brief overview of classical ages:
ancient history:
The Great Flood and the Younger Dryas Period
10,000-3000BC (continental neolithic "new stone age" period):
3000-2000BC (the bronze age):
1500-1000BC:
1000-500BC:
500BC-0AD:
0AD-500AD:

ancient history

brief overview of classical ages:

Hesiod in the 8thC BC named five “ages”:
- the Golden Age or patriarchal
- the Silver Age or voluptuous
- the Brazen or warlike and violent
- the Heroic or renaissant
- the iron Age or “present” - an age of misery and crime when justice and piety have vanished.
Lucretius (c. 94-55BC) distinguished 3 ages based on materials used:
- stone age
- bronze age
- iron age
Varro (116-27BC) distinguished 3 ages:
- beginning of man to the Ogygian DELUGE - the obscure period
- Orygian Deluge
  - “There occurred a remarkable celestial portent; for Castor records that, in the brilliant star Venus,called Vesperugo by Plautus, and the lovely Hesperus by Homer, there occurred so strange a prodigy, that it changed its color, size, form, course, which never happened before nor since.”
  - Plato had dated this event to be c9500BC, much earlier than Varro.
- the Ogygian DELUGE to the first Olympiad - the “mythical period”
  - four hundred years from the flood of Ogygos to Inachus
    - Inachus was supposedly the time of the 2nd Greek flood of Deucalion
  - eight hundred years from Inachus to the Trojan War
  - four hundred years from the Trojan War to the first Olympiad
- the first Olympiad to his present - the “historical period”

ancient history:

1 million - 10,000BC (paleolithic “old stone age” period):
- 770,000BC - Australasian tektites “Australites” hit the Australian & Asian region but no evidence of an earth impact crater, so perhaps derived from a lunar impact crater. This era coincides with the last reversal of Earth's magnetic field (the Matuyama/Bruhnes polarity reversal) - is there a connection?
- use of clothing
  - oldest discovered article of clothing is the Tarkhan dress from Egypt dating to ~3500BC however woven cloth made from tree bark dating to c6500BC has been recovered from Turkey, while flax fibres have been recovered from Dzudzuana cave in Georgia dating to c28,000BC while evidence for stone needles presumably designed to use on animal hide have been found in Sibudu Cave in southern Africa dating to c59,000BC but the earliest evidence for clothing is the evolution of the body louse which evolved 81000-168,000BC - and thus to trigger this, clothing would have been regularly worn long before this.
- the ice age (100,000BC - 12,000BC):
  - after north America joined with south America disrupting the flow of the Atlantic to the Pacific, the resulting warm north-bound gulf stream was created which brought moist weather to northern Europe creating the ice age which started at about 115,000 yrs ago and resulted in glaciation up to 2km thick and then the drying up of the North Sea.
  - spreading of glacier ice over more than one-fourth of the land surface of the earth, the sea levels fall allowing migration of humans across continents
    - humans crossed over into the New World by means of the Bering land bridge.
    - animals from America crossed over into Europe.
  - Laschamps Excursion magnetic pole flipped for 800yrs 40,000BC Adam's Event
    - likely to have triggered massive solar radiation exposures due to loss of magnetosphere and perhaps this triggered Homo sapiens resorting to cave dwelling as evidenced by cave art at the time and possible use of protective pigments painted on the body
    - the rise in dominance of Homo sapiens & the extinction of the Neanderthals in Europe
    - Aboriginals cross into Australia c40,000BC
- England joined to Ireland via a land bridge until c14,000BC
- world becomes warmer c12,000BC onwards, melting ice raises sea levels
- see also:
  - Prehistoric times - Quaternary period
  - Evolution of Humans

The Great Flood and the Younger Dryas Period

destruction of various stone age cultures around the globe including America and the development of similar widespread creation myths
- Plato's allegory of the sinking of Atlantis is set over 9,000 years before his time, leading some scholars to suggest that a Stone Age society which lived close to the Mediterranean Sea could have been wiped out by the rising sea level, an event which could have served as the basis for the story and possibly the remaining few of its relatively advanced civilisation may have sailed around the world and spread some of their engineering and stone masonry knowledge to much more primitive stone age cultures as demonstrated by the sudden appearances of relatively advanced megaliths with minimal evidence of prior learnings
  - this has been put forth as a hypothesis by Minnesota populist politician Ignatius L. Donnelly in his 1882 book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World and in his 1883 book, Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel and still has some support today although conclusive evidence is yet to be found and hence not supported by most archaeologists
  - this has recently been further explored by journalist Graham Hancock in the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse
  - his description of this island fits perfectly with the now submerged Cyclades Plateau near Santorini (it was submerged at around 8000BC) and notes haplogroup X, a Middle Eastern gene, found itself in the region of the Great Lakes of America 10,000 years ago ¹⁾
- Sumerian creation myth
  - flood myth added in texts written during the Old Babylonian Period.
  - the Epic of Gilgamesh (written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC)
    - the highest god, Enlil, decides to destroy the world with a flood because humans have become too noisy.
    - The god Ea, who had created humans out of clay and divine blood, secretly warns the hero Utnapishtim of the impending flood and gives him detailed instructions for building a boat so that life may survive.
- “manvantara-sandhya” and the story of Manu's ark in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions.
  - Matsya Avatar of the Vishnu warns the first man, Manu, of the impending flood, and also advises him to build a giant boat
- Zoroastrian Mazdaism, Ahriman tries to destroy the world with a drought, which Mithra ends by shooting an arrow into a rock, from which a flood springs; one man survives in an ark with his cattle
- the Biblical Great Flood
  - Og, also called “Ogias the Giant”, who was king of Bashan in the Old Testament; was described as a giant in Deut 3:11, viewed by the Hebrews as having aided Noah in building the Ark, thus Noah allowed him to stay on the deck of the Ark.
- The first worldwide flood in Greek mythology, the Ogygian deluge - Ogygus lived at the time of the Exodus of the House of Israel from Egypt
- flood of Deucalion caused by the anger of Zeus - the 2nd Greek flood
  - Deucalion, with the aid of his father Prometheus, was saved from this deluge by building a chest. Like the biblical Noah and the Mesopotamian counterpart Utnapishtim, he used this device to survive the great flood with his wife, Pyrrha.
- the Cheyenne, a North American Great Plains tribe, believe in a flood which altered the course of their history, perhaps occurring in the Missouri River Valley
10,950 BC - it is hypothesized that a disintegrating “Clovis” comet strike on km thick ice covering Nth America results in massive flooding event and a temporary re-cooling for the next 1300 yrs or so, and in the process, wiping out much of the mega fauna such as the woolly mammoth.
A layer of black ash from 170 sites around the world dating to this period point to a fire storm global catastrophe which burnt 10% of the global biomass while larger animals caught in the open would have been killed from falling shrapnel.
The discovery of the 11,000 yr old Vulture Stone of Gobekli Tepe which appears to depict comet pieces falling from the sky with star fields from 10,950BC rather than 9000BC when they were carved further supports this hypothesis and suggests the star charts were hand down through generations.
In Nth America the population of the Clovis culture was reduced to half over the next centuries of this Younger Dryas period²⁾ while the finding of nanodiamonds and high levels of iridium support this event.
In 2013, scientists reported a hundredfold spike in the concentration of platinum in Greenland ice cores that are dated to 12,890 BP with 5-year accuracy.
The circular patterns of neolithic art around the world could also represent the comet.
England joined to Europe via a land bridge (Doggerland) until c6,500BC

10,000-3000BC (continental neolithic "new stone age" period):

see Evolution of Humans for more details of pre-Bronze Age
Proto-Indo-European hunter gatherers - the source of nearly all European, northern Asian languages and cultures - see Evolution of Humans
Pagan beliefs
megalithic sculptures
- Turkey:
  - Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe c9000BC
- British Isles, Brittany
  - Orkney Isles temple c3000BC
  - Stonehenge c2500BC ?
cave paintings eg. Spain, Australia
melting ice caused the sea level to rise a hundred feet or more, drowning large areas of land and broadening the continental shelf of eastern North America, isolating regions from each other such as:
- Britain from Europe
- Tasmania from mainland Australia
agriculture, domesticated animals leads to evolution by about 5000BC in northern and central European dairy farming communities of lactase persistence which allows them (and 90% of current Westerners) to tolerate lactose (ie. milk products) in adult life.
Britain & Ireland:
- neolithic agriculture and cattle farming starts in Ireland c4000BC with neolithic methods introduced via immigrants from Europe
- c3500BC: Irish build huge mounds with tunnels as burial tombs for their dead aligned with rising & setting of the sun
- 3200-3600BC: Waun Mawn 110m wide megalithic site (perhaps the mythological Giant's Dance magical site) erected from local bluestone quarry
- Waun Mawn megaliths appear to have been transported to re-create the structure at Stonehenge 280km away

3000-2000BC (the bronze age):

the Bronze Age started in ~4000BC in western Egypt with copper ore being mined in sandstone in Israel's Timna Valley and the Egyptians mining copper on the Sinai Peninsula around 3000BC. Lead found in the ancient ruins of Troy was produced about 2500BC.
papyrus was used to write on from ~3500BC to about 800-900AD when the more durable paper from the east was introduced to the Muslims having been discovered in China in 105AD by Ts'ai Lun and passed on to Japan 500yrs later. The Moorish rulers erected a paper mill in Spain in 1150AD thereby introducing paper-making to Europe, although France did not start making it till 1348 & England in 1494 - slow spread due to religious reasons having been a “Moslem” technology.
Mesopotamia:
- Sumerian civilisation (4000-2000BC)
  - the solar year gave the Sumerians the important 360 days of a year (albeit with a slight error of a few days) and hence 360 degrees in a circle
  - the lunar cycle gave the Sumerians the 29 or 30 day months
  - they formed the sexagesimal counting system by use of the 3 phalanges on each of the 4 fingers counting to 12 and then the 4 fingers of other hand being a multiplier of 12 to count to 60 (no fingers for 1-12) and hence 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in a degree
  - 7 was regarded as an important mystical number
    - the Big Dipper, Pleides and other asterisms such as Little Dipper and Northern Crown had 7 stars
      - before 2600BC, Thuban (Alpha Draconis) near the Big Dipper was closer to the north celestial pole and was thus the “North Star” then and thus the Big Dipper would have rotated through a smaller circle than present day - and to find north one would look for the 7 stars of the Big Dipper
    - lunar phases averaged 7.4 days
    - 7 is the 1st natural number that did not divide into 60, the base for their sexagesimal number system
    - there were “7” naked eye visible planets - Mercury and Venus having been doubly counted as both were morning and evening stars near the sun, adding to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (uranus was discovered in 1781AD)
      - or it could be 7 moving celestial objects sun, moon and the 5 actual naked eye planets once the morning and evening stars were recognized to be the same mercury and venus late in Sumerian civilization
    - 26thC BC: from Early Dynastic Proverbs, Collection One “lul-7 lu-lu “Seven lies are too numerous.” , UD-UD-7 “seven gods”, urì-gal-7 “seven (divine) standards”, and a famous mathematical problem from those days in which division by 7 is performed as in the sexagesimal (base 60) number system, division by 7 is more difficult than division by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. The reciprocals of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 0;30, 0;20, 0;15, 0;12 and 0;10 respectively, but that of 7 is a recurring sexagesimal fraction 0;8,34,17,8,34,17,…. ³⁾
    - Sumerians used 7 in exorcising, created concepts of seven-branched Tree of Life, seven heavens.
    - later this would translate into Sumerian days of the week and the many supposedly perfect 7 concepts in many derived religions and cultures especially including in the Israelite Bible
      - 2600BC: Gudea, able priest-king of Lagash, built a seven-roomed lower temple and dedicated it to a seven-day festival. He made a seven-eyed weapon with 7 meaning the fullness of power.
      - 7 day periods were mentioned in the Gilgamesh
      - in addition to the “mid-month” day 15 full moon Sabbath (when the moon rested), the Assyro-Babylonians recognised an evil or unfavorable day when restrictions were imposed on activities - these came on days 7, 14, 21 and 28th of the month as well as the 19th day of intercalary months as 7×7 = 49 and 19 is the 49th day since the start of the preceding month. The phrase new moon and sabbath recurs in the Old Testament suggesting the sabbath was still the full moon at early stages of the Bible ⁴⁾
      - Sargon I, King of Akkad, in 2350BC after the conquer of UR would have the 1st documented 7 day week
  - c2500BC: Sumerian priests organised the stars into the zodiac (these were later transmitted by the ancient Greeks), and inspired by the number 7, created constellations of 7 bright stars - Cassiopeia, Lyra, Cygnus, Hercules, Gemini, Virgo, etc
  - deities:
    - goddess Inanna (goddess of love, war, fertility, and associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power)
      - worshiped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BCE – 3100 BCE), and her cultic activity was relatively localized before the conquest of Sargon of Akkad. During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon.
      - may have been associated with a variety of sexual rites, which were continued by the East Semitic-speaking peoples (Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians) who succeeded and absorbed the Sumerians in the region
      - especially beloved by the Assyrians, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own national god Ashur.
      - greatly influenced the Ugaritic goddess Ashtart and later the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who in turn possibly influenced the development of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.
      - patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, her early main cult center, worshiped in three forms:
        
        morning Inanna (Inana-UD/hud) - morning star Venus
        
        evening Inanna (Inanna sig) - evening star Venus
        
        princely Inanna (Inanna NUN)
      - symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star
      - husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her sukkal (attendant) was the goddess Ninshubur, later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal.
      - known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar
    - Enlil (“Lord of Air”) c2900BC was the most powerful elemental deity who was considered Father and King of the gods
      - adopted by the Canaanites as El who was later joined with the Canaanite god of war Yahweh to become the God of Israel
        
        in the Ugaritic mythology, El was absorbed and assimilated into the storm god Ba'al.
      - was also worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians - name was changed to Ellil by the Babylonians
      - the Phoenician counterpart to El was the god, Dagon.
      - El (and later Ba'al) was associated with bulls and oxen as a sign of divinity
      - during the Babylonian reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), Babylonians absorbed and assimilated into the storm god Marduk, Marduk would later become Zeus in Greek mythology
    - Ninurta winged god of agriculture and healing who used thunderbolts and became a warrior, main cult center in Sumer was the Eshumesha temple in Nippur (eq. to Attar in Canaan, Nisroch in Assyria and later the Roman Saturn) one of the earliest attested deities in the region (mid3rd millennium BC) and son of the chief god Enlil (in Canaan, chief god was El)
      - in an Akkadian myth, he was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil
      - the god Ninĝirsu, who was worshipped in the Sumerian city-state of Girsu, was identified as a local form of Ninurta
      - second only to the goddess Inanna, Ninurta probably appears in more myths than any other Mesopotamian deity
      - in the 8-9thC BC, Ninurta has variously been associated with Sagittarius, Canis Major and Sirius, and Mercury (later associated with the god Nabu), and later, the planet Saturn
    - Ninurta's sibings: Nanna, Nergal, Ninazu, Enbilulu, and, sometimes, Inanna.
    - Ninurta's wife: goddess Gula / goddess Bau
    - Ninurta's mother: goddess Ninmah / Ninhursag / Ninlil
    - Enki (god of water)
    - Apkallu-Abgal 7 wise demigods - part man and part fish or birds, sent by the gods to impart knowledge to people.
    - the concept of The Underworld, most often known in Sumerian as Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, or Kigal and in Akkadian as Erṣetu, ruled by goddess Ereshkigal, in later stories, Nergal, the god of war. It was initially believed that there was no final judgement of the deceased and the dead were neither punished nor rewarded for their deeds in life.
  - the spoked wheel, irrigation and cuneiform writing invented
  - sexagesimal numeral system using base 60 invented (& still used in our minutes, seconds!)
  - c2334–2154 BC: Akkadian Period
    - 1st dynasty of Ur
    - Sargon the Great of Akkad (r. 2371-2316 BC) created the world's 1st empire
    - Sargon's line fell to the Gutian tribes from the northeast c 2230BC
  - 2112-2004BC: 3rd dynasty of Ur
    - 2100BC: earliest evidence of an astrological significance of a seven-day period (ie. introduction of the week) is connected to Gudea, the priest-king of Lagash in Sumer during the Gutian dynasty, who built a seven-room temple, which he dedicated with a seven-day festival.
    - introduction of the Sumerian calendars, however, the formerly independent city-states, Umma, Girsu, etc., kept their own calendars after being incorporated into the Ur III state
      - it seems each administrative 30-day month may have been divided into two 15-day halves, and of each half into two “weeks” of 7-8 days; Extra months were added as needed possibly every 3 years to keep sun and moon years in sync.
      - this would be used as the basis for later Babylonian calendars which became lunar months (average 29.5 days) with each new month starting on the 1st crescent moon, and additional month of the year was added as needed
    - earliest known usages of the term Anunnaki for a group of deities in the pantheon, descendants of An and Ki, the god of the heavens and the goddess of earth, and their primary function was to decree the fates of humanity.
  - Gilgamesh - an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC
  - imports gems from mountains of northern Pakistan
  - climate change, re-direction of rivers, salination from excessive irrigation and lack of iron in the new iron age all lead to the decline and eventual fall of this, the first agricultural based civilisation.
  - Sumeria falls after ferocious sacking of Ur in 2006BC, allowed the Semitic-speaking Amorites under Ishbi-Erra to establish more effectively a dynasty that ruled the Isin for more than 2 centuries.
- Assyrian empire
  - Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant
  - existed as a state based on the city of Assur from c2500BC, with its eagle headed god Ashur
  - Old Assyrian Empire (2025BC - 1378BC)
    - conqueror Shamshi-Adad I (1813–1750 BC)
- Nth Syrian Hittites were 1st to commercially produce iron (which required 700-800degC furnace developed in pottery firings), but the “Iron Age” did not occur until ~1200BC when the Hittite empire was overthrown and the many Anatolian ironworkers had to flee their homeland, thereby spreading the usage of iron to other areas of eastern Mediterranean.
Britain & Ireland:
- c2400BC: beginning of Bronze Age in Ireland (source of copper) & England (source of tin)
Egypt:
- Egypt unified by the victory of Upper Egypt kingdom over Lower Egypt kingdom (3100BC):
  - Menes, 1st ruler of Dynasty I, founded national capital of Memphis, and was regarded as the living embodiment of the falcon god Horus, farmers began to use plough extensively & irrigation introduced & writing developed.
- Old Kingdom (c 2686-2181BC):
  - Dynasty III (c 2686BC -):
    - Zoser, for whom the Step-Pyramid complex was built
  - Dynasty IV:
    - 1st true pyramid built & technique of construction was perfected under Khufu, Khephren & Menkaure
    - Great Pyramid at Giza completed (2600BC) under Khufu
  - Dynasty V:
    - cult of the sun god Re regained national pre-eminence
  - Dynasty VI:
- First Intermediate Period (c 2181-2050BC):
  - chaotic, poorly documented period
  - Dynasty XI:
    - Montuhotep II, Prince of Thebes, overcomes his rivals, reunited Egypt, expelled the Libyan & Bedouin raiders, inaugurating the Middle Kingdom
Greek:
- Helladic culture (3200-1050BC)
  - mainland Greece eventually dominated by Mycenean culture
- Cycladic culture
  - on the Cycladic islands
  - immigration occurred ~5000BC and early Cycladic culture began 3300-2000BC but became overtaken by Minoan culture
- Minoan civilisation (2700-1100BC)
  - originated on Crete and following the neolithic period when Knossos originated in ~8000BC
  - developed a sea empire, clearing the sea of pirates
  - Minoan volcanic eruption of Santorini (c1642-1540BC) devastated the Minoan civilisation on Thera as well as coastal Crete and may have been associated with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
India:
- the aboriginal inhabitants of the subcontinent were dispersed and partially assimilated by invading Dravidian tribes, who probably came from the west.
- Indus Valley civilisation (c. 2500-1700 BC), earliest known civilisation of South Asia, corresponding to the Bronze Age cultures of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete.
  - On the basis of archaeological discoveries in the Indus Valley, the civilization subsequently developed by the Dravidians equaled and possibly surpassed in splendor the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.
  - A highly developed civilization flourished in the Indus Valley, around the sites of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, about 2000 BC.
  - Many elements of Hinduism that were not present in Vedic civilization (such as worship of the phallus and of goddesses, bathing in temple tanks, and the postures of yoga) may have been derived from the Indus civilization
- in ~1500BC, Dravidian India was subjected to the first of a sustained series of invasions by tribes of the Indo-European linguistic stock.
Peru
- 3500-1800BC: Norte Chico or Caral-Supe Civilization
- 3rd millenium BC: Sun God, Inti; pyramidal buildings, the importance of the afterlife, tombs for royalty, but unlike Egypt, mummies were not embalmed, and organs left alone; quadrilateral trepanation with burr holes;
- 2627BC: Great Pyramid of Caral
Oceania:
- 3000BC - Lapita culture people from Taiwan, the first Polynesians, migrate to Phillipines (2500BC), northern Papua New Guinea (1500BC), Melanesian Islands (1400BC but only limited interactions with the Melanesians), Fiji (900BC), Samoa (800BC, where the Polynesian cultures and religion gestated)
- 2500BC - 500BC - AustraloPapuans “Melanesians” migrate to Melanesian islands prior to the Lapitas passing through and there was some mixing of genes

