Gallery

Cuneiform

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Phoenician Script

3500-1 B.C.E.

Most early dates are approximate

3500 - 3000

 

3500: In Sumer and Elam, the start of pictographic writing.

3000: Sumerians write wedge-shaped cuneiform numerals and ideographic symbols.

3000: In Near East, writing direction on clay changes from columns to rows.

3000: Egypt develops hieroglyphic writing.

3000: People light the night with candles.

3000: In Sumer, the first known written legend, Gilgamesh, a Noah's ark tale.

 

2999 - 2000

 

2784: Estimated date of the first Egyptian civil year of 12 months, 365 days.

2640: China produces silk. It will serve as a writing surface.

2500: Earliest known glass.

2600: In Egypt, scribes employ hieratic writing, a condensed, cursive hieroglyphic.

2350: Mesopotamian king uses homing pigeons.

2060: Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, in Sumeria, creates first known code of law.

2500: Across Near East, animal hides serve as scrolls.

2400: In India, engraved seals identify the writer.

2300: Mesopotamian Semites use cuneiform and base-10 numbering.

2300: Akkadian is the diplomatic language of the Near East.

2300: In the Indus Valley (modern Pakistan), Proto-Indian writing.

2300: Early Britons move from stone age to bronze age.

2200: Oldest existing document written on papyrus.

2000: Egypt runs a government courier system.
2000: Chinese develop a pictographic-based written language.

2000: In the Fertile Crescent, sundials.

2000: Enheduanna, a woman in Mesopotamia, writes first signed text, a hymn.

2000: Nine Greek muses, responsible for poetry, history, comedy, song, dance.

 

1999 - 1000

 

1900: Place value numeration in Babylonia.

1800: Writing in the Minoan civilization of Crete.

1700: The written law code of Hammurabi, in Babylonia, carved on a stone pillar.

1700: First known alphabetic symbols, a few written by Semites in Canaan.

1500: Decimal system spreads through the Near East.

1500: In Crete, the Phaistos disc; symbols carved in relief are pressed into soft clay.

1500: The Book of the Dead guides wealthy Egyptians into the afterlife.

1500: On Crete, Phaistos clay disc is carved with symbols, then baked hard.

1400: Oldest record of writing in China, on bones and tortoise shells.

1350: In Egypt, pharaoh Akhnaton introduces monotheism, but it doesn't survive him.

1300: First entirely alphabetic writing, 30 Ugaritic cuneiform symbols on tablets.

1300: In modern-day Syria, musical notation.

1300: Drum beat codes sound alarms during Shang Dynasty in China.

1259: BCE Egyptians and Hittites sign first written peace treaty.

1250: Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Papyrus of Ani.

1250: Moses brings the tablets bearing the Ten Commandments.

1200: The Phoenician alphabet, 22 letters, all consonants.

1200: Egyptians use pigeons for military communication.

1100: Egyptian army uses homing pigeons for messages.

1000: Alphabetic writing appears in various parts of the Near East.

 

999 - 700

 

950: The oldest books of the Bible are written.

920: Early version of the Hundu epic, the Mahabharata.

900: China's Zhou Dynasty has an organized postal service for government use.

900: Phonetic alphabet spreads across the Mediterranean.

900: Beacon fires and smoke signals are used in China.

900: Start of the writing of the Hindu Upanishads.

850: The Iliad and the Odyssey, 300 years after the Trojan War, ascribed to Homer.

800: In the Near East leather is a writing surface; rolled as scrolls.

800: Moabite stone bears Phoenician alphabet.

800: Greeks improve Phoenician alphabet by adding vowels; capital letters only.

776: Carrier pigeons bear news of the Olympic games.

775: Chinese astronomers record a solar eclipse, first Chinese proven date.

753: Estimated founding of Rome; start of the Roman calendar.

750: Egyptian demotic writing, a cursive derived from hieratic, hieroglyphs.

750: The book of Amos. .

750: Greek poet Hesiod writes Works and Days, an epic of Greek rural life.

710: In the Egyptian city of Memphis, an account of creation carved in stone.

 

699 - 600

 

650: Egyptian papyrus arrives in Greek cities.

650: Assyrian royal library boasts 20,000 clay tablets.

650: Greeks write on papyrus shipped from Nile River origin.

650: Dionysian festivals among Greeks will lead to drama.

650: Olmecs, a pre-Mayan people, invent first writing system in Americas.

640: A king of Ninevah collects a library, 22,000 clay tablets.

640: Coins are circulated.

621: Manuscript of Deuteronomy is discovered in Jerusalem.

620: Draco gives Athens a written code of laws, "draconian" in its harshness.

610: Anaximander writes first known book of philosophy.

600: First appearance of Latin.

600: In Ninevah, a map of the known world, carved on clay tablet.

600: From Lesbos, Sappho's poetry; it will lead to the term "lesbian."

600: Mediterranean cultures agree on left-to-right writing.

600: The Near East has coins, clocks, calendars.

 

599 - 500

 

585: Thales of Miletus develops physical science, geometry, and a rational worldview.

575: In Babylonian exile, Jewish scholars begin to compile the books of the Bible.

575: Zarathrustra (Zoroaster) preaches and starts a new religion in the Middle East.

550: Across much of Mediterranean world, writing now runs left to right.

530: In Athens, a public library.

528: Buddhism begins as Siddhartha Gautama finds enlightenment.

526: In China, a written code of laws.

500: In China, Lao Tze manages imperial archives.

500: Chinese government officials use established, speedy courier service.

500: Chinese philosopher Lao Tze, Taoist founder, is curator of royal archives.

500: Greek telegraph: trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke, mirrors.

500: Persia has a form of pony express.

500: Unknown prophet, "second Isaiah," writes, preaches of Yahweh's universality.

500: In India the writing of the Vedic hymns is completed.

500: In present-day Nigeria, the Nok people produce terra cotta art.

500: The Analects of Confucius.

500: Chinese scholars write on bamboo with reeds dipped in pigment.

500: Greeks build theaters as drama emerges.

 

499 - 400

 

497: Death of Pythagoras, philosopher and mathematician.

490: Pheidippides dies after bringing to Athens the news of victory at Marathon.

480: Aesop, possibly a freed slave, writes his Fables.

475: Parmenides, Greek philosopher, argues that reality is an unchanging substance.

475: Philosopher Heraclitis posits opposite view that the world is constantly changing.

469: Birth of Socrates, inventor of the art of philosophical dialogue.

458: From Aeschylus, the "father of tragedy," Oresteia.

450: Anaxagoras is first Western philosopher to distinguish mind from matter.

449: Rome's written Laws of the Twelve Tables cover both civil and criminal matters.

443: Sophocles' Antigone.

438: Death of Pindar, arguably the greatest of the Greek lyric poets.

435: In China, a solar calendar.

435: Phidias sculpts the Zeus, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.

432: Greek astronomer Meton adjusts the lunar calendar to a solar year.

431: Euripedes' Medea.

431: The Athenian ruler, Pericles, delivers the Funeral Oration.

430: Euripides' The Trojans.

428: Sophocles, Oedipus Rex.

427: Birth of Plato, author of the Socratic Dialogues and The Republic.

423: Aristophanes' satire, The Clouds, caricatures Socrates.

420: Herodotus' History of the Persian War.

420: Writings by Hippocrates begin the scientific study of medicine.

415: Euripides, The Trojan Women.

415: Lysistrata, comedy by Aristophanes.

415: Protagoras teaches that human beings are "the measure of all things."

409: Sophocles, Electra.

405: Euripides' Bacchae.

405: Aristophanes, The Frogs.

401: Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus.

400: The golden age of Greek culture produces unmatched writings.

400: Chinese write on silk as well as wood, bamboo.

400: Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.

400: In Central America, Zapotec writing.

400: Democritus originates theory that matter consists of colliding atoms.

400: First illustrated manuscripts.

400: Xenophon's Anabasis tells dramatic tale of Greek army fighting their way home.

 

399 - 300

 

399: Socrates drinks poison. Nothing written by famed philosopher survives.

396: Plato's Apologia defends Socrates.

390: Gauls sack Rome, destroying all records. Only legends remain.

387: Plato's Symposium uses Socratic logic.

386: Plato founds the Academy

384: Birth of Aristotle.

350: From the Greek author Archestratus, a cookbook.

350: In Organon, Aristotle explains logical reasoning.

350: Diogenes preaches the simple, self-sufficient life.

347: Death of Plato, who leaves an unparalleled mark on Western thought.

340: Aristotle's logic; it will be a source of knowledge for more than 2,000 years.

340: Praxiteles sculpts Hermes with the Infant Dionysus.

335: Aristotle founds his academy, the Lyceum.

322: Death of Aristotle, the great collector of human knowledge.

320: Greek sculpture spreads across Near East.

312: Start of the ancient Greek calendar, the Seleucid Era.

300: Epicurus starts philosophical school based on simple life that avoids pain.

300: Euclid's Elements explain geometry.

300: Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata, attains much of its modern form.

 

299 - 200

 

295: The great library at Alexandria is founded. Euclid teaches there.

275: Manetho, Egyptian priest, writes history of Egypt.

250: Diophantus' Arithmetica explains algebra.

250: Brahmi, the first strictly Indian writing, in King Asoka's edicts.

250: In Near East city of Pergamum, parchment is made as a writing surface.

250: The zero appears for the first time, in Babylonian place-value system.

250: The Hebrew Torah, the Septuagint, is translated into Greek.

240: Latin literature starts to emerge.

230: Aristarchus of Samos: first scientist to realize that Earth circles the Sun.

220: Archimedes, Sicilian geometrician, leaves records of his many inventions.

213: China's Ch'in emperor, Shihuang, orders destruction of all books.

200: Greek scientist Eratosthenes accurately measures size of the Earth.

200: Greeks, Romans use wax-on-wood tablets for note taking.

200: Tipao gazettes are circulated to Chinese officials.

 

199 - 100

 

196: Cutting of the Rosetta Stone in hieroglyphics, hieratic, and Greek.

185: In Rome, Plautus and Terence write comedies.

170: Books are written on parchment and vellum, treated animal skins.

150: Hipparchus, astronomer, invents trigonometry, calculates length of the year.

150: Dead Sea Scrolls written between 150 BCE and 40 CE.

150: The modern Hebrew alphabet, derived from Aramaic cursive letters.

150: The book of Ecclesiastes.

150: Paper, made from soaked, macerated hemp, is placed in Chinese tombs.

150: Alexandria is the greatest center of Hellenistic and Hebrew culture.

146: Polybius completes 40 volumes of early Roman history.

146: Polybius describes complex torch signaling system in use by Greeks.

118: Codification of the Roman constitution is completed.

105: In Alexandria, the first college of technology is founded.

100: Extant copy of the Ten Commandments is written in Hebrew. s

 

99 - 0

 

80: In China, a collection of biographies of famous women.

63: Marcus Tullius Tiro, ex-slave of Cicero, invents a shorthand system.

59: Julius Caesar orders postings of the Acta Diurna.

57: Lucretius' 6-volume De Rerum Natura extols Epicurean philosophy.

55: Marcus Tullius Cicero writes on rhetoric, De Oratore.

54: Cicero on politics, De Republica.

51: Caesar's account of the Gallic war; will be read by centuries of pupils.

50: An early oboe.

47: Alexandrian Library survives fire set by Julius Caesar's troops; many books lost.

46: Julius Caesar develops the solar Julian calendar, with leap years.

44: Caesar killed. Remarkable life includes writing Commentaries and Civil War.

39: In Rome, the first public library, at the Libertas Temple.

37: Virgil (or Vergil) writes the Bucolics, or Eclogues.

35: The Satires of Horace.

30: Virgil writes more poetry of farm life, the Georgics.

28: Rome establishes two large libraries, the Octavian and the Palatine.

19: Virgil dies; the Aeneid, one of the greatest of the epic poems, is unfinished.

13: Some of the finest lyrical poems of the mature Horace appear.

8: Horace, greatest of Latin lyric poets, dies after writing Satires, Odes, Epistles.

4: Likely birth of Jesus, according to modern calculations.

 

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Sources for the timeline and accompanying information.

Copyright © Irving Fang and Kristina Ross, 1995-1996. All rights reserved.