Visual Timeline: Greece

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6000 BCE 5500 BCE 5000 BCE 4500 BCE 4000 BCE 3500 BCE 3000 BCE 2500 BCE 2000 BCE 1500 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 CE  
 
 
6000 BCE - 2900 BCE: Neolithic Age settlements in Greece, beginning of agriculture.
 
 
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.
 
 
1100 BCE: Greeks implement use of individual tombs and graves.
 
1100 BCE: Dorian peoples occupy Greece.
 
 
1000 BCE: The first distinctive Greek pottery is produced, the Proto-geometric style.
 
 
900 BCE: Sparta is founded.
 
 
900 BCE: The Geometric style of Greek pottery is first produced.
 
800 BCE - 700 BCE: Homer of Greece writes his Iliad and Odyssey.
 
 
800 BCE - 500 BCE: Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
 
800 BCE - 500 BCE: Archaic period of Greece.
 
740 BCE - 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.
 
 
660 BCE: Pheidon is tyrant in Argos.
 
 
657 BCE - 585 BCE: The Kypselidai are tyrants of Corinth.
 
650 BCE: Sparta crushes Messenian revolt.
 
 
650 BCE - 600 BCE: Age of law-givers in Greece.
 
650 BCE: Earliest large scale Greek marble sculpture.
 
 
625 BCE: Black-figure pottery created in Corinth.
 
 
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.
 
 
560 BCE: Pisistratos becomes tyrant in Athens for the first time.
 
 
550 BCE - 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.
 
530 BCE: Red-figure pottery style takes precedent over black-figure.
 
525 BCE - 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'.
 
 
508 BCE: Reforms by Cleisthenes establishes democracy in Athens.
 
499 BCE - 493 BCE: Ionian cities rebel against Persian rule.
 
 
498 BCE: Ionians and Greek allies invade and burn Sardis (capital of Lydia).
 
497 BCE - 454 BCE: Alexander I reigns as king of Macedon.
 
495 BCE: Birth of Pericles.
 
492 BCE: Darius I of Persia invades Greece.
 
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.
 
484 BCE - 407 BCE: Life of Greek tragedy poet Euripides.
 
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.
 
 
480 BCE: Xerxes I makes extensive preparations to invade mainland Greece by building depots, canals and a boat bridge across the Hellespont.
 
480 BCE: The indecisive battle of Artemision between the Greek and Persian fleets of Xerxes I. The Greeks withdraw to Salamis.
 
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.
 
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.
 
 
469 BCE - 399 BCE: Life of Socrates.
 
 
462 BCE - 458 BCE: Pericles introduces democratic institutions in Athens.
 
460 BCE - 380 BCE: Life of Greek comic poet Aristophanes.
 
460 BCE - 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.
 
451 BCE - 403 CE: Life of Athenian statesman and general Alcibiades.
 
449 BCE - 448 BCE: Peace between Greece and Persia.
 
449 BCE: Peace is agreed on by Athens and Persia, sometimes referred to as the Peace of Callias.
 
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.
 
 
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.
 
 
398 BCE - 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.
 
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.
 
356 BCE - 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.
 
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.
 
 
280 BCE: Founding of the Achaean League in the Peloponnese of Greece.
 
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.
 
 
50 CE - 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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6000 BCE 5000 BCE 4000 BCE 3000 BCE 2000 BCE 1000 BCE 0 CE