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Athens guide

Athens timeline

Three thousand years of history in forty dates: from the Mycenaean citadel to today's European capital, by way of Pericles, Hadrian, the Florentine dukes and King Otto.

This timeline summarises the main stages of Athens' history. For a fuller account see the history of Athens and the history of Greece.

From prehistory to the end of antiquity
  1. NeolithicFirst traces of settlement on the slopes of the Acropolis, near the springs.
  2. 13th c. BCA Mycenaean palace with Cyclopean walls stands on the Acropolis.
  3. 10th-8th c. BCAthens unifies Attica; Geometric pottery flourishes at Kerameikos.
  4. 594 BCSolon's reforms abolish debt slavery.
  5. 561-510 BCTyranny of Peisistratus and his sons: the temple of Olympian Zeus and great public works begin.
  6. 508 BCCleisthenes reorganises the citizens into tribes: Athenian democracy is born.
  7. 490 BCVictory over the Persians at Marathon.
  8. 480 BCThe Persians burn the Acropolis; the Greek fleet wins at Salamis.
  9. 478 BCThe Delian League is founded, led by Athens.
  10. 461-429 BCAge of Pericles: radical democracy, maritime empire, great building projects.
  11. 447-432 BCConstruction of the Parthenon.
  12. 431-404 BCPeloponnesian War; Athens defeated by Sparta.
  13. 399 BCTrial and execution of Socrates.
  14. 387 BCPlato founds the Academy.
  15. 338 BCPhilip II of Macedon wins at Chaeronea: end of independence.
  16. 335 BCAristotle opens the Lyceum.
  17. 86 BCThe Roman general Sulla sacks Athens.
  18. AD 124-132Hadrian completes the Olympieion and builds his library.
  19. AD 267The Heruli devastate the city.
  20. 529Emperor Justinian closes the pagan philosophical schools.
From the Middle Ages to today
  1. 6th c.The Parthenon becomes a church dedicated to the Virgin.
  2. 11th-12th c.Flowering of Byzantine churches: Kapnikarea, Holy Apostles, Daphni.
  3. 1204After the Fourth Crusade Athens passes to Frankish lords (the de la Roche dukes).
  4. 1311The Catalans conquer the Duchy of Athens.
  5. 1388The duchy passes to the Florentine Acciaioli family.
  6. 1458The Ottomans conquer Athens; the Parthenon becomes a mosque.
  7. 1687Morosini's Venetian siege: a shell blows up the Parthenon.
  8. 1801-1812Lord Elgin has the Parthenon sculptures removed.
  9. 1821-1833War of Independence; Athens is besieged several times.
  10. 1834Athens becomes capital of the Kingdom of Greece, under King Otto.
  11. 1843Uprising of 3 September and grant of the Constitution.
  12. 1896First modern Olympics in the Panathenaic Stadium.
  13. 1922-1923Hundreds of thousands of refugees arrive from Asia Minor.
  14. 1941-1944German and Italian occupation; famine in the winter of 1941-42.
  15. 1944-1949December clashes in the city and civil war.
  16. 1967-1974Colonels' dictatorship; Polytechnic uprising in 1973.
  17. 1981Greece joins the European Community.
  18. 2000-2001The new metro and Eleftherios Venizelos airport open.
  19. 2004Athens Olympic Games.
  20. 2009The new Acropolis Museum opens.
  21. 2010-2018Debt crisis, protests and bailout programmes.
  22. 2017The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center opens.

See also the Athens guide, Greek timeline and the economic crisis.