Mycenae prevails as the dominant power throughout the Peloponnese and the entire Aegean

The earliest known suit of armour, made of bronze, survives from a tomb in Mycenaean Greece

Mycenae and other states of the Peloponnese are overwhelmed by invading Dorian Greeks

Citium, in Cyprus, is the first of many Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean

The traditional date for the first athletic contest at Olympia

This year is later selected by Roman scholars as the date of the founding of Rome, becoming the first year (AUC 1) in Roman chronology

Ionia emerges as a political entity, forming a league of twelve Greek cities in Asia Minor

The Etruscans establish Italy's first civilization, in the region between the Arno and the Tiber

The Homeric texts, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are written down - probably in Ionia

Wrestling is included in the Olympic games, followed by a terrifying form of all-in wrestling from 652 BC

The Greeks make the Phoenician alphabet much more flexible by the addition of vowels, from alpha to omega

The island of Sicily is colonized from the eastern Mediterranean by both Phoenicians and Greeks

Boxing is included in the Olympic games, with each bout going on until one fighter gives up

Byzantium (the future Constantinople) is founded as a colony of Megara, a Greek city-state

The Greek city states make a habit of consulting the oracle at Delphi, hoping mainly for reassurance

The capitals of Greek pillars are by now in the two basic patterns of Doric and Ionic

The inhabitants of Messenia revolt against Spartan rule and are reduced, in retaliation, to the status of serfs or helots

The Areopagus, named from the hill on Athens where it meets, is the council through which the nobles keep power in their own hands

The choros, originally danced in a circle by temple virgins, is the centrepiece of the developing Greek theatre

Frenzied dances, in honour of the god Dionysus, become part of Greek theatre - deriving probably from the northeast, in Thrace

The swirling decorative arts arts lines of Celtic metalwork at Hallstatt begin a tradition which lives on in illuminated manuscripts and stone Celtic crosses

Solon is elected archon in Athens, immediately cancelling the debts of the peasants of Attica and making it illegal to enslave a debtor

Thales of Miletus, traditionally the first philosopher, is credited with the prediction of a solar eclipse

Peisistratos seizes power in Athens and rules as a benevolent dictator for more than thirty years

The painters of Greek vases develop the black-figure style, with the scene depicted in black silhouette against a red ground