History Timeline: - University of Chicago
History Timeline (1000 – 500 BC)
|-1,000 |Middle East: Semitic speaking Arameans from Arabia rule over Mesopotamia, Phonecia (capture Tyre), |
| |King David unites Judah and Isreal |
| | |
| |Greece: Dorian Migration, Greek settlements in Ionia (Miletus) |
| | |
| |Italy: Late Bronze Age, Villanova culture by Italic Peoples (Iron Age) |
| | |
| |So. Asia: Rig Veda Evolves |
| | |
| |Asia: Shang rule is overthrown by rugged nomadic warriors. A new dynasty of Zhou kings rule. They |
| |claim that in heaven their gods have ousted the rule of the Zhang gods. A shortage of rainfall sends|
| |Aryan tribes from the Indus Valley to the plains of the Ganges Valley. Aryan tribal kings have been |
| |changing from elected leaders to autocratic rulers, allying themselves with the priesthood and |
| |associating themselves and their power with their gods. People in western Africa are clearing |
| |portions of tropical forest with stone axes. They plant yams, harvest fruits and palm nuts and keep |
| |goats. In eastern Africa, south of the Sahara, cattle raising is spreading alongside people who |
| |farm. |
| | |
| |Americas: Peru: Chavin and Paracas cultures |
| | |
| |Africa: Some priests from Egypt migrate to Nubia and establish a theocratic state. |
|-970 |Middle East: King David is succeeded by his son Solomon. Hebrews are writing a Phoenician language |
| |that includes words of Sumerian origin and have learned stories carried by that language. Religious |
| |toleration prevails as it had under David. Solomon has temples built for his wives, who worship gods|
| |other than the Hebrew god, Yahweh. Solomon has a temple constructed for Yahweh. |
|-900 |Middle East: beginning of New Assyrian Empire, Phonecians control Mediterranean trade, Hebrews dived|
| |kingdom into Israel and Judah |
| | |
| |Greece: City states grow |
| | |
| |Europe: Druids in Gaul and Britain |
| | |
| |So. Asia: Aryan expansion into Ganges |
| | |
| |Asia: Western Chou (capital, Hao) The kings land surrounded by feudal states, central power cannot |
| |expand. |
| | |
| |Americas: Mexico, Olmec Culture at it’s peak |
| | |
| |So. Asia: Some have put traditional Aryan stories into writing, in what is known as the Vedas -- |
| |Veda meaning wisdom. Those opposed to this form of communicating their religion are ignored. The |
| |Vedas are considered an infallible source of timeless and revealed truth. In the coming century the|
| |writings called Upanishads begin, by persons interested in the relations between self and universe, |
| |an addition to Hinduism often associated with the Vedas and beyond Hinduism's routines of ritual |
| |sacrifices -- a collection of as many as two hundred books to be written across two centuries. One |
| |writer will speculate as to how many gods really exist and he will conclude that there is really |
| |only one god. |
| | |
| |Africa: Nubia (Sudan) is a theocratic state. |
|-853 |Middle East: King Ahab of Israel, allied with the Phoenicians and with Damascus, defeats the |
| |empire-building Assyrians at QarQar in Syria. |
|-815 |Middle East: The city of Carthage, on the coast of North Africa, is founded by Phoenicians from the |
| |city of Tyre |
|-800 |Middle East: New Assyrian Empire (cap. Niniveh), Phoenicians found Carthage, Isreal and Judah still |
| |divided, Egypt dominated by Lybians |
| | |
| |Greece: Illiad and Odyssey composed, Olympic games, Messenian War |
| | |
| |Europe: Etruscan civilization in Italy |
| | |
| |So. Asia: Epic Age in India, Epics ‘Mahabharta’ and ‘Ramayana’ relate to the events of the epic age |
| | |
| |Asia: A barbarian attack overwhelms the old capital Hao and central authority declines |
| | |
| |Americas: Mexico, Olmec Culture at it’s peak |
| | |
| |Africa: Some priests from Egypt migrate to Nubia and establish a theocratic state. |
| | |
| |?? In the coming century, Edom comes into existence as a social and political entity. |
|-776 |Europe: People on mainland Greece are trading again with peoples east of them, and the writing that |
| |disappeared with the invasions of previous centuries reappears. A sense of religious community has |
| |developed among Greece's aristocrats, and, beginning in 776, aristocrats from various city-states |
| |hold mid-summer religious festivals at Olympia. Greeks believe Olympia to be the center of the world|
| |and the home of the gods. In this century, the poet Homer reworks oral history on the Trojan War |
