Who Was When

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Ancient GreeceἙλλάς

EuropeHeartland today: Greece

Before and after

  • In the Aegean:Came before: Mycenaean Greece Came after: Ancient Rome

    The Greek Dark Ages, about 1180 to 800 BCE, came in between.

    Rome took mainland Greece in 146 BCE, when it defeated Corinth.

Compare with…

Meanwhile…

A world of rival city-states, above all Athens and Sparta, that shared one language and one set of gods while rarely agreeing on anything else. Greek philosophy, theatre, mathematics and democratic government spread across the Mediterranean and beyond after Alexander the Great's conquests, until Rome absorbed the last independent Greek kingdoms.

Also alive at the same time

Key events

  1. The first Olympic Games are held at Olympia, traditionally used to mark the start of recorded Greek historyDisputed

    776 BCE is the traditional founding date recorded by later Greek chronographers; it is a convention, not an archaeologically fixed date.

    Sources

    • Spivey, N. (2004). The Ancient Olympics. Oxford University Press.
    • Miller, Stephen G. (2004). Ancient Greek Athletics. Yale University Press.
  2. Cleisthenes' reforms in Athens create the world's first known democracy, with citizens voting directly on laws

    Sources

    • Ober, J. (2008). Democracy and Knowledge: Innovation and Learning in Classical Athens. Princeton University Press.
    • Hansen, M.H. (1991). The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. Blackwell.
  3. Athens defeats a Persian invasion force at Marathon

    Sources

    • Herodotus. Histories, Book 6.
    • Krentz, P. (2010). The Battle of Marathon. Yale University Press.
  4. – Athens builds the Parthenon on the Acropolis under the statesman Pericles

    Sources

    • Beard, Mary (2002). The Parthenon. Profile Books.
    • Hurwit, J.M. (1999). The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present. Cambridge University Press.
  5. – Athens and Sparta fight the Peloponnesian War, which ends with Athens's defeat

    Sources

    • Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War.
    • Kagan, D. (2003). The Peloponnesian War. Viking.
  6. – Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, spreading Greek language and culture from Egypt to India

    Sources

    • Bosworth, A.B. (1988). Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge University Press.
    • Arrian. Anabasis of Alexander.
  7. Rome destroys Corinth and dissolves the last Greek confederacy, ending mainland Greek political independence

    Sources

    • Gruen, E.S. (1984). The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome. University of California Press.
    • Pausanias. Description of Greece, Book 7.

Wars

  1. Greco-Persian Wars
    Allied Greek city-states (the Hellenic League, then the Delian League)

    Athens, Sparta, Eretria, Plataea, Corinth and other allied Greek city-states, Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor (in revolt 499–493 BCE and again from 479 BCE), Cypriot kingdoms under Onesilus of Salamis, all but Amathus (joined the Ionian Revolt, 497 BCE), and Egyptian rebels under Inaros, allied with the Delian League (about 460–454 BCE)

    against
    The Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Greek states that sided with it

    Achaemenid Empire and Macedon, a Persian vassal, with Thebes, Thessaly and other Greek states that sided with Persia in 480–479 BCE

    Persian forces left mainland Greece after 479 BCE and the Ionian cities broke away from Persian rule; fighting with the Delian League died out around 449 BCE, perhaps under a treaty, the Peace of Callias, whose existence is debated.

  2. Peloponnesian War
    Athens and the Delian League

    Athens, Delian League cities of the Aegean islands and Greece, and allies such as Corcyra and Plataea, and Delian League cities of Asia Minor

    against
    Sparta, the Peloponnesian League and their allies

    Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and the other Peloponnesian League allies, Syracuse, and Achaemenid Persian Empire (allied with Sparta from 412 BCE; paid for its fleet)

    Athens surrendered in April 404 BCE: it pulled down its Long Walls, gave up its fleet and its overseas possessions, and was ruled for a short time by a Sparta-backed oligarchy, the Thirty.