History of Ancient Greece: Periods Overview

View of excavated prehistoric building at Olympia archaeological site

Historical Periods

Ancient Greek history is generally divided into the following eras:

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 3200 – 1100 BCE) in the Aegean islands
   Minoan (circa 2600 – 1200 BCE) in Crete
   Helladic (circa 2800 – 1600 BCE) on the mainland.
   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)

Each era had its own unique cultural characteristics, and the transition between them was often tumultuous.

  • Ancient Greece Map: The Classical Era (480 to 323 BCE)
  • Ancient Greece Map: The Hellenistic Era (323 to 30 BCE)
  • Ancient Greece Map. Stone and Bronze Ages. 3 MA to 1100 BCE.
  • Ancient Greece Map Dark and Archaic Era 1100 to 480 BCE.

Chapters

This history of Ancient Greece is divided into the following chapters:

Inscriptions by era (Clockwise): Bronze Age Linear A script from 1450 BCE; Early Greek Alphabet from 7th c. BCE; Classical era Ostracon from 5th century BCE; “The Rosetta Stone” from 196 BCE.

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