3000 BCE – 475

Antiquity

c. 2100 BCE
Cretan hieroglyphs
From about 2100 BCE the Minoans use a pictographic script on seals and clay documents, at Archanes, Knossos, Malia and elsewhere. It lasts to about 1700, is undeciphered, and its language is unknown. It overlaps with, and may have been a prototype for, Linear A.
Writing Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1900 BCE
The first Minoan palaces
Around 1900 BCE the first palaces rise at Knossos, Phaistos and Malia on Crete, opening the Protopalatial period of Minoan civilization. Linear A, still undeciphered, develops soon after.
Bronze Age Aegean
c. 1900 BCE
Alphabetic inscriptions at Wadi el-Hol
In 1993 John and Deborah Darnell find two rock inscriptions in Egypt's Wadi el-Hol, published in 1999 and dated by them to c. 1900-1800 BCE. They are among the oldest alphabetic writing known and resemble the Proto-Sinaitic signs, though dating and origin are debated.
Writing Archaeology
c. 1850 BCE
The Phaistos Disc
Luigi Pernier finds a clay disc stamped with 45 signs (242 in all) at Phaistos on 3 July 1908. Estimates run from c. 1850-1600 BCE to after 1400. It is undeciphered, it is not clear that it is a script, and it is now generally accepted as authentic.
Writing Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1850 BCE
Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions
At Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai, found by Hilda and Flinders Petrie in 1904-05, some 30-40 inscriptions use signs adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs. They are dated c. 1850-1550 BCE, and whether the alphabet arose in Egypt or Canaan is disputed. Gardiner proposed a reading in 1916.
Writing Archaeology
c. 1800 BCE
Linear A
Minoan Crete uses Linear A from about 1800 to 1450 BCE: roughly 1,400 inscriptions, about 7,400 sign tokens. Named by Arthur Evans, it has been known since 1900 and is undeciphered. Linear B was later adapted from it to write Greek.
Writing Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1750 BCE
Mycenaean civilization
On the Greek mainland a palace culture centred on Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos emerges from c. 1750 BCE. It peaks between 1400 and 1200, spreads across the Aegean, and keeps its archives in Linear B.
Bronze Age Aegean Writing
c. 1650 BCE
Hattusili I makes Hattusa the Hittite capital
Around 1650 BCE the Hittite king Labarna, taking the name Hattusili I, makes Hattusa his capital and campaigns in northern Syria. The article credits the kingdom's founding to either Labarna I or Hattusili I.
Hittite Empire Politics
c. 1600 BCE
The Minoan eruption of Thera
The volcano of Thera (Santorini) erupts in one of the largest eruptions in recorded history (VEI 7). Radiocarbon favours the 17th to 16th century BCE, archaeology 1550-1480. It strikes Crete with tsunamis and earthquakes. Its role in Minoan decline is debated.
Bronze Age Aegean
c. 1595 BCE
Mursili I sacks Babylon
In 1595 BCE (1587 on another chronology) the Hittite king Mursili I sacks Aleppo and Babylon. The Kassites are left to rule Babylonia for some four centuries. Mursili is then murdered by Hantili I, and the Hittite kingdom falls into chaos.
Hittite Empire War Late Bronze Age
c. 1500 BCE
Cypro-Minoan script and the Enkomi tablet
The Cypro-Minoan syllabary, derived from Linear A, is used on Cyprus and elsewhere from c. 1550 to 1050 BCE. About 250 inscribed objects survive. The longest early text is a clay tablet found at Enkomi in 1955, c. 1500. It is undeciphered.
Writing Bronze Age Aegean Late Bronze Age
c. 1450 BCE
Mycenaeans take over Crete; Linear B appears
Around 1450 BCE Mycenaean Greeks come to dominate Minoan Crete and adapt Linear A into Linear B to write Greek. Knossos is the only palace still in use later. Scholars debate whether this rule was political or mainly cultural.
Bronze Age Aegean Writing
c. 1400 BCE
Ugarit's scribes write an alphabet in cuneiform
Around 1400 BCE scribes at Ugarit use about thirty signs, pressed into clay, to write the Ugaritic language. The letter order resembles the Phoenician alphabet. The city's archives also use Akkadian, Sumerian, Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian.
Late Bronze Age Technology Writing
c. 1400 BCE
Hittite texts name Wilusa
From c. 1400 BCE, when it joins the Assuwa confederation, to a letter of Tudhaliya IV, Hittite records name a western Anatolian state, Wilusa. It is generally identified with Troy, though not all scholars see that as settled. The texts do not describe a Greek attack on it.
Hittite Empire Bronze Age Aegean Late Bronze Age
c. 1360 BCE
The Amarna letters
About 350 letters, mostly in Akkadian, record Egypt's mid-1300s BCE dealings with Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni, the Hittites, Cyprus and Syrian and Canaanite vassals. Local diggers found them at Amarna around 1887. They contain the first mention of the Habiru.
New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1350 BCE
Sherden and Lukka appear in Egyptian records
Some names later grouped as Sea Peoples appear well before 1200 BCE. The Amarna letters mention the Lukka, Denyen and Sherden; Ramesses II claims to repel a Sherden attack on the Delta in his second year, then fields captured Sherden at Kadesh.
Sea Peoples New Kingdom Egypt Late Bronze Age
c. 1350 BCE
Suppiluliuma I makes Hatti a great power
Suppiluliuma I, whose reign is dated c. 1350-1322 BCE with variations, overruns Mitanni's heartland, takes Aleppo and other Syrian kingdoms, and installs Piyassili at Carchemish. Mitanni stays a Hittite dependency until Assyria annexes it under Shalmaneser I.
Hittite Empire War Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1350 BCE
Ugarit becomes a Hittite vassal
Under Niqmaddu II (c. 1350-1315 BCE) Ugarit, a coastal kingdom in northern Syria, becomes a vassal of the Hittite Empire and answers to its viceroy at Carchemish. Its archives show a busy trading city whose navy later helps Hatti on Cyprus.
Hittite Empire Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1349 BCE
Akhenaten founds Akhetaten (Amarna)
About his fifth year Akhenaten decrees a new capital, Akhetaten, now Amarna, midway between Thebes and Memphis. His reign is dated c. 1353-1336 or 1351-1334 BCE. He favours the Aten; whether his religion was monotheistic is debated. His monuments were dismantled after his death.
New Kingdom Egypt Religion Late Bronze Age
c. 1334 BCE
An Egyptian queen asks Hatti for a prince
The widow of an Egyptian king called Nipḫururia, probably Tutankhamun or Akhenaten, asks Suppiluliuma I for a son to marry. His son Zannanza is killed on the road. Later Hittite prayers link a plague among Egyptian captives to the affair.
Hittite Empire New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1320 BCE
The Uluburun shipwreck
A merchant ship sinks off southern Turkey around 1320 BCE carrying about 10 tons of Cypriot copper, a ton of tin, some 175 glass ingots, ebony, ivory and Canaanite jars. Found in 1982 and excavated 1984-1994, it points to a Levantine crew with two Mycenaeans aboard.
Late Bronze Age Archaeology Technology
c. 1300 BCE
The palace at Thebes is sacked and burned
Between about 1300 and 1200 BCE the palace at Boeotian Thebes is sacked repeatedly and finally burned. The city does not regain significant standing until at least the late twelfth century.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1300 BCE
Troy VI is destroyed
Troy VI, occupied from about 1750 BCE, ends around 1300 in damage that suggests an earthquake. The city was not burned and no victims were found, so an uprising or foreign attack cannot be excluded. Troy VIIa is built on the same site.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
May 1274 BCE
The Battle of Kadesh
In May 1274 BCE, on the usual chronology, Ramesses II and Muwatalli II fight near Kadesh on the Orontes. Ramesses proclaims a rout of his enemies, while Hittite records say he was forced to withdraw. Modern historians generally see a draw.
New Kingdom Egypt Hittite Empire War Late Bronze Age
1258 BCE
Egypt and Hatti sign a peace treaty
In Ramesses II's 21st year (c. 1258 BCE), about fifteen years after Kadesh, Egypt and Hattusili III's Hatti agree a treaty, one of the oldest to survive nearly complete. It was inscribed on a silver tablet; a clay copy found at Hattusa is now in Istanbul.
New Kingdom Egypt Hittite Empire Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1250 BCE
Mycenae extends its citadel and builds the Lion Gate
In the middle of Late Helladic IIIB, around 1250 BCE, Mycenae's Cyclopean wall is extended to enclose Grave Circle A (c. 1550-1500 BCE), and the Lion Gate becomes the main entrance. A last extension of the citadel follows around 1200.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1243 BCE
Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria takes Babylon
Tukulti-Ninurta I (reigned 1243-1207 BCE, or 1233-1197 on the low chronology) wins a major victory over the Hittites at Nihriya and captures Babylon, carrying off the Kassite king Kashtiliash IV and the statue of Marduk. His sons later besiege and kill him at Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.
War Politics Hittite Empire Late Bronze Age
c. 1230 BCE
The Hittites briefly annex Cyprus
Under Tudhaliya IV (c. 1245-1215 BCE, with other reign dates given) the Hittites invade and temporarily annex Cyprus, then called Alashiya, with help from the navy of Ugarit. The occupation does not last.
Hittite Empire War Late Bronze Age
c. 1208 BCE
Merneptah repels the Libyans and their allies
In his fifth year (c. 1208 BCE; his reign is dated c. 1213-1203) Merneptah defeats Libyans backed by Sea Peoples in a six-hour battle at Perire, in the western Delta. He claims 6,000 enemy dead and 9,000 prisoners. The Great Karnak Inscription and the Athribis Stele record it.
New Kingdom Egypt Sea Peoples War Late Bronze Age
c. 1208 BCE
The Merneptah Stele names Israel
A stele of Merneptah records the Libyan and Sea Peoples attacks and a Canaanite revolt. It holds the earliest known mention of Israel ("Israel has been wiped out"), which it treats as a people or tribe, not a city or country.
New Kingdom Egypt Judaism Late Bronze Age
c. 1207 BCE
Suppiluliuma II fights at sea off Cyprus
The last known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II (reigned from c. 1207 or 1210 BCE), wins a naval battle off Cyprus and is credited with reconquering the island around 1200. Ammurapi of Ugarit is his contemporary.
Hittite Empire War Late Bronze Age
c. 1200 BCE
Cypriot sites burn or are abandoned
Around 1200 BCE Maa-Palaeokastro on Cyprus is destroyed by an unidentified attacker, while several other sites are abandoned without destruction. Whether Enkomi and Sinda were burned is disputed, and Kition shows continuity.
Late Bronze Age Archaeology
c. 1200 BCE
Late Bronze Age collapse
Around 1200-1150 BCE the Mycenaean palaces burn, the Hittite state fragments and Ugarit falls; Sea Peoples attack Egypt. Recent scholarship sees the collapse as more limited than once thought. Its causes are unsettled, probably several at once.
Bronze Age Aegean
c. 1200 BCE
An earthquake damages Tiryns
Around 1200 BCE an earthquake damages Tiryns, including its palace. The city probably remained inhabited afterwards.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1198 BCE
Tree rings record a drought in Anatolia
Juniper tree rings show severe drought around 1198-1196 BCE, within drier conditions from the 13th into the 12th century. Studies disagree on its effects: plant remains from Syria show little sign of famine.
Late Bronze Age Archaeology
c. 1195 BCE
Mycenae burns
Mycenae is destroyed by fire around 1200-1190 BCE, for reasons not established. It is partly rebuilt but is no longer a centre of literate bureaucracy. A later destruction around 1150 is followed by sparse occupation until Hellenistic times.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1194 BCE
The Trojan War (traditional)
Tradition, as reckoned by Eratosthenes, places the ten-year Greek siege of Troy in 1194-1184 BCE. Whether a real war lies behind it is open: Troy VII at Hisarlik was burned around then, but the epics blend many stories.
Bronze Age Aegean
c. 1191 BCE
Tausret rules; the 19th Dynasty ends
Tausret rules c. 1191-1188 BCE, first beside Siptah, whose court executed the West Asian chancellor Bay, then alone. Her reign ends in civil war, most likely with Setnakhte, who founds the 20th Dynasty and takes over her tomb.
New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1190 BCE
Ammurapi writes of enemy ships
Ugarit's last king, Ammurapi, tells the king of Alashiya that "seven ships of the enemy" have burned his cities while his own troops and ships are away. Alashiya's governor replies by blaming people from Ugarit's own country. Help from Carchemish arrives after the sack.
Late Bronze Age War
c. 1190 BCE
Hattusa is abandoned
The Hittite capital is gradually abandoned over several decades from about 1190 BCE. Fire damage probably came after it was empty. Farmers settled in the ruins in the twelfth century, and some people stayed until the 10th. The causes are disputed.
Hittite Empire Late Bronze Age
c. 1190 BCE
Ugarit is destroyed
Ugarit is destroyed around 1190 BCE, dated 1192-1190 by a chancellor's tablet, an eclipse and radiocarbon. Hunger preceded the assault, weapons lay in the streets, and the attackers are unidentified. A sword with Merneptah's name was found in the destruction level.
Late Bronze Age War Archaeology
c. 1187 BCE
Emar is destroyed
Emar, a Hittite-ruled town on the Euphrates, is destroyed in 1187 BCE by one dating (the second year of Meli-Shipak II of Babylon), though the siege is hard to date. A text mentions a siege by Tarwi in a "year of distress" (famine). About 1,100 of its tablets are known.
Hittite Empire Late Bronze Age Archaeology
c. 1185 BCE
Elam sacks Babylon; Kassite rule collapses
During the reign of Shutruk-Nahhunte of Elam (c. 1185-1155 BCE) the Elamites sack Babylon. The Kassite rule of Babylonia, which had lasted some four centuries, collapses in the early twelfth century.
War Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1184 BCE
Aeneas reaches Latium (legendary)
In Roman legend the Trojan prince Aeneas escapes Troy, whose fall tradition dates to 1184 BCE, and settles in Latium, founding Lavinium. Romans later claimed descent from him.
Roman Republic
c. 1180 BCE
The Greek Dark Ages
After the palaces fall, settlements shrink, Linear B vanishes, pottery simplifies and iron replaces bronze. Euboean Lefkandi prospers and Greeks begin settling the Anatolian coast. Recovery is well under way by the early 8th century BCE.
Greek city-states Writing
c. 1180 BCE
The Palace of Nestor at Pylos burns
The palace at Pylos burns around 1180 BCE (one source gives about 1250). Its Linear B tablets, preserved by the fire, mention hasty defensive preparations against an imminent attack, but no text names the attackers. The palace itself had no walls.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology Writing
c. 1180 BCE
Troy VIIa is destroyed
Troy VIIa, occupied from about 1300 BCE, is destroyed around 1180, with scorch marks and signs of enemy attack. Excavators found arrowheads and burned human remains in early twelfth-century layers. The site is rebuilt at once. The traditional Trojan War is dated 1194-1184.
Bronze Age Aegean Archaeology
c. 1178 BCE
Ramesses III records victories over invaders by land and sea
In his eighth year (c. 1178-1175 BCE) Ramesses III records an invasion by land and sea. He claims victory at Djahy on Egypt's eastern frontier and in the Battle of the Delta, where archers and ships trap the enemy fleet at the Nile mouth. His reign is dated 1186-1155.
