55000 BC : First in habitants in Greece
18000 BC : Franchinti Cave First inhabited
8000 BC : Domestication of animals and Development of
agriculture
7000 BC : Grecians begin to bury dead and use more sophisticated tools
5000 BC : Egyptian Elite emerges
4000 BC : Neolithic Revolution in Greece
3100 BC : Egyptian Upper and Lower Kingdom merge,
Old Kingdom formed
3000 BC : Cities emerge;
Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt
21st Cent. : Minoan Civilization develops
2040 BC : Middle Kingdom forms; Egypt
2000 BC : Amorites found new kingdoms in
Mesopotamia
1780 BC : Code of Hammurabi
1750 BC : Hyksos invasion of Egypt
1730 BC : Catastrophe on
Crete
1700 BC : Hittites settle in
Anatolia
1550 BC : Hyksos driven out; New Kingdom forms; Egypt
1450 BC : Minoan civilization ends, signs of
Mycenaean culture appear
1375 BC: Massive destruction on
Crete, Mycenaeans move to mainland
ca. 1100 BC : New Kingdom falls in Egypt.
Dark Age. Mycenaean burial practices disappear. Religious sites stopped being used.
Linear B disappears.
9th Century : More sophisticated pottery develops and use of bronze signals trading.
8th Century : Iron Archaic Age. Population begins to grow.
Migration begins.
Dorian culture emerges and Homer lives and writes of the Hellenic events of his age.
Hoplite warfare.
Polis emerges along with
city-state system.
7th Century : Kylon attempts to set up tyranny and fails. People of Rome area became one community: constructing a forum, system of town drainage and several large public buildings.
6th Century : Persians expand empire and come in contact with Greeks
595 BC : Solon rewrites justice system
550 BC : Pesistratus becomes the successful tyrant in Athens
500 BC : Kleisthanes reforms government; creates assembly Greeks burn down
Sardis
5th Century : Council of the Plebes
492 BC : Persian King
Darius sends troops to Greece; navy is destroyed by storm
490 BC : Battle of Marathon led by
Miliatades.
480 BC : Invasion of
Xerxes.
Hellenic League forms. Athens is evacuated.
Battle of Thermopolae Themistocles dupes the invading Persians, forcing Xerxes into retreat.
479 BC : Battle of Platea; Greeks defeat Persians
478 BC : Delian League founded
476 BC : Delian League seizes islands from Persians and Pirates
470 BC : Delian League prevents
Naxos from leaving
465 BC : Delian League attacks Persians and won; Persians no longer a threat
464 BC : Earthquake in Sparta;
Helots rise up Chimon offers to help Sparta.
Themistocles is
ostracized. Sparta turns back Athenian forces;
Chimon has his reputation ruined as a result. People turn towards reformation and
Pericles.
Delian League turns into Athenian Empire
455 BC : Egypt asks
Athenian Empire to assist in revolt against
Persia. The Greek nobility decide to move treasury from
Delos to
Athens
445 BC : Athens and Sparta enter into thirty year peace under the
Megeran Decree
431 BC: Peloponnesian War
430-26 BC : Plagues in Athens
425 BC : Sparta offers peace to Athens at
Pylos;
Cleon does not accept
421 BC : Peace of
Nicias- fifty year truce between Athens and Sparta
415-13 BC : Sicilian Expedition
414 BC : War between Athens and Sparta resumes
411 BC : Athens becomes an
Oligarchy
406 BC : Battle of Arginusae
405 BC : Battle of Aegospotami. Athens was blocked by land and sea .
404 BC : Athens surrenders. Spartans destroy Athenian defenses and set up
Oligarchy
5th Century : Development of democratic
polis. Development of
Athenian Empire.
Theater and drama flourish.
390 BC : Rome burned down and tries to rebuild
360 BC : Phillip II becomes king of Macedonia
346 BC : Athens officially makes peace with Macedonia
338 BC : Thebes and Athens go to war with
Macedonia
336 BC : Phillip forms New Greek League:
Corinthian League. Phillip assassinated; Alexander takes over
334 BC: Alexander the Great crosses
Hellespont and meets the Persian army.
333 BC : Alexander invades Central
Anatolia and conquers all Persian cities on way to
Phoenicia. Soon after, Alexander turns to Egypt where he is hailed as new Pharaoh and founds
Alexandria.
331 BC : Alexander defeats Persian army in
Babylon
330 BC : Alexander conquers
Persepolis, the
Persian capital. Alexander sets sights as far as India.
323 BC : Alexander dies in the Middle East, his empire is divided between his three generals.
280-75 BC : War with
Pyrrhus; Rome victorious.
264-41 BC : First Punic War : Rome tries to control
Sicily. Pirates on Adriatic. King of
Macedonia forges alliance with
Hannibal.
Aeolian League and Rome forge alliance; Rome helps Greeks against
Macedonian aggression. Tensions increase between
Rome and
Carthage. Rome sets up government in Greece
218-01 BC : Second Punic War, against
Hannibal. Rome defeats
Carthage.
2nd Century: Rome controls
Italy,
Sicily,
Greece and
North Africa :the beginning of the century sees a long series of wars for Rome, with many citizens moving from farms into the city, while the end of the century sees the draining away of the public treasury
133 BC : Tiberius Gracchus
123 BC : Gaius Gracchus
90-88 BC : Civil War
82-79 BC : Sulla's Dictatorship;
Pompey and
Crassus both want to rule; decide to rule together;
Caesar marches his troops across the
Rubicon and into
Gaul; Crassus goes east and dies; Pompey goes to
Spain; Caesar confronts and defeats
Pompey
44 BC : Caesar assassinated;
Marc Antony takes place, Showdown between Marc Antony and
Octavian;
Antony, Octavian and Lepidus form second
triumvirate
36 BC: Lepidus tries to seize power, unsuccessful
31 BC : Octavian defeats
Marc Antony; Antony commits suicide
27 BC-14 AD: Octavian changes name to
Augustus; Rome officially transformed into an empire.
14-37 AD : Tiberius
37-41 AD : Caligula
41-53 AD : Claudius
44 AD : Britain added to empire
54-68 AD : Nero
69-79 AD : Vespasian
79-81 AD : Titus
81-96 AD : Domitian
96-98 AD : Nerva
98-117 AD : Trajan
117-138 AD : Hadrian
138-161 AD : Antoninus Pius
161-180 AD: Marcus Aurelius
167 AD : Germanic tribes begin flooding over the Rhine, bringing the beginning of end of Roman Empire
180-192 AD : Commodus
193-211 AD : Septimus Severus
211-217 AD : Caracalla
218-222 AD : Elagabalus
222-235 AD : Severus Alexander
235-285 AD : There are twenty-six emperors enshrined, then killed or die, over a period of fifty years
285-306 AD : Diocletian
304 AD : Four separate people claim position of
Caesar
312 AD : Constantine declared emperor;
Maximus Daia ruler in East
324-337 AD : Constantine converts to
Christianity and moves the imperial capital to
Constantinople,
Council of Nicea begins to define Christianity
361-363 AD: Julian attempts to reform the Roman state, reverting back to the type of
Republican governance practiced during
Augustus' reign
378 AD : Visigoths revolt and defeat
Roman legions
394-395 AD : Theodosius legislates against the pagan gods and makes
polytheism illegal
406 AD : Barbarians begin to cross the
Rhine as it freezes over the winter months
410 AD : Emperor grants land to
Visigoth tribes in southwestern Gaul, in what is now Bordeaux
Ed. Note: revised by
legbagede, August 22, 2003.