Timeline: History of Ancient Greece

3000 BCE

Founding of Athens

This is the founding of the city-state of Athens which will become the most famous city-state.

Period: 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE

Mycenaean Age

This was the golden age of Greece and lasted for 500 years Sparta and Athens at their most prosporus.

1250 BCE

Trojan War

This was a war that was described by Homer in the Iliad and was a conflict between Sparta and Troy. The end of the war resulted in Troy's destruction the survivors later founded Rome.

Period: 1100 BCE to 1000 BCE

Dorian Invasion / Greek Dark Age

The Dorian invasion is a concept devised by historians of Ancient Greece to explain the replacement of pre-classical dialects and traditions in southern Greece by the ones that prevailed in Classical Greece. The latter were named Dorian by the ancient Greek writers, after the Dorians, the historical population that spoke them.

779 BCE

The First Olympic Games

This was a competition between all of the Greek states in sports like running and other physical activities.

507 BCE

Emergence of Democracy

This was when the first democratic government was established in Athens. This could also be considered the first ever recorded case of a democacy worldwide.

490 BCE

Battle of Marathon

This was the first Persian Invasion of Greece and was ended at this battle where an outnumbered 10,000 Greeks faced against a Persian force landing on the beaches of Marathon. It was a decisive victory for the Greeks as they had superior technology and tactics.

480 BCE

Battle of Thermopylae

This was the start of the second invasion of Greece by Persia. In which a small force of 300 Spartans and 3,000 Athenians tried to hold off approximately 500,000 Persians. They held off for three days when the Athenians retreated back to Athens to evacuate the city. Only 300 Spartans held off for 4 more days until Xerces found a way around the pass and surrounded the Spartans. In the end, the Spartans had killed 10,000 Persians a relatively small number but in the end hugely demoralizing.

480 BCE

Battle of Salamis

This was the final battle of the second Persian invasion of Greece. In which an outnumber Greek navy fought and defeated the massive Persian force. This ended the war.

478 BCE

Delian League Formed

The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150, 173, to 330 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

465 BCE

Helot Revolt

This was a group of people who revolted against the Spartans. The pressure to reform the judicial system reached the boiling point when a crisis in foreign affairs heated up Athenian politics. The crisis began in 465 B.C. with a tremendous earthquake in Laconia, the territory of the Spartans in the Peloponnese. It killed so many Spartans that the helots in Messenia instigated a massive revolt.

447 BCE

Building of the Parthenon and Acropolis

The Parthenon Ancient Greek: Parthenónas) is a former temple, on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC.

431 BCE

Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

This was a war between Greece and Sparta. Greece thought that Sparta was weak and if they just stayed in their city they wouldn't give them any battles.

429 BCE

Outbreak of of the Plague and Death of Pericles

Because Athens were all locked up in their city and it was very crowded a massive plague spread and wiped out at least a third of the city. Also, Pericles ( the ruler of Athens ) succumbed to the plague and died.

399 BCE