|
|
c. 8000
|
|
First pottery in China
|
|
|
c. 7000
|
|
Copper first used for jewelry
|
|
|
c. 6500
|
|
Southern Sahara: First African pottery
|
|
|
c. 3400
|
|
Sumerians develop written
language
|
|
|
c. 3100
|
|
First earthworks
at Stonehenge
|
|
|
c. 3000
|
|
First hieroglyphics in Egypt
|
|
|
c. 2600
|
|
Earliest glass beads in Mesopotamia
|
|
|
c. 2550–2525
|
|
Construction of Great Pyramids in
Egypt
|
|
|
c. 2000
|
|
Minoan pictographs in Crete
|
|
|
c. 1900
|
|
Epic of Gilgamesh written in
Babylonia
|
|
|
c. 1780
|
|
Code of Hammurabi
|
|
|
c. 1600–1400
|
|
Early writing (Linear
A and Linear B scripts) in Minoan
Crete
|
|
|
c. 1500
|
|
Glass pottery in Egypt
|
|
|
c. 1200
|
|
Vedas written in India
|
|
|
c. 1200
|
|
Moses’ Ten Commandments
|
|
|
c. 1100
|
|
Phoenician alphabet
|
|
|
c. 1000
|
|
Chinese ink painting
|
|
|
c. 900
|
|
Geometric pottery in Greece
|
|
|
c. 776
|
|
Founding of Olympic Games
|
|
|
c. 750
|
|
Homer writes the Iliad and Odyssey
|
|
|
604–531
|
|
Lao Tzu, founder
of Taoism
|
|
|
c. 600
|
|
Upanishads written in India
|
|
|
c. 600
|
|
Mayans build temples at Tikal
|
|
|
585
|
|
Thales, considered first Western
philosopher, predicts solar eclipse
|
|
|
c. 570
|
|
Aesop’sFables
|
|
|
c. 570
|
|
Greek poet Sappho dies
|
|
|
c. 563–483
|
|
Siddhartha Gautama,
the Buddha
|
|
|
c. 551–479
|
|
Confucius
|
|
|
c. 550
|
|
Zorastrianism in Persia
|
|
|
525–465
|
|
Aeschylus, Greek dramatist
|
|
|
c. 500
|
|
Theater at Delphi
|
|
|
496–406
|
|
Sophocles, Greek dramatist
|
|
|
484–406
|
|
Euripedes, Greek dramatist
|
|
|
427–347
|
|
Plato, philosopher;
founds Academy in Athens in 387
|
|
|
399
|
|
Socrates convicted for “corrupting the
youth of Athens”; dies by poison
|
|
|
395
|
|
Thucydides’History of the Peloponnesian
War
|
|
|
372–289
|
|
China: Mencius expands Confucianism
|
|
|
c. 350
|
|
Mahabharata epic in India
|
|
|
341–270
|
|
Epicurus, Greek philosopher
|
|
|
c. 340
|
|
Aristotle develops music theory
|
|
|
335
|
|
Aristotle founds Lyceum in
Athens
|
|
|
330
|
|
Hellenistic period begins
|
|
|
c. 320
|
|
Rock-cut Nabataean tombs at Petra (Jordan)
|
|
|
c. 300
|
|
Zeno leads Stoic
philosophers
|
|
|
c. 300
|
|
Great Library built in Alexandria
|
|
|
256
|
|
Buddhism becomes state religion in Mauryan empire
(India)
|
|
|
c. 250
|
|
Theravada Buddhism in Southern
India
|
|
|
215
|
|
Great Wall of
China constructed
|
|
|
c. 210
|
|
Mahayana Buddhism in Northern
India
|
|
|
c. 200
|
|
First Dead Sea Scrolls
|
|
|
215
|
|
Rosetta Stone inscribed in three
languages
|
|
|
195–159
|
|
Roman dramatist Terence
|
|
|
136
|
|
State of China adopts Confucian ideology
|
|
|
c. 120
|
|
Greece: Venus de Milo
|
|
|
70–19
|
|
Roman poet Virgil
|
|
|
59–17
|
|
Livy’s histories of Rome
|
|
|
c. 50
|
|
Bhagavad Gita in India
|
|
|
24
|
|
Horace’s first Odes
|
|
|
c. 4 BCE
|
|
Birth of Jesus Christ
|
40,000 BCE–1 BCE: Humanities & Culture