2000-1500BC:

Egypt:
- Middle Kingdom (c 2050-1786 BC):
  - Dynasty XII:
    - Amenemhat I (1991BC), founded a new capital at Lisht, south of Memphis because Thebes was too far south to serve as an efficient capital, and began the conquest of Nubia (Sudan)
- Second Intermediate Period (c1786-1570BC):
  - marked by a decline in power of central govt
  - Dynasty XIII:
    - Asiatic invaders, the Hyksos, broke through Egyptian defences & infiltrated country & eventually secured control with the aid of new military weapons such as chariots
  - Dynasty XV (the Hyksos) (c 1674-1570BC):
    - Hyksos kings did not rule as foreigners but adopted Egyptian titles & culture, but were finally expelled by Kamose & his brother Ahmose, princes of Thebes, forming the New Kingdom
Canaanites
- 18thC BC: earliest written reference of Canaan in a Sumerian text in Syria
Jewish:
- the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centered on Yahweh and they spoke an archaic form of the Hebrew language, known as Biblical Hebrew.
- around this time, the Philistines settled on the southern coastal plain
- Abraham from the city of Ur, the founder of the Jewish religion espoused monotheistic principles & separated from his family who believed in many Gods.
- Noah (d. ~1998BC although actual date could have been ~12000BC when there was a major flood event of the Mediterranean region)
  - survived the great flood
- HOWEVER, a people named Israel appear for the first time in the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription which dates to about 1200 BCE
Greek:
- Myceneans
Mesopotamia:
- Babylonian empire:
  - Babylonia dominated by 2 Semitic-speaking dynasties in parallel, until in 18thC BC, Larsa under Rim-Sin overcame Isin to contend with the Babylons for domination of the land
  - Sumerian sexagesimal numeral system advanced into a positional system with 2 symbols (unit & ten) used to create 1 to 59 numbers. (see Babylonian numerals)
  - 1830-1531 BC: Old Babylonian Period
    - a new set of deities known as the Igigi are introduced
    - 1792-1750BC: Hammurabi king of Babylon
      - code of laws written in Akkadian, a semitic tongue (Sumerian used for religious purposes)
      - created an ephemeral empire
      - Hammurabi's dynasty falls at the destruction of Babylon by an attack by the Hittite king Mursilis I in 1595BC allowing the Kassite dynasty to rule for 576yrs resulting in the dark ages of Babylon.
  - 1600-1155 BC: Kassite Period
    - a plough is captioned as a symbol of the ancient god Ninĝirsu / Ninurta
Nth Europe:
- Barbarian celts ruled by Druids (2500-1200BC)
- 2400-1200BC: Ireland dominated by stability & peace as wealth mainly by cattle farming until terminated by 18yr climatic change
- stonehenge (stage 3 v) and Seahenge in Norfolk (~1700BC)
- the star disk of Sangershausen (Nebra Sky Disk) in Germany (c1600BC) - discovered 1999AD.

1500-1000BC:

evidence that the Scythians (nomads north of the Black Sea who may have originated in Asia) appear to have been inhaling fumes from burning cannabis in specially made tents and it is thought this practice as well as use in anointing oils became a factor in the development of Middle Eastern and Indian religions
start of the “Iron Age” in ~1300BC resulting from overthrow of the Hittite empire in Nth Syria causing the ironworkers to flee their homeland & spread their technology.
Egypt:
- New Kingdom (1567-1085BC)
  - the god of Thebes, Amun, was elevated to rank of principal deity of the realm & was identified with the sun god Re in the form Amun-Re, king of the gods
  - Dynasty XVIII (c1567-1320BC):
    - kings primarily engaged in keeping Egypt safe from any further incursions by the Bedouin or the Nubians
    - series of campaigns to conquer Nubia & to seize its gold mines
    - Hatsheput (r.c1503-1482BC), wife & half-sister of Thutmose II, on his death, she took control, becoming Egypt's only female leader, and erected giant obelisks as well as built her mortuary temple
    - Thutmose III (child of royal concubine) (rc1504-1450BC) took control once Hatsheput died and subjugated Palestine & Syria as well as completed the conquest of Nubia as far as Napata
    - Amenhotep III (r.c1417-1379BC), the Egyptian court reached height of its prestige, receiving tribute or trade goods from Syria, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Crete & even Greece.
    - Amenhotep's estranged son (presumably because of his Marfanoid appearance), Amenhotep IV or Akhenaton (r. c 1379-1362 BC) changed Egyptian religion by declaring for the 1st time that there is only one god, a sun-god in the form of Aton, sunlight, and moved the capital to his new city of Akhetaten (Amarna), but his idealism which neglected the running of his country, lead to anarchy, and his religious abstraction which was ahead of its time (Moses 100yrs later, again was to declare there was only one abstract god) was abandoned once he died.
    - Horemheb finally restored order.
  - Dynasty XIX (c. 1320-1200BC):
    - Rameses I (r.c.1320-1318BC)
    - Rameses II the Great (r.c 1304-1237BC) in restoring Egypt's power, confronted the Hittites (from Turkey) at the town of Kadesh, with peace finally being sealed by his marriage to a Hittite princess
      - built hypostyle hall at Karnak, colossus of himself at Luxor, Ramesseum mortuary temple at Thebes, great temple of Abu Simbel in Nubia.
      - constructed city of Pi-Ramesse, his northern capital, possibly using Hebrew slaves
  - Dynasty XX:
    - Rameses III (r.c. 1198-1166BC) eventually contained the threats from Libyan tribesmen & piratical “Sea Peoples” (Philistines, and perhaps ancestors of the Sicilians), but under his successors, power gradually declined in the face of increasing Libyan incursions & the growth of power of local governors, esp. the high priest of Amun at Thebes.
    - Egypt's foreign possessions of Palestine & Nubia (and thus its gold) were lost & Egypt itself fell under foreign rule
      - the burial places of the pharoahs were plundered, many of the mummies were thus taken to secret hiding places in caves
  - Dynasty XXI:
    - ruled from Tanis with Thebes being virtually independent under its high priests
Jewish:
- Moses
  - lead the Israelites (probably only the Joseph tribes) in their Exodus from Egypt in 2nd half of 13thC BC but “documented” in writing 700yrs later.
  - the “Ten Commandments” and the covenant made with God (“the only god”) on Mt Sinai which shifted the focus from how we should interact with God (as in the Pagan beliefs) to how we should interact with each other.
- period of the Judges (~1400-1100BC)
  - historical evidence suggests that in the 12thC BC, the Israelites were the peasants of the Canaanite civilisation and became a people by telling stories rather than by battle.
- the Israelite tribes gradually come together to form one nation Israel as Saul united the tribes to become the 1st king of Israel, but was killed in a battle with the Philistines, leaving David to become king who had many love affairs impregnating one of his warrior's wives and then kills the husband so that he can marry her, eventually he is forced to confess his sin to God demonstrating that God is above even kings.
- c1200BC: the Edomites populated the Petra region of Jordan & controlled the trade routes from Arabia in the south to Damascus in the north. The Edomites were eventually forced out of the Petra region by theArab tribes, the Nabataeans, perhaps in 6thC BC.
Italy
- Etruscan
  - Etruscan civilization's earliest phase, the Villanovan culture, emerged around 900 BC following the previous Proto-Villanovan culture of Italy in the late Bronze Age
  - Etruscan language was a Pre-Indo-European language (part of the Tyrrhenian language family, along with the Lemnian and Rhaetian language) and neither Indo-European or Semitic
- Latins
  - the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium from 1000BC
  - their language belonged to the Italic branch of Indo-European and speakers of Italic languages are assumed to have migrated into the Italian Peninsula during the late Bronze Age (1200–900 BC)
- Osco-Umbrian
  - tribes who spoke another branch of Indo-European language (Sabellic) who settled in central and southern Italy but whom would eventually be taken over by the Latins
  - also included among the Sabellic languages are: Volscian, Sabine, South Picene, Marsian, Paeligni, Hernican, Marrucinian and Pre-Samnite.
- Sicily
  - the Sicani were influenced at an early stage by the Mycenaeans
  - Siculians entered Sicily from the Italian Peninsula either around the 13th century or the middle of the 11th century BCE (or in two waves), driving the prior inhabitants, the Sicanians and Elymians, to the west of the island
    - the Sicels of central and eastern Sicily spoke Indo-European language spoke Siculian (or Sicel)
  - 11thC BC Sicily consisted of Elymoi (NW segment), Sikanol (central third), Sikeloi (eastern half)
  - later 11thC BC: colonisation of Sicily by the Phoenicians
Greek:
- the peaceful & gracious Bronze age society destroyed by arrival of iron and a new period of barbarism that lasted until the Greek city states emerged in the 7thC BC
- Mycenean tablets
- Trojan war - Greece d. Troy
- Dorian invasion of Greece
Mesopotamia:
- Hittite Empire:
  - advanced on Egypt in 1279BC with their iron swords but lost a battle with the 20yr old king of Egypt, Rameses II, even though the Egyptians were unprepared and still had only bronze swords. Rameses II then signed peace treaty with Hittites.
  - destroyed by the “Sea Peoples”
- Kingdom of Lydia 1200-546BC
  - western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak, Manisa and inland Izmir. Capital was Sardis.
  - Lydia developed after the decline of the Hittite Empire in the 12th century BC.
  - Lydians, and their language, known as Lydian, was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family, related to Luwian and Hittite
  - during the 7th century BC, it covered all of western Anatolia
- Kassites dynasty falls to the Elamites in 1157BC
- 2nd dynasty of Isin rules Babylon:
  - Nebuchadnezzar I (r. 1124-1103BC) - ended Elamite interference
- Assyrian empire
  - Old Assyrian Empire (2025BC - 1378BC)
  - Middle Assyrian Empire (1391–1056 BC)
  - Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC)
    - Assyria conquered Babylon in the Sargonid period (8th–7th centuries BC)
Nth Europe:
- Teutonic tribes settle
British Isles:
- 1159-1141BC:
  - Ireland's 1000yr bronze age stability destroyed by 18yr climate-induced failed harvests due to little or no sunlight (?volcanic dust, comet, etc), the stress causing people to become more religious & war-like. Population ~250,000;
India:
- the veda, a collection of sacred writings dating from about 1200 BC, contains considerable information on Indo-Aryan social practices, religious beliefs, and cultural attainments.
  - Gods of the Vedic pantheon survive in later Hinduism, but no longer as objects of worship: Indra, king of the gods and god of the storm and of fertility; Agni, god of fire; Soma, god of the sacred, intoxicating Soma plant and the drink made from it
China:
- the Chou Dynasty (r. 1122-221BC):
  - developed a post house system for mail
America:
- Olmec culture in Mexican lowlands appeared by 1200BC

