| 2000 | Ancestors of Greeks probably in Greece by now. Minoan Palace society begins on Crete |
| 1750 | Peak of Minoan civilization in Crete. |
| 1700 | Knossos destroyed by earthquake or war |
| 1600 | Knossos rebuilt within a century; brilliant civilization flourishes |
| 1500 | Peak of Mycenaean civilization. Hittite Empire in Asia Minor. |
| 1470 | Volcano destroys Cretan civilization through ash, poisonous vapors,seismic 250 meter high waves. Mycenae established as new cultural center |
| 1250 | Decline and eclipse of Mycenaean civilization. |
| 1200 | Trojan war begins |
| 1184 | City of Troy falls to the Greeks under Agamemnon |
| 1000 | Greek colonization of eastern coasts of Aegean. |
| 850 | Iliad and Odyssey |
| 790 | Greek trading settlement at Al Mina in Syria |
| 776 | First recorded Olympic games held; they are open only to pure Greeks with no police record |
| 760 - 750 | Euboean foundation of Cumae in Italy |
| 750 | Geometric Pottery. Beginning of Greek colonization in Mediterranean and Black Sea. |
| 735 onwards | Greek colonization of Sicily and south Italy |
| 735 - 715 | Spartan conquest of Messenia |
| 700 | Lelantine War between Chalcis and Eretria |
| 700 - 650 | Cimmerian raids in Asia Minor |
| 700 | Homer. |
| 700 | Milesian colonization of Black Sea and approaches; continuous contact with Egypt opened |
| 665 | Egypt independent under Psamtek I (XXVI Dynasty) |
| 664 | Naval battle between Corinth and Corcyra, the first sea battle known to Thucydides |
| 650 | Messenian revolt against Sparta. Tyrtaeus. 'Lycurgan' reform at Sparta. Early Lyric poets. Early sculpture. |
| 650 | Cypselus overthrows Bacchiad aristocracy at Corinth. Tyranny at Sicyon. Archilochus |
| 632 | Cylon unsuccessfully attempts tyranny at Athens |
| 630 | Thera founds Cyrene |
| 621 | Draco, Athenian lawgiver, issues a code making nearly every offense a capital crime ("draconian") |
| 600 | End of Assyria. Lydia powerful in western Asia Minor. Alcman |
| 597 | Athenian statesman Solon established government by the rich |
| 595 - 586 | Sacred War for control of Delphi |
| 594 | Archonship of Solon at Athens |
| 590 - 580 | Pittacus' rule at Mytilene. Poet Sappho flourishes on island of Lesbos. Poet Alcaeus |
| 585 | Battle between Medes and Lydians interrupted by solar eclipse, allegedly foretold by Thales |
| 583 | Overthrow of Corinthian tyranny |
| 582 | First regular celebration of Pythian games at Delphi |
| 581 | Isthmian games |
| 573 | Nemean games |
| 565 | General Peisistratus organizes political party of farmers, shepherds, artisans, and the poor; later he will confiscate his enemies' wealth and give it to the poor |
| 561 | Peisistratus' first attempt at tyranny at Athens |
| 560 | Spartan defeat in Arcadia |
| 550 | Sparta dominant in Peloponnese. Treaty with Tegea |
| 550 | Rise of Persian Empire. |
| 546 | Final establishment of Peisistratus' tyranny at Athens |
| 545 | Cyrus overthrows Croesus of Lydia and conquers Ionia |
| 528 - 527 | Hippias succeeds Peisistratus at Athens |
| 510 | Sparta expels Hippias from Athens. Conflict between Isagoras and Cleisthenes |
| 507 | Reforms of Cleisthenes at Athens |
| 506 | Spartan expedition against Athens frustrated by mutiny of Corinthians and others |
| 500 | First known conference of Peloponnesian League. Heraclitus. Empedocles. Threat of Persian Empire to Greece. Persian invasion of Greece defeated. |
| 499 - 494 | Ionian Revolt against Persia |
| 498 - 491 | Hippocrates tyrant of Gela |
| 498 | Earliest dated poem of Pindar |
| 490 | Birth of Herodotus |
| 490 | Athens wins battle of Marathon against Persians led by Darius. Gelon tyrant at Gela |
| 485 - 478 | Gelon tyrant at Syracuse |
| 483 | Themistocles persuades Athens to build large fleet |
