Timeline of ancient history

This timeline of ancient history lists historical events of the documented ancient past from the beginning of recorded history until the Early Middle Ages. Prior to this time period, prehistory civilizations were pre-literate and did not have written language.

Millennia: 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC – 2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – 1st millennium

Centuries: 34th BC – 33rd BC – 32nd BC – 31st BC – 30th BC – 29th BC – 28th BC – 27th BC – 26th BC – 25th BC – 24th BC – 23rd BC – 22nd BC – 21st BC – 20th BC – 19th BC – 18th BC – 17th BC – 16th BC – 15th BC – 14th BC – 13th BC – 12th BC – 11th BC – 10th BC – 9th BC – 8th BC – 7th BC – 6th BC – 5th BC – 4th BC – 3rd BC – 2nd BC – 1st BC – 1st AD – 2nd AD – 3rd AD – 4th AD — 5th AD

Early history

Late 4th millennium BC: Sumerian cuneiform writing system"Beginning in the pottery-phase of the Neolithic, clay tokens are widely attested as a system of counting and identifying specific amounts of specified livestock or commodities. The tokens, enclosed in clay envelopes after being impressed on their rounded surface, were gradually replaced by impressions on flat or plano-convex tablets, and these in turn by more or less conventionalized pictures of the tokens incised on the clay with a reed stylus. The transition to writing was complete and Egyptian hieroglyphs are first used. 3200 BC: Caral–Supe civilization begins in Peru. 3200 BC: Rise of Proto-Elamite Civilization in Iran. 3180 BC: Skara Brae is built in Scotland. 3100 BC: First Dynasty of Egypt. 3100 BC: Cycladic culture in Greece. BC: Stonehenge construction begins. In its first version, it consisted of a circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts.Caroline Alexander, "Stonehenge," National Geographic, June 2008. c. 3000 BC: Cucuteni–Trypillia culture is established in Romania and Ukraine. 3000 BC: Jiroft culture begins in Iran. 3000 BC: First known use of papyrus by Egyptians. 3000 – 2500 BC: Earliest evidence of autochthonous iron production in West Africa.Augustin F. C. Holl. The Origins of African Metallurgies. Anthropology. Oxford research encyclopaedias. Published online 30 June 2020. 3000 – 2300 BC: The Pastoral Neolithic culture builds East Africa's earliest and largest monumental cemetery at Lothagam North Pillar Site. 3000 BC: Domestication of the horse in the Yamnaya culture. 2800 BC: Kot Diji phase of the Indus Valley Civilisation begins. 2800 BC: Longshan culture begins in China. 2700 BC: Minoan civilization ancient palace city Knossos reaches 80,000 inhabitants. 2700 BC: Rise of Elam in Iran. 2700 BC: The Old Kingdom begins in Egypt. 2600 BC: Oldest known surviving literature: Sumerian texts from Abu Salabikh, including the Instructions of Shuruppak and the Kesh temple hymn.Two fragmentary Akkadian versions survive, from the 15th century BCE and from the end of the second millennium BCE: "Its great antiquity and popularity is evidenced by the large number of manuscripts of it that have survived" (Beaulieu in Clifford 2007:4). 2600 BC: Mature Harappan phase of the Indus Valley civilization (in present-day Pakistan and India) begins. 2600 BC: Emergence of Mayan culture in the Yucatán Peninsula. 