World History Chapter 2

Greek Civilization

The ancient Classical and Hellenistic eras of Greece are undoubtedly the most splendid, having left behind a host of ideas, concepts, and art to provide the foundation of what we call “western civilization”. The following timeline shows rise and fall of Greece and impacts of Greek Knowledge and Culture in Greek and around the world.

Mesolithic Period - (8300-7000)

7250 BCE- Earliest evidence of burials found in Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece

Neolithic Period (7000-3000 BCE)

7000 BCE- Evidence of food producing economy, simple hut construction, and seafaring in mainland Greece and the Aegean

5700 BCE- First "Megaron House" at Sesclo, in central Greece

3400 BCE- Evidence of earliest fortifications at Dimini, Greece

Aegean Bronze Age or Early Bronze Age (3000-2000)

Minoan Prepalatial or: EMIA, EMIB (3000-2600 BCE)

Early Cycladic Culture (3200-2000)

Early Helladic Period (3000-2000)

3000 BCE- Houses of Vasiliki and Myrtos; Messara Tholoi; House of Tiles at Lerna

Minoan Prepalatial Period or: EMIIA, EMIIB, MMIII (2600-2000 BCE)

Minoan Protopalatial Period or: MMIA, MMIB, MMI IA, MMI IB, MMI IIA, MMI IIB, LMIA Early (1900-1700 BCE)

Early Middle Cycladic (2000-1600 BCE)

Middle Helladic Period or Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550)

2000 BCE- Destruction of Minoan settlements

1700 BCE- Destruction of Minoan palaces; Settlement of Akrotiri, Thera; Grave Circle B at Mycenae

Minoan Neopalatial Period or: LMIA Advanced, LMIA Final, LMIB Early, LMIB Late, LMII
(1700-1400)

1627 BCE- Eruption of Thera volcano (sometime between 1627 and 1600)

1600 BCE- Grave Circle A at Mycenae; Legends: Argo Voyage, Heracles, Oedipus

Late Bronze Period or The Heroic Age (1600-1100)

1550 BCE- Tholos Tomb at Mycenae

Late Helladic Period - (1500-1100)

1450 BCE- Linear B writing (1450-1180)

1400 BCE- Mycenaean Palaces; Evidence of expanded Mycenaean trade at Levand

Minoan Postpalatial Period or: LMIIIA1, LMIIIA2, LMIIIB, LMIIIC (1400-1100)

1370 BCE- Palace of Knossos destruction

1300 BCE- "Sea Peoples" begin raids in the Eastern Mediterranean

Mycenaean Culture (1300-1000)

1250 BCE- Trojan War (1250 or 1210)

1200 BCE- Destruction of many Mycenaean palaces; Doric Invasions? (1200-1100); Sea Peoples (1200-1100)

Sub-Mycenaean Period - (1180-1050)

1100 BCE- Destruction of Miletus and resettlement

Sub-Minoan Period (1150-950)

Dark Age of Greece (1100-700)

Proto-Geometric Period (1100-900)

1000 BCE - End of Mycenaean civilization; Lefkandi: Toumba building

Geometric Period - (900-700)

776 BCE- First Olympic Games

750 BCE- Greek colonies established in Southern Italy & Sicily; Invention of Greek alphabet
Homeric poems recorded in writing (750-700)

Late Geometric (circa 760-700)

Orientalizing Period (circa 740-650)

730 BCE- First Messenian War; Sparta invades Messenia (730-710); Naxos founded (734); Syracuse founded (733)

Archaic Period (700-480)

650 BCE- Earliest Lyric Poets

640 BCE- Second Messenian War

Sparta invades Messenia (640-630)
Cyrene founded (630)

630 BCE - Sappho born in Lesbos

625 BCE - Thales (625-545) born in Miletos

569 BCE- Pythagoras (ca. 569-475) born in Samos

594 BCE- Solon replaces the Draconian law in Athens and lays the foundation for Democracy.
He introduced to Athens the first coinage and a system of weights and measures

546 BCE- Pisistratos becomes tyrant of Athens

527 BCE - Pesistratos Dies. His sons become tyrants of Athens

525 BCE - Red-figure pottery developed in Athens

510 BCE - Alcmaeonid family and Spartans free Athens from tyranny. Introduction of Democracy in Athens

508 BCE- Kleisthenes begins reforming Athenian code of laws, and establishes a democratic constitution

499 BCE - Ionian revolt

494 BCE- Ionian revolt defeated by Persians

497-479 BCE- Persian Wars

490 BCE- Battle of Marathon; Athenians defeat Darius and his Persian army

483 BCE- Silver mines discovered near Athens. Athens begin building naval fleet

482 BCE- Aristides ostracized

Classical Period (480-323 )

Transitional (480-450)

480 BCE- Xerxes marches on Greece; Battle of Thermopylae; Persians burn the Acropolis; Athens and allies defeat Persian fleet at naval battle of Salamis

479 BCE- Battle of Plataea; Greeks defeat Persian army

477 BCE- Delian league lead by Athens

465 BCE- Earthquake in Lakonia; Helot revolt against Sparta in Messenia

461-445 - Peloponnesian Wars: "First Peloponnesian War"

