Chronology of Troy

I am by no means a classicist, but have tried to assemble some dates that link recent discoveries at the site of Troy to a general outline of early Greek history. This is designed merely to supplement the reading of the Iliad and associated historical and archaeological background materials (link). Far more learnèd and/or exhaustive treatments may be found elsewhere on the Internet. For a quick overview of ancieng Greek history, click here.

Quick and Dirty Dates (All You Need To Know)

The detailed chart that occupies most of this page is for the fussy among you. Ordinary mortals can do fine if you remember (memorize!) four round numbers:

1400 BC		The Sack of Knossos & Fall of the Minoans
1200 BC		The Trojan War*
800 BC		Homer's Iliad
400 BC		Classical Greece

*-1200 is an excellent number to remember. It can ALSO work as a date for the replacement of the Bronze Age by the Iron Age without getting you into too much trouble.

Lots More Dates for People Who Love Dates

3000-1200 BC Bronze Age (Helladic) Greece

3000-2000 Early Helladic Period of Greek Bronze Age (Virtually no Bronze is in use at the beginning of this period, which continues a Neolithic way of life in most areas.)

Dates At Troy:
- 2920-2300 (Troy I, II, III) Maritime Troia Culture
  For most people life seems to have continued "normally" through Troy I, II, and III. The periods are distinguished by cycles of construction and destruction of the citadel portion of the site.
- 2920-2600 (Troy I) Maritime Troia Culture (1)
  Troy is settled & becomes center for bronze making.
- 2600-2480/20 (Troy II) Maritime Troia Culture (2)
  Troy II is merely a citadel built late in Troy I and actually largely contemporary with it; it was destroyed between 2480 and 2420.
- 2480/20-2300 (Troy III) Maritime Troia Culture (3)
  Troy was abruptly destroyed and abandoned in 2300 or so, possibly due to an earthquake.
Dates Elsewhere:
- 2500± "Cycladic" Neolithic cultures of the Cyclades islands produce important art.
- 2300± Bronze comes into broad general use in the Aegean area.

2000-1600 Middle Helladic Period of Greek Bronze Age

Dates At Troy:
- 2000-1750 (Troy IV, V) Anatolian Troia Culture
  Inland immigrants resettle Troy, but repeated destruction by fire and low densities of animal bones suggest little success to their efforts. The site was abandoned by 1750.
- 1700-1250/30 (Troy VI) Trojan High Culture (1)
  New immigrants, probably Luwian-speaking, plunder old ruins to make new city; Troy becomes major trade center and producer of horses, pottery, and wool. The famed citadel walls were built about 1470, possibly in response to military threats from outside, possibly as beautification or markers of royal prerogative. At the end of this period the citadel suffers extensive destruction, perhaps due to earthquake, fire, or attack, but thereafter the same pottery styles continue to be produced. (Note on Troy VI vs Troy VIIa.)
Dates Elsewhere:
- 1900-1600 Minoan civilization thrives in Crete.
- 1700± Minoan script developed (still undeciphered —here's your chance!)

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1600/1550-1200 Late Helladic Period of Greek Bronze Age (a.k.a. Late Mycenaean Age of Greek History)

Dates At Troy:
- 1250/30-1180 (Troy VIIa) Trojan High Culture (2)
  Troy, apparently still occupied by Luwians continuing their old way of life, is utterly destroyed in 1180 (or 1183) and completely burned.
  It is unclear whether the destruction of 1250/30 or the destruction of 1180 is the one commemorated in Homer's Iliad. Assuming that the Iliad commemorates one of these, it may in fact merge both into a single catastrophe, or the 10 years of war he describes may represent half a century of sporadic struggles. (Note on Troy VI vs Troy VIIa.)
- 1200 Jordan's magic date to remember for the Trojan War
  (Click here for the Beginner's Guide to the Iliad)
- 1180-1000/950 (Troy VIIb) Trojan Culture with Balkan Influences
  Troy is not entirely abandoned, and gradually immigrants from the Balkans settle sparsely in the area. Population gradually declines and the site is abandoned by 950.
Dates Elsewhere:
- 1450± Knossos, main city of Minoan Crete, destroyed by Mycenaeans.
- 1450± Mycenaean Linear-B script developed.
- 1400 Jordan's magic date to remember for the Sack of Knossos
- 1400± Walls begin to be constructed around Mycenaean cities, suggesting conflict.

