Key Dates

400,000 BP

emergence of neanderthals

300,000 BP

emergence of homo sapiens

700,000-200,000 BCE

use of stone tools

9500 BCE

agricultural revolution in the fertile crescent

10,000-5,000 BCE

Neolithic period

7500 BCE-5600 BCE

Catal Hoyuk established

2334 BCE

reign of Sargon of Akkad

1792-1750 BCE

reign of Hammurabi

2100 BCE

Great Ziggurat of Ur built

3000 BCE

beginning of the use of cuneiform writing

2600 BCE

reign of Gilgamesh

2680-2200 BCE

Old Kingdom

2040-1720 BCE

Middle Kingdom

1550-1150 BCE

New Kingdom

1353-1336 BCE

Amenhotep IV’s rule

1326 BCE

King Tut’s death

1550-1200 BCE

The Bronze Age

1360-1335

Amarna Letters presumably written

1200-1100 BCE

Bronze Age collapse

691 BCE

Prism of Sennacherib produced

1300 BCE

use of the phonemic alphabet

550-530 BCE

Cyrus the Great’s rule

547 BCE

Cyrus the Great’s invasion of Lydia

539 BCE

Cyrus the Great’s invasion of Babylon

post-539 BCE

production of the Cyrus Cylinder

970-931 BCE

King Solomon’s rule

587 BCE

destruction of the temple of Solomon

750-550 BCE

the Prophetic Movement

200 CE

Jerusalean Talmud compiled

500 CE

Babylonian Talmud compiled

2100-1700 BCE

use of Cretan hieroglyphs

1800-1450 BCE

Linear A Script

1450-1200 BCE

Linear B Script

1750-1050

age of Mycenaeans

3000-1400 BCE

age of Minoans

1450 BCE

Minoans conquered by Mycenaeans

1550 BCE

mask of Agamemnon possibly made

1876 CE

mask of Agamemnon found by Schliemman

1200-800 BCE

Greek Dark Ages

12th century BCE

migrations during the Greek Dark Ages

925-900 BCE

creation of the Centaur of Lefkandi

1968

discovery of the Centuar of Lefkandi

750 BCE

re-emergence of writing at the end of the Dark Ages

800-490 BCE

Archaic Age

776 BCE

beginning of the Olympic Games

530 BCE

cretion of the Panathenaic Prize Amphora

650-550 BCE

Age of the Tyrants

750-550 BCE

2nd wave of Greek colonisation

7th century BCE

earliest emergence of Greek coinery

700 BCE

age in which Hesiod flourished

700 BCE

Great Rhetra

550-525 BCE

Creation of the Bronze Spartan Figure

550 BCE

Peloponnesian League established

800 BCE

where monarchy replaced aristocracy

621 BCE

Draco’s reforms

495-429 BCE

Pericles’s rule

444-443 BCE

Ostrakon of Pericles

6th century BCE

development of Piraeus

499-494 BCE

Ionian Revolt

480 BCE

Battle of Thermopylae

480 BCE

Battle of Salamis

478 BCE

Delian League founded

420 BCE

Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike created

440 BCE

Athenian Tribute Lists

431-421 BCE

Archidamian War (Phase I)

416 BCE

Melian Dialogue

395-387 BCE

Corinthian War

395 BCE

Spartan Allies revolt

404-359 BCE

rule of King Artaxerxes II

356-323 BCE

Alexander the Great’s life

334 BCE

Alexander the Great’s expedition into Persia

332 BCE

Siege of Tyre

331 BCE

Alexander the Great captures Babylon

330 BCE

Alexander the Great captures Susa

323-280 BCE

period of turmoil amongst the diadochi

312-63 BCE

Seleucid Empire

247

Parthian Persians

305-30 BCE

Ptolemeic Egypt

331 BCE

founding of Alexandria, Egypt

1st century BCE

Gardhara Wresling Weight

394 BCE

Battle of Coronea

525-455 BCE

Aeschylus lifespan

497-405 BCE

Sophocles’s lifespan

480-406 BCE

Euripedes’s lifespan

484-425 BCE

Herodotus’s lifespan

499-479 BCE

Greco-Persian Wars

479 BCE

Battle of Plataea

431-404 BCE

Peloponnesian Wars

413-404

Deceleian War (Phase II)