New Kingdom Egypt Sea Peoples War Late Bronze Age
c. 1175 BCE
Philistine culture appears on the Canaanite coast
From about 1175 BCE a distinct culture with local versions of Mycenaean Late Helladic IIIC pottery appears at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron and Gath. A 2019 study at Ashkelon found mostly local ancestry plus a southern European-related component. Origins are debated.
Sea Peoples Archaeology Late Bronze Age
c. 1174 BCE
Ramesses III's temple at Medinet Habu
Ramesses III's mortuary temple, finished around his twelfth year, carries the main Egyptian pictorial record of the Sea Peoples. Its reliefs show the land and sea battles and name foes such as the Peleset.
New Kingdom Egypt Sea Peoples Archaeology
c. 1157 BCE
Tomb workers strike at Deir el-Medina
In Ramesses III's 29th year the workmen who build the royal tombs go unpaid when food rations fail to arrive. It is recorded as the first known labour strike in history.
New Kingdom Egypt Late Bronze Age
c. 1155 BCE
A conspiracy against Ramesses III
A plot by the queen Tiye to put her son Pentawere on the throne is set for a festival around 1155 BCE. The Turin Judicial Papyrus records the trials, with 38 death sentences. Ramesses III dies in 1154; a 2012 study found a deep throat cut on his mummy.
New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1154 BCE
The Great Harris Papyrus
Commissioned by Ramesses IV, the Great Harris Papyrus lists Ramesses III's temple gifts and expeditions, including copper mining at Timna. An undated passage says he killed Denyen "in their isles", burned Tjeker and Peleset, and settled captured Sherden and Weshesh in Egypt.
New Kingdom Egypt Sea Peoples Late Bronze Age
c. 1145 BCE
Egypt's hold on Canaan fades
Egypt's territorial and economic strength recedes under the later Ramessides, notably Ramesses VI (1145-1137 BCE). The Egyptian gate complex at Jaffa is destroyed between 1134 and 1115 by radiocarbon. The withdrawal from the Levant is tied to internal turmoil, not one event.
New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1100 BCE
The al-Khader arrowheads
Inscribed bronze arrowheads from al-Khader, dated c. 1100 BCE, are described as a "missing link" between the Proto-Canaanite and the Phoenician scripts. No Phoenician inscription is securely dated to the 11th century.
Writing Archaeology Late Bronze Age
c. 1077 BCE
The New Kingdom ends
Ramesses XI dies in 1077 BCE (1069 in some chronologies), ending the New Kingdom. Smendes I rules mainly Lower Egypt from Tanis while the High Priests of Amun govern Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name. The Third Intermediate Period begins.
New Kingdom Egypt Politics Late Bronze Age
c. 1000 BCE
The Ahiram sarcophagus
Pierre Montet finds the sarcophagus of Ahiram in the royal necropolis of Byblos in 1923. Its 38-word Phoenician inscription is the oldest long one known, c. 1000 BCE. Some scholars date it later, about 850 or the 9th-8th centuries.
Writing Archaeology
c. 1000 BCE
A Greek name on a bronze spit at Palaepaphos
A bronze spit from Tomb 49 at Palaepaphos-Skales, Cyprus, bears the Greek name Opheltas in the genitive, in a syllabic script. Its tomb dates to the late 11th or early 10th century BCE. Scholars disagree on whether the script is Cypro-Minoan or the Cypriot syllabary.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
c. 814 BCE
Carthage founded by Dido (traditional)
Tradition, from the Greek historian Timaeus, says Queen Elissa (Dido) of Tyre founded Carthage in 814 BCE. Archaeology finds settlement there only from the later 8th century BCE.
Carthage
c. 800 BCE
The earliest alphabetic graffiti at Eretria
About thirty inscriptions of the 8th century BCE are known from Eretria, 26 from the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnephoros, including a graffito in a Semitic script and a clumsy Greek ostrakon. Under 1% of the sanctuary's pottery is inscribed, so writing was still rare.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
c. 800 BCE
The Greeks adopt the alphabet
Around 800 BCE the Greeks adapt the Phoenician script, using some consonant signs for vowels: the first alphabet to write both. The oldest substantial inscriptions, such as the Dipylon vase and Nestor's Cup, date to about 740-730 BCE.
Greek city-states Literature Writing
c. 800 BCE
Lycurgus gives Sparta its laws (legendary)
Spartans credited the lawgiver Lycurgus with their constitution and way of life. Many historians doubt he existed, and ancient dates range from 885 to 776 BCE. Institutions such as the agoge probably developed later, from the 7th century.
Greek city-states Sparta
c. 776 BCE
First Olympic Games (traditional)
Tradition dates the first Olympics to 776 BCE, when Coroebus of Elis wins the stadion sprint at Olympia. The date rests on later reckoning; excavation suggests the games grew around 700. The last recorded games were held in 393 CE.
Greek city-states
c. 753 BCE
Romulus founds Rome (traditional)
Roman tradition, fixed by the scholar Varro, dates Romulus's founding of Rome to 753 BCE. Archaeology shows huts on the Palatine in the 9th-8th centuries and a gradual merging of settlements, not one founding act.
Roman Republic
c. 750 BCE
Greek colonisation
From the 8th century BCE Greek cities found colonies from Sicily and southern Italy to the Black Sea and North Africa, with a peak between 750 and 500. Motives include land shortage, civil strife and trade. Some foundations were private ventures.
Greek city-states
c. 750 BCE
The Iliad and the Odyssey take shape
The Iliad and Odyssey take form around the 8th to 7th century BCE, probably in oral tradition. Dates are disputed, from the 8th century (Janko) to no earlier than 660 (West). Whether a single Homer existed is unresolved.
Greek city-states Literature
c. 750 BCE
Euboeans settle Pithekoussai
In the 8th century BCE Greeks from Chalcis and Eretria set up a trading post at Pithekoussai on Ischia, with a mixed Greek, Etruscan and Phoenician population of 5,000-10,000 by 700. Nestor's Cup, c. 730, bears an early Greek inscription.
Greek city-states Etruscans
c. 743 BCE
First Messenian War (traditional dates)
Sparta conquers neighbouring Messenia. Pausanias dates the war 743-724 BCE, Coldstream about 730-710. Messenia loses its sovereignty and its people are reduced to helots, serfs who feed Sparta's citizens. Our sources are late and fragmentary.
Greek city-states Sparta
c. 740 BCE
The Dipylon inscription
An Athenian jug from the Dipylon cemetery, found in 1871 and dated c. 740 BCE, carries 46 letters scratched right to left, the first 35 forming a hexameter about the best dancer. Either it or Nestor's Cup is the oldest known Greek alphabetic inscription.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
c. 733 BCE
Corinthians found Syracuse
Colonists from Corinth led by Archias settle Ortygia and found Syracuse, in 733 BCE by Thucydides's reckoning. Later sources differ by a few years. The Sicels who lived there are expelled.
Greek city-states
c. 730 BCE
Early alphabetic graffiti at Methone
Graffiti and potters' marks from the northern Aegean port of Methone, mostly on pottery of about 730-700 BCE, are roughly contemporary with those of Pithekoussai. John Papadopoulos proposes Methone as a candidate for where the alphabet began, a claim others contest.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
c. 730 BCE
Nestor's Cup
Giorgio Buchner finds a cup in Tomb 168 at Pithekoussai in 1954, made c. 735-720 BCE on Rhodes or in northern Ionia. Its three-line inscription in the Chalcidian Euboean alphabet, with two hexameters, refers to Nestor's cup; the first line's restoration is disputed.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
c. 715 BCE
Numa Pompilius becomes Rome's second king (traditional)
Tradition credits Numa (reign c. 715-672 BCE) with Rome's religious institutions, including the Vestal Virgins and the pontiffs, and with adding January and February to the calendar. Largely unverified.
Roman Republic
c. 672 BCE
Tullus Hostilius destroys Alba Longa (traditional)
Tradition says Rome's third king (reign c. 672-640 BCE) razed the neighbouring Latin city of Alba Longa and moved its people to Rome. The story of his death by lightning is legend.
Roman Republic
c. 657 BCE
Cypselus becomes tyrant of Corinth
Around 657 BCE Cypselus, the army's polemarch, expels the ruling Bacchiad clan and rules Corinth as tyrant for thirty years. His son Periander succeeds him in 627.
Greek city-states Politics
c. 631 BCE
Cyrene is founded (traditional)
Settlers from Thera led by Battus found Cyrene in Libya in 631 BCE, at the prompting of the Delphic oracle, according to Greek tradition. Pottery shows Greek settlement by the mid-7th century. Sources differ on the motive and the mother city.
Greek city-states
c. 622 BCE
King Josiah's reform after a 'book of the law' is found in the Temple
In his 18th year, c. 622 BCE, Josiah of Judah centralizes worship in Jerusalem after a scroll is found in the Temple. Many scholars link it to an early form of Deuteronomy; some see the account as largely legendary.
Judaism The Bible Religion
c. 621 BCE
Draco's laws at Athens (traditional)
Athens's first written laws are attributed to Draco in 621/620 BCE. They distinguish murder from involuntary homicide but punish most crimes harshly, hence "draconian". Solon later repeals all but the homicide law. Some scholars doubt Draco was real.
Greek city-states Athens Politics
c. 616 BCE
Tarquinius Priscus begins the Etruscan dynasty (traditional)
Tradition makes Tarquinius Priscus (reign c. 616-578 BCE) the first of three Etruscan-descended kings of Rome. He is credited with the Circus Maximus and the Cloaca Maxima, and with starting the Capitoline temple.
Roman Republic Etruscans
c. 600 BCE
Cloaca Maxima drains the Forum valley (traditional)
Tradition credits Tarquinius Priscus with building the Cloaca Maxima, a sewer draining the marshy ground of the future Roman Forum, c. 600 BCE. Archaeology dates it only to the kingdom or early Republic.
Roman Republic
c. 600 BCE
Phocaeans found Massalia
Greeks from Phocaea in Ionia found Massalia, today's Marseille, around 600 BCE. After Persia captures Phocaea in 545, more settlers arrive. Marseille is often called the oldest city in France.
Greek city-states
c. 600 BCE
Sappho writes on Lesbos
The lyric poet Sappho is active on Lesbos around 600 BCE. About 650 lines survive of the roughly 10,000 she is thought to have composed, and the Ode to Aphrodite is the only complete poem. She gives her name to the Sapphic stanza.
Greek city-states Literature
594 BCE
Solon's reforms at Athens
Archon in 594 BCE, Solon repeals Draco's laws except the homicide law. Tradition says he cancelled debts, freed enslaved Athenians and divided citizens into four classes by wealth. Modern historians stress that the sources are late and debate the details.
Greek city-states Athens Politics
c. 587 BCE
Babylon destroys Jerusalem and exiles Judah's elite
Nebuchadnezzar II burns Jerusalem and its Temple in 587 or 586 BCE and deports Judeans to Babylonia. In exile, scribes gather and reshape the traditions that would form the Hebrew Bible.
Judaism The Bible Religion
c. 585 BCE
Thales and the eclipse of 585 BCE (traditional)
Herodotus says Thales of Miletus predicted the eclipse that halted a battle between Lydians and Medes in 585 BCE. Many scholars reject the story. Aristotle calls Thales the first natural philosopher and says he held that everything comes from water.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy Science
c. 578 BCE
Servius Tullius becomes king; census and classes (traditional)
Tradition credits the sixth king (reign c. 578-535 BCE) with Rome's first census and the property-based voting classes. Scholars see a gradual process; some identify him with the Etruscan Mastarna.
Roman Republic Etruscans
561 BCE
Pisistratus seizes power in Athens
After a staged injury wins him a bodyguard, Pisistratus takes the Acropolis in 561 BCE and becomes tyrant of Athens. Rival factions drive him out twice over the following years.
Greek city-states Athens Politics
c. 550 BCE
Anaximander writes on nature
Around 550 BCE Anaximander of Miletus is credited with the first Greek prose work on nature, of which one fragment survives. He proposes the apeiron, an unlimited source of all things, and is said to have published the first world map.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy Science
c. 550 BCE
Cyrus overthrows the Medes
Around 550 BCE Cyrus II of Persia defeats the Median king Astyages and takes Ecbatana, founding the Achaemenid Empire. The Nabonidus Chronicle dates the conflict to 553-550.
Achaemenid Persia
546 BCE
Cyrus conquers Lydia
Cyrus defeats Croesus of Lydia at Thymbra and takes Sardis, in 546 BCE by the article's reckoning; 547 was once common. Croesus's fate is disputed: Herodotus says he was spared.
Achaemenid Persia
546 BCE
Pisistratus wins Athens for good
In 546 BCE Pisistratus returns from exile with Eretrian cavalry and mercenaries, lands at Marathon and defeats the Athenians at Pallene. He rules until his death in 528 or 527, and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus follow.
Greek city-states Athens Politics
545 BCE
Persia captures Phocaea
In 545 BCE Persia captures the Ionian Greek city of Phocaea. Many Phocaeans flee to colonies in the west, including Massalia.
Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
c. 540 BCE
Battle of Alalia
Etruscan and Carthaginian fleets fight Phocaean Greeks off Corsica, c. 540-535 BCE. The Greeks win but lose most of their ships and leave Corsica; Corsica goes to the Etruscans and Carthage keeps Sardinia.
Etruscans Carthage Greek city-states
October 539 BCE
Cyrus takes Babylon
In October 539 BCE, Cyrus defeats the Babylonian army at Opis and enters Babylon on 29 October. The Cyrus Cylinder, inscribed afterwards, proclaims him "king of the four corners of the world".
Achaemenid Persia
c. 535 BCE
Tarquin the Proud seizes the throne (traditional)
According to Livy, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus has Servius Tullius murdered with the help of his wife Tullia and takes power, c. 535 BCE. He rules as a tyrant and completes the Capitoline temple.
Roman Republic Etruscans
c. 534 BCE
Thespis wins the first tragedy contest (traditional)
Tradition says that in 534 BCE tragedy competitions begin at Athens's City Dionysia and Thespis wins the first. Ancient writers make him the first actor. The works attributed to him are considered forgeries.
Greek city-states Athens Literature
c. 530 BCE
Pythagoras settles in Croton
About 530 BCE Pythagoras of Samos moves to Croton in southern Italy and founds a communal, ascetic school. He left no writings, and all biographies are centuries later; the theorem that bears his name is not clearly his.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy
525 BCE
Cambyses II conquers Egypt
In spring 525 BCE Persian forces beat the Egyptians at Pelusium and take Memphis. By summer all Egypt is under Persian control. Cambyses dies in 522 as he hurries back to quell a revolt in Persia.
Achaemenid Persia
522 BCE
Darius I seizes the throne
In 522 BCE Darius overthrows the usurper Gaumata and puts down revolts across the empire. His Behistun Inscription tells this story, which historians suspect conceals his own overthrow of Bardiya. He later reorganises the empire into about twenty satrapies.
Achaemenid Persia
514 BCE
Hipparchus is assassinated
In 514 BCE Harmodius and Aristogeiton kill Hipparchus, brother of the tyrant Hippias. The plot fails to end the tyranny, and Hippias's rule turns harsher.
