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Period: 3500 BCE to 2334 BCE
Summerian period / Early Dynastic period (Mesopotamia)
Sumerians settled in Lower Mesopotamia before 3500 BC. The wheel appears around 3500 BC, and writing in 3300 BC: cuneiform writing on clay tablets. They were organized into independent city-states, each with its own king. The main ones were Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Lagash and Kish.
Many statuettes and reliefs and some paintings are preserved, which show human figures, so we know the appearance of these people. In architecture they built Ziggurats: large tall buildings erected on stepped platforms. -
3100 BCE
Unification of Lower and Upper Egypt by King Narmer (Ancient Egypt)
Egyptian tradition attributed the unification to Menes, as it appears in the Royal Lists.This pharaoh is, according to most historians, King Narmer, the first pharaoh who is known to have reigned all of Egypt. A plaque shows Narmer as the unifier of Egypt, and two seals from the necropolis of Abydos show him as the first king of Dynasty I. -
Period: 2686 BCE to 2181 BCE
Old Kingdom (Ancient Egypt)
In the earlier periods Ancient Egypt was divided into several kingdoms. They eventually grouped into the Kingdom of Lower Egypt at the north (in the Nile Delta), and the Kingdom of Upper Egypt at the south of the delta. King Menes, who is also identified with King Narmer, who unified both kingdoms, around 3100 BC, becoming pharaoh of Egypt, founder of the Dynasty I.
Under Dynasty III the capital was established at Memphis. At the time of this dynasty the pharaohs built great pyramids. -
Period: 2334 BCE to 1792 BCE
Akkadian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Akkad is in Lower Mesopotamia, north of Summer. Around 2350 BC, Sargon, an Akkadian king, conquered the Sumerian cities. This was the first great Empire in history, whose capital was Agadé. The Empire fell around 2220 BC because of Gutis and Amorite nomads invasions. Around 2100 BC, Sumerian king of Uruk, defeated and expelled the Gutis. Then Ur became the hegemonic city during the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur (Sumerian Renaissance). This kings will call themselves kings of Sumer and Akkad. -
Period: 2050 BCE to 1750 BCE
Middle Kingdom (Ancient Egypt)
After a long period in which the pharaohs lost much of their power over the entire territory, Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, of the XI Dynasty, reunified the country under his command, about the 2050 B.C. It is a period of great economic prosperity and external expansion. The pharaohs made great works of canalization to regulate and take better advantage of the floods of the Nile. The capital was established in Thebas. -
Period: 1792 BCE to 1350 BCE
Babylonian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Around 1950 BC, the Amorite semi-nomadic peoples invaded Sumer and founded dynasties in several of its cities. With the Amorite dynasties already settled, two balanced powers emerge in Mesopotamia: Assyria and Babylon. He unified most of Mesopotamia under his command. In the year 1595 BC the Hittites sacked the city of Babylon and definitively ended their empire. -
1750 BCE
Code of Hammurabi (Mesopotamia)
The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest known sets of laws. It is based on the application of the law of the talion: the culprit is punished with the same harm he has caused to his victim (''An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth''). They wanted to prevent increasingly violent revenge between families. The accused or the accuser has the opportunity to provide evidence. -
Period: 1500 BCE to 1070 BCE
New Kingdom (Ancient Egypt)
After a period of two centuries, in which foreign peoples (the Hyksos) dominated Egypt, the Egyptian leaders of Thebes managed to regain power, establishing the XVI Dynasty around 1550. The XVIII Dynasty began with warrior pharaohs, who conquered territories in Nubia and Asia.
