This is a timeline of ancient Greece.

All dates are BC.

Mycenean Age

1500: The Eleusinian Mysteries begin, mystical homages to Demeter, that may have involved use of psychedelic mushrooms. The Mysteries would continue until Alaric destroys the sacred sites in 396 AD.

Greek Dark Ages

1200: The traditional date for the start of the Greek Dark Ages.

800: The first alphabetic writing system appears.

Archaic Period

776 :Traditional date for the first historic Olympic games.

757 :The first Messenian war starts. (date disputed by Jerome, Pausanias and Diodorus; this estimate is based on a reading of Diodorus' Spartan king lists and Pausanias' description of the war)

757 :Office of Archon reduced to 10 years. Members of the rulling family to hold the office starting with Charops. (dating based on Pausanias)

754 :Polydorus becomes king of Sparta.

738 :Alternate date for the end of the first Messenian war.

735 :Perdiccas flees from Argos to Macedonia and conquers the land.

734 :Polydorus sends colonists to Italy.

727-717 :Hippomenes, archon of Athens,who killed his daughter's adulterer by yoking him up to his chariot and then locks his daughter up with a horse until she dies. (Pausanias and Aristotle)

c. 725 Lelantine War between Chalcis and Eretria. Many Greek cities are allied with one or the other. Dates before this point uncertain.

719 :Polydorus the king of Sparta is murdered by Polymarchus.

716 :The reign of the Heraklids over Lydia is ended when Candaules, known as Myrsilus to the Greeks, is murdered by Gyges because of his wife’s anger.

690 :Pheidon becomes tyrant of Argos

687 :Annual office of Archon established. Any Athenian citizen can be elected to office if they meet the requirements. Creon elected first annual archon. (dating based on Pausanias)

685 :The second Messenian war begins

665 :The second Messenian war ends

656 :Cypselus subjects Corinth to tyranny

645-560 :Spartan wars with Tegea all unsuccessful

642 or 634 :Battus establishes a Greek colony in Cyrene in Libya

632 :Cylon, Athenian noble, seizes Acropolis and tries to make himself king, fails

630 :Formal pederasty is introduced, first in Crete, as a means of population control and an educational modality

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

Late Archaic Period

561 :Pisistratus takes power in Athens for first time,

555 :Pisistratus driven out by Lycurgus who leads nobles

549 :Pisistratus restored by help of Megacles

546 :Croesus, rich king of Lydia, captured at Sardis by Persians

542 :Pisistratus expelled, makes fortune from Thracian mines

532 :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

515 :Hippias becomes sole ruler afther the death of Hipparchus

511 :Hippias is killed

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

Classical Period

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 Sea. 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 philosopher, 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 thus starting the Peloponnesian War

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 philosopher, 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 :Plato born.

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 philosopher, condemned to death for corrupting youth

387 :Peace of Antalcidas concluded between the Greeks and the Persians.

347 :Plato, Greek philosopher, founder of Academy, dies

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

Hellenistic Period

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 his army is despondent and refuses to march further eastwards.

323 :Alexander dies, his generals vie for power in Wars of the Diadochi: Antigonus- Macedon, Antipater- Macedon, Seleucus- Babylonia and Syria, Ptolemy- Egypt, Eumenes- Macedon, Lysimachus, later Antipater's 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

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• Hellenistic Greece

Notes

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Wasson, Ruck, Hofmann, The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978. ISBN 0151778728.

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