The World of Your Ancestors - Dates - In the Beginning - Volume One: 1 of 6

By Carol A. Wirth

A Book for the Curious and Amateur or Serious Genealogists

 

Do you Want To Know More About the Past?

 

If you enjoy history or genealogy, there are many topics to explore in this first of a six volume series, THE WORLD OF YOUR ANCESTORS - DATES - IN THE BEGINNING.  This first volume covers the most years of any volume, starting 300 million years ago and going until 1800.

 

How far back did you trace your family tree? Although many of us can only trace our ancestors back less than five hundred years, we may be curious to learn more.  History becomes exciting when you realize your ancestors were there.  Life does change yet many things remain the same.  Past events and decisions do impact our lives today.

 

The author shares information from many sources and includes historical highlights along with lesser-known data.  It gives readers a big picture of what the world was like at a particular time. You can find out historical events, famous people, epidemics, inventions, wars and more.  Get to know someone and see how and why they were able to accomplish what they did.

 

Here is your chance to pick a date or year and satisfy a curiosity.  Find out things you did not read in your school books.  Discover what things happened and how these events affected your ancestor's decisions and their day-to-lives.  You can gain insight into the world was really like then.

 

Each date entry can be a stepping stone to wanting to learn even more.  You can investigate any topic area of interest.  Enjoy this peek in the past in THE WORLD OF YOUR ANCESTORS - DATES - VOLUME ONE - FROM THE BEGINNING TO 1800.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carol A. Wirth
• Release date: Apr 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9781540181671

Book preview

BOOK MAP

Front Cover Photo is the Author’s Family

INTRODUCTION

IN THE BEGINNING

C.E.

THE 1000’s OR 11th CENTURY

THE 1200’s OR 13th CENTURY

THE 1300’s OR 14th CENTURY

THE 1400’s OR 15th CENTURY

THE 1500’s OR 16thCENTURY

THE 1600’s OR 17thCENTURY

THE 1700’S OR 18th CENTURY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

The past is filled with an endless supply of topic areas.  The author presents bits and pieces of information on a variety of subjects.  This data in no way intends to contain anything but a mini glimpse into the past.

The author has tried to be as accurate as possible but sources do show contradicting data, for example inventions.  Inventors are really just one more person in humankind’s history who made an improvement on a previous idea.  Many items are invented repeatedly and therefore mentioned more than once.  Each inventor took risks and sacrificed time, each used their personal resources and creativity to invent, and they all deserve recognition.

The ebook lets the reader see the whole picture of what was going on in the world vs. just what is happening in one topic area.

This peek into the past can open up opportunities for the reader to do further reading or research on the topic areas that are of interest to them.

Readers will find by reviewing the information presented that things we associate as ‘modern’ were really around in the ‘olden days’.  Other things we now take for granted, were not in existence so let us go back in time....current events, famous people, music, wars and more.

IN THE BEGINNING...

300 million years ago

Flying insects first appear.

200 million years ago

First vertebrate animals with wings, pterosaurs, first appear.

150 million years ago

Birds first appear.

3.75 million yrs ago

There is human life.  Skeleton called Lucy is found in 1974.

2.4 million yrs ago

Stone tools are being used in Africa.

1 million yrs ago

Fire is used in Africa.

400,000+ yrs ago

Pigments are being used in Zambia.

250,000+ yrs ago

Fire is being used.

100,000 yrs ago

Humans are decorating themselves with beads made from a variety of animal, plant and other materials like amber, bones, dinosaur or ostrich eggshells, horn, ivory, nuts, seeds, shells and tusks.

60,000+ yrs ago

Ships are being made in New Guinea.

50,000+ yrs ago

Bow and arrow is being used in Tunisia.

45,000+ yrs ago

Mining is being done.

30,000+ yrs ago

Arrows are being made in what is now the Sahara.

Sewing is done.

28,000+ yrs ago

Egyptians used wedding rings in marriage ceremonies believing the circle meant eternity and ensured a long marriage.

26,000+ yrs ago

Ceramics are being made in Moravia.

22,000+ yrs ago

Tally sticks are being used.

12,000+ yrs ago

Pottery is being made in Japan.

10,000+ yrs ago

Adze, wood cutting instrument, is being used.

People planted barley, cereal, wheat, rice, oats, beans, peas and cassava.

Pleistocene Epoch - Ice Age.

Shepherd boys looked after livestock and use milk, meat, skins and made wool.

Trephining, skull surgery, is being performed.

Woolen clothes used in the Mid East.

10,000 B.C.E.

By this time Japan is developing bead making and their dead are entombed with protection beads made of bone, shell and stone.

Neolithic

New Stone Age - Agriculture replacing hunting.

8,700 B.C.E.

Copper pendants are being made in Iraq.

8,000 B.C.