A time-line of ancient GreeceWorld News | Politics | History | EditorResources on Ancient Greece (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
|
2800 BC: domed tombs in Crete (Minoan civilization) 2200 BC: Indo-European people (Acheans) invade Greece creating the Greek language and founding Mycenae 1900 BC: earliest writing in Crete 1900 BC: palace of Knossos in Crete 1628 BC: a volcanic eruption in Thera causes destruction in Crete 1600 BC: royal tombs of Mycenae 1450 BC: the Minoan civilization is destroyed by the Mycenaens 1250 BC: walls and palaces of Mycenae 1184 BC: Troy falls to Mycenae 1100 BC: Mycenae is detroyed by Dorian invaders who have iron weapons 1100 BC: Delphi is the capital of a league of Greek cities (including Sparta and Athens) 1000 BC: Greeks colonize the eastern coasts of the Aegean Sea 950 BC: Greeks found Miletus in Ionia (west coast of Turkey) 900 BC: origin of the Homeric poems 800 BC: city-states or "polis" (Athens, Thebes, Megara, Corinth, Sparta) 800 BC: Greeks adopt the alphabet from the Phoenicians 776 BC: the first Olympic Games 760 BC: Euboea founds the colony of Cumae in Italy 750 BC: first inscriptions in the Hellenic Greek alphabet 750 BC: Colonization of the Mediterranea 734 BC: Naxus is the first Hellenic colony in Sicily 733 BC: Corinth founds the Sicilian colony of Syracuse 725 BC: the poet Hesiod writes the Theogony 700 BC: Hellenic colonization spreads to southern Italy, Asia Minor, Black Sea 670 BC: the first Greek coins are minted by king Gyges of Lydia 670 BC: Miletus begins founding colonies both in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea 657 BC: Megara founds Byzantium 650 BC: Terrace of the lions at Dilos 650 BC: Perdiccas Temenid found the Macedonian kingdom with capital at Aegeae (Vergina) 640 BC: Sparta adopts a militaristic form of government 632 BC: Athens abolishes the monarchy in favor of an oligarchy 621 BC: Dracon establishes the Athenian code of law 610 BC: Miletus founded a trading post in Egypt 594 BC: Solon founds the Athenian democracy 585 BC: philosopher Thales in Miletus 582 BC: the Pythian games are established in Delphi and the Isthmian games are established in Corinth 575 BC: poetess Sappho 570 BC: the first coins are minted by Athens 560 BC: Lydian king Croesus conquers Ionia, except Miletus 560 BC: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus is built 549 BC: Cyrus, king of Persia, conquers Medes, Lydia and Greek city-states in Asia Minor 546 BC: tyrant Peisistratus conquers Athens 546 BC: Sparta forms the Peloponnesean League 538 BC: First performance of a tragedy in Athens 530 BC: Pythagora founds Mathematics 527 BC: Hippias succeeds his father Peisistratus as tyrant of Athens 525 BC: tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) 514 BC: Hippias' brother Hipparchus is murdered by the homosexuals Harmodius and Aristogeiton 510 BC: Athens joins the Peloponesean League 510 BC: Sparta helps Athens expel the tyrant Hippias but then Sparta appoints its man Isagoras as new tyrant of Athens 510 BC: The temple of Ceres at Paestum (in Italy) is built 507 BC: Cleisthenes leads a revolt against Isagoras and turns Athens into a democracy, granting full rights to all free men of Athens 505 BC: a temple to Apollo is built at Delphi 499 BC: Miletus leads the Ionian rebellion against the Persians 498 BC: Ionian cities helped by Athens sack the Persian city of Sardis but are beaten by the Persians at the Battle of Ephesus 493 BC: Themistocles seizes power in Athens and invests in naval power and international trade 492 BC: Darius of Persia attacks Thrace and Macedonia but the fleet is destroyed by a storm before it can reach Athens 490 BC: Darius, king of Persia, invades Greece to punish Athens but loses at the battle of Marathon 485 BC: the sofist Protagoras ("Man is the measure of all things") 481 BC: Both Athens and Sparta join the Hellenic League against Persia 480 BC: Xerses, king of Persia, invades Greece and wins the battle of Thermopylae, but is defeated at the naval battle of Salamis because the Greeks employ the faster trireme boats, and the Greeks expel the Persians from Europe 480 BC: Syracuse repels an attack by Carthage 479 BC: The Greeks defeat the Persians at the battle of Plataea and expel the Persians from Europe 479 BC: the Greeks defeat the Persians at Salamis 478 BC: the Hellenic League conquers Cyprus and Byzantium from the Persians 461 BC: Pericles promotes the ideals of democracy and peace 461 BC: first Peloponnesian War between Athenians and Spartans 454 BC: Athens attacks the Persians in Egypt but is defeated 450 BC: the first bank is founded in Athens by Antisthenes and Archestratos 450 BC: sculptor and architect Pheidias 450 BC: poet Pindar 450 BC: Herodotus writes a non-theological history 450 BC: Hippocrates founds Medicine 450 BC: Temple of Zeus at Olympia 438 BC: the Parthenon is inaugurated in Athens 431 BC: The second Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta 430 BC: Athens, which has about 200,000 inhabitants, is struck by the "plague" 430 BC: the temple of Concord is built at Agrigento (in Sicily) 429 BC: Pericles dies 424 BC: Thebes defeats Athens at Delium 415 BC: Athens launches an invasion of Syracuse, which is allied with Sparta 413 BC: Syracuse defeats Athens 410 BC: the temple of the Erechtheion is built at the Athens acropolis 404 BC: Athens loses the second Peloponnesian War and Sparta imposes the Thirty Tyrants, a group of aristocratic Spartans, which end the supremacy of Athens 403 BC: Athenians restore the democracy 400 BC: comedy (Aristophanes) 399 BC: Socrates is tried and commits suicide 399 BC: the catapult is invented in Syracuse by Dionysius the Elder 395 BC: Athens, Argos, Corinth and Thebes revolt against Sparta and Persia attacks Sparta ("Corinthian war") 388 BC: Plato, a pupil of Socrates, founds his philosophical Academy, the first university 375 BC: Plato writes the "Republic" 373 BC: the temple of Apollo at Delphi is destroyed 373 BC: the temple to Apollo at Delphi is ruined 371 BC: Thebes, led by general Epamimondas, Athens, Chios, Mytilene, Byzantium, Rhodes and others defeat Sparta at Leuctra which loses its supremacy (first defeat by Sparta in its entire history) 367 BC: Aristotle enters the Academia of Plato 362 BC: Thebes and the Arcadians defeat Sparta at Mantinea 359 BC: Philip II Temenid becomes the king of Macedonia 356 BC: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus is rebuilt 354 BC: a tomb for King Mausolus is built at Halicarnassus 350 BC: the cynics (Diogenes) 350 BC: the theatre at Epidavros 350 BC: the theatre is built at Delphi 344 BC: Philip II of Macedonia conquers Thessaly, Illyria, Epirus, 342 BC: Aristotle tutors Alexander Temenid of Macedonia 338 BC: Philip II defeats Athens and Thebes at Chaeronea and unites several eastern Greek cities (League of Corinth) 336 BC: Philip II of Macedonia is assassinated by one of his bodyguards and is succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alexander 335 BC: Aristotle returns to Athens from Macedonia and founds the Lyceum of Athens 335 BC: Alexander destroys the rebellious city of Thebes 334 BC: Alexander defeats the Persian army at the Dardanelles 333 BC: Alexander invades the Persian empire from Syria to Palestine 332 BC: Alexander conquers Egypt 331 BC: Alexander conquers Persia (battle of Gaugamela) and destroys Persepolis, ending the Achaemenid dynasty 329 BC: a new temple to Apollo is built at Delphi 326 BC: Alexander marches towards India 325 BC: earliest papyrus written in Greek 324 BC: Alexander invades the Punjab in India 324 BC: comedies of Menader 323 BC: Alexander dies, is succeeded by Antipater but the empire rapidly collapses 317 BC: Cassander kills Alexander's son and seizes power in Greece and Macedonia 310 BC: the scientist Aristarchus believes in a heliocentric world 300 BC: Euclid writes the Elements of Geometry 300 BC: epicureanism (Epicurus) and stoicism (Zeno) 297 BC: Cassander dies 290 BC: the Colossus of Rhodos is built 279 BC: the Gauls invade Greece 277 BC: Antigonus II Gonatos defeats the Gauls and becomes king of Macedonia 274 BC: Pyrrhus invades Macedonia and Greece 272 BC: Antigonus II Gonatos defeats Pyrrhus 261 BC: Antigonus II Gonatos conquers Athens 250 BC: scientist Archimedes 239 BC: Antigonus II Gonatos dies and is succeeded by Demetrius II 229 BC: Athens achieves independence 216 BC: Philip V of Macedonia allies with Hannibal of Carthage 197 BC: Philip V of Greece is defeated by the Romans at Kynoskephalai 179 BC: Philip V dies and is succeeded by Perseus 168 BC: the Romans defeat Perseus at Pydna and end the Antigonid dynasty 149 BC: the Romans annex Macedonia as a province 89 BC: Mithriades VI of Pontos leads a revolt against Rome 86 BC: Roman general Sulla defeats Mithridates and burns Athens 30 BC: the Romans conquer all of Greece 49 AD: Paul preaches Christianity in Greece 50 AD: "Lacoon" 100: historian Plutarch 100: Hippalos discovers the secret previously known only by Arab seame about the effects of the monsoons on sea travel, which causes an increase in voyages to India 393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia 462: the statue of Zeus, moved from Olympia to Constantinople, is destroyed by a fire 529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato |
| (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |