Basic Chronology of the Ancient World - Fall Semester
Click map to enlarge.
(all dates BCE)
| Date | Egypt | Greece | West Asia |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 5400 BCE | Founding of Eridu Origins of Urban Life |
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| c. 4000-3500 | Founding of Uruk Rise of the City-State |
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| c. 3500-3200 | Refinement and spread of Sumerian cuneiform writing | ||
| c. 3100-2350 | Early Dynastic period of Egypt (c. 3100-2600) | Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia (c. 2900-2350) Historical reign of Gilgamesh (c. 2700) Map |
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| c. 2600-2130 | The Old Kingdom (c. 2600-2130) Map Building of the pyramids Pyramid Texts |
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| First Akkad Dynasty | |||
| c. 2040-1640 | The Middle Kingdom (c. 2040-1640) Map Tale of Sinuhe; Map Coffin Texts; Dialogue Between a Man and his Soul |
Ur III Dynasty (c. 2112-2004) Shulgi I institutes scribal academies. Bilgames poems (version of The Epic of Gilgamesh) |
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| c. 1894-1595 | Founding of Babylon (c. 1900) | ||
| First Babylonian Empire(c. 1894-1595) Code of Hammurabi (c. 1772) Map Surpassing All Other Kings (version of The Epic of Gilgamesh) |
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| c. 1800 | Teaching of Khety | ||
| 1595 BCE | Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1600-1100) Map | ||
| Sack of Babylon; Fall of First Babylonian Empire (1595 BCE) |
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| c. 1570-1070 | The New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070) Map | Kassite Dynasty in Babylon (c. 1570-1155) | |
| c. 1550-1070 | Book of the Dead; Horus and Seth; The Hymn to Osiris; Love Lyrics and Harpers Songs |
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| c. 1550-1150 | Construction of the temples at Karnak, Map | Development of Linear B (Minoan) script (c. 1450) | He Who Saw the Deep compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni (c. 1400-1000) (version of The Epic of Gilgamesh) |
| c. 1332-1323 | Rule of Tutankhamun | ||
| c. 1250-1220 | "The Trojan War" [Troy] (c. 1250-1220) | ||
| c. 1200-1150 | The Catastrophe: Egypt invaded by Sea Peoples |
The Catastrophe: Collapse of Mycenaean Civilization; loss of writing |
The Catastrophe: Invasion by Sea Peoples and drought cause mass abandonment of cities in Mesopotamia. |
| c. 1150-800 | Greek Dark Age (c. 1150-800) Map | ||
| 1069-664 | Third Intermediate Period – Period of political disunity in Egypt | ||
| c. 1050-950 | Greek colonization of Asia Minor (western coast of Turkey) | ||
| c. 1000-961 | Reign of King David in Israel, Map | ||
| c. 924 | Israelites split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, Map | ||
| c. 911-609 | Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 911-609) Map | ||
| c. 900 | Beginning of the rise of the polis (city-state) | ||
| c. 858-853 | Assyrians conquer Babylon | ||
| c. 800-480 | Archaic Period (c. 800-480) Map | ||
| 776 | Olympic Games established | ||
| c. 770-750 | Greeks adopt Phoenician alphabet via Ionian colonies | ||
| c. 750 | Greek colonization of Southern Italy and Sicily begins | ||
| 747-656 | Dynasty 25 – Nubian kings conquer and unify Egypt | ||
| c. 721 | Sargonid Dynasty (c. 721-612) begins in Assur | ||
| c. 720 | Homer, Iliad Map | ||
| c. 705-689 | Sennacherib I moves Assyrian capital to Nineveh; wages war on Babylon and Judah | ||
| c. 700 | Homer, Odyssey; Hesiod, Theogony and; Works and Days [Ithaca] Map |
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| c. 680 | Archilochus (lyric poet) [Paros] Map | ||
| c. 680-669 | Assyrian conquest of Egypt | Assyrian conquest of Egypt | |
| 664-332 | Late Period | ||
| 664-539 | Saite Dynasty (Dynasty 26); Egypt is unified and a major power in the Near East | ||
| 664-610 | Reign of Psammetichus I; Greek and Carian mercenaries settle in Egypt | ||
| c. 650 | Greek colonization around the Black Sea begins | ||
| c. 650-630 | Tyrtaeus (poet/soldier) [Sparta] Map | ||
| 626-539 | Neo-Babylonian Empire (c. 626-539) Map | ||
| 612 | Fall of Nineveh; end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire | ||
| c. 600 | Sappho (lyric poet) [Lesbos] Map Thales (philosopher) [Miletus] Map |
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| 594-593 | Archonship of Solon (politician and poet) [Athens] Map | ||
| 587-586 | Babylonians capture Jerusalem and destroy temple; beginning of the Babylonian exile [Babylon] | ||
| c. 585-450 | Anacreon (poet/reveler, c. 582-485) Map Xenophanes (poet/philosopher, c. 570-475) Map |
Genesis, Map, and Exodus, Map (c. 550-450) | |
| 570-526 | Reign of Amasis | ||
| c. 550-350 | Book of Job (c. 550-350) Map | ||
| 550-330 | Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330) Map | ||
| 539-530 | Persians conquer Babylon and free the Israelite Cyrus Cylinder |
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| 525 | King Cambyses of Persia conquers Egypt | King Cambyses of Persia conquers Egypt | |
| 522-486 | Reign of King Darius in Persia Bisitun Inscription |
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| 508-507 | Cleisthenes Reforms the Athenian Constitution | ||
| 490-479 | War between Greece and Persia | War between Greece and Persia | |
| c. 480-323 | Classical Greece (c. 480-323) Map | ||
| 458 | Aeschylus, Oresteia | ||
| c. 450-420 | Herodotus composes his Histories of the Persian War Map, Achemenid Empire Map, Book 1 Map, Books 2-5 Map, Books 6-7 |
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| c. 450-430 | Herodotus visits Egypt | ||
| 447 | Parthenon begun in Athens, Map | ||
| 441 | Sophocles, Antigone | ||
| 431-404 | Peloponnesian War (Athens and allies vs. Sparta and allies) | ||
| c. 424-400 | Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Map Rise of Sophistic Philosophy (Gorgias, Antiphon, Protagoras, Prodicus and Hippias) |
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| 404 | Athens loses Peloponnesian War to Sparta | ||
| 404-343 | Dynasties 28-30: Persians expelled from Egypt; last period of indigenous rule | ||
| c. 400-300 | Book of Esther (c. 400-300) Map | ||
| 343 | Persian Re-conquest of Egypt |
