Main Periods of Greek History

Early and Middle Bronze Age

(ca. 3300 – 1600 BCE)

Mycenaean Age 

(ca. 1600 – 1100 BCE)

The “Dark Age”

(ca. 1200 – 800 BCE)

Archaic Period

(ca. 800 – 480 BCE)

Classical Period

(480 – 323 BCE)

Hellenistic Period

(323 – 31 BCE)

Early and Middle Bronze Age

• Cycladic culture

• Minoan palace culture (Knossos)

Mycenaean Age

• Destruction of Troy in c. 1250 BCE

• Spread of palace culture to mainland Greece

The “Dark Age”

• Migration and climate change

• Decline of palace culture

• Decline in writing, but creation of a new Greek alphabet derived from the Phoenician one

Archaic Period

• Influence from the Near East on arts and culture.

• hoplite warfare

Classical Period

• Rise of Athens and democracy

• Defeat of Persia.

• Development of academia – civic arts.

• Growing dominance of the “Athenian Empire”.

Hellenistic Period

• Fracture of Alexander’s empire upon his death.

• Spread of Greek language and culture in the lands conquered by Alexander. 

• Conquest by Rome solidified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.