Timeline 1300BCE - 500BCE
Go to home
1.3k BC Late Helladic III. An
archeological period of ancient Greece.
(LSA., Fall 1995, p.6)
c1.3k BC China introduced books around this time.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)
1.3k BC The oldest know shipwreck dates to about
this time, the era of the fall of Troy and reign of King Tut. It was
found off the southern coast of Turkey at Uluburun (Big Nose/Cape)
by Dr. George Bass in 1984. [see 4431BC]
(MT, 3/96, p.2)
1.3k BC A 50-foot boat was discovered in 1992 at
Dover, England.
(AM, Jul/Aug '97 p.13)
1.3k BC The Lapita people took once again to the
open seas about this time, pushing east past the Solomon Islands to
the Bismarck archipelago and beyond to Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa.
Theses Southeast Asian peoples had headed south from Taiwan to Papua
New Guinea and as far as the main Solomon islands, where they
stopped some 40,000 years ago.
(AFP, 11/9/10)
1.3k BC - 1.2k A sprawling Assyrian
administrative center was discovered by Dutch archeologists in 1997
in Rakka, 340 miles north of Damascus. The site included a 15-foot
high 2-story building with 2 bathrooms, 2 toilets and a tiled floor.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.B3)
1.3k BC - 1.1k BC From the late Shang
Dynasty (13th to the 11th century BC), a pair of 33-inch-tall ting
tripod vessels, will be part of the traveling exhibit from the
National Palace Museum, Taipei. [see 1600BC-1100]
(WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)
1.3k BC - 1.1k BC A 9-foot-tall bronze standing
figure from this time was found in 1986 at a 'sacrificial pit" at
Sanxingdui in Sichuan province.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.E1)
1.3k BC - 612BC The Assyrians, a Semitic people,
established an empire that spread out from Assur in northern
Mesopotamia.
(eawc, p.4)
1.3k BC - 300BC The Omani Iron Age.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.49)
1.295k BC - 1.294k BC Ramesses I ruled during
Egypt’s 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
1.294k BC - 1.279k BC Sethi I (Seti I), son of
Rammeses I and the father of Rammeses II, ruled during Egypt’s 19th
Dynasty. He restored the ancient gods of Egypt, such as Amun-Re,
Ptah, Seth, and Osiris. At Abydos he built a splendid temple to
Osiris. Sethi claims to have inflicted a victory against the Hittite
king, Mursillis II, the successor to Suppililiumas, at the towns of
Yenoam and Bethshael. Seti overran Palestine, made peace with the
Hittites in Syria, opened mines and quarries, and enlarged the
Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. His tomb was discovered in 1817.
(NG, 9/98, p.17,19)(AM, 7/01,
p.56)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
1.295k BC - 1.272k BC The Hittite king Muwatalli
II signed a treaty with Alaksandu, ruler of the Arzawa land known as
Wilusa (northwest Turkey), which became Wilios in Bronze Age Greece
and then slurred to Ilios for Homer’s Iliad.
(Arch, 5/04, p.40)
1.292k BC Horemheb, the last
pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, died about this time and was buried
in the Valley of the Kings.
(Arch, 9/02,
p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horemheb)
1.292k BC An Egyptian scribe documented that a
couple of construction worker twins went off a beer binge. They left
their wives at home to chase available women and didn't show up for
work. Their brother-in-law was the chief engineer on the job and did
not fire them.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)
1.28k BC Ramesses II, about this time, built a
fortress temple named Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (the rest house of the
mother of vultures).
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.133)
1.28k BC - 1.2k BC Moses lived about this time. We
cannot be certain when Moses lived except that it was obviously
before the Jews settled in Palestine, when they were still
wanderers. The general opinion seems to be that it was at some time
within the period of Ramesses and his son. The father-in-law of
Moses was a Midianite. Moses reportedly died at Mount Nebo.
(L.C.-W.P.p.123)(MT, Spg. '97, p.11)(WSJ,
5/11/00, p.A24)
1.279k BC - 1.213k BC Ramesses II (the Great)
ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. Seti I named him co-ruler early
in his life. His capital city was Qantir, 75 miles north of Cairo. A
detailed map of the city was created in 1998. His colossal statue,
removed from Memphis, now greets the visitor when he leaves Cairo's
main railway station. There are huge statues of Ramesses in the
Luxor temple... and most gigantic of all, the seated colossi at Abu
Simbel. He enlarged the Karnak temple on a scale which makes human
beings... look and feel like ants. The tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife
of Ramses II, Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, was discovered in 1904.
(L.C.-W.P.p.104,113)(V. Sun, 11/3/95,
p.A-20)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19.html)
1.275k BC Pharaoh Ramses II took back the coastal
kingdoms of Canaan, Phoenicia and Amarru from their Hittite
overlords.
(ON, 12/11, p.1)
1.275k BC Ptahmes, the mayor of Memphis, served
about this time as army chief, overseer of the treasury and royal
scribe under Seti I and his son and successor, Ramses II.
Archeologists in 2010 discovered the tomb of Ptahmes at Saqqara.
Foreign expeditions in 1885 had made off with pieces of the tomb,
whose location was soon after forgotten.
(AP, 5/30/10)
1.275 - 1.24k BC The Trojan War is usually dated
to this period.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49)
1.274BC Pharaoh Ramses II, in the fifth year of
his reign, moved to meet and destroy the forces of the Hittite king,
Muwatalli II, grandson of Suppililiumas. Ramses left his mark
on a cliff face by the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) when he marched
north from Egypt to battle the Hittites. In the Battle of Kadesh
some 70,000-100,000 armed men clashed in fury... The battle lasted
two days... and was decisive in that the Hittite advanced no
further. The Hittites fought off the invading Egyptians. This
reflected the power gained from trading metals abundant in Turkey.
(L.C.-W.P.p.116-119)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(ON,
12/11, p.1)
1.272BC Hittite King Muwatalli II died. Ramses II
launched his 3rd invasion into the Levant, but was unable to
reassert permanent control.
(ON, 12/11, p.2)
1.27k BC At Abu Simbel, Egypt, Ramses II
constructed The Great Temple in his own honor and the Small Temple
in honor of his wife Nefertari. Engulfed by sand over the centuries,
the temples lay hidden until discovered by a Swiss traveler in 1813.
The temples are moved under a 4 year UNESCO project when in 1964 the
rising waters behind the Aswan High Dam threaten to drown them.
(NG, May 1985, p.591)
1.267BC Hattusili became king of the Hittites
after he deposed his nephew Mursili, the son of King Muwatalli.
Mursili fled to Egypt and sought asylum from Ramses II.
(ON, 12/11, p.2)
1.267k BC - 1.237k BC King Hattusili III ruled the
Hittites during this period. He wrote a letter to the king of
Ahhiyawa (thought to be Mycenaean Greeks) and mentioned that Wilusa
was once a bone of contention.
(Arch, 5/04, p.40)
1.261BC Egyptian and Hittite diplomats concluded
the Treaty of Kadesh, the world’s first known int’l. peace accord.
(ON, 12/11, p.2)
c1.26k BC A pottery fragment from this time was
found in 2004 near Natadola in western Fiji. It was believed to have
been made by the Lapita people, who populated Polynesia.
(Arch, 1/05, p.11)
1.25k BC By this time the Assyrians committed
themselves to conquering the Kassite Empire to the south.
(eawc, p.4)
1.25k BC Some scholars believe that the Mycenaeans
waged a successful war with the Trojans of western Asia Minor.
(eawc, p.5)
c1.25k BC - 1.2k BC Under the direction of Moses
the Hebrew people returned to Canaan from Egypt after wandering for
several years in the Sinai desert and began the conquest of Canaan.
The conquest took some hundred years and after victory they parceled
the land of Canaan into tribal territories under a government known
as an amphictyony.
(eawc, p.5)
1.25k BC - 1150BC This time frame is referred to
as the Initial Olmec Period of southern Mexico.
(Arch, 1/06, p.42)
1.25k BC - 1k BC Troy VIIa, another discernible
era on the site of the Trojan War. Evidence shows that Troy V was
destroyed by fire and that Troy VI saw the establishment of an
entirely new principality. An earthquake hit the thriving city of
5-6 thousand people, but after the crisis, the same people returned
and repaired the city. The renovated Troy VIIa lasted some seventy
years and was then destroyed by a conflagration.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.49-50)
1.248BC Pharaoh Ramses II, about this time, took
one of Hittite King Hattusili’s daughters as one of his many wives.
(ON, 12/11, p.2)
1.225k BC The Assyrian ruler, Tukulti-Ninurta,
captured Babylon and the region of southern Mesopotamia, but their
control did not last long.
(eawc, p.5)
1.225k BC Earliest known Illyrian king, Hyllus,
died.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1.225k BC - 1.175k BC Earthquakes during this
period toppled some city-states and centers of trade and scholarship
in the Middle East. Jericho, Jerusalem, Knossos and Troy were all
hit.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A8)(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.A19)
1.213k BC Ramesses II (the Great) Pharaoh during
Egypt’s 19th Dynasty, died. In 1976 his mummy was shipped to Paris,
where it was treated with radiation and chemicals for protection
against bacteriological damage.
(NG, 9/98,
p.16,22,32)(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/18_20/19.html)
1.213k BC - 1.203k BC Maremptah (Merenptah),
the 13th son of Rammeses, ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. He is
mainly attested to by three great inscriptions, including 80 lines
on a wall in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, a large stele with 35
readable lines from Athribis in the Delta and the great Victory
Stele from his ruined mortuary temple at Thebes, with 28 lines.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1.203k BC - 1.2k BC Amenmesse (Ammenemes) about
this time led Egypt as the 5th ruler of the 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1.2k BC Afghanistan, near Sheberghan at Tillya
Tepe, a temple for the worship of fire was built.
(NG, March 1990,V.I. Sarainidi p.62)
1.2k BC The Hittite Empire fell when invading
Assyrians sacked and burned their capital, Hattussa (Hattusha).
(ON, 12/11,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattusa)
1.2k BC The first outbreak of human plague may
have been the scourge that struck the Philistines in the 12th
century BC. The Old Testament account mentions "mice that mar the
land."
(NG, 5/88, p.678)
1.2k BC The tradition of the Mokaya people at
coastal Chiapas and Guatemala came to a sudden end about this time.
This appeared to coincide with the rise of the Olmec people.
(Arch, 1/06, p.43)
1200BC The Philistines arrived by sea from the
area of modern-day Greece about this time. They went on to rule
major ports at Ashkelon and Ashdod, now cities in Israel, and at
Gaza, now part of the Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 7/8/11)
1.2k BC The end of Mycenaean civilization.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.73)
1.2k BC Indian ink became increasingly popular.
Other cultures developed inks from berries, plants and minerals.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
1.2k BC - 1.194k BC The period of the 19th Dynasty
under Seti II.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1.2k BC - 1.02k BC The Israelites were ruled by
the Judges in a period of relative stability until a Philistine
invasion in 1050.
(eawc, p.5)
1.2k BC - 1k BC The archeological evidence later
confirmed that a collection of small settlements appeared in the
eastern parts of the highlands of Palestine later known as the West
Bank.
(AM, 9/01, p.30)
1.2k BC - 400BC The Olmecs built impressive cities
and established trade routes throughout Mesoamerica, that included
settlements at La Venta and Tres Zapotes.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.T12)
c1.2k BC - 300BC In Peru a pre-Columbian culture
flourished over this time in the Andes site of Chavin de Huantar.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.A20)
1.2k BC - 300BC The Olmec people ruled southern
Mexico and northern Central America.
(WSJ, 7/2/96, p.A12)
1.194k BC - 1.188k BC The period of the 19th
Dynasty under Siptah.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1.187k BC - 1.185k BC Queen Tawosret (Taweseret)
ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19b.html)
1.186k BC - 1.184k BC The period of the 20th
Dynasty under Sethnakhte (Setnakht).
