A Timeline of Greece and Rome


This table includes only the main writers and a selection of the most notable public events. Many dates, especially in the earlier centuries, are very approximate. Fuller chronological tables are available in a number of reference works, notably the volumes of the revised Cambridge Ancient History, and in E.J. Bickerman's Chronology of the Ancient World, 2nd edition (1980), esp. pp. 167-218.

EVENTS LITERARY AND CULTURAL PHENOMENA

 

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


Rutherford, Richard. Classical Literature: A Concise History. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005.