Chapter 1 Timeline

Before the Classical Athenian Era
800 B.C.	Homer writes the first epic poems, including the Iliad and the Odyssey
800	Sparta and other Greek city/states established
776	Olympic games begin
750	Greeks adapt alphabet for writing
594	Solon establishes government reforms that lay basis for Athenian democracy by property owners; serfdom is abolished
Classical Athens
508	Athenian democracy extended to all Athenian freemen rather than only landed aristocrats
496	The playwright Sophocles is born
484	The historian Herodotus is born
469	Socrates, philosopher and teacher of Plato, is born
450	The age of Pericles begins and will last until 429 B.C.
450	The Greek war against Persia ends
447	The Parthenon and other buildings are erected on the Acropolis
428	Plato, student of Socrates and founder of European philosophy, is born
411	An oligarchic regime briefly rules Athens, followed by Spartan rule
403	Athenian democracy is restored
387	Plato founds Academy at Athens
384	Plato's student Aristotle is born
335	Lyceum, Aristotle's school, is opened
334-324	Aristotle's student Alexander the Great