Before Christ
- 1000-700: Synoikismos of Athens, people of Attica were willing to transfer their allegiance to one city, Athens, because of Theseus
- 683: office of Archon established King was emasculated.
- 632: Cylon, Athenian noble, seizes Acropolis and tries to make himself king, fails.
- 621: Draco, Athenian lawgiver, issues code of laws where everything is punishable by death — Draconian.
- 594: Solon, Athenian statesman, becomes Archon, captures Salamis from Megarians, establishes Timocracy, rule by the richest, constitutional reforms, more vote and trade, abolishes slavery, Know Thyself
- 590: Sappho, Greek poetess and priestess, flourishes on island of Lesbos
- 565: Pisistratus, Athenian general, organizes Diakrioi, party of poor people
- 561: Pisistratus takes power first time, driven out by Lycurgus who leads nobles
- 559: Pisistratus restored by help of Megacles
- 556: Pisistratus expelled, makes fortune from Thracian mines
- 546: Croesus, rich king of Lydia, killed at Sardis by Persians
- 546: Pisistratus restored by Thessaly and Lygdamos of Naxos
- 527: Pisistratus dies, succeeded by sons Hippias and Hipparchus
- 525: Persian Darius I, son-in-law of Cyrus the Great takes Egypt
- 507: Cleisthenes, Greek reformer, takes power, increases democracy
- 490: Themistocles and Miltiades, Athenians, defeat Darius at Marathon,
Phidippides runs with news - 484: Aeschylus, Athenian playwright, wins Athenian Prize
- 480: Leonidas, Spartan, makes sacrifice of 300 Spartans at Thermopylae so
main force can escape, Xerxes son of Darius is leading the Persians - 480: Battle of Salamis – Themistocles, Athenian general, lures Persians into
Bay of Salamis, Xerxes loses and goes home, leaves behind Mardonius - 479: Pausanius, Greek general routs Mardonius at Plataea
- 479: Battle of Mycale frees Greek colonies in Asia. After the Battle of Salamis, Athens set up the Delian League, treasury on island of Delos, a confederacy of cities around the Aegean. It was intended as a military defense association against Persia but was turned into an empire, collecting tribute and deciding policy of its associates. Sparta formed rival Peloponnesian League
- 476-462: Cimon elected general each year, he was victorious over Persia and then enforced military power on Delian League
- 474: Pindar, Greek poet moves to Thebes from court at Syracuse
- 471: Themistocles ostracized
- 468: Sophocles, Greek playwright, defeats Aeschylus for Athenian Prize
- 461: Cimon ostracized
- 457: Pericles, Athenian statesman begins Golden Age, he was taught by
Anaxagoras, who believed in dualistic Universe and atoms - 456: Aeschylus dies
- 449: Herodotus, Greek Historian, writes History of Greco-Persian War from
490-479: - 448: Ictinus and Callicrates, Greek architects rebuild Acropolis from Persain destruction
- 441: Euripides, Greek playwright, wins Athenian prize
- 440: Heraclitus, Greek philospher, believes everything is mutable
- 435: Phidias, Greek sculptor, completes Zeus at Elis 1 of 7 wonders
- 433: Corinth and Sparta Megara and Aegini also ally against Corfu and Athens Rhegium and Leontini also
- 432: End of Golden Age, Peloponnesian Wars begin Athens under Pericles
blockades Potidaea, Corfu declares war on Corinth - 431: Sparta led by Archidamus II sets out to destroy Athens
- 431: Empedocles, Greek doctor, believes body has 4 humors
- 430: Failed peace mission by Athens, bubonic plague year, Sparta takes no
prisoners - 430: Leucippus, Greek philospher, believes every natural event has natural
cause - 429: Phormio, Atheinian admiral, wins at Chalcis
- 429: Pericles dies of bubonic plague
- 429: Hippocrates, Greek doctor, believes diseases have physical cause
- 428: Mitylene rebels, chief city of Lesbos
- 427: Archidamus II dies, Alcidas, Greek admiral sent to help Lesbos, raids
Ionia and flees after seeing Athenian might - 427: Mitylene surrenders to Athens, Plataeans surrender to Athens
- 427: Aristophanes, Greek playwright, wins Athenian Prize
- 426: Corfu secures island for Athens
