History of Western Asia

(3300 – 2100 BC) Early Bronze Age

• 3200: a writing system was developed in order to keep administrative records; it was called cuneiform and was made up of pictograms (pictures) describing objects and ideograms describing ideas or actions.
  • The invention of writing enabled complex societies to arise: record-keeping and libraries served as a storehouse of knowledge and increased the cultural transmission of information. Humans no longer had to spend all their time working for survival—curiosity and education drove the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.
• 2,900 – Kingship in Sumer transferred to Erech. Inanna given dominion over the Third Region; the Indus Valley Civilization begins.
• 2800 Etana became the first Sumerian monarch and established the Kish dynasty; he put northern Mesopotamia under his control, built the first monumental building as his palace, and called himself king of the “four quarters of the world”; Meskiaggasher established the Uruk dynasty and controlled most of the south.
• 2800-2670 BC: the Kish dynasty established a powerful kingship and because it was situated at a critical spot on the Euphrates river it controlled irrigation flow to the southern city-states and thus kept the Uruk dynasty, in the south, under control.
• 2900 BC: because the city-states were at constant war, they needed a strong military leader to oversee war and large building projects; they began to replace theocracies with hereditary monarchies and according to ancient tablets, “the kingship came down from heaven.”
• 2700 BC: Gilgamesh, grandson of Enmerkar, became king of Uruk; he constructed the brick walls around Uruk and his deeds formed the basis of the Gilgamesh Epic; Enmebaragesi became king of Kish, he ordered the construction of the Temple of Enlil at Nippur, which became the spiritual center of Sumer, and he led victorious campaigns against Elam.
• 2670 years ago. Mesanepada established the Ur dynasty; he defeated Agga, king of Kish, which ended the Kish dynasty, and put the Uruk and Ur dynasties simultaneously in power.
• 2670-2370 years ago. the Uruk dynasty became weak from constant attacks in the north which only strengthened the power of the Ur dynasty in the south.
• 2,650 – Sumer’s royal capital shifts about. Kingship deteriorates. Enlil loses patience with the unruly human multitudes.
• 2612 – Nephren-Ka and his followers flee to the underground catacombs of Kish, where Nephren-Ka sacrifices a hundred victims to Nyarlathotep. In exchange, Nephren-Ka is given the gift of prophecy, and he spends the rest of his days drawing the future of the Earth on the walls of his tomb. (“Fane of the Black Pharaoh,” Bloch)
• 2525 years ago. Lugalannemudu of Adab, a city in the north, united northern Sumer under his control; his power quickly passed to Mesilim, king of Kish; these conquests by the northern city-states ended the Uruk dynasty and put the Ur dynasty in complete power.
• 2425 years ago. Eannatum established the Lagash dynasty; he united Sumer under his control, called himself king of Kish, and conquered much neighboring territory.
• 2,371- Inanna falls in love with Sharru-Kin (Sargon). He establishes new capital city. Agade (Akkad). Akkadian empire launched.
• 2370 years ago. Urukagina of became king of Lagash; he enacted many social reforms and during his reign Lugalzagesi, king of Umma, defeated him and took control of Sumer, which went into a state of civil strife.
• 2350 years ago. Sargon I, a Kish general, usurped and became king of Kish; he defeated Lugalzagesi and took control of Sumer, built his capital at Akkad and established the Akkadian dynasty, he centralized trade, made his daughter priestess of Ur, repaired the irrigation systems, and created the first professional army of 5400 men.
• 2,316 – Aiming to rule the four regions, Sargon removes sacred soil from Babylon. The Marduk-Inanna conflict flares up again. It ends when Nergal, Marduk’s brother, journeys from South Africa to Babylon and persuades Marduk to leave Mesopotamia.
• 2250 years ago. Manituu, son of Sargon I, became king of Akkad; he defeated “32 cities in Iran,” the Elamites, and the many other city-states which tested his military strength.
• 2,291- Naram-Sin ascends the throne of Akkad. Directed by the warlike Inanna, he penetrates the Sinai peninsula, invades Egypt. he extended the empire to “the four quarters of the world” and was the first king to deify himself.
• 2,255 – Inanna usurps the power in Mesopotamia; Naram-Sin defies Nippur. The Great Anunnaki obliterate Agade. Inanna escapes. Sumer and Akkad occupied by foreign troops loyal to Enlil and Ninurta.
• 2240 years ago. Akkad, capital of the Akkadian Empire, becomes the largest city in the world, surpassing Memphis, capital of Egypt.
• 2,220 – Sumerian civilization rises to new heights under enlightened rulers of Lagash. Thoth helps its king Gudea build a ziggurat-temple for Ninurta.
• 2,193 – Terah, Abraham’s father, born in Nippur into a priestly-royal family.
• 2218 – years ago. the Gutians, a group of nomadic peoples east of Mesopotamia, swept through Mesopotamia, destroyed Akkad, and conquered Sumer; in the ancient writings Curse of Akkad, Naram-Sin angered the god Enlil, who made the Gutians attack.
• 2144 – Gudea became king of Lagash; despite Gutian rule of Sumer he took control of southern Mesopotamia, encouraged literature, and initiated religious constructions; after his death he was deified and many magnificent statues were produced in his honor.
• 2,130 – As Enlil and Ninurta are increasingly away, central authority also deteriorates in Mesopotamia. Inanna’s attempts to regain the kingship for Erech does not last.
• 2120 years ago. Utuhegal became king of Uruk; he and his general, Ur-Nammu, defeated the Gutians and drove them from Sumer; Utuhegal rewarded Ur-Nammu by making him governor of Ur.
• 2113: Ur-Nammu established the 3rd Ur dynasty and declared himself king of Sumer and Akkad; he defeated Utuhegal, king of Uruk, and Nammahani, king of Lagash, united Sumer under his rule, constructed many temples, and established the first code of laws which emphasized the king’s duty to protect the people against injustice.

