A Chronology of Greek History

c.3000 B.C.: The Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations are bora in Crete and the Peloponnesos.

c.1100: The Dorians, a Greek tribe, invade Greece from the north and put an end to Aegean civilization.

850?: Iliad, and Odyssey composed.

776: First Olympic games.

750-500: The Greeks establish cities in Asia Minor, Egypt, on the shores of the Black Sea, in Italy, Sicily, and the south of France.

c.594: Solon, the lawgiver, carries out reforms in Athens.

490: Miltiades and 10,000 Athenians defeat the Persian invaders at Marathon.

480: Leonidas and his 300 Spartans defend the pass at Thermopylae to the last man. At Salamis, Themistocles and the Athenian fleet defeat the Persians.

4-77-431: The “Golden Age” of Greece with Athens under Pericles as its main center. The ideals of democracy are first formulated. With Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, Greek drama reaches its zenith. Greek architecture and sculpture attain their highest expression in the Parthenon, built on the Acropolis by Ictinus and decorated with sculpture by Phidias.

431-404-' The Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta.

429-347: Plato immortalizes his teacher Socrates in his Dialogues and develops his own idealistic theories.

384-322: Aristotle, Plato’s pupil, sets the foundations for the physical and social sciences.

359—336: Philip of Macedon sets up a strong state in Macedonia; becomes master of Greece.

336-323: Alexander, Philip’s son, overthrows the Persian Empire. His conquests and the empires of his successors lead to the spread of Hellenic culture.

146: The Romans become masters of Greece, but they too, gradually, are “captured “ by Greek culture.

50 A D.: Paul preaches the “ Unknown God” in Athens. Greek is the language in which Christianity spreads in the Eastern Mediterranean.

330: Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, becomes the capital of the Christian Roman Empire. Lasting until 1453, this empire becomes Hellenized, preserving GrecoRoman culture and Christianity, and acting as a bulwark for Western Europe as it emerged from the Dark Ages.

533: Emperor Justinian issues the collection of Roman Laws known as the Roman Code. He and Empress Theodora adorn the empire with buildings such as the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

988: Emperor Basil II baptizes in Constantinople the Prince of Kiev, Vladimir, who brings Christianity to Russia.

1453: The Ottoman Turks take Constantinople.

1454: The Sultan grants to the Patriarch important rights as spiritual and secular head of the Christians.

1627: First Greek printing press in the East is set up in Constantinople.

1766: Unsuccessful Greek uprising against the Sultan.

1303: Women of Souli hurl themselves, dancing, off cliff at Zalongos to escape Ottoman capture.

1814: The Philiki Etairia (Company of Friends), a secret organization, is set up to work for Greek independence.

1821: March 25; official date of the Declaration of Greek War of Independence.

1822: First Greek Constitution. Theodore Kolokotronis defeats a large Ottoman force at Dervenakia.

1823: President Monroe praises the Greeks for their fight for independence. Dionysios Solomos writes his “Ode to Liberty,” later the national anthem.

1824: Lord Byron dies during the siege of Missolonghi.

1827: At Navarino, the English, French, and Russian fleets destroy the Ottoman and Egyptian fleet.

1830: February 3; Greece recognized as an independent state by Britain, France, and Russia.

1831: Capodistrias, Governor of Greece, assassinated.

1833: Otto of Bavaria, first king, arrives in Greece.

1834: Capital transferred from Nauplia to Athens.

1836—1841: Athens University, the National Bank, the School of Technology, the Archaeological Society set up.

1844: Otto grants a constitution.

1362: Otto leaves Greece and abdicates.

1863-1864: Prince William of Denmark elected king; Greece gets a new, more liberal constitution and, from Britain, the Ionian Islands.

1875: Charilaos Tricoupis, Premier, introduces the parliamentary system into Greek politics.

1881: Thessaly and part of Epirus united to Greece.

1881: The American School of Classical Studies set up.

1896: Modern Olympic Games first held, in Athens.

1910: First premiership of Eleftherios Venizelos.

1911: Constitution of 1864 is revised.

1912-1913: Balkan wars. The treaties of London and Bucharest award Greece Epirus, Macedonia, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and part of Thrace.

1913: George I is succeeded by his son Constantine.

1917: After seeking to remain neutral, Greece enters the war on the side of the allies. Constantine abdicates.

1919-1923: The Greek Army, after landing at Smyrna, is defeated by the Turks (the Asia Minor Disaster). Treaty of Lausanne ends Greco-Turkish war. The Greeks of Asia Minor are exchanged for the Turks in Greece.

1924: Greece is declared a republic.

1930: Venizelos signs treaty of friendship with Ataturk.

1935: George II, Constantine’s son, restored to throne.

1940: Italian ultimatum to General Metaxas who rejects it. Italian troops cross the Greco-Albanian border. They are repulsed deep into Albania.

1941: Germany attacks Greece through Bulgaria, occupies the country together with Italians and Bulgarians. King George II and the government move to Crete, then to Cairo and London.

1942-1944: Greek forces fight with the Allies in Egypt and Italy. In the famine-stricken country the Resistance grows.

1944: The Germans evacuate Greece; the Greek Government returns to Athens, faces communist rebellion.

1946: Internationally observed elections held on March 31; a plebiscite on September 1 recalls George II to Greece. Communist rebellion flares up again, supported by Greece’s northern neighbors. Greece asks the UN to investigate.

1947: March 12; President Truman asks Congress to vote aid to Grecce and Turkey. The Italian Peace Treaty awards the Dodecanese Islands to Greece.

1948-1949: Greece included in ECA; communist uprising put down.

1951: Greece sends an expeditionary force to Korea.

1952: Greece admitted to NATO. Alexander Papagos becomes Premier, elected for a four-year term.

1953: Balkan Pact between Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. King Paul I of the Hellenes and Queen Frederika visit the United States as guests of President Eisenhower.

1954: The Greek Government submits to the United Nations the question of self-determination for the people of Cyprus, clamoring for union with Greece.