Timeline of the Greek Language
The Greek language is traditionally delineated into five phases marked by four historical markers:
- 800 BCE, the end of what is considered the Greek "Dark" Ages, marks the beginning of Ancient/Classical Greek;
- 323 BCE, the death of Alexander the Great, marks the beginning of Koine/Hellenistic Greek;
- 330 CE, Constantine's moving of the Roman capital from Rome to Byzantium and renaming of Byzantium to Constantinople, marks the beginning of Byzantine/Medieval Greek;
- 1453 CE, the Turks' conquest and renaming of Constantinople to Istanbul, marks the beginning of Modern Greek.
| Greek Language | Greece | Timeline of Greek History | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegean Civilization ca. 1600 BCE |
Aegean Civilization, -1600 BCE | |||
| Mycenean Greece ca. 1600-1200 BCE |
1600 BCE | Arrival of Greeks in the Aegean around 1600 BCE | ||
| Mycenean Greek (Linear B) 1460-1200 BCE |
1460 BCE | Mycenaen Greek occupation of Minoan Crete | ||
| Trojan War, sometime between 1300-1200 BCE | ||||
| Greek "Dark" Ages c.1200-800 BCE |
1200 BCE | Greek Dark Ages, 1200-800 BCE | ||
| Dorian invasions beginning approx. 1150 BCE | ||||
| Rise of first Greek city-states in 9th c. BCE | ||||
| 800 BCE Beginning of Classical Greece | ||||
| Ancient/Classical Greek 800-323 BCE |
8thc | 800 BCE | ||
| Ancient (Hellenic) Greece 776-323 BCE |
776 BCE | First recorded Olympic Games | ||
| Approximate time of Homer, c.750 BCE | ||||
| 6thc | 509 BCE | Beginning of Roman Republic | ||
| 507 BCE | Athenian Revolution (Beginning of Athenian Democracy) | |||
| 5thc | Peloponnesian War between Athens against Sparta and Corinth (431-404 BCE) | |||
| 4thc | 399 BCE | Trial of Socrates (470-399 BCE) for impiety | ||
| 385 BCE | Plato (427-347 BCE) founds his school of philosophy, the Academy, in Athens c.385 BCE | |||
| 337 BCE | End of Athenian Democracy | |||
| 335 BCE | Aristotle (384-322 BCE) founds his school of philosphy at the Lyceum near Athens | |||
| 323 BCE Death of Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) | ||||
| Koine/Hellenistic Greek 323 BCE-330 CE |
Hellenistic Greece 323-146 BCE |
4thc | 323 BCE | Death of Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) |
| First War of the Diadochi (322-320 BCE) | ||||
| Second War of the Diadochi (319-315 BCE) | ||||
| Third War of the Diadochi (314-311 BCE) | ||||
| Fourth War of the Diadochi (308-301 BCE) | ||||
| 3rdc | Struggle over Macedon (298-285 BCE) | |||
| Struggle of Lysimachus and Seleucus (285-281 BCE) | ||||
| 281 BCE | Establishment of Antigonid dynasty in Macedonia; Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt; and Seleucid dynasty in Syria | |||
| First Punic War between Rome and Carthage (264-241 BCE) | ||||
| Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage (218-202 BCE) | ||||
| First Macedonian War between Rome and Macedon (215-205 BCE) | ||||
| 2ndc | Second Macedonian War between Rome and Macedon (200-197 BCE) | |||
| Third Macedonian War between Rome and Macedon (172-168 BCE) | ||||
| Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage (149-146 BCE) | ||||
| Roman Greece 146 BCE- 330 CE |
146 BCE | Rome annexes Macedon | ||
| 1stc | 64 BCE | Pompey ends the Seleucid dynasty and makes Syria a province | ||
| 44 BCE | Julius Caesar assassinated | |||
| 31 BCE | Ptolemaic Egypt (Mark Antony and Cleopatra) defeated by Rome (Octavian) | |||
| 30 BCE | Egypt annexed by Rome | |||
| 27 BCE | Octavian named "Augustus"; end of Roman Republic; beginning of Roman Empire | |||
| 1 BCE | ||||
| 1stc | 1 CE | |||
| 75 CE | Approx. time of the writing of the New Testament gospels | |||
| 3rdc | Diocletian (284-305 CE) implements tetrachy | |||
| 4thc | 312 CE | Constantine's (306-337 CE) conversion | ||
| 324 CE | Constantine emerges as sole emperor | |||
| 330 CE Beginning of the Byzantine Empire | ||||
| Byzantine/Medieval Greek 330-1453 CE |
Byzantine Empire 330-1453 CE |
4thc | 330 CE | Constantine moves capital to Byzantium/Constantinople |
| 5thc | 410 CE | Goths sack Rome | ||
| 476 CE | Collapse of the Western Roman Empire | |||
| Height of Byzantine Empire, 867-1025 CE | ||||
| 1453 CE Turkish Conquest of Constantinople/Istanbul | ||||
| Modern Greek 1453 CE-Present (Katharevousa vs. Demotic debate, c.1833-1976) |
Ottoman Greece 1453-1832 CE |
15thc | 1453 CE | Turkish conquest of Constantinople/Istanbul |
| 19thc | 1829 CE | Greece established as an independent state | ||
| Modern Greece 1832 CE- Present |
1832 CE | Greece recognized as a sovereign state | ||
| 20thc | 1976 CE | Demotic adopted as the official language of Greece | ||
| 1982 CE | Polytonic system of multiple accents and breathing marks abolished from Modern Greek | |||