| 480 | Battle of Thermopylae and Artemisium won by Persians under Xerxes; Persians occupy Attica and sack Athens; Battle of Salamis returns victory to Greeks. Gelon defeats Carthaginians at Himera |
| 479 | Greek victories over Persians at Plataea and Mycale ends Persian invasions |
| 478 - 477 | Pausanias recalled to Sparta. Athens founds Confederacy of Delos. Hieron succeeds Gelon at Syracuse |
| 478 | Pausanias' campaign to Cyprus and Byzantium |
| 475 - 465 | Anti-Spartan movement in Peloponnese |
| 474 | Hieron defeats Etruscans at Cumae |
| 472 | Aeschylus presents his first surviving play, The Persae (The Persians) thereby founding a classical tragedy through use of heroic infusions into previously simple form |
| 470 | Revolt of Naxos against Athens |
| 469 | Cimon's victory over Persians at R. Eurymedon |
| 468 | Sophocles wins first tragedy drama prize defeating Aeschylus. Death of Simonides |
| 467 | Death of Hieron |
| 466 - 465 | Revolt of Thasos from Athens |
| 464 | Earthquake at Sparta. Messenian revolt |
| 462 | Reforms of Ephialtes at Athens. Murder of Ephialtes. Exile of Cimon |
| 460 - 454 | Athenian expedition to Egypt |
| 459 - 454 | Fighting in Greece (First Peloponnesian War) |
| 458 | Oresteian trilogy by Aeschylus |
| 457 | Golden age in Athens begins as Pericles promotes architecture and art and studies philosophy with Anaxagoras |
| 455 | Euripides' first play. Approximate date of Thucydides' birth |
| 454 | Treasury of Confederacy moved from Delos to Athens |
| 451 | Pericles' law restricting Athenian citizenship |
| 450 | Great age of Attic tragedy. Parthenon. Herodotos. |
| 449 | Herodotus's l History |
| 449 | Peace between Athens and Persia |
| 448 | Rebuilding of Persian-destroyed Acropolis |
| 447 | Parthenon begun |
| 446 | Boeotia and Megara revolt from Athenian control. Federal constitution of Boeotia. Spartan invasion of Attica. Thirty Years' Peace between Athens and Sparta |
| 441 | Euripedes wins drama prize |
| 440 | Heracleitus forms theory of universal flux |
| 440 | Revolt of Samos against Athens |
| 438 | Parthenon completed |
| 437 | Athens founds Amphipolis in Thrace |
| 436 | Birth of Isocrates |
| 432 | Peloponnesian wars begin |
| 431 | Theory of four humors of the body formed by Empedocles |
| 431 | Outbreak of Peloponnesian War |
| 429 - 427 | Peloponnesian siege of Plataea |
| 429 | Death of Pericles; plague destroys a third of the population. Birth of Plato |
| 427 - 424 | First Athenian expedition to Sicily |
| 427 | Aristophanes' first play |
| 425 | Spartan detachment cut off on Sphacteria near Pylos and forced to surrender |
| 424 | Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Expedition of Brasidas to Thrace. Athenian defeat at Delium in Boeotia Brasidas captures Amphipolis. Thucydides exiled from Athens |
| 422 | Battle outside Amphipolis, Cleon and Brasidas killed |
| 421 | Alcibiades comes to the fore of political and military intrigue |
| 421 | Peace of Nicias |
| 420 onwards | Sporadic fighting in Peloponnese |
| 418 | Sparta defeats Athens and Argos at Mantineia |
| 416 | Alcibiades urges conquest of Sicily and Carthage |
| 415 | Alcibiades accused of destroying religious statues and is called to stand trial; he joins Spartans against Athens. Athenian expedition against Syracuse |
| 413 | Sparta formally resumes war against Athens, and fortifies Deceleia in Attica. Destruction of Athenian force in Sicily |
| 412 | Spartans lose confidence in Alcibiades; he goes to Persia |
| 411 – 410 | Oligarchic revolution of the Four Hundred at Athens |
| 411 | Democracy overthrown by oligarchic extremists Antiphon, Peisander and Phrynichus; Alcibiades recalled and reelected general |
| 410 | Spartans and Persians crushed under leadership of Alcibiades |
| 409 | Recapture of Byzantium. Carthaginian invasion of Sicily |
| 408 | Alcibiades enters Athens in triumph is given autocratic powers |
| 407 | Alcibiades defeated at Notium; is replaced |
