Ancient Civilization Project

By TheWalrusWasPaul
  • 4000 BCE

    The First Mesopotamian Cities

    Eventually, Uruk, the largest Mesopotamian city, holded 80,000 residents and was about 1/4 the size of Manhattan, a record holded for hundreds of years.
  • Period: 4000 BCE to 500 BCE

    Ancient Mesopotamia

    Ancient Mesopotamia was a civilization that, at its peak, contained the whole of Iraq and Kuwait with parts of Turkey and Syria owned. It is credited with first inventing the wheel, mathematics, and agriculture. Their script, cuneiform, was unmatched in complexity and contains the first known poetry (by a woman named Enheduanna), the first legal code (The Laws of Urukagina) and the first book (The Instructions of Shurpurakk).
  • Period: 3150 BCE to 332 BCE

    Ancient Egypt

    Ancient Egypt was a civilization that, at its peak, controlled most of the Middle East and Nubia. Spawning from the fertile farmland of the Nile River, Egypt had its own religion, writing system, and military, creating the first known modern boats and the first known peace treaty; their megastructures including the Pyramids and the Sphinx required thousands of trained laborers and massive quarrying to provide materials.
  • 3000 BCE

    Hieroglyphics Made

    Hieroglyphics was the language of Ancient Egypt for thousands of year, utilizing pictographic symbols to create a complete language including abstract thought.
  • 2640 BCE

    Pyramid of Giza is Made

    The Pyramid of Giza, created to house the body of Pharaoh Khufu, took thousands of trained laborers twenty years to establish it. It is the only remaining Ancient Wonder of the World, having lasted for 4500 years.
  • 2400 BCE

    Cuneiform is Completely Developed

    Around this time, cuneiform went from the pictographic writing style used for 1600 years to an abstracted form using certain symbols for certain sounds or words, much like the difference between Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters. The language would not change much for most of their history after, even under Assyrian rule.
  • Period: 2070 BCE to 206 BCE

    Ancient China

  • Period: 1750 BCE to 250 BCE

    India

  • 1721 BCE

    The Code of Hammurabi

    While The Code of Hammurabi was not the first legal code, it certainly was the most influential; it detailed how each crime should be punished and codified the ideas of that each witness should provide evidence and that perpetrators are "innocent before proven guilty".
  • 1600 BCE

    Westcar Papyrus

    Link
  • 1350 BCE

    Amenhotep IV Tries To Eliminate Traditional Egyptian Religion

    Amenhotep IV, upon his succession to the Egyptian throne, changed the polytheistic worship of Ancient Egypt into one that worshipped the sun, which was called Aten. Future rulers quickly tried to eliminate his legacy, with his name being required by law to be removed from any documents; despite this, his existence is known.
  • 1258 BCE

    First Peace Treaty Between Egypt and the Hittites

    After a war between the Egyptians and the Hittites lasting 21 years, the Silver Treaty is written. It is the first known peace treaty discovered, with its discoverer writing that it was "something I might have jokingly called a gift from the fairies".
  • 500 BCE

    Mesopotamia is Conquered by Assyria