Ancient Greece Timeline

By Pat2344
  • Agamemnon
    1524 BCE

    Agamemnon

    The king of Mycenae and leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War of Homer's Illiad. He is presented as a great warrior but selfish ruler, famously upsetting his invincible champion Achilles and so prolonging the war and suffering of his men.
  • First Olympic Games
    776 BCE

    First Olympic Games

    A competition of athletes from all around Greece. Held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis.
  • Rise of the Tyrants
    650 BCE

    Rise of the Tyrants

    Many different areas of Greece, tyrants (a ruler who seized power unconstitutionally or inherited such power) began ruling many areas.
  • Draco’s Code of Law
    620 BCE

    Draco’s Code of Law

    The Draconian Law was created by King Draco for the Athenian people. It was harsh due to the fact that many things enabled the Death Penalty, including Minor Crimes
  • Xerxes
    519 BCE

    Xerxes

    The fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. He is best known for his massive invasion of Greece from across the Hellespont, a campaign marked by the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea.
  • Democracy
    508 BCE

    Democracy

    Led by Cleisthenes, Athenians established what is generally held as the first democracy.
  • Pericles
    495 BCE

    Pericles

    Was a Athenian statesman. Under his leadership Athenian democracy and the Athenian empire flourished, making Athens the political and cultural focus of Greece between the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
  • First Persian War
    492 BCE

    First Persian War

    Stemmed from a revolt by Greek Ionians. It was instigated by Aristagoras, economic burdens, and a feeling of being treated unfairly by the Empire. The Greeks overall won the battle
  • Battle of Marathon
    490 BCE

    Battle of Marathon

    It was fought between the citizens of Athens, aided by Plataea, and a Persian force commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I. Was fought because the Persian army wanted to defeat the Greek city-states that supported the uprising in, Ionia.
  • Second Persian War
    480 BCE

    Second Persian War

    King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was in response to the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece at the Battle of Marathon, which ended Darius I's attempts to subjugate Greece.
  • Battle of Thermopylae
    480 BCE

    Battle of Thermopylae

    A battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas I of Sparta, and the Achaemenid Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.
  • Socrates
    470 BCE

    Socrates

    A Greek philosopher from Athens, credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. The first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.
  • Parthenon Completion
    438 BCE

    Parthenon Completion

    Directed by the Athenian statesman Pericles, the Parthenon was built by the architects Ictinus and Callicrates under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias. It was a symbol of the power, wealth and elevated culture of Athens.
  • Peloponnesian War
    431 BCE

    Peloponnesian War

    Fought in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta. Sparta feared of the growing power and influence of the Athenian Empire, thus starting a war.
  • Plato
    428 BCE

    Plato

    Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.
  • Catapult
    400 BCE

    Catapult

    Ancient siege machine that could hurl heavy objects or shoot arrows with great force and for considerable distances.
  • The Academy in Athens
    387 BCE

    The Academy in Athens

    Founded and created by Plato. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum.
  • Aristotle
    385 BCE

    Aristotle

    Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition.
  • Phillip II
    382 BCE

    Phillip II

    The king of the kingdom of Macedon. Said to have restored eternal peace in his country
  • Alexander the Great
    356 BCE

    Alexander the Great

    The king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. His reign was the beginning of a new era in history known as the Hellenistic Age.
  • Battle of Chaeronea
    338 BCE

    Battle of Chaeronea

    Philip II and his son Alexander claimed a decisive victory, effectively uniting Greece under their control. The battle represented the end of independent Greek city-states, and led to the formation of the Macedonian Empire.
  • League of Corinth
    338 BCE

    League of Corinth

    A confederation founded by Phillip II after the Battle of Chaeronea and succeeded by Alexander the Great
  • Homer
    12 BCE

    Homer

    He is famous for the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which have had an big effect on Western culture, but very little is known about the poems alleged author.
  • Darius I
    550

    Darius I

    The third Persian King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire. Noted for his administrative genius, his great building projects, and his benevolence toward the diverse peoples under his sovereignty.