c6500-2900 BC NEOLITHIC PERIOD
Domestication of plants and animals allows for permanent settlements.
c2900-2000 BC Bronze Age
Early Aegean cultures
c2500 BC
Minoan civilization develops.
c1930 BC
First palaces on Crete.
c1400 BC
Volcanic eruption on Thera destroys Mycenae.
1375-50 BC
Mycenaean customs appear on Crete.
c1200 BC
Destruction of Cretan palaces and of Priam's city at Troy (Ilium).
c1050-750 BC EARLY PERIOD
First Greek migration to west coast of Asia minor. Few written records of this time period remain. Also, this era is known as the Dark Ages of Greece.
c850-700 BC
Distinct regional cultures develop in the Aegean. Mythology evolves, and Greek language gains an alphabet.
776 BC
First Olympic Games
c750-700 BC
Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey
c750-500 BC ARCHAIC PERIOD
Greeks search for new land for agriculture. City-states are formed throughout the Mediterranean that function as political units or polis, each ruled by a king and a council.
735-700 BC
First Greek colonies in Sicily.
c730-710 BC
Spartans conquer southwest Peloponnese in the First Messenian War.
c700 BC
Lelantine war in Euboia
540 BC
Anaximander dies. He is credited with writing the first philosophical treatise and making the first map of know world.