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Ancient Greece - Index

Greek Index / Timeline Aegean Sea Civilizations Trojan War Greek Dark Ages Greek Archaic Period
Greek Gods Greek Classical Period - I Persian War Greek Classical Period - II Peloponnesian War
Philosophers Tragedy - Oedipus Greek Classical Period - III Alexander the Great Greek Hellenistic Period

Aegean Sea Civilizations - Foundation of Greek Civilization
  Click to view mapClick here to view a map of ancient Aegean Sea civilizations
6000-2900 BC Neolithic Period
  Neolithic Cultures
2900-2000 BC Early Cycladic Period
 

Named after a small island group (Cyclades) situated in the center of the Aegean Sea, which developed a unique and distinctive civilization that flourished from around 3200-2000 BC

2000-1400 BC Minoan Age
 

Bronze Age civilization, centering on the island of Crete. It was named after the legendary king Minos who made his capital at Knossos

It is divided into three periods:

  • Early Minoan period (c.3000-2200 BC)
  • Middle Minoan period (c.2200-1500 BC)
  • Late Minoan period (c.1500-1000 BC)
2000 BC

Minoans develop a hieroglyphic writing system

1700-1650 BC

Writing systems of Linear "A" and Linear "B" are developed by the Minoans

1628 BC

Volcano at Thera leaves a crater 8 miles wide and 1 mile deep, destroying Minoan civilization and giving rise to the legend of Atlantis
Ruins Minoan vase Fresco

1600-1100 BC Mycenaean Period
 

Period of high cultural achievement, forming the backdrop and basis for subsequent myths of the heroes. It was named for the kingdom of Mycenae and the archaeological site where fabulous works in gold were unearthed.

  • Agamemnon (a central character of Homer's Iliad) was perhaps the most well-known Mycenaean king.

1185-1200 BC

Trojan War

 

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1200 BC

Dorian Invasion and the "Sea People"

 

Dorians were an Indo-European group of people who brought iron tools to the region

  • Removes remnants of the Minoan civilization left after the destruction of the volcano at Thera
  • Contributes to the decline of the Mycenaean civilization
  • Causes nomadic movements of the Greeks
  Invasion of the Sea Peoples destroys Mycenaean civilization.   Greece enters a 400 year "Dark Age"; writing was forgotten; cities abandoned.  Linear "B" would not be read again until modern times.  Linear "A" has still not been deciphered.


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