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776 BCE
The Olympic Games
The first Olympic Games take place, and are to happen again every for years. They are to honor the Greek god Zeus. These games are still going on every four years today. -
750 BCE
The Iliad and The Odyssey
Homer, the greatest Greek poet, begins to write two of the greatest literary works in history: the Iliad and the Odyssey. They are still read around the world today. They are also studied in many schools. -
480 BCE
Battle of Salamis
During this naval battle, the Greeks lured the Persians to more narrow, shallow waters, leaving no room for the Persians to escape. Greeks ram there ships into the Persian fleet, sinking the Persian's ships, and the Greeks claim victory. -
Period: 480 BCE to 404 BCE
The Golden Age of Athens
During the Golden Age of Athens, Athens produced some of the world's greatest artistic, architectural, Philosophical and cultural developments. Athens flourished under the rule of Pericles, who made Athens the main political power in Greece and shaped the Athenian empire and democracy into the one of the most important city-states of Greece (rivaling Sparta). -
470 BCE
Socrates: the Philosopher is Born
Though they never truly determined his birth date, Socrates was a great Greek philosopher, who asked philosophical questions to people at the market place, making them question the way they lived. He answered questions with questions, never really giving the answer. He was eventually sentenced to death, with hemlock poisoning. -
468 BCE
Sophocles starts writing plays
Sophocles begins to write plays, later making theatre a popular form of entertainment. He is one of few Greeks so famous that many of his plays still survive and are preformed today. Two famous ones are Oresteia and Oedipus the King. -
432 BCE
Completion of the Parthenon
The Parthenon, the best surviving building in Athens, is completed on the Acropolis. It was built in honor of the Greek goddess Athena, with a giant statue of her built. It was later burned by the Persians. -
431 BCE
The Peloponnesian Wars Begin
The Peloponnesian wars begin. This war is fought between the Delian League (led by Athens) and the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta). This war was fought for 27 years, but a plague swept through Athens, helping Sparta greatly. In the end, the Spartans were victorious, bringing an end to the Delian league and closing the curtain on the Golden Age of Athens. -
386 BCE
Plato's Academy
Plato, a student of Socrates and well-known Greek philosopher, founds a school called the Academy. It is on a higher level of learning than most schools, and one of the first better learning institutes of the western world. -
146 BCE
Greece is Now Rome
The Roman empire conquers Greece, therefore making it now part of the Roman empire.
