Timeline of Ancient Greece
This page is a
Timeline of Ancient Greece
BC
;1000-700 :Synoikismos of Athens, people of Attica were willing to transfer their allegiance to one city, Athens, because of Theseus
;683:office of Archon established King was emasculated
;632:Cylon, Athenian noble, seizes Acropolis and tries to make himself king, fails
;621:Draco, Athenian lawgiver, issues code of laws where everything is punishable by death -- Draconian
;594:Solon, Athenian statesman, becomes Archon, captures Salamis from Megarians, establishes Timocracy, rule by the richest, constitutional reforms, more vote and trade, abolishes slavery, Know Thyself
;590:Sappho, Greek poetess and priestess, flourishes on island of Lesbos
;565:Pisistratus, Athenian general, organizes Diakrioi, party of poor people
;561:Pisistratus takes power first time, driven out by Lycurgus who leads nobles
;559:Pisistratus restored by help of Megacles
;556:Pisistratus expelled, makes fortune from Thracian mines
;546:Croesus, rich king of Lydia, killed at Sardis by Persians
;546:Pisistratus restored by Thessaly and Lygdamos of Naxos
;527:Pisistratus dies, succeeded by sons Hippias and Hipparchus
;525:Persian Darius I, son-in-law of Cyrus the Great takes Egypt
;507:Cleisthenes, Greek reformer, takes power, increases democracy
;490:Themistocles and Miltiades, Athenians, defeat Darius at Marathon, Phidippides runs with news
;484:Aeschylus, Athenian playwright, wins Athenian Prize
;480:Leonidas, Spartan, makes sacrifice of 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae so main force can escape, Xerxes son of Darius is leading the Persians
;480:Simultaenous with Thermopylae, the Greeks and Persians fight to a draw in the naval Battle of Artemisium
;480:Battle of Salamis - Themistocles, Athenian general, lures Persians into Bay of Salamis, Xerxes loses and goes home, leaves behind Mardonius
;479:Pausanias, Greek general routs Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea
;479:Battle of Mycale frees Greek colonies in Asia. After the Battle of Salamis, Athens set up the Delian League, treasury on island of Delos, a confederacy of cities around the Aegean. It was intended as a military defense association against Persia but was turned into an empire, collecting tribute and deciding policy of its associates. Sparta formed rival Peloponnesian League
;476-462:Cimon elected general each year, he was victorious over Persia and then enforced military power on Delian League
;474:Pindar, Greek poet moves to Thebes from court at Syracuse
;471:Themistocles ostracized
;468:Sophocles, Greek playwright, defeats Aeschylus for Athenian Prize
;461:Cimon ostracized
;457:Pericles, Athenian statesman begins Golden Age, he was taught by Anaxagoras, who believed in dualistic Universe and atoms
;456:Aeschylus dies
;449:Herodotus, Greek Historian, writes History of Greco-Persian War from 490-479
;448:Ictinus and Callicrates, Greek architects rebuild Acropolis from Persain destruction
;441:Euripides, Greek playwright, wins Athenian prize
;440:Heraclitus, Greek philospher, believes everything is mutable
;435:Phidias, Greek sculptor, completes Zeus at Elis 1 of 7 wonders
;433:Corinth, Sparta, Megara and Aegina ally against Corfu, Athens, Rhegium, and Leontini
;432:End of Golden Age, Peloponnesian Wars begin Athens under Pericles blockades Potidaea (Battle of Potidaea), Corfu declares war on Corinth (Battle of Sybota)
;431:Sparta led by Archidamus II sets out to destroy Athens
;431:Empedocles, Greek doctor, believes body has 4 humors
;430:Failed peace mission by Athens, bubonic plague year, Sparta takes no prisoners
;430:Leucippus, Greek philospher, believes every natural event has natural cause. Athenian Plague Appears in Athens.
;429:Phormio, Atheinian admiral, wins the Battle of Chalcis
;429:Pericles dies of Athenian Plague, possibly typhus or bubonic plague
;429:Hippocrates, Greek doctor, believes diseases have physical cause
;428:Mitylene rebels, chief city of Lesbos
;427:Archidamus II dies, Alcidas, Greek admiral sent to help Lesbos, raids Ionia and flees after seeing Athenian might Athenian Plague returns
;427:Mitylene surrenders to Athens, Plataeans surrender to Athens
;427:Aristophanes, Greek playwright, wins Athenian Prize
;426:Corfu secures island for Athens
;426:Demosthenes, Athenian general, and Cleon, Athenian demagogue, revitalizes Athenian forces, makes bold plans opposed by Nicias, his first military campaign barely succeeds
;425:Athenian fleet bottles up Spartan navy at Navarino Bay, Nicias resigns
;424:Syracuse sends Athenians home
;424:Pagondas of Thebes crushes Athenian army at the Battle of Delium, Brasidas a Spartan general makes a successful campaign, Cleon exiles Thucydides for 20 years for arriving late
;423:Truce of Laches supposed to stop Brasidas but doesn't, Nicias leads Athenian forces in retaking Mende
;422:Cleon meets Brasidas outside of Amphipolis, both are killed (Battle of Amphipolis)
;421:Peace of Nicias brings temporary end to war, but Alcibiades, a nephew of Pericles, makes anti-Sparta alliance
;420:Quadruple alliance of Athens, Argos, Mantinea, and Elis confronts Spartan-Boeotian alliance
;419:King Agis, ruler of Sparta, attacks Argos, makes treaty
;418:Battle of Mantinea, greatest land battle of war, gives Sparta victory over Argos, which broke treaty, Alcibiades thrown out, alliance broken
;416:Alcibiades makes plans, is restored to power
;415:Hermai are mutilated in Athens, Alcibiades accused, asks for inquiry, told to set sail for battle (Sicilian Expedition), is condemned to death in absentia, he defects to Sparta
;414:Lemachus, Athenian commander killed at Syracuse
;413:Nicias and Demosthenes killed at Syracuse
;412:Alcibiades is thrown out of Sparta, conspires to come back to Athens
;411:Democracy ends in Athens by Antiphon, Peisander, and Phrynichus, overthrown by Theramenes, Constitution of the 5000, Athenian navy recalls Alcibiades, confirmed by Athenians
;410:After several successes, Athenian demagogue Cleophon rejects Sparta peace overtures
;409:Byzantium recaptured by Alcibiades for Athens
;408:Alcibiades reenters Athens in triumph, Lysander, a Spartan commander, builds fleet at Ephesus
;407:Lysander begins destruction of Athenian fleet, Alcibiades stripped of power
;406:Callicratides, Spartan naval leader, loses Battle of Arginusae over blockade of Mitylene harbor, Sparta sues for peace, rejected by Cleophon
;405:Lysander captures Athenian fleet, Spartan king Pausanius lays siege to Athens, Cleophon executed, Corinth and Thebes demand destruction of Athens
;404:Athens capitulates Apr 25 Theramenes secures terms, prevents total destruction of Athens, Theramenes and Alcibiades are killed
;401:Thucydides, Greek historian, leaves account of Golden Age and Peloponnesian War at his death (History of the Peloponnesian War)
;399:Socrates, Greek philospher, condemned to death for corrupting youth
;347:Plato, Greek philospher, founds Academy
;342:Aristotle, Greek philosopher, begins teaching Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon
;338:Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes in last struggle for Greek Independence at Chaeronea Aug 2
;336:Alexander succeeds father, who was assassinated at the wedding feast of his daughter
;333:Alexander defeats Persians at Battle of Issus, Oct, but Darius III escapes
;332:Alexander conquers Egypt
;331:at Battle of Gaugamela Oct 1, Alexander ends Achaemenid Dynasty and takes Persian Empire
;330:Democritus, Greek philosopher, develops Atomic theory, believes cause and necessity, nothing comes out of nothing
;329:Alexander conquers Samarkand
;327:Alexander invades Northern India, but army is tired so doesn't pursue it
;323:Alexander dies, his generals vie for power in Wars of the Diadochi Antigonus- Macedonia, Antipater- Macedonia, Seleucus- Babylonia and Syria, Ptolemy- Egypt, Eumenes- Macedonia, Lysimachus, later Antipaters son Cassander also vies for power
;316:Menander, Greek playwright, wins Athenian prize
;300:Euclid, Greek mathematician, publishes Elements, treating both geometry and number theory (see also Euclidean algorithm)
;295:Athens falls to Demetrius, Lachares killed
;265:Archimedes, Greek mathematician, develops screw, specific gravity, center of gravity; anticipates discoveries of integral calculus
See also