(2100 – 1550 BC) Middle Bronze Age

• 2095 – Shulgi succeeded his father Ur-Nammu as king of Ur; during his reign their was a drastic water shortage, he reorganized irrigation systems and encouraged economic records on clay tablets.
• 2004: the Elamites, a group of nomadic peoples in the north, invaded Sumer; they destroyed Ur, captured Ibbi-Sin, the king of Ur, ended the 3rd Ur Dynasty, and sent Sumer into civil strife; regular imports of tin from Britain began to go throughout Europe and the Middle East, making the use of bronze to make tools and weapons possible.
• 2000 – Babylon’s Code of Hammurabi instructs, “If a man has laid a charge of witchcraft and has not justified it, he upon whom the witchcraft is laid shall go to the holy river; he shall plunge into the holy river and if the holy river overcome him, he who accused him shall take to himself his house.”
• 1900: the Amorites, a group of nomadic peoples from Syria encouraged by the internal strife, invaded and conquered Sumer; they intermingled with the Sumerians and obtained many high positions, including becoming kings of cities, the most powerful being the Isin dynasty.
• 1894: Sumu-abum, an Amorite, conquered a small portion of land in middle Mesopotamia; he built up the small village of Babylon and there ruled as king.
• 1823 BC: Rim-Sin, an Amorite, became king of Larsa; he conquered Isin, ending its reign of power, and united Sumer under the rule of the Larsa dynasty.
• 1792 BC: Hammurabi, an Amorite, became king of Babylon; he defeated Rim-Sin, conquered Mesopotamia, and established the Babylon Dynasty; he oversaw navigation, irrigation, agriculture, tax collection, construction, cleared block rivers, punished dishonest officials, reformed the calendar, and codified the Sumerian laws in the Code of Hammurabi with its primary idea, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

• 1750 BC: Samsu-iluna succeeded his father Hammurabi as king of Babylon; he defeated the first invasion of Babylonia by the Kassites, a group of nomadic peoples from the east.
• 1595 the Hittites swept through Babylonia, took prisoners, and looted wealth; they brought with them the use of iron, which was used to make spears and battle axes; the Kassites proceeded the Hittites, conquered Babylonia, and established the Kassite dynasty.
• 1570 BC: Agum, a Kassite, became king of Babylonia; he reconquered lost lands and extended his control over all Mesopotamia.

(1550 – 1200) Late Bronze Age

• 1480 – Tutmoses III campaigns in Asia-Minor. His inscriptions mention receiving tribute from the Danaioi)
• (Tudhaliya II is king of the Hittites from 1460-1440)
• Tudhaliya III rules the Hittites 1400-1380 BC.)
• 1336 Aetolus conquers Aetolia after murdering Dorus the son of Phthia and his brothers
• (Mursilis II king of the Hittites dies in 1315 BC)
• 1225 Tukulti-Ninurta I, king of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, captured Babylon and extended his rule through northern Mesopotamia; although the Kassite dynasty continued to rule, it was only nominal.
• 1140 Shutruk-Nahhunte I, king of Elam, captured Babylon; he ended the Kassite dynasty and placed his son Shilhak-Inshushinak on the throne; he encouraged sculpture and literature.
• (Ramses III expels Sea-Peoples from Egypt in 1175 BC. Among those named are the Peleset, Tjeker and Denyen, ie. the Pelasgians, Teukrians and Danaians who are said to be based in Cyprus)

Iron Age (1200 – 539 BC)

• 1125 Nebuchadnezzar I became king of Isin; he defeated Shutruk-Nahhunte and united Babylonia under his rule.
• 1115 BC: Tiglath-pileser I became king of Assyria; he defeated Nebuchadnezzar and reclaimed control of Babylonia, assuming it into the Assyrian Empire.
• 705 or 722 Sennacherib became king of Assyria; he captured and destroyed Babylon, tortured and beheaded prisoners, and enslaved women and children.
• 1000 groups of nomadic peoples, mostly the Aramaeans and Chaldeans, began raiding Babylonia continuously; the Assyrians conquered began to conquer these groups one by one.
• 626 BC: Naabopolassar, a Chaldean, proclaimed himself king of Babylonia and established the Chaldean dynasty; he conquered the Assyrians with the help of his allies, the Medes, the Scythians, and the Cimmerians.
• 605 Nebuchadnezzar II succeeded his father Naabopolassar as king of Babylonia; he conquered all of Mesopotamia, defeated Egyptian invasions, destroyed Jerusalem (586 BC), and rebuilt the city of Babylon as his capital (including the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven ancient wonders).
• 605 BC – King Nebuchadnezzar creates the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for his wife, Queen Semiramis.
• 556 BC: Nabonidus, one of Nebuchadnezzar II’s governors, became king of Babylonia; he angered the priestly class of Babylon and sent the empire into a state of civil wars.

• 539 Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, conquered Babylonia; he added Babylonia into the Persian Empire and ended the Chaldean Dynasty.
• 499 Aristagoras, acting on behalf of the Persian Empire, leads a failed attack on the rebellious island of Naxos.
• 499 Aristagoras instigates the Ionic Revolt, beginning the Persian Wars between Greece and Persia.
• 499 Sardis destroyed by Athenian and Ionian troops.
• 492 First expedition of King Darius I of Persia against Greece, under the leadership of his son-in-law Mardonius. This marks the start of the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
• 490 The Battle of Marathon, where Darius I of Persia is defeated by the Athenians and Plataeans under Miltiades.
• 486 Xerxes I succeeds Darius I as Great King of Persia.
• 480 Battle of Thermopylae Leonidas, Spartan, makes sacrifice of 300 so main force can escape; Xerxes son of Darius is leading the Persians.
• 431 Peloponnesian War
• 334 – Alexander the Great makes a sacrifice to the gods near the ruins of Troy before his siege of Persia.
• 333 Alexander the Great defeats Persians at Battle of Issus, Oct, but Darius III escapes
• 331 at Battle of Gaugamela Oct 1, Alexander the Great ends Achaemenid Dynasty and takes Persian Empire
• 330 Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, decline and depopulation of Ancient Greece with large migrations towards the conquered lands.
• 312 Seleucus I Nicator establishes himself in Babylon, founding the Seleucid Empire.
• 281 Antiochus I Soter, on the assassination of his father Seleucus becomes emperor of the Seleucid empire.
• 275 End of history of Babylon.
• 270 Celts moved in to Galatia
• 261 BC: Antiochus II Theos, 2nd son, at the death of his father becomes emperor of the Seleucid empire.