Greek city-states Athens
510 BCE
Hippias is expelled from Athens
In 510 BCE Spartan hoplites help the Athenians overthrow the tyrant Hippias. The Spartan king Cleomenes I then backs Isagoras in the struggle for power that follows.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Politics
c. 509 BCE
First treaty between Rome and Carthage
Polybius preserves a treaty limiting Roman and Carthaginian shipping and raiding in Latium and Africa, which he dates just after the Republic's founding (c. 509-508 BCE). Its date is calculated, not recorded.
Roman Republic Carthage
c. 509 BCE
Tarquin expelled; the Republic founded (traditional)
Tradition says the rape of Lucretia led Lucius Junius Brutus to drive out Tarquin the Proud, replacing the king with two annual consuls. Modern scholars doubt the story and suspect a coup or an Etruscan occupation.
Roman Republic Etruscans
c. 509 BCE
Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus dedicated
Livy dates the dedication of Rome's greatest temple, on the Capitoline, to 13 September 509 BCE; Dionysius says 507. Begun under Priscus and finished under Superbus, it housed the cult of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.
Roman Republic Etruscans
508 BCE
Cleisthenes's reforms: the birth of Athenian democracy
In 508 BCE, after Isagoras fails, Cleisthenes replaces the four kinship tribes with ten tribes based on residence, expands the council to 500 and introduces sortition. He is called the father of Athenian democracy, though he called it isonomia.
Greek city-states Athens Politics
c. 500 BCE
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Around 500 BCE, Heraclitus of Ephesus teaches that everything changes and that opposites are united. Tradition places him in 504-501 BCE. His book is lost, and over a hundred fragments survive in quotations.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy
c. 500 BCE
Pyrgi Tablets: Etruscan and Phoenician dedication
Around 500 BCE the Etruscan ruler of Caere, Thefarie Velianas, dedicates a sanctuary at Pyrgi to Uni, equated with Astarte, on gold tablets in Etruscan and Phoenician. Found in 1964, they show Etruscan-Carthaginian ties.
Etruscans Carthage Writing
499 BCE
Ionian Revolt
Led by Aristagoras of Miletus, the Greek cities of Ionia revolt against Persian rule in 499 BCE, backed by ships from Athens and Eretria. Persia crushes the revolt by 493, and its aftermath leads to the invasions of Greece.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
498 BCE
Sardis is burned
In 498 BCE Ionian and allied forces burn Sardis, the satrapal capital. Persian cavalry catches them at Ephesus, and Athens and Eretria withdraw.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens
c. 496 BCE
Battle of Lake Regillus (traditional)
Tradition says Rome defeated a coalition of Latin cities at Lake Regillus c. 496 BCE, leading to the treaty of 493 BCE. Our accounts come from much later historians.
Roman Republic
494 BCE
Battle of Lade
In 494 BCE Persia defeats the Ionian fleet off Lade, near Miletus, after Samian ships defect during the battle. Miletus is besieged and captured and the revolt is effectively over.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
c. 494 BCE
First secession of the plebs; tribunes created (traditional)
Tradition says that in 494 BCE indebted plebeians left Rome for the Sacred Mount until the patricians agreed to sacrosanct tribunes of the plebs, who could protect citizens and veto magistrates. Sources vary on the details.
Roman Republic
c. 493 BCE
Foedus Cassianum: Rome and the Latin League (traditional)
Tradition dates to 493 BCE a treaty, named for consul Spurius Cassius, between Rome and thirty Latin cities: peace, joint defence against neighbours, shared spoils and colonies. Dionysius preserves its text.
Roman Republic
492 BCE
Mardonius's campaign in Thrace and Macedon
In 492 BCE Mardonius retakes Thrace and makes Macedon a fully subordinate part of the Persian empire. A storm off Mount Athos wrecks his fleet and he returns to Asia.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Macedon Greek city-states
490 BCE
Battle of Marathon
An Athenian army of about 9,000 under Miltiades, with 1,000 Plataeans, defeats the Persian landing at Marathon in 490 BCE, conventionally dated 12 September. Herodotus counts 192 Athenian dead and 6,400 Persian; modern estimates of Persian dead are lower.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens
490 BCE
Persians burn Naxos and raze Eretria
In 490 BCE a Persian fleet under Datis and Artaphernes burns Naxos and takes the Cyclades. Eretria falls after a six-day siege when two citizens open its gates; the city is razed and its people enslaved.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
486 BCE
Darius dies; Xerxes becomes king
Darius dies in 486 BCE while preparing a second campaign against Greece, delayed by an Egyptian revolt. His son Xerxes, about 32, succeeds him in autumn and crushes the revolt. He later completes the Apadana and Gate of All Nations at Persepolis.
Achaemenid Persia
481 BCE
The Hellenic League is formed
In late autumn 481 BCE a congress at Corinth unites the Greek states resisting Persia, Athens and Sparta among them. The Spartan Eurybiades is given command of the fleet.
Persian Wars Greek city-states Athens Sparta Achaemenid Persia
480 BCE
Battle of Artemisium
While Thermopylae is fought, the Greek fleet under Eurybiades and Themistocles fights an inconclusive three-day battle with Persia off Artemisium. Storms wreck much of the Persian fleet. News of Thermopylae forces the Greeks to withdraw to Salamis.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens
480 BCE
Battle of Himera
In 480 BCE Gelon of Syracuse and Theron of Akragas defeat a Carthaginian army under Hamilcar at Himera in Sicily. Carthage loses about half its army and most of its fleet, and Syracuse gains hegemony in Sicily. A later tradition links it to Salamis, which modern scholars reject.
Greek city-states Carthage
480 BCE
Battle of Thermopylae
A Greek force of about 7,000 under the Spartan king Leonidas holds the pass at Thermopylae for three days of fighting until a mountain path reveals their rear. Leonidas stays with his 300 Spartans and Thespians and dies. Sources differ on the date, from July to September 480.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Sparta
480 BCE
Persians sack Athens
In 480 BCE the Persians take Boeotia and Attica and burn Athens. Mardonius retakes and destroys it again in 479.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Athens Greek city-states
April 480 BCE
Xerxes invades Greece
In April 480 BCE Xerxes's army crosses the Hellespont on bridges and marches through Thrace and Macedon into Thessaly, after Persia has dug a canal across the Athos peninsula. Herodotus's figures of millions of men are rejected; modern estimates are 100,000-300,000 and more.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
September 480 BCE
Battle of Salamis
On 26 or 27 September 480 BCE, Themistocles lures the Persian fleet into the narrow strait off Salamis, where its numbers count for less. The Greeks win decisively and Xerxes withdraws to Asia, leaving Mardonius in Greece.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens Sparta
479 BCE
Greeks take Sestos and Byzantium
The Greek counterattack takes Sestos in 479 BCE and Byzantium in 478, pushing Persia out of Europe.
Persian Wars Greek city-states Achaemenid Persia
August 479 BCE
Battle of Mycale
Herodotus places the Greek victory at Mycale, in Ionia, on the same day as Plataea. The Greeks land and rout the Persians, then burn their camp. Ionia rises again and Samos, Chios and Lesbos join the Hellenic alliance.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states
August 479 BCE
Battle of Plataea
On 27 or 28 August 479 BCE a Greek army under the Spartan regent Pausanias defeats Mardonius at Plataea, and Mardonius is killed. The Persians lose control of Attica and Boeotia and withdraw from Greece. Herodotus's casualty figures are not credited.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Sparta Athens
478 BCE
The Delian League is founded
In 478 BCE Athens leads a new alliance of Greek states against Persia after Sparta withdraws, with its treasury on Delos. Members provide ships or pay a tax, and most pay. It gradually becomes an Athenian empire.
Persian Wars Greek city-states Athens Achaemenid Persia
c. 475 BCE
The Gortyn Code
A law code of the first half of the 5th century BCE is cut in 12 columns of about 600 lines at Gortyn, Crete, in the Dorian dialect and in boustrophedon. First fragment found 1857, more in 1884. It is the longest surviving Greek inscription apart from Diogenes of Oenoanda's.
Writing Greek city-states Archaeology
474 BCE
Battle of Cumae: Etruscan sea power broken
A fleet from Syracuse, led by the tyrant Hiero I, and Cumae defeats the Etruscans in the Bay of Naples in 474 BCE. Etruscan naval strength and influence in Italy decline; Pindar celebrated the victory.
Etruscans Greek city-states
472 BCE
Aeschylus stages The Persians
In 472 BCE Aeschylus, who fought at Marathon and Salamis, stages The Persians, the earliest surviving play, about the Persian defeat. It wins first prize.
Greek city-states Athens Literature Achaemenid Persia
468 BCE
Sophocles defeats Aeschylus
In 468 BCE Sophocles wins first prize at the Dionysia over Aeschylus. Seven of his plays survive complete. According to Aristotle he adds a third actor according to Aristotle.
Greek city-states Athens Literature
c. 466 BCE
Battle of the Eurymedon
Cimon's Athenian-led fleet destroys a Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon in Pamphylia, then routs the Persian army on land. The date is 466 or 469 BCE. It keeps Persia out of the Aegean for years.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens
465 BCE
Thasos revolts; the League becomes a hegemony
Thasos leaves the Delian League in 465 BCE over a dispute about its mines, and Sparta declines to help. After a long siege it surrenders, loses its walls, ships and mines, and pays tribute. Thucydides sees this as the League turning into a hegemony.
Greek city-states Athens
August 465 BCE
Xerxes is assassinated
Artabanus, commander of the royal bodyguard, kills Xerxes in August 465 BCE with the help of a eunuch. Xerxes's son Artaxerxes I takes the throne. Sources differ on whether the crown prince Darius was killed first.
Achaemenid Persia
c. 461 BCE
Ephialtes curbs the Areopagus
Around 461 BCE Ephialtes strips the aristocratic Areopagus of most of its powers, and Cimon is ostracised. Ephialtes is killed the same year. Pericles emerges as the leading figure of the democracy.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles Politics
c. 460 BCE
Athens backs Inaros's revolt in Egypt
Around 460 BCE Athens sends ships to support the Egyptian rebel Inaros II against Persia. The expedition ends in a disastrous defeat and Inaros is executed.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Greek city-states Athens
460 BCE
First Peloponnesian War
Athens fights Sparta and its allies, mostly Corinth, from about 460 to 445 BCE. Sparta wins at Tanagra (458 or 457), and Athens wins at Oenophyta and takes most of Boeotia. A truce in 451 holds only a few years before the Thirty Years' Peace.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta
458 BCE
Aeschylus's Oresteia
In 458 BCE Aeschylus stages the Oresteia, the only complete tragic trilogy to survive: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides. He dies at Gela in Sicily in 456 or 455.
Greek city-states Athens Literature
c. 457 BCE
Ezra brings the Torah to Jerusalem
According to tradition, the priest and scribe Ezra leads a return from Babylon c. 457 BCE and reintroduces the Torah in Jerusalem. Many scholars place the Torah's final shaping and authority in this Persian period.
Judaism The Bible Religion
c. 456 BCE
Anaxagoras brings philosophy to Athens
Around 456 BCE, or perhaps earlier, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae settles in Athens and becomes a friend of Pericles. He teaches that mind (nous) set the world in order, and leaves Athens for Lampsacus around 434.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy Pericles
454 BCE
Delian League treasury moved to Athens
In 454 BCE Pericles moves the League's treasury from Delos to Athens, officially for safety from Persia. Plutarch reports that rivals accused him of diverting funds to building projects such as the Parthenon.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles
451 BCE
Pericles's citizenship law
In 451 BCE Pericles passes a law limiting Athenian citizenship to those with an Athenian father and an Athenian mother. Around this time he also supports pay for jurors in the Heliaia.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles Politics
c. 451 BCE
The Twelve Tables (traditional)
A board of ten magistrates, the decemvirs, is said to have written Rome's first public laws c. 451-449 BCE after plebeian pressure. The text is lost and survives only in later quotations.
Roman Republic
c. 449 BCE
The Peace of Callias (disputed)
Around 449 BCE Athens and Persia reportedly make peace through Callias: Ionian cities autonomous, no Persian warships in the Aegean. Whether the treaty existed is disputed, since Thucydides never mentions it. The Greco-Persian Wars fade out around this time.
Persian Wars Achaemenid Persia Athens Greek city-states
447 BCE
The Parthenon is built
Begun in 447 BCE under Pericles, the Parthenon is substantially finished by 438, with its sculpture continuing to about 432. Ictinus and Callicrates design it and Phidias oversees the work and its gold-and-ivory Athena. It is paid for largely from Delian League funds.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles
c. 446 BCE
The Thirty Years' Peace
In winter 446-445 BCE Athens and Sparta make a peace meant to last thirty years. Athens keeps the sea and Sparta the land, Megara returns to the Peloponnesian League, and disputes are to go to arbitration. It lasts about fifteen.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta
c. 445 BCE
Consular tribunes replace consuls (traditional)
Tradition says that in 445 BCE, when plebeians demanded the consulship, a compromise created consular tribunes who could be plebeian. Livy's lists for the period are inconsistent.
Roman Republic
440 BCE
Samian War
In 440 BCE Athens besieges Samos for about eight months and forces it to surrender.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles
c. 435 BCE
Phidias's statue of Zeus at Olympia
Around 435 BCE Phidias makes the seated statue of Zeus for his temple at Olympia, some 12 metres high, of ivory and gold on a wooden frame. It becomes one of the Seven Wonders. Its end is unknown, perhaps a fire in the 5th century CE.
Greek city-states Art
431 BCE
Euripides stages Medea
In 431 BCE Euripides presents Medea at the Dionysia, where it places third. He first wins a prize only in 441, and eighteen or nineteen of his plays survive. He dies in Macedon in 406.
Greek city-states Athens Literature
431 BCE
Peloponnesian War
Athens and Sparta and their allies fight from 431 to 404 BCE. Thucydides blames Athens's growth and Spartan fear. Persia's support for Sparta from 413 and Lysander's victory at Aegospotami end it. Athens surrenders in 404 and the Delian League is dissolved.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
April 4, 431 BCE
The Peloponnesian War breaks out
On 4 April 431 BCE Thebes attacks Plataea, an Athenian ally. Sparta then votes that Athens has broken the Thirty Years' Peace and King Archidamus II invades Attica, starting the Archidamian War. Athenians shelter inside their walls.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War Thebes
c. 430 BCE
Herodotus writes the Histories
Herodotus of Halicarnassus writes his Histories, on the Greco-Persian Wars and the peoples around them, in the 430s-420s BCE. Cicero calls him the "Father of History", while critics called him a storyteller. Nothing in the text is dated after 430.
Greek city-states Literature Achaemenid Persia
c. 430 BCE
Pericles's Funeral Oration
In winter 431-430 BCE Pericles delivers the funeral oration for the first Athenian war dead, praising Athens's democracy. We know it only through Thucydides, and scholars debate how far the words are his own.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles Peloponnesian War Politics
430 BCE
Plague of Athens
A plague strikes crowded Athens in 430 BCE and returns in 429 and 427-426, killing an estimated quarter of the population. Its cause is unknown: typhus, typhoid and others have been proposed. It saps Athenian strength and morale.
