753: traditional date for founding of Rome
560-46: Croesus king of Lydia until conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia
c.550-527:
Pisistratus tyrant in Athens
c.535-522: Polycrates tyrant of Samos
510: overthrow of Hippias, son of Pisistratus of Athens
508: proto-democratic reforms by Cleisthenes of Athens
490: Darius of Persia attacks Greece; battle of Marathon
480-79: Xerxes’ invasion of Greece repelled by Greek alliance; establishment of "Delian League" against Persia
462: radical democracy established
Mid-century: pre-eminence of Athens under leadership of Pericles; extensive building program (Parthenon, etc.)
431-404: Peloponnesian War (Athens v. Sparta)
430-29: plague at Athens; death of Pericles
415-13: Athenian expedition to Sicily ends in disaster
411: attempted coup at Athens
404: defeat of Athens, with loss of empire; temporary government by "30 Tyrants," soon overthrown
401-399: Xenophon on mercenary expedition to Asia Minor
377: second Athenian League established
359-336: Philip II king of Macedon; conquers Greece in 338 (battle of Chaeronea)
336: Alexander succeeds to throne of
Macedon after Philip’s assassination
334: Alexander’s expedition against Persia: victories over Darius III in 334 and 333 followed by further wars in the East
323: death of Alexander and division of
his conquests
297-72: campaigns of Pyrrhus of Epirus in Italy
264-41: first war between Rome and Carthage
218-202: second war between Rome and Carthage (the "Hannibalic" war)
172-68: last of three wars between Rome and Macedonia, ending in the battle of Pydna.
149-6: third Punic war; destruction of Carthage
146: sack of Corinth; Greece becomes subject to Rome
63: consulship of Cicero; conspiracy of Catiline crushed.
60: alliance formed between Caesar, Pompey and Crassus ("first triumvirate")
58-7: Cicero exiled
58-49: Julius Caesar in Gaul (55-4 in Britain)
49: Caesar crosses Rubicon; civil war.
48: battle of Pharsalus; death of Pompey in Egypt
46: suicide of Cato the Younger at Utica (north Africa)
47-44: dictatorship of Caesar; he is murdered on 15 March 44
43: "second triumvirate" formed (Antony, Octavian, Lepidus); elimination of opponents, including Cicero
30s: increasing tension between Antony and Octavian leads to civil war; battle of Actium in 31
30: deaths of Antony and Cleopatra
27: Octavian granted title "Augustus"; holds supreme power until his death in CE 14
CE
14 Accession of Tiberius
31: downfall of Tiberius’ minister Sejanus
64: fire at Rome; Nero treats the Christians as scapegoats
65: purge by Nero; deaths of Lucan, Petronius, Seneca the Younger
69: year of the four emperors
70: fall of Jerusalem ends Jewish Revolt against Rome; destruction of the temple
79: eruption of Vesuvius destroys Pompeii and Herculaneum
98-117: Trajan's rule. Under him the Roman Empire reaches its largest extent
212: Caracalla grants citizenship to all those under Roman rule
235-84: military anarchy
284: division of the empire by Diocletian
303-5: "great" persecution of Christians
312: battle of the Milvian Bridge; Constantine proclaims himself Christian
325: Council of Nicaea
362-3: Julian invades Parthia and dies on campaign
374: Ambrose becomes Bishop of Milan
384: dispute over removal of pagan Altar of Victory from the Senate House in Rome
410: sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth |
776: traditional date of first celebration of Olympic Games
c.750: first evidence of use of Greek alphabet in inscriptions
c.700?: Iliad, followed by Odyssey
c.700-670?: Hesiod
c.650: Archilochus active
c.600: Alcaeus and Sappho active
585: Thales, first of Presocratic thinkers, predicts an eclipse
540s -30s and later: Anacreon and Ibycus active
530s?: Dramatic festival instituted at Athens, at uncertain date
c.515-at least 470s: Simonides active
c.500: Heraclitus of Ephesus active
c.495-c.450: Pindar and Bacchylides active
Empedocles active (d. 432)
Parmenides active (visited Athens c.450)
472: Aeschylus, Persians
468: first production of Sophocles
458: Aeschylus, Oresteia trilogy
456: death of Aeschylus
455: first production of Euripides
440s-20s: Herodotus writing
430s?: Protagoras visits Athens
427: Gorgias visits Athens
425: Aristophanes’ first surviving play
431-c.397: Thucydides writing
411: death of orator Antiphonlate
400s and early 300s: orator Lysias active
406: deaths of Euripides and Sophocles
405: Aristophanes, Frogs
399: execution of Socrates; subsequent
growth of "Socratic literature," especially
by Plato (active until his death in 347) and Xenophon
Isocrates active as writer and orator until his death in 338
340s: Demosthenes, already active in
forensic cases, becomes prominent in Athenian politics
335: Aristotle founds his school at Athens (the Lyceum)
330: Demosthenes’ speech On the Crown
322: deaths of Aristotle and Demosthenes
317: Menander, Angry Old Man
307: Epicurus founds his school
300: Zeno founds Stoic school
270s-50s: Callimachus, Theocritus, Apollonius, Herodas and others writing,
mainly in Alexandria
c.240: at Rome, Livius Andronicus composes the first known Latin works modelled on Greek, including a translation of the Odyssey
200: Plautus’ first datable play, Stichus
191: Plautus, Pseudolus
169: Death of Ennius
167: Polybius brought to Rome
166-59: Terence producing plays
130s-20s: Lucilius writing satires; associates with Scipio Aemilianus and Laelius
c.100: Meleager, epigrammatist, compiles Garland, original core of Greek Anthology
81: Cicero’s first surviving speech; thereafter he is increasingly prominent until his death in 43
70: Cicero, Verrine speeches
50s: Catullus writing
56: Cicero, Defence of Caelius
55 or ?49: Lucretius’ poem published
52: Cicero, Defence of Milo
46-4: Politically inactive, Cicero writes many philosophic works
44-3: Cicero, Philippics against Antony
Between 46 and 35: Sallust, Catiline and Jugurtha
Before c.40: Gallus’ love elegies
c.38: Virgil, Eclogues
c.31: Horace, Epodes
29: Virgil, Georgics completed
Elegies of Propertius and Tibullus begin to appear
Livy’s History begins to appear in installments
23: Horace, Odes books 1-3 published
c.20: first works of Ovid
19: death of Virgil; Aeneid published posthumously
19: Horace, Epistles i
8: deaths of Maecenas and Horace; exile of Ovid; Metamorphoses largely complete, Fasti incomplete at this point
9-12: Ovid, Tristia; Letters from Pontus are later
17: death of Ovid at Tomi
30: Velleius Paterculus’ History
54: Seneca, Apocolocyntosis ("Pumpkinification")
60s: Persius, Lucan, Petronius active
c.63: Seneca, Letters
67: Josephus deserts to Rome, subsequently writes works on Jewish history there
80: Martial celebrates construction of the Colosseum
81-96: chief period of Statius’ literary activity; Martial, epigrams.
90s: Epictetus teaching in Nicopolis; heard by Arrian
c.95: Quintilian, Education of an Orator
98: Tacitus, Agricola, Germania
99-109: Pliny, Letters, periodically published
100: Pliny, Panegyric
c.108: Tacitus, Histories
c.100-120: Plutarch’s most productive period
c.110: Pliny governor of Bithynia (Letters, book 10, mainly from this period)
c.116: Tacitus completing the Annals
c.120: Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars
120s (and later): Arrian active
c.150: Pausanias, Description of Greece
150-80: Lucian active
158 or 159: Apuleius, Apology; Metamorphoses undatable, but probably later
170-80: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
c.175-80: Celsus, On the True Doctrine
late 2nd and early 3rd century: Tertullian active
c.224: Dio Cassius, Roman History
c.249: Origen, Against Celsus
269/70: death of Plotinus; his writings subsequently published by Porphyry (c.300)
c.317: Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors
380-c.391: Ammianus composes his History in Rome
382: Jerome begins his work on the Latin Bible (the "Vulgate"), completed c.405
386: Conversion of Augustine
395: Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo
c.397-400: Augustine, Confessions
413-26: Augustine composing City of God
430: death of Augustine |