction of Phidias.
  • 446 BCE - 445 BCE
    Thirty years peace between Athens and Peloponnesians.
  • 431 BCE - 404 BCE
    The 2nd Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League) which involved all of Greece.
  • c. 430 BCE - 415 BCE
    The Histories of Herodotus is published. The work is divided into nine chapters, each dedicated to one of the Muses.
  • 427 BCE - 347 BCE
    Life of Plato.
  • 421 BCE
    Peace of Nicias, a truce between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues.
  • 420 BCE
    Democritos develops an atomic theory of matter.
  • 412 BCE
    Sparta allies with Persia.
  • 404 BCE
    End of the Peloponnesian war, Athens defeated By Sparta at Aigospotamoi, Rule of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens.
  • 400 BCE
    Pepper is known in Greece.
  • 400 BCE - 330 BCE
    The Late Classical Period in Greece.
  • 399 BCE
    Trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, who taught in the court of the Agora.
  • c. 398 BCE - c. 380 BCE
    Plato travels in Egypt, Cyrene, Italy, Syracuse and Sicily.
  • 395 BCE - 386 BCE
    The Corinthian Wars between Sparta and an alliance of Athens, Corinth, Argos, Boeotia and Thebes.
  • 384 BCE - 322 BCE
    Life of Aristotle.
  • c. 384 BCE - 322 CE
    Life of Athenian statesman Demosthenes.
  • 380 BCE
    Plato founds his Academy outside of Athens.
  • 371 BCE
    Thebes, led by Epaminondas, defeats Sparta in the Battle of Leuctra.
  • 371 BCE - 362 BCE
    Thebes is the dominant city-state in Greece.
  • 359 BCE - 336 BCE
    Reign of Philip II of Macedon.
  • 356 BCE
    Third Social War in Greece.
  • 21 Jul 356 BCE - 11 Jun 323 BCE
    Life of Alexander the Great.
  • 350 BCE
    The Scythians have absorbed a lot of Greek culture; Scythian artefacts show Greek-style depictions.
  • 347 BCE
    Plato dies at his Academy.
  • 343 BCE
    King Philip II of Macedon summons Aristotle to tutor his young son Alexander (later 'The Great').
  • 336 BCE - 323 BCE
    Reign of Alexander the Great.
  • May 334 BCE
    Alexander the Great invades the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
  • 331 BCE
    Egypt is conquered by Alexander the Great without resistance.
  • 323 BCE - 31 BCE
    Hellenistic civilization in Greece, the Mediterranean and Asia.
  • 323 BCE - 31 BCE
    The Hellenistic Age. Greek thought and culture infuses with indigenous people.
  • 320 BCE
    Last recorded examples of Attic Red-Figure Pottery.
  • 310 BCE
    Assassination of Roxanne and Alexander IV, wife and son of Alexander the Great.
  • c. 280 BCE
    Founding of the Achaean League in the Peloponnese of Greece.
  • c. 270 BCE
    Aristarchus of Samos proposes a heliocentric world view.
  • 168 BCE
    Rome defeats Macedon at Battle of Pydna.
  • 146 BCE
    Rome sacks Corinth and dissolves the Achaean league. Greece is ruled by Rome.
  • 146 BCE
    Roman influence over Greece begins to rise.
  • 140 BCE
    Venus of Milo is completed.
  • 88 BCE - 63 BCE
    Mithridates of Pontus fights three wars to free Greece from Rome.
  • 86 BCE
    The Roman general Sulla sacks Athens and the port of Piraeus.
  • 31 BCE
    Greece absorbed into Roman Empire.
  • 42 CE - 62 CE
    Paul the Apostle goes on missionary journeys across Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.
  • c. 50 CE - c. 60 CE
    Establishment of various Christian communities in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Egypt, and at least the city of Rome.
  • 257 CE - 263 CE
    The Goths raid Greece.
  • 267 CE
    The Goths sack Athens, Corinth, Sparta, and Argos.
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