Linked where indicated to individual timelines set against events of the time.
Authors writing in Greek have a blue background
| 753 BC | Traditional date of founding of Rome. | |
| c.750-c.725 | Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. | |
| c.700 | Works and Days of Greek epic poet Hesiod. | |
| c.620 | Birth of Greek lyric poet Alcaeus. | |
| c.630 | Birth of Greek lyric poet Sappho. | |
| c.580 | Birth of Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras. | |
| c.560 | Final editing, in Babylon, of the Pentateuch and the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings of the Hebrew Bible. | |
| c.518 | Birth of Greek lyric poet Pindar. | |
| 525/4-456/5 | Aeschylus, Greek writer of tragedies. | |
| 496/5-406 | Sophocles, Greek writer of tragedies. | |
| c.485-406 | Euripides, Greek writer of tragedies. | |
| c.465-c.386 | Aristophanes, Greek writer of comedies. | |
| 469-399 | Socrates, Greek philosopher. | |
| c.480-c.425 | Herodotus, Greek historian. | |
| c.460-c.400 | Thucydides, Greek historian. | |
| c.430-c.355 | Xenophon, Greek historian. | |
| c.429-347 | Plato, Greek philosopher. | |
| 384-322 | Aristotle, Greek philosopher and critic. | |
| 342-292/1 | Menander, Greek writer of comedies. | |
| 341-270 | Epicurus, Greek philosopher. | |
| c300 | Elements, by Euclid, Greek mathematician. | |
| c.287-212/1 | Archimedes, Greek mathematician and inventor. | |
| c.285-c.215 | Apollonius Rhodius, Greek epic poet. | |
| c.270 | Theocritus, Greek pastoral poet, writing. | |
| c.260 | In Alexandria, the Septuagint, first translation into Greek of the Biblical Pentateuch. | |
| 254-184 | Plautus, writer of comedies. | |
| 240-207 | Livius Andronicus writing plays and verse in Latin. | |
| 239-169 | Ennius, writer of tragedies in verse. | |
| 234-149 | Cato the “Censor”, historian and general writer. | |
| c.215 | Fabius Pictor, first Roman historian, writing in Greek. | |
| c.200-c.118 | Polybius, Roman historian who wrote in Greek. | |
| c.185-159 | Terence, writer of comedies. | |
| 116-27 | Varro, scholar and critic. | |
| 106-43 | Cicero, orator and letter writer. | |
| 100-44 | Julius Caesar, military historian. | |
| c.99-55 | Lucretius, poet and philospher. | |
| 87-54 | Catullus, lyric poet. | |
| 86-35 | Sallust, historian. | |
| c.70-8 | Maecenas, patron of literature. | |
| 70-19 | Virgil, epic and pastoral poet. | |
| 65-8 | Horace, lyric poet. | |
| 59-AD 17 | Livy, historian. | |
| c.50-c.15 | Propertius, elegiac poet. | |
| 43-18 | Ovid, elegiac and narrative poet. | |
| c.40 | Vitruvius writing treatise on architecture. | |
| 4-AD 65 | Seneca the “Younger”, philosopher and scientist. | |
| AD 23-79 | Pliny the “Elder”, historian and scientist. | |
| 37-c.100 | Josephus, Jewish historian who wrote in Aramaic and Greek. | |
| 39-65 | Lucan, epic poet. | |
| 66 | Death of Petronius, author of Satyricon. | |
| c.46-120 | Plutarch, Roman historian and biographer who wrote in Greek. | |
| c.40-104 | Martial, writer of verse epigrams and satire. | |
| c.55-c.117 | Tacitus, historian and biographer. | |
| c.61-c.112 | Pliny the “Younger”, letter writer. | |
| c.65-c.140 | Juvenal, writer of verse satire. | |
| c.70-140 | Suetonius, biographer. | |
| c.120 - c.180 | Lucian, humorist, writing in Greek | |
| c.125 | Birth of Apuleius, novelist. | |
| c.160 | Appian, Roman historian, writing in Greek. | |
| c.165-c.235 | Cassius Dio, Roman historian who wrote in Greek | |
| c.330-c.393 | Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman historian. |