DATES IN GREEK & ROMAN HISTORY:
1150-800 BCE: THE DARK AGE OF GREECE
800 BCE: Introduction of the Phoenician alphabet into Greece
800-480 BCE: ARCHAIC GREECE
800 BCE: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are written down
800 BCE: Birth of the Greek polis
800 BCE: Carthage founded
800-600 BCE: first Greek colonies appear
753 BCE: Rome founded
600-550 BCE: Solon encourages cash-crop farming and urban industries
600-400 BCE: City of Miletus becomes a colonial power
500-527 BCE ROMAN REPUBLIC
500 BCE: Athens becomes principal exporter of olive oil, wine, and pottery
499-494 BCE: The Ionian Revolution
495-406 BCE: Sophocles, playwright of Oedipus trilogy
490-480 BCE: Emergence of Greek sculpture
490 BCE: Persians sack Eritrea
480 BCE: Hellenic League formed
480 BCE: Persians defeated at the Battle of Salamis
480-323 BCE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK CIVILIZATION
469-399 BCE: Socrates, philosopher
462-461 BCE Perikles elected strategos of Athens
450s BCE: Athens gains control of Delian League
450 BCE: Sophists emerge
477-438 BCE: Parthenon built in Athens
431-404 BCE: Peloponnesian War
429-349 BCE: Plato, philosopher and author of the Republic
394-387 BCE: Corinthian War
388 BCE: Philip II of Macedonia defeats Greek alliance and forms the League of Corinth
384-322 BCE: Aristotle, philosopher and author of Nicomachean Ethics
336-323 BCE Reign of Alexander the Great
332 BCE: Ptolemy establishes dynasty in Egypt
331 BCE: Alexander defeats the Persian army
323 BCE: Alexander’s conquests open commercial routs between Greece and Asia
325-225 BCE: Greek migrations into Western Asia
300 BCE: Euclid, Elements of Geometry
281 BCE: Seleucus establishes dynasty in Persia
269 BCE: first standard coinage in Rome
267-146 BCE: Punic Wars
146-130 BCE Roman slave revolts
146 BCE: Carthage razed
106-43 BCE: Virgil, author of the Aeneid
100 BCE: Roman commerce relies on one million slaves
73-71 BCE Sparticus’s revolt
48 BCE Julius Caesar defeats Pompey
46-8 BCE: Horace
59-BCE – 17 CE: Livy, author of History of Rome
43 BCE – 17 CE: Ovid, author of Metamorphoses
27 BCE Octavian becomes Emperor Augustus of Rome
27 BCE – 180 CE – THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE (Principate)
96-180 CE – Pax Romana
98-117 CE – Romans excel in engineering aqueducts and roads; develop new tax system under Trajan
10-67 CE – Saul of Tarsus (Paul the Apostle)
40 CE – Christians begin arriving in Rome
48 CE – Emperor Claudius enters Britain
70 CE – Gospel of Mark written
70 CE: Romans destroy the Temple of Jerusalem
135 CE – Romans destroy the city of Jerusalem
180-284 CE – Third-Century Crisis in Roman Empire; 1/3 of population of Roman empire dies of disease,
low birth rate, and war.
251 CE – Goths defeat the Romans and cross the Danube
284-610 – LATER ROMAN EMPIRE (the Dominate)
284-305 – Diocletian, soldier-emperor; currency is stabilized and new coinage introduced
200s – Grown of monasticism emerges
200-300 – Neoplatonism
303-313 – The Great Persecution of the Christians
312 – Conversion of Constantine to Christianity
312-324 – Reign of Constantine over Western Roman Empire
324-337 – Constantine rules Roman Empire from Constantinople
325 – Council of Nicea condemns Arianism
354-430 – St. Augustine, author of Confessions and On the City of God
378 – Visigoths defeat Romans
392 – Christianity becomes of the official Roman religion
410 – Visigoths sack Rome
455 – Vandals sack Rome from the sea
480-547 – St. Benedict
527-565 – Justinian rules as emperor of Eastern Roman Empire
532 – Corpus Juris Civilus
536 – Justinian recaptures Italy from the Ostrogoths
568 – The Lombards seize northern parts of Italy
590-604 –Papacy of Pope Gregory I (St. Gregory the Great)
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