Philip Matyszak - The Greeks

LOST CIVILIZATIONS

Prehistory (all dates are approximate)

7200 BC

First evidence of human settlement in Greece appears with the discovery of Mesolithic burial sites in the Argolid (northeast Peloponnese)

70005500 BC

First evidence of villages, primitive trade and island settlements (that is, seafaring)

50003000 BC

Beginning of the palace culture era. First fortified sites appear

3000 BC

The first bronze tools and weapons are used. The Bronze Age begins

30002000 BC

Beginning of the Minoan period in Crete

20001550 BC

The Middle Helladic Period an era of development in pottery, agriculture and the first established international trade routes

17001500 BC

Decline of Minoan culture, destruction of Cretan palaces. Rise of Mycenaean culture in mainland Greece. The Linear B system of writing is developed

16001200 BC

The so-called Heroic Age of the Mycenaean culture

1200 BC

The fall of Troy

12001000 BC

End of the Bronze Age civilization. The sea peoples sack cities in the Levant, attack Egypt. Almost every major settlement in Greece is burned. Beginning of Greek colonial expansion

The Archaic era

c. 900 BC

Beginning of the Geometric period (so called after the distinctive vase patterns). Dorian cities such as Argos and Sparta become established

c. 800 BC

The Greeks develop a new alphabet modelled on Phoenician characters. The works of Homer and Hesiod are widely circulated. The Delphic oracle is established

776 BC

The dating of the Olympic Games begins

753 BC

Traditional date for the founding of Rome

733690

Traditional date for the settlement by Corinth of Syracuse in Sicily. Other settlements founded in Italy and the western Mediterranean. Beginning of Magna Graecia

725 BC

The Lelantine War, the first war to involve almost all the major city-states of Greece

c. 685560

Major era of settlement around the Black Sea

687 BC

The office of Archon the major executive office in Athens becomes elective

668 BC

Foundation of Byzantium by settlers from Megara

660 BC

Sparta conquers Messenia

c. 630 BC

Birth of Sappho in Lesbos. First Golden Age of Lyric poetry

621 BC

Draco introduces the first written law code in Greece. Punishments are so severe that the word Draconian punishments passes into the language. The law codes are later rewritten by Solon

c. 571 BC

Birth of Pythagoras on the island of Samos

The Classical era

546 BC

Rise of the Persian empire. Persians reach the Mediterranean with the capture of Croesus of Lydia

c. 520 BC

Development of Athenian red-figure pottery

508 BC

Athens becomes a democratic state with the constitution of Kleisthenes

499 BC

Ionian cities backed by Athens rebel against Persia. Persian Wars begin

490 BC

Defeat of the Persians at Marathon

c. 484 BC

Aeschylus becomes the first of a succession of great Athenian playwrights

483 BC

Large silver deposits found at Larium near Athens. This bounty pays for later Athenian naval power

480 BC

Battle of Thermopylae, defeat of Leonidas and the 300

c. 480 BC

Failure of Carthaginian attempts to defeat Syracuse and master Sicily

479 BC

The battles of Mycale and Plataea remove the threat of Persian invasion of mainland Greece. The Persian Wars come to a standstill

477 BC

With Sparta no longer interested in fighting the Persians, Athens forms the Delian League and begins to subjugate its members into an Athens-based empire

461 BC

First Clash of Athens and Sparta in the Sacred War. This is the first of three wars generally called the Peloponnesian Wars

c. 460 BC

Pindar of Thebes writes his Lyric poems and panegyrics

c. 450420 BC

Golden Age of Athenian theatre. Plays by Sophocles and Euripides

c. 440 BC

Herodotus writes his Inquiry into the origins of the Persian Wars. This book, the History, is the first history book in the modern sense

c. 435 BC

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is built and becomes one of the Seven Wonders of the world

431 BC

Sparta and allies declare war on Athens, starting the second Peloponnesian (Archidamian) War