1000-500BC:

measurements used:
- cubit:
  - Egyptian = 20.6 +/- 0.19in = 524 +/- 5mm (divided into palms & digits)
  - Jewish = 17.5in = 447mm
  - Assyrian = 21.5in = 546mm (divided into 2 feet, each being 3 palms long, each palm being 20 susi)
  - Turkey/Persian = 26.6 +/- 0.19in = 676 +/- 5mm (in use until 19thC AD!)
660BC - one of the most intense solar flares
North Africa:
- Carthage:
  - 9thC BC, Carthage, near Tunis, founded by legendary queen Dido & was probably established by the Phoenicians as a trading outpost with earliest relics dating back to 800BC.
  - 6thC BC, by the subjugation of Libyans tribes & the annexation of older Phoenician colonies,Carthage controlled the entire north coast of Africa to the western border of Egypt, as well as Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands & part of Sicily.
- Egypt:
  - Dynasty XXII:
    - unity of Egypt restored by Libyan general Shoshenk I (r. 935-914BC), who founded Dynasty XXII and placed his son as high priest of Amun, but under his successors, unity was broken by civil wars with Egypt being partitioned into city states under independent dynasts, mostly of Libyan origin.
  - Dynasty XXV:
    - founded by Nubian kings who conquered Egypt in 712BC
  - Dynasty XXVI (670-525BC):
    - with the help of Greek mercenaries, Psamtik I (r.c 664-610BC) managed to impose his authority on the whole country and broke with Assyria
    - marked a period of renewed prosperity, but hopes of restoring position as a great power were defeated by the Babylonians in the Battle of Carchemish in 605BC
  - Cyprus under Egyptian rule ?when?
  - conquered by Cambyses, king of Persia (525BC) leading to Persian rule until Alexander the Great in 332BC apart from periods of independence between 404 and 343BC
Greek:
- 1st Olympiad (~776BC)
- Homer
- Aesop
- Age of the “Seven wise men of Greece” - Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Periander, Chilo
- used sun dial
- Thales predicts solar eclipse for 1st time; knew that magnets attract iron, that amber when rubbed becomes magnetic.
- Greeks adopt theory of earth being a disk covered by a dome of sky, or as floating free in the sky
- Theodorus of Samos invents ore smelting & casting, water level, lock & key, carpenter's square & turning lathe
- Anaximander (d. 546BC) taught that all life develops from amphibians
- 550BC
  - Greece consists of ~1,000 city states with Sparta being the main military power and dominating most of the region around Sparta.
  - the city states divided into 2 classes, the ruling aristocracy and the serfs who had no power and no assets.
  - the city states in continuous battles between the aristocracy for leadership of the city causing instability
  - travelling bards pass down the legendary history of the ancient Greeks, esp. Homer's tales as these poems were all committed to memory and at this stage written documentation was not available.
  - Greek art becomes independent of foreign influences & becomes more humanised & realistic.
- Anaximenes of Miletus (586-26BC) - philosopher & student of Anaximander
- Pythagorus (581-497BC) - philosopher & mathematician; introduces octave to music;
- 507BC
  - the people of Athens revolt against their tyrannical ruler, and gain control of the city and bring back the exiled former leader Cleisthenes who established the world's 1st democratic governing system, where the people voted on almost every significant event using white stone for 'yes' and black stone for 'no'.
  - the new democratic system, the increase in produce of olives, and its relationship with the eastern Mediterranean trading centres allows Athens to become a dominant city and to eventually create the Greek empire.
  - Olympic games now available for all men not just the aristocracy. Women not allowed to participate or watch.
  - Persians attack Athens
- Alcmaeon of Croton discovers difference between veins & arteries & also the connection between brain & sensing organs & the Eustachian tubes.
Italian:
- Latin tribes settle in Italy
- Etruscans:
  - based in Tuscany region of Italy
  - rapidly expanded in wealth based on mineral resources, forming an aristocratic society
  - very superstitious with their religion & shared some of the Greek gods
  - buried their dead with status symbols aand goods for their afterlife with the gods
  - although families were couple-based, and it is said that (albeit in controversy) women sexually disinhibited, indulged in free love and exercised naked, while no-one knew who were the fathers of their children
  - borrowed Greek alphabet and modified it which would then be used by the Romans
  - imported vases from Greece & the Greek athleticism
  - developed wine making & introduced it to Gauls & Celts in southern France
  - finally to collapse perhaps in a self-fulfilling prophecy that their society would only last 1000yrs, in the last century BC after weakened by invasions by Gauls & Romans, their language & texts were taken over by latin, while the Etruscans were either killed or became Roman. The final omen being a great comet in 41BC preceding the conquer by Julius Caesar,
- Rome founded (753BC), engineered by the Etruscans
  - The legendary date of the founding was 753 BC; it was ascribed to Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin and the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, a nearby city in ancient Latium
  - peoples derived from Latin, Etruscan & Sabine stocks (thanks to the “rape (abduction) of the Sabine women”)
- the legendary period of kings (753-510BC)
  - the written records of this era were destroyed when the Gauls sacked Rome in c390BC
  - Romulus, the 1st king, reigned 753BC-716BC
  - Numa Pompilius, the 2nd king, reigned 716BC-672BC
  - Tullus Hostilius, the 3rd king, reigned 672BC-642BC
  - Ancus Marcius, the 4th king, reigned 642BC-616BC
  - Lucius Tarquinius Priscus the 5th king, reigned 616BC-578BC
    - assassinated in 579BC by the sons of Ancus Marcius
  - Servius Tullius the 6th king, reigned 578BC-534BC
  - Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the 7th and final king, reigned 534BC-509BC, died 495BC
    - a ruthless engineer who came to power after killing his father-in-law, Servius Tullius
    - through his tyrannical rule and enforced labour, he leveled the top of the Tarpeian Rock, overlooking the Forum, and removed a number of ancient Sabine shrines, in order to make way for the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. He constructed tiers of seats in the circus, and ordered the excavation of Rome's great sewer, the cloaca maxima.
    - the legendary 7th and final king of Rome, reigning from 535BC to 509BC with his reign ending with the popular uprising led by Lucius Junius Brutus after he was outraged by he king's son, Sextus' sexual assault on Lucretia who would stab herself in the heart as a result f being dishonored, and resulting in the formation of the Roman Republic and the exile of Tarquinius and his family
- Roman lunar year has 10 months
- Roman Republic (510-264BC)
  - founded after overthrow of the Etruscan dynasty
- Sicily
  - the Sicels / Sikeloi of central and eastern Sicily spoke Indo-European language spoke Siculian (or Sicel)
    - Siculians entered Sicily from the Italian Peninsula either around the 13th century or the middle of the 11th century BCE (or in two waves), driving the prior inhabitants, the Sicanians and Elymians, to the west of the island
    - introduced the use of iron into Bronze Age Sicily and brought the domesticated horse
    - Sicel necropolis of Pantalica
  - Greek colonisation of coastal and western regions of Sicily in the 8thC BC and called themselves Sikeliotes / Sicilian Greeks and hence the southern boot of Italy and Sicily spoke mainly Greek
    - these Dorian Greeks found Syracuse and by 734 BCE Syracuse had become the largest city in the Greek-speaking world
    - the Sicani were gradually absorbed by these colonizing peoples and they disappeared as a distinct people following the annexation of Sicily by the Roman Republic.
    - the Sicels were forced out of most of the advantageous port sites (except Morgantina where they lived with the Greeks) and withdrew by degrees into the hinterland
      - in the middle of the 5thC BC a Sicel leader, Ducetius, was able to create an organised Sicel state as a unitary domain in opposition to Greek Syracusa, including several cities in the central and south of the island, however, he was soon defeated by the Greeks at Nomae in 450 BC.
      - in the Siege of Syracusa 415-413BC, Sicels sided with the invading Athenian forces who were fighting the allied states of Syracusa, Sparta and Corinth in the Pelopennisian Wars - the Athenians suffered a devastating loss in their “Sicilian Expedition” and this was essentially the beginning of the end for Athens, and in 404BC Athens was defeated and occupied by Sparta.
Mesopotamia and Middle East:
- Philistines
  - mid-9thC BC: Philistines tribute to Jehosphat, King of Judah
  - mid-8thC BC: Uzziah, king of Judah, fought Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath and Ashdod
  - 730BC: Annals of Tilgath-pileser III: Assyrians conquer Philistines
  - c700BC: Hezekiah, king of Judah, defeated Philistines in Gaza
  - 670BC: Treaty of Esarhaddon records Philistines in Assyrian treaty with Tyre
  - 604BC: Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroys Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and exiles the Philistines to Babylonia permanently ending the nation of Philistia
- Jewish:
  - the northern Kingdom of Israel existed by ca. 900 BCE
    - The Kingdom of Israel was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power; during the days of the Omride dynasty, it controlled Samaria, Galilee, the upper Jordan Valley, the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan
    - Samaria, the capital, was home to one of the largest Iron Age structures in the Levant.
    - destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire
  - the Kingdom of Judah existed by ca. 850 BCE
    - capital in Jerusalem, later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire
    - 587/6 BCE, following a revolt in Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple, dissolved the kingdom and exiled much of the Judean elite to Babylon, beginning the Babylonian captivity
  - Biblical accounts:
    - David (1000-961BC)
      - removed the Philistine threat for power and gained control from Syria to north Egypt
    - Solomon (d. 975BC)
      - David's son, set up a court after the manner of other oriental monarchs.
      - built a palace and the great Temple in Jerusalem, and overtaxed the resources of the country for his luxurious programs.
    - after the death of Solomon, the northern tribes rebelled under his son Rehoboam.
    - the two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, were never again reunited, and they often fought each other.
    - the period of the divided monarchy was marked by threats from the Assyrians, the Arameans, and the Babylonians.
      - in Israel:
        
