Learn: chap 1 harvard: ancient civilizations

Code of Hammurabi

1750 BCE | King Hammurabi | King of Babylon; earliest written legal code; established "an eye for an eye."

Fall of Roman Republic

44 BCE | Julius Caesar & Augustus | Caesar assassinated in 44 BCE; Caesar's nephew Augustus (Octavian) became 1st Emperor.

Golden Age of Athens

5th Century BCE (495-429 BCE) | Pericles | Athenian statesman who built Parthenon; direct democracy; led during Peloponnesian War vs. Sparta.

Unification of China

221 BCE | Qin Shi Huang | 1st Emperor of unified China; founder of Qin Dynasty; forced Legalism; built early Great Wall & Terracotta Army.

Han Dynasty & Silk Road

202 BCE - 220 CE | Emperor Wu | Expanded Han territory; established Silk Road trade; instituted Confucian civil service exams; invented paper (105 CE).

New Kingdom Egypt

1478 BCE & 1274 BCE | Hatshepsut & Ramesses II | Hatshepsut: female pharaoh expanded trade; Ramesses II: fought Battle of Kadesh (1274 BCE).

Magna Carta

1215 | King John | Signed at Runnymede; limited absolute royal authority; foundation for constitutional law and due process.

The Black Death

1347-1351 | Bubonic plague swept Europe; killed 30-60% of population; broke feudalism due to severe labor shortages.

The Crusades

1095-1291 | Pope Urban II | 1095 Council of Clermont; religious wars for Jerusalem; reconnected Europe to Islamic science/trade.

Gutenberg Printing Press

1440 | Johannes Gutenberg | Mainz, Germany; movable metal type; Gutenberg Bible (1455); sparked Reformation & literacy.

Fall of Constantinople

1453 | Sultan Mehmed II | Ottoman Empire conquered Byzantine capital; ended Eastern Roman Empire; forced search for sea routes to Asia.

Protestant Reformation

1517 | Martin Luther | Posted 95 Theses on Wittenberg church door in 1517; challenged indulgences; split Western Christianity.

Cuneiform

Sumerians | World's first writing system, developed on clay tablets using wedge-shaped stylus marks in Mesopotamia.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Mesopotamia | Earliest surviving great work of literature, originating in Uruk.

Ziggurats

Mesopotamia | Massive terraced step pyramids built in river valleys as religious temples.

Battle of Kadesh

1274 BCE | Ramesses II & Muwatalli II | Fought between Egypt and Hittites; resulted in the world's first known peace treaty.

Rosetta Stone

1799 | Jean-François Champollion | Written in Ancient Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphics; key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Cleisthenes

508 BCE | Known as the "Father of Athenian Democracy" for reforming the Athenian constitution.

Greco-Persian Wars

499-449 BCE | Key battles: Marathon (490 BCE), Thermopylae (480 BCE - 300 Spartans), and Salamis (naval victory).

Peloponnesian War

431-404 BCE | Conflict between Delian League (Athens) and Peloponnesian League (Sparta); ended Athenian dominance.

Punic Wars

264-146 BCE | Three wars between Rome and Carthage; featured Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca crossing the Alps with war elephants.

Pax Romana

27 BCE - 180 CE | Augustus to Marcus Aurelius | 200-year golden age of Roman peace and stability across the empire.

Edict of Milan

313 CE | Constantine the Great | Issued by Constantine; legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire.

Warring States Period

475-221 BCE | Era of division in China ended by Qin Shi Huang using the philosophy of Legalism.

Mandate of Heaven

Zhou Dynasty | Political-spiritual concept justifying the overthrow of unjust Chinese rulers.

Sima Qian

Han Dynasty | Known as the "Grand Historian" of China; author of the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji).

Battle of Hastings

1066 | William the Conqueror | Duke of Normandy defeated Anglo-Saxon King Harold; recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry.

Investiture Controversy

11th-12th Century | Pope Gregory VII & Henry IV | Major power conflict between Popes and Holy Roman Emperors over appointing church officials.

Hundred Years' War

1337-1453 | Joan of Arc | Conflict between England and France; features battles of Crécy, Agincourt, and Siege of Orléans (1429).

Humanism

Renaissance | Petrarch & Erasmus | Intellectual movement focusing on human potential and classical texts; Petrarch is "Father of Humanism."

Diet of Worms

1521 | Charles V | Imperial council where Martin Luther refused to recant his 95 Theses before the Holy Roman Emperor.