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.184k BC - 1.153k BC The period of the 20th
Dynasty under Ramses III. After Ramessu III ascended the throne of
Egypt, he fought back two major attacks from the northern countries.
Ramses III defended his kingdom from foreign invasion in three
separate wars, reorganized Egyptian society into classes based on
occupation and built a funerary temple based on the Ramesseum.
Ramses, son of Setnakht, twice defended Egypt against invasions from
Libyan tribes and in his 8th year from a coalition of migrants
referred to in records as the "Sea Peoples." The great Battle
against the Sea Peoples was captured in a magnificent picture which
Ramesses III caused to be sculpted on the walls of his great temple
at Medinet Habu in Thebes.
(L.C.-W.P.p.104,126)(R.M.-P.H.C.p.21)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.184k BC Jun 11, Greeks finally captured
Troy. This corresponds to excavation levels VIi or VIIa at the site
of Hisarlik, Turkey [see 1150BC].
(SC, 6/11/02)(Arch, 5/04, p.37)
c1.182k BC Ramessu III beat back a more formidable
attack by northern countries. An inscription describing this war was
engraved on the second pylon of the temple of Medinet Habu. The
inscription describes how the northerners were disturbed, and
proceeded to move eastward and southward, swamping in turn the land
of the Hittites, Carchemish, Arvad, Cyprus, Syria, and other places
of the same region. The Hittites and North Syrians had been so
crippled by them that Ramessu took the opportunity to extend the
frontier of Egyptian territory northward... the twofold ravaging of
Syria left it weakened and opened the door for the colonization of
its coast-lands by the beaten remnant of the invading army.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.23)
c1.179k BC Ramessu III beat back a Libyan invasion
in his fifth year, this invasion was accompanied by war galleys from
the northern countries.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.22)
1.178k BC Apr 16, In 2008 researchers suggested
that this was the date that Odysseus struck with arrows, swords and
spears, killing those who sought to replace him, as he returned from
the Trojan War.
(AP, 6/23/08)
c1.176k BC "Peoples of the sea" arrived to the
Lebanese coast (c1200-1182). They came probably from the Aegean.
They toppled the Hittites, destroyed Ugarit on the Syrian coast and
swept south to Egypt where Ramesses III stopped them.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)
1.175k BC Rameses III built his temple palace at
Medinet Habu.
(eawc, p.5)
1.153k BC Ramesses III of Egypt died, and was
succeeded by a series of weak ghost-kings.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.153k BC - 1147BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses IV, son of Ramesses III.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.15k BC Troy fell about this time. Estimated date
for the beginning of the Aeneid. [see 1275-1240BC] After King
Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, returned home to Mycenae he was
killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover. In 2006 Cathy Gere
authored “The Tomb of Agamemnon.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.60)(Econ, 3/11/06, p.78)
1.15k BC - 1k BC This time frame is referred to as
the Early Olmec Period of southern Mexico.
(Arch, 1/06, p.42)
1.147k BC - 1.143k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses V, son of Ramesses IV and Queen Ta-Opet. His
mummy indicates that he died of smallpox at about age 35.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.143k BC - 1.136k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses VI.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.136k BC - 1.129k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses VII.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.129k BC - 1.126k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses VIII.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.126k BC - 1.108k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses IX.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
c1.116k BC In China an imperial decree stated that
it was a requirement of the heavenly powers that people regularly
take a moderate amount of alcoholic drink.
(SFEC, 8/9/98, Z1 p.8)
1.114k BC - 1.076k BC Tiglath-Pileser I ruled the
Assyrian empire.
(eawc, p.5)
1111-255BC Chou dynasty in China.
(V.D.-H.K. p.7)
1.108k BC - 1.099k BC The period of Egypt’s 20th
Dynasty under Ramses X. During his reign workers went on strike for
wages not paid.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.1k BC The Phoenician alphabet containing only
consonants was in use.
(V.D.-H.K.p.25)
1.1k BC By this time the Mycenaeans were overtaken
by Dorian invaders who used iron weapons. Greek culture then entered
unto a "Dark Age" period characterized by the disappearance of
writing and a decline in architecture that lasted to about 800BC.
(eawc, p.5)
c1.1k BC - 1k BC The first Greek tribes settled on
Crete around the 11th century BC.
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)
c1.1k BC - 1k BC In Britain Stonehenge Phase IV
the path across the henge ditch was extended into the fields and
over the hill to the River Avon.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)
1.1k BC - 700BC The Phoenicians traded around the
Mediterranean.
(WH, 1994, p.13)
1.1k BC - 265BC The Zhou period in China. [see
1027-771]
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1.094k BC - 1.064k BC The period of Egypt under
Ramses XI. He was the last king of the 20th Dynasty and the New
Kingdom. Upon his death Hrihor and Smendes divided Egypt between
themselves. Hrihor, the high priest of Amon ultimately usurped the
sovereignty and become founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty. In Lower
Egypt, the Tanite noble Nesubenebded, in Greek Smendes controlled
the Delta.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.29)(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1.085k BC After 1085 BC, Egypt split between a
northern 21st dynasty claiming national recognition reigning from
Tanis and a line of Theban generals and high priests of Amun who
actually controlled the south from Thebes. Relations between the two
authorities were peaceful. The Tanites were driven from power by
Libyan warriors who established their own 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1.08k BC - 945BC High priests ruled Egypt from the
capital of Thebes.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1.075k BC Wenamun, a priest of Amun, moved from
Egypt to Byblos during the rule of Ramesses XI. This was recorded in
the Golenischeff papyrus found in 1891CE at El Khibeh in Upper
Egypt. It is the personal report of the adventures of an Egyptian
messenger to Lebanon. Zakar-Baal was governor of Byblos.
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Luxor)
1.069k BC - 945BC This is the period of Egypt’s
21st Dynasty. The capital moved from Tanis to Libyan, to Nubia, to
Thebes, to SAIS, and then back to Nubia and Thebes.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
1.069k BC - 664BC A black-bronze statue of the
falcon-faced god Horus, now in the French Louvre, dates to this
time.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
1.064k BC - 1.038k BC Smendes ruled as the 1st
king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1.05k BC The Philistines invaded Israel from the
North. Facing annihilation the Israelites instituted governmental
reform and asked Samuel, the last of the Judges, to select a king.
(eawc, p.5)
1.045k BC The Zhou King Wu subdued the Shang. [see
1027BC]
(Arch, 9/00, p.37)
1.034k BC - 981BC Psusennes I was the 2nd king of Egypt’s 21st
Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1.031k BC The Centennial Stump, a giant sequoia,
started its growth, and was cut down in 1874CE.
(K.I.-365D, p.146)
1.027k BC In China the last Shang ruler, Chou
Hsin, was conquered by Wu-wang, and the Chou Dynasty began. It
lasted to 221BC and is typically divided into three periods.
(eawc, p.5)
1.02k BC In Israel Samuel selected Saul to be king
and unified the tribes into a nation. Saul faced many losses against
the Philistines and eventually committed suicide. David in his
campaigns against the Philistines proved victorious.
(eawc, p.6)
1.027k BC - 771BC In China this was the Western
Chou period.
(eawc, p.5)
1.02k BC - 980 BC Radiocarbon dating on burnt
olive pits found in the ancient city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, 19 miles
(30km) southwest of Jerusalem, indicate it existed between during
this period, before being violently destroyed. In 2012
archaeologists reported the discovery of shrines from the fortified
city, providing the earliest evidence of a Biblical cult.
(http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il/)(http://tinyurl.com/7hxg4qx)
c1.01k BC - 970 King David, the 2nd King of
Israel, ruled. He had succeeded Saul.
(WUD, 1994, p.369)
1.005k BC King David's conquest of Jerusalem. In
1995 Israel launched a 17 month celebration of the event.
(WSJ, 9/25/95, P. A-1)
1.004k BC David became the king of Israel. He
ruled from Hebron before moving his capital to Jerusalem. He began
to build a centralized government based in Jerusalem and implemented
forced labor, a census and a mechanism for collecting taxes. In 2000
Jonathan Kirsch authored "King David: The Real Life of the Man Who
ruled Israel." According to the Bible the census under David was
followed by a plague that left some 70,000 Israelites dead.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A4)(SFC, 12/31/00, BR p.8)(Econ,
12/22/07, p.97)(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
c1k BC Irrigation canals were
made in the Tucson basin of the American Southwest.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, Z1 p.2)
c1k BC A Bronze Age salt mine
of this time in Hallstatt, Austria, had a pine and spruce staircase
that survived into the 21st century.
(Arch, 1/05, p.10)
c1k BC The British Bronze Age
site Flag Fen, estimated to about this time, was accidentally
discovered in 1982 by archaeologist Francis Pryor. Flag Fen is the
site of some of the most recent and unusual discoveries of ancient
British culture. In 1982 archaeologist Francis Pryor tripped over a
piece of wood while walking along a dyke in the Fenlands near
Peterborough. Noticing that the wood showed signs of deliberate
shaping, he poked around in the peaty, wet soil and soon discovered
a series of posts. The wood was set deeper into the ground than the
surface of a nearby Roman road, so Pryor knew the wood had to have
been placed into the ground well before the Roman engineers arrived
on the scene.
(HNQ, 5/12/01)
c1k BC An Indo-European group
of people moved east to live in what later became Xinjiang province
of western China. They left well-preserved Caucasian mummies of this
age and 1,300 year old texts written in an unknown Indo European
tongue. Some evidence showed that they had come from the steppes
north of the Black and Caspian seas as the area filled with Iranian
immigrants. They settled in the Tarim Basin on the edges of the
Taklimakan Desert. They area has also been named Inner Asia, Chinese
Turkistan and East Turkistan. The Uighers of Xinjiang sometimes show
physical features that reflects Tocharian blood.
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A2)
c1k BC In China's
southwest one of the world's great cities flourished, and then
inexplicably vanished, leaving no trace behind in the historical
records. In 2001 excavations at Jinsha village began to uncover
extensive artifacts.
(AFP, 7/10/05)
1k BC The Chinese invented
kites about this time that could carry scouts on reconnaissance
missions.
(NPub, 2002, p.2)
c1k BC The fertile bottom land
of the Copan River valley attracted agriculturists to the region
more than 3,000 years ago.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.29)
c1k BC The Phoenicians and
other Semites of Syria and Palestine began using graphic signs
representing letters. Aleph meaning ox was the sign that represented
a sound such as that heard in the pronunciation of the o in bottle,
known as a glottal stop.
(AHD, 1971, p.1)
1k BC Ahiram, king of Byblos,
had inscribed on his sarcophagus: "His abode in eternity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.154)
1k BC Chaldians traced their
origins to about this time in Babylon.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A12)
c1k BC A brightly colored
papyrus of this time depicting a Theban housewife's life after death
was found by Herbert Winlock at Thebes in 1912.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-8)
1k BC Bone lesions in the
mummified body of the priest of Ammon from a tomb of the Egyptian
21st dynasty, have been recognized as probably caused by tubercle
bacilli.
(WP, 1951, p.5)
1k BC About this time Kush
became independent from Egypt.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167)
1k BC Israel became a kingdom.
(WH, 1994, p.13)
1k BC A clay tablet, described
as an Akkadian-language letter, dating to about this time was placed
on display in 2011 in Jerusalem. The letter was from the Canaanite
King Abdi-Heba to the king of Egypt. It was found in excavations of
a site from the First Temple period.
(SFC, 6/21/11, p.A6)
c1k BC Three-thousand-year-old
archives were found in Jerusalem on Mar 13, 1935, confirming
biblical history.