        numerous kings and several dynasties came and went.
        
        Israel with its capital Samaria, fell to the Assyrian army in 722-21 BC, its people were deported, and foreigners settled in their place.
      - in Judah:
        
        Kings I/II
        
        Isaiah
        
        Jeremiah
      - whilst many were monotheistic since Abraham, many were polytheistic until the 6thC BC when the far majority became monotheistic after the “discovery” of the newly written Book of Deuteronomy re-telling the story of Moses, which banned worship of other Gods, creating a major religious revolution and allowed Josiah to unify the peoples of Judah with the peoples to the north. A key event enabling this was, for the 1st time, a marked rise in public literacy.
      - the dynasty of David continued until the Babylonians took the country (597 and 586 BC)
      - Judah suffered two humiliations at the hand of the Babylonians:
        
        the surrender of Jerusalem in 597 and,
        
        its destruction in 586 BC.
      - captives were carried off to Babylon on both occasions.
      - The priests exiled to the rivers of Babylon, led by Ezra added further texts to allow the peoples to have a unifying religion despite the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of their king and the loss of their lands.
      - the exiled people with their new Bible were given reason for why God had allowed them to be exiled as punishment and gave them hope if they changed their ways, transforming the ancient Israelite beliefs into Judaism.
      - were set free from Babylon in 538 BC, when the Persian king Cyrus established the Persian Empire.
      - the prophets Ezra (Atarxerxes) & Nehemiah were leaders in the era after the exile when institutions were re-established and the Temple was rebuilt. Judah became a province of the Persian Empire, and the people had relative autonomy, especially in religion.
  - contemporaries of the Judeans, the Nabataeans built their hidden city of Petra in Jordan 6thC BC.
- Assyrians
  - 911-609BC: Neo-Assyrian Empire
    - 911–891 BC: reign of Adad-nirari II who claimed Ninurta and Aššur as supporters of his reign, declaring his destruction of their enemies as moral justification for his right to rule.
    - 883-859 BC: reign of Ashurnasirpal; Changed the Assyrian capital to Kahlu/Nimrud and dedicated the 1st temple to Ninurta. Panel sculpture of an eagle headed winged genie (perhaps the god Nisroch mentioned in 2 Kings 19:36-37 and perhaps is a merger of the ancient Assyrian eagle-headed god Ashur with the Sumerian winged god Ninurta - in 1132BC,a king named himself Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur “Ninurta the god Aššur's trusted one”) at the site of ancient Nimrud;
    - 722–609 BC: Sargonid dynasty starting with Sargon II who Changed the Assyrian capital to Dur-Sharrukin
      - Sargon II favored Nabu, the god of scribes, over the Sumerian/Assyrian warrior god Ninurta/Nisroch
      - 650BC: ancient “Sumerian” / Neo-Assyrian clay tablet “Planisphere” which is said to represent the night sky of 3-4 January 650BC over Nineveh in the British Museum HOWEVER, Alan Bond et al in 2008 using computers to review the star positions suggest it is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on the 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar) and supposedly documents an asteroid impact on that date that was the root of many myths, including the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Greek myth of Phaeton (the son of the sun god Helios who took his father's fiery sun chariot for a joyride and crashed it). It had been thought to be related to a major mountain rock slide - the Köfels landslide⁵⁾ but this has been dated to c7800BC and there is apparently no evidence of asteroid impact causing it
    - 612BC: king killed by the forces of the Babylonians and Medes at the fall of Nineveh
  - 609BC: defeated by the Babylonians at the Siege of Harran
- Phoenicians:
  - dominate the Mediterranean seas & record 1st reliably recorded circumnavigation of Africa which took 3yrs.
  - invent soap (~600BC)
  - in Corsica
- Babylonians
  - 8thC BC: The Chaldaens (Babylonian astronomers) had been making observations and keeping records for centuries. In the 8thC BC they made the discovery that 235 lunation cycles was almost the same duration as 19 solar years, and they determined that seven out of the nineteen years ought to have an extra month. The king would still announce the inclusion of the extra month on advice.
  - Babylon helped the Medes in the overthrow of Nineveh & the Assyrians in 612BC and ended the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609BC
  - 604BC: Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroys Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and exiles the Philistines to Babylonia permanently ending the nation of Philistia
  - Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon (r. 604-562BC)
    - 581BC, destroyed Jerusalem, carried off its inhabitants
    - perhaps established Marduk as king of the Gods (previously Marduk was a mediator between the great gods and Hammurabi) and as a result the 7 clay tablets from the Library of Ninevah ruins of the Enūma Eliš Babylonian creation myth highlighted Marduk
    - erected great buildings & monuments including the “Hanging Gardens” making Babylon one of the seven wonders of the world.
- Persian empire (Achaemenids)
  - Cyrus II, the Great (r. 553-529BC)
    - began as ruler of a small kingdom, Anshan, in south-west Persia
    - 547BC, overthrows the last king of Lydia - Croesus (r. 561-46BC)
    - conquers Medes
    - 539BC, takes Babylon without a fight, and Persia is united for the 1st time
    - 536BC, frees Jews from Babylon
  - Cambyses II (r. 529-22BC)
    - Cyrus' son, conquers Egypt & has himself crowned Pharoah
  - Darius the Great (r. 521-486BC)
    - the great designer of the empire & a fervent disciple of truth & justice, drew up a law code
    - divides empire in 20 provinces & introduces a common currency (1st Persian coin with a ruler on it), regular taxes, & a standing army
    - uses pontoon bridge across Bosphorus in warfare
    - founds city of Persepolis & its great palace
    - explores Indian coast
    - it is generally believed that Zoroastrianism became the state religion
    - 503BC Darius I the Great formalised the Babylonian calendar system of adding extra months, dictating that the extra months should be in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years
Urartu / Ararat
- in Armenian highlands 860-590BC
- frequently warred with Assyria and became, for a time, the most powerful state in the Near East
Eastern Europe
- the Scythians were nomadic warriors north of the Black Sea inhabiting Moldova and Ukraine regions with archaelogic finds dating back to the 9thC BC and whose religious beliefs were a type of Pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religion and belonged to the Eastern Iranian family of languages and apparently were redheads, fair-skinned with green or deep blue eyes
- 512BC King Darius led his army across the Danube to attack the Scythians but they refused to engage with the Persians who made it to the Volga River
- Herodotus and the Greeks in the 5thC BC considered the Romania and Bulgarian regions Scythia Minor and the area east of the Danube across to Ukraine as Greater Scythia and reported that Scythians wore padded and quilted trousers (for they were warrior horsemen who shot arrows on horseback) and used cannabis, both to weave their clothing and to cleanse themselves in its smoke - archaeology has confirmed the use of cannabis in funerary rituals
- 339BC Philip II of Macedon (reigned 359 to 336 BC), who took military action against the Scythians who were led by King Ateas who was killed leading to the Celts taking control of the Balkans and the Sarmatians taking control of southern Russia
- 329BC Alexander the Great, came into conflict with the Scythians at the Battle of Jaxartes, beating the Scythians but making a peace pact with them which ended further conflict.
- by 20AD, Crimean Scythians had created a new kingdom extending from the lower Dnieper to the Crimea, however, the Goths destroyed their capital city in the mid-3rd century AD.
Nth Europe:
British Isles:
- 800BC: Ireland's bronze age culture recovered from turbulence & now had talented gold-smiths
China:
- Chou dynasty (c. 1027-256 BC)
- invented the ingenious link-chain pump which was not used in the West until 16thC AD
- c1000-400BC - non-seasonal chicken eggs become popular food sources on the Silk Road leading to domestication of the red junglefowl and these spread to southern Europe and southwest Asia by the last centuries BC ⁶⁾
India:
- By 900 BC the use of iron allowed the Indo-Aryans to move down into the lush Ganges Valley, where they developed a far more elaborate civilization and social system.
- By the 6th century BC, Buddhism had begun to make its mark on India and what was to be more than a millennium of fruitful interaction with Hinduism.
America:
- Olmec culture and the Chavin style spread throughout central America

