History of political thought/Timelines
495 BCE Pericles (495-429) - Athenian statesman and advcate of democracy
469 Socrates (469-384) - Athenian philosopher who is credited with laying the foundations of western philosophy; sentenced to death in Athens for heresy.
450 The Twelve Tables[1] - the first recorded statement of Roman Law
431 The Pelopponesian War[2] (431-404) between Athens and Sparta
428 Plato (428-347) Athenian philosopher, recorder of Socratic dialogue and critic of democracy
427 The Mytilene Debate[3] - that led to the Athenian decision to execute all the men on the rebellious island of Mytilene
384 Aristotle (384-322) pupil of Plato, author of The Politics
341 Epicurus (341-271) founder of Hedonism[4]
331 Zeno of Citium (331-261) founder of Stoicism
106 BCE Cicero (106-43 BCE) statesman of the Roman republic, Stoic and opponent of dictatorship
49 BCE Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon[5] prompting the Roman Civil War[6] of 49-46 BCE, which led to a transition from republic to empire.
204 CE Plotinus[7] (204-270 CE) - founder of Neoplatonism[8] and originator of the Great Chain of Being[9]
313 Edict of Milan[10] - established religious freedom in the Roman Empire.
325 First Council of Nicea[11] - the first of the ecumenical councils[12]
354 CE Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Neoplatonist African Bishop and leading philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church; advocate of papal supremacy.
381 Council of Constantinople - that approved the Nicene Creed[13] - the official statement of Christian belief
410 Sack of Rome[14] the first invasion of imperial Rome - which survived further attacks until 610 CE in the form of its Eastern Empire[15]
533 Corpus Jurus Civilis[16]: a compendium of Roman Law promulgated by the emperor Justinian[17]
570 Muhammad (570-632) Arab prophet and founder of Islam
800 Charlemagne (742-814) is crowned Holy Roman Emperor[18] by Pope Leo III
800s Written collections of Hadith[19] (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) are compiled.
1126 Averroës (Abu'l-Walid Ibn Rushd)[20] (1126-1198) interpretor of Aristotle, leading Islamic philospher
1215 Magna Carta[21][22] - statement of civil rights and fundamental document of the English constitution.
1225 Thomas Aquinas (1224-74) Catholic theologian and philosopher, author of Summa Theologica, defender of the doctrine of papal supremacy[23].
1469 Machiavelli (1469-1527) Pragmatic Florentine political advisor, famous for his amoral approach to the exercise of authority.
1588 Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) English philospher, conditional defender of monarchy as the source of civic order.
1632 John Locke (1632-1704) English political philospher of The Enlightenment. Proponent of the concept of universal human rights and of the concept of a social contract.
1642 Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Central figure of The Enlightenment. Founder of differential calculus and classical mechanics.
1643 English Civil War [24] (1643-6) Armed conflict between supporters of the parliament and the monarchy, ending in the execution of King Charles I.
1660 The Restoration [26]
1688 Glorious Revolution
1689 Montesquieu (1689-1755)[27] French Enlightenment philosopher.
1711 David Hume (1711-1776)
1712 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
1723 Adam Smith (1723-1790)
1724 Immanuel Kant[28] (1724-1804)
1729 Edmund Burke[29] (1720-1797)
1737 Thomas Paine[30] (1737-1809)
1748 Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) founder of Utilitarianism.
1751 James Madison (1751-1836)
1774 American Revolution
1776 Declaration of Independence by the United States of America
1789 Storming of the Bastille and start of the French Revolution
1806 John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
1818 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
1917 Russian Revolution[31]
1945 San Francisco Conference[32]