A brief, dated history of Greece.
Bronze Age beginnings (c. 3000–1100 BC)
The Cycladic culture of the Aegean islands emerged around 3000 BC. On Crete the Minoan civilisation (c. 2000–1450 BC) built the palace of Knossos, while the Mycenaeans (c. 1600–1100 BC) of the mainland are remembered in Homer epics about the Trojan War.
Archaic and Classical Greece (800–323 BC)
After a "Dark Age", the Greek city-states (poleis) rose. The first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC. Athens developed democracy under Cleisthenes in 508 BC. The Greeks repelled the Persian invasions at Marathon (490 BC) and Salamis (480 BC), ushering in a Golden Age under Pericles — the Parthenon, drama and philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). The ruinous Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BC) weakened them all.
Alexander and the Hellenistic age (336–146 BC)
Alexander the Great (336–323 BC) conquered the Persian Empire and spread Greek culture from Egypt to India. After his death his generals divided the empire into Hellenistic kingdoms.
Roman and Byzantine Greece (146 BC – 1453 AD)
Rome absorbed Greece by 146 BC, yet Greek language and learning shaped the Roman world. When Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD, Greece became the heart of the Greek-speaking, Christian Byzantine Empire, which endured for over a thousand years until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
Ottoman rule and independence (1453–1830)
Nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule followed. The Greek War of Independence began in 1821, and an independent Greek state was recognised in 1830.
Modern Greece
The young kingdom gradually expanded to include Thessaloniki, Crete and the islands. Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. After the turmoil of two world wars and a civil war, Greece became a stable republic and joined the European Community in 1981, adopting the euro in 2001.
Informational summary. Dates follow widely accepted historical consensus.