Greece - Korina Miller [25]
1500–1200 BC The rigid and authoritarian Mycenaean culture from the Peloponnesian mainland usurps much of the Cretan and Cycladic cultures. Goldsmithing is a predominant feature of Mycenaean life.
1200–800 BC The Dorian tribes herald a 400-year period of obscurity in terms of international trade; but they excel in the use of iron weaponry and ironwork in architecture, and develop striking geometric designs on pottery.
800–700 BC Homer composes the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’ around this time. The two epic poems are Greece’s earliest pieces of literary art, and are still praised for their poetic genius.
800–650 BC Independent city-states begin to emerge in the Archaic Age as the Dorians develop. Aristocrats rule these ministates while tyrants occasionally take power by force. The Greek alphabet emerges from Phoenician script.
700–500 BC Having originated around 1000 BC in the Peloponnese, the Spartans come to play a decisive role in Greek history. Politically and militarily, the Spartans dominate for around 200 years.
594 BC Solon, a ruling aristocrat in Athens, introduces rules of fair play to his citizenry. His radical rule-changing – in effect creating human and political rights – is credited as being the first step to real democracy.
490 BC Athens invokes the ire of the distant Persians by supporting insurgencies within Persian territorial domains. Seeking revenge, the Persian king Darius sends an army to teach Greece a lesson but is defeated at Marathon.
480 BC Darius’ son and heir Xerxes seeks revenge for the defeat at Marathon. The enormous forces sent to crush Greece defeat Leonidas at Thermopylae and then sack Athens, but are routed at sea off Salamis (Salamina).
479 BC The Greeks pay back their defeat at the hands of Xerxes by smashing the Persian army of Mardonius at the decisive Battle of Plataea under the Spartan leader Pausanias. The Persian Wars are finally over.
477 BC Seeking security while building a de facto empire, the Athenians establish a political and military alliance called the Delian League. Many city-states and islands join the new club.
461–32 BC New Athenian leader Pericles shifts power from Delos to Athens and uses the treasury wealth of the Delian League to fund massive works, including the construction of the magnificent Parthenon, an enduring legacy.
431–21 BC The military might of Sparta runs afoul of the commercial and artistic clout of Athens over an alliance with Corcyra. The spat becomes a full-blown war of attrition, with Athens barricaded and the Peloponnese embargoed.
413–404 BC A second war between Sparta and Athens breaks out over the distant colony of Sicily, ending an eight-year truce. The Spartans break the Athenian siege and Sparta assumes total dominance.
399 BC Socrates stands at trial accused of corrupting the young with his pedagogical speeches. A jury condemns Socrates to death. Rather than appealing for voluntary exile, Socrates defiantly accepts a cup of hemlock.
371–62 BC Thiva (Thebes), a small city-state, is in ascendancy and gains control after it wins a land defeat against Sparta at Leuctra. But nine years of Theban dominance ends at the hands of a Spartan-Athenian alliance.
359 BC In the north, the Macedonians are on the rise as King Philip II seizes the initiative in the power vacuum. He seeks alliances with Sparta and Athens on a promise to wage war again on Persia.
336 BC Philip’s son Alexander assumes leadership of Macedonia following the untimely murder of his father. Within a few years the new king takes up the challenge against Persia laid down by the slain Philip.
334–323 BC Alexander the Great sets out to conquer the known world. Thebes (Thiva) is the first victim, followed by the Persians, the Egyptians and finally the peoples of today’s central Asia. He dies in 323 BC.
86 BC–AD 224 Roman expansion inevitably includes Greek territory. First defeating Macedonia at Pydna in 168 BC, the Romans ultimately overtake the mainland and establish the Pax Romana. It lasts 300