Greek city-states Athens Peloponnesian War
429 BCE
Pericles dies
Removed as general and fined in 430 BCE, Pericles is re-elected in 429 but dies that year, reportedly of the plague, after losing two sons to it. Cleon leads a more aggressive Athenian policy afterwards.
Greek city-states Athens Pericles Peloponnesian War
c. 428 BCE
Plato is born
Plato is born in Athens in about 428-427 BCE, though sources put it anywhere between 428 and 423. A follower of Socrates, he writes philosophical dialogues and founds the Academy.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy Plato
425 BCE
Pylos and Sphacteria
In 425 BCE Demosthenes fortifies Pylos, and Athens traps about 420 Spartan hoplites, 120 of them Spartiates, on Sphacteria and takes them to Athens. Cleon rejects Spartan peace offers. The capture shakes Sparta, whose elite class is small.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
423 BCE
Aristophanes stages The Clouds
In 423 BCE the comic playwright Aristophanes presents The Clouds, which caricatures Socrates, and it comes third. Only a revised version survives. Eleven of his forty plays remain, the only complete Old Comedy.
Greek city-states Athens Literature Socrates
422 BCE
Battle of Amphipolis
In 422 BCE the Spartan Brasidas, who had taken Amphipolis, and the Athenian Cleon, trying to retake it, both die in the fighting. Both sides are exhausted, and the Peace of Nicias follows.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
March 421 BCE
Peace of Nicias
In March 421 BCE Athens and Sparta end the first half of the war, restoring prewar conditions with exceptions. It is meant to last fifty years, but Sparta's allies reject it and militants take over in both cities. Thucydides counts about seven years.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
416 BCE
Athens takes Melos
In 416 BCE Athens besieges Melos and takes it that winter, executing the men and enslaving the women and children. Thucydides's Melian Dialogue, where Athenian envoys say the strong do what they can, is his reconstruction, not a transcript.
Greek city-states Athens Peloponnesian War
415 BCE
The Sicilian Expedition
From 415 to 413 BCE Athens sends a great force against Syracuse under Nicias, Alcibiades and Lamachus. Alcibiades is recalled and defects to Sparta. Spartan help under Gylippus turns the siege, and the Athenian army and fleet are destroyed.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
413 BCE
Sparta fortifies Decelea; Persia backs Sparta
In 413 BCE Sparta fortifies Decelea, a short march from Athens, and Persia begins supporting it. The Decelean (Ionian) War follows.
Greek city-states Sparta Peloponnesian War Achaemenid Persia
June 411 BCE
The oligarchic coup of 411 at Athens
In June 411 BCE an oligarchy of the Four Hundred overthrows Athenian democracy, after the Sicilian disaster and with Alcibiades promising Persian money. The fleet at Samos refuses to obey it. The Four Hundred give way within months to the Five Thousand.
Greek city-states Athens Peloponnesian War Politics
406 BCE
Arginusae and the trial of the generals
In 406 BCE Athens beats the Spartan fleet at Arginusae, but a storm prevents the rescue of drowning sailors. Six of the eight generals are tried together by the assembly and executed. Socrates, presiding, refuses to put the motion to a vote.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War Socrates
405 BCE
Battle of Aegospotami
In 405 BCE the Spartan Lysander destroys or captures nearly the whole Athenian fleet on the Hellespont and has about 3,000 prisoners executed. Conon escapes with nine ships. Athens, cut off from its grain supply, is starved into surrender.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
405 BCE
Dionysius I becomes tyrant of Syracuse
Chosen top general in 406 BCE, Dionysius takes full control of Syracuse in 405 and rules until 367. He fights Carthage in 397-392, without driving it out of Sicily, and keeps writers and artists at his court.
Greek city-states Carthage Politics
404 BCE
Athens surrenders to Sparta
Starved and without a fleet, Athens surrenders in spring 404 BCE: March by one source, 25 April by another. Sparta spares the city but the Delian League is dissolved and the city's walls are demolished.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War
404 BCE
The Thirty Tyrants rule Athens
Installed by Sparta after the surrender, the Thirty rule Athens for about eight months in 404-403 BCE. Led by Critias, they execute some 1,500 people without trial by Aristotle's and Isocrates's count, and force Theramenes to drink hemlock.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Politics
403 BCE
Athenian democracy is restored
In 403 BCE Thrasybulus leads exiles against the Thirty, and Critias dies in the fighting. The Spartan king Pausanias brokers the Amnesty of 403, which restores democracy and pardons most citizens.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Politics
403 BCE
Athens adopts the Ionic alphabet
In the archonship of Eucleides (403/402 BCE) Athens officially adopts the Ionic alphabet, on a decree credited to Archinus. It had been used informally for years, and some later inscriptions still use the old Attic letters. It becomes the standard Greek alphabet.
Writing Greek city-states Athens
September 401 BCE
Battle of Cunaxa; the March of the Ten Thousand
In 401 BCE Cyrus the Younger challenges his brother Artaxerxes II at Cunaxa. His Greek mercenaries win their wing but Cyrus is killed, ending the revolt. Stranded, the Ten Thousand march north to the Black Sea, as Xenophon describes in the Anabasis.
Greek city-states Achaemenid Persia
c. 400 BCE
Democritus and atomism
Democritus of Abdera, building on Leucippus, teaches around 400 BCE that atoms and void are the only true realities. None of his works survive; we know him through fragments and reports, many from Aristotle.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy Science
c. 400 BCE
Hippocrates and Greek medicine
Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460-370 BCE), "the Father of Medicine", gives his name to the Hippocratic Corpus, some seventy early medical works by several authors. The Hippocratic Oath was probably written after his death.
Greek city-states Science
c. 400 BCE
Thucydides writes the History of the Peloponnesian War
Exiled from Athens after failing to save Amphipolis in 424, Thucydides writes a history of the war from 431 to 411, where it breaks off. He revises it after 404, relies on eyewitnesses and leaves the gods out. His speeches are reconstructions.
Greek city-states Athens Literature Peloponnesian War
399 BCE
The trial and death of Socrates
In 399 BCE an Athenian jury convicts Socrates of impiety and corrupting the youth and sentences him to death. He drinks hemlock. Our main accounts are by his followers Plato and Xenophon. Historians still debate the real motives.
Greek city-states Athens Socrates
396 BCE
Agesilaus campaigns against Persia
The Spartan king Agesilaus invades Persian Asia Minor in 396-394 BCE and beats Persian cavalry near Sardis in 395. Persian gold funds anti-Spartan Greek states, which forces his recall.
Greek city-states Sparta Achaemenid Persia
c. 396 BCE
Rome destroys Etruscan Veii (traditional)
In c. 396 BCE the dictator Camillus takes Veii, the Etruscan city near Rome, by tunnelling under its defences, according to Livy. Its fall extends Roman power in central Italy.
Roman Republic Etruscans
395 BCE
Corinthian War
From 395 to 387 BCE Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos, funded by Persian gold, fight Sparta. Sparta wins at Nemea and Coronea (394), but Persia's fleet destroys the Spartan navy at Cnidus. The war ends with the King's Peace.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Thebes Achaemenid Persia
394 BCE
Battle of Cnidus
In 394 BCE the Athenian Conon and the Persian satrap Pharnabazus destroy the Spartan fleet at Cnidus, ending Sparta's naval ambitions. Next year Conon, with Persian money and ships, helps Athens rebuild its Long Walls.
Greek city-states Athens Sparta Achaemenid Persia
c. 390 BCE
Gauls defeat Rome at the Allia and sack the city
Senonian Gauls under Brennus crush a Roman army at the Allia and occupy Rome until paid off. Tradition says 390 BCE; Polybius's chronology gives c. 387. Later accounts embroider the story.
Roman Republic
387 BCE
The King's Peace
In 387 BCE Artaxerxes II imposes a peace negotiated by the Spartan Antalcidas. Persia gets the Greek cities of Asia and Cyprus, other Greek cities are declared autonomous, and Thebes must dissolve the Boeotian League. Sparta enforces it.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes Achaemenid Persia
384 BCE
Aristotle is born
Aristotle is born at Stagira in 384 BCE, the son of a physician to the Macedonian king. At about 17 he joins Plato's Academy in Athens and stays about twenty years.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy Aristotle Macedon
c. 383 BCE
Plato founds the Academy
Around 383 BCE Plato founds the Academy in Athens, sometimes dated about 387, a school that lasts for centuries. The order of his dialogues cannot be fixed exactly. He visits Syracuse three times, in the 380s, 366 and 361.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy Plato
382 BCE
Sparta seizes the Cadmea at Thebes
In 382 BCE the Spartan Phoebidas, passing through Boeotia, takes Thebes's citadel, the Cadmea, with the help of local oligarchs. Sparta backs a pro-Spartan regime there. Some sources date it to 383.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes
379 BCE
Thebes is liberated
In 379-378 BCE Pelopidas, Epaminondas and other exiles slip back into Thebes and free it from its Spartan garrison. Later Spartan expeditions fail, and Sparta suffers a symbolic defeat at Tegyra in 375.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes
378 BCE
The Second Athenian League
Athens founds a new alliance against Sparta in 378-377 BCE. Unlike the Delian League, it has no tribute, no garrisons and one vote per city, and meets in Athens. It begins to dissolve after Leuctra.
Greek city-states Athens
July 6, 371 BCE
Battle of Leuctra
On 6 July 371 BCE Epaminondas defeats the Spartans under King Cleombrotus at Leuctra, massing his deepest force on the left. Cleombrotus dies and Sparta loses about a quarter of its full citizens. Aristotle calls it the blow that ended Spartan dominance.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes
c. 370 BCE
Epaminondas invades the Peloponnese; Messenia freed
In 370-369 BCE Epaminondas leads Theban forces into Laconia and frees the Messenian helots and rebuilds Messene. He also encourages an Arcadian league and the founding of Megalopolis as a counterweight to Sparta.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes
c. 367 BCE
Licinian-Sextian laws: a plebeian consul (traditional)
Tradition says the tribunes Licinius and Sextius won laws in 367 BCE easing debt and requiring at least one plebeian consul a year. The wider account of the period is debated.
Roman Republic
July 4, 362 BCE
Battle of Mantinea
On 4 July 362 BCE Thebes and its allies beat Sparta and its allies at Mantinea, but Epaminondas is mortally wounded and Thebes cannot follow up. Theban hegemony ends, and Greece is left open to Macedon.
Greek city-states Sparta Thebes
359 BCE
Philip II takes the Macedonian throne
Perdiccas III dies fighting the Illyrians in 359 BCE. Philip, named regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, takes the throne himself. He goes on to make Macedon the dominant power in Greece.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon
357 BCE
The Social War: Athens loses its allies
In 357-355 BCE Chios, Rhodes, Kos and Byzantium revolt against Athens and win. The Second Athenian League falls apart and most allied cities become independent.
Greek city-states Athens
357 BCE
Philip takes Amphipolis
In 357 BCE Philip besieges and captures Amphipolis, which Athens had long claimed. He keeps it, though he had agreed to lease it to Athens, along with Pydna.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Greek city-states Athens
356 BCE
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus burns
Built about 550 BCE with funds from Croesus of Lydia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is burned in 356 BCE. Tradition blames Herostratus and says it was the night Alexander was born. The Ephesians refuse Alexander's offer to pay for the rebuilding.
Greek city-states Art Alexander the Great
356 BCE
Third Sacred War
The Amphictyonic League, dominated by Thebes, fines Phocis for farming sacred land, and in 356 BCE the Phocians seize Delphi and use its treasure to hire armies. The war draws in Philip II, who ends it in 346 on his own terms and gains Phocis's seats in the Amphictyonic council.
Greek city-states Macedon Philip II of Macedon War Thebes
July 356 BCE
Alexander the Great is born
Alexander is born at Pella in July 356 BCE, probably 20 July, the son of Philip II and Olympias. His tutor will be Aristotle.
Macedon Alexander the Great
c. 353 BCE
Battle of the Crocus Field
Philip II defeats the Phocian general Onomarchos in Thessaly, most likely in 353 BCE, though some place it in 352. Onomarchos dies and about 6,000 Phocians fall. Philip is made archon of Thessaly.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Greek city-states War
353 BCE
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
After the satrap Mausolus dies in 353 BCE, his sister-wife Artemisia II commissions his tomb at Halicarnassus, about 43-45 metres high, with sculpture by four Greek artists. It becomes a Wonder of the World and gives us the word "mausoleum".
Greek city-states Art Achaemenid Persia
c. 351 BCE
Demosthenes delivers the First Philippic
Around 351 BCE the Athenian orator Demosthenes urges Athens to prepare against Philip II. In 349 the Olynthiacs press Athens to help Olynthus.
Greek city-states Athens Macedon Philip II of Macedon
348 BCE
Philip destroys Olynthus
In 348 BCE Philip takes Olynthus, head of the Chalcidian League, after two leading citizens betray it. He razes the city and sells its people into slavery. Excavations of the abandoned houses have given a detailed picture of a Greek town.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Greek city-states
346 BCE
Philip takes Thermopylae; peace with Athens
In 346 BCE Philip seizes Thermopylae, Phocis surrenders and its cities are broken up. Athens makes peace with him. Macedon takes the two Phocian seats in the Amphictyonic council.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Greek city-states Athens
343 BCE
Aristotle tutors Alexander
About 343-342 BCE Aristotle goes to Macedon to teach the young Alexander. The two later become estranged. Claims that Aristotle had a hand in Alexander's death rest on weak evidence.
Greek city-states Greek philosophy Aristotle Alexander the Great Macedon
c. 343 BCE
First Samnite War (traditional)
Rome fights the Samnites of the central Apennines over Campania, 343-341 BCE, by the traditional dating. Livy is the only continuous source, and some historians doubt parts of his account.
Roman Republic
c. 340 BCE
Latin War ends the Latin League
Rome defeats the Latin cities and their Campanian allies, 340-338 BCE (modern scholars think the traditional dates run about four years early). The Latin League is dissolved and its cities are absorbed or tied to Rome.
Roman Republic
August 338 BCE
Battle of Chaeronea
In August 338 BCE Philip II defeats Athens and Thebes in Boeotia, with his 18-year-old son Alexander commanding the left wing. Thebes's Sacred Band is wiped out. Philip becomes master of Greece.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Alexander the Great Greek city-states Athens Thebes War
337 BCE
League of Corinth
In late 338 or 337 BCE, after Chaeronea, Philip forms an alliance of Greek states, with garrisons as guarantors, that bars attacks and interference. The league declares war on Persia and makes Philip its leader (strategos). Sparta stays out.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Greek city-states
October 336 BCE
Alexander becomes king
Aged about 20, Alexander is proclaimed king by the nobles and the army in October 336 BCE, probably 25 October. He secures the throne and the Greek states, which are restless after Philip's death.
Macedon Alexander the Great
October 336 BCE
Philip II is assassinated
In October 336 BCE, perhaps 25 October, Philip is stabbed by his bodyguard Pausanias at Aegae, at the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra. His planned Persian campaign passes to Alexander. The motive is disputed.
Macedon Philip II of Macedon Alexander the Great
335 BCE
Alexander destroys Thebes
In 335 BCE Thebes revolts and Alexander punishes it with his Greek allies. The city is razed and its people sold into slavery, except, by tradition, Pindar's house and the temples. Its territory is shared among other Boeotian cities.