(HN, 3/13/98)
c1k BC The Samaritans broke
away from the mainstream of Judaism about this time. They believed
that God chose Mount Gerizim as the site for the Jews to build their
temple.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A21)
c1k BC The Garamantes, a tribal
people descended from Berbers and Saharan pastoralists, inhabited
the area of the Fazzan in southern Libya.
(AM, 3/04, p.24)
c1k BC The first typical Baltic culture of
brushed pottery formed at the turn of the last millennium BC in
eastern Lithuania. It was the time when the first hill forts and
barrows appeared and the cremation of the dead was introduced.
(DrEE, 10/12/96, p.2)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
c1k BC In India the Rig Veda,
the first Vedic literature was written.
(eawc, p.6)
c1000 The original Hindu
calendar in India was based on a lunar cycle and dated back to this
time.
(SFC, 1/1/00, p.A18)
1k BC The Sushruta Samhita, an
early text of Ayurvedic medicine, was compiled by Sushrut, the
primary pupil of Dhanvantri, about this time. In 2003 India moved to
assess the country’s herbs systematically in a program called the
Golden Triangle Partnership.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda)(www.ccras.nic.in/gtp.htm)
1k BC The Illyrians were
Indo-European tribesmen who appeared in the western part of the
Balkan Peninsula about 1000 BC. Albanians derive their name from an
Illyrian tribe called the Arber, or Arbereshë, and later
Albanoi, that lived near Durrës.
(http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/illyria/)
c1k BC In Kyrgyzstan the
capital city of Bishkek was founded.
(MT, Spg. '99, p.4)
1k BC The great Olmec
Ceremonial Center, in Tabasco, Mexico, was built about this time. It
continued to be used till about 600BC.
(RFH-MDHP, p.241)
1k BC The Olmec kings are
thought by some to be responsible for the invention of the ancient
Mayan ballgame that often left the loser dead.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.125)
1k BC The settlement at Canton
Corralito on the southern Mexico-Guatemala border covered at least
60 acres by this time and was believed to be a colony of the Gulf
Olmec people.
(Arch, 1/06, p.44)
c1k BC In Pakistan some of the
monuments at the Uch Monument Complex in the Punjab date to this
time.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T4)
1k BC In Thailand Ban Prasat
pottery from the site at Prasat Hin Phanom Wan dates to this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.H)
c1k BC A major earthquake
struck along the Carmel-Gilboa fault system about this time. The
Hebrew city of Har Megiddo, located at the strategic Nahal Iron Pass
- the only route where chariots could speed between Egypt and Syria,
was destroyed in the quake. This event is likely one described by
John of Patmos in the Book of Revelations, where a great quake takes
place at Armageddon.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A8)
c1k BC In Peru the tomb of a
Huayakuntur Indian of this time was found in Ayabaca province in
1999.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A12)
1k BC The Phoenicians inhabited
Sardinia.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)
1k BC Bronze age nomads erected
mysterious megaliths throughout regions of Mongolia and southern
Siberia about this time. Some scholars believed them to be the work
of Iron Age peoples who appeared by 700BC.
(Arch, 1/06, p.17)
c1k BC Troy at Hissarlik in
northwest Turkey was destroyed by fire and abandoned.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.50)
1k BC A cemetery containing the
remains of 25 Lapita people in Teouma, Vanuatu, dated to about this
time.
(Arch, 1/06, p.11)
1k BC - 975BC In 2008 Israeli archeologists found
a Hebrew inscription in proto-Canaanite script on a pottery fragment
at a site believed to the biblical city of Sha’arayim (Two Gates).
The city was located on a hill above the Valley of Elah, where the
bible says David slew Goliath.
(SFC, 11/17/08, p.A10)
1k BC - 900BC The search for the 10 lost tribes of
Israel, who were dispersed in the tenth century BC when the
Assyrians conquered part of the Holy Land, is depicted on a CD
titled The Myth of the 10 Lost Tribes, by Creative Multimedia
Corp.
(New Media, 2/95, p.84)
1k BC - 900BC Archeologists in 2005 reported that
2 lines of an alphabet had been found inscribed in a stone in
Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence
yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th
century B.C. The stone was found in July, on the final day of a
five-week dig at Tel Zayit, about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv.
(AP, 11/10/05)
c1k BC - 800 The kingdom of Habushkia was likely
centered on the headwaters of the Great Zap River in western Turkey.
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
1k BC - 600BC This was the late Vedic period in
India. The Aryans were integrated into Indian culture and the caste
system emerged.
(eawc, p.6)
1k BC - 500BC Oct 31, The Celts of Ireland, Great
Britain and northern France celebrated Oct. 31 to Nov 2 as their New
Year which they called Samhain. The Druid harvest event incorporated
masks to ward off evil ones, as dead relatives were believed to
visit families on the first evening. The Catholic holiday of All
Hallows' Day (aka All Saints' Day) was instituted around 700 CE to
supplant the pagan event and Pope Gregory III made
the Nov 1 date official. In the 9th century Nov 2, the last day of
Samhain, became All Souls' Day. Halloween was transplanted to the US
in the 1840s.
(WSJ, 10/28/99, p.A24)(WSJ, 10/29/99, p.W17)
1k BC - 300 Middle preclassic period of the Maya.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)
1k BC - 1BC In Thailand a cemetery at the Noen
U-Loke site has revealed jewelry, bronze and iron tools and pottery.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)
c1k BC - 1k BE A civilization in Amazonia, called
Patiti or Enin by archeologists, dug channels for an elaborate crop
irrigation system.
(SFEC, 12/6/98, p.T12)
993BC - 984BC Amenope was the 4th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
984BC - 978BC Osochor was the 5th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
978BC - 959BC Siamun was the 6th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
970BC King David of Israel died
about this time. In 2000 Robert Alter authored "The David Story: A
Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel." In 2005 Robert
Pinsky authored “The Life of David.”
(WUD, 1994, p.369)(SFEC, 4/30/00, BR p.10)(SSFC,
10/23/05, p.M1)
965BC Solomon became king of
Israel. He was intent on completing the plans of David to make
Jerusalem stand out and to affirm the religious commitment of the
people. He undertook expensive building projects that included the
building of the temple in Jerusalem and raised taxes with increased
forced labor to his ends.
(eawc, p.6)
959BC - 945BC Psusennes II was the 7th and last king of Egypt’s 21st
Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
955BC - 587BC The Ark of the Covenant, the sacred
chest built by Moses containing the Ten Commandments, disappeared
from Jerusalem during this period. Legend in Ethiopia holds that the
Ark was stolen by Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,
and taken to Aksum where Orthodox Christian monks have watched over
it ever since.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
950BC Hiram I, king of Tyre,
joined two islands and built an impregnable city in the sea. He sent
to David, king of Israel, and later to Solomon, the materials to
build palaces and the first great temple of Jerusalem. The building
of Solomon's temple is described in the First Book of Kings in the
Bible.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.163)(WH, 1994, p.13)
c950BC The Queen of Sheba lived about this time.
Local legends from Ethiopia name her Makeda and claim that she was
from there. Archeologists have found inscriptions from the ancient
Sabean kingdom but no mention of Makeda or Bilqis, the local name
for Sheba in Yemen. The Koran claims she ruled from Yemen.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A1)
c950BC The Kebra Negast, a 14th cent. Ethiopian
text, claims that the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia to see
Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him and bearing
him a son.
(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A6)
950BC Peanuts have been traced
back to this time in Brazil and Peru.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, Z1 p.8)
948BC - 927BC The Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak
(Sheshonq) founded Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty. He destroyed many Israelite
cities, including Rehov, Megiddo and Hazor. Sheshonq I supported
Jeroboam against King Solomon's son, Rehoboam.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A4)(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A9)(Arch,
5/05, p.21)
945-712BC Period of Egypt’s twenty-second dynasty.
It is often referred to as the Libyan Bubastite Dynasty. Manetho
lists the kings of this Dynasty as being from Bubastis which is
located in the eastern delta
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
c938BC Israel’s King Solomon died about this time.
The northerners, unwilling to subsidize the financial difficulties
of Jerusalem and the national court, separated from the southern
people. This created Israel to the north with its capital in
Samaria, and Judah to the south with its capital in Jerusalem.
Solomon’s son Rehoboam ruled in the south. Only the tribes of Juda
and Benjamin remaining faithful to Rehoboam. Jeroboam, the son of
Nathan an Ephraimite, ruled 10 tribes in the north.
(eawc, p.6)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08340a.htm)
930BC Sheshonq I, ruler of
Egypt, campaigned in Palestine about this time laying tribute upon
the king of Judah.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
924BC - 909BC Osorkon I ruled Egypt as the 2nd
king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
909BC - 894BC Takelot I ruled Egypt as the 3rd
king of the 22nd Dynasty. His reign saw the beginning of another
fragmentation into 2 power bases.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
c900BC Trade between East Africans and Arabs
probably began about this time.
(ATC, p.141)
900BC The Maya site named
Blackman Eddy in Belize was occupied from this time to about 1000CE.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)
c900BC In Honduras archeologists in 1997
discovered burial caves that date to this time. A cave from the same
period was discovered in 1994 near the Talgua River, known as the
Cave of the Glowing Skulls. The new cave was called the Cave of the
Spiders.
(USAT, 2/12/97, p.9D)
c900BC A group of people in northern Nigeria
produced distinct statuettes in baked clay. Their culture is called
the Nok culture after a village where the first statuette was found
in 1931. The culture may have lasted to about 900CE.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)
c900BC Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) was founded about
this time. It served as the capital from the 3rd century BC to the
11th century AD.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)(Arch, 7/02, p.32)
c900BC The Fossum panel was carved on a rock
outcropping in Sweden about this time and depicted 2 Bronze Age
figures with raised axes.
(NH, Jul, p.32)
900BC - 840BC The Assyrians expanded their empire
to the west. By 840 they conquered Syria and Turkey, territory that
had formerly belonged to the Hittites.
(eawc, p.6)
c900BC - 800BC Ahab was king of Israel. Pottery, a
4-entry gate at Megiddo, and other structures at Hazor and Gezer are
similar to others in the time of Ahab. This kind of data has
prompted "the Finkelstein correction," which pushes archeological
evidence attributed to David and Solomon more to the time of Ahab
and Jezebel, his wife from Phoenicia.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A4)
c900BC - 800BC Joash was King of Judah in the 9th
century. Joash and Ashyahu are common variations of the same name.
The temple priest Zechariah was a contemporary to Joash and was put
to death by Joash after a dispute. In 1997 a 13 word pottery
fragment was dated to this time with the words: "Pursuant to the
order to you of Ashyahu the King to give by the hand of Zecharyahu
silver of Tarshish to the House of Yahweh. Three shekels."
(SFC,11/4/97, p.A8)
900BC - 800BC Sican and Siculian farmers settled
the valleys of central Sicily.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A24)
900BC - 750BC Villanovan cultures in Italy. From
their hamlets Etruscan cities grew. The name comes from Villanova, a
site near Bologna where the culture's artifacts were first unearthed
more than a century ago.
(NG, 6/1988, p.710, 719)
900BC - 700BC In 2008 archeologists found
pottery in Tyre, Lebanon, that was used by Phoenicians during this
period.
(AP, 11/12/08)
900BC - 500BC This time frame is referred to as
the Late Olmec Period of southern Mexico.
(Arch, 1/06, p.42)
900BC - 400BC The Etruscan period of Italian
prehistory. For about 500 years the Etruscans dominated most of the
country from Rome to the Po Valley. Apa means father in Etruscan. It
means exactly the same in Hungarian.
