c6500-2900 BC

NEOLITHIC PERIOD- Domestication of plants and animals allows for permanent settlements.

c2900-2000 BC

Bronze Age- Early Aegean cultures

c2500 BC

Minoan civilization develops.

c1930 BC

First palaces on Crete.

c1400 BC

Volcanic eruption on Thera destroys Mycenae.

1375-50 BC

Mycenaean customs appear on Crete.

c1200 BC

Destruction of Cretan palaces and of Priam's city at Troy (Ilium).

c1050-750 BC

EARLY PERIOD- First Greek migration to west coast of Asia minor. Few written records of this time period remain. Also, this era is known as the Dark Ages of Greece.

c850-700 BC

Distinct regional cultures develop in the Aegean. Mythology evolves, and Greek language gains an alphabet.

776 BC

First Olympic Games

c750-700 BC

Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey

c750-500 BC

ARCHAIC PERIOD- Greeks search for new land for agriculture. City-states are formed throughout the Mediterranean that function as political units or polis, each ruled by a king and a council.

735-700 BC

First Greek colonies in Sicily.

c730-710 BC

Spartans conquer southwest Peloponnese in the First Messenian War.

c700 BC

Lelantine war in Euboia

540 BC

Anaximander dies. He is credited with writing the first philosophical treatise and making the first map of know world.

500-323 BC

CLASSICAL PERIOD- Interest in literature, artwork, architecture, philosophy, and politics surges during this time period. Athens is the hub of activity throughout the Mediterranean.

490-479 BC

GREEK Persian Wars.

490 BC

First Persian War- Athenians defeat Persians at Marathon.

480 BC

Second Persian War- Persian forces led by Xerxes destroy Athens. Greek forces won a major sea battle at Salamis.

468 BC

Sophocles writes his first tragic victory.

461-446 BC

First of the Peloponnesian Wars begins between Sparta and Athens.

441 BC

Euripides writes his first tragic play.

431-405 BC

Second of the Peloponnesian Wars between Sparta and Athens.

399 BC

Socrates is tried and executed for his opposition to the Thirty Tyrants.

386 BC

Plato, student of Socrates, founds the Academy.

384 BC

Aristotle, student of Plato, is born.

359 BC

Philip II becomes the king of Macedon.

357-356 BC

Social War- between Macedon and Athens.

356 BC

Alexander the Great, son of Philip II, is born. The temple of Delphi is destroyed in the Sacred War.

338 BC

King Philip II defeats Athenians and Thebans.

336 BC

King Philip II is assassinated, and Alexander the Great takes throne.

332 BC

Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeats Persians at Issus in 333 BC and is given Egypt by the Persian Satrap. He builds a capital at Alexandria.

323 BC

Alexander the Great dies at Babylon.

323-31 BC

HELLENISTIC PERIOD. Antigonid Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Seleucid Syria emerge as the three major kingdoms. Greece suffered from internal revolts.

224 BC

Earthquake destroys the Colossus.

197 BC

King Philip V loses to Roman forces at Kynoskephalai.

86 BC

Roman General Sulla seizes Athens.

267 AD

Goths ruin Athens, Sparta, and Korinth

286 AD

Emperor Diocletian divides Roman empire in two, forming modern Greece (the Byzantine Empire)

 641 AD

Slavs overrun Greece