Archaic Greece Timeline

Art and Culture

900-700 BC: Geometric was the prominant style of pottery

776 BC: The first Olympics were held in Olympia, Greece.

Art and Culture

Government

800-682/3 BC: The Athenian government had 3 aristocratic archons - a main official, religious official and military commander. They eventually became members of a council of elders. The role of the assembly at this time is unknown.

747 BC: The King of Corinth was overthrown by an aristocratic government from the Bacchiad genos. At this time the power of kings in general was decreasing and monarchy was being suceeded by aristocracy.

Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians

The Cup of Nestor

Written Language

800-750: The abjad of the Pheonicians was transformed into the Greek alphabet.

730-700 BC: The Cup of Nestor was created. This is one of the first examples of the revival of Greek writing and the use of the new Greek written language.

Around 700 BC: Hesiod's Work's and Days and Theogony as well as Homer's Iliad were written. A culture of writing was beggining to form.

Achilles and Patroclus

The Expansion of Poleis

Expansion of Poleis

800-750 BC: Athens gained control of the region of Attica, and sucessfully integrated formerly independent poleis into itself.

750-724 BC: The traditional date for when Sparta conquered Messenia. The Messenians were subject to a long history of subjugation and their land was divided into 9,000 plots for the Spartan citizens.

Both of these major poleis were in the process of expanding their control during the 8th century.

Government

Government

Bust of Draco from the United States Supreme Court Library

682-622/1 BC: The 3 aristocrat archons served annually. 6 junior lawgiver archons worked under them.

622-621 BC The traditional date for when Draco (a semi-legendary law giver) introduced his Draconian laws in Athens.

622 BC: The assembly (adult male citizens over 30) now had real had power and could be consulted on government matters. They selected the members of the counsel of 400 (100 from each tribe). The counsel of 400 advised the 3 main archons.

Innovation

683 BC: Dates in Athens are more reliable after this point because they were recorded in accordance with the archon at the given time.

Mid to Late 600s BC: Alcman and Tyrtaeus were two Spartan poets. Alcman wrote choral songs for girls and Tyrtaeus composed military marching poems.

625-600 BC: The date of the Coin of Phanes from Ephesos, an example of early Greek coinage (which likely originated in Lydia).

Late 600s BC: Written culture in Athens continued to flourish.

Fragment of Tyrtaeus in Aristotle's Politics, from LOEB Classical Library's Greek Elegiac Poetry

Coin of Phanes

Conflict

670-669 BC: Sparta was defeated by Argos, a reminder that Sparta was not an undefeated power.

669-650 BC: Sparta experienced a helot revolt.

657 BC: Corinth’s Bacchiad aristocracy was replaced by a tyrant named Kypselos. This echoes a trend of tyranny overthrowing aristocracy and a period of intense stasis.

632-631 BC The Tyrannic conspiracy of Cylon: an archon and an Olympic winner who attempted a coup to take the Acropolis, but Megacles (another archon and an Alcmaeonid) stopped him. Cylon’s supporters took refuge at the altar of Athena, but Megacles killed them anyway. This made the Alcmaeonids cursed and caused their exile from Athens.

Ostraka Against Megacles

Development

566 BC The tradition of the Panathenaea began. The major Panathenaea was held every four years

500s BC: Athens really improved its infrastructure and established itself as a major city. Much of this was due to Pisistratus and the Alcmaeonids who funded his work.

500s BC: The Laurion mines became much more developed as a way to obtain silver, and Athens began minting coins.

500s BC: The Black Figure style of pottery developed.

540s-530s BC: Athen’s aqueduct was constructed to bring water into the center of Athens.

Late 500s BC: Sparta formed an alliance with other poleis in the Peloponnese except for Argos, and they formed the Peloponesian League.

Foundations of the Old Temple of Athena, built 535-500 BC

Pisistratus

Pisistratus with a women dressed as Athena attempting his second takeover, an Illustration from 1838 by M. A. Barth

Pisistratus

570-565 BC: Pisistratus captured the port of Megara, giving Athens control of the Saronic Gulf and making him a popular figure.

560-559 BC: Pisistratus used an armed bodyguard to seize the Acropolis in Athens and took power as a tyrant for a short time.

558 BC: Pisistratus took power for a second time, this time by using a girl dressed as Athena to get into the city.

547 BC: Pisistratus successfully took power one more time and his control was solidified. He became tyrant of Athens.

514 BC: Pisistratus’ sons Hippias and Hipparchus had an attempt taken on their lives during the summer Panathenaea. Hipparchus was killed in the attack.

511-510 BC: Pisistratus’ family was exiled from Athens by the Alcmaeonids and Spartans.

Political Reform

594-593 BC: The archon Solon (semi legendary law giver) instituted reforms to help the poor and organize the class system. He determined 4 social classes: the 500 bushel-men, cavalry men, oxen men and less than 200-bushel thetes. The level of political office one could assume was dependent on how high they were in this social hierachy.

508-507 BC: Cleomanes king of Sparta introduced a Spartan government to rule Athens which was headed by Isagoras. Cleisthenes overthrew them with the aid of the Athenian people and established many reforms: the thirty tribes, ostracism, early democracy.

Bust of Solon, a copy from a Greek original

Persian Relations

559-530 BC: The reign of Cyrus II King of Persia. He led a Persian conquest into the Near East and West into Anatolia. He also made Lydia into a satrapy of the Persian Empire.

546 BC: Persia and Greece made regular contact once Persian presence was established in Lydia

522 BC: Cyrus II died and Darius became his successor.

513 BC: Darius launched an expedition into Thrace and around the Black Sea. This took them closer to the Greeks, although they didn't fully conquer the area.

508-507 BC: Athenian envoys to Persia said that they would give them “earth and water.” The Persians interpreted this as a surrender but Athens resisted becoming a subject to the Persians.

500 BC: Artaphernes the Persian satrap of Lydia attacked the islands of the Aegean.

A much later engaving of Cyrus "the Great"

Darius "the Great"