500BC-0AD:

North Africa:
- Carthage:
  - 409-276BC, almost continual wars with Greece & Rome, mainly over control of Sicily
  - the Punic Wars with Rome (264-241BC, 218-201BC, 149-146BC):
    - in the 2nd Punic War, Hannibal marched across Spain into Italy via the Alps reaching Rome but was finally defeated, resulting in loss of Spain and other possessions. Hannibal flees to Syria but in 182BC commits suicide to avoid extradition to Rome
    - in the 3rd Punic War, the Romans destroyed Carthage in 146BC and banned occupancy of the site for 25yrs
  - 46BC, Julius Caesar visited the site & proclaimed a city should be built there and in 29BC, Augustus founded the city of Colonia Julia Carthago (Roman Carthage) which flourished and became 2nd to Rome in prosperity & administrative importance & also became a centre of Christianity late in the 2ndC AD.
- Egypt:
  - 334BC, conquered by Alexander the Great
  - 323BC, start of a new Egyptian dynasty under Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander the Great's generals. This dynasty ended with death of Cleopatra in 30BC.
  - 320BC, Ptolemy Soter invades Syria
  - 285BC, Ptolemy Soter abdicates & is succeeded by his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus
  - 239BC, introduction of leap year into Egyptian calendar
  - 230BC, temple of sun god Horus at Edfu built
  - Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 247-221BC)
  - Ptolemy Lagides (a Greek)
  - 189BC, insurrections owing to exorbitant taxes
  - Cleopatra (d. 30BC)
Jewish:
- the people had survived the rise of the Hellenistic empire (333 BC)
- separation of the Samaritans from Judaism, probably by 300 BC
- the Samaritans recognized only the Torah (the 1st stage of the Hebrew canon) as their Bible
- the second stage of the Hebrew canon was the canonization of the Nebiim (Prophets) ~200BC
- the Maccabean revolution (168-165 BC) and rule
- Book of Sirach was written (c. 180 BC) and the idea of a tri-partite bible, the 3rd stage (the Ketubim or writings) not being finalised by the Rabbi's until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70
- establishment of Roman control in Palestine (63 BC)
- Herod the Great (tetrarch 41BC-4AD) appointed king of Judaea by the Romans & backed by the Romans, killed those Jews who opposed his rule (as he was not a descendant of David)
- 4AD, on Herod's death, Judaea is divided among his sons
Greek:
- Parthenon built
- 492BC, Darius I demands tribute of earth & water from Greece
- 483BC, Themistocles builds navy, founds Athens sea power
- 480BC, Athens & Acropolis destroyed by Persians then the walls rebuilt in 478BC
- 477BC, beginning of Athenian ascendancy
- 465BC, series of disastrous earthquakes hit Sparta
- 460BC, building of Temple of Zeus at Olympia
- the Periclean Age:
  - Pericles (500-429BC) - rises in power 462BC; elected Athenian general in 443BC for 15yrs
  - Sophocles (496-406BC) - dramatist
  - Socrates (470-399BC) - Athenian philosopher
  - Euripides
  - Protagoras
  - Herodotus - historian
- Hippocrates of Cos (460-377BC)
- Plato (427-347BC)
- carrier pigeons used
- Peloponnesian war (431-404BC): Sparta d. Athens - Spartans use chemicals in warfare - charcoal, sulphur, pitch
- set standards of measurement:
  - Greek foot (the precursor of the British foot) = 1/2 Egyptian cubit = 12.45in = 316.25mm
- Aristotle (384-322BC):
  - 348BC, travels to Assos, Lesbos, & Pelia
  - 343BC, becomes teacher of Alexander the Great
  - 340BC, lays the foundations of musical theory
  - 335BC, returns to Athens & founds the Peripatetic school of philosophy
- Ctesibius invented the plunger pump
- 350BC, Corinthian columns appear in Greek architecture
- 330BC, Greek explorer Pytheas of Massilia reaches Britain
- Zeno of Citium (336-) founds Stoic school of philosophy
- Hellenistic period of Greek arts (320BC-30BC)
  - decline of the importance of Greece, instead of Athens, the great capitals of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Antioch in the Seleucid Empire
- Euclid “Optica” 295BC
- Archimedes (287-212BC):
  - introduced the water screw to the West from Egypt, where it became known as the Archimedean screw
  - killed during the fighting (when the Romans sacked Syracuse?)
- 230BC, introduction of oil lamps
- Eratosthenes (276-194BC) - suggests earth moves around the sun & makes close estimates of earth's circumference
- Hipparchus of Nicaea invents trigonometry
Italian:
- Roman republic
  - Rome conquers Italy, taking leadership of the Latins, defeating the Etruscans, the Volscians, and the Aequians, although the defeat of the Romans at Allia and the capture and burning of Rome by the Gauls under the leadership of the chieftain Brennus in 390 BC were great disasters, but their effect was temporary. Finally, the Greek colonies in southern Italy were subjugated.
- 509BC, Battle of Silva Arsia between the new Roman Republic and the exiled Etruscan king and the Etruscans of Tarquinii and Veii results in a win to the Romans but the death of their 1st Consul, Lucius Junius Brutus.
- 396BC, Roman army led by Roman dictator Camillus defeats the Etruscan stronghold of Veii just north of Rome in a massive 10 year long siege and battle which ended when a tunnel into Veii was found
- 390BC, the Gauls sack Rome and destroy historical records
- 350BC, Gauls leave southern France to settle in northern Italy; Etruscan power on the decline;
- 338BC, 1st Roman coins
- Samnite wars
- 283BC, Romans capture Corsica
- 272BC, Rome conquers central & southern Italy
- 266BC, Rome conquers Calabria
- 265BC, 1st contact of the Romans with Greek medicine through prisoners of war
- 264BC, 1st public combats of gladiators in Rome
- 264-241BC, 1st Punic wars against the Phoenicians/Carthagians
  - Rome vs Carthage for control of the Mediterranean sea
  - Rome takes control of Sicily, Sardonia, Corsica & Spain
- 250BC, 1st Roman prison
- 240BC, Roman literature began with the translation and adaptation of Greek epic and dramatic poetry, and the various Greek schools of philosophy were formally introduced into Rome in 155 BC.
- 228BC, 1st Roman ambassadors in Athens & Corinth
- 222BC, Rome conquers northern Italy after defeating the Gauls
- 218-201BC, 2nd Punic War:
  - 211BC, Hannibal, the Carthagian arrives at Rome via Spain & the Alps, but is defeated in 202 ending the 2nd Punic War
- 210-168BC, Macedonian wars:
  - Rome gains control over eastern Mediterranean regions
- Cato the Elder (234-149BC)
- 192BC, war with Sparta
- 183BC, Pisa & Parma become Roman colonies
- 170BC, earliest known paved streets in Rome
- 168BC, Rome conquers Macedon after defeating Perseus, with Macedonians sold as slaves in Rome, thus the beginning of Roman world domination
- 159BC, 1st water clock in Rome
- 149-146BC, 3rd Punic war - Rome destroys Corinth & Carthage (killing 450,000 of the 500,000 population there!)
- 147BC, Rome takes control of Greece
- 120BC, German tribe Cimbri start their exodus for better lands from Jutland Peninsula (Denmark) down to northern Italy
- 112-105BC, war in Africa, with Jugurtha, king of Numidia defeated
- 103BC, German tribes Cimbri & Teutones become allies & invade Italy but are defeated in 101BC
- 90BC, civil war in Rome, Marius driven out by Sulla who regains control of Italy & becomes dictator 82-79BC
- 88BC, Greeks rise up against Roman rule
- 79BC, 1st cherry trees imported to Rome from Asia Minor
- 68BC, capture Crete
- Cicero (106-43BC)
- Cato the Younger (95-46BC)
- 63BC, Pompey defeats Mithridates VI of Pontus & then enters Syria, captures Jerusalem & completes conquest of Palestine
- 62BC, Florence founded
- Gaius Julius Caesar (b. 100- 44BC):
  - nephew of Marius, wins his 1st victories in Spain in 61BC
  - 60BC, returns to Rome & forms the 1st triumvirate with Pompey & Crassus (who is killed in battle 53BC)