The following pharaohs had to defend their kingdom from the attacks of the Hittites, the Libyans, and the "Peoples of the Sea". Ramses II, XX Dynasty, signed with the Hittites a peace treat around 1258, the oldest known. -
Period: 1350 BCE to 609 BCE
Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Assyria was under the control of the Hittites, but King Ashur-Uballit I was freed from its oppressors between 1364 and 1328 BC. The following kings enlarged the Assyrian Empire. The two important cities: Assur and Nineveh. On the death of King Ashurbanipal in 627 BC there was an internal revolution, and then, an alliance of Iranian peoples (Medes and Persians) with the Babylonians and other peoples defeated the Assyrian Empire. -
Period: 1100 BCE to 750 BCE
Dark Age (Ancient Greece)
No primary text has survived from this stage, and only little archaeological evidence remains. It begins with the invasions of a Hellenic people, the Dorians, who conquer the Achaean cities in Central Greece and the Peloponnese. Also another Hellenic people, the Ionians, extend through the Cyclades Archipelago in the center of the Aegean Sea and along the western coast of Anatolia. -
Period: 753 BCE to 509 BCE
Monarchy (Ancient Rome)
The city of Rome arose from the settlement of several Latin and Sabine tribes. Its first kings were Latins and Sabines. Kings were elected by a council of noble families (the Senate). Later it was conquered by the Etruscans and had Etruscan Kings. The Romans revolted against the last Etruscan King, Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, and established a Republic in the 509 BC. -
Period: 750 BCE to 500 BCE
Archaic Period (Ancient Greece)
Greece continues to be made up of city-states that control territories. There were more than 200 poleis. Some were ruled by kings, others by aristocracies, and others by tyrants (dictators appointed by the people against the aristocrats). Since the previous Achaean writing system, called Linear B, had been forgotten, the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet and modified it to create the Greek alphabet. Greeks continued the colonisation of the coasts of the Black sea and western Mediterranean. -
Period: 656 BCE to 31 BCE
Late Period (Ancient Egypt)
Around 1070 BC., Egypt suffered invasions by Libyan and Nubian peoples, and was subject to the kings of these peoples. Then, Egypt was conquered by the Persians, forming part of their Empire. And finally, in 332 BC. it was conquered by Alexander the Great, forming part of the Macedonian Empire. After Alexander's death, his generals divided the Empire and it was Ptolemy who in 305 BC. became pharaoh of Egypt creating the last dynasty, which would end with the conquest of the Romans in 31 BC. -
Period: 609 BCE to 539 BCE
Neo-Babylonian Epire (Mesopotamia)
Babylonian Empire had been subdued by the Assyrians. The Babylonian formed alliances with Iranian peoples (Medes and Persians) and other peoples subjects of Assyria and defeated the Assyrian Empire. The second king of this Neo-Babylonian dynasty, Nebuchadnezzar II, extended his Empire over Assyria, Phoenicia, Israel, northern Arabia and parts of Asia Minor. In 539 BC Cyrus II, king of the Persians, invaded the Babylonian Empire, and the entire Babylonian Empire became part of the Persian Empire. -
Period: 509 BCE to 27 BCE
Republic (Ancient Rome)
The Senate, composed of noble families members (patricians), ruled the Republic. There are internal conflicts because the people (plebs) wanted to participate in the government.
Gradually, the Romans were subduing all the city-states of Italy. Because of the Second War against the Carthaginians, the Romans also began the conquest of Hispania. Later, Rome conquered the hole Mediterranean, including Greece and Gaul.
