The Ancient Near East: The Cradle of Civilization

By mikel17
  • Period: 10,000 BCE to 323 BCE

    The Ancient Near East: The Cradle of Civilization

  • 9600 BCE

    9,600 – 8500 BC

    9,600 – 8500 BC
    Start of sedentary lifestyle again (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “The Pottery Neolithic in the Ancient Near East”)
  • 8500 BCE

    8500 - 7500 BC

    Increase in number and size of settlements; dependence on domesticated animals and plants; large rectangular buildings with more rooms. (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “The Pottery Neolithic in the Ancient Near East”)
  • 7000 BCE

    7000-5000 BCE

    Permanent village life became prevalent over an extensive area, as attested by sites as distant as Hacilar in Anatolia and Jericho in Palestine (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 6500 BCE

    6500 - 5700 BCE

    6500 - 5700 BCE
    Tell Sabi Abbyad (Balikh) or “Burnt Village” where 300 clay sealings w/ 70 different patterns were found; Choga Mami, early evidence of irrigated agriculture, which requires more centralization (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “The Pottery Neolithic in the Ancient Near East”).
  • 4000 BCE

    4000 BCE

    4000 BCE
    Urban centers made their appearance, many with monumental buildings, extensive temple complexes, and large-scale sculpture (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 3500 BCE

    3500-3200 BCE

    3500-3200 BCE
    Starting in the Naqada II period of Ancient Egypt, there are increasingly larger burials with more and more grave goods as it suggests both the major ideological significance of burial and the increase in social stratification through time (Earley-Spadoni 2021, The Neolithic in Egypt).
  • 3100 BCE

    Around 3100 BCE

    The Egyptian Pharaonic civilization began and is one of the oldest in the world (American research center in Egypt, “7 Facts on 7 Millenia of History”)
  • 3000 BCE

    3000 BCE

    3000 BCE
    The cylinder seal had replaced the stamp seal, and writing was in use in Mesopotamia (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 3000 BCE

    3000-2160 BCE

    3000-2160 BCE
    One of the most important historical sources of this period is utilized as the Palermo Stone is a historic document used by royals (Earley-Spadoni 2021, From Prehistory to History: The Late Predynastic).
  • 3000 BCE

    3000 – 2000 BCE

    The distinctness of individual groups living in specific areas becomes even more apparent in the material remains and texts of numerous regional kingdoms: the Hittites in Anatolia; the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Kassites, and Mitannians in Mesopotamia and Syria; and the Elamites in southwestern Iran (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 2900 BCE

    Early 3000 BCE

    The fast potter's wheel was an innovation (Earley-Spadoni 2021, The Pottery Neolithic in the Ancient Near East).
  • 2800 BCE

    2800 BCE

    2800 BCE
    People of early Mesopotamia introduced new ways to talk about politics, the economy, and society through a system of writing known as cuneiform (Charpin, 808).
  • 2689 BCE

    2689-2125 BCE

    2689-2125 BCE
    The Pyramid age during the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The pyramids were colossal statements of divine kingship (Murnane, 696).
  • 2500 BCE

    2500 BCE

    The earliest known scribe statue, the text is preserved and are administrative documents found at the Red Sea port of Wadi el-Jarf (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Sources in Ancient Egypt”).
  • 2000 BCE

    2000 BCE

    In Anatolia a more urban type of settlement, with residential areas and public buildings were developed and would quickly grow to become known as cities (MacQueen 1085).
  • 1950 BCE

    1950 BCE

    Period of Independent city-states (MacQueen 1098)
  • 1500 BCE

    1500 BCE

    A new international equilibrium emerged, characterized by the hegemony of four great powers: Egypt, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, Mitanni in upper Mesopotamia, and Kassite Babylonia (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Peoples of the Late Bronze Age”).
  • 1366 BCE

    1366 - 1330 BCE

    1366 - 1330 BCE
    Assyria emerged on the international scene under Assur-uballit I. Family archives indicate that within Assyria a process of concentration of land and formation of large estates took place (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Peoples of the Late Bronze Age”).
  • 1271 BCE

    1271 BCE

    The rise of Assyria was one of the leading reasons that prompted the Hittites to cease their hostilities with the Egyptians so the Hittite king Muwattalli II and Pharaoh Ramesses II concluded an alliance. The signing of the first peace treaty in history. (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Peoples of the Late Bronze Age”).
  • 1200 BCE

    1200 BCE

    Many of these regional kingdoms in the ancient Near East witnessed widespread social, economic, and political turmoil (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Peoples of the Late Bronze Age”).
  • 1177 BCE

    1177 BCE

    The "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh Ramses III army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory had weakened Egypt so much that it soon slid into decline (Cline, Prologue to 1177 BC p. 9)
  • 1158 BCE

    1158 BCE

    1158 BCE
    Elamite raid on Babylon put an end to the Kassite dynasty. Numerous monuments were carried off to Susa. Excavations were able to discover the Code of Hammurabi as one of the monuments (Earley-Spadoni 2021, “Peoples of the Late Bronze Age”).
  • 1150 BCE

    1150 BCE

    The “Dark Age” that was the movement of people and the emergence of new political unites, Neo-Hittite, states in central and southeast Anatolia, and northern Syria (MacQueen 1098).
  • 800 BCE

    800 - 700 BCE

    The Assyrians formed a large empire which encompassed nearly the entire region. The mighty Assyrian empire at one time stretched from Egypt to the Persian Gulf and northward into Iran and Turkey (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 559 BCE

    559 - 530 BCE

    559 - 530 BCE
    The 6th century saw the rise of Persian power under Cyrus the Great. His conquests laid the foundation for a vast empire that at its height stretched from the Aegean to the Indus (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 500 BCE

    Around 500 BCE

    In Hellenistic and Roman times, Syria and Palestine became the political names of well-defined provinces belonging to the Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Roman empires (Lemche 1195).
  • 500 BCE

    500 BCE

    Anatolia under Persian rule (MacQueen 1099).
  • 490 BCE

    490 - 479 BCE

    490 - 479 BCE
    Greco-Persian Wars: Battles of Marathon (490 B.C.), Salamis (480 B.C.) and Plataea (479 B.C.) saved Greece (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").
  • 332 BCE

    332 BCE

    The Pharaonic period ended with the arrival of Alexander the Great in Egypt (American research center in Egypt, “7 Facts on 7 Millenia of History”).
  • 323 BCE

    336 - 323 BCE

    336 - 323 BCE
    Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian empire and would become one of the greatest military generals (Earley-Spadoni 2021, "Historical Introduction").