Ancient Greece

**Ancient Greece** takes place at 2000-146BC. It is one of the many eras featured in Season 4.

## History

Ancient Greece was a time when myths roamed the land with man, and many dangers lived because of them, but where myth ends and reality begins can sometimes be difficult to discover during the many different time periods within this era.

### **Notable Events**

#### ***Minoan Age (2000-1600BC)***

**2000BC** - Wandering tribes begin to settle in Greece.

#### ***Mycenaean Age (1600-1100BC)***

**1600BC** - The Mycenaean people inhabit Greece, earning their name from the capital city of their land, Mycenae.

**1194-1184BC** - Trojan war takes place, ending only with the Greeks using a wooden horse to invade and overrun Troy.

#### ***The Dark Ages (1100-750BC)***

**1100BC** - Dorian tribesmen invade from the north, using iron weapons and defeat the Mycenaeans.

**850BC** - The Greek alphabet is created, derived from the Phoenician alphabet.

**800BC** - Home composes the Iliad, an epic poem set during the Trojan War, and the Odyssey, the story of Odysseus on his way home from the Trojan War.

**776BC** - The first recorded Olympic Games takes place at Olympia. There was only one event, the men's 200 meter sprint.

#### ***Archaic Period (750-500BC)***

**743-724BC** - Disagreements arise between the Messenians and the Spartans, leading to the First Messenian War, which ultimately ended in a Spartan victory.

**650BC** - The rule of aristocratic leaders is challenged by the lesser aristocrats and wealthy tradesmen, who wanted to overthrow the monopoly the aristocrats had. They became known as tyrants as they seized power from the aristocracy and took over ruling Greece.

**621BC** - Up to this point, the Laws of Athens had all been word of mouth, but then Draco created a Code of Law that set new and harsher laws for everyone to read, and many of these crimes were punishable by death.

**600BC** - Greek coins are introduced for the first time.

**508BC** - Democracy begins in Athens

#### ***Classical Period (500-336BC)***

**495BC** - Pythagoras, a philosopher and mathematician, dies in Metapontum.

**490BC** - The first Persian war begins, where Persia invades Athens due to the city participating a Greek raid on Persia. That same year, the Persians are defeated in the Battle of Marathon.

**480BC** - The Second Person war beginswhen Xerxes, the Persian King, leads an invasion into Greece.

**Aug./Sep. 480BC** - Greece is defeated in the Battle of Thermopylae.

**Sep. 480BC** - Persia wins the Battle of Salamis.

**432BC** - Parthenon, a temple built in Athens to house a large statue of the Goddess, Athena, so that she could watch over the city, is finished.

**431-404BC** - Athens and Sparta battle each other in the Peloponnesian Wars. Athens loses the war, causing the democratic government to be removed and replaced by a ruling group of 30 tyrants.

**403BC** - Democracy is restored to Athens.

**399BC** - Socrates, founder of philosophy, is found guilty and executed for impiety, or being disrespectful to the Gods.

**380BC** - Plato, a student of the late Socrates, founds the Academy of Athens.

**359BC** - Philip II becomes king of Macedon.

**347BC** - Plato dies in Athens.

**339BC** - The Catapult is invented at Syracruse

**338BC** - King Philip II conquers Greece. Later, King Philip II creates the League of Corinth, a federation of Greek States, to boost support against Persia.

#### ***Hellenistic Period (336-146BC)***

**336BC** - Philip II is assassinated and his son, Alexander, becomes king. Alexander would later become known as Alexander the Great.

**335BC** - Aristotle founds the Lyceum in Athens.

**333BC** - Alexander conquers the Persians and declares himself the new King of Persia.

**331BC** - Alexander conquers Egypt and makes Alexandria the new Egyptian capital.

**323BC** - Alexander the Great dies. His conquered lands are divided between his top generals due to Alexander's son not being born yet.

**322BC** - Aristotle philosopher and mathematician, dies in Euboea.

**265BC** - Eulid, the inventor of geometry, dies.

**212BC** - Archimedes, the mathematician and engineer, is assassinated in Syracuse.

**146BC** - Greece is defeated in the the Battle of Corinth by the Romans, and becomes part of the Roman Empire.