Macedon Alexander the Great Greek city-states Thebes
335 BCE
Aristotle founds the Lyceum
Back in Athens about 335 BCE, Aristotle founds the Lyceum, where the Peripatetic school grows. Of his works about a third survive, mostly lecture notes: the Organon, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics and Poetics.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy Aristotle
May 334 BCE
Battle of the Granicus
In May 334 BCE Alexander beats the Persian satraps at the Granicus river in the Troad. Cleitus the Black saves his life. Greek mercenaries in Persian service are largely killed or captured.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia War
c. 333 BCE
The Gordian Knot (traditional)
At Gordium in 333 BCE, tradition says, Alexander undoes the knot that was said to give rule over Asia to whoever freed it. Versions differ: he cut it with his sword, or he pulled out the pin. The story is ancient legend.
Macedon Alexander the Great
November 333 BCE
Battle of Issus
In November 333 BCE Alexander routs Darius III near Issus, and Darius flees, leaving his mother, wife and daughters in Alexander's hands. Ancient army numbers are far inflated. The victory opens Syria and Phoenicia.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia War
January 332 BCE
Siege of Tyre
From January to July 332 BCE Alexander besieges island Tyre, building a causeway about a kilometre long that still survives. Thousands of Tyrians die and some thousands are sold into slavery. Figures vary by source.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia War
April 331 BCE
Alexander founds Alexandria
In April 331 BCE Alexander founds Alexandria on Egypt's coast, planned on a grid by the architect Dinocrates of Rhodes. After his death Ptolemy makes it his capital, and it becomes a centre of Hellenistic learning.
Macedon Alexander the Great Hellenistic kingdoms
October 1, 331 BCE
Battle of Gaugamela
On 1 October 331 BCE Alexander defeats Darius III near Gaugamela, in modern Iraqi Kurdistan, and Darius flees. Babylon surrenders. The battle breaks the Achaemenid Empire. Ancient army sizes are unreliable.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia War
330 BCE
Persepolis is burned
Alexander takes Persepolis in 330 BCE and, after months there, a fire destroys its palaces, thought to have started in Xerxes's. Sources disagree on whether it was a drunken accident or deliberate revenge for the Acropolis; Thais is named in later accounts.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia
July 330 BCE
Darius III is murdered
In July 330 BCE Bessus, satrap of Bactria, and other nobles wound Darius III and abandon him, as Alexander closes in. Alexander gives him a royal funeral. Bessus takes the name Artaxerxes V; Alexander later has him executed.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia
327 BCE
Alexander marries Roxana
In 327 BCE Alexander marries Roxana, a Sogdian or Bactrian noblewoman, against the wishes of his companions. Where it took place is uncertain. Her son Alexander IV is born after Alexander's death in 323.
Macedon Alexander the Great
c. 326 BCE
Mutiny at the Hyphasis
After the Hydaspes, Alexander's army refuses to march farther east at the Hyphasis (Beas) river. The river marks the easternmost point of his conquests. He turns back, and the army returns by a southern route.
Macedon Alexander the Great
c. 326 BCE
Second Samnite War (traditional)
The long war between Rome and the Samnites, 326-304 BCE by the traditional dating, ends in Roman gains in central and southern Italy. Many battle narratives are later reconstructions, and casualty figures are likely exaggerated.
Roman Republic
May 326 BCE
Battle of the Hydaspes
In May 326 BCE (some say July) Alexander defeats the Indian king Porus on the Jhelum river in the Punjab, then confirms him as satrap. His horse Bucephalus dies, and Alexander founds Bucephala in its honour.
Macedon Alexander the Great War Silk Road and East-West contact
324 BCE
The Susa weddings
In 324 BCE at Susa Alexander marries Stateira, daughter of Darius III, and perhaps Parysatis, and about eighty of his companions wed Persian and Median noblewomen. Historians now doubt that Macedonians widely resented the unions.
Macedon Alexander the Great Achaemenid Persia
323 BCE
Lamian War
On news of Alexander's death, Athens and other Greek states revolt against Macedon in 323 BCE. Antipater is besieged at Lamia, but wins at Crannon in August 322. Athens gets a garrison and an oligarchy; its citizen body falls from about 21,000 to 9,000.
Greek city-states Athens Macedon Hellenistic kingdoms War Alexander the Great
323 BCE
Partition of Babylon
After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, the infantry back his half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus while Perdiccas holds the signet ring. Philip III and the unborn Alexander IV are made joint kings in name; Perdiccas distributes the satrapies.
Macedon Alexander the Great Hellenistic kingdoms
June 323 BCE
Alexander dies at Babylon
Alexander dies at Babylon on 10 or 11 June 323 BCE, aged 32, after a short illness. Poison, typhoid and other causes have been proposed; none is proven. He leaves no clear heir.
Macedon Alexander the Great
322 BCE
Aristotle dies at Chalcis
In 322 BCE, charged with impiety after Alexander's death, Aristotle leaves Athens and dies that year at Chalcis in Euboea. His logic remains dominant until the 19th century.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy Aristotle
322 BCE
Theophrastus succeeds Aristotle at the Lyceum
Aristotle's will names Theophrastus his successor and leaves him his library and the originals of his works. Theophrastus leads the Peripatetic school for some 35 years. A well-known tale that the books lay in a cellar in Scepsis is plausible but not established.
Aristotle Greek philosophy Greek city-states Athens
October 12, 322 BCE
Demosthenes dies
On 12 October 322 BCE, hunted by Antipater's agents after the Lamian War, Demosthenes takes poison at a sanctuary of Poseidon on Kalaureia (Poros) to avoid capture. He was about 62.
Greek city-states Athens Macedon
c. 321 BCE
Roman army humiliated at the Caudine Forks
In 321 BCE, by the traditional date, the Samnite leader Gaius Pontius traps two consular armies in a mountain pass. The Romans surrender and pass under the yoke; Rome later rejects the terms and the war resumes.
Roman Republic
321 BCE
Perdiccas is assassinated
In 321 BCE, after a failed crossing of the Nile into Ptolemy's Egypt, Perdiccas is killed by his own officers, including Seleucus. The regency passes to others and the wars of Alexander's successors begin in earnest.
Macedon Hellenistic kingdoms War Alexander the Great
312 BCE
Appius Claudius begins the Appian Way
As censor in 312 BCE, Appius Claudius Caecus begins the Via Appia from Rome toward Capua. The road is later extended to Brundisium; he is also credited with the Aqua Appia aqueduct.
Roman Republic
312 BCE
Seleucus returns to Babylon
In 312 BCE Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, returns to Babylon with Ptolemy's help. The year counts as the first of the Seleucid era and the start of the Seleucid Empire, which will stretch from Anatolia to the east.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
306 BCE
The Successors proclaim themselves kings
In 306 BCE Antigonus and his son Demetrius take the royal crown, and Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus and later Cassander follow. Alexander's empire is formally split into rival kingdoms. Ptolemy is crowned king and pharaoh about 305-304.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Ptolemaic Egypt Macedon Alexander the Great
c. 306 BCE
Epicurus founds the Garden
About 306 BCE Epicurus, back in Athens, founds his school, the Garden. He teaches that the goal of life is freedom from pain and disturbance, that the world is atoms in void, and that the gods do not meddle in human affairs. He dies in 270.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy
305 BCE
Siege of Rhodes
In 305-304 BCE Demetrius besieges Rhodes for about a year until a Ptolemaic relief fleet arrives. The Rhodians sell his abandoned siege machines for 300 talents and use the money for the Colossus.
Hellenistic kingdoms Macedon Ptolemaic Egypt War
c. 303 BCE
Seleucus and Chandragupta make a treaty
About 303 BCE Seleucus makes a treaty with Chandragupta Maurya, ceding eastern territory for 500 war elephants. Their use at Ipsus is decisive. Whether Seleucus lost a war first, and how much he ceded, is disputed.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
301 BCE
Battle of Ipsus
In 301 BCE Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander's forces defeat Antigonus, who is killed. Elephants are decisive. Demetrius escapes. Antigonus's empire is divided among the victors.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Macedon War
300 BCE
Seleucus founds Antioch
In 300 BCE Seleucus I founds Antioch, one of many cities he establishes, along with Seleucia on the Tigris. Antioch becomes a main city of the Seleucid kingdom.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
c. 300 BCE
Euclid and the Elements
Around 300 BCE Euclid works in Alexandria. His Elements gathers earlier mathematics into an ordered system of proofs. Little is known of his life, and later editors may have added material to the text.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms Science
c. 300 BCE
Zeno of Citium founds Stoicism
About 300 BCE Zeno of Citium begins teaching in Athens at the Stoa Poikile, a painted colonnade, from which Stoicism takes its name. Cleanthes and Chrysippus carry the school on; Chrysippus is said to have written over 300 books on logic.
Greek city-states Athens Greek philosophy
c. 298 BCE
Third Samnite War
Rome faces the Samnites and a coalition of Etruscans, Umbrians and Gauls, 298-290 BCE. Victory at Sentinum and the end of Samnite resistance give Rome control of much of central Italy.
Roman Republic Etruscans
295 BCE
Battle of Sentinum
In 295 BCE the consuls Fabius Rullianus and Decius Mus beat Samnites and Senone Gauls in the decisive battle of the Third Samnite War. Decius dies in a ritual self-sacrifice; the Etruscan and Umbrian allies withdraw.
Roman Republic Etruscans
c. 292 BCE
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of about 33 metres by Chares of Lindos, is begun about 292 BCE and finished in 280. An earthquake topples it in 226. The image of it straddling the harbour is unsupported.
Hellenistic kingdoms Art
c. 287 BCE
Archimedes of Syracuse
Archimedes is born about 287 BCE in Syracuse. His works include On the Sphere and Cylinder, On Floating Bodies, which states the principle of buoyancy, and the Method. The bath-and-"Eureka" story comes from Vitruvius, two centuries later.
Hellenistic kingdoms Science
287 BCE
Lex Hortensia ends the Conflict of the Orders
Traditionally in 287 BCE, after a plebeian secession, the dictator Hortensius makes decisions of the plebeian assembly binding on all citizens without Senate approval. It marks the end of the patrician-plebeian struggle.
Roman Republic
c. 285 BCE
The Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria, part of the royal Mouseion, was probably founded under Ptolemy II, after Ptolemy I laid the groundwork. Its scholars include Zenodotus, Callimachus and Eratosthenes. Estimates of its holdings range from 40,000 to 700,000 scrolls.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms Science
284 BCE
The Pharos of Alexandria
Ptolemy I commissions the great lighthouse of Alexandria, and Ptolemy II completes it, after about twelve years and at a cost of 800 silver talents. It stands at least 100 metres tall and survives until earthquakes in the 14th century.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms
281 BCE
Seleucus is assassinated
In 281 BCE Seleucus defeats Lysimachus at Corupedium, and then is murdered in September by Ptolemy Keraunos near Lysimachia.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Macedon
c. 280 BCE
The Achaean League is revived
About 280 BCE the Achaean League is refounded by four Peloponnesian cities and grows as more join. It has an assembly, a council and an elected general. Under Aratus and Philopoemen it becomes a major power until Rome ends its independence in 146.
Hellenistic kingdoms Greek city-states
c. 280 BCE
Aristarchus proposes a heliocentric cosmos
Aristarchus of Samos, who observed the solstice of 280 BCE, proposes that the Sun is fixed and the Earth orbits it. His book is lost; Archimedes' Sand Reckoner reports the idea. Plato, Aristotle and Ptolemy prefer an Earth-centred cosmos.
Hellenistic kingdoms Science
280 BCE
Pyrrhus lands in Italy and wins at Heraclea
Called by Tarentum, King Pyrrhus of Epirus crosses to Italy in 280 BCE and defeats a Roman army at Heraclea. Some Greek and Italian cities in Rome's sphere defect to him.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms Greek city-states
279 BCE
Battle of Asculum: the original "Pyrrhic victory"
In 279 BCE Pyrrhus beats the Romans again at Asculum but at a heavy cost. The phrase "Pyrrhic victory" comes from a remark ascribed to him, though historians doubt he said it.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms
279 BCE
The Gauls invade Greece
Celtic armies kill the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos and push into Greece. In 279 BCE they get past Thermopylae but are defeated at Delphi. Survivors settle in Thrace or cross into Asia Minor, where they found Galatia.
Hellenistic kingdoms Macedon Greek city-states War
279 BCE
Rome and Carthage ally against Pyrrhus
In 279 BCE, during the war with Pyrrhus, Rome and Carthage renew their treaty with a mutual aid pledge. Carthage supplies ships and crews are not forced to disembark. The treaty is the fourth between the two.
Roman Republic Carthage
275 BCE
Pyrrhus withdraws after Beneventum
After a campaign in Sicily against Carthage, Pyrrhus returns to Italy and is defeated or held to a draw by the Romans at Beneventum in 275 BCE. He leaves Italy for Epirus.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms
272 BCE
Rome takes Tarentum; mastery of southern Italy
Rome captures Tarentum in 272 BCE, the last major power to resist, and Pyrrhus dies in Greece the same year. Rome now dominates the Italian peninsula and has gained prestige across the Mediterranean.
Roman Republic Greek city-states
264 BCE
First Punic War begins over Messana
Rome's assembly agrees in 264 BCE to help the Mamertine mercenaries holding Messana in Sicily against Syracuse and Carthage. The war with Carthage that follows lasts until 241 BCE.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
264 BCE
Rome destroys Etruscan Volsinii
Asked for help by Volsinii's aristocrats against its freed slaves, Rome besieges and razes the city in 264 BCE and moves its people to a new site on Lake Bolsena. Etruscan independence is all but over.
Roman Republic Etruscans
260 BCE
Battle of Mylae: Rome's fleet wins at sea
In 260 BCE the consul Gaius Duilius defeats a Carthaginian fleet off Sicily, using the corvus, a boarding bridge fitted to Roman ships, to turn naval battles into infantry fights.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
c. 255 BCE
The Greco-Bactrian kingdom
About 255 BCE (some say 246) the satrap Diodotus I breaks from the Seleucids and founds a Greek kingdom in Bactria. It lasts until about 120 BCE and later reaches into India.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Silk Road and East-West contact
c. 250 BCE – 132 BCE
The Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek: the Septuagint
Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt, probably around Alexandria, translate the Torah into Greek in the 3rd century BCE and the other books by 132 BCE. Some copies include books later called deuterocanonical.
Judaism The Bible Religion Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
c. 247 BCE
Arsaces founds the Parthian dynasty
About 247 BCE Arsaces I, chief of the Parni, founds the Arsacid dynasty in Parthia, as Seleucid control of the east weakens. The date is debated; some put it as late as 238.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
c. 246 BCE
Eratosthenes measures the Earth
After Ptolemy III comes to the throne in 246 BCE, Eratosthenes of Cyrene is called to Alexandria as chief librarian. He measures the Earth's circumference from shadows at Syene and Alexandria, with a result perhaps within 1% of the truth.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms Science
241 BCE
Aegates Islands; Carthage leaves Sicily
In 241 BCE Gaius Lutatius Catulus destroys the Carthaginian relief fleet. By the treaty Carthage evacuates Sicily and pays 3,200 talents; Sicily becomes Rome's first province.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
c. 238 BCE
Attalus I defeats the Galatians
About 238 BCE Attalus I of Pergamon defeats the Galatians and leads an independent kingdom. The Attalids, founded by Philetaerus in 281, rebuild Pergamon on a monumental scale and keep a library second only to Alexandria.