| |into writing. Called the Iliad, Homer's work is about an age of heroes. He praises warrior society |
| |and describes all as the doing of the gods. |
|-730 |Middle East: Nubians again invade Egypt. The Nubian king, Piankhi, moves his capital to Memphis and |
| |starts Egypt's 25th dynasty. An Egyptianization of Nubian culture is beginning, including the use of|
| |Egyptian writing. Egyptian is to be the official language of Nubian government, and gods among the |
| |Nubians acquire Egyptian names. |
|-721 |Middle East: Assyria overruns Israel, disperses the Israelites and takes thousands as slaves. Israel|
| |as a nation vanishes. The Assyrians see their god, Assur, as having given them victory over the god |
| |of the Hebrews. Assyria's army moves through Judaea, conquers Egypt in 676 and establishes the |
| |greatest of empires to date. The great Assyrian god, Assur, is seen as having defeated the Hebrew |
| |god, Yahweh. As with some other peoples, Hebrews see demise as punishment for sin. |
|-700 |Middle East: New Assyrian Empire dominates conquering Babylon, Syria, and Palestine, Phoenicians |
| |gone? Israel gone? Isaiah on the scene and Judah pays tribute to Assyria |
| | |
| |Greece: Greek colonization (Magna Graecia), Rise of Sparta, Republic founded in Athens |
| | |
| |Europe: Legendary reign of seven kings over Rome, Celtic tribes in Gaul (Early Iron Age) |
| | |
| |Asia: Eastern Chao (cap. Lo-yang), Spring and Autumn period |
| | |
| |Americas: Olmec ceremonial center at La Venta |
| | |
| |So Asia: Upanishads and Brahamanas composed |
| | |
| |Africa: Kush kingdom conquers Nubia. |
|-675 |Europe: In the coming decades, rebellions against kings occur in various Greek city-states. Kings |
| |are replaced by cliques of wealthy men -- oligarchies. During the political turmoil people will find|
| |relief in a new religious cult that promotes everlasting life, community and emotional abandon. Its |
| |god is Dionysus, a god of fertility and vegetation. Men of wealth and power fear that worship of |
| |Dionysus might disrupt the order upon which they depend, but most Greeks hold onto the gods with |
| |whom they grew up, and many believed more in reason than in letting their emotions lead them to an |
| |acceptance of promises of eternal bliss. |
|-655 |Middle East: Egypt breaks away from Assyrian rule. Soon cities in Canaan also break away, and |
| |Phoenicia begins ignoring Assyrian directives. |
|-640 |Middle East: With the end of Assyrian rule, comes a resurgence of worship of the god Yahweh. King |
| |Josiah and Yahwist priests move against worshippers of other gods. The priests claim that a scroll |
| |has been found in a secret archive within Solomon's temple, a scroll signed by Moses. The scroll is |
| |used as a weapon against rival worship. An official intolerance rises that had not been the policy |
| |of kings David, Solomon, Jeroboam, Ahab and others. The practices of rival worship are forbidden: |
| |witchcraft, sorcery, using omens, worshiping images of gods in wood or stone, orgiastic fertility |
| |festivals, human sacrifices and temple rituals involving prostitution and homosexuality. |
| |Homosexuality is labeled an abomination. |
|-623 |Middle East: A Chaldean army drives north from around Sumer and expels the Assyrians from Babylon. |
|-612 |Middle East: The Medes and Chaldeans overrun Assyria's capital, Nineveh. Its walls are broken by |
| |siege engines that Assyria introduced centuries before. Assyrian communities, more than two thousand|
| |years old, are obliterated. |
|-600 |Middle East: Media (cap. Ecbatana) conquered by Persia around –525, New Babylonian Empire, Jews in |
| |Babylonian captivity, Psamtik frees Egypt from foreign rule and Egypt becomes a sea power |
| | |
| |Greece: Tyranny of Corinth, Reform of Dracon, Law code of Solon |
| | |
| |Europe: Etruscan league of twelve cities |
| | |
| |Asia: Eastern Chao (cap. Lo-yang), Spring and Autumn period |
| | |
| |Americas: Olmec ceremonial center at La Venta |
| | |
| |So Asia: Republics evolve along the Himalyas |
| | |
| |Africa: Egyptian culture survises in the Kush kingdom(cap. Meroe) in the Sudan |
|-598 |Middle East: The Chaldeans overrun Jerusalem and Judah, while driving the Egyptians back to Egypt. |
|-593 |Middle East: An Egyptian army sacks the Nubian city of Napata, along the upper Nile. Nubians push |
| |into Meroe. |