| 406 | Athenian victory over Spartan fleet at Arginusae Six of the victorious generals condemned to death for not picking up survivors |
| 405 | Aristophanes produced The Frogs. Dionysius I tyrant at Syracuse. Athenian fleet defeated at Aegos potami in Hellespont |
| 404 | Athens capitulates to Sparta; ends Peloponnesian war; Athens is starved into submission; plague sweeps city |
| 404 | Surrender of Athens. Revolt of Egypt from Persia. Oligarchy of the Thirty set up at Athens |
| 403 | Restoration of democracy at Athens |
| 401 | Thucydides dies. March of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II. Cyrus killed at Cunaxa. Retreat of the Ten Thousand to the sea with Xenophon one of their leaders |
| 400 - 395 | Spartan campaigns against Persians in Asia Minor |
| 400 | Peloponnesian War. Socrates. Thucydides. Aristophanes. |
| 399 | Socrates condemned and executed for flouting conventional ideas and corrupting youth |
| 396 | Siege of Syracuse by Carthaginians who withdraw after plague in their camp |
| 395 | Alliance of Thebes/Athens/Argos against Sparta. Battle at Haliartus and death of Lysander |
| 394 | Corinthian War. Spartan victories at Nemea River and Coroneia |
| 392 | Spartan victory at Lechaeum outside Corinth. Negotiations for peace;first mention of 'Common Peace'. Democratic revolution in Corinth |
| 390 | Iphicrates destroys Spartan mora |
| 387 - 386 | King's Peace |
| 384 | Birth of Aristotle |
| 383 | Spartans seize citadel of Thebes |
| 379 - 378 | Liberation of Thebes |
| 378 - 371 | Athens and Thebes at war with Sparta |
| 378 | Sphodrias' march against Peiraeus. His acquittal at Sparta. Formation of Second Athenian Confederacy |
| 373 | Destruction of temple of Apollo at Delphi |
| 371 | Thebes defeats Sparta at Leuctra |
| 370 | Murder of Jason of Pherae |
| 367 | Death of Dionysius I; succession of Dionysius II. Plato at Syracuse |
| 362 | Battle of Mantineia; death of Epameinondas |
| 359 | Accession of Philip II of Macedona |
| 357 - 355 | Social War between Athens and her allies |
| 357 | Dion 'liberates' Syracuse |
| 356 | Philomelus of Phocis seizes Delphi. Outbreak of Sacred War |
| 354 c. | Death of Xenophon |
| 354 | Tomb for King Mausolus built at Halicarnassus. Demosthenes' first public speech |
| 350 | Plato. |
| 347 | Plato's Academy founded and will continue for 876 years; Plato formulates The Republic. Death of Plato. Aristotle leaves Athens |
| 346 | Peace of Philocrates between Athens and Philip. Philip ends Sacred War |
| 344 | Expedition of Timoleon to Sicily |
| 343 | Demosthenes' unsuccessful prosecution of Aeschines. Aristotle goes to Macedon as tutor to Alexander |
| 342 | Aristotle, pupil of Plato, arrives in Macedon where his father is physician to King Philip |
| 340 | Resumption of war between Athens and Philip |
| 338 | Philip of Macedon defeats Athenians and Thebans at Battle of Chaeronea. Death of Isocrates. Formation of League of Corinth |
| 336 | Philip assassinated; succeeded by Alexander |
| 335 | Aristotle returns to Athens, opens a Lycaeum; develops a deductive system and scientific method. Alexander destroys Thebes |
| 334 | Alexander invades Asia |
| 333 | Alexander is victorious over Persia |
| 332 | Alexander is victorious over Egypt |
| 331 | Alexander is master of the Persian empire |
| 330 | Alexander takes Persepolis; atomic theory of Democritus is developed |
| 329 | Alexander enters Samarkand |
| 327 | Alexander takes southern India |
| 325 | The Persae by Tinotheus of Miletus is the earliest papyrus written in Greek that will survive |
| 324 | Meander writes "new comedy" in a lighter vein than the plays of Aristophanes |
| 323 | Alexander dies of typhoid fever; wars of Diadochi (successors) begin for control of his empire |
| 30O | End of the Persian Empire. |
| 250 | Hellenistic kingdoms. |