Hellenistic kingdoms
c. 238 BCE
Rome seizes Sardinia and Corsica from Carthage
As Carthage crushes its mutinous mercenaries, Rome takes Sardinia and Corsica in 238 BCE and demands 1,200 more talents. Polybius calls this the greatest cause of the next war.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
226 BCE
Ebro Treaty sets the Rome-Carthage boundary in Spain
Hasdrubal the Fair agrees in 226 BCE that Carthage will not expand north of the Ebro. Rome's later tie to Saguntum, south of the river, becomes the pretext for Hannibal's war.
Roman Republic Carthage
219 BCE
Hannibal captures Saguntum
After eight months' siege, Hannibal takes Saguntum in 219 BCE, a town allied to Rome south of the Ebro. Rome demands his surrender, Carthage refuses, and the Second Punic War begins.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
218 BCE
Battle of the Trebia
Hannibal defeats a Roman army at the Trebia in December 218 BCE, his first major victory in Italy. Most of his elephants die in the winter cold afterwards.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
218 BCE
Hannibal crosses the Alps
In autumn 218 BCE Hannibal leads his army and some 38 elephants from Spain over the Alps into Italy. Most elephants die and the exact pass is still disputed.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
217 BCE
Battle of Lake Trasimene
In 217 BCE Hannibal ambushes a Roman army beside Lake Trasimene and kills the consul Flaminius. Rome appoints Fabius Maximus dictator; his strategy of delay gives us the word "Fabian".
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
June 22, 217 BCE
Battle of Raphia
On 22 June 217 BCE Ptolemy IV defeats Antiochus III at Raphia. About 20,000 native Egyptians trained as phalangites are key to the victory. African and Indian elephants fight each other here. Egyptian influence in Ptolemaic rule grows.
Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt Seleucid Empire War
216 BCE
Battle of Cannae
Hannibal's double envelopment destroys a much larger Roman army at Cannae in 216 BCE; ancient sources give tens of thousands dead. Capua and other southern cities defect, but Rome refuses peace.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
214 BCE
First Macedonian War
After Cannae, Philip V of Macedon allies with Hannibal (215 BCE). Rome keeps him busy in Greece through Aetolian allies until the stalemate ends in the Peace of Phoenice in 205 BCE.
Roman Republic Macedon Hannibal Hellenistic kingdoms
212 BCE
Rome takes Syracuse; Archimedes killed
After a siege begun in 213 BCE, Marcellus takes Syracuse in 212 and sacks it. Archimedes, whose war machines had held the Romans off, is killed by a soldier despite orders to spare him.
Roman Republic Punic Wars Greek city-states
207 BCE
Battle of the Metaurus
In 207 BCE two Roman consuls destroy Hasdrubal Barca's army marching to reinforce his brother Hannibal. Hasdrubal dies in the battle; Hannibal withdraws to Bruttium.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
206 BCE
Battle of Ilipa: Scipio drives Carthage from Spain
In spring 206 BCE Scipio defeats Hasdrubal Gisco and Mago near Ilipa with an unconventional battle line. Carthaginian control of Iberia, and its silver and manpower, ends.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
202 BCE
Battle of Zama ends the Second Punic War
Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal near Zama in 202 BCE. In 201 Carthage accepts peace: it loses its overseas territory and most of its navy, pays a large indemnity, and may not wage war without Rome's consent.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
200 BCE
Battle of Panium
In 200 BCE Antiochus III defeats the Ptolemaic army under Scopas near Paneas, and Coele-Syria passes to the Seleucids. A peace treaty follows in 195. The Ptolemaic state then cuts back its Macedonian phalanx.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Ptolemaic Egypt War
197 BCE
Battle of Cynoscephalae
In 197 BCE Flamininus's legions defeat Philip V's Macedonian phalanx in Thessaly. Philip accepts Roman terms: he withdraws from the Greek cities, pays 1,000 talents and gives up most of his fleet.
Roman Republic Macedon Hellenistic kingdoms
197 BCE
Hispania divided into two Roman provinces
In 197 BCE Rome organises its Iberian territory as Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, each governed by a praetor, after taking it from Carthage in the Second Punic War.
Roman Republic
196 BCE
Flamininus proclaims the "freedom of the Greeks"
At the Isthmian Games of 196 BCE the Roman general Flamininus declares the Greek cities free of Macedonian rule. Rome nonetheless keeps garrisons in Corinth, Chalcis and Demetrias until 194.
Roman Republic Macedon Hellenistic kingdoms Greek city-states
March 27, 196 BCE
The Rosetta Stone decree
On 27 March 196 BCE priests at Memphis issue a decree for Ptolemy V, written in hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek. Found in 1799, the stone lets Champollion, building on Young and others, announce the decipherment of hieroglyphs in 1822.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms Writing
190 BCE
Battle of Magnesia defeats Antiochus III
Rome and Pergamon crush the Seleucid king Antiochus III at Magnesia ad Sipylum in December 190 BCE. Pergamene cavalry is decisive; Antiochus loses his hold on Asia Minor.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
188 BCE
Treaty of Apamea
In 188 BCE Antiochus III gives up Asia Minor west of the Taurus, pays 15,000 talents, limits his fleet and drops his elephants. Pergamon and Rhodes gain most of the land; Rome gains hegemony without annexing it.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
c. 183 BCE
Hannibal dies in exile
Hannibal dies in Bithynia, probably by poison, as Roman envoys press for his surrender; sources give 183, 182 or 181 BCE, and some blame King Prusias or a fever.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars Hannibal
c. 180 BCE
Demetrius I invades India
Before 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I invades northwest India and creates the Indo-Greek kingdoms. Some conquests are credited by historians to Menander instead.
Hellenistic kingdoms Silk Road and East-West contact
168 BCE
Battle of Pydna ends the Macedonian kingdom
On 22 June 168 BCE Aemilius Paullus beats Perseus of Macedon. The legions break the phalanx on uneven ground; Perseus is paraded in Rome and Macedon is split into four republics.
Roman Republic Macedon Hellenistic kingdoms
167 BCE
The Maccabean revolt begins
In 167 BCE, as Antiochus IV's decrees ban Jewish practices, the priest Mattathias kills a Jew sacrificing to an idol and a Seleucid officer, and the revolt begins. His son Judas Maccabeus leads it after 166.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Judaism Religion War
c. 166 BCE
The Great Altar of Pergamon
Under Eumenes II the Pergamon Altar is built in the first half of the 2nd century BCE, probably about 166-156. Its frieze shows the gods fighting the Giants, and an inner frieze tells the story of Telephus. It was excavated by Carl Humann from 1878.
Hellenistic kingdoms Art
164 BCE
The Temple is rededicated: Hanukkah
In 164 BCE the Maccabees take Jerusalem, and cleanse and rededicate the Temple on 25 Kislev, the origin of Hanukkah. The Seleucid ban on Jewish practice is revoked. Judas dies at Elasa in 160.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Judaism Religion
c. 150 BCE
Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes emerge
In the mid-2nd century BCE, under the Hasmonean priest-rulers, Jewish groups take shape: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Pharisees accept an oral Torah and the Sadducees only the written one; the Essenes live apart. Josephus first mentions the Pharisees under Jonathan.
Judaism Religion Hasmonean kingdom
149 BCE
Third Punic War begins
Provoked by Numidian raids, Carthage fights back in 149 BCE without Roman leave. Rome uses this as a pretext, lands at Utica and demands Carthage abandon its city.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
148 BCE
Macedonia becomes a Roman province
Andriscus, a pretender, revives the Macedonian kingdom in 150 BCE. He is defeated in 148 by Metellus Macedonicus, who makes Macedonia a Roman province, a process that may have been gradual. Some sources give 146.
Macedon Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms
c. 147 BCE
Viriathus leads Lusitanian resistance
From c. 147 to 139 BCE the Lusitanian leader Viriathus defeats several Roman armies in western Spain. Rome repudiates a treaty with him, and Caepio bribes men who murder him in his sleep.
Roman Republic
146 BCE
Rome destroys Carthage
In 146 BCE Scipio Aemilianus storms Carthage and the Romans take it street by street for six days. About 50,000 survivors are enslaved and the territory becomes the province of Africa.
Roman Republic Carthage Punic Wars
146 BCE
Rome sacks Corinth; Achaean League dissolved
After defeating the Achaean League in 146 BCE, Lucius Mummius plunders and destroys Corinth. Greece is brought under the governor of Macedonia and Corinth stays in ruins until Caesar refounds it in 44 BCE.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms Greek city-states
141 BCE
Judea becomes independent
In 141 BCE Simon Thassi expels the Seleucid garrison from the Acra citadel in Jerusalem. The year before, Demetrius II had exempted Judea from tribute. This marks the start of the Hasmonean state.
Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Judaism Hasmonean kingdom
c. 138 BCE
Zhang Qian travels west for the Han
Emperor Wu sends Zhang Qian west c. 138 BCE to find the Yuezhi, enemies of the Xiongnu. Held by the Xiongnu about thirteen years, he reaches Dayuan (Ferghana) and Bactria and returns c. 125 BCE with one companion, reporting too on Parthia and India from hearsay.
Silk Road and East-West contact Exploration Politics
134 BCE
John Hyrcanus succeeds Simon
Simon Thassi is assassinated in 135 or 134 BCE and his son John Hyrcanus succeeds him. Antiochus VII besieges Jerusalem for about a year; a truce costs Hyrcanus a payment, the city walls and troops against the Parthians. After Antiochus dies he stops paying tribute.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire
c. 134 BCE
The settlement at Qumran
A settlement is built at Qumran by the Dead Sea between 134 and 104 BCE, under Hyrcanus or somewhat later. Most scholars link it to the Essenes, but it has also been read as a fortress, villa or workshop. It is destroyed in the Jewish War, about 68-73 CE.
Judaism Hasmonean kingdom
133 BCE
Attalus III leaves Pergamon to Rome
The last king of Pergamon, Attalus III, dies childless in 133 BCE and wills his kingdom to Rome. A pretender, Aristonicus, raises a revolt in 131 that Rome suppresses in 129.
Roman Republic Hellenistic kingdoms
133 BCE
Numantia falls to Scipio Aemilianus
After a ring of fortresses and a long siege, Scipio Aemilianus ends the Numantine War in 133 BCE. Most Celtiberian defenders die rather than surrender; Spain is quiet for over fifty years.
Roman Republic
133 BCE
Tiberius Gracchus: land reform and murder
As tribune in 133 BCE Tiberius Gracchus pushes a law to redistribute public land, deposing a fellow tribune who vetoes it. When he seeks re-election, senators led by Scipio Nasica beat him and his supporters to death.
Roman Republic The Gracchi
127 BCE
Hipparchus and the precession of the equinoxes
Hipparchus of Nicaea is credited with discovering the precession of the equinoxes in 127 BCE, at a rate of not less than 1 degree a century. He is known as the father of trigonometry and compiled a star catalogue, perhaps in 135.
Hellenistic kingdoms Science
123 BCE
Gaius Gracchus holds the tribunate (123-122)
Tribune in 123 and 122 BCE, Gaius Gracchus fixes the price of grain, gives corruption-court juries to the equestrians and backs colonies, including one at Carthage. He loses a bid for a third term.
Roman Republic The Gracchi
121 BCE
First "ultimate decree"; Gaius Gracchus dies
In 121 BCE the Senate issues the first senatus consultum ultimum, urging consul Opimius to defend the state. Fulvius Flaccus is killed and Gaius Gracchus dies, by murder or suicide. Opimius is later acquitted.
Roman Republic The Gracchi
c. 119 BCE
Zhang Qian's mission to the Wusun
Zhang Qian leads a second embassy, to the Wusun, c. 119-115 BCE, and is made grand messenger on his return. A trade mission to the Wusun in 119 BCE is said to open trade between China and Persia, and Parthian missions follow around 100 BCE. He dies c. 114 or 113.
Silk Road and East-West contact Exploration Politics
111 BCE
Jugurthine War
Rome fights Jugurtha of Numidia, who had bribed Roman senators. Gaius Marius, elected consul in 107 BCE, ends it when his quaestor Sulla gets Jugurtha handed over by King Bocchus in 105.
Roman Republic Gaius Marius Sulla
c. 110 BCE
Hyrcanus conquers Samaria and Idumea
From about 110 BCE Hyrcanus takes Samaria, Idumea and Transjordan. He destroys the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim and, reportedly, forces the Idumeans to convert, though some scholars dispute it. Herod's family later comes from Idumea.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism War
c. 107 BCE
Marius opens the legions to the poor (traditional)
Tradition credits Marius from 107 BCE with enlisting landless volunteers and standardising the cohort and eagle, making armies loyal to their generals. Most modern scholars reject a single "Marian reform".
Roman Republic Gaius Marius
January 3, 106 BCE
Cicero is born
Marcus Tullius Cicero is born at Arpinum on 3 January 106 BCE. A lawyer, consul, orator and writer, he becomes the main voice of the late Republic.
Roman Republic Cicero
105 BCE
Battle of Arausio
In 105 BCE the Cimbri and Teutones destroy two Roman armies at Arausio, which were split by a river and by their commanders' rivalry. It is Rome's costliest defeat since Cannae.
Roman Republic
104 BCE
Aristobulus I takes the title of king
In 104 or 103 BCE Aristobulus I becomes the first Hasmonean to take the title basileus (king), joining it to the high priesthood. His father Hyrcanus had separated civil rule from the priesthood in his will; Aristobulus imprisoned his mother.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism Politics
102 BCE
Battle of Aquae Sextiae
In 102 BCE Marius, re-elected consul year after year, destroys the Teutones and Ambrones in southern Gaul and captures their king Teutobod.
Roman Republic Gaius Marius
101 BCE
Battle of Vercellae ends the Cimbrian War
In 101 BCE Marius nearly annihilates the Cimbri at Vercellae in northern Italy and their leaders Boiorix and Lugius are killed. The invasion that began in 113 BCE ends.
Roman Republic Gaius Marius
c. 100 BCE
The Antikythera mechanism
A hand-cranked analogue computer of the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE predicts the Sun, Moon and eclipses, and tracks the Olympiad cycle. Sponge divers recover it from a Roman wreck at Antikythera in 1900-1901. Its date and origin are debated.
Hellenistic kingdoms Science Technology
100 BCE
Julius Caesar is born
Gaius Julius Caesar is born in Rome on 12 or 13 July 100 BCE, into the patrician Julian clan. Sources disagree on the day.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
c. 96 BCE
Alexander Jannaeus fights the Pharisees
After taking Gaza around 96 BCE, King Alexander Jannaeus faces a civil war with Pharisee opponents, who pelt him with citrons at Tabernacles. Rebels ally with the Seleucid Demetrius III. Josephus says Jannaeus later crucifies about 800 Jews, mostly Pharisees, in Jerusalem.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism War
91 BCE
Social War: Italian allies revolt
Rome's Italian allies, including Marsi, Samnites and Lucanians, rebel in 91 BCE over land and citizenship. Rome wins but extends citizenship in stages (Lex Julia 90, Lex Plautia Papiria 89); the last rebels settle in 87.