(NG, 6/1988, p.705)(NG, 10/1988, member's forum)
894BC - 883BC Shoshenq II ruled Egypt during the
22nd Dynasty. He is though to have co-regent during the period
between Osorkon I and Takelot I.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
883BC - 885BC Osorkon II ruled Egypt as the 5th
king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
883-859 Ashurnasirpal II. This Assyrian ruler
established the new capital city of Kalhu (Nimrud).
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
880BC There was a very high
inundation of the Nile in the 3rd year of the reign of Osorkon II.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
858-824 Shalmaneser II, Assyrian ruler.
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
845BC During the 15th year of
the reign of Egypt’s Takelot II there was warfare in the north and
south and great convulsion broke out in the land.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
841BC In China a Zhou king died.
(SFC, 11/10/00, p.D4)
841BC - 815BC Takelot II ruled Egypt as the 6th
king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
835BC - 783BC Shoshenq III ruled Egypt as the 7th
king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
830BC The Philistine city of
Gath was razed. It appears to have been the work of the Aramean king
Hazael, an incident mentioned in the Book of Kings.
(AP, 7/8/11)
814BC Carthage was founded by
Phoenician traders.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.T5)
814-813BC Elissa-Dido, Princess of Tyre, Jezebel's
grandniece, fled to North Africa after her brother, King Pygmalion,
murdered her husband, Tyre's high priest. She was said to have
then founded Carthage on a hilltop now called Byrsa. Byrsa means
Oxhide and it was said that Elissa could have as much ground as
could be covered by the hide of an ox. She cut the hide into
narrow strips and so claimed the whole hill.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(SSFC, 12/10/00,
p.T8)
812-783BC Hada-Nirari III, Assyrian king
enumerated the Philistines among the Palestinian states conquered by
him.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
810BC - 805 Sammuramat ruled Assyria as Queen.
(eawc, p.6)
803BC Hadad-Nirari, Assyrian
king, conquered the Palestinian states including the Philistines.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
c800BC Large villages with dome-shaped "pit
houses" were constructed in the American Southwest and the
inhabitants made plainware pottery bowls.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, Z1 p.2)
800BC Nimrud, capital of
Assyria, 500 miles east of Byblos, sample of ivory carving from a
piece of furniture depicting a woman in a window wearing an Egyptian
wig.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.171)
c800BC The Zhou of China were driven east by
nomads.
(Arch, 9/00, p.37)
c800BC In Greece increased trade and governmental
defense fortifications allowed for the emergence of city-states to
emerge from tribal communities. These grew up among market places
and included Athens, Thebes and Megara on the mainland.
(eawc, p.6)
800BC In Guatemala some
structures at San Bartolo dated to about this time.
(AM, 7/05,
p.51)(http://sanbartolo.org/research.htm)
c800BC The Jewish city of Sepphoris was founded
about this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.64)
800BC Kingdom of Kush in
northern Sudan near present day Karima; its monarchs ruled all of
Egypt as the pharaohs of the XXV Dynasty.
(NG, May 1985, R. Caputo, p.607)
800BC The twenty-fifth dynasty,
as noted by Manetho, consisted of three Ethiopic kings. The seat of
the empire was originally at Gebel Barkal, or Napata. They
subsequently conquered the whole of Egypt. The first monarch of this
line was called Sabaco by the Greek writers; the second Sebechos, or
Suechos, his son; the third was Tarkos or Taracus.
(RFH-MDHP, A. Layard, 1853, p.62)
c800BC A great change in climate overcame Europe
around this time.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.T4)
800BC - 750BC The Iliad epic was set down by Homer
in about the first half of the 8th century, some five centuries
after the war it purportedly reports.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.44)
c800BC - 700BC The period of Homer, reputed author
of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey."
(WUD, 1994, p.679)
800BC - 700BC The time of Hesiod, the first Greek
poet to name himself. His work included "The Theogony" and "Works
and Days."
(WUD, 1994, p.666)(eawc, p.7)
c800BC - 700BC The Greeks and the Etruscans
occupied different regions of the Italian peninsula during the 8th
century.
(eawc, p.2)
800BC - 700BC Bubastis was the capital of 8th
century BC Egypt.
(AM, 7/04, p.12)
800BC - 700BC The Languedoc region of France has
produced wine since this time. Langue d'oc refers to the language of
Occitan spoken in the region. Greeks began planting vineyards in
Languedoc around 600BC.
(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)(WSJ,
5/30/03, p.A3)
800BC - 600BC In India the Brahmans, a priestly
caste, began to emerge.
(eawc, p.7)
800BC - 500BC In India the Upanishadic philosophy
began with the writing of the Upanishads. Doctrines of rebirth and
the transmigration of souls began to appear.
(eawc, p.7)
800BC - 500BC The Archaic period of Greece. It was
marked by developments in literature, the arts, politics, philosophy
and science. The Peloponnesian city of Corinth, Sparta and cities
along the coast of the Aegean flourished. Most of the cities were
similar in their political evolution except for the elite
dictatorship in Sparta. Most of the cities began as monarchies,
evolved to oligarchies, were overthrown during the age of tyrants
and eventually established democracies.
(eawc, p.6)
800BC - 500BC The Celtic Hallstatt Culture spread
across Europe. It was an early iron-using culture named after an
Austrian burial site found in the mid-19th century.
(NGM, 5/77)
800BC - 500BC Zazacatla in central Mexico covered
less than one square mile between during this period. Inhabitants of
Zazacatla adopted Olmec styles when they changed from a simple,
egalitarian society to a more complex, hierarchical one. Much of it
was later covered by housing and commercial development extending
from Cuernavaca.
(AP, 1/25/07)
800BC - 500BC Texts called Southwest Script dating
to this period were later discovered in Portugal. Most experts have
concluded they were authored by a people called Tartessians, a tribe
of Mediterranean traders who mined for metal but disappeared after a
few centuries. Some scientists have proposed that the composers were
other pre-Roman tribes, such as the Conii or Cynetes, or maybe even
Celts who roamed this far south.
(AP, 2/28/09)
800BC - 300BC Scythians dominated the vast lands
stretching from Siberia to the Black Sea. Those who roamed what
later became Kazakstan and southern Siberia were known as the Saka.
(AM, 5/01, p.32)
c800BC - 200CE The Mayan city of Takalik Abaj, in
later day Guatemala, served as one of the most important economic
and cultural centers of pre-Columbian times.
(NG, May, 04, p.70)
c800BC - 200CE Saba culture (Yemen) was a major
economic player in the trade routes from India to the Mediterranean
during this period.
(Arch, 1/05, p.56)
783BC - 773BC Pami (Pemay) ruled Egypt as the 8th
king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
782BC Urartian king Argishti
the First founded Erebuni, the military and administrative center of
the state of Urartu, situated in the location of present-day
Yerevan, Armenia.
(www.anahit.am/regions/yerevan/)(SSFC, 10/17/04,
p.D8)
776BC In Olympia Greece the
Olympic Games were born after Iphitos, king of Elis, asked the
Delphic Oracle how to save Greece from civil war and plagues. The
answer was to revive the Olympics from their mythological roots.
Together with Lycourgos of Sparta and Kleosthenes of Pisa a sacred
truce was concluded and the games declared at Olympia. The historian
Pausanias (c150CE) wrote: "The Olympic victor must not win with
money but the fleetness of foot and the strength of body." In the
Pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing, biting and
eye-gouging were forbidden. Adult women were discouraged from
attending the games under the penalty of being hurled from the
cliffs of Mount Typaion, opposite the stadium
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.R16)
773BC - 735BC Shoshenq IV ruled Kush as the 9th
king of Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
771BC In China the Chou Dynasty
faced difficulty when King Yu alienated the noble class who refused
to answer his call for help against invading barbarians. King Yu was
killed and the nobles installed a new leader. The capital was moved
eastward to Loyang and the "Western Chou" period ended.
(eawc, p.7)
771-471BC The Spring and Autumn Period. Jingzhou
was the capital of the Chu Kingdom.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)
771-221 The Eastern Zhou period. The power of the
Zhou court waned and frequent state wars took place.
(AM, 7/01, p.62)
753BC Apr 21, Rome was founded.
The traditional date for founding by Romulus as a refuge for runaway
slaves and murderers who captured the neighboring Sabine women for
wives. Archeological evidence indicates that the founders of Rome
were Italic people who occupied the area south of the Tiber River.
(HFA, '96, p.28)(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(eawc, p.7)(HN,
4/21/98)
750BC Greeks invent symbols for
vowels.
(V.D.-H.K.-p.25)
750BC The era of the Greek poet
Homer.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
c750BC Two Phoenician ships from Tyre carrying
amphorae filled with wine sank some 30 miles off the coast of
Israel. In 1999 a team led by Robert Ballard discovered the ships at
a depth of about 1,500 feet.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A14)
750BC - 719BC Piye (Piankhy) ruled Kush (Nubia).
In 722 he extended his rule to Egypt. Kashta, ruler of Kush, had
begun a campaign against Egypt. With the help of his son, Piankhy,
he was successful and Piankhy became pharaoh of Egypt. The Nubian
King Piye conquered the weakened and disunited Egypt and became the
first of several Nubian Pharaohs who ruled a unified Egyptian and
Nubian state for the next century.
(eawc, p.7)(MT, 10/95,
p.10-11)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
c750BC - 700BC The long-running Lelantine War
between Chalkis and Eretria, the 2 largest cities on the island of
Euboia, was named after the name of the plain that both cities
claimed. The two cities had jointly founded Cumae in Italy (c750).
When they fell out, the war between them split the Greek world in
two.
(Arch, 1/05,
p.34)(www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9047711)
c750BC - 700BC Greeks adopted hoplite gear and the
phalanx for warfare over this period.
(Arch, 1/05, p.33)
750BC - 600BC Greek colonies exert strong
influence over newly urbanized Etruscans.
(NG, 6/1988, p.710)
750BC - 117 In 2005 Robin Lane Fox covered this
period in his book “The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer
to Hadrian.”
(Econ, 11/5/05, p.91)
747BC Feb 26, Origin of Era of
Nabonassar.
(SC, 2/26/02)
745BC - 727BC Tiglath-Pileser III ruled as the
Assyrian king.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
742BC The time of the Hebrew
prophet Isaiah.
(MofB, A&E TV, 9/7/96)
740BC A population of people
that came to called Tibetans moved to the Tibetan plateau about this
time. In 2010 researchers claimed that people known as the Han and
Tibetans had both come from a single ethnic group which split about
this time.
(Econ, 7/17/10, p.50)
740BC - 725BC Pedubaste I was the 1st king of
Egypt’s 23rd Dynasty. Egypt’s rule in this period is not very clear.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
738BC Mittinti, king of
Ashkelon revolted, trusting to the support of Rezon of Syria. But
the death of Rezon so terrified the king that he fell sick and died.
His son Rukipti, who reigned in his stead, hastened to make
submission.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
735BC - 712BC Osorkon IV ruled Egypt as the 10th
and final king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
c734BC Rezon of Syria, and Pekah of Samaria were
in league, whereas Ahaz of Jerusalem had become a vassal of the king
of Assyria. The Philistines had attached them selves to the Syrian
league, so that Tiglath-Pileser came up with the special purpose of
sacking Gaza.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
732BC Tiglath-pileser III, an
Assyrian, took Damascus and killed Rezin. He then captured many
cities of northern Israel and took the people to Assyria. The
Egyptian troops had at one time joined forces with Damascus, Israel
and some other states to resist Shalmaneser III at Qarqar.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
729BC Greek colonists settled
in Catania, Sicily.
(SFC, 6/2/03, p.A11)
725BC - 720BC Tefnakhte I, a prince of western
Egypt, ruled as the 1st king of the 24th Dynasty, known as the Sais
Dynasty. He attempted to stop an invasion by organizing other
Northern Kings with him against invaders from the south. This
southern force was comprised of Piankhi’s Nubian forces that wanted
to gain control of all of Egypt. The four northern armies under
Tefnakht, Osorkon IV of Tanis, Peftjauabastet of Hernopolis, Nimlot,
and Input of Leontopolis all enjoyed a relatively easy time in their
conquering of the people down to the south, but Piankhi was actually
drawing them down. When Tefnakht's forces finally reached Memphis
they were massacred and Tefnakht conceded to Piankhi. Tefnakht and
the four other leaders were allowed to remain governors of their
territories under the new Pharaoh Piankhi.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
722BC Hoshea, the king of
Israel, sent messengers to Osorkon in Egypt. He was requesting help
against Assyria’s Shalmaneser V. No help was sent. Samaria was
captured and the Israelites were taken away to Assyria. The
Assyrians conquered Israel and left nothing behind. The Hebrew
kingdom of Judah managed to survive. Descendants of the Israelites
not exiled by the Assyrians were later known as the Samaritans.
(eawc, p.7)(WSJ, 10/13/00,
p.W15)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
722BC Piye (Piankhy) marched
north from Nubia and began his conquest of Egypt where he founded
the 25th Dynasty. He consolidated his rule over Egypt and Kush and
became the 1st king of the 25th Dynasty. It has been suggested that
he revived pyramid building for royals in Egypt, a tradition that
had gone extinct for over eight centuries.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)(Arch, 9/02,
p.55)
722-481BC In China the Ch'un Ch'iu period began.
It was characterized by a deterioration of the feudal system and a
collapse of central authority.
(eawc, p.5,7)
721BC About this time as the
northern Israelite kingdom failed, Hebron remained the capital of
the southern Israelite kingdom of Judah.
(SFC, 12/4/08, p.A27)
721-705BC Sargon II ruled as king of Assyria.
(AM, 7/01, p.33)
c720BC Some Jewish tribes went missing after being
sent into exile by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pilesar III. In 2002
Hillel Halkin authored "Across the Sabbath River: In Search of a
Lost Tribe of Israel," an account of the search for the lost tribes
that included the Gadites, Reubenites and tribe of Manasseh
(Menashe) and its possible relationship to the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people
of Burma.
(WSJ, 8/8/02, p.D10)(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.M2)
720BC - 715BC Wahkare Bakenranef ruled in Egypt
as the 2nd king of the 24th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
715-642 Judah absorbed refugees from the Assyrian
conquest an achieved the attributes of a state.
(AM, 9/01, p.32)
713BC Azuri, king of the
Philistine city of Ashdod, refused to pay tribute and endeavored to
stir up the neighboring princes to revolt. Sargon [of Assyria] came
down and expelled Azuri, and established in his stead Azuri's
brother, Ahimiti.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
712BC - 698BC Shebaka of Nubia ruled in Egypt.
Some consider him the 1st king of the 25th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
710BC Hanunu of Gaza was in the
revolt against the king of Assyria which led to the battle of
Raphia, the first struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Hanunu, the
king of Gaza, fled to Sebako (Shebaka), king of Egypt; but returned
and, having made submission, was received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.71)
708BC Lampis of Sparta won the
pentathlon becoming the 1st Olympic winner in the long jump.
(NH, 6/03, p.12)
705BC - 681BC Sennacherib, Assyrian king, also had
trouble with the Philistines. Mitinti's son, Rukipti, had been
succeeded by his son Sarludari, but it seems as though this ruler
had been deposed, and a person called Zidka reigned in his stead.
Sennacherib found conspiracy in Zidka, and brought the gods of his
father's house, himself, and his family into exile to Assyria,
restoring Sarludari to his former throne.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC At the same time the Ekronites had
revolted against the Assyrian. Their king, Padi, had remained a
loyal vassal to his overlord, but his turbulent subjects had put him
in fetters and sent him to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who cast him
into prison. The Ekronites summoned assistance from North Arabia and
Egypt, and met Sennacherib at El-Tekeh. Here they were defeated, and
Sennacherib marched against Ekron, slaying and impaling the chief
officers. Padi was rescued from Jerusalem... Sennacherib then cut of
some of the territory of Judah and divided it among his vassals...
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC Sennacherib ruled the Assyrians and
built a new capital in Ninevah where he began to form a library of
Sumerian and Babylonian tablets. He managed to subdue the entire
region of western Asia.
(eawc, p.7)
701BC The Assyrian King
Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.16)
700BC Homer's time. [see
800BC-700]
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.172)
c700BC The White Horse of Uffington, England, a
365-foot long and 130-foot high image scratched into a chalk
hillside, was dated to this time from pottery at the site. The shape
is typical of the La Tene art style that spread across Western
Europe between the 5th and 1st centuries BC.
(AM, 9/01, p.40,43)
700BC A three foot tall bust of
Pharaoh Shabako of Egypt was on loan from Cairo at St. Petersburg,
Florida.
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)
c700BC In what later became Iraq, the huge bearded
head of a large winged-bull dating from this time was made.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)
700BC Tarquinia was the
cultural capital of the Etruscans. Around 700BC, only half a century
after the Greeks rediscovered writing, literacy burst across
Etruria. The Etruscans had no g sound, so they made it a c. That's
why we have abc rather than alpha, beta, gamma.
(NG, 6/1988, p.708,726)
700BC Arabs made earth bricks
later know as adobe as early as this time. The word adobe comes from
the Arab word "at-tub."
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A8)
700BC King Hezekiah, about this
time, constructed a 1,750-foot tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem.
Archeologists in 2003 dated plant fragments in the tunnel's plaster
to this time +/- 100 years. In 1880 a tablet known as the Siloam
inscription was found in the tunnel. It had been installed to
celebrate the moment the two construction teams met underground. The
tablet was taken by the Holy Land's Ottoman rulers to Istanbul. It
was later placed in the collection of the Istanbul Archaeology
Museum. In 2007 Jerusalem's mayor asked the Turkish government to
return the tablet.
(SFC, 9/11/03, p.A6)(AP, 7/13/07)
c700BC Nomadic Kimmerians attacked Phrygia. Strabo
later reported that Midas committed suicide at the time of the
Kimmerian invasion.
(AM, 7/01, p.33)
c700BC A Phrygian king, possibly Midas, ruled into
his 60s and was buried in what came to be called the Tumulus Midas
Mound at Gordion (later central Turkey). Midas was linked with the
worship of the goddess Matar.
(AM, 7/01, p.27)
700BC - 600BC A migration of the Cimmerians
and Scythians took place in the seventh century BC. These were
nomadic tribes from the Russian steppes, who made their way round
the eastern end of the Caucasus, burst through into the Moghan
plains and the basin of Lake Urmia, and terrorized Western Asia for
several generations, till they were broken by the power of the Medes
and absorbed in the native population. It was they who made an end
of the Kingdom of Urartu, and the language they brought with them
was probably an Indo-European dialect answering to the basic element
in modern Armenian.
(http://tinyurl.com/btq4l)
700BC - 600BC The Armenians, an Indo-European
people, migrate from the west to mingle with the people of URARTU.
It was ruled by kings of the Orontid dynasty as a satrapy of the
Persian empire until the defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great.
(CO Enc. / Armenia)
700BC - 600BC The earliest Chinese records of
divination using the I Ching date from this period.
(NH, 9/97, p.12)
700BC - 600BC The search for the 10 lost tribes of
Israel, who were dispersed in the tenth century BC when the
Assyrians conquered part of the Holy Land, is depicted on a CD
titled The Myth of the 10 Lost Tribes, by Creative Multimedia
Corp.
(New Media, 2/95, p.84)
698BC - 690BC Shebitku, nephew of Shebaka, ruled
in Egypt as the 2nd king of the 25th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
690BC The underground burial
chamber of a warrior prince in the Etruscan town of Veio dated to
about this time. It was decorated with roaring lions and migratory
birds.
(AP, 6/16/06)
690BC - 664BC The Nubian Pharaoh Taharqa, brother
of Shebitku, ruled over the upper Nile Nubian-Egyptian state. He is
mentioned in the Bible as a pyramid builder. A sculpture of the
Kushite king was discovered in the basement of "God's House Tower,"
an archeological museum, in England in 2000.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)(SFC, 2/16/00,
p.A8)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)(Arch, 9/02, p.55)
689BC Sennacherib of Assyria
destroyed Babylon, but his son rebuilt it.
(eawc, p.7)
687BC The Lyrid meteor shower
was recorded for the first time in Chinese records. It averages
about 10-15 shooting stars per hour and occurs on 4/22 in 1994.
(PacDis, Spring/'94, p. 40)
681BC - 668BC Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib
became monarch of Assyria after his father was assassinated. "I had
monuments made of bronze, lapis lazuli, alabaster... and white
limestone... and inscriptions of baked clay... I deposited them in
the foundations and left them for future times."
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(MofE, 1978, p.1)
c680BC Inhabitants of Paros island (Greece)
colonized the northern Aegean island of Thasos, seizing its abundant
timber and gold mines. Soldier-poet Archilochus of Paros took part
in the colonization of Thasos as well as in conflicts with Naxos.
(Arch, 1/05, p.30,34)
671BC Esarhaddon [of Assyria]
recorded a victory over lower Egypt at the cliff face of the Nahr al
Kalb (Dog River), between Beirut and Byblos.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)
668BC The Gymnopaedia was
introduced in Sparta. It was a yearly celebration during which naked
youths displayed their athletic and martial skills through the
medium of war dancing. The custom was introduced concurrently with
the introduction of naked athletics, oiling the body for exercise so
as to highlight its beauty.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnopaedia)
668-627BC Ashurbanipal succeeded Sennacherib as
ruler over Assyria. He continued to develop the library and by the
time he finished, there were more than 22,000 clay tablets
collected.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(eawc, p.7)
664BC - 610BC Psammetichus ruled in Egypt as the
1st king of the 26th Dynasty. He did not gain control of Egypt until
his 9th year of rule.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
c662BC The Assyrian Empire collapsed and Egypt
enjoyed about a century of independence.
(eawc, p.7)
c660BC Governor Ment (Mentuemhet) served as
governor of Upper Egypt, mayor of Thebes, and 4th prophet of Amun.
(SFC, 5/4/05, p.E5)
660BC This is the mythical date
of the ascension of Japan's first emperor, Jimmu Tenno. He is said
to have been descended from Amaterasu, the sun goddess, who came
from the eye of the god Izanagi.
(HN, 2/11/97)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(Econ,
9/9/06, p.42)
657BC A 2nd influx of
Phoenicians surged into Carthage about this time.
(NG, 8/04, p.46)
657BC - 525BC Period of Egypt’s Dynasty 26.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
655BC Psammetichus, 26th
Dynasty king, gained control of Egypt in his 9th year of rule.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
654BC - 657BC Tantamani (Tanwetamani) ruled in
Egypt as last Cushite king and the last of the king of the 25th
Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty25.html)
650BC Babylon by this time was
again prosperous following its destruction in 689 by Sennacherib of
Assyria.
(eawc, p.7)
650BC Nabonidas, the last ruler
of Ur, made extensive renovations to the ziggurat there. His
daughter, princess Bel-Shalti-Nannar, maintained a museum of local
antiquities.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.7,8)
650BC The Transylvanian Dacians
are first known from their contacts with the Greeks about this time.
(WSJ, 6/18/97, p.A20)
c650BC The time of Archilochus, Greek poet.
(WUD, 1994, p.78)
c650BC Greece began using the drachma for
currency.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.F4)
650BC The Chinese licensed lady
lovers. This is considered as the 1st example of legalized
prostitution.
(SFC, 11/4/00, p.B3)
650BC - 500BC In Greece it was the age of the
tyrants.
(eawc, p.6)
650BC - 550BC Graves from the Umbrian city of
Terni, north of Rome, were dated to this period. The people were
known as the Umbri-Nartes and had lived in the region from the
Bronze Age up to the Roman conquest.
(AM, Jul/Aug '97 p.18)
648BC Ashurbanipal destroyed
the newly rebuilt city of Babylon.
(eawc, p.7)
645BC Archilochus (b.~680BC),
Greek poet (Archilochos, Archilocos), died about this time. He lived
on the island of Paros and his innovative poetry, in various meters,
was the first to focus upon personal experiences and emotions.
(Econ, 12/3/11, TQ
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archilochus)
642BC The first horse race on
record was in the Olympic Games of Greece and the first prize was a
"woman of well-rounded domestic skills."
(SFEC, 8/2/98, Z1 p.8)
642BC Invading Arabs
established a military settlement on what later would become Cairo,
Egypt.
(NG, May 1985, p.584)
640BC In Egypt a burial chamber
at the necropolis of Saqqara dating back to this time was uncovered
in 2009. The chamber contained 8 sarcophagi.
(WSJ, 2/12/09, p.A9)
640BC In Greece the Spartan
form of government, adapted from the Dorians, was heavily influenced
by militarism. The Messenian wars initiated Sparta's fear of change.
They remained isolated by banning trade and discouraging travel
outside their territory. Alcaeus, Greek lyric poet, was born in
Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. His lyrics expounded on
contemporary politics, love, hymns to Apollo and Hermes, and some
drinking songs.
(eawc, p.8)
640BC The 1st coins were minted
in Lydia (later part of Turkey) about this time, and featured face
to face heads of a bull and lion.
(SSFC, 12/3/00, WB p.2)(Econ, 2/25/12, SRp.4)
639BC - 609BC King Josiah reigned in Israel. The
biblical account of Israel's origin was possibly drafted during this
time. The leadership reinstituted the exclusive worship of the god
of the Israelites centered on the Temple in Jerusalem.
(AM, 9/01, p.30,31)
631BC The city of Cyrene, in
what later became Libya, was first developed by the Greeks. It was
later settled by the Romans and destroyed in the earthquake of 365.
(SFC, 9/11/07, p.A16)
630BC Battus I of Cyrene
(d.600) founded the Greek colony of Cyrenaica and its capital,
Cyrene about this time. He was the first king of Cyrenaica, the
first Greek king in Africa, and the founder of the Battiad dynasty.
His son, Arcesilaus I of Cyrene, served as the second Greek king of
Cyrenaica and the second king of the Battiad dynasty. Cyrenaica, the
eastern coastal region of Libya, was also known as Pentapolis in
antiquity. Herodotus later told of how the oracle at Delphi told the
Libyans to organize along tribal lines and to keep the king in
charge at his home area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcesilaus_I_of_Cyrene)(SSFC, 4/24/11,
p.F4)
626BC The time of the Jewish
prophet Jeremiah. He was the last political prophet and went to
Egypt at the end of his life.
(MofB, A&E TV, 9/7/96)
625BC Thales born in Miletus,
(west coast of Anatolia, today Turkey) considered to be the first
philosopher and scientist (of Greece). Said to have predicted
eclipse of 585BC. Thales proposed a single universal principle of
the material universe. Two remarkable ideas: a)he did not resort to
animistic explanations for what happens in the world
b)he assumed that the world was a thing whose
workings the human mind could understand. He maintained as a first
principle that the external world and the internal mind must have
much that is in common, how else could that external world be
intelligible to the internal mind. The name of this commonality was
reason.
(V.D.-H.K.p.31, 33, 216)
625BC The first Greek coins
were stamped with the likeness of a wheat head to show that wheat
had been used for money before the use of coins.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
620BC Ostia was founded by the
fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, who was thought to have ruled in
the late seventh century BC. It was founded about this time at the
mouth of the Tiber River. Nearby salt flats provided a valuable
source of salt for preserving meat. Around 400BC it was conquered by
Rome and turned into a naval base.
(www.ostia-antica.org/intro.htm)(SSFC, 5/11/08,
p.E8)
616BC Tarquinius Priscus became
the first Etruscan to rule Rome. Legend has it that he was followed
by Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus.
(NG, 6/1988, p.710,735)
614BC The Babylonians
(particularly, the Chaldeans) with the help of the Medes, who
occupied what is today Iran, began a campaign to destroy the
Assyrians.
(eawc, p.8)
612BC Ninevah (Mesopotamia),
the cradle of Assyrian kings for 2,500 years, fell to the
Babylonians and Medes. The Chaldeans, a Semitic people, then ruled
the entire region thereby issuing in the New Babylonian period that
lasted to 539BC.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.C1)(SFC,
3/31/03, p.W5)
612BC Sappho, Greek lyric poet
of Lesbos, was born. She is the most famous female poet of the
ancient world and is inscribed in the "Palatine Anthology" among the
Muses, rather than among the great lyric poets, in the 2nd century
BC. Her poetry explored female sexuality and love in a male
dominated society.
(eawc, p.8)
610BC - 595BC Nekau II
(Necho), son of Psammetichus I, ruled in Egypt as king of the 26th
Dynasty. Under his rule Palestine became an Egyptian possession.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
609BC The biblical king Josiah
of Judah was slain on Har (Mt.) Megiddo (root of Armageddon) about
this time when he was betrayed by Pharaoh Necho, whom he had
approached to stop from going to war on the side of the Assyrians
against the Babylonians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.180)(WSJ, 4/17/97,
p.A20)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
606BC In Cairo the Ben Ezra
Synagogue was established.
(WSJ, 3/15/00, p.A1)
605BC - 562BC Nebuchadnezzar II ruled in Babylon.
He undertook some monumental building projects that included the
Hanging Gardens. The New Babylonian Revival used glazed bricks for
building thereby creating a colorful city. The king was fond of
spinach.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.B5)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.B3)
604BC Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
invaded and put the Philistines' cities to the sword. There is no
remnant of them after that.
(AP, 7/8/11)
c604BC - 531BC Lao-tzu (Laozi), Chinese
philosopher, author of the "Tao Te Ching" (Tao-te-jing) and founder
of Taoism (Daoism) lived about this time. He encouraged people to
live simply and according to nature. Taoism is one of the three
major "spiritual ways" of China and has influenced Chinese
thought--in religion, politics, the social system and the arts and
sciences--for more than 2,000 years. The other two "spiritual ways"
of China are Buddhism and Confucianism. "To lead the people, walk
behind them." "The greater the number of laws and enactments, the
more thieves and robbers there will be." "Quarrel with a friend --
and you are both wrong."
(SFEC, 2/22/98, Z1 p.8)(AP, 5/4/98)(WSJ,
12/26/00, p.A9)(AM, 7/01, p.62)(HNQ, 11/5/01)
c600BC Aesop said: "We hang the petty thieves, but
appoint the great ones to public office."
(SFEC, 3/15/98, Z1 p.8)
c600BC Turquoise was first mined in the American
southwest about this time and began to show up in Mesoamerica.
(Arch, 1/05, p.27)
600BC Lady Gautseshenu died
about this time in southern Egypt. In 2011 a CT scan of her mummy,
performed at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY,
indicated that she was about 16 years old at the time of her death.
(SFC, 4/29/11, p.A7)
c600BC The Etruscans, believed to be natives of
Asia Minor, established cities that stretched from northern to
central Italy. They developed the arch and the vault, gladiatorial
combat for entertainment, and the study of animals to predict future
events.
(eawc, p.8)
c600BC The Greeks established city-states along
the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. They
contributed letters to the Roman alphabet, religious concepts and
artistic talent as well as mythology.
(eawc, p.8)
600BC The great Olmec
Ceremonial Center in Tabasco, Mexico, was abandoned about this time.
(RFH-MDHP, p.241)
c600BC The Zapotec city of Monte Alban was founded
in the Oaxaca valley.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.A24)
c600BC From about this time the Maya gradually
sculpted the land to channel water to a growing population.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.A)
c600BC Analysis of pottery from this time
indicated that Mayans made cocoa drinks as early as this time.
(SFC, 7/22/02, p.A4)
600BC Cyrus I, king of Anshan,
was succeeded by his son Cambyses I who reigned until 559 BC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_I)
600BC The first polo game was recorded in north
Persia about this time.
(Hem., 7/95, p.87)
c600BC Zoroaster introduced a new religion in
Bactria (Balkh), also known as ancient Afghanistan. Zoroastrianism
is a Monotheistic religion. [see 1500BC-1200BC]
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
600BC Phoenicians in the pay of Pharaoh Necho II
circled Africa, according to Herodotus.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.160)
c600BC - 500BC Epimenides, Cretan philosopher, is
said to have originated the Liar paradox, by proclaiming that “All
Cretans are liars.”
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.77)
600BC - 500BC The first democratic governments
were established in a few Greek city-states during the sixth and
fifth centuries BC.
(V.D.-H.K.p.299)
600BC - 500BC Rome by this time was the dominant
power in its surrounding area. The conservative government consisted
of a kingship, that resembled the traditional values of the
patriarchal family; an assembly, composed of male citizens of
military age; and a Senate, comprised of elders who served as the
heads of different community sects. The Palatine is one of the seven
hills of Rome
(eawc, p.7)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)
600BC - 500BC The nomadic Scythians bordered the
Hallstatt Culture in the East. They introduced to the Celts the
custom of wearing trousers.
(NGM, 5/77)
600BC - 290BC The Samnites, an Oscan-speaking
people, controlled the area of south central Italy during this
period.
(AM, 3/04, p.36)
600BC - 200BC The Sarmatians were a nomadic tribe
that occupied a homeland that stretched from Russia's Don and Volga
rivers east to the Ural mountain foothills. The held a
sun-worshipping belief system and buried useful objects with their
dead for the journey in the unknown afterlife.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
600BC - 600CE In 1999 Arthur Cotrell published
"From Aristotle to Zoroaster," an A to Z companion to the classical
world over this period.
(SFEC, 1/17/99, Par p.6)
595BC - 589BC Psammetichus II (Psamtik II), son of
Nacho II, ruled in Egypt as a 26th Dynasty king. Psamtik II built
the temple of Hibis in the al-Khargah oasis, 310 miles south of
Cairo. It was built to worship Amun and contained statues of Amun's
wife, Mut.
(SFC, 7/16/99,
p.D3)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
595-339BC In Greece 4 Sacred Wars were fought for
the control of Delphi over this period.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.D7)
594BC In Greece Solon, the
great elegiac poet, was appointed chief magistrate of Athens. His
reforms included political and economic adjustments which led to
dissatisfaction in the upper and lower classes.
(eawc, p.8)
593BC The time of the prophet
Ezekial. He prophesied the return to the promised land after the
destruction of the temple and exile to Babylon.
(MofB, A&E TV, 9/7/96)
593BC The Nubians were defeated
by a resurgent Egyptian dynasty after which they moved their capital
from Napata to Meroe.
(Arch, 9/02, p.56)
589BC - 570BC Apries, son of Psamtik II, ruled in
Egypt as a 26th Dynasty king.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
587BC King Nebuchadnezzar
sacked Jerusalem.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
c587BC Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah, the
Persian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, arrived from Babylon.
(SFC, 9/6/04, p.A4)
586BC Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon, ruler of Mesopotamia, destroyed Jerusalem and recorded his
deeds at the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) cliff face between Beirut and
Byblos. He destroyed the first Temple, built by Solomon and took the
Jewish people into captivity.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(SFC, 12/31/96,
p.A11)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.26)
586BC Ezekial, in exile at
Babylon, described Tyre as it was before Nebuchadnezzar's attack in
the Bible: (Ezekial 27:1-25). This time is known as the "Babylonian
Captivity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(eawc, p.8)
c586BC The Menashe tribe was lost following the
Jewish exile in this year. Jews dispersed across Europe and North
Africa. In the 1990s members of Shinglung community from the
province of Mizuru in India claimed to be the children of Menashe
and began returning to Israel.
(SFC, 1/12/00, p.A10)(SFC, 5/10/00, p.A13)
585BC May 25, The first known
prediction of a solar eclipse was made [by Thales]. A historically
registered eclipse occurred during the savage war between the
Lydians and the Medians. The event caused both sides to stop
military action and sign for peace. The date of the eclipse
coincides with the date in Oppolzer's tables published in 1887.
(SCTS, p.27)(HN, 5/25/98)
585BC May 28, A solar eclipse,
predicted by Thales of Miletus, interrupted a battle [a
Persian-Lydian battle] outside of Sardis in western Turkey between
the Medes and Lydians. The battle ended in a draw. [see May 25]
(HN, 5/28/98)(HN, 5/28/99)
585BC In Miletus, Greece, the
founding city of philosophy, Thales predicted a total eclipse of the
sun. He was the founder of the Milesian school, and taught that all
things are composed of moisture. He was the first to propose a
rational explanation of the cosmos. By the end of the 6th century,
philosophers began to inquire into the nature of being, the
metaphysical nature of the cosmos, the meaning of truth, and the
relationship between the divine and the physical world.
(eawc, p.8)
c585BC The Greeks settled in the area of Varna,
later part of Bulgaria, on the Black Sea and were followed by the
Romans, Byzantines and Turks.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T3)
585-572Bc Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his 13
year siege of Tyre.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)
580BC - 500BC Pythagoras was born on Samos. He
journeyed to S. Italy, and was driven out of Croton to the Bay of
Taranto where he starved himself to death. He believed in the
transmigration of souls, and is said to have discovered the
mathematical ratios in musical harmonics.
(V.D.-H.K.p.34)
574BC - 570BC Apries, 26th Dynasty king Egyptian
ruler, conducted campaigns against Cyprus and Phoenicia.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
573BC Nemea, 70 miles from
Athens, became the site for the Olympic games.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.A6)
570BC Feb, General Amasis
(Ahmose II), proclaimed Pharaoh of Egypt by his soldiers, defeated
Apries and his Aegean mercenaries and forced his retreat.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
570BC Oct, General Amasis
(Ahmose II) defeated King Apries a 2nd time and took control of a
united Egypt. Apries sought refuge abroad and later turned up at the
court of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
570BC - 526BC Amasis (Ahmose II), proclaimed
Pharaoh by his soldiers, ruled Egypt as the 5th king of the 26th
Dynasty. Amasis consolidated Greek merchants to the area of
Naukratis. This made for easier control, and created a lucrative
income for the crown in the form of taxes.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
567BC Apries, former ruler of
Egypt, marched on Egypt at the head of a Babylonian army, but once
again, Amasis defeated him, this time capturing the former king.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
c566BC - c468BC Simonides, a Greek poet, was also
called Simonides of Ceos. He created one of the first information
spaces with his "memory palaces."
(WUD, 1994, p.1328)(Wired, 2/98, p.101)
565BC - 545BC The island of Cyprus was under
Egyptian control.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.20)
563BC Buddha (d.483BC),
Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Northern India (later Nepal). Raja
Suddhodana, king of the Sakyas in the 6th century BC, is best known
as the father of Buddha. The kingdom of the Sakyas was on what is
now the border of Nepal and India. The birthplace of the Indian
prince Siddartha, who became the monk Buddha, was believed to have
been discovered by archeologists in 1996. Lumbini, Nepal, the
birthplace of Buddha, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1997. His birthday was later celebrated in Nepal on the day of the
first full moon in May. Wesak Day (Waisak, Vesak), also known as
Buddha's birthday, is also observed as the anniversary of his
enlightenment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak)(SFC, 9/1/96,
DB p.30)(SFC,12/5/97, p.B2)(AP, 5/17/11)
560BC - 546BC The rule of Croesus in Lydia. The
first coins were produced in Lydia under Croesus. It was a kingdom
in western Turkey. Croesus made a treaty with the Spartans and
attacked Persia and was defeated.
(SFEC, 1/19/96, Parade p.5)(WUD, 1994,
p.345)(WSJ, 11/11/99, p.A24)
559BC Cyrus the Great
(d.530BC), the son of Cambyses I, began his rule Persia. Cyrus II
established his capital at Pasargadae.
(Arch, 5/05,
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great)
551BC Confucius (d.479BC),
K'ung Fu-tzu [K'ung Fu-tse], Chinese philosopher, was born in Chufu,
China. His followers transcribed his conversations in 20 books
called the "Analects" following his death. He was an accountant and
later taught the importance of centralized authority and filial
piety. Like Aristotle, he believed the state to be a natural
institution. He was the 11th child of a 70-year-old soldier. "All
eminence should be based entirely on merit." "The way of a superior
man is three-fold; virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is
free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear." "To see the
right and not do it is cowardice." "Shall I teach you what knowledge
is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you
don't know a thing, to allow that you don't know it. This is
knowledge."
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.E4)(http://eawc.evansville.edu,
p.9)(SFC, 3/28/98, p.D3)(AP, 6/17/98)(SFEC, 2/27/00, Z1
p.2)(SFEC, 7/9/00, Z1 p.2)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.D8)
c550 Emperor Justinian built
the St. Catherine monastery in the Sinai Desert to honor St.
Catherine, an Alexandrian martyr who was tortured to death for
converting to Christianity. The site was thought to be the place
where Moses saw the Miracle of the Burning Bush.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T6)
550BC Cities were founded in
the Po Valley and expansion followed into Campania (by the
Etruscans).
(NG, 6/1988, p.710)
548BC The Greek Temple of
Apollo was destroyed. Amasis, ruler of Egypt, is said to have
financed its rebuilding.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
546BC In Greece the first of
the Athenian tyrants, Peisistratus, replaced Solon as the ruler.
(eawc, p.9)
546BC The Persians destroyed
Egypt’s alliance with the Chaldeans, Lydia and Sparta by first
capturing Lydia then the Chaldaeans.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
544BC-496BC Chinese traditional
accounts place Sun Tzu as a military general serving under King Helu
of Wu. Historians have questioned whether or not Sun Tzu, aka Sun
Wu, was an authentic historical figure. Modern scholars accepting
his historicity place the completion of The Art of War in the
Warring States Period (476–221 BC), based on the descriptions of
warfare in the text, and on the similarity of text's prose to other
works completed in the early Warring States period.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu)(Econ,
12/17/11, p.71)
543BC Colonists from northern
India subdued the indigenous Vaddahs (Veddah) of Sri Lanka, known in
the ancient world as Taprobane and later called Serendip.
Descendants of those colonists, the Buddhist Sinhalese, form most of
the population.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A10)
543BC - 1815CE The Mahavamsa (600BC-400CE), Great
Chronicle, describes the history of the Sinhalese people (Sri Lanka)
over this period. The 1st part, from King Mahasena, which dates back
to the legendary 5th century BC King Vijaya, was written by King
Dhatusena's brother, the venerable thera Mahanama in the 6th century
CE.
(Arch, 7/02,
p.31)(www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/mahavamsa/)
540BC The population of Xanthos
in Lycia (later Turkey) committed mass suicide rather than face
slavery under invading armies.
(SFEC, 1/17/99, p.T5)
540BC - 486BC In India Mahavira, the founder of
Jainism, lived. [see 480BC]
(eawc, p.9)
c540BC - 470BC The Greek philosopher Heraclitus,
"the obscure," of Ephesus (486BC) lived about this time. For him
reality is flux which originated out of fire (as opposed to the
"stable reality" of Parmenides). Plato credits him with saying "One
cannot step into the same river twice."
(WUD, 1994, p.662)(eawc, p.10)
539BC Babylon, under Chaldean
rule since 612BC, fell to the Persians. Cyrus the Persian captured
Babylon after the New Babylonian leader, Belshazaar, failed to read
"the handwriting on the wall." The Persian Empire under Cyrus lasted
to 331BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Cyrus
returned some of the exiled Jews to Palestine, while other Jews
preferred to stay and establish a 2nd Jewish center, the first being
in Jerusalem. The Cyrus Cylinder was created following the Persian
conquest of Babylon, when Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian king
Nabonidus and replaced him as ruler, ending the Neo-Babylonian
Empire. It was discovered in 1879 and became considered as the
world's first declaration of human rights.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(eawc,
p.8,9)(http://tinyurl.com/lma678)(AFP, 2/7/10)
c539BC Cyrus the Great founded Persia’s
Achaemenian Empire which he expanded into India, Libya and Egypt.
Pasargadae was his first capital.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T4)
537BC Cyrus the Persian
campaigned west of the Indus River.
(eawc, p.9)
535BC Control of Corsica
heralded the greatest extent of Etruscan influence.
(NG, 6/1988, p.710)
533BC - 330BC The Achaemenid dynasty ruled over
Persia. It stretched from the time of Cyrus the Great to the death
of Darius III.
(AHD, 1971, p.10)
532BC Polycrates became tyrant
of the isle Samos, an Ionian city-state near Miletus.
(V.D.-H.K.p.34)
530BC Dec, Cyrus the Great,
ruler of Persia, died in battle, fighting the Scythians along the
Syr Darya. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to
add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, and Cyrenaica during
his short rule.
{Persia}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great)
530BC In Greece Pythagoras,
mathematician and philosopher, and his followers founded the city of
Croton and combined philosophy and literature with political
activity as the foundation of their community. He is credited with
the Pythagorean theorem and the Pythagorean table of opposites, the
"dualism" that underlies Greek thought. In 2008 Kitty Ferguson
authored “The Music of Pythagoras,” which surveyed the ideas that
have been thought of as Pythagorean.
(eawc, p.9)(WSJ, 5/17/08, p.W8)
528BC May 25, Buddha overcame
Mara, and attained the Awakening.
(V.D.-H.K.p.22)
528BC May, Buddha (563-483) sat
cross-legged under the great Bo tree. The Great Truth consists of
the Four Noble Truths:
1)man's existence is full of conflict, sorrow,
and suffering.
2)All difficulty and pain is caused by man's
selfish desire.
3)There can be found emancipation and
freedom-NIRVANA.
4)The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to
liberation: The middle way, known as the Eightfold Path: right view,
right thought, right speech, right action, right mode of living,
right endeavor, right mindfulness, and right of concentration...
(V.D.-H.K.p.22)
526BC - 525BC Psammetichus III ruled for a short
time as the last king of Egypt’s 26th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
525BC Cambyses, king of Persia,
met and defeated the Egyptians in front of their city at Pelusium
just a few weeks after the death of Pharaoh Amasis. This marked the
beginning of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty. Psammetichus III tried to revolt
against Cambyses and was killed.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
525BC On the island of Samos,
Greece, castles were built. Samos was the site of the Temple of
Hera, one of the 7 ancient Wonders of the World.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.T10)
c525BC Acroliths, or partial statues, of Olympian
deities were later found in Morgantina in central Sicily that were
made by Greeks and dated to this time.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)
525BC Greek drama grew out of
the Dionysian festivals.
(eawc, p.9)
525BC - 522BC Cambyses II, son of Cyrus and ruler
of Persia, served as the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty. Cambyses
added to his Persian empire by conquering Egypt. During his rule an
army sent to Siwa Oasis was overcome by sandstorm and buried.
Herodotus said the army numbered 50,000 men. A Jewish document from
407 BC known as 'The Demotic Chronicle' speaks of the Cambyses
destroying all the temples of the Egyptian gods. Herodotus informs
us that Cambyses II was a monster of cruelty and impiety.
(eawc.edu, p.9)(Arch, 9/00,
p.18)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
524BC - 456BC Aeschylus, Greek poet and
dramatist, lived about this time: "Everyone's quick to blame the
alien."
