A time-line of ancient GreeceWorld News | Politics | History | EditorResources on Ancient Greece (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
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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 530 BC: Pythagora founds Mathematics 525 BC: tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) 510 BC: Athens joins the Peloponesean League 510 BC: The temple of Ceres at Paestum (in Italy) is built 508 BC: Cleisthenes grants full rights to all free men of Athens 505 BC: a temple to Apollo is built at Delphi 490 BC: the first Persian War (battle of Marathon) 490 BC: Darius, king of Persia, invades Greece 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 but si defeated at the naval battle of Salamis 480 BC: Syracuse repels an attack by Carthage 480 BC: the Persians led by Xerxes sack Athens 480 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 431 BC: second Peleponnesean war 430 BC: Athens has about 200,000 inhabitants 429 BC: Pericles dies 430 BC: the temple of Concord is built at Agrigento (in Sicily) 415 BC: Syracuse with help from Sparta repels an invasion from 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: Athens, Thebes, Chios, Mytilene, Byzantium, Rhodes and others defeat Sparta which loses its supremacy 367 BC: Aristotle enters the Academia of Plato 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 and is succeeded by his son Alexander 335 BC: Aristotle founds the Lyceum of Athens 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 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 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 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) |