Roman Republic
89 BCE
First Mithridatic War
Rome fights Mithridates VI of Pontus in Anatolia and Greece, 89-85 BCE. Sulla wins the battles but must settle by the Treaty of Dardanos in 85: Mithridates keeps his kingdom; the Senate never ratifies it.
Roman Republic Sulla Mithridatic Wars Hellenistic kingdoms
88 BCE
Asiatic Vespers: Romans massacred in Asia
In 88 BCE Mithridates VI of Pontus overruns the province of Asia and orders the killing of Romans and Italians. Ancient sources give 80,000 to 150,000 dead, likely exaggerated.
Roman Republic Mithridatic Wars
88 BCE
Sulla marches on Rome
In 88 BCE, in a quarrel over the command against Mithridates, consul Sulla leads his legions into Rome. Marius and the tribune Sulpicius are outlawed. Roman armies now act as a political weapon.
Roman Republic Sulla Gaius Marius
86 BCE
Marius takes a seventh consulship and dies
Marius returns with Cinna in 87 BCE and their men purge their opponents. He is consul for the seventh time in 86 BCE but dies on 13 January, a few days into the year.
Roman Republic Gaius Marius
86 BCE
Sulla takes and sacks Athens
In 86 BCE Sulla storms Athens, which had joined Mithridates, and the city is heavily damaged and looted. He then wins at Chaeronea and Orchomenus, ending Pontic control of Greece.
Roman Republic Sulla Mithridatic Wars Greek city-states Athens
82 BCE
Battle of the Colline Gate
On 1 November 82 BCE Sulla defeats the Marian and Samnite forces at the gates of Rome, ending the civil war in Italy.
Roman Republic Sulla
82 BCE
Sulla becomes dictator; proscriptions begin
In 82 BCE a law makes Sulla dictator with no time limit to remake the Republic. His first proscription list, published on 3 November, outlaws enemies and puts a price on their heads.
Roman Republic Sulla
c. 81 BCE
Sulla's constitutional reforms
Sulla, c. 81-80 BCE, expands the standing criminal courts, weakens the tribunate, adds magistrates and enlarges the Senate. Many measures prove unworkable and are soon undone.
Roman Republic Sulla
c. 80 BCE
Sertorius rebels in Hispania
The Marian general Sertorius, proscribed by Sulla, controls Hispania from c. 80 BCE with Roman exiles and Iberian allies. Pompey and Metellus wear him down; he is murdered at a banquet in 73 or 72.
Roman Republic Pompey
80 BCE
Sulla resigns the dictatorship; dies in 78
Sulla lays down the dictatorship early in 80 BCE and serves as consul with Metellus Pius. He then retires and dies at his villa near Puteoli in 78.
Roman Republic Sulla
76 BCE
Salome Alexandra reigns
From 76 to 67 BCE Queen Salome Alexandra rules Judea after Alexander Jannaeus, with her son Hyrcanus II as high priest. She shares power with the Pharisees, whose influence grows, and rabbinic tradition remembers her reign as a golden age.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism
73 BCE
Spartacus leads a gladiator revolt
In 73 BCE some 70 gladiators escape from a school at Capua under Spartacus, Crixus and Oenomaus, and defeat the forces sent against them. The revolt grows into the Third Servile War.
Roman Republic
71 BCE
Crassus defeats Spartacus
In 71 BCE Crassus routs Spartacus's army at the Silarius; Spartacus presumably dies. About 6,000 prisoners are crucified along the Appian Way. Pompey claims credit for finishing the war.
Roman Republic Pompey
70 BCE
Cicero prosecutes Verres
In 70 BCE Cicero, about 36, prosecutes the former governor of Sicily Gaius Verres for corruption. The case makes him Rome's leading orator.
Roman Republic Cicero
70 BCE
Pompey and Crassus are consuls
Pompey and Crassus, rivals after the Spartacus war, are elected consuls for 70 BCE partly because their armies camp outside Rome.
Roman Republic Pompey
67 BCE
Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II go to war
Near the end of Salome Alexandra's life, her younger son Aristobulus II seizes fortresses and declares himself king. After she dies in 67 BCE a civil war with his brother Hyrcanus II, backed by Antipater, draws in Rome. It ends in 63 with Pompey.
Hasmonean kingdom Judaism Roman Republic Pompey War
67 BCE
Pompey is given command against the pirates
The Lex Gabinia of 67 BCE gives Pompey sweeping powers against Mediterranean piracy. He clears the western Mediterranean in 40 days and ends the war in about three months.
Roman Republic Pompey
66 BCE
Pompey takes the Eastern command
The Lex Manilia of 66 BCE gives Pompey command against Mithridates VI. He beats him at the Lycus, makes Tigranes of Armenia a Roman ally while Mithridates flees to the Crimea.
Roman Republic Pompey Mithridatic Wars
64 BCE
Syria becomes a Roman province
Pompey annexes the Seleucid-held cities of Syria in 64 BCE, creating the Roman province of Syria. Judea becomes a client state of Rome.
Roman Republic Pompey Hellenistic kingdoms Seleucid Empire Roman Judea
63 BCE
Caesar elected pontifex maximus
In 63 BCE Caesar wins the election for pontifex maximus, head of Rome's state religion, defeating Catulus and Servilius Isauricus.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
63 BCE
Catilinarian conspirators executed without trial
On 5 December 63 BCE the Senate debates the fate of five arrested conspirators, including Lentulus and Cethegus, and they are executed without trial. Cicero is later attacked for it.
Roman Republic Cicero
63 BCE
Cicero, consul, exposes Catiline's conspiracy
After losing the consular election, Catiline is accused of plotting to seize power. Consul Cicero denounces him in the First Catilinarian speech in November 63 BCE and Catiline leaves Rome to join an armed force in Etruria.
Roman Republic Cicero
63 BCE
Mithridates VI dies; the Third Mithridatic War ends
Cornered in the Crimea by a revolt of his son Pharnaces, Mithridates VI dies in 63 BCE after a failed suicide attempt. Pontus becomes Roman and the Third Mithridatic War ends.
Roman Republic Pompey Mithridatic Wars Hellenistic kingdoms
63 BCE
Pompey captures Jerusalem
After a three-month siege Pompey takes Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Judea becomes a client state of Rome.
Roman Republic Pompey Roman Judea Hasmonean kingdom Judaism
September 23, 63 BCE
Octavian, the future Augustus, is born
Gaius Octavius is born in Rome on 23 September 63 BCE, the year of Cicero's consulship. He will become Caesar's heir and the first emperor.
Roman Republic Augustus
62 BCE
Catiline killed at Pistoria
In early January 62 BCE Antonius defeats Catiline's army at Pistoria and Catiline dies in the fighting. The conspiracy ends. Our main sources, Sallust and Cicero, were hostile to him.
Roman Republic
c. 60 BCE
Andronicus of Rhodes edits Aristotle
About 60 BCE Andronicus of Rhodes, reported as the eleventh head of the Peripatetic school, publishes a new edition of Aristotle and Theophrastus, according to Plutarch. It drew on a library Sulla took to Rome. Its arrangement may underlie modern editions.
Aristotle Greek philosophy Roman Republic Sulla
c. 60 BCE
The First Triumvirate takes shape
Caesar, Pompey and Crassus form an informal alliance, between July 60 and January 59 BCE. It has no legal standing, unlike the later Second Triumvirate. Ancient sources disagree on whether it came before or after Caesar's election as consul.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
59 BCE
Caesar's consulship; Pompey marries Julia
Caesar holds the consulship in 59 BCE, allied with Pompey and Crassus. Pompey marries Caesar's daughter Julia the same year.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
58 BCE
Cicero exiled and recalled
Clodius, tribune in 58 BCE, passes laws that force Cicero into exile over the executions of the Catilinarian conspirators. The Senate votes to recall him and he returns to Italy on 5 August 57.
Roman Republic Cicero
58 BCE
Gallic Wars
Caesar conquers Gaul between 58 and 50 BCE, starting by blocking the Helvetii's migration. Modern historians consider his own casualty figures, such as 430,000 Germani killed, to be exaggerated.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Gallic Wars
56 BCE
Conference at Luca
Caesar, Pompey and Crassus meet at Luca in summer 56 BCE to renew their alliance.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
55 BCE
Caesar bridges the Rhine and lands in Britain
In 55 BCE Caesar crosses the Rhine on a bridge built in ten days, then sails for Britain, setting out after midnight on 23 August. He lands again in 54 BCE.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Gallic Wars
54 BCE
Julia, wife of Pompey, dies
Caesar's daughter Julia dies in childbirth in 54 BCE. Some ancient writers saw her death as making a rift between Caesar and Pompey inevitable, but modern scholars treat this cautiously.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
June 53 BCE
Battle of Carrhae
In June 53 BCE the Parthians under Surena defeat Crassus's invasion force at Carrhae, killing about 20,000 Romans and capturing 10,000. Crassus dies during truce talks, which ends the First Triumvirate.
Roman Republic
52 BCE
Clodius killed; Pompey sole consul
Clodius is killed near Bovillae on 18 January 52 BCE. Unrest blocks the elections for weeks, and Pompey is elected sole consul, an irregular office.
Roman Republic Pompey
September 52 BCE
Vercingetorix surrenders at Alesia
In September 52 BCE Caesar besieges the Gallic leader Vercingetorix at Alesia. After the relief army fails and disperses, Vercingetorix surrenders. He is paraded in Caesar's triumph and executed in 46.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Gallic Wars
51 BCE
Cleopatra VII takes the throne
In 51 BCE Cleopatra, aged about 18, becomes ruler of Egypt with her brother Ptolemy XIII. A descendant of Ptolemy I and the last active Ptolemaic ruler, she is the first of her dynasty reported to have learned Egyptian.
Ptolemaic Egypt Hellenistic kingdoms Cleopatra
January 49 BCE
Caesar crosses the Rubicon
After the Senate demands on 7 January 49 BCE that he give up his command, Caesar crosses the Rubicon on 10 or 11 January with his army, starting a civil war against Pompey and the Senate.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
49 BCE
Caesar's civil war
The war between Caesar and Pompey's senatorial side runs from January 49 to Caesar's victory at Munda on 17 March 45 BCE. It is fought in Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor and Africa.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
48 BCE
Alexandrian War; Caesar and Cleopatra
Besieged in the palace quarter of Alexandria, Caesar sides with Cleopatra against her brother Ptolemy XIII. After relief arrives and Ptolemy dies in early 47 BCE, he makes her queen. Caesarion is born around June.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Cleopatra Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
48 BCE
Pompey is murdered in Egypt
Pompey is killed on arrival in Egypt on the orders of Ptolemy XIII. Caesar reaches Alexandria on 2 October 48 BCE and learns of the murder there.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
August 9, 48 BCE
Battle of Pharsalus
On 9 August 48 BCE Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus in central Greece. Pompey flees disguised as a commoner and sails to Egypt.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
47 BCE
Antipater helps Caesar; the Herodian rise
In 47 BCE Antipater the Idumaean, adviser to Hyrcanus II, helps Julius Caesar at Alexandria and is rewarded with Roman citizenship and the post of procurator of Judea. He gives his sons Phasael and Herod the governorships of Jerusalem and Galilee. He is poisoned in 43.
Herodian dynasty Roman Republic Julius Caesar Judaism Roman Judea
August 2, 47 BCE
Battle of Zela: "Veni, vidi, vici"
On 2 August 47 BCE Caesar defeats Pharnaces II of Pontus, son of Mithridates VI, at Zela. Plutarch says he reported it to Rome in the words "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered").
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
46 BCE
Battle of Thapsus; Cato dies at Utica
In early 46 BCE Caesar defeats Metellus Scipio at Thapsus in North Africa. Cato the Younger, garrisoned at Utica, kills himself rather than submit. Scipio and King Juba of Numidia also die by their own hands.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
January 1, 45 BCE
The Julian calendar takes effect
Caesar proposes a calendar reform in 46 BCE, advised by the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, and it takes effect on 1 January 45. To realign it with the seasons, 46 BCE is lengthened to 445 days.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
March 17, 45 BCE
Battle of Munda
On 17 March 45 BCE Caesar defeats the Pompeians under Gnaeus and Sextus Pompeius in southern Spain, in the last battle of the civil war. Labienus is killed, and Gnaeus is hunted down afterward.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar Pompey
44 BCE
Caesar named dictator in perpetuity
In early 44 BCE Caesar is proclaimed dictator in perpetuity (dictator perpetuo). Weeks later a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius kills him.
Roman Republic Julius Caesar
44 BCE
Cicero's Philippics against Antony
After Caesar's death Cicero delivers a series of speeches attacking Mark Antony in 44 and 43 BCE, modelled on Demosthenes's speeches against Philip II of Macedon. They are called the Philippics.
Roman Republic Cicero Mark Antony
March 15, 44 BCE
Assassination of Julius Caesar
On the Ides of March a conspiracy of about 60, led by Brutus and Cassius, stabs Caesar, dictator in perpetuity, in the Curia of Pompey. The Republic is not restored: civil war follows.
Politics Julius Caesar Roman Republic
May 8, 44 BCE
Octavian accepts Caesar's inheritance
Octavian reaches Rome on 6 May 44 BCE. Two days later he accepts Caesar's will, which names him main heir on condition that he takes Caesar's name.
Roman Republic Augustus
April 21, 43 BCE
Battle of Mutina
Mark Antony, besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina, is beaten at Forum Gallorum and Mutina in April 43 BCE, though sources differ on how decisive the second was. Consul Hirtius is killed and Pansa dies of wounds. Octavian is left in sole command.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
August 19, 43 BCE
Octavian becomes consul at nineteen
On 19 August 43 BCE, at the age of 19, Octavian takes the consulship.
Roman Republic Augustus
November 27, 43 BCE
Second Triumvirate
Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus form a triumvirate in October 43 BCE. Unlike the First, it is legal: the Lex Titia of 27 November gives them five years of near-absolute power.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
December 7, 43 BCE
Cicero is killed
Named in the triumvirs' proscriptions, Cicero is killed on 7 December 43 BCE near Formiae while trying to flee, on Antony's orders. His head and hands are displayed on the Rostra in Rome.
Roman Republic Cicero Mark Antony
October 42 BCE
Battles of Philippi
On 3 and 23 October 42 BCE Antony and Octavian fight Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia. Cassius dies after the first battle and Brutus kills himself after the second, ending the conspirators' cause.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
41 BCE
Perusine War
Octavian fights Lucius Antonius, Mark Antony's brother, in 41 and 40 BCE. Lucius occupies Rome in the summer of 41.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
40 BCE
Parthians install Antigonus; Herod named king
In 40 BCE the Parthians invade Syria and back Antigonus, last Hasmonean ruler, who takes Jerusalem and mutilates Hyrcanus II so he cannot be high priest. Herod flees to Rome, where the Senate names him king of Judea (40 or 39, by source).
