Historical Chronology of Greece
10,000-30 BC
1) EARLY GREECE 10,000-1000 BC
2) MYCENAEAN GREECE 2000-1000 BC
3) DARK AGE GREECE 1000-800 BC
4) HELLENIC GREECE 800-350 BC
5) ARCHAIC GREECE 800-500 BC
6) CLASSICAL GREECE 500-350 BC
7) HELLENISTIC GREECE 350-330 BC
10,000 BC Paleolithic Greece – rudimentary existence6,000 BC Neolithic Greece – farming, villages3,000 BC Migrations of Indo-Europeans from Asia Minor to GreeceNorthern route from Troy–>Mainland GreeceSouthern route via Egypt–>Crete
2,000-1,000 BC Mycenaean Greece
2,000-1,500 BC Minoan CivilizationRise of Non-Greek speaking Minoan Civilization on CreteOriental palace-culture at Cnossus, PhaestosMinoan Linear A hieroglyphic script-non-GreekSpread of Minoan culture over Aegean via tradeMinoan thalassocracy in Aegean 2,000-1,000 BC Mycenaean Civilization2,000 BC Invasion of Greek-speaking Mycenaeans into mainland Greece1,600 BC Rise of Mycenaean Civilization on mainland Greece
Occidental fortress-culture at Mycenaea; TirynsMycenaean Linear B syllabic script–protoGreek
1,400 BC Mycenean conquest of Minoans1,200 BC Trojan war1,100 BC Crisis in Mycenean world: collapse of civilization in Greece
? Dorian invasion? Internecine Mycenaean wars? Mycenaean civil wars1,050 BC Destruction of Mycenaea (1,050 BC)1,000 BC End of Mycenaean Greece and beginning of the Dark Age
Dark Age Greece 1,000-800 BC
1,100 BC Collapse of Mycenaean CivilizationComplete collapse of civilized life on mainland Greece and CreteGreat palace fortresses burned and abandonedLoss of Linear B script – art of writing 1,000 BC Dark Age UnderwayLife continues at subsistence level in small isolated villagesMigrations & synoecism
Aeolians–Thessaly, Boetia; n. Aegean & coast of Asia MinorIonians–Attica; central Aegean & coast of Asia MinorDorians–Peloponnese; s. Aegean & coast of Asia Minor
Proto-geometric & geometric potteryOral tradition
–memory of Mycenaean world preserved in myth–transformed through poetic art of song (epic)
800 BC HomerCulmination of oral tradition in Homeric epicRise of Greek Polis- end of Dark AgeHellenic Greece begins
Hellenic Greece 800-350 BC
Archaic Greece 800-500 BC800 BC Rise of the Greek Polis776 BC 1st Olympiad; (770 BC Sacred War)750 BC Period of Colonization begins (ends c.550 BC)650 BC 2nd Messenian revolt against Sparta
Lyric Poets: Archilochus; Sappho
594 BC Solon reforms aristocracy in Athens560 BC Peisistratid tyranny in Athens509 BC Cleisthenes establishes democracy in Athens
Classical Greece 500-350 BC
499 BC Ionian revolt initiates Persian Wars490 BC Athens defeats Persia at Marathon488 BC Ostracism introduced in Athens480 BC Leonidas’ defeat at Thermopylae; Themistocles’ victory at Salamis478 BC Delian league founded
Aeschylus’ Oresteia
460 BC Pericles introduces radical democracy in Athens
Anaxagoras teaches natural philosophyProtagoras teaches sophistryPhedias plans ParthenonAspasia hosts intellectual Athens
454 BC Delian treasury moved to Athens – Athenian imperialism
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King; AntigoneHerodotus’ Histories
431 BC Peloponnnesian Wars begins (ends 404 BC)429 BC Pericles dies in Plague; Cleon leads radical democracy
Pericles’ circle exiledAristophanes’ Clouds; LysistrataThucydides’ Peloponnesian Wars
415 BC Sicilian Expedition begins (ends 413 BC) led by Alcibiades411 BC Oligarchic revolution in Athens led by Alcibiades410 BC Democracy restored by Alcibiades; Cleophon refuses peace408 BC Trial of the 8 Generals and exile of Alcibiades
Euripides’ Bacchae; Aristophanes’ Frogs
404 BC Sparta defeats Athens – reign of terror in Athens under 30 tyrants399 BC Democratic Athens executes Socrates387 BC King’s Peace imposed on Greeks by Persia
Plato establishes Academy in Athens
Hellenistic Greece 350-330 BC
338 BC Philip imposes Macedonian rule of Greece via League of Corinth336 BC Alexander the Great takes Macedonian throne335 BC Aristotle establishes Lyceum in Athens333 BC Alexander founds Alexandria in Egypt; conquers Persia330 BC Alexander completes conquest of “inhabited world”323 BC Alexander dies–>division of empire among his generals300 BC Hellenistic Kingdoms take shape:
Macedonia & Greece – Antigonid dynastyEgypt – Ptolemaic dynastySyria – Seleucid dynasty
196 BC Roman liberation of Greece from Macedonian rule146 BC Destruction of Corinth – Reduction of Greece to a Roman province30 BC Death of Cleopatra – last of the Hellenistic dynasts
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