This page consists in a chronology of basic political and cultural events pertaining to the development of rhetoric in ancient Greece. Authors and texts from our reading list are marked in bold typeface.
Period Designation |
Social & Political Events |
Writing/Writers/Texts |
Bronze Age (Mycenaean Period) c. 1600-1100 |
c. 1550 Rise of Mycenean Society (see Vernant, Ch. 2*) c. 1450 Expansion of Mycenean influence c. 1200 End of Mycenean influence following Dorian invasion (Vernant, Ch. 3) c. 1300-1150 Fall of Troy (Herodotus, 1250; Eratosthenes, 1184) |
c. 1450 Emergence of Linear B (Vernant, Chps. 1-2) |
Dark Ages c. 1100-800 |
|
900 Re-emergence of writing (Vernant, Ch. 4) |
Archaic Period c. 800-490 |
c. 750 Greek colonization of southern Italy & Sicily
594 Solon's democratic reforms in Athens
510 Kleisthenes gives full rights to free men |
c. 850 Homer (according to Herodotus) c. 720 Homer, Iliad c. 700 Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days c. 680 Homer, Odyssey fl. 600 Sappho (lyric poet) 565?-?470 Xenophanes (satiric poet & philosopher) 525-456 Aiskhylos [Aeschylus] (dramatist) 518?-?438 Pindar (lyric poet) |
Classical Age 490-323 |
490-479 Persian Wars
479 Defeat of the Persians / Rise of Athens 461-429 Age of Perikles: popular Assembly initiates legislation
431-404 Peloponnesian Wars
404 Spartan takeover of Athens
338 Philip of Macedonia takes over Greece 335 Death of Philip; Alexander the Great succeeds 323 Alexander the Great dies |
c. 490-c. 440 Korax (traditional founder of rhetoric) 483?-?376 Gorgias c. 481–c. 411 Progtagoras 469-399 Sokrates c. 450-420 Herodotus composes his Histories 450?-?380 Lysias (see Phaedrus) 448?-380 Aristophanes (dramatist) 436?-?338 Isokrates c. 428 Sophokles, Oedipus the King 427?-347 Plato c. 424-400 Thukydides, Peloponnesian War c. 415 Gorgias, Helen 399 Trial and death of Socrates c. 387-385 Plato, Gorgias 384-322 Aristotle c. 370 Isokrates, Helen c. 370 Plato, Phaedrus 330 Aristotle, Rhetoric |
*Jean-Pierre Vernant. The Origins of Greek Thought. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982. Translation of Les origines de la penseé grecque (Paris: PUP, 1962).
Last update: 11-Jan-07
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Dr. James N. Comas (jcomas@mtsu.edu)
Middle Tennessee State University
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