Greek History

  • The first Olympic Games takes place
    776 BCE

    The first Olympic Games takes place

    Athens While the ancient Games were played in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC to 393 AD, the revival of the Olympics took 1503 years. In 1896 the first Modern Olympics took place in Athens, Greece.
  • Homer composes the Odyssey.
    750 BCE

    Homer composes the Odyssey.

    The Odyssey consists of 12,109 hexameters and is split into 24 hexameters in the same manner as the Iliad. Whereas battle and vengeance were the themes of the Iliad, the Odyssey takes place after the Achaeans claimed the Trojan Battle, as Homer called the Greeks
  • Battle of Marathon - The Greeks defeat Persian invaders.
    490 BCE

    Battle of Marathon - The Greeks defeat Persian invaders.

    The war between Greeks and the occupying forces of Persian king Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE) on the Marathon plain in September 490 BCE was a triumph that would go down in legend as the moment the Greek city-states demonstrated the world their bravery and perfection and obtained their liberty.
  • - Battle of Salamis - The Greeks defeat Persian invaders.
    480 BCE

    - Battle of Salamis - The Greeks defeat Persian invaders.

    Salamis Naval Battle (September 29, 480): significant combat during the Persian War, during which the Greek allies beat the Persian navy. King Xerxes continued to Athens after the Persian victories at Artemisium and Thermopylae, which he won during the last days of September 480
  • Athens takes control of an empire.
    450 BCE

    Athens takes control of an empire.

    Under the Pericles of Athens the Athenians transferred the league's treasury to Athens. The city has began to accumulate and build on monetary advantages, growing its prosperity and strength. The cities and regions that followed Athens established by the 450s under the leadership of Athens effectively an empire.
  • Greek plays are performed in Athens.
    440 BCE

    Greek plays are performed in Athens.

    The first plays were performed at the Dionysus Theatre, founded at the beginning of the 5th century in the shadow of the Acropolis in Athens, but theatres proved to be so common that they quickly spread across Greece. The drama was divided into three styles or genres: humour, tragedy, and satyr action.
  • Parthenon is finished in Athens.
    432 BCE

    Parthenon is finished in Athens.

    As in other Greek temples, the Parthenon acted as the city treasury with a practical reason. It acted for a period as the Delian League treasury, which later became the Athenian Kingdom.
  • War between Athens and Sparta - Sparta defeats Athens in 404 BCE.
    431 BCE

    War between Athens and Sparta - Sparta defeats Athens in 404 BCE.

    The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League commanded by Athens against the Sparta-dominated Peloponnesian Army. The war has traditionally been divided up by historians into three phases. ... This war time began in 421 BC, with the declaration of the Peace of Nicias.
  • - Alexander the Great conquers all
    336 BCE

    - Alexander the Great conquers all

    After Alexander conquered the last of the armies of the Achaemenid Empire in 328 BC he began a new war in 327 BC against the numerous Indian kingdoms. He wanted to conquer the whole known world which ended on the east end of India in Alexander's day
  • Greece is conquered by Rome.
    146 BCE

    Greece is conquered by Rome.

    Rome continued its conquest of Greece. The Greeks were finally defeated at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC
  • Democracy begins in Athens.
    146 BCE

    Democracy begins in Athens.

    Athenian democracy developed around the sixth century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens