4th Millennium BCE
3500: The first cities are built by the Sumerians at Tell
Brak, Uruk, and Hamoukar in Mesopotamia's Fertile
Crescent.
3000: Cuneiform writing is developed in Uruk as a way
to track commercial trade and taxes.
3rd Millennium BCE
2900: The first defensive walls are built in
Mesopotamia.
2686–2160: The first pharaoh Djoser unites upper and
lower Egypt for the first time, establishing the Old
Kingdom.
2560: The Egyptian architect Imhotep finishes
the Great Pyramid of Cheops on the Giza Plateau.
2nd Millennium BCE
1900–1600: The Minoan culture on the Greek island of
Crete becomes a powerhouse of the international
shipping trade.
1795–1750: Hammurabi, who wrote the first legal code,
conquers Mesopotamia, the land between
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
1650: The Middle Kingdom of Egypt falls apart and
Lower Egypt is ruled by the Asiatic Hyksos; the Kushite
kingdom rules Upper Egypt.
1600: The Minoan culture is replaced by
the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece,
thought to be the Trojan civilization recorded by
Homer.
1550–1069: Ahmose drives out the Hyksos and
establishes the New Kingdom dynastic period in Egypt.
1350–1334: Akhenaten introduces (briefly) monotheism
in Egypt.
1200: Fall of Troy (if there was a Trojan War).
1st Millennium BCE
995: The Judean King David captures Jerusalem.
8th Century BCE
780–560: Greeks send settlers to create colonies in Asia
Minor.
776: Legendary start of the Ancient Olympics.
753: Legendary founding of Rome.
7th Century BCE
621: Greek lawgiver Draco establishes a written but
harsh code of laws to punish trivial and serious crimes
in Athens.
612: The Babylonians and Medes burn the Persian
capital of Nineveh, marking the end of the Assyrian
Empire.
6th Century BCE
594: The Greek philosopher Solon
becomes archon (chief magistrate) in Greece and
attempts to legislate reforms with a new code of laws
for Athens.
588: Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar conquers
Jerusalem and brings the Judean king and thousands
of citizens of Judea back to Babylon with him.
585: Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus successfully
predicts a solar eclipse on May 28.
550: Cyrus the Great establishes the Achaemenid
dynasty of the Persian Empire.
550: Greek colonies include almost all of the Black Sea
area, but begin to find it difficult to survive so far from
Athens and make diplomatic compromises with the
Persian Empire.
546–538: Cyrus and the Medes defeat Croesus and
capture Lydia.
538: Cyrus allows the Jews in Babylon to return home.
525: Egypt falls to the Persians and becomes a satrapy
under Cyrus's son Cambyses.
509: Traditional date for the founding of the Roman
Republic.
508: Athenian lawgiver Cleisthenes reforms the
constitution of ancient Athens, setting it on a
democratic footing.
509: Rome signs a friendship treaty with Carthage.
5th Century BCE
499: After paying tribute and arms to the Persian
Empire for several decades, Greek city-states revolt
against Persian rule.
492–449: The Persian king Darius the Great invades
Greece, kicking off the Persian Wars.
490: Greeks win against the Persians in Battle of
Marathon.
480: Xerxes overcomes the Spartans at Thermopylae;
at Salamis, the combined Greek navy wins that battle.
479: Battle of Plataea is won by the Greeks, effectively
ending the second Persian invasion.
483: Indian philosopher Siddhartha Gautama Buddha
(563–483) dies and his followers begin to organize a
religious movement based on his teachings.
479: Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479) dies,
and his disciples carry on.
461–429: Greek statesman Pericles (494–429) leads a
period of economic growth and cultural flourishing,
also known as the "Golden Age of Greece."
449: Persia and Athens sign the Peace of Callias,
officially ending the Persian Wars.
431–404: The Peloponnesian War pits Athens against
Sparta.
430–426: The Plague of Athens kills an estimated
300,000 people, among them Pericles.
4th Century BCE
371: Sparta is defeated at the battle at Leuctra.
346: Philip II of Macedon (382–336) forces Athens to
accept the Peace of Philocrates, a peace treaty
marking the end of Greek independence.
336: Philip's son Alexander the Great (356–323) rules
Macedonia.
334: Alexander fights and wins against the Persians at
the Battle of Granicus in Anatolia.
333: Macedonian forces under Alexander defeat the
Persians at the Battle of Issus.
332: Alexander conquers Egypt, founds Alexandria,
and installs a Greek government but leaves the next
year.
331: At the Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander defeats
the Persian king Darius III.
326: Alexander reaches the limit of his expansion,
winning the Battle of the Hydaspes in the northern
Punjab region of what is today Pakistan.
324: The Mauryan empire in India is founded by
Chandragupta Maurya, the first ruler to unite most of
the Indian subcontinent.
323: Alexander dies, and his empire falls apart as his
generals, the diadochi, battle one another for
supremacy.
305: The first Greek pharaoh of Egypt, Ptolemy I, takes
over the reins and establishes the Ptolemaic dynasty.
3rd Century BCE
265–241: The First Punic War between Rome and
Carthage is waged with no decisive winner.
240: Greek mathematician Eratosthenes (276–194)
measures the Earth's circumference.
221–206: Qin Shi Huang (259–210) unites China for the
first time, beginning the Qin Dynasty; construction on
the Great Wall begins.
218–201: The Second Punic War begins in Carthage,
this time led by the Phoenician leader Hannibal (247–
183) and a force supported by elephants; he loses to
the Romans and later commits suicide.
215–148: The Macedonian Wars lead to Rome's control
of Greece.
206: The Han Dynasty rules in China, led by Liu Bang
(Emperor Gao), who uses the Silk Road to make trade
connections as far as the Mediterranean.
2nd Century BCE
149–146: The Third Punic War is waged, and at the
end, according to legend, the Romans salt the land so
Carthaginians can no longer live there.
135: The first Servile War is conducted when the
enslaved people of Sicily revolt against Rome.
133–123: The Gracchi brothers attempt to reform
Rome's social and political structure to help the lower
classes.
1st Century BCE
91–88: The Social War (or Marsic War) begins, a
rebellion waged by Italians who want Roman
citizenship.
88–63: The Mithridatic Wars are fought by Rome
against the Pontic empire and its allies.
60: Roman leaders Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar
form the 1st Triumvirate.
55: Julius Caesar invades Britain.
49: Caesar crosses the Rubicon, precipitating the
Roman Civil War.
44: On the Ides of March (March 15), Caesar is
assassinated.
43: The 2nd Triumvirate, that of Marc Antony,
Octavian, and M Aemillius Lepidus, is established.
31: At the Battle of Actium, Antony and the last
Ptolemaic pharaoh Cleopatra VII are defeated and
soon after Augustus (Octavian) becomes the first
emperor of Rome.
1st Century CE
9: German tribes destroy 3 Roman legions under P.
Quinctilius Varnus in the Teutoberg Forest.
33: Judean philosopher Jesus (3 BCE–33 CE) is
executed by Rome and his followers continue.
64: Rome burns while Nero (supposedly) fiddles.
79: Mount Vesuvius erupts burying the Roman cities of
Pompeii and Herculaneum.
2nd Century CE
122: Roman soldiers begin building Hadrian's Wall, a
defensive structure that will eventually stretch 70 miles
across Northern England and marks the northern limit
of the empire in Great Britain.
3rd Century CE
212: The Edict of Caracalla extends Roman citizenship
to all free inhabitants of the Empire.
284–305: The Roman Emperor Diocletian divides the
Roman empire into four administrative units known as
the Roman Tetrarchy, and afterward there was usually
more than one imperial head of Rome.
4th Century CE
313: Decree of Milan legalizes Christianity in the
Roman Empire.
324: Constantine the Great establishes his capital at
Byzantium (Constantinople).
378: Emperor Valens is killed by the Visigoths at
the Battle at Adrianople.
5th Century CE
410: Rome is sacked by the Visigoths.
426: Augustine writes "City of God," in support of
Christianity in Rome.
451: Attila the Hun (406–453) faces the Visigoths and
Romans together in the Battle of Chalons. He then
invades Italy but is convinced to withdraw by Pope
Leo I.
453: Attila the Hun dies.
455: Vandals sack Rome.
476: Arguably, the western Roman Empire ends when
Emperor Romulus Augustulus is removed from office.
