History of The World: 10000 BC - 354 AD

Click here for Part II of the Timeline.

• First pottery appears in Japan (10,000 BC)
• First settlements at Jericho in present-day Palestine (8000 BC)
• Metallurgy begins with the use of copper in the Middle East (6500 BC)
• Rice cultivation in the Yangtze Valley (6500 BC)
• Wheat and barley cultivated in the Nile Valley (5000 BC)
• Colonization of the Caribbean islands (5000 BC)
• Yang-shao culture begins in China (5000 - 4500 BC)
• Cultivation of maize in Mexico (4500 BC)
• 4004 B.C. - Creation of the universe, according to 17th century bishop James Ussher (23 October 4004 BC). For information on his methodology, read this.

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4000 B.C.
• pottery in the Americas ( c. 4000 B.C. )
• copper in use in Egypt ( c. 4000 B.C. )
• first temple-pyramids in the Americas ( c. 4000 B.C. )
• horses domesticated ( c. 4000 B.C. )
• Sumerians settle in Mesopotamia ( c. 3500 B.C. )
• Nagada culture in Upper Egypt ( c. 3500 B.C. )
• Sumerian writing on clay tablets ( c. 3300 B.C. )
• towns develop along the Nile ( c. 3300 B.C. )
• wheel in use in Mesopotamia ( c. 3250 B.C. )
• Sumerian writing evolves into cuneiform
• unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Menes ( c. 3100 B.C. )
• hieroglyphs developed ( c. 3000 B.C. )
• invention of the abacus

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3000 B.C.
• copper and silk manufactured in China ( c. 3000 B.C. )
• towns and fortifications built in China ( c. 3000 B.C. )
• potter's wheel in China ( c. 3000 B.C. )
• Byblos founded ( c. 3000 B.C. )
• "Sage Kings" period in China begins
• Old Kingdom founded in Egypt ( c. 2800 B.C. )
• construction of Stonehenge in England begins (c. 2750 B.C. )
• Phoenician city of Tyre founded ( c. 2750 B.C. )
• early Trojan culture
• The Step Pyramid of King Zoser built by Imhotep in Egypt ( c. 2650 B.C. )
• Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt built ( c. 2575 B.C. )

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2500 B.C.
• desertification of the Sahara ( c. 2500 B.C. )
• Indus Civilization ( c. 2500 B.C. )
• Sargon defeats Lugalzaggisi and becomes ruler of Sumer and Akkad ( c. 2340 B.C. )
• Xia dynasty founded in China by Yu the Great ( c. 2205 B.C. )
• Abraham leaves Ur ( c. 2100 B.C. )
• earliest known legal texts written by Ur-Nammu, king of Ur ( 2100 B.C. )
• Ur-Nammu reunites the Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom ( 2100 B.C. )
• Middle Kingdom founded in Egypt ( c. 2050 B.C. )
• Egyptians discover papyrus
• cotton cultivated in Peru and Indus valley

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2000 B.C.
• First palace of Minos at Knossos, Crete, erected ( c. 2000 B.C. )
• earliest Chinese bronzes made at Erlitou ( c. 1900 B.C. )
• first city in China built at Erlitou ( c. 1900 B.C. )
• bronze working in Egypt ( c. 1800 B.C. )
• T'ang, first king of Shang dynasty in China ( 1766 B.C. )
• Hammurabi founds Babylonia ( c. 1763 B.C. )
• Code of Hammurabi ( c. 1758 B.C. )
• Hittite kingdom founded by Hattusilis I ( c. 1700 B.C. )
• Hittites of Turkey begin using iron ( c. 1700 B.C. )
• rise of the Kush empire in Africa ( c. 1700 B.C. )
• destruction of early Minoan palaces at Crete, but rebuilt ( c. 1700 B.C. )
• Hyksos conquer Egypt ( c. 1675 B.C. )
• colonization of Pacific Islands begins ( c. 1600 B.C. )
• pictograph writing in China ( c. 1600 B.C. )
• New Kingdom founded in Egypt ( 1560 B.C. )
• earliest known settlement in Mexico at Chiapa de Carzo
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1500 B.C.
• rice cultivated in Korea ( c. 1500 B.C. )
• destruction of Minoan palaces at Crete ( c. 1450 B.C. )
• Amenhotep IV ( Akhenaton, 1385 B.C. - 1358 B.C. ) institutes monotheism in Egypt
• Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt
• Gilgamesh Epic ( 1200 B.C. )
• rise of the Olmec civilization ( c. 1200 B.C. )
• Troy destroyed in a ten year war between the Trojans and Greeks ( c. 1184 B.C. )
• Nebuchadnezzar I, king of Babylon ( 1146 B.C. - 1123 B.C. )
• settlements on the site of future Peking ( 1121 B.C. )
• possible first use of the Suez Canal
• Saul becomes the first king of Israel ( 1020 B.C. - 1000 B.C. )

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1000 B.C.
• Mayans settle in the Yucatan Peninsula ( c. 1000 B.C. )
• colonization of Samoa in the South Pacific ( c. 1000 B.C. )
• David is the king of Judah and Israel ( 1000 B.C. - 960 B.C. )
• Solomon becomes king of Israel and builds Yahweh Temple ( 960 B.C. - 925 B.C. )
• Hebrew alphabet develops

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900 B.C.

• Phoenician city of Carthage founded ( 878 B.C. )

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800 B.C.
• Zapotec hieroglyphs developed ( c. 800 B.C. )
• Iliad and Odyssey written by Homer ( c. 800 B.C. )
• Greek alphabet first used ( c. 800 B.C.)
• Phoenicians settle in Cyprus
• Greeks settle on the Spanish coast and in southern Italy
• first recorded Olympic Games ( 776 B.C. )
• According to Roman tradition, Romulus and Remus found Rome after being raised a she-wolf ( 753 B.C. )
• Amos, the first Hebrew prophet ( c. 750 B.C. )
• Kushites occupy Egypt ( c. 750 B.C. )
• iron working in Egypt ( c. 750 B.C. )
• Sargon II conquers the Hittites, Chaldeans, and Samaria

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700 B.C.
• Assyrians destroy Babylon, Memphis, and Thebes
• coinage invented in Lydia ( 650 B.C. )
• birth of Zoroaster, founder of Persian religion ( 630 B.C. )

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600 B.C.
• earliest known use of iron in China ( c. 600 B.C. )
• Sappho, one of the few Greek women intellectuals, writes sensual peoms on the island of Lesbos ( c. 600 B.C.)
• Solon reforms Athenina political institutions (594 B.C. )
• birth of Pythagoras, Greek philosopher and mathematician ( c. 582 B.C. )
• Nebuchadnezzar II burns Jerusalem ( 581 B.C. )
• birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama who later became known as Buddha ( c. 563 B.C. )
• birth of Confucius ( 551 B.C. )
• Lao-tse founds Taoism in China ( 550 B.C. )
• Cyrus the Great rebels against the Medes and founds the Persian empire ( 559 B.C. )
• Fables of Aesop
• Egypt conquered by the Persians, Birth of Aeschylus ( 525 B.C. )
• birth of Xerxes, future king of Persia ( 519 B.C. )
• Pythagoras introduces the octave in music
• republic established at Rome ( 509 B.C. )
• first recorded circumnavigation of Africa by Phoenicians
• Nebuchadnezzar II builds the Hanging Gardens

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Unit I

INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL ATHENS, 508 - 338 BC

Click here for the introductory text and here for more info on Ancient Greece.

Cleisthenes establishes Greek democracy (508 B.C.)
Euripides born (485 B.C.)
Greeks utterly defeat Persians at the naval battle of Salamis (480 B.C.)
Athens and allies establish Delian Confederacy as common defense (478 B.C.)
Aeschylus completes the Oresteia (458 B.C.)
Aeschylus dies (456 B.C.)
Athens moves Delian Confederacy to Athens, using League funds for its own use (454 B.C.)
Pericles' Funeral Oration (430 B.C.)
"Symposium" of Agathon, Socrates and Alcibiades maybe actually happened (416 B.C.)
Alcibiades inspires Athens to invade Sicily, where its army and fleet are destroyed (415 - 413 B.C.)
The Bacchae composed (407 B.C.)
Euripides dies (406 B.C.)
Democratic rule comes to an end in Athens with its surrender to Sparta (404 B.C.)
Socrates forced to drink hemlock after his conviction for corrupting youth (399 B.C.)
Plato establishes his Academy at Athens (387 B.C.)
Plato's Symposium composed (between 385 - 378 B.C.)
Aristotle born (384 B.C.)
Plato dies (347 B.C.)
Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great, conquers Greece (338 B.C.)

• Alexander the Great conquers Egypt ( 332 B.C. )
For much more information about Alexander click at the HWC Library about Alexander • Second Samnite War between Rome and the Samnites ( 327 B.C. - 304 B.C. )
• Ptolemy Soter becomes pharoah of Egypt after Alexander's death ( 323 B.C. )

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300 B.C.
• rice farming begins in Japan ( c. 300 B.C. )
• Moche civilzation in Mexico ( c. 300 B.C. )
• Third Samnite War between Rome and the Samnites ( 298 B.C. - 290 B.C. )
• Lighthouse at Alexandria built ( 297 B.C. )
• birth of Archimedes, Greek mathematician ( 287 B.C. )
• Colossus of Rhodes completed ( c. 275 B.C. )
• first public gladiator combat in Rome ( 264 B.C. )
• First Punic War between Rome and Carthage( 264 B.C. - 241 B.C. )
• birth of Hannibal ( 246 B.C. )
• Egyptians introduce the concept of the leap year ( 239 B.C. )
• Ch'in dynasty in China begins with Shih Huang Ti; founding of China ( 221 B.C. )
• Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage ( 218 B.C. - 202 B.C. )
• the Great Wall of China is built ( 215 B.C. )
• Han dynasty in China ( 202 B.C. )

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200 B.C.
• Nazca culture in Peru ( c. 200 B.C. )
• Rosetta Stone ( 200 B.C. )
• first known paved streets appear in Rome ( 170 B.C. )
• Romans conquer most of Greece ( 168 B.C. )
• first water clock in Rome ( c. 159 B.C. )

Unit II

ROME AT THE APEX, 146 BC - 180 AD

Click here for the introductory text, and here for more information on the Roman Empire.

Carthage destroyed (146 B.C.)

Reforms (and murders) of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (133 - 122 B.C.)

Marius and Sulla dominate Roman politics (107 - 78 B.C.)

Triumvirate of Crassus, Pompey and Julius Caesar (60 B.C.)

Caesar and Pompey plunge Rome into civil war; Caesar wins (49 - 45 B.C.)

Another Roman civil war, between Antony and Octavian, which Octavian - later known as Caesar Augustus wins (44 - 31 B.C.)

Virgil's Aeneid nearly completed by the time of his death (19 B.C.)

Tiberius succeeds Caesar Augustus as emperor (14 A.D.)

Conversion of Paul (35 A.D.)

Luke and Acts written, possibly by Luke (65 - 100 A.D.)

Five "Good Emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (96 - 180 AD)

• Beginning of "Third Century Crisis," when Commodus becomes emperor (180 A.D.)
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200
• Goths sack Athens, Sparta, and Corinth ( 268 )
• compass invented in China ( 271 )
• Reign of Diocletian both restores empire and unleashes greatest persecution of Christians in parts of the empire (284 - 305 ) • Roman Empire is divided into western and eastern portions ( 285 )

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300
• first states in Japan ( c. 300 )
• Constantine the Great becomes emperor of Rome and reunites the empire ( 306 )
• Constantine issues Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity ( 313 )
• Council of Nicaea, first of great church councils, condemns Arian teachings (325 )
• Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire ( 331 )
• Gupta kingdom in India founded ( 350 )
• King Ezana of Axum converts to Chrisianity ( c. 350 )

This marks the End of Part I of the Timeline, click here for Part II.

This site was created by Jeffrey Bates, and any and all comments should be directed here. Thanks to Mr. Love for his original inspiration, and some of the data.