History of Greece: Overview and Eras of Greek History

In a nutshell, Greek history is divided in the following eras:

• Stone Age (circa 400,000 - 3000 BCE)
  • Paleolithic (circa 400,000 – 13,000 BP)
  • Mesolithic (circa 10,000 – 7000 BCE
  • Neolithic (circa 7000 – 3000 BCE)
• Bronze Age (circa 3300 – 1150 BCE)
  • Cycladic (circa 3300 – 2000 BCE)
  • Minoan (circa 2600 – 1200 BCE)
    
  • Helladic (circa 2800 – 1600 BCE)
  • Mycenaean or Late Helladic (circa 1600 – 1100 BCE)
    
• Dark Ages (circa 1100 – 700 BCE)
  
• Archaic (circa 700 – 480 BCE)
  
• Classical (480 – 323 BCE)
  
• Hellenistic (323 – 30 BCE)
  
• Roman (146 BCE – 330 CE)
  
• Byzantine (330 – 1453 CE)
  
• Ottoman Rule (1453 – 1821 CE)
  
• Modern (1821 – today)

This classification is generally accepted and based on the individual unique characteristics of Greek culture at a particular time period. While the dates of the prehistoric era (up until the Archaic period) vary slightly depending on the source, the dates that define the historical eras are marked by crucial events that changed the course of society in significant ways.

Important Dates Of Greek History

Here is a sample of these dates and the events that marked them:

1000 BCE: End of Mycenaean civilization
480 BCE: Greeks defeat the invading Persians and enter the Classical era.
323 BCE: The death of Alexander the Great marks the beginning of he Hellenistic era
30 BCE: The Roman Octavian (Augustus) defeats the army of Cleopatra and Antony at Aktion and establish control over all the old Hellenistic kingdoms.
330 CE: Constantine the Great moves the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of Byzantium which her renames Constantinople, thus marking the beginning of the Byzantine Empire.
1453 CE: The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, marks the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of Ottoman rule for the Greeks.
1821 CE: The Greek revolution overthrows the Ottoman rulers and marks the beginning of Modern Greece.
1981 CE: Greece joins the European Union as a full member.

History of Greece: Importance

Visitors to Greece are often surprised to learn that Greek history is not restricted to the ancient era, and that it weaves through the centuries with threads of intense color and diversity.

The history of Ancient Greece up to the end of the Hellenistic era in 32 BCE is undoubtedly the most splendid. The ideas, concepts, and art that ancient Greece left formed the foundation of western civilization.

The two previous millennia that led to Classical and Hellenistic eras, and the two millennia that came after are all part of the history of Greece and have left just as rich a cultural imprint on the land and its people.

Modern Greek culture is a fusion of the influence that diverse, and often opposing, cultures had on the people and the land as they alternated or coexisted throughout the centuries. Much of the ancient Greek civilization has survived either directly or through permutations to our day. Ancient Greek ideals, Byzantine ethics, and Eastern sensibilities all coexist in various degrees of blend in the life, culture, and politics of modern Greece.

The history of Ancient Greece has been influential to western society up to our day.
The much-celebrated Renaissance was guided in large part by the re-discovery of the ancient Greek ideas through text and art. Greek art, architecture, literature, philosophy, science, and language have been firmly embedded in the western culture for the past two million years.

History as a discipline was created in Ancient Greece with the work of Herodotus (484 – 425 BCE) who is considered the Father of History, and that of Thucydides (460 – 395 BCE). Writing in completely opposite style, these two historians attempted to record the events of their time for posterity, and in the process they created the foundation that future historians relied upon all the way up to the 20th c. CE.

Next: Geography and borders of Greece through history