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A Historian's Paradise

Greece is the place that every historian or Archaeologists wants to visit. Greece is their paradise and how can they be blamed it so enriched with so many splendors of history and culture. History and culture speaks out from every corner of Greece weather it be the mainland or an island. 

Following is brief account of how Greece evolved from Ancient times to today. 

The history of Greece can be traced back to Stone Age hunters. Later came the farmers and the civilizations of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings. This was followed by a period of wars and invasions, known as the Dark Ages. In about 1100 BC, a people called the Dorians invaded from the north and spread down the west coast. In the period from 500-336 BC Greece was divided into small city states, each of which consisted of a city and its surrounding countryside

7000 B.C.
First Stone Age settlements in mainland Greece. The remnants of the Pelasgasian civilization are found mostly in the form of scattered stones which were used as tools and the foundations of dwellings which just look like a bunch of rocks to anyone but those with a trained eye.  In the Argolis, in the Frankthi Cave there are excavations which show that these early inhabitants were already trading with their ancient Greek cousins on the islands.  

2500 B.C.
Bronze Age is effective on mainland and some islands. uring the same time-period of the Minoans another group, known as the Achaean or Mycenaean Civilization centered in the Argolis of the Peloponessos. During the Bronze Age between 2100 and 1900 BC this area was invaded by people from the east who introduced an advanced culture to the primitive local people who had been there since Neolithic times. These ancient Hellenes had fortresses as far west as Pylos and as far north as Iolcus in Thessaly. The Mycenaean princes used the Linear B script to keep track of possessions and their enterprises throughout the Mediterranean. The walls to their fortresses were made of stones so large that it was difficult to imagine a mortal man lifting them and were therefore dubbed Cyclopean walls, named after the race of one-eyed giants of Homer's Odyssey. The Myceneans and the Minoans were probably economic competitors in the Mediterranean.

1550 B.C.
Mycenaean civilization started on mainland Greece.

1450 B.C.
Mycenaean culture spreads to islands.

1200 B.C.
Disappearance of Mycenaean civilization.

1100 B.C.
Dorian movements to the islands and Asia Minor. the Dorians, who though warlike, brought with them a new culture and what came to be known as The Iron Age.  Experts now are no longer so sure that this is exactly what happened. What is known from the artifacts found in Myceneae is that they were wealthy culture who loved gold and objects of beauty. What is also known is that there was a city of Troy which guarded the straits of the Dardenelles, the entrance to the Black Sea and as about the time of the epic war described in the Illiad this city was destroyed. It is possible that this

776 B.C.
First official Olympic Games held in Greece. From 776 BC through the Golden Age until they were finally banned by the Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393, every 4 years men from all over the Greek world came to the town of Olympia to compete in the Olympic Games. Though there were other games in classical Greece, the Olympics were the most important.  During the period of the games a sacred truce was in effect so competitors could go through hostile territories to get to Olympia. The  Olympic games were held on the second full moon of the summer solstice and was not restricted to athletic events. There were also feasts, competitions between orators, poets, prayers and sacrifices since it was in actuality a religious festival, dedicated to Zeus, for his enjoyment as well as for the Greek love of competition and the Homeric value of arete or excellence which was perhaps the most important quality of the Greek heroes of the Illiad.

800-600 B.C.
First Greek city-states appear, Athens and Sparta are among them.

545 B.C.
Persian invasion of Asia Minor cities.

490 B.C.
Persian incursion and the battle of Marathon.

479 B.C.
Persian invasion of mainland Greece.

430-404 B.C.
War between Athens and Sparta ends in Spartan victory.

359 B.C.
Philip II became the king of Macedonia.

336 B.C.
After Philip II, Alexander the Great became the king of Macedonia.

0-300 A.D.
Romans rule Greece.

324 A.D.
Emperor Constantine established the Byzantium and Constantinople became the capital.

529 A.D.
Non-Christian schools of philosopy in Athens were forced to close.

650 A.D. 
Invasion of Greece by Slavic tribes.

800 A.D.
Byzantium established the control over Greece again.

1200 A.D.
Latin - Venetian crusaders took control of Greece.

1260 A.D.
Byzantium reclaimed the control over Greece.

1430 A.D.
Ottomans conquered Thessaloniki.

1453 A.D. 
Ottomans conquered Constantinople. This marks the end of Byzantium.

1460 A.D.
Ottomans took Mistra.

1522 A.D.
Ottomans conquered Rhodes.

1566 A.D. 
Ottomans took Chios and Naxos.

1577 A.D.
Samos taken by Ottomans

1669 A.D.
Ottomans conquered whole Crete.

1685-1715
Venetians occupied Peloponnese

1799-1814
France, Russia and Britain occupied Ionian islands successively.

1821-1830
Greece gained independence against Ottomans after the battle of Navarino (25th March - Independence Day).

1831
President Capodistrias was assasinated.

1833 
Othon was declared as the king of Greece by Russia, France and Britain.

1864 
Britain gave the control of Corfu and Ionian islands to Greece.

1881
Ottomans surrendered Thessaly to Greece.

1912
First Balkan war and Greece reclaimed Thessaloniki, Ioanina and Chios.

1913 
Second Balkan war. After Bulgarian attacks, Greece gains Crete, Lesbos and Ikaria. 

1914
World War I. Divisions in Greece and finally joining the war on the side of Allied forces.

1919
Britain and France convinced Greece to annex the land at Smyrna (Izmir) in Turkey.

1919-1923
After the collapse of Ottoman Empire, the existing conditions triggered a war between Greece and newly formed Turkey. Greece lost the war and Greek population in Anatolia was exchanged with Turkish or Muslim population in Greece (Lauseane Treaty).

1936
After a long period of political chaos, General Metaxas became dictator.

1939
After the invasion of Albania,Italy demanded access to Greek ports. Metaxas refused (28th October "Ochi Day"). Victorious battles against the Italians. Greek troops push Italians back towards Italy.

1941
World War II and the German invasion.

1944
After 3 years of German occupation, British troops took the county back from Germans.

1945-1949 
Civil war between royalists and communists.

1951
Night of terror in Constantinople. Violent Turkish riots against the Greeks result in the elimination of a 300,000 minority in the City.

1967
Military junta took control of political power.

1973
Pro-democracy movement mainly led by students was crushed by fascist junta and a large number of students were brutaly killed.

1974
Military junta supported a right-wing Greek coup in Cyprus. This led to Turkey's invasion of the island. Turkey is still occupying the Northern part of the i sland (hence the Cyprus problem).

1975-1999
The Junta falls. Socialist PASOK and right-wing New Democracy Party maintain the democratic process uninterruptedly since then.

2000
Greece, now part of the single-currency European Union, is one of the world's 25 most developed countries. Its strong economy, its stable and flourishing society make Greece the guarantor of peace and progress in the Balkans.

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