|-587 |Middle East: Jerusalem rebels against Chaldean rule. The Chaldeans burn the city and tear down its |
| |walls and Solomon's temple. They round up about forty thousand from Judah as captives, including |
| |political leaders and high priests, and take them to their capital, Babylon. |
|-547 |Middle East: A Persian, Cyrus II, is expanding his empire and overthrows King Croesus of Lydia, in |
| |Asia Minor. He mentors Anaximander, who rejects his ideas and develops a more complex theory about |
| |nature and change. |
|-539 |Middle East: Cyrus conquers Babylon. There the captive high priests of Yahweh worship are liberated |
| |and see Cyrus as an agent of Yahweh. They expect Cyrus to inflict Yahweh's vengeance upon the wicked|
| |Babylonians. But Cyrus fails to punish Babylon. He honors Babylon's gods and disappoints the |
| |priests. |
|-517 |Middle East: Darius extends Persian rule through the Kyber Pass to the Indus River. The Persians |
| |still rule in Egypt, Asia Minor and everywhere in between, including Jerusalem. |
|-500 |Middle East: Persia (cap. Persepolis) first major Indo-European power, Greek campaigns |
| | |
| |Greece: Reform of Cleisthenes, Persian Wars, Athenian Empire, Classical Age, Peloponesian Wars |
| | |
| |Europe: Roman Republic evolves, treaty between Rome and Carthage, Scythian tribes in Russia, Celtic |
| |La Tene culture in Europe |
| | |
| |Asia: Age of philosophers, Division of China into separate states, Chao King still uses celestial |
| |title but local rulers fail to pay homage |
| | |
| |Americas: La Venta destroyed by violence, Peru Moche culture |
| | |
| |So Asia: Northwest India part of Persian Empire (Gandhara, cap.Taxila), King Bimbisara of Magadha |
| |dominates the Ganges area |
| | |
| |Africa: Kush kingdom conquers Nubia (Nok culture). |
|-499 |Middle East: In Asia Minor, Greeks begin a rebellion against Persian rule. |
|-490 |Middle East: To punish mainland Greeks for their support of the rebellion in Asia Minor, Darius the |
| |Great of Persia sends a fleet across the Aegean Sea and lands soldiers near Marathon, twenty-six |
| |miles north of Athens. A runner covers the distance to announce the arrival of the Persians. A |
| |coalition of city-states defeats the Persians at Marathon, and the Persians withdraw. In Athens, the|
| |god Pan is said to have given the Greeks their victory, to win back from the Athenians their |
| |devotion, which he had seen as diminishing. |
|-486 |Middle East: Darius the Great dies at around the age of seventy-two. |
|-480 |Middle East: Xerxes, son of Darius, marches an army through Thrace and into mainland Greece. The |
| |Persians are trying to extend their empire too far. |
|-479 |Middle East: Near Athens, the Athenian navy and its allies destroy the Persian fleet. With much of |
| |the Persian army dependent on ships for supplies, it is forced to march back to Asia Minor. |
|-460 |Middle East: The navy of Athens is still taking war to the Persians, and, asserting leadership, |
| |Athens is turning its alliance with other Greek cities into an empire. |
|-458 |Middle East: The Persians are allowing Yahwist priests to return from Babylon to Judah and urging |
| |the priests to maintain order in accordance with their teachings -- a common practice by the |
| |Persians regarding subject peoples. The Persians do not allow the Jews a king, which is okay with |
| |the high-priests. In Jerusalem, the high-priest Ezra arrives with 1,800 others and finds |
| |assimilations. He begins to organize Judaic law along lines of identity with Yahweh worship. Men are|
| |soon to be asked to expel from their homes their foreign wives. Judaic law is to be based on an |
| |assembled five books purportedly written by Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and |
| |Deuteronomy. Intolerance toward other faiths is encouraged. |
|-400 |Middle East: Zoroastrianism is the faith of many Persians. The Zoroastrians believe in a struggle |
| |between their god, Mazda, and the devil. They believe that the birth of their founder, the prophet |
| |Zarathustra, was the beginning of a final epoch that is to end in an Armageddon and triumph of good |
| |over evil. Perhaps Persian officials or merchants in Judah are passing Zoroastrian notions to the |
| |Jews, who at this time had respect for Persians and the late Cyrus II, who had freed the Jewish |
| |captives in Babylon. |
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