ANCIENT GREECE HISTORY & TIMELINE

DATE SUMMARY DETAILED INFORMATION

2000 BCE First Settlers Wandering tribes begin to settle in Greece
1600 BCE Mycenaean Greece Bronze Age Greece was inhabited by the Mycenaean people. They took their name
from the capital city of their land, Mycenae.
1194 BCE Trojan War The Trojan war between the Greeks and the Trojans (inhabitants of Troy) began
1184 BCE Trojan War The Trojan war ended when the Greeks used a wooden horse to invade and overrun
the Trojan city of Troy
1100 BCE Dorian Invaders Mycenaean Greece was invaded by Dorian tribesmen from the north. The Dorians
had iron weapons which they use to good effect to defeat and conquer the
Mycenaeans.
c. 850 BCE Alphabet The Greek alphabet was developed from the Phoenician alphabet.
c. 800 BCE Homer Homer composed his poems – the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad is an epic poem
set in the Trojan War while the Odyssey tells the story of the adventures of
Odysseus on his return from the Trojan war.
776 BCE First Olympic First recorded Olympic games. The games were held at Olympia. There was one
Games event – the men’s 200m sprint.
743 BCE First Messenian This was a disagreement between the Messenians and the Spartans that led to war
War
724 BCE First Messenian The first Messenian war ended in victory for the Spartans
War
650 BCE Rise of the Tyrants The rule of aristocratic leaders was challenged by lesser aristocrats or wealthy
tradesmen who wanted to overthrow the monopoly of the aristocrats. Known as
tyrants they seized power from the aristocracy and took over rule in their stead.
621 BCE Draco’s Code of The laws of Athens had previously been a set of oral laws. Draco introduced a new
Law set of harsher laws which were written down for all to read. For many crimes the
punishment was death.
600 BCE Money The first Greek coins appeared.
508 BCE Democracy Democracy began in Athens.
495 BCE Pythagoras The philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, died in Metapontum.
490 BCE First Persian War The First Persian war began when Persia sent an invasion force into Athens in
retaliation for its participation in a Greek raid on Persia.
490 BCE Battle of Marathon The Greeks defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon
480 BCE Second Persian The Second Persian war began when Persia’s King Xerxes led an invasion force into
War Greece.
August/ Battle of The Persians defeated the Greeks in the Battle off Thermopylae
September Thermopylae
480 BCE
September Battle of Salamis The Greeks defeated the Persians in the Battle of Salamis
480 BCE
432 BCE Parthenon The Parthenon was completed. The temple was built in Athens to house a statue of
completed Goddess Athena so that she could watch over the city.
431 BCE Peloponnesian The Peloponnesian wars between Athens and Sparta.
Wars
404 BCE Peloponnesian Athens lost the Peloponnesian Wars. The Athenian democratic government was
Wars removed and replaced by a ruling body of 30 tyrants.
403 BCE Democracy Democracy was restored to Athens.
399 BCE Socrates The philosopher Socrates, founder of philosophy, was charged with impiety (being
disrespectful to the Gods) he was found guilty and executed.
380 BCE Academy The philosopher Plato, student of Socrates, founded the Academy in Athens.
359 BCE Philip II Philip II became King of Macedon
347 BCE Plato The philosopher, Plato, student of Socrates, founder of The Academy and author of
The Republic died in Athens.
339 BCE Catapult The Catapult was invented at Syracruse
338 BCE Battle of Chaeronea Philip II, King of Macedon conquered Greece

338 BCE League of Corinth The League of Corinth, a federation of Greek states, was founded by Philip II to
boost support against Persia.
336 BCE Alexander the Great Philip II, King of Macedon was assassinated – his son Alexander became King of
Macedon. He was later known as Alexander the Great
335 BCE The Lyceum Aristotle founded the Lyceum in Athens.
333 BCE Persia Alexander conquered the Persians and declared himself King of Persia.
331 BCE Egypt Alexander conquered Egypt and made Alexandria the capital of his newly gained
land
323 BCE Alexander the Great Alexander the Great died. His son had not yet been born so his conquered lands
were divided between his top generals.
322 BCE Aristotle Aristotle, philosopher, mathematician, student of Plato, tutor of Alexander died in
Euboea.
c. 265 BCE Euclid Euclid, the inventor of geometry, died.
212 BCE Archimedes The mathematician and engineer, Archimedes, was assassinated in Syracuse.
146 BCE Roman Empire The Romans defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Corinth and Greece became part
of the Roman Empire
he term Ancient, or Archaic, Greece refers to the time three centuries before the classical age, between
800 B.C. and 500 B.C.—a relatively sophisticated period in world history. Archaic Greece saw advances in
art, poetry and technology, but most of all it was the age in which the polis, or city-state, was

invented.Mar 5, 2010