Timeline of Ancient Greece
This page is a Timeline of Ancient GreeceBC
;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:Pausanius, 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 and Sparta Megara and Aegini also ally against Corfu and Athens Rhegium and Leontini also ;432:End of Golden Age, Peloponnesian Wars begin Athens under Pericles blockades Potidaea, Corfu declares war on Corinth ;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 ;429:Phormio, Atheinian admiral, wins at Chalcis ;429:Pericles dies of 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 ;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 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 ;421:Peace of Nicias brings temporary end to war, but Alcibiades, a nephew of Pericles, makes anti-Sparta alliance ;420:Quadruple alliance of Athens, Argus, Mantinea, and Elis confronts Spartan-Boeotian alliance ;419:King Agis, ruler of Sparta, attacks Argus, makes treaty ;418:Mantinea, greatest land battle of war, gives Sparta victory over Argus, 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, 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 ;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 Battle of 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
