Ancient Greece Timeline

Agamemnon

1500 BCE

Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae and leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War of Homer's Illiad. He is presented as a great warrior but selfish ruler, famously upsetting his invincible champion Achilles and so prolonging the war and suffering of his men.

Homer

850 BCE

Homer is the presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, 2 of the most famous poems and central works of ancient Greek literature.

First Olympic Games

776 BCE

The first Olympic Games were held at Olympia. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. They were held to honor Zeus.

Draco’s Code of Law

620 BCE

The Draconian Law was created by King Draco for the Athenian people.

Darius I

550 BCE

Darius I (Darius the Great) was the third Persian King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. He’s best known for his genius, his great building projects, and his kindness toward the diverse people under his sovereignty.

The Rise of the Tyrants

546 BCE

Tyrant ruler Peisistratos became ruler of Athens. The tyrants converted the monarch government to a democracy. The citizens of the polis had the responsibility of being greek males and they had to have the right to vote. They couldn't be slaves, criminals, or women.

Xerxes

519 BCE

Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great) was the 4th King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. He was the son and successor of Darius the Great and his mother was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, the first Achaemenid king. He’s best known for his massive invasion of Greece from across the Hellespont (480 bce), a campaign marked by the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea.

Democracy

507 BCE

Athenian democracy developed around the sixth century BC in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. It is often described as the first known democracy in the world.

Pericles

495 BCE

Pericles was a influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age, specifically the time between the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars. He was descended from the powerful and historically-influential Alcmaeonid family.

First Persian War

492 BCE

The first Persian war started in 492 BCE when Greeks in the Persian-controlled territory rose in the Ionian Revolt. Athens and other Greek cities sent help, but were quickly forced to back down after defeat in 494 BCE. Subsequently, the Persians suffered many defeats at the hands of the Greeks, led by the Athenians.

Battle of Marathon

490 BCE

The Battle of Marathon was part of the first Persian invasion of Greece. The battle was fought on the Marathon plain of northeastern Attica and marked the first blows of the Persian War.

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

The Battle of Thermopylae Took place during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas I of Sparta, and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I over the course of 3 days. After those 3 days, the Greeks were betrayed, and the Persians were able to outflank them.

Second Persian War

479 BCE

King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece at the Battle of Marathon. The Greeks simply wouldn't accept the idea of being invaded by another country and they fought until they won. By uniting the city-states, particularly the Spartans and Athenians, it created a skilled, well balanced army that was able to defeat the Persians despite their numbers. The Greeks won.

Socrates

470 BCE

Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy and being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.

Parthenon Completed

432 BCE

The Parthenon was built to replace an existing temple which was destroyed by the Persians. It was built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias. Work began in 447 BCE and was completed in 432 BCE.

Peloponnesian War

431 BCE

After the Persian Wars, Athens and Sparta agreed to a 30 year peace. Under Pericles, Athens flourished and Sparta grew jealous and distrustful of Athens. They fought for 10 years until they agreed to peace.

Plato

428 BCE

Plato is one of the most important figures of the Ancient Greek world and the entire history of Western thought. He was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was the founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.

Catapult

400 BCE

The catapult was an ancient siege machine that could hurl heavy objects or shoot arrows with great force and for considerable distances.

The Academy in Athens

387 BCE

The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school. They would focus on mathematics, natural science, astronomy, dialectics, philosophy, and politics.

Aristotle

385 BCE

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was taught by Plato. He was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition.

Philip II

359 BCE

Philip II was the king of the kingdom of Macedon. He was a member of the Argead dynasty of Macedonian kings, the third son of King Amyntas III of Macedon, and father of Alexander the Great and Philip III. He was also a military commander in his own right.

Alexander the Great

356 BCE

Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He succeeded his father Philip II. He gave women more rights and spread Greek culture as far east as India.

Battle of Chaeronea

338 BCE

The Battle of Chaeronea was the final battle of this campaign, where Philip II and his son Alexander claimed victory, effectively uniting Greece under their control. This battle represented the end of independent Greek city-states, and led to the formation of the Macedonian Empire.

League of Corinth

337 BCE

The League of Corinth was a confederation of Greek states created by Philip II to facilitate the use of military forces in the war of Greece against Persia after the Battle of Chaeronea.