| c. 1050–950 BCE | Ionians begin colonizing Asia Minor. |
| c. 1000 | Monumental buildings are erected at Lefkandi. |
| 850–750 | Attic Middle Geometric pottery period. |
| c. 800 | Al-Mina is founded by Greek traders. |
| 776 | Traditional date for the founding of the first Olympic games. |
| c. 735–730 | Greek colonists arrive in Sicily. |
| 734 | Traditional date for the founding of Syracuse by Greek traders. |
| c. 725–700 | Roughly the period of the First Messenian War and the Lelantine War; Homer’s Odyssey dates to this period. |
| c. 720 | The Orientalizing Period of Greece begins. |
| c. 700 | Sennacherib destroys Al-Mina around this date. |
| 687–652 | Gyges, immortalized by Herodotus’ Histories, is king of Lydia. |
| 657–627 | Cypselus rules as tyrant of Corinth after expelling the Bacchiads. |
| 660–650 | Second Messenian War. |
| c. 650 | Carthaginians have completely retreated to western Sicily. |
| 632 | Cylon attempts a coup at Athens, but is thwarted. |
| 627–587 | Periander is tyrant of Corinth after the death of his father Cypselus. |
| 621/620 | Draco institutes an exceptionally harsh law code. |
| c. 594 | Solon is elected archon of Athens. |
| 570–554 | Phalaris is tyrant of Agrigentum. |
| 564–555 | Pisistratus is tyrant of Athens for the first time. |
| 560–546 | Croesus is king of Lydia. |
| 559–530 | Cyrus is king of Persia. |
| c. 556 | Simonides of Ceos is born. |
| 550 | Cyrus conquers Media. |
| 546–528/527 | Pisistratus is tyrant of Athens for a third time. |
| 530–521 | Cambyses, son of Cyrus, is king of Persia. |
| 525 | Cambyses conquers Egypt; Aeschylsus is born; around here is when red-figure pottery is developed in Athens. |
| 521 | Death of Cambyses; Darius becomes king of the Persians. |
| 520–490 | Cleomenes is king of Sparta. |
| 514 | Attempted overthrow of the tyrants; Harmodius and Aristogiton, ostensibly the coup leaders, are killed. |
| 510 | Cleomenes of Sparta helps the Athenians overthrow Hippias, who is exiled to Persia. |
| 508/507 | Clisthenes introduces democratic reforms at Athens. |
| 506 | The Athenians defeat an alliance of Thebans and Chalcidians and thereafter take over Chalcis and the Lelantine plain. |
| c. 504 | Sparta attempts to restore the Alcmeonids |
| 499 | After failing to conquer Naxos for the Persians, Aristagoras of Miletus induces the Milesians to revolt against the Persians, beginning the Ionian Revolt. |
| 498 | Greeks torch Sardis; Pindar recites Pythian 10. |
| 490 | Battle of Marathon: the Greeks defeat the Persian army. |
| 483 | Silver is found at Laurium, an Athenian-controlled mine; Themistocles persuades the Athenians to build a navy against the looming Persian invasion. |
| Xerxes crosses the Hellespont and begins the Second Persian Invasion. | |
| 477 | The Delian League is founded to protect against the Persians. |
| 476 | Pindar recites Olympian 1 & 2. |
| 474 | Pindar recites Pythian 9. |
| 470 | Pindar recites Pythian 1. |
| 465 | An earthquake in Sparta precipitated the revolt of the Helots and other peoples subjugated by Spartans. |
| 461 | Ephialtes reforms the conservative-minded Areopagus, restricting it to murder and blasphemy charges. |
| 460–445 | First Peloponnesian War. |
| 458 | Aeschylus debuts the Oresteia; the murder trial of Orestes likely echoes the reforms of Ephialtes two years prior. |
| 454 | Athenians moves the Delian League treasury to Athens, giving it more access to League funds to strengthen its power. |
| 450 | Protagoras arrives in Athens and introduces “sophism” to the Athenians. |
| 449 | Possible date for the Peace of Callias, ending hostilities between the Greeks and the Persians; Sophocles debuts the Ajax; construction on the Parthenon begins. |
| 446 | Pindar recites Pythian 8. |
| [Thirty Years Peace] | |
| 442/441 | Sophocles debuts the Antigone. |
| 431–404 | The Peloponnesian War properly begins with the invasion of Attica by Sparta, led by its king Archidamus. |
| 430 | Athens is hit by the plague; around this year Xenoophon was born. |
| 429 | The death of Pericles. |
| 428 | Euripides debuts the Hippolytus; around this year Plato was born. |
| 425 | Aristophanes debuts the Acharnians. |
| 423 | Thucydides is exiled; Aristophanes debuts the Clouds. |
| 421 | The Peace of Nicias temporarily halts the Peloponnesian War. |
| 418 | With hostilities having resumed, the Spartans defeat the Athenians at Mantinea. |
| 416 | Athens razes Melos for attempting to leave the Delian League. |
| 415–413 | The Sicilian Expedition, a disaster of an invasion for Athens; before Alcibiades could lead the Athenians to Syracuse, he was framed for the destruction of the Herms, and to avoid trial fled to Sparta. |
| 414/412 | Euripides debuts the Ion. |
| 411 | Aristophanes debuts the Lysistrata; a coup in Athens overthrew democracy and instituted rule by The Four-Hundred. |
| 409 | Sophocles debuts the Philoctetes. |
| 405 | Aristophanes debuts the Frogs; Euripides debuts the Medea. |
| 407 | Dionysius I becomes tyrant of Syracuse. |
| 404 | The Thirty Tyrants take over rule of Athens. |
| 403 | Thrasybulus restores the Athenian democracy. |
| 401 | Xenophon takes part in the 10,000, a Greek mercenary army intended to restore Cyrus the Younger, who died before they accomplished their goal; Sophocles debuts the Oedipus at Colonus. |
| 399 | Socrates is put on trial and executed for subverting the Athenian youth. |
| 395–387 | The Corinthian War. |
| 371 | The Thebans defeat the Spartan army at the battle of Leuctra. |
| 362 | The Thebans defeat the Spartan army at Mantinea; death of Epaminondas. |
| 359 | Philip II becomes king of Macedon. |
| 355 | Demosthenes argues his first case, Against Androtion. |
| 347 | Death of Plato. |
| 346 | Isocrates delivers the Philippus, in which he urges Philip II of Macedon to lead the Greeks against Persia. |
| 338 | Death of Isocrates; Philip II utterly destroys the Sacred Band of Thebes at Chaeronea. |
| 336 | Philip II is assassinated by his bodyguard; his son Alexander becomes king of Macedon. |
| 335 | Aristotle founds the Peripatetic school of philosophy at the Lyceum in Athens; Alexander burns Thebes to the ground. |
| 334–323 | Alexander of Macedon invades and takes over the Persian empire. |
Some Key Events after Alexander:
332 Tyre capitulates to Alexander after siege
323 Alexander is supreme
280 Pyrrhus defeats Romans at Heraclea
279 Gallic Invasion of Greece
Pyrrhus won the Battle of Asculum
264-241 First Roman-Punic War
238 Attalus I defeats Gauls
218-201 Second Roman-Punic War
212 Marcellus sacks Syracuse after two year siege
200-197 Second Roman-Macedonian War
192-189 Roman-Syrian War
171-168 Third Roman-Macedonian War
149-146 Third Roman-Punic War
146 Mummius sacks Corinth
86 Sulla sacks Athens
31 Battle of Actium