Ancient Greece & Rome
800 BC – 400 ADThe foundations of Western thought, art, and literature. From Homer's epics through the golden age of Athens to the twilight of Rome, this era established the forms — tragedy, philosophy, sculpture, oratory — that every subsequent century would measure itself against.
Literature & Philosophy
Visual Arts & Architecture
Music & Performing Arts
800–500 BC
LiteratureHomer~8th c. BCIliad, OdysseyLiteratureSappho~630 BC – ~570 BCLyric poet of LesbosLiteratureHesiod~700 BCTheogony, Works and DaysLiteratureThales~624 BC – ~546 BCWater is the principle of all thingsLiteratureAnaximander~610 BC – ~546 BCThe Boundless — apeiron as first principleLiteraturePythagoras~570 BC – ~495 BCAll is number — mathematics as cosmic orderLiteratureHeraclitus~535 BC – ~475 BCEverything flows — the Obscure One
500–300 BC
LiteratureAeschylus525 BC – 456 BCFather of tragedy — the OresteiaLiteratureSophocles496 BC – 406 BCOedipus Rex, AntigoneLiteratureEuripides480 BC – 406 BCMedea, The BacchaeLiteraturePlato428 BC – 348 BCThe Republic, the dialoguesLiteratureAristotle384 BC – 322 BCMetaphysics, Poetics, EthicsVisualPhidias~480 BC – ~430 BCSculptor of the ParthenonLiteratureAristophanes446 BC – 386 BCOld Comedy — The Clouds, The BirdsLiteraturePindar~518 BC – ~438 BCVictory odes — the eagle of ThebesLiteratureThucydides~460 BC – ~400 BCHistory of the Peloponnesian WarLiteratureParmenides~515 BC – ~450 BCBeing is — the Way of TruthLiteratureEmpedocles~494 BC – ~434 BCFour elements, Love and StrifeLiteratureDemocritus~460 BC – ~370 BCThe laughing philosopher — atoms and void
300 BC – 400 AD
LiteratureVirgil70 BC – 19 BCAeneid — Rome's founding epicLiteratureOvid43 BC – 17 ADMetamorphosesLiteratureCicero106 BC – 43 BCOrator, philosopher, statesmanLiteratureHorace65 BC – 8 BCOdes, Satires, Ars PoeticaLiteratureSeneca4 BC – 65 ADStoic philosopher, tragedianLiteratureMarcus Aurelius121 – 180MeditationsLiteraturePlotinus204 – 270Enneads — NeoplatonismLiteratureLucretius~99 BC – ~55 BCDe Rerum Natura — Epicurean physics as poetryVisualVitruvius~80 BC – ~15 BCDe Architectura — the foundation of Western architectureLiteraturePlutarch~46 – ~120Parallel Lives, Moralia