460 BCE - Perikles leads Athens through its "Golden Era" (ca. 460-429)

458 BCE- Aeschylus produces "the Oresteia" trilogy of tragedies (Agamemnon, Libation Barers, Eumenides) in Athens

454 BCE- Delian league treasury moved from Delos to Athens

450 BCE- Sophist Protagoras visits Athens

449 BCE- Acropolis and other major building projects begin in Athens; Construction of Parthenon (449-432); Sophocles produces the tragedy "Ajax"

446 BCE- Thirty-year peace treaty signed between Athens and Sparta in winter 446/445

441 BCE- Sophocles produces "Antigone" in Athens 430-429

431 BCE- Peloponnesian War (431-404) resumes; Euripedes produces "Medea" in Athens

430 BCE- Plague epidemic in Athens

429 BCE - Death of Perikles

421 BCE- Peace of Nicias

420 BCE- Construction of Temple of Athena Nike (420-410)

418 BCE- Athenians resume hostilities; Spartans defeat Athens at Mantinea

416 BCE- Athens razes Melos

415 BCE - Athens expedition to Syracuse; Alcibiades defects to Sparta

413 BCE- Syracuse defeats Athens

411 BCE - Aristophanes produces "Lysistrata"

404 BCE - Athens surrenders to Sparta; Thirty tyrants rule Athens

403 BCE- Democracy restored in Athens

399 BCE- Trial and execution of Socrates

380 BCE- Plato establishes the Athens Academy

371 BCE- Sparta defeated in Leuctra

362 BCE- Thebes defeats Sparta at Mantinea

359 BCE- Philip II, becomes King of Macedonia

338 BCE- Macedonian army defeats Athens and its allies at Chaeronea; League of Corinth founded

336 BCE- Phillip II Assassinated. Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia

335 BCE - Aristotle founds the Lyceum in Athens

334 BCE- Alexander the Great defeats Persian army at Granicus river in Anatolia

333 BCE- Alexander the Great defeats Persians at Issus

332 BCE- Tyre capitulates to Alexander after siege

331 BCE- Alexander invades Egypt; City of Alexandria founded in Egypt; Alexander defeats Persians at Gaugamela

329 BCE- Alexander's army reaches Bactria (Afghanistan)

327 BCE- Alexander marries Roxane (princes of Bactria)

326 BCE- Alexander's army reaches India

Hellenistic Period (323-146)

323 BCE- Death of Alexander the Great

322 BCE- Aristotle dies

310 BCE- Stoic philosopher Zeno founds school in Athens

307 BCE- Stoic philosopher Epicurus founds school in Athens

300 BCE- Ptolemy I founds museum in Alexandria

287 BCE- Archimedes (287-212) born in Syracuse

284 BCE- Achaean League founded

279 BCE- Invasion of Greece by Gauls

238 BCE- Gauls defeated by king Attalus I

214 BCE - First Macedonian War (214-204); Rome defeats Philip V of Macedon

200 BCE- Second Macedonian War (200-196); Victory of Flamininus at Cynoscephalae

172 BCE- Third Macedonian War (172-168/7); Lucius Aemelius Paulus of Rome defeats Perseus of Macedon at Pydna. Macedonia divided into four republics

Late Hellenistic or Greco-Roman (146-30)

146 BCE- Roman Invasion of Greece; Mummius Achaicus sacks Corinth and dissolves the Achaean league. Rome rules Greece henceforth

86 BCE- Romans led by Sulla sack Athens

31 BCE- Battle of Aktion; Octavian (later Augustus) defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra

End of "Ancient Greece" period - 30 BCE - Death of Cleopatra

Contributions of Greek Civilization to the Modern World

•    Greece had the first known democracy.

•    Ancient Greece's philosophers have made contributions to western civilization.

•    Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato are some of the most well known philosophers ever. Socrates was famous for questioning about life, and also about "why"" Socrates once said to a court "The unexamined life is not worth living."

•    Aristotle is well known for believing that if people study the origin of life they will understand it more.

•    Many Philosophers today still study, and conclude ideas from many of Ancient Greek philosopher's quotes.

•    Medics in the western civilization have been impacted by many of ancient Greece's contributions.

•    Hippocrates, who created the Hippocratic Oath, was a renounced mathematician, and doctor he is sometimes referred to as "the father of medicine.”

•    Greeks affected sports in western civilization.

•    Myron's famous sculpture, the Discus Thrower is an example of a kind of sport in ancient Greek times that resembled modern day javelin mixed with Frisbee.

•    Greece was the first civilization to incorporate sports and make it a tradition. Greece was the hosts of the first Olympics, the sports that this involved were Running, Chariot racing, wrestling, boxing, javelin, and many more sports.

•    In modern day western civilization athletes compete in many of the same sports as the first Olympics had. The Olympics have now been around for many centuries.

•    The fine arts of Greece affect western civilization.

•    The discus thrower and most other Greek sculptures are emotionless, and usually capture the serenity of motion, and were always proportional, this form of art was known as classical art.

•    The Greeks believed that the emotionless art showed a sense of power. The Greeks had many plays.

•    The Greeks had two main types of plays Tragedy and a comedy.

•    A tragedy was a drama with themes about love, hate, war, and/or betrayal.

•    A comedy was a way to get political messages to the public, or just to "poke fun" at a certain group, or class of people.
•    Western civilization was shaped and largely based on Greece’s powerful politics, classical art, sports, philosophers, and medics.