Western Civilization Test Ch. 3-6

Greek Dark Age Begins

1100 BCE

The Greek Dark Age occurred after the collapse of the Bronze Age and it last 3 centuries till around 800 BCE. Trade and diplomacy went downhill during this time and the Myceneans civilization ended and the first Greek poleis were started.

Archaic Age of Greece

800 BCE

The archaic, or old, age of Greece started when the Dark Age ended. Foreign trade started up again and items like iron were traded to from the Phoenicians. They also created an alphabet, started collecting taxes, writing dramas, and they even recorded mercantile transactions as this new era began.

Early Greek Literature

799 BCE

The earliest Greek literature started in 800 BCE with a new alphabet, which served as a basis for the Roman alphabet that would come later. Homer's epic poems were created during this time after originally being spread by talking, so this new way of literature was relatively simple to learn and it was very flexible for the writer.

The Olympics

776 BCE

The Olympics are a sporting competition held every 4 years and they were named after Olympia, the site in Greece in which they were held. The Olympics were so important to everyone around the world that wars were paused to allow competitors safe travel to and from the games due to them being dedicated to Zeus, the main Greek god. Winners were triumphant and praised while losers were shamed as these games were very competitive.

Coin Currency

600 BCE

The Greeks created a coin currency called drachma and it was one of the world's earliest coins. This allowed them to trade products or services in exchange for money and now we see that every day and everywhere that we go, so thanks to the greeks starting coin currency, we now have it today.

Herodotus

484 BCE

Herodotus was the founding figure of Greek history-writing as he was the first to record Greek history in that of the Persian War. He is very important to recording history as he recorded history as a story that tried to describe the events that happened and why it happened, and because of that history all over the world started to be recorded in the same way.

Peloponnessian War

431 BCE

The war between the Greek city-states Sparta and Athens broke out in the year 431 BCE after years of disagreement over who was the strongest city-state. The war lasted until 404 BCE with Sparta winning the war, but both city-states had weakened themselves and other city-states within Greece to the point that they were easily able to be conquered.

Conquer of Greece by Macedonia and King Philip ll

338 BCE

Macedonia, led by King Philip ll, conquered the land of Greece after the city-states had weakened themselves through war and no longer cooperated. This allowed Macedonia to expand and conquer much of the land from ancient Greece which ushered a new era into Greek history.

Alexander the Great

336 BCE

After Alexander's father, King Philip ll, died, Alexander the Great became the new King. He ruled the Greek Empire to become the largest it ever had as he was a very smart military leader and he was able to conquer lots of land with fewer troops. Alexander also helped lead to the end of the Greek Empire as he never put a successor in his place and ultimately the empire was split and never got along after he passed away, allowing the Roman Empire to step in and conquer the land and the empire.

Roman Empire conquers the Greek Empire

146 BCE

The rising Roman Empire took charge when they noticed that the Greek Empire had become weak and could easily be conquered. They started by taking over the Macedon and then slowly kept overthrowing more and more city-states until they had control of the entire empire, which ended the Greek Empire and created the powerful Roman Empire that we have come to know.