Hasmonean kingdom Herodian dynasty Roman Republic Mark Antony War
September 40 BCE
Treaty of Brundisium
In September 40 BCE Octavian and Antony divide the Roman world: Antony takes the east, Octavian keeps the west and gets Illyricum, and Lepidus keeps Africa. Antony marries Octavian's sister Octavia to seal it.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
39 BCE
Treaty of Misenum
In 39 BCE the triumvirs make peace with Sextus Pompey, who keeps Sicily and Sardinia and gains Corsica and the Peloponnese in return for lifting his blockade of Italy. The pact collapses when Antony refuses to give up Achaea.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony
37 BCE
Herod takes Jerusalem
In 37 BCE (36 by some arguments) Herod, with Roman help, takes Jerusalem after a siege and ends Hasmonean rule. Antigonus is executed, beheaded by Antony according to Josephus.
Herodian dynasty Hasmonean kingdom Roman Republic Mark Antony War Roman Judea
September 3, 36 BCE
Battle of Naulochus
On 3 September 36 BCE Agrippa, Octavian's admiral, destroys the fleet of Sextus Pompey off Sicily. Octavian then strips Lepidus of his power and becomes sole ruler of the west.
Roman Republic Augustus
34 BCE
Donations of Alexandria
In autumn 34 BCE Antony proclaims Cleopatra queen of kings and Caesarion Caesar's legitimate heir, and gives lands to his children with Cleopatra. The Senate rejects the grants and Octavian intensifies his attacks on Antony.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony Cleopatra Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
c. 31 BCE
Herod switches sides to Octavian
Herod had backed Antony. After Actium in 31 BCE he meets Octavian at Rhodes (31 or 30, by source) and is confirmed as king by Octavian, soon Augustus.
Herodian dynasty Augustus Roman Republic Politics
September 2, 31 BCE
Battle of Actium
On 2 September 31 BCE Agrippa's fleet routs Antony's and Cleopatra's off Actium on the Ionian Sea. Antony escapes with a few ships and his army later deserts.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony Cleopatra Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
August 30 BCE
Alexandria falls; Antony and Cleopatra die
Octavian takes Alexandria on 1 August 30 BCE. Antony stabs himself and Cleopatra kills herself on 12 August. Caesarion is put to death and Egypt ends as a kingdom, becoming Octavian's personal possession.
Roman Republic Augustus Mark Antony Cleopatra Hellenistic kingdoms Ptolemaic Egypt
January 16, 27 BCE
The settlement of 27 BCE; Octavian becomes Augustus
On 13 January 27 BCE Octavian formally returns power to the Senate. On 16 January he accepts a ten-year charge over key provinces, including Hispania, Gaul, Syria and Egypt, which gives him most of the legions. The Senate gives him the title Augustus.
Roman Republic Augustus Roman Empire
c. 25 BCE
Herod builds Caesarea Maritima
Between about 25 and 9 BCE Herod builds the port city of Caesarea Maritima, inaugurated in 9 BCE. When Judea becomes a province in 6 CE it is the seat of the Roman governor, and the Pilate Stone was found there.
Herodian dynasty Roman Empire Augustus
July 1, 23 BCE
The second settlement of 23 BCE
After a severe illness Augustus resigns the consulship on 1 July 23 BCE. In a new deal with the Senate he keeps his imperium across the empire and receives tribunician power for life.
Augustus Roman Empire
c. 20 BCE
Herod rebuilds the Temple
About 20-19 BCE Herod begins rebuilding the Second Temple and its platform. The sanctuary is done in about a year and a half; ancillary works go on for roughly 80 years. This is the Temple of Jesus's time, destroyed by Rome in 70 CE.
Herodian dynasty Judaism
c. 5 BCE
The birth of Jesus (traditional)
Matthew places Jesus's birth in the reign of Herod, so before 4 BCE; scholars give a range of 7 to 2 BCE. Luke links it to the census of Quirinius, in 6 CE, which most critical scholars take as an error. Both put it in Bethlehem; the Gospels give no year.
Jesus of Nazareth Early Christianity Religion Herodian dynasty
4 BCE
Herod the Great dies
Herod dies in 4 BCE by most scholars' reckoning (1 BCE by another school). Augustus honors his will: Archelaus gets Judea, Samaria and Idumea, Antipas Galilee and Perea, Philip lands to the north-east. The Massacre of the Innocents appears only in Matthew.
Herodian dynasty Judaism Augustus
6
Judea becomes a Roman province
In 6 CE Augustus deposes Herod Archelaus, ethnarch of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, and turns Judea into a Roman province under a prefect, the first being Coponius. The capital moves from Jerusalem to Caesarea. Syria's legate Quirinius takes a census for taxes.
Roman Judea Roman Empire Augustus Herodian dynasty Politics
6
Judas of Galilee resists the census
In 6 CE Judas of Galilee urges Jews not to register for Quirinius's census. Josephus calls his movement the "fourth philosophy" beside Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes and blames it for the later war with Rome. Whether it founded the Zealots is disputed.
Roman Judea Judaism Politics War
September 17, 14
Tiberius becomes emperor
Augustus dies on 19 August 14 CE. On 17 September the Senate confirms Tiberius as princeps. He rules until 16 March 37, a span that covers the ministry and death of Jesus and Pilate's time in Judea. In 26 he leaves Rome for Capri.
Roman Empire Augustus Politics
26
Pontius Pilate becomes prefect of Judea
Pontius Pilate governs Judea from 26 CE to 36 or 37, under Tiberius, keeping Caiaphas as high priest throughout. Josephus reports clashes over imperial standards in Jerusalem and an aqueduct paid from the Temple treasury. A 1961 inscription at Caesarea names him.
Roman Judea Roman Empire Judaism Politics
c. 28
John the Baptist preaches and is killed
About 28-29 CE John the Baptist preaches and baptizes; Jesus's baptism by him is among the events scholars accept most widely. Herod Antipas has John killed, around 30. The Gospels cite his rebuke of Antipas's marriage; Josephus says Antipas feared revolt.
Jesus of Nazareth Early Christianity Roman Judea Herodian dynasty Religion
c. 30
The crucifixion of Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth is crucified in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate, most likely at Passover in 30 or 33 CE. Tacitus mentions it, and the baptism and crucifixion are the points scholars accept most widely. The Gospels differ over how much blame falls on Pilate.
Jesus of Nazareth Early Christianity Roman Judea Religion Roman Empire
c. 36
Pilate is recalled
After the Samaritans complain to Vitellius, governor of Syria, Pilate is recalled to Rome in 36 or 37. Tiberius dies on 16 March 37 before he arrives. Caiaphas is removed from the high priesthood after Pilate's fall.
Roman Judea Roman Empire Politics
40
Caligula orders a statue in the Temple
In 40 CE, after Jews tear down an altar to the imperial cult at Jamnia, Caligula orders a statue of himself placed in the Jerusalem Temple. Philo leads delegations to the emperor and Agrippa opposes the plan. Caligula is assassinated in early 41.
Roman Judea Roman Empire Judaism Politics
41
Agrippa I rules Judea
Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Great and friend of Claudius, helps Claudius to the throne and in 41 CE receives Judea, Samaria and Idumea, a realm about as large as Herod's. He dies at Caesarea in 44, and Judea returns to direct Roman rule under procurators.
Herodian dynasty Roman Judea Roman Empire Politics
c. 48 – c. 62
Paul writes the earliest surviving Christian texts
From c. 48 CE the apostle Paul writes letters to early Christian communities, among them Galatians, 1 Thessalonians and Romans. They are the oldest writings of the New Testament.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire Jesus of Nazareth
66
The First Jewish-Roman War
From 66 to 73 or 74 CE Judea revolts against Rome, in what the sources call the War of Destruction. Corrupt governors, economic strain and religious zeal all play a part. It ends with Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed and the end of Jewish political independence.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Judaism War
66
The revolt breaks out; Gallus is defeated
In 66 CE riots in Caesarea escalate after the governor Gessius Florus, who had plundered the Temple treasury, answers with force, and rebels kill the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. Syria's legate Cestius Gallus marches on the city but is defeated at Beth Horon.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Judaism War
67
Josephus surrenders at Yodfat
After the fall of Yodfat in 67 CE, the Jewish commander Josephus surrenders to Vespasian and, by his own account, foretells that Vespasian will be emperor. Freed in 69, he serves Titus at Jerusalem and then writes the war's main history. Many Jews saw his claim as self-serving.
Josephus First Jewish-Roman War Judaism Roman Judea
67
Vespasian conquers Galilee
Nero sends Vespasian, who conquers Galilee in 67 CE, taking Yodfat, Tarichaea and Gamla. In Jerusalem rival factions, among them Zealots, John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora, fall into civil war.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Roman Empire War
July 1, 69
Vespasian is proclaimed emperor
On 1 July 69 CE Vespasian is acclaimed emperor at Alexandria, in the Year of the Four Emperors that followed Nero's suicide. He leaves for Rome and his son Titus finishes the war in Judea. Vespasian founds the Flavian dynasty.
Roman Empire First Jewish-Roman War Politics
c. 70
The Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel, is written
Around 70 CE, near the First Jewish–Roman War and the destruction of the Temple, the Gospel of Mark is composed. Most scholars see it as the first gospel; its place of writing is debated.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire Jesus of Nazareth
70
The Second Temple is destroyed
The Second Temple burns in the summer of 70 CE, on 10 Av in Josephus's account, the day Tisha B'Av recalls. Josephus says Titus tried to save it; later writers say he ordered it burned. Scholars are divided. Excavations show burn layers and fallen stones.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Judaism Religion
70
Titus besieges Jerusalem
In spring 70 CE Titus surrounds Jerusalem, full of Passover pilgrims, while factions inside fight one another and burn food stores. The Romans breach the walls and the Antonia fortress, and the Upper City falls in late summer. Josephus's 1.1 million dead is thought exaggerated.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Judaism War
c. 70
Yohanan ben Zakkai and Yavneh
The Talmud says the sage Yohanan ben Zakkai left besieged Jerusalem in a coffin and asked Vespasian to spare Yavneh. At Yavneh he turned a school into a centre of learning, where prayer came to replace sacrifice. The tale is unconfirmed, but rabbinic Judaism took shape there.
Judaism Religion First Jewish-Roman War
71
The Flavian triumph
In 71 CE Vespasian and Titus celebrate a triumph in Rome for the Jewish war, carrying spoils from the Temple, the menorah among them. Coins proclaim Judaea Capta, "Judea conquered".
Roman Empire First Jewish-Roman War Politics
c. 73
The siege of Masada
The Roman governor Flavius Silva besieges Masada, the last rebel stronghold, held by about 960 Sicarii and their families, traditionally in 72-73 CE, though some date it 73-74. Josephus says the defenders killed one another rather than surrender; several scholars doubt this.
First Jewish-Roman War Roman Judea Judaism War
c. 75
Josephus writes The Jewish War
About 75 CE Josephus begins The Jewish War, finished in Greek by 78, under Flavian patronage. It is the main source for the revolt and the Temple's fall, but he writes with political aims, and many of his figures are doubted.
Josephus First Jewish-Roman War Literature
c. 81
The Arch of Titus
About 81 CE Domitian builds the Arch of Titus on Rome's Via Sacra after his brother's death. Its reliefs show the triumph of 71, with the Temple menorah among the spoils, one of few contemporary images of Temple objects. It later becomes a symbol of the Jewish diaspora.
Roman Empire First Jewish-Roman War Judaism
97
Gan Ying is sent west toward Rome
In 97 CE Ban Chao sends Gan Ying toward Daqin (Rome). He reaches Parthian-ruled Tiaozhi and a great "western sea", perhaps the Persian Gulf or the Black Sea, and turns back after sailors warn of a voyage of up to two years. His report on Daqin comes from secondhand sources.
Silk Road and East-West contact Exploration Roman Empire
c. 140
Marcion proposes the first Christian canon
Around 140 CE the teacher Marcion offers a canon of ten Pauline letters and an edited Gospel of Luke, rejecting the Hebrew scriptures. His list is often seen as prompting the church to define its own.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
166
An embassy from "Andun" reaches Han China
In 166 CE the Hou Hanshu records an envoy of Andun, king of Daqin, landing at Rinan with ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoise shell. Andun may be Marcus Aurelius or Antoninus Pius. Several historians think the party were merchants, not diplomats.
Silk Road and East-West contact Roman Empire Politics
c. 200
Alexander of Aphrodisias heads the Peripatetic school at Athens
About 200 CE Alexander of Aphrodisias heads the Peripatetic school at Athens and dedicates On Fate to Septimius Severus and Caracalla (198-209). His commentaries on Aristotle are later translated into Arabic and quoted by Maimonides. Pomponazzi revives his view of the soul.
Aristotle Greek philosophy Roman Empire Athens
226
A Roman merchant reaches the court of Wu
In 226 CE a merchant from Daqin named Qin Lun reaches Jiaozhou, and the local prefect sends him to Sun Quan's court at Nanjing, where Sun asks him about his homeland. The Weilüe and the Book of Liang record the visit.
Silk Road and East-West contact Roman Empire
c. 240
Origen compiles the Hexapla
By about 240 CE the scholar Origen of Alexandria sets out the Hebrew Bible in six parallel columns: Hebrew, its Greek transliteration and four Greek versions, including the Septuagint. Only fragments survive.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
c. 280
Porphyry writes the Isagoge
Porphyry (c. 234-c. 305), writes the Isagoge (date unknown), an introduction to logic often read as a guide to Aristotle's Categories. It sorts predicates into genus, species, difference, property and accident. Latin and Arabic versions make it a standard textbook.
Aristotle Greek philosophy Roman Empire
331
Constantine orders fifty Bibles for Constantinople
In 331 the emperor Constantine commissions Eusebius of Caesarea to supply fifty Bibles for the churches of his new capital, Constantinople, an early sign of large-scale Bible production.
Early Christianity The Bible Roman Empire Byzantine Empire
c. 350
Codex Sinaiticus, an early complete Greek Bible, is copied
In the mid-4th century (c. 325–360) a Greek Old and New Testament is copied in one codex. Codex Sinaiticus includes deuterocanonical books such as Tobit, Judith and Sirach, plus the Epistle of Barnabas.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
367
Athanasius lists the 27 books of the New Testament
In his Easter letter of 367, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria names the same 27 New Testament books Christians use today, the earliest known list of exactly that set.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
c. 370
The Bible is translated into Gothic
In the 4th century the Arian bishop Wulfila, probably with a team, translates much of the Bible into Gothic, in the Balkans. The best-known manuscript is the Codex Argenteus, now in Uppsala.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Literature
382 – 405
Jerome translates the Bible into Latin: the Vulgate
Commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382, Jerome revises the Latin Gospels and later translates the Old Testament from Hebrew, finishing by 405 in Bethlehem. He doubted the status of the deuterocanonical books.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Papacy Literature
393
The Synod of Hippo accepts a Christian canon
In 393 a North African church synod at Hippo Regius, in the circle of Augustine, probably becomes the first council to accept the Catholic canon of Old and New Testament books, deuterocanonical books included.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
397
The Council of Carthage confirms the canon of Scripture
In 397 the Council of Carthage accepts a summary of the Synod of Hippo's decisions and its list of biblical books. A further council in 419 repeats it, shaping the canon of Latin Christianity.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Roman Empire
c. 405 – c. 434
Mesrop Mashtots and the Armenian Bible
Around 405 Mesrop Mashtots creates the Armenian alphabet. A first Bible translation from Syriac follows (c. 411), then a revision from Greek completed c. 434.
Early Christianity The Bible Religion Literature Writing