- 426: Demosthenes, Athenian general, and Cleon, Athenian demagogue,
revitalizes Athenian forces, makes bold plans opposed by Nicias, his first military campaign barely succeeds - 425: Athenian fleet bottles up Spartan navy at Navarino Bay, Nicias resigns
- 424: Syracuse sends Athenians home
- 424: Pagondas of Thebes crushes Athenian army at Delium, Brasidas a Spartan general makes a successful campaign, Cleon exiles Thucydides for 20 years for arriving late
- 423: Truce of Laches supposed to stop Brasidas but doesn’t, Nicias leads
Athenian forces in retaking Mende - 422: Cleon meets Brasidas outside of Amphipolis, both are killed
- 421: Peace of Nicias brings temporary end to war, but Alcibiades, a nephew
of Pericles, makes anti-Sparta alliance - 420: Quadruple alliance of Athens, Argus, Mantinea, and Elis confronts Spartan-Boeotian alliance
- 419: King Agis, ruler of Sparta, attacks Argus, makes treaty
- 418: Mantinea, greatest land battle of war, gives Sparta victory over Argus,
which broke treaty, Alcibiades thrown out, alliance broken - 416: Alcibiades makes plans, is restored to power
- 415: Hermai are mutilated in Athens, Alcibiades accused, asks for inquiry, told to set sail for battle, is condemned to death in absentia, he defects to Sparta
- 414: Lemachus, Athenian commander killed at Syracuse
- 413: Nicias and Demosthenes killed at Syracuse
- 412: Alcibiades is thrown out of Sparta, conspires to come back to Athens
- 411: Democracy ends in Athens by Antiphon, Peisander, and Phrynichus,
overthrown by Theramenes, Constitution of the 5000, Athenian navy recalls Alcibiades, confirmed by Athenians - 410: After several successes, Athenian demagogue Cleophon rejects Sparta
peace overtures - 409: Byzantium recaptured by Alcibiades for Athens
- 408: Alcibiades reenters Athens in triumph, Lysander, a Spartan commander,
builds fleet at Ephesus - 407: Lysander begins destruction of Athenian fleet, Alcibiades stripped of power
- 406: Callicratides, Spartan naval leader, loses Battle of Arginusae over blockade of Mitylene harbor, Sparta sues for peace, rejected by Cleophon
- 405: Lysander captures Athenian fleet, Spartan king Pausanius lays siege to
Athens, Cleophon executed, Corinth and Thebes demand destruction of Athens - 404: Athens capitulates Apr 25 Theramenes secures terms, prevents total
destruction of Athens, Theramenes and Alcibiades are killed - 401: Thucydides, Greek historian, leaves account of Golden Age and
Pelopennesian War at his death - 399: Socrates, Greek philospher, condemned to death for corrupting youth
- 347: Plato, Greek philospher, founds Academy
- 342: Aristotle, Greek philosopher, begins teaching Alexander, son of Philip
of Macedon - 338: Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes in last struggle for Greek
Independence at Battle of Cheronea Aug 2 - 336: Alexander succeeds father, who was assassinated at the wedding feast of his daughter
- 333: Alexander defeats Persians at Battle of Issus, Oct, but Darius III
escapes - 332: Alexander conquers Egypt
- 331: at Battle of Arbela Oct 1, Alexander end Achaemenid Dynasty and takes
Persian Empire - 330: Democritus, Greek philosopher, develops Atomic theory, believes cause
and necessity, nothing comes out of nothing - 329: Alexander conquers Samarkand
- 327: Alexander invades Northern India, but army is tired so doesn’t pursue
it - 323: Alexander dies, his generals vie for power in Wars of the Diadochi
Antigonus- Macedonia, Antipater- Macedonia, Seleucus- Babylonia and
Syria, Ptolemy- Egypt, Eumenes- Macedonia, Lysimachus, later Antipaters
son Cassander also vies for power - 316: Meander, Greek playwright, wins Athenian prize
- 300: Euclid, Greek mathematician, publishes Elements, treating both geometry and number theory (see also Euclidean algorithm)
- 295: Athens falls to Demetrius, Lachares killed
- 265: Archimedes, Greek mathematician, develops screw, specific gravity,
center of gravity; anticipates discoveries of integral calculus
