(All dates down to 508/7 are approximate or/and traditional.)
(B)CE = (Before) Common Era
BCE
Bronze Age
3000 (to 1000) Minoan (Cretan) civilization
1600 (to 1150) Mycenaean period
1400 Destruction of Cnossos
1250 Destruction of Troy
Early Iron Age
1100 (to 700) Era of Migrations (Dorian migration, Asia Minor settlement, beginnings of Western colonization)
Archaic Age
776 Foundation of Olympic Games
750 Greek alphabet invented, Euboeans settle Ischia and Cumae
735-715 Sparta conquers Messenia
733 Foundation of Syracuse
700 Homer, Hesiod
700 Introduction of hoplite fighting
688/657 Foundation of Byzantion
669 Battle of Hysiae: Argos defeats Sparta
620 Draco’s laws at Athens
600 Foundation of Massalia
Thales of Miletus
Development of trireme, invention of coinage
594 Solon’s laws at Athens
550 Achaemenid Persian empire founded
546 Cyrus (II ‘the Great’) of Persia defeats Croesus of Lydia
545 (to 510) Tyranny at Athens of Peisistratus and son Hippias
508/7 Cleisthenes introduces Democratic reforms at Athens
505 Sparta’s Peloponnesian League formed
Classical Age
499 (to 494) Ionian Revolt: rebellion against Persia of Ionian Greeks and other, Greek and non-Greek subjects
490 Battle of Marathon: Athens and Plataea defeat Persian invaders
480 (to 479) Second Persian invasion, under Xerxes, defeated: Salamis 480, Plataea 479
480 Battle of Himera: Sicilian Greeks under Gelon defeat Carthaginians
478 (to 404) Athens founds anti-Persian Delian League
474 Hieron I of Syracuse defeats Etruscans at Cumae
466 End of tyranny, beginning of Democracy at Syracuse
462 Further Democratic reforms at Athens: Ephialtes and Pericles
460 (to 446) ‘First’ Peloponnesian War: Sparta and allies vs Athens and allies
449 Peace of Callias (between Athens and Persia; authenticity disputed)
447 Thebes defeats Athens, establishes Oligarchic federal state; Parthenon begun (completed 432)
446 Thirty Years’ Truce between Sparta and Athens (broken 431)
431 (to 404, with interruptions) Atheno-Peloponnesian War
421 (to 414) Peace of Nicias
418 Battle of Mantinea: Spartan victory
415 (to 413) Athenian expedition to Sicily: Syracusan victory
405 Dionysius I, tyrant at Syracuse
404 Sparta, with Persian aid, wins Atheno-Peloponnesian War
404 (to 371) Spartan hegemony
401 (to 400) Expedition of the ‘10,000’ to Asia
395 (to 386) Corinthian War: Sparta defeats Quadruple Alliance (Athens, Boeotia, Argos, Corinth)
386 King’s Peace: sponsored by Artaxerxes II of Persia and Agesilaus II of Sparta
385 Plato founds Academy
378 (to 338) Athens founds anti-Spartan Second Sea-League, Thebes a founder-member
371 Battle of Leuctra: Thebans defeat Spartans
Theban ascendancy in mainland Greece (to 362)
367 Death of Dionysius I of Syracuse
366 End of Sparta’s Peloponnesian League
362 Second Battle of Mantinea: Theban victory, death of Epaminondas; Common Peace renewed
359 Accession of Philip II of Macedon
356 (to 346) Third Sacred War: Phocians vs Philip
346 Peace of Philocrates
338 Battle of Chaeronea, foundation of League of Corinth
336 Murder of Philip II, accession of Alexander (‘the Great’)
336 (to 323) Reign of Alexander
335 Alexander orders destruction of Thebes
Aristotle founds Lyceum at Athens
Timoleon dies at Syracuse
334 Alexander invades Persian empire
331 Foundation of Alexandria in Egypt, Battle of Gaugamela
330 End of Achaemenid Persian empire
323 (to 322) Failed revolt of Greeks against Macedon
322 Deaths of Demosthenes and Aristotle
Termination of Athenian democracy
Hellenistic Age
301 Battle of Ipsus, death of Antigonus founder of Antigonid dynasty of Greece
300 Zeno founds Stoic school
283 Death of Ptolemy I, founder of Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and of Museum and Library at new capital, Alexandria
281 Seleucus I, founder of Seleucid dynasty of Asia, assassinated; Achaean League refounded
263 Eumenes I succeeds Philetaerus as ruler of Pergamum kingdom
244 (to 241) Agis IV king at Sparta
238 (to 227) War of Attalus I of Pergamum for mastery of Asia Minor
235 (to 222) Cleomenes III king at Sparta
224 (to 222) Antigonus III invades Peloponnese, founds Hellenic League
223 (to 187) Antiochus III succeeds Seleucus III
222 Battle of Sellasia: Antigonus III defeats Sparta
221 (to 179) Philip V succeeds Antigonus III
215 Alliance of Philip V and Hannibal of Carthage
211 Alliance between Aetolia and Rome: First Macedonian War (to 205); Rome sacks Syracuse
200 (to 197) Second Macedonian War
196 Rome declares Greece ‘Free’
194 Rome abandons Greece
192 (to 188) Syrian War of Rome against Antiochus III
171 (to 168) Third Macedonian War
168 Battle of Pydna, end of Antigonid dynasty
148 Macedonia becomes Roman province
147 (to 146) Achaean (League) rising against Rome
Late Roman Republic
146 Sack of Corinth, Achaea becomes Roman protectorate
133 Attalus III of Pergamum bequeaths kingdom to Rome (becomes Roman province of Asia)
86 Roman general Sulla sacks Athens
31 Battle of Actium: Octavian defeats Cleopatra and Antony
Early Roman Empire
27 (to CE 14) Octavian/Augustus reigns as First Roman Emperor
CE
66–7 Roman Emperor Nero tours Greece, ‘wins’ at Olympics
117–38 Reign of Emperor Hadrian 267 Heruli sack Athens and Sparta
Byzantine Age
324 Foundation (8 November) of Constantinople (refoundation of Byzantion) by Emperor Constantine
330 Dedication (11 May) of Constantinople
395 Emperor Theodosius I orders termination of all non-Christian religious worship, such as the Olympic Games
529 Emperor Justinian (527–65) orders closure of Greek philosophical Schools
1453 Fall of Constantinople to Mehmet II ‘the conqueror’, Sultan of the Ottoman Turks
1952 ‘Linear B’ deciphered as earliest Greek
2004 M. H. Hansen and T. H. Nielsen (Copenhagen Polis Project) publish An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis.