Hieroglyphic writing

Linen weaving

Trade with the Near East

Trade with Nubia ( Africa)

Government, taxation made stable

Rule by outside powers

Egypt part of the Roman Empire

Upper and Lower Egypt unified (3100)

Great Pyramid at Giza built (2540)

Bronze introduced from Near East

Horse and chariot brought from Near East

Egypt dominates in Near East

Temple building, Karnak and Luxor

Akhenaten introduces worship of one god (1350s)

“Sea Peoples” drive Egypt from Palestine (1200s)

Megalith construction

Iron weapons; Greek “Dark Age” (1100-750)

Phoenician alphabet adopted

Homer at work

Greeks defeat Persia (479)

Indo-European “Greeks” enter Greece

Bronze first used in Greece

Minoans start to build on Crete

Myceneans build palaces

Greek writing in Linear B

A Trojan War?

Greek culture flowers

Alexander builds an empire (336-323)

Hellenistic kingdoms

Rome forms a republic (509)

Roman Empire rules Mediterranean and Europe (by 1 CE)

Walled cities develop

Phoenician city-states; trade with Egypt

Schools for scribes in Mesopotamia

First written texts, Mesopotamia

Hittite empire (1600-1200)

Hittites first to use iron for tools, weapons

Phoenician alphabet develops

Huge Persian Empire rises, then falls

Rise of Christianity

Rome burns Carthage (146)

The horse introduced

Epic of Gilgamesh written down ( Mesopotamia)

Phoenicians trade across the Mediterranean

Hammurabi’s Code of Laws (Mesopotamia, 1700s)

Phoenicians found colony of Carthage (814)

Jerusalem thriving as Hebrew capital

Brief Hittite revival

Assyrian military might

Fine clay carvings

Cities of Harappa and Mahenjo-Daro thrive

Citywide water systems established

Invasion by Aryans from north central Asia (ca. 1500)

Aryan caste (class) system develops

Iron plow brought from Near East

Writing in Sanskrit:
oral Vedas recorded

Trade with the Near East

Writing system invented (still not deciphered)

Elaborate wooden architecture

Hinduism develops from Aryan beliefs

Gautama Buddha lives, teaches