Chronology of Ancient Greece

circa 9000 Atlantis disappears.

circa 1600 Island of Thera explodes, causing a tidal wave that inundates coastal settlements in the Aegean, and cripples the civilization of Crete.

circa 1300 Theseus establishes the city of Athens.

circa 1250 Troy falls to Agamemnon and his Greek army after a ten-year siege.

circa 1200 Dorians set up states in the southern Peloponnesus, Crete, and Rhodes.

circa 800 Lycurgus institutes reforms in Sparta, compiles Homer’s epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

[776] First Olympiad.

[730] Sparta conquers Messene.

[594] Solon gives Athens a constitutional democracy, and wipes out all debts.

560-527 Tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons in Athens. Eventually this tyranny is ended by Cleisthenes.

[490] Battle of Marathon. Athens defeats an invading army of Persians.

[480] King Xerxes of Persia invades Greece, and overcomes the heroic resistance of a vastly outnumbered Spartan force at the Battle of Thermopylae. Athens is destroyed. At the Battle of Salamis, the Persian navy is defeated by the Greeks, so Xerxes decides to go home and leave the rest of the war to his lieutenant, Mardonius.

[479] Battle of Plataea. The allied Greeks defeat the Persians under Mardonius, and the Persian invasion is practically over.

[477] Athens assumes leadership of Delian League, which is an alliance of the city-states and islands of Greece against the Persians.

[464] Earthquake in Sparta; helots revolt.

[461] Cimon is ostracized from Athens.

[454] The treasury of the Delian League is transferred to Athens.

[443] Thucydides ostracized, leaving Pericles in total control of Athens. The Athenians embezzle the treasury of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other monuments to their greatness.

[431] Peloponnesian War begins. Athens and Sparta struggle for hegemony in the Greek World.

[429] Pericles dies of the plague in Athens.

[421] Peace of Nicias begins, temporarily ending the Peloponnesian War.

[415] Peace of Nicias ends, and Athens invades Sicily.

[413] Nicias and the Athenian army surrender in Sicily.

[405] Dionysius I becomes tyrant of Syracuse.

[404] Peloponnesian War ends when Athens surrenders to Sparta. Tyranny of The Thirty begins in Athens.

401 – 399 Greek mercenaries, including Xenophon, fight their way through the Persian Empire to the Black Sea (March of the Ten Thousand).

[399] The philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death in Athens for his unpopular attitude.

[396] Agesilaus invades the Persian Empire.

[395] War breaks out among the Greeks, Agesilaus returns to Sparta.

[387] King of Persia arranges peace among the Greeks.

[382] Sparta seizes Thebes by surprise attack.

[379] Pelopidas, et al., liberate Thebes.

[371] Spartan power is crushed by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra.

[369] City of Megalopolis is founded by Thebans to shut in Sparta.

[367] Dionysius I dies; Dionysius II becomes tyrant of Syracuse.

[362] Battle of Mantinea; Epaminondas dies.

[357] Dion liberates Syracuse.

[344] Timoleon goes to liberate Sicily.

[341] Timoleon defeats the Carthaginians and liberates Sicily.

[338] Battle of Chaeronea. King Philip of Macedonia defeats the combined armies of the Greeks and becomes the ruler of Greece.

[336] Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia after Philip is assassinated.

[335] Alexander obliterates Thebes.

[333] Battle of Issus. Alexander defeats the army of Persia and takes control of the western half of the Persian empire.

[331] Battle of Gaugamela (Arbela). Alexander defeats King Darius of Persia and takes control of the whole Persian Empire as well as all of Greece. Greek language and civilization spread from Egypt to India.

[326] Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander’s invasion of India ends.

[323] Alexander enters Babylon and dies.

[318] The Athenians sentence Phocion to death.

[301] Alexander’s successors fight at the Battle of Ipsus.

281 – 275 Pyrrhus fights in Italy and Sicily.

[245] Agis attempts reform in Sparta.

[241] Agis is executed by the rich of Sparta.

[222] Royal lines of Sparta end.

[197] Rome defeats Macedonia.

[146] Rome obliterates Corinth, Greece becomes conquered territory.