In the last period they were civil wars for the conquist of Republic power. -
Period: 500 BCE to 323 BCE
Classical Period (Ancient Greece)
In this period there are alliances between Greek poleis to defend against Persian invasions. I Median War was in 490 BC, and II Median War was in 480 BC. Median Wars continued until 449 BC, led by the Athenians and their League of Delos. Then, because Athens used the League’s treasure in its own benefit, Sparta and others went to war against Athens. These wars, first weakened Athens, then Sparta, and finally Thebes. And in the end, Philip II of Macedon imposed his hegemony over all of Greece. -
490 BCE
Battle of Maraton (Ancient Greece)
It was a determinate battle for the end of the I Median War. Taking place in and around of the city of Marathon, located a few kilometers from Athens. King Darius I divided the Persian expedition in two: some landed on the beach of Marathon and the others tried to disembark in Athens. The Athenian phalanx crushed the Persian infantry, that fled and embarked again with heavy casualties. Then, the Greek army quickly marched to Athens to prevent the landing of the other part of the Persian army. -
480 BCE
Battle of Thermopiles (Ancient Greece)
Took place during the II Median War; in it an alliance of the Greek poleis, led by Sparta (by land) and Athens (by sea), united to stop the invasion of the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
It developed in the narrow passage of Thermopylae. For seven days, the Greeks, led by Sparta, stopped the Persian advance. A traitorous Greek pointed the Persians to another way to attack the Greeks from behind. The Persians won the battle and entered Athens which had been evacuated. -
480 BCE
Battle of Salamis (Ancient Greece)
It was a naval battle between the Greek poleis alliance fleet against the Persian Empire fleet. After the Greek defeats in Thermopiles and Artemisium, Greek fleet retreated in the Saronic Gulf, where the island of Salamis has two narrow channels that give access near Athens. The Persian fleet entered the straits of Salamis, but the narrowness of these prevented them from maneuvering and disorganized their formation. The Greeks, better navigators, knew how to maneuver and defeated the Persians. -
432 BCE
Construction of the Parthenon (Ancient Greece)
Temple dedicated to Athena. It was built on Athens using the money of the Delos League that was for using in possible future wars against the Persians. Athens as it was the leading polis kept the money. But she used it for his own benefit: to build a temple in Athens was not the purpose of the alliance neither it strengthened the defense of the other poleis.
Athens made other mistakes and many of the poleis of the league allied with Sparta and formed the Peloponnesian league. -
Period: 323 BCE to 31 BCE
Hellenistic Period (Ancient Greece)
After Philip II of Macedon established his hegemony over all of Greece, his son Alexander set out to conquer the entire Persian Empire (which included Egypt). The conquests of Alexander arrived until the Indo-Hyphasis River, in India. But Alexander died prematurely and childless and his generals divided the Empire among themselves. They and their successors were kings who had absolute power. Greek culture spread through what was the Persian Empire. -
202 BCE
Battle of Zama (Ancient Rome)
Succeded in the actual Tunisia, near the city of Cartago.
It represented the outcome of the II Punic War. Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca had been in Italy for fourteen years with his army, defeating the Romans. The Romans decided to attack Carthage to force Hannibal to leave Italy with his army to defend Carthago. The young Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio faced him. Although the Carthaginians were more, those of Scipio managed to make a strategy confusing and defeating Hannibal. -
44 BCE
Assassination of Julius Caesar (Ancient Rome)
He was assassinated by a group of senators on the 15 of March of 44 BC during a meeting of the Senate. They stabbed him 23 times. They claimed to be acting over fears that Caesar's unprecedented concentration of power was undermining the Republic, and presented the deed as an act of tyrannicide. At least 60 senators were part of the conspiracy, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Then, the conspirators could´t restore the Senate power because a civil war started. -
31 BCE
Battle of Actium (Ancient Egypt & Ancient Rome)
In 44 BC. the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar unleashed a succession of civil wars in the Roman world. The last war was between Caesar's heir, Octavius, and Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. Antony was married to Cleopatra VII, pharaoh of the Hellenistic Kingdom of Egypt. The decisive battle between Octavian and Antony occurred in 31 BC., in Actium, on the west coast of Greece. After the defeat of Antony, Octavian seized Egypt, ending the last dynasty of pharaohs. -
Period: 27 BCE to 476
Empire (Ancient Rome)
The victor of the civil wars was Octavian, proclaimed Emperor. In the Empire there are alternating periods of strong Emperors with others of great instability.
The III century were a period in which the generals proclaim themselves emperors and depose one after another. In 395 Theodosius I divided the Empire: Western Empire and Eastern Empire. In the V century Rome ceded territories to the invading Germanic peoples. Last emperor of the Western Empire was deposed by a Germanic general.