top of page

c. 5000 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Ubaidian culture dominant
throughout the territory
c. 3500 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Sumerians enter southern
Mesopotamia
c. 3300 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Development of cuneiform writing
in Sumeria
c. 3000–2686 B.C.E. Egypt: Archaic era—Dynasty 1 and 2
c. 2900 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Amorites settle to the north of
Sumer
2686–2125 B.C.E. Egypt: Old Kingdom—Dynasty 3–8
2667–2648 B.C.E. Egypt: Djoser; career of Imhotep, later deified as
the god of medicine
2589–2566 B.C.E. Egypt: Khufu (Cheops)
2334–2279 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Sargon the Great of Akkad

c. 2200–1200 B.C.E. Middle and Late Bronze Ages
2160–2055 B.C.E. Egypt: First Intermediate Period—Dynasty 9–11
c. 2111 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Ur–Nammu establishes Third
Dynasty of Ur
2055–1650 B.C.E. Egypt: Middle Kingdom—Dynasty 11–14
1985–1956 B.C.E. Egypt: Amenemhat I
1956–1911 B.C.E. Egypt: Senusret I
1792–1750 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Hammurabi, first great king of
Babylon
1650–1550 B.C.E. Egypt: Second Intermediate Period—Dynasty
15–17
1650–1550 B.C.E. Egypt: Hyksos—Dynasty 15
1595–1157 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Kassites rule Mesopotamia
1550–1069 B.C.E. Egypt: New Kingdom—Dynasty 18–20
c. 1365 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Assur–uballit I (1365–1330 BCE)
frees Assyria from Hurrian domination and
reestablishes it as an independent kingdom
1352–1336 B.C.E. Egypt: Amenhotep IV / Ankhenaten
1279–1213 B.C.E. Egypt: Ramesses II
1235 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Tukulti–Ninurta (1244–1208
B.C.E.) of Assyria conquers Babylon
c. 1200–800 B.C.E. Dark Age in the eastern Mediterranean;
incursions of the Sea Peoples into the Near East
1115–1077 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Tiglath–Pilester I, king of Assyria

1069–64 B.C.E. Egypt: Third Intermediate Period—Dynasty 21–25
c. 1020–1000 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Saul, king of Israel
c. 1000–961 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: David, king of Judah and Israel
c. 961–922 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Solomon, king of Judah and
Israel
922–587 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Separate kingdoms of Israel and
Judah
883–859 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Assurnasirpal II, king of Assyria
882–871 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Omri, king of Israel
c. 871–851 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Ahab, king of Israel
858–823 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria
c. 851–850 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Ahaziah, king of Israel
842–814 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Jehu, king of Israel
786–758 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Uzziah, king of Judah
785–749 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Jeroboam II, king of Israel
758–742 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Jotham, king of Judah
744–727 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria
742–726 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Ahaz, king of Judah
740–732 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Rezin, king of Aram–Damascus
735–731 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Pekah, king of Israel
726–697 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Hezekiah, king of Judah

721–705 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Sargon II, king of Assyria
697–642 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Manasseh, king of Judah
669–627 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Assurbanipal, king of Assyria
664–332 B.C.E. Egypt: Late Period—Dynasty 26–30, Persian rule
604–562 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Nebuchadnezzar II, king of
Babylon
556–539 B.C.E. Mesopotamia: Nabonidus (Nabu–na’id), king of
Babylon
559–530 B.C.E. Persia: Cyrus II (“the Great”), king of Persia
486–465 B.C.E. Persia: Xerxes, king of Persia
336–323 B.C.E . Greece: Alexander III (“the Great”), king of
Macedon
333–63 B.C.E. Hellenistic Era
332 B.C.E. Persia: Alexander conquers Persian possessions
in the Near East
305–285 B.C.E. Egypt: Ptolemy I Soter, first Hellenistic king of
Egypt
175–163 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king
of Syria, 175–163 B.C.E.
167–142 B.C.E. Syria–Palestine: Maccabean revolt in Judah
165 B.C.E . Syria–Palestine: Restoration of Temple  Jerusalem
142–63 B.C.E . Syria–Palestine: Jewish autonomy under
Hasmonean rule

Gods in the Desert: Religions of the Ancient Near East by Glenn S. Holland, 2009

IDates Author
Before 2350 b.c.e. Anon. Egyptian Book
of the Dead (Reu Nu
Pert Em Hru [Chapters
of Coming Forth by
Day])
ca. 2300 b.c. e. Anon. Ā e Gilgamesh
Epic (Sumerian
language)
ca. 2250 b.c. e. Hammurabi, King of
Babylon
fl . ca. 1500 b.c. e. Vyāsa (Krishna
Dvaipāyana, Vedavyā)
ca. 1300 b.c.e. Ā e Gilgamesh Epic
(Akkadian Language)
fl . ca. 1250 b.c. e. Orpheus
fl . eighth Homer
century b.c.e. Hesiod
fl . seventh Alkman
century b.c.e. Th aletas of Crete
fl . ca. 684 b.c. e Callinus of Ephesus
fl . ca. 680 b.c. e. Archilochos
b. ca. 650 b.c. e. Sappho (Psappho)
fl . ca. 647 b.c. e. Tyrtaeus
ca. 630–ca. 580 b.c. e. Alcaeus (Alkaios)
ca. 630–ca. 553 b.c.e. Zoroaster (Zarathustra Spitama).

fl . sixth century b.c. e. Aesop
Epigenes
the Sicyonian
Musæus 1
Th espis of Ikaria
ca. mid- sixth century Th eognis
b.c.e.
fl . ca. 594 b.c. e. Solon
fl . ca. 590 b.c. e. Mimnermus of
Colophon
ca. 563–ca 483 b.c. e. Buddha
ca. 556–468 b.c. e. Simonides of Ceos
551–479 b.c.e. Confucius
fl . ca. 550–500 b.c. e. Pythagoras of Samos
fl . ca. 536 b.c. e. Anacreon
525–455 b.c.e. Aeschylus
ca. 518–ca. 438 b.c. e. Pindar
512–476 b.c. e. Phrynicos of Athens
fl . 500 b.c. e. Hanno
Hecatæus of Miletus
Heraclitus of Ephesus
fl . ca. late sixth Epicharmus of Cos
or early Ā ft h (Epicharmus of Sicily)
century b.c.e
ca. Ā ft h century b.c.e. Myrtis
Korinna

the entrance to the ancient city of Babylon.jpg

Mesopotamia

Indus Valley Civilization.jpg
The Indus Valley Civilization
Since 1975, the Biblical Archaeology Society has produced copious amounts of information on the ancient Middle and Near East
The Acropolis of Athens, Greece, with the Parthenon Temple on top of the hill during a sum
Eygypt.jpg
bottom of page