1100-800 BC The Dark Age. 776-480 BC The Archaic Period. 621-593 BC Draco and Solon codify Athenian laws. 508 BC Cleisthenes introduces democracy in Athens. 490 BC First Persian War. Greeks succeed at Marathon. 480-338 BC The Classical Period. 480 BC Athens defeats the Persians in the Strait of Salamis. 477 BC Athens unites allies under the League of Delos. 459-429 BC The Golden Age of Pericles. 447-438 BC The Parthenon is built on the Acropolis. 431-404 BC Peloponnesian War; Sparta defeats Athens. 338-146 BC The Hellenistic Period. 338 BC Philip II of Macedon defeats the Athenians. 336-323 BC Alexander the Great rules Greece. 149-146 BC Greece falls under Roman rule. AD 50 St.Paul brings Christianity to Athens. AD 128 Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Athens. 1456 Athens falls to the Turks. 1821 Greek War of Independence. 1834 Athens becomes the capital of Greece. 1923 Repatriated Greeks flood into Athens. 1941-1944 Nazi Germany occupies Greece. 1944-1949 Civil War. 1951 Greece becomes a member of NATO. 1967-1974 Military junta rules Greece. 1973 Student protest at the Athens Polytechnic. 1975 Was drawn up a new constitution for a republican government. 1981 Greece joins the European Community. 1997 Athens was elected as the host city for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004. 2001 Greece becomes a member of the European Monetary Union. 2002 The drachma is replaced by the euro currency. 2004 Athens hosts the Olympic Games between 13th-29th August.