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1150-750 Dark Age of Greek History

- 1150± Virtually all Greek cities (except Athens) in ruins
- 1120± Mycenae & nearby Tiryns fall (date subject to revision)
- 1100± "Dorian invasion" spoken of by ancient authors
  (who do not seem to agree on what this actually means)
- 1000± Iron in general use throughout the Aegean

750-500 Archaic Age of Greek History

- 800 Jordan's magic date to remember for Homer & the Iliad
- 700-85 (Troy VIII) Greek Period at Troy
  Gradual resettlement and population growth, especially after Alexander's visit, but mostly not on the citadel hill itself.
- 700 Hesiod writes Works & Days
- 540s Athens assists Greek rebels in Persian-controlled settlements along the Turkish coast.
- 530 Pythagoras, the famed mathematician, establishes a religious order in southern Italy.

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500-323 Classical Age of Greek History

- 490-479 The Persian Wars
- 490 Persian sea invasion is defeated in the Battle of Marathon.
- 481 or 480 Persian King Xerxes, conquering the world, sacrifices at site of Troy as he leads Persian combined land and sea forces through northern Greece towards Athens. Spartan king Leonidas and a small force slows the advance at Termopylae.
- 480-479 Xerxes witnesses the destruction of Persian forces by Themistocles in the Battle of Salamis, followed by defeat of land forces and end of Persian adventurism in mainland Greece.
- About 478 About 2 years after the defeat of the Persians, Athens founds the "Delian League" (with headquarters on the island of Delos)of Greek states on the pretext of defending Greeks against any possible return of the Persians.
- 470-399 Life of Socrates
- 462-461 Pericles wrests power from Athens' governing tribunal and briefly institutes a kind of democracy in Athens, then seizes dictatorial power and uses Delian League money for buildings in Athens.
- 458 Aeschylus produces Oresteia, the trilogy concerned with Greek events after the fall of Troy
- 432 Sculptor Phidias completes friezes for the Parthenon
- 432 Pericles bans all Megarian citizens from all ports and municipalities of the Delian League after Megara withdraws from the league.
- 431-404 Peloponnesian War
- 400 Jordan's magic date to remember for Classical Greece
- 431 Sparta refuses to continue paying Delian dues and attacks Athens; Athenians shelter inside city walls (which extend to the shore,giving sea access) and are hit with devastating plague.
  (For more about this plague, click here.)
- 429 Pericles dies of plague
- 415 Alcibiades persuades the Assembly to seek resources by conquering a Sicily
- 413 Athenian fleet is wiped out in Sicily; Athens surrenders to Sparta.
- 404 Athens Assembly replaced by vicious oligarchy, the Thirty Tyrants.
- 403 Thirty Tyrants are overthrown and executed.
- 401 Additional oligarchic power grabs is successfully resisted (with more executions)
- 399 Socrates (a friend of Alcibiades and of some of the Tyrants and oligarchs) is tried and executed.
- 356 Birth of Alexander the Great.
- 338 Phillip of Macedon marches south and easily conquers disorganized southern Greek city-states.
- 336 Phillip, about to attack Persia, is suddenly assassinated; his son Alexander, aged 20, succeeds him.
- 336-323 Alexander the Great, conquers the world, sacrificing at site of Troy and being declared pharaoh of Egypt and emperor of Persia along the way.
- 335 Aristotle, a student of Plato, founds school in Athens.
- 323 Alexander the Great dies in India

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323- Post-Classical Greece

Dates At Troy
- 85 BC - AD 500 (Troy IX) Roman & Byzantine Periods at Troy
- AD 930 Small Byzantine bishopric on site of Troy
- AD 1309 Troy and region conquered by Turks and thereafter abandoned
- AD 1871 Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) announces that he has found Homer's Troy, based on preliminary digging in what turns out to have been Troy II
- AD 1938 Excavation at Troy discontinued as World War II moves in
- AD 1988 Turkish government offers excavation license to University of Tübingen, working in conjunction with University of Cincinnati and an international team.
Dates Elsewhere
- 323- 50± Hellenistic Period
  (Named after the Greeks or "Helenes" whose empire under Alexander the Great spread Greek influence and Greek language over much of the Eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asian world.)
- 150± - 50± Greece falls under Roman administration.
- 50 BC± - AD 395 Roman Period
  (For a table of dates relating to the rise and spread of Christianity in this period and afterward, click here.)
- 395 - 1453 Byzantine Period ("Eastern Roman Empire")
- 1453 - 1831 Turkish Empire dominates old Byzantine empire, including Greece.
- 1831 Greece gains independence from Turkish empire.
- 1918 Turkish empire collapses at end of First World War and Greeks invade Turkey.
- 1923 Turkish republic declared after civil war and expulsion of Greek forces. The treaty of Lausanne awards islands off the coast of Turkey to Greece and Greek settlements on the coast itself to Turkey, precipitating a painful "population exchange" in that area.

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