TIMELINE

       BRONZE AGE CRETE

2000 BC

MIDDLE MINOAN (MM) period starts MM I—II Old Palaces at Knossos and elsewhere are built Destroyed c. 1700 BC by earthquakes

1700 BC

MM III in New Palaces are built

1600 BC

LATE MINOAN (LM) period starts

1425–1370 BC

LM II—IIIAI Linear B in use at Knossos. Mycenaeans begin to dominate the Aegean and influence Minoan culture

1370 BC

Destruction of palace at Knossos

       BRONZE AGE GREECE

1600 BC

LATE HELLADIC (LH) period starts

Grave Circles A and B at Mycenae

? 1550 BC

Eruption of Thera/Santorini

1525–1450 BC

(LH IIA)

Early tholos and chamber tombs constructed at Mycenae

1450–1410 BC

(LH IIB)

Warrior panoply found near Midea, the ‘Dendra armour’

1410–1370 BC

(LH IIIA1)

Treasury of Atreus constructed at Mycenae

1370—1300 BC

(LH IIIA2)

Uluburun shipwreck

Tomb of Clytemnestra built at Mycenae

1300–1200 BC

(LH IIIB1)

? Trojan Wars? c. 1275 BC–1180 BC

‘Mycenaean Lady’ fresco from the House of the High Priest Cult Centre at Mycenae

Extant Linear B tablets found at mainland Greek sites date from c. 1200 BC

Evidence of destruction in Mycenaean palace settlements

       THE HITTITE WORLD

1400 BC

First mention of Wilusa (Troy) and Ahhiyawa (Greece) in Hittite texts. Hittite Empire at its height

1360 BC

Horse-training manual written by Kikkuli

1300 BC

Alakšandu rules over Wilusa, correspondence: the ‘Alakšandu treaty’

1275 BC

Battle of Kadesh between Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II and Great King of Hatti

1275–1250 BC

Destruction of Troy VIh

1275–1180 BC

The Trojan War?

1250 BC

‘Tawagalawa letter’ sent to King of Ahhiyawa

(c. 1265-1240 BC)

Hattusili III reigns at Hattusas, with Puduhepa as his queen

1230 BC

Crisis between Hittite states of Ugarit and Amurru over marriage alliance

1223 BC

Last mention of Ahhiyawa in Hittite text

1200 BC

Last mention of Wilusa in Hittite texts

1175 BC

Collapse of the Hittite Empire

       ‘DARK AGES’ OF GREECE

1100–800 BC

Mycenaean citadels abandoned, literacy appears to be lost

1000 BC

Dorians settle Sparta and Lakonia

       ARCHAIC GREECE

800 BC

Sparta expands to include settlement at Amyklai

700 BC

Homer’s epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, written down

650 BC

Poems of the Epic Cycle composed, including the Cypria

650 BC

Works of Hesiod composed – Works and Days, Theogony, Catalogues of Women and Eoiae

‘Helen’s Temple’ or the Menelaion: shrine to Helen and Menelaus dedicated at Therapne, Sparta

650-550 BC

Lyric poems of Sappho, Stesichorus, Alcaeus and Alcman featuring Helen composed

Earliest extant votive offerings left for Helen at the Menelaion

650 BC

The Mykonos vase is created, one of the earliest surviving images of Helen and the Trojan War

Reform of Spartan society attributed to Lycurgus

       CLASSICAL GREECE

506 BC

Sparta and Peloponnesian League allies invade Attica

500–450 BC

Persian Wars between Greeks and Persians

480 BC

Battle of Thermopylae

Persian king Xerxes visits Troy

500–400 BC

Radical development of Athenian democracy and cultural ‘golden age’ of Athens

447 BC

Building of the Parthenon begins

Tragic plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides

composed and performed at Athens, including those that deal specifically with Helen or the Troy story:

472 BC –Aeschylus’ Persians

458 BC – Aeschylus’ Agamemnon

415 BC – Euripides’ Trojan Women

412 BC – Euripides’ Helen

411 BC – Aristophanes’ Lysistrata

408 BC –Euripides’ Orestes

c. 405 BC – Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis (posthumous)

431–404 BC

Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Ends with Spartan hegemony of much of Greece

430 BC

Herodotus’ Histories

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War

400 BC

Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen

390–350 BC

Plato’s philosophical works, include reference to Helen

370 BC

Isocrates’ Encomium of Helen

335–322 BC

Aristotle’s philosophical works

336-323 BC

Alexander the Great of Macedon conquers territories from Greece to India

334 BC

Alexander visits Troy

280 BC

Foundation of the Library of Alexandria

270 BC

Theocritus’ Epithalamium for Helen written at Alexandria

       IMPERIAL ROME

31 BC-AD 14

Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium Reign of Octavian, henceforth known as Augustus. Birth of imperial Rome

19 BC

Death of Virgil, and publication of the Aeneid – telling of the travels of Aeneas after the fall of Troy

c. 25 BC–AD 17

Works of Ovid, including Art of Love, Heroides and Metamorphoses – many of which make Helen their subject

AD 14-68

Julio-Claudian dynasty. Includes reigns of Tiberius (AD 14-37); Claudius (AD 41-54); Nero (AD 54-68)

AD 64 Fire of Rome (Nero reported to have sung of the fall of Troy)

AD 66 Alleged ‘discovery’ of Dictys’ account of the Trojan War

AD 69–6

Flavian Dynasty

AD 79

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, destroying towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Death of Pliny the Elder, author of the Natural History

AD 96-192

Age of the Antonines. Includes reigns of Trajan (AD 98–117); Hadrian (AD 117–138); Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180)

c. AD 160

Pausanias’ Guidebook to Greece

Works of Lucian, including Dialogues of the Dead

c. AD 200

Works of Christian writers such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr, with testimony on Simon Magus’ life in the first century AD

Statue of kore/Helen from Samaria-Sebaste

Cult of Simon Magus and Helen at Rome

Dictys’ account of the Trojan War written

AD 306-337

Reign of Constantine I

Official recognition of Christianity

(c. AD 300– 600)

Dares’ account of the Trojan War?

Statue of kore/ Helen destroyed

       MEDIEVAL TO TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

c AD 500

Collapse of Roman Empire in the West

c. AD 700

Isidore of Seville inscribes Helen’s name into account of 132 seminal events in the history of the world

AD 1122–1204

Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine

c. AD 1170

Benoît de Sainte-Maure writes the Roman de Troie for Eleanor

c. AD 1175

Matthew of Vendôme’s Art of Versification

c. AD 1180

Joseph of Exeter completes his Trojan War tale

AD 1204

Sack of Constantinople, destruction of Helen’s statue in the Hippodrome

AD 1475

William Caxton produces the first printed book in English, the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye

AD 1594

The first recorded performance of Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Dr Faustus

AD 1864

Premiere of Offenbach’s operetta, La Belle Hélène

AD 1870

Heinrich Schliemann begins excavations at the site of Troy

AD 1876

Heinrich Schliemann excavates at Mycenae – Grave Circle A

AD 1880s

Gustave Moreau paints a number of Helen canvases including Helen at the Ramparts of Troy

AD 1952–3

Michael Ventris and John Chadwick decipher and publish Linear B

AD 1961

Publication of Hilda Doolittle’s (H.D.) Helen in Egypt

AD 2004

Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy