Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Basic Chronology of the Ancient World - Fall Semester

Map for the basic chronology of the ancient world
Click map to enlarge.

(all dates BCE)

Date Egypt Greece West Asia
c. 5400 BCE     Founding of Eridu

Origins of Urban Life
c. 4000-3500     Founding of Uruk

Rise of the City-State
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
 
c. 2600-2130 The Old Kingdom (c. 2600-2130) Map

Building of the pyramids

Pyramid Texts
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)
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)
c. 1800 Teaching of Khety
1595 BCE   Mycenaean Civilization (c. 1600-1100) Map
Sack of Babylon;

Fall of First Babylonian Empire
(1595 BCE)
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
 
 
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
 
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
 
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
525 King Cambyses of Persia conquers Egypt   King Cambyses of Persia conquers Egypt
522-486     Reign of King Darius in Persia

Bisitun Inscription
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
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)
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