BC

c.3000BC: Evidence of human habitation at the foot of the Acropolis hill in Athens.

2700-1450BC: The Minoan Civilization flourishes in Crete and the Aegean, centred on the palaces at Knossos and Phaestus in Crete, with trade relations with Egypt and Syria.

1700-1100BC: Rise of the Mycenaean Civilisation. Mycenean trade with Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. Successive invasions of the Greek (Hellenic) Tribes: Achaeans, Aeolians, Ionians and Dorians. A royal fortress is built on the Athenian Acropolis.

1200BC: Upon his return to the city after slaying the Minotaur in Crete and rescuing Athenians held captive by King Minos, King Theseus unites the province of Attica with Athens as its capital. Legend has it that he forgot to hoist the white sail to show his father, Aegeus, that he survived. In his grief, the old man hurled himself to his death in the sea which was later named the Aegean after him. 
1100BC: The collapse of the Mycenaean Civilisation is followed by the Hellenic Dark Ages. Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian Greek colonisation of Asia Minor.

c.1000BC: The city limits of Athens expand, construction of the first Agora.

8th century BC: Greeks found colonies around the Mediterranean basin. Rise of aristocracies throughout Greece.

776BC: The first Olympic Games in history, held at Olympia, mark the beginning of the Classical Greek period.

683-682BC: List of annual ‘archons’ (ruling magistrates) at Athens begins.

621BC: Dracon drafts strict new ‘draconian’ law code in Athens.

c.600BC: Athens wins Salamis from neighbouring Megara and founds a colony, Sigeum, at the mouth of the Hellespont.

594-593BC: Archonship of Solon. First democratic reforms in Athens (cancellation of debts, replacement of birth by wealth as the criterion for office, creation of a people’s court).

566BC: First Panathenaic Games held in Athens to honour Athena, goddess of Wisdom and patron-goddess of the city.

561-560BC: Peisistratus seizes power and becomes tyrant in Athens.

c.530 BC: New temple of Athena built on the Acropolis.

510BC: Hippias, the son of Peisistratus, is overthrown from the dictatorship in Athens with help from Sparta. Cleisthenes takes charge in Athens.

508-507BC: Democratic reforms of Cleisthenes in Athens upheld by the ‘Ekklesia’ (public assembly of male Athenian citizens with the right to vote at public hearings and elect magistrates)

499BC: Beginning of the Persian wars with the revolt of the Ionian city-states against Darius. Athens sends a fleet in support of the Ionians. Darius pledges to avenge the Athenians.

490BC: The Athenians block the Persian invasion with their victory in the battle of Marathon. Legend has it that Pheidippides, an Athenian herald, ran from the battlefield back to Athens to announce the triumph with the word 'nenikikamen' (we won) and died on the spot. This story inspired the modern Marathon run.

490-480BC: Extraction of silver ore from the mines at Laurion, used for minting the Athenian silver ‘owl’ coins that financed the expansion of Athens’ navy.

480BC: King Leonidas of Sparta, vastly outnumbered by the Persian army under Xerxes, falls with his warriors in the battle of Thermopylae. The Persians sack Athens but are badly defeated in the naval battle of Salamis.

479BC: Persians defeated at Plataea. Rebuilding of Athens begins, including the construction of Long Walls linking the city to the port of Piraeus.

461-429BC: Named by historians ‘The Golden Age’ of Athens. During this period, Athens establishes the Athenian (or Delian) league and takes control of a large number of Greek city members of the league. Athens and its allies pursue an offensive war against both the Persians and the Peloponnesian League led by the Spartans. In 451BC, Athenians and Spartans sign a five-year truce, which lasts until 446, whereupon begins the period known as the 'Thirty Year Peace'. During this period, Athens reached the peak of its prosperity. Democracy, science, philosophy, drama, architecture, sculpture, all flourished and Athens laid the foundations of modern western civilisation. The Parthenon, among other architectural masterpieces, is built between 447-437BC.

438BC: Large chryselephantine (gold-and-ivory) statue of Athena set up in the Parthenon.

431BC: The peace is broken with the onset of the Peloponnesian War. Athens goes to war with Sparta once again.

430-428BC: The plague decimates a quarter of the population of Athens, including Pericles.

415BC: Athenian expedition sails to Sicily under Alcibiades.

404BC: The end of the Peloponnesian war and Athens’ surrender usher in Sparta's hegemony in the Hellenic world. This is followed by a short period of Theban dominance.

360BC: Philip II is crowned king of Macedon and the period of the kingdom's dominance begins.

356BC: Alexander the Great, son of Philip II, is born in Pella.

336BC: Philip dies and Alexander succeeds him as King of Macedon.

334-323BC: Alexander is proclaimed King of all Hellenes and embarks on the conquest of Persian lands, expanding his empire as far as Egypt and India.

323BC: Alexander the Great dies in Babylon and the Hellenistic Period begins. Macedonia becomes dominant in the Hellenic World.

146BC: Greece becomes a province of the Roman Empire.

86BC: Following Athens’ support to Mithridates, king of Pontus, Sulla attacks the city. Athens loses all political influence and Corinth is established as the capital of the Roman province.