(AP, 10/12/98)
525BC - 465BC Aeschylus is credited with being the
inventor of drama and for introducing a second actor into the plays
held every year in Athens in honor of Dionysus. His plays are
considered to be the beginning of tragic drama. His stories were
drawn from conflicts between the individual and the cosmos. Late in
his career he wrote his plays in groups of three. These included the
"Oresteia," "Prometheus Bound" and the "Danaides." In the Danaides
only the first play, "The Suppliant Women," has survived. It was
about 50 sisters who fled 50 cousins they were supposed to marry.
(V.D.-H.K.p.51)(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A13)(eawc,
p.9)(WSJ, 12/5/01, p.A18)
522 Mar, Bardiya (Smerdis),
another son of Cyrus and pretender to the throne, seized power in
Persia as Cambyses was returning home.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC Aug, Cambyses II, son of
Cyrus of Persia and the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty, died from
a dagger wound in Syrian Ecbatana.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
c522BC Sep 4, Pindar (d.~443), Greek poet, was
born.
(WUD, 1994 p.1094)(MC, 9/4/01)
522BC Sep, Darius hastened to
Media, Persia, and with the help of six Persian nobles, killed
Bardiya (Smerdis), another son of Cyrus, who had usurped the throne.
Darius defended this deed and his own assumption of kingship on the
grounds that the usurper was actually Gaumata, a Magian, who had
impersonated Bardiya after Bardiya had been murdered secretly by
Cambyses.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC A revolt broke out in
Egypt following the death of Cambyses, but it was put down by a
Persian general named Darius, who succeeded Cambyses.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC Darius the Great (558-486), son of
Hystaspes, succeeded Cambyses as emperor of Persia. He engaged in
many large building programs including a system of roads and
instituted the first postal system.
(WUD, 1994, p.367)(eawc.edu, p.9)(ON, 4/04, p.9)
522BC The Greek Temple of
Apollo was begun on the island of Naxos on the orders of the tyrant
Lygdamis. It was never completed.
(SFEC,12/21/97, p.T6)
c522BC Zoroaster died during a nomadic invasion
near Balkh [ancient Afghanistan].
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
522BC - 486BC Darius the Great expanded the
Achaemenid (Persian) empire to its peak, when it took most of
Afghanistan, including Aria (Herat), Bactriana (Balk, and
present-day Mazar-i-Shariff), Margiana (Merv), Gandhara (Kabul,
Jalalabad and Peshawar), Sattagydia (Ghazni to the Indus river),
Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta), and Drangiana (Sistan). The
Persian empire was plagued by constant bitter and bloody tribal
revolts from Afghans living in Arachosia (Kandahar, and Quetta).
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
521BC Darius of Persia made Susa his
administrative capital. He restored the fortifications and built an
audience hall (apadana) and a residential palace.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
521 BC The name Armenian was mentioned for
the first time in the Behistan (Behistun) inscription of the Mede
(Persian) Emperor Darius from this year: "I defeated the Armenians."
(http://www.atmg.org/ArmenianFAQ.html#q6)(ON,
4/04, p.7)
521BC - 486BC The Persians under Darius fought the
Scythians in a series of battles.
(AM, 5/01, p.33)
520BC - 519BC Darius of Persia authorized the
Jews to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, in accordance with an
earlier decree of Cyrus. The Hebrew’s began to rebuild Solomon’s
Temple destroyed in the sack of 586BC. The Second Temple in
Jerusalem was begun. It was remodeled many times and destroyed in
70CE.
(SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)(eawc,
p.10)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
520BC - 486BC Darius, ruler of Persia, occupied
Egypt and is considered the 2nd ruler of the 27th Dynasty. During
his rule a canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, probably begun
by Necho I in the 7th century BC, was repaired and completed.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
519BC Darius put down a third
rising in Susiana, Persia, and established his authority in the
east.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
519BC Darius of Persia attacked the Scythians
east of the Caspian Sea and a few years later conquered the Indus
Valley.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
518BC Pindar (d.438BC),
considered by some as the greatest Greek lyric poet, was born in
Cynoscephalae, Boeotia. His odes celebrated the games held at
religious festivals. Athletic victory served as the ground for his
poetic fancy and religious, moral and aesthetic insights.
(eawc, p.10)
518BC Darius visited Egypt and
put to death its satrap, Aryandes.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
518BC Persian leader Darius the
Great founded Persepolis as his ceremonial capital.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A26)
517BC - 509BC Darius the Persian conquered the
Indus Valley region.
(eawc, p.10)
516BC Trilingual texts were
chiseled on the cliffs at Behistun by Darius.
515BC Mar 10, The building of
the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed.
(HN, 3/10/98)
515BC Parmenides of Elea was
born. He founded the Eleatic school in the Phocaean colony in
southern Italy. He was the first to focus attention on the central
problem of Greek metaphysics: the nature of being. For Parmenides
the laws governing the universe are stable and change is merely an
illusion.
(eawc, p.10)
513BC Darius, after subduing
eastern Thrace and the Getae, crossed the Danube River into European
Scythia, but the Scythian nomads devastated the country as they
retreated from him, and he was forced, for lack of supplies, to
abandon the campaign.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
510BC In Greece Hippias, the
son of Peisistratus, succeeded his father and was overthrown by a
group of nobles with the help of Sparta.
(eawc, p.10)
510BC - 490BC In Egypt the temple of Hibis was
rebuilt during the reign of Darius.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.D3)
509BC The Romans overthrew King
Lucius Tarquinius and established a republic with rule by the senate
and the people of Rome (SPQR - Senatus Populusque Romanus).
(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(http://eawc.evansville.edu,
p.10)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
509BC The Fall of the Tarquin
dynasty in Rome marked the beginning of Etruscan Decline.
(NG, 6/1988, p.711)
508BC In Greece Cleisthenes,
the father of Athenian democracy, ruled Athens. His reforms granted
full rights to all free men of Athens.
(eawc, p.10)
c504BC The Philistine city of Ekron burned to the
ground. Archeologists in 1996 discovered a stone block inscribed
with the city's name and its kings. The city is referred to in the
biblical book of I Samuel, which tells of the Philistine capture of
the Ark of the Covenant and transport to Ekron. A plague later
afflicted the city and the ark was sent back to Judea.
(SFC, 7/11/96, p.A10)
c500BC The El Pilar Maya site in Belize was
founded about this time.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.D)
500BC Confucius composed the
Analects about this time. 5 things constitute perfect virtue:
gravity, magnanimity, earnestness, sincerity, kindness.
(PC Comp. 12/94, p.278)
500BC The game of Go was
devised in China about this time.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.128)
500BC The Chinese learned to
ferment soybean around this time. The fermentation removed toxins
and made soy easier to digest. It had already been used for
thousands of years as fertilizer.
(SSCM, 8/13/06, p.6)
c500BC In 2004 Egyptian archeologists uncovered
the limestone sarcophagus of Badi-Herkhib, the elder brother of a
governor of Bahariya, who lived around 500 B.C.
(AP, 12/12/04)
c500BC The use of characters for writing spread to
Greece where vowels were added and the basis for all Western
alphabets was established. The Greeks invented a reed pen.
(I&I, Penzias, p.45)(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
c500BC The height of Greek sculpture began with
the work of Phideas. His masterpieces include the statue of Athena
in the Parthenon, the Parthenon reliefs, and the statue of Zeus in
the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The 2nd most important sculptor, Myron,
is renowned for his statue of the discus thrower.
(eawc, p.10)
c500BC In India the city of Varanasi was also
known as Kashi and Benares and has been a center of civilization for
2,500 years. It is the home of the Hindu god Shiva.
(SFEC,11/23/97, p.T4)
c500BC Lars Porsena ruled as the Etruscan king in
central Italy. His capital, Clusium, was later believed to lie under
the rubble of the Tuscan city of Chiusi.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
c500BC The Garamantes of southern Libya began
constructing underground tunnels to link shafts to sandstone
aquifers.
(AM, 3/04, p.27)
c500BC Phoenicians founded Tripoli about this
time.
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
c500BC The Persians developed a mail system that
was later described by Herodotus for its efficiency.
(ATC, p.34)
c500BC Monumental ceremonial centers on the
Peruvian coast were abandoned about this time. The period was later
found to correspond with an increase in el Nino frequency,
(AM, 9/01, p.18)
c500BC Copper concentrations in the Greenland ice
core indicate that twice the normal level was produced at this time.
(PacDis, Fall/'96, p.48)
c500BC North African people settled in present-day
Nigeria and began making iron tools.
(ATC, p.2)
c500BC The Charsadda site (aka Bala Hisar) in
northern Pakistan was initially occupied during the Achaemenid
period.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
c500BC The city of Hund in northern Pakistan was
founded about this time on the banks of the Indus River.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)
500BC The Carthaginians
inhabited Sardinia.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)
500BC In Thailand black Phimai
pottery and bracelets indicate that the site of Prasat Hin Phanom
Wan was occupied at this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)
c500BC Camels from Asia began showing up in North
Africa.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, Z1 p.8)
c500BC A major earthquake occurred in the Middle
East.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A9)
c500BC - 400BC Before the rise of Rome, the
Etruscans had the most powerful nation in ancient Italy. The
Etruscans (who called themselves the Rasenna) inhabited central
Italy and greatly influenced the Romans in terms of language,
architecture and even fashion (evidence points to the toga as an
Etruscan invention). Unfortunately, no Etruscan literary works
survive, so most documentation comes from Greek and Roman literary
sources as well as archaeological evidence. Their military and
political power was eroded over the course of the 5th century BC
with Rome rising as the dominant power on the peninsula in the 4th
century BC.
(HNQ, 2/8/01)
500BC - 400BC A Byzantine shopping mall was
uncovered in 1998 in Jerusalem at the site of a new mall. One
inscription read "For the victory of the Blues" in Greek. It was a
reference to the competing factions of Blues and Greens at horse
races.
(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A8)
500BC - 300BC Small groups of Nok people began to
search for new land to settle to the south and east of present day
Nigeria.
(ATC, p.136)
500BC - 300BC Cival, about 25 miles east of the
much better known city of Tikal, was discovered in 1984. It was
abandoned about 100 CE. Artifacts at the site dated to this time.
(LAT, 5/5/04)
c500BC - 200BC In India the Mahabharata, of which
the Bhagavad-Gita is a part, was put into its final form.
(PC Comp. 12/94, p.278)(eawc, p.10)
500BC - 50BC The Celtic La Tene culture was named
after a Swiss site on Lake Neuchatel where a cache of richly
ornamented artifacts were discovered.
(NGM, 5/77)
c500BC - 100CE Qataban flourished in the 5th-1st
centuries BC in what is now southern Yemen. Qataban had a democratic
form of government and gained rule over a large area, but its
influence and dominions shrank with the emergence of the Himyarites
late in the 2nd century BC. Qataban was conquered by Saba' in the
early centuries CE.
(HNQ, 7/20/00)
500BC - 200CE The Nok people lived in the area of
present day Nigeria and used iron tools. Evidence indicates that the
Nok were making iron as early as 450BC. Their language became the
root of the 300 distinct languages spoken in central and southern
Africa. The legendary "Dinya Head" is a life sized terra cotta of a
woman with plaited hair.
(ATC, p.110,136)(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.A12)
c500BC - 500CE A Tequesta burial site, discovered
in Florida in 1998 and known as the Miami Circle, dated to this
time.
(AM, 9/01, p.18)
500BC - 800CE The bulk of the material at the
Plain of Jars in northern Laos dated to this period. Jars up to 9
feet tall were later found to contain tools and human remains.
(AM, 7/05, p.31)
Go to 499-1BC