2560 BC: King Khufu completes the Great Pyramid of Giza. The Land of Punt in the Horn of Africa first appears in Egyptian records around this time. 2500 – 1500 BC: Kerma culture begins in Nubia. Late 24th century BC: Akkadian Empire is founded, dating depends upon whether the Middle chronology or the Short chronology is used.Samuel Noah Kramer, The Sumerians, Chicago University Press, 1971, 2291 BC: Pharaoh Teti is thought to be the earliest known victim of assassination. 2250 BC: Oldest known depiction of the Staff God, the oldest image of a god to be found in the Americas. 2200 – 2100 BC: 4.2-kiloyear event: a severe aridification phase, likely connected to a Bond event, which was registered throughout most of North Africa, Middle East and continental North America. Related droughts very likely caused the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia. 2200 BC: Completion of Stonehenge. 2115 BC: Traditional date for the legendary foundation of Armenia by Hayk.De Mieroop, Marc Van. (2004). A History of the Ancient Near East: c. 3000–323 BC. (p. 67) Malden, MA: Blackwell PublishingMovses Khorenatsi, History of Armenia. Ed. by G. Sargsyan. Yerevan: Hayastan, 1997, (pp. 83, 286) 2055 BC: The Middle Kingdom begins in Egypt. 2000 BC: The last mammoth population, on Wrangel Island in Siberia, goes extinct. 1900 BC: Erlitou culture begins in China. c. 1850 BC: Alphabetic writing emerges.http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue_09/simons_alphabet.pdf p. 24 1800 BC: The Old Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh constitutes the earliest complete version of that narrative. 1780 BC: Oldest Record of Code of Hammurabi. c. 1750 BC: Mycenaean civilization begins in mainland Greece. 1700 – 1400 BC: The Proto-Sinaitic script is the oldest alphabet created in Egypt. 1700 BC: Indus Valley Civilization comes to an end but is continued by the Cemetery H culture; The beginning of Poverty Point culture in North America. 1600 BC: Minoan eruption destroys Akrotiri and causes damage to some Minoan sites in eastern Crete. 1600 BC: The beginning of Shang dynasty in China; evidence of a fully developed writing system, see Oracle bone script. c. 1550 BC: The New Kingdom begins in Egypt. 1500 – 400 BC: Olmec civilization flourishes in Pre-Columbian Mexico, during Mesoamerica's Formative period. 1500 BC: Composition of the Rigveda is completed. c. 1500 BC: Nok culture begins in West Africa. c. 1400 BC: Oldest known song with notation. c. 1209 BC: The Merneptah Stele is the first non-biblical reference to the Israelites. 1200 – 1150 BC: Late Bronze Age collapse occurs in Southwestern Asia and in the Eastern Mediterranean region. This period is also the setting of the Iliad and the Odyssey epic poems (which were composed about four centuries later). 1200 BC: The Hallstatt culture begins. c. 1180 BC: Disintegration of Hittite Empire. 1100 BC: Use of iron spreads. c. 1050 BC: The Phoenician alphabet is created. c. 1046 BC: The Zhou force, led by King Wu of Zhou, overthrows the last king of Shang dynasty; Zhou dynasty established in China. 1000 BC: The second stream of Bantu expansion reaches the great lakes region of Africa, creating a major population centre. 814 BC: Foundation of Carthage by the Phoenicians in Tunisia.Picard, Life and Death of Carthage (1968, 1969) at 28–35 – Picard specifically favors 750–25 BC, closer to Apion than Timaeus. 808 BC: Formation of the Kingdom of Macedonia by King Karanos 800 BC: Rise of Greek city-states. 788 BC: Iron Age begins in Sungai Batu (Old Kedah). c. 785 BC: Rise of the Kingdom of Kush.

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea. It primarily refers to the timeframe of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. J. Murray, 1891 In the context of this list its use encompasses various other civilizations including, but not limited to, those of the Ancient Near East.

776 BC: First recorded Ancient Olympic Games. 771 BC: Spring and Autumn period begins in China; Zhou dynasty's power is diminishing; the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought. 753 BC: Founding of Rome (traditional date). 745 BC: Tiglath-Pileser III becomes the new king of Assyria. With time he conquers neighboring countries and turns Assyria into an empire. c. 732 BC: Assyrian captivity begins, creating the Ten Lost Tribes. 728 BC: Rise of the Median Empire. 700 BC: The construction of Marib Dam in Arabia Felix, in modern Saudi Arabia and Yemen. 656 BC: Psamtik I extends his control all over Egypt. 655 BC: Fall of Ashdod to the Egyptian forces. Psamtik I besieges Ashdod for almost 30 years. 653 BC: Rise of Achaemenid dynasty. 650 – 550 BC: The Urewe culture dominates the African Great Lakes region. It was one of Africa's oldest iron smelting centres.Clist, Bernard. (1987). A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry. Muntu. 6. 35–62. 621 BC: Draco replaces oral law with written law in Classical Athens, considered one of the earliest developments of the Athenian democracy. 612 BC: An alliance between the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians succeeds in destroying Nineveh and causing subsequent fall of the Assyrian empire. 609 BC: The Judaean forces battles the Egyptian army at Battle of Meggido, resulting in Josiah's death in the battle and his kingdom becoming a vassal state of Egypt. 600 BC: Sixteen Mahajanapadas ("Great Realms" or "Great Kingdoms") emerge in India. 600 BC: Evidence of writing system appears in Oaxaca used by the Zapotec civilization. c. 600 BC: Rise of the Sao civilisation near Lake Chad. c. 600 BC: Early Cholas mentioned in Sangam literature.Kamil Veith Zvelebil, Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature, p. 12 594 BC: Solon appointed Archon of Classical Athens and begins issuing citizenship and judicial reforms, giving Athenian citizens the right to participate in government. 570 BC: Cyprus conquered by Egypt under Amasis II. 567 BC: Egypt repels invasion of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. 563 BC: Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), founder of Buddhism is born as a prince of the Shakya clan, which ruled parts of Magadha, one of the Mahajanapadas. 551 BC: Confucius, founder of Confucianism, is born. 550 BC: Foundation of the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great. 549 BC: Mahavira, founder of Jainism, is born. 546 BC: Cyrus the Great overthrows Croesus, King of Lydia. 544 BC: Birth of Sun Tzu (traditional date), the author of The Art of War. 544 BC: Rise of Magadha as the dominant power under Bimbisara. 539 BC: The fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and liberation of the Jews by Cyrus the Great. 530 BC: Death of Cyrus the Great. 525 BC: Cambyses II of Persia conquers Ancient Egypt. c. 512 BC: Darius I (Darius the Great) of Persia, subjugates eastern Thrace, Macedonia submits voluntarily, and annexes the Libyan Kingdom, Persian Empire at largest extent. 509 BC: Expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, founding of Roman Republic (traditional date). 508 BC: Athenian democracy instituted at the Republic of Athens. 500 BC: Pāṇini standardizes the grammar and morphology of Sanskrit in the text Aṣṭādhyāyī. Panini's standardized Sanskrit is known as Classical Sanskrit. 499 BC: King Aristagoras of Miletus incites all of Hellenic Asia Minor to rebel against the Persian Empire, beginning the Greco-Persian Wars. 496 BC: Death of Sun Tzu (traditional date). 490 BC: Greek city-states defeat Persian invasion at Battle of Marathon. 486 BC: Egypt revolts against Persian rule. 484 BC: Persians regain control of Egypt. 483 BC: Death of Gautama Buddha. 480 BC: Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes I; Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis. 479 BC: Death of Confucius. 475 BC: Warring States period begins in China as the Zhou king became a mere figurehead; China is annexed by regional warlords. 470~469 BC: Birth of Socrates. 465 BC: Murder of Xerxes I. 460 BC: Egypt revolts against Persia, starting a six-year war. 460 BC: Birth of Democritus. 458 BC: Oresteia by Aeschylus, the only surviving trilogy of ancient Greek plays, is performed. 449 BC: The Greco-Persian Wars end. 447 BC: Building of the Parthenon at Athens started. 432 BC: Construction of the Parthenon is completed. 431 BC: Beginning of the Peloponnesian War between the Greek city-states. 429 BC: Sophocles's play Oedipus Rex is first performed. 427 BC: Birth of Plato. 424 BC: Nanda dynasty comes to power in Magadha. 404 BC: End of the Peloponnesian War. 404 BC: End of Achaemenid occupation in Egypt, Egypt gains independence, Amyrtaeus declared the pharaoh.Clayton 1999, p. 202. 400 BC: Zapotec culture flourishes around city of Monte Albán. 400 BC: Pandya dynasty is founded in South India.