Greek Timeline

7000 BCE – 1900 CE · 64 sites

Ancient Greece here means excavated places — Mycenaean citadels, Archaic and Classical sanctuaries, Hellenistic cities — not a single political state. Compare temple sites with civic ones, then jump to Rome where the same stones were often reused.

All sites in this period

Featured

World Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in the World

Troy

3000 BCE – 500 CE

Nine settlement layers at Hisarlık in northwestern Türkiye, where Heinrich Schliemann dug for Homer's Troy and archaeologists still debate which level matches a historical war. UNESCO listed the site in 1998; renewed interest from epic film adaptations keeps new visitors comparing poetry with stone.

312

Iron AgeClassicalRoman

93

Featured

Country Record

Longest Recorded History in Greece

Acropolis of Athens

447 BCE – 1687 CE

The fortified limestone citadel rising above Athens — crowned by the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Propylaea — the supreme monument cluster of classical Greece and one of Europe's most visited archaeological sites.

31

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

87

Featured

Continent Record

Oldest Temple in Europe

Parthenon

447 BCE – 432 BCE

The Parthenon (447–432 BCE) on the Athenian Acropolis is the supreme achievement of Classical Greek temple architecture, dedicated to Athena Parthenos and embodying the ideals of Periclean democracy.

422

Classical

87

Delphi

800 BCE – 393 CE

Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, seat of the Pythia whose oracles shaped Greek colonisation, warfare, and personal choices. Treasury buildings, a theatre, and the stadium crown the site where Greeks imagined the omphalos, the navel of the world.

422

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

83

Ephesus

1000 BCE – 700 CE

Major Ionian city near modern Selçuk, once home to the Temple of Artemis and later a Roman metropolis of marble streets, terrace houses, and the Library of Celsus. Paul's epistles and pilgrimage routes kept Ephesus famous after the ancient harbour silted away.

312

RomanClassicalHellenistic

81

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Olympia

776 BCE – 393 CE

Ancient sanctuary of Zeus and birthplace of the Olympic Games, hosting athletes and pilgrims from 776 BCE until its closure in 393 CE.

322

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

79

Country Record

Oldest City in Greece

Sparta

900 BCE – 600 CE

Capital of ancient Lacedaemon, the militarised polis that rivals Athens in legend and Hollywood. Archaeological remains are sparser than Corinth or Mycenae, yet the acropolis, theatre, and sanctuary of Artemis Orthia ground the stories of Helen, Menelaus, and the warriors who march through Homer's Trojan War.

21

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

79

Meteora

1100 CE – 1900 CE

A forest of sandstone pinnacles in Thessaly, Greece — crowned by Byzantine and post-Byzantine monasteries reached by stairs and bridges — among the most dramatic religious landscapes in Europe and a UNESCO site drawing millions of visitors and pilgrims.

21

MedievalEarly Modern

77

Ancient Corinth

700 BCE – 600 CE

Wealthy classical city at the Isthmus gateway between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, famed for the Temple of Apollo, the diolkos ship-track, and Paul's letters. Ruins at the forum, theatre, and harbour of Lechaion show why Corinthians traded, preached, and fought across the Mediterranean.

21

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

76

Featured

Country Record

Earliest Known Site in Greece

Ithaca

1300 BCE – 500 CE

The Ionian island identified since antiquity as Odysseus's rugged homeland. Archaeological work at Pelikata hill, the Cave of the Nymphs, and Stavros village has recovered Bronze Age and Hellenistic remains that keep alive the question of how closely Homer's geography matches the real archipelago.

211

Bronze AgeClassicalHellenistic

74

Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Greece

Ancient Corcyra (Palaeopolis)

734 BCE – 400 CE

The archaeological park of ancient Corcyra on Corfu’s Kanoni peninsula, long linked in local tradition to Homer’s Phaeacians and the harbour of Scheria.

111

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

72

Featured

Antioch (Antakya)

300 BCE – 1268 CE

One of the four great cities of the ancient world and a cradle of early Christianity. Antioch's extraordinary mosaics rival those of Pompeii, and its layered history spans Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations.

312

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

71

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