  - 58-50BC, goes to Gaul which he conquers & punitive expeditions sent to Britain
  - 50-49BC, rivalry with Pompey for leadership, so crosses Rubicon to start a civil war & defeats Pompey who eventually is murdered in Egypt by order of Cleopatra in 47BC
  - 46BC, Africa made a Roman province; Caesar returns to Rome but is murdered by conspirators led by Brutus & Cassius in 44BC
- 50BC, earliest form of the oboe
- 46BC, adoption of Julian calendar with leap year introduced
- 43BC, Roman military found the French city of Lyon, then called Lugdunum & build road network.
- 2nd triumvirate: Marc Antony, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus & Gaius Octavius who defeat Brutus & Cassius in 42BC
- the final demise of Etruscan society
- 31BC, Marc Antony & Cleopatra defeated by Octavian & commit suicide; Egypt becomes a Roman province.
- 30BC, Octavian renamed Augustus & becomes virtual emperor (31BC-14AD), thus Roman Empire founded
- set standards of measurement:
  - Roman foot = 11.6in = 296mm = 16 digitus (fingers) = 12 uncia (inches) = 4 palmus
  - Roman mile = 1000 paces (mille passus) = 5000 Roman feet = 1480 metric metres
Macedonia:
- Phillip II (352-336BC):
  - 348BC, takes Olynthus
  - 343BC, joins with the Thebans in the “Sacred War” against the Phoenicians; reconquers Egypt;
  - 336BC, assassinated
- Alexander the Great (b.356, r. 336-d.323BC):
  - 335BC, destroys Thebes
  - 333BC, campaigns against Persia, defeats Darius, conquers Tyre & Jerusalem
  - 332BC, founds Port of Alexandria
  - 330BC, occupies Babylon, Susa, & Persepolis; Antipater of Macedon defeats Spartans;
  - 327BC, invades India
- 321BC, after the death of Alexander the Great, his generals broke apart his empire to form their own kingdoms and fought a series of wars against each other, known as the Wars of the Diadochi, which end in 311BC with Macedonia going to Cassandra, Thrace to Lysimachus, Egypt to Ptolemy Soter, Asia to Antigonus
  - In this period, the Greek city-states formed themselves into two leagues; the Achaean League (including Thebes, Corinth and Argos) and the Aetolian League (including Sparta and Athens). The leagues were often at war with each other or fighting with or against the Diadochi.
- 301BC, Palestine reverts to Egyptian rule
- late 3rdC BC, the Antigonid dynasty of Macedonia came into conflict with the Roman Republic which resulted in a series of wars, known as the Macedonian Wars
- 168BC, conquered by Rome
- 149BC, Macedonia annexed by Rome after the Sack of Cornith
Mesopotamia:
- Persian wars (490-449BC):
  - 490BC, Persian army defeated by Greeks at Marathon
  - 485BC, Darius I dies marking the decline of the Persian Empire
  - Xerxes I partly destroys Babylon in 482 BC, then burns Athens & destroys the Acropolis in 480BC, but in same year, Athenians destroy Persian fleet
  - 466BC, Persian army & navy destroyed by Greeks
  - 449BC, Persians, finally defeated at Salamis in Cyprus, recognise in the Peace of Callias, the independence of the Greek cities
- Aramaic language begins to replace Old Hebrew in Palestine
- 350BC, Phoenician cities Sidon, Tyre, Aradus, Byblus secede from Persia; Revolt of Jews against Artaxerxes III;
- 330BC, it is said that Alexander the Great razed Persepolis to the ground following a night of drunken excess at the goading of a Greek courtesan, ostensibly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis by the Persian ruler Xerxes. He then proceeded to destroy Zoroastrianism throughout Persia, destroying the Magi priest temples and introduced Greek language and culture
- 330BC, Darius III murdered
- 300BC - use of semi-solid asphalt that oozed to the surface, to lay roads & erect buildings; the Dead Sea was known as Lake Asphaltes for thousands of years because of the large amount of semi-solid asphalt washed up on its shores.
- 3rdC BC: elements of the Enūma Eliš Babylonian creation myth recorded by priest of Bel (Marduk)
- 167BC, Maccabean revolt against Antiochus IV of Syria
- 165BC, Judas Maccabaeus rededicates Temple of Jerusalem after expelling Syrians
- 150BC, the Parthian Empire (from north-eastern Iran) emerges under rule of Mithradates, and ruled Persia until 224AD
- ~0BC - Arabs & Persians discovered that crude oil could be distilled & were extracting oil suitable as a luminant - this technology was passed on to Western civilisation in 12thC AD when Arabs invaded Spain.
Nth Europe:
- c500BC Celtoid tribes from central Europe begin to migrate outwards
- 450-400BC, Celtic culture & language in British Isles; mythical Celtic iron-age invasion of Ireland; Celts a minority in Ireland;
- 330BC, Greek explorer Pytheas of Massilia reaches Britain
- 250BC, invasion of Britain by La Tène, Iron-Age people
- 55BC, Julius Caesar invades Britain
India:
- Magadha, one of the 16 Indo-Aryan kingdoms, which occupied the territory of modern Bihar, became, about the middle of the 6th century BC, the dominant state of India. During the reign of its first great king Bimbisara (r. about 543-491 BC), Buddha and Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira (c. 599-527 BC), the respective founders of Buddhism and Jainism, preached and taught in Magadha.
- Susrata performs cataract operations (~500BC)
- construction of dams
- Brahmi numerals using base 10, 1st used mid-3rdC BC (predecessor of our Arabic numerals)
- heroic epic, “Mahabharata” being written (probably 350BC to 350AD)
- In 327 BC Alexander the Great led an expedition across the Hindu Kush into northern India.
- Chandragupta, founded the Maurya dynasty (321-185BC) of Indian kings, after destroying Macedonian overlordship.
- During the reign (c. 273-232 BC) of Asoka, its greatest sovereign, Buddhism became the dominant religion of the empire.
- The chief event of Sunga dynasty (c. 184-c. 72 BC) was the persecution of Buddhists and the decline of Buddhism in India and the triumph of Brahmanism.
- An extensive section of western India was occupied in about 100 BC by invading Sakas (Scythians), then in retreat before the Yue-chi of Central Asia.
- 100BC-200AD: kingdom of Gandhara on the northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan flourished and acted as a gateway for Buddhism to travel from India into China. Very fragile birch bark Buddhist manuscripts have been found in this region and are the earliest Buddhist writings discovered to date. Many of the Gandharan buddhas carved into rock were destroyed by the Taliban, however, this revealed the hidden caves where these manuscripts were found in the 1990's.
China:
- the classical age (600-200BC)
- When the feudal states power eclipsed that of the Chou dynasty, feudal bonds were broken, and widespread interstate warfare broke out in the 5th century BC, developing into political anarchy in the 4th and 3d centuries.
- 233BC, death of Sun-tsi marks the end of Chin. classical philosophy
- 221BC, Ch'in dynasty (-206BC)
- 221BC, unification of all Chinese measures & weights
- 215BC, Great Wall of China built
- Han dynasty (r. 206BC-220AD)
- Meanwhile, the social and economic changes resulting from new currents of trade and commerce were disrupting the simple agricultural society. In this climate of political anarchy and social upheaval a new class of scholar-officials emerged, consisting of men who aspired through their learning and wisdom to reunify the empire and restore order to society.
- Schools of philosophy developed:
  - Confucius
  - Tao
  - Legalism, Mohism, Naturalism, the Dialecticians.
  - Han Confucianism - a mix of Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism
  - Shuang-tse (350BC), founder of Chines monist religious philosophy
- 100BC, 1st Chinese ships reach east shores of India
America:
- rise of Zapotec culture (~500BC) in southern Mexico
- rise of Teotihuacan state

0AD-500AD:

North Africa:
- 375AD Vandals, a germanic tribe forced to flee by the invading Huns, migrate south to Spain and then to northern Africa, traveling east and finally sacking Carthage & forming a Vandal kingdom which would last over 100yrs until 533AD.
- Carthage:
  - the newly founded Roman Carthage flourished and became 2nd to Rome.
  - late2nd C AD, became a centre of Christianity
  - 425AD, fortified against barbarian attack
  - 439AD, subjugated by the Vandal king Gaiseric
  - 533AD, Byzantines capture it from the Vandals and rename it Colonia Justiniana Carthago
  - 697AD, seized by the Arabs & destroyed in 698AD
- Egypt:
Jewish:
- 4BC, birth of Jesus
- a Jewish group, the Pharisees preach that to serve God, one does not need an intermediary such as a priest but one needs to study his laws and practice them which came down to treating others as you would like them to treat you. These preachings later influenced Jesus and are evident in his preachings.
- 6AD, Judaea becomes a Roman province
- 30AD, death of Jesus
- Flavius Josephus, historian
- Christian disciples & the evolution of the Christian churches
- 70AD, the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple
- after an abortive revolution by the anti-Roman Jewish extremists called the Zealots in AD 70 that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and most of the 100,000 Jews within its walls by the Romans, their life changed dramatically.
- Herod & the Sicari? Jewish rebels holding out from the Romans near the Dead Sea in a well-protected fortress, finally were to be overcome by the Romans who had spent 2 years building a ramp to the top of the fortress, committed mass suicide to prevent capture by the Romans.
- this left one main Jewish group remaining - the Pharisees whose leaders would become “Rabbi” and have to come to terms with the loss of the temple. They thus rebuilt Judaism around the synagogue and direct prayers which would replace the temple and its sacrificial practices via priests.
- 130AD, Hadrian refused to allow the rebuilding of the temple, instead planning to build a pagan city in Jerusalem as well as banning Jewish circumcision, creating a messianic Jewish rebellion using guerilla warfare which forced the Romans out of the region - temporarily until 13 legions were sent to counter the rebellion resulting in 580,000 rebels killed, 900 villages destroyed and many more Jews dying from starvation as the Romans aimed to rid Judea of the Jews. Romans changed name of Judea to Palestine and banned all Jews from Jerusalem which was renamed Halia.
- Rabbi's decided to tell the story of Passover which could no longer be practiced by sacrifices in the destroyed temple.
- Jewish religion further under pressure by the rapid growth & competition of Christianity and then the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine who made the Romans even more hostile towards Jews. The Jews sought new homes even further from Jerusalem creating disintegration of the Jewish community & thus required more than just an oral tradition of perpetuating their religion & culture.
- Rabbi Akeva? created the Talmud, the 3rd stage of the Hebrew bible to document the oral traditions and was instrumental in perpetuating the religion & culture of Judaism.
- 200AD, formation of Neo-Hebrew language
Greek:
- 200AD, period of Neo-Platonism, last of the Greek philosophies
- Roman emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic games in 393AD
- Olympia buried by floods & earthquakes - rediscovered in 19th C AD
Italian:
- Roman empire
- 14AD, Augustus dies, succeeded by Tiberius (-37AD) who is succeeded by Caligula (-42AD)
- 16AD, 1st definite reference to diamonds
- Pantheon built in Rome (30-124AD)
- 50AD, Romans learn the use of soap from the Gauls
- 65AD, fire destroys French city of Lyon, founded by the Romans.
- 106AD, Romans take the hidden Nabataean city of Petra in Jordan.
- 164-180AD, the great plague
- 200AD, bishop of Rome gains his predominant position as Pope
- Goths sack a weakened, (?malaria-stricken) Rome ending the Roman Empire which lead to the start of the “Dark Ages” of barbarianism
- 410AD, beginnings of alchemy with the search for the Philosopher's Stone & the Elixir of Life as the chief objects
- Visigoths finally create a new homeland as a Roman state in southern France after having been forced from their Romanian homeland by the invading Huns in 375AD, crossing the Danube, travelling to Greece then to Italy where they had sacked Rome but being Christians wanted to be part of Roman culture
- 453AD alliance of Romans, Visigoths, and Franks finally defeat the Huns who left Europe forever.
- 476AD - fall of Rome - German soldier Odoacer rules Italy (476-493AD)
- 487AD, Ostrogoths, led by Theodoric, march on Constantinople, but was bought off by Emperor Zeno who persuaded him to go to Italy & defeat Odoacer which he did in 493AD, forming the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy
Mesopotamia:
- Neo-Persian Sasanian empire (224AD- 651AD):
  - the Sasanians (with their base in Persia proper), overthrows the Parthian rulers
  - Shapur I (r. 240-272AD) invaded east through Hindu Kush into India & the Kushan kingdom & westwards to Antioch in Syria & Cappadocia
  - enormous problems in uniting this empire which even in its homeland was composed of Zoroastrians, Zurvanites, Manicheans, Hindus, Buddhists, Greeks, Jews, Christians & pagans. The Christians in particular were politically suspect after the conversion of the ruler of Persia's greatest enemy, Constantine to Christianity. Eventually Zoroastrianism was confirmed as the state religion.
  - in the 5thC AD, Persia was torn internally by the rise of Mazdakism, an abortive form of communism, & in 484AD was invaded from the east by Ephthalites, who were finally defeated by the Persians in 531AD under Khusrau I who also invaded Syria, re-established the power of the monarchy, introduced fiscal, agricultural, social & military reform, the state control of education & a vast building program. The stability he created was so great that it led eventually to the stagnation & decay of the state.
  - in 610-616AD, the Persian armies had military victories sweeping westward to the Bosphorus, Constantinople, Damascus, Jerusalem, Gaza & Egypt
  - in 651AD, torn by internal strife, corrupt & divided, Persia succumbed to the Islamic invasions leading to the rise of the Islamic faith and culture centred in Baghdad & the end of Zoroastrianism as a state religion.
- Rise of the Byzantine empire based in Constantinople (476-1453 AD)
- Western Roman Empire (476AD
Nth Europe:
- Britain:
  - Cymbeline, king of the Catuvellauni, recognised by Rome as “Rex Brittonum” (5-40AD)
  - 43AD, invaded & defeated by Rome (England ruled by Roman Empire (43-410AD)); London founded;
  - 122-127AD, Hadrian's Wall built
  - 150AD, Ptolemy's map of Ireland shows many tribes but Romans never invaded Ireland, perhaps due to its distance, the large stone forts that were built, Irish piracy & raiders attacking Roman ships & Rome's ability to dictate trade between England & Ireland ensuring it got what it wanted (eg. slaves, cows, wheat) without needing to invade. Irish raiders establish kingdoms in Wales and Scotland (NB. Scot is Roman for Irish) while bringing back the Christian faith to Ireland.
  - 360AD, Picts & Scots cross Hadrian's wall & attack Britain but driven out in 370AD by Theodosius
  - 383AD, Roman legions begin to evacuate Britain & withdraw completely in 410AD to protect Italy from the Visigoths
  - c430AD, Britons summoned the Germanic Angles & Saxons to help them fight the Picts after the withdrawal of the Romans
  - 432AD, St Patrick begins mission to Ireland
  - 477AD, founding of the kingdom of Sussex
  - 495AD, founding of the kingdom of Wessex
  - Angles, Saxons, Jutes migrate to Britain from northern Europe (eg. Denmark), slaughtering the native Britons & Picts
  - Scots from Ireland invade Britain
  - c490AD, (Arthur?) defeats Saxons at Mt Badon (?near Bath)
  - c537AD, Arthur killed in battle of Camlan; semi-legendary
  - 547AD, the plague reaches Britain
- 360AD, Huns invade Europe forcing tribes to migrate - eg. Vandals to Nth Africa, Visigoths to Greece then Italy & southern France, Ostrogoths who would march on Constantinople & sack Rome, Franks who would attack the Visigoths in France.
- 453AD Huns finally defeated by Romans, goths & Franks and flee from Europe.
Asia:
- India:
  - The rulers of the native Andhra dynasty, which came into control of the former Sunga dominions about 27 BC and endured for about 460 years, made repeated failed attempts to expel the Sakas.
  - Gupta empire in India (320-544AD)
    - In 320AD a Magadha raja named Chandragupta I (r. 320-30?), who had completed the conquest of neighbouring territories, founded a new imperial regime and the Gupta dynasty.
    - His grandson Chandragupta II (r. 375?-413) vastly expanded the realm, subjugating all of the subcontinent north of the Narmada River.
    - Under the rulers of the Gupta dynasty, which reigned for 215 years, Indian culture reached new heights.
    - Brahmi numerals evolved into Gupta symbols which are recognisable as pre-cursors to our Arabic numerals.
    - Hinduism, which had long been in a state of decline, experienced a robust renaissance through absorption of some features of Buddhism.
    - This was a time of great flux, growth, syncretism, and definition for Hinduism, the period in which the epics, the Dharmashastras, and the Dharmasutras took final form.
    - Toward the close of the 5th century, Hunnish invaders, often referred to as the White Huns, pushed into India from Central Asia, eventually breaking up the Gupta empire
- China:
  - the medieval age (200BC - 1100AD)
    - a period of synthesis and absorption of foreign thought
    - during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a variety of social and economic causes brought the downfall of the Han dynasty, leading to political disunity and foreign invasion. The philosophical void created by the collapse of Han Confucianism was filled by Taoism and also by Buddhism, a philosophy then new to China.
    - 58AD, Emperor Ming-Ti introduces Buddhism
    - 200AD, silkworms arrive from Korea
    - 271AD, 1st form of a compass
    - 500AD, Tamo brings tea from India
Americas:
- Teotihuacan civilisation (~325-900AD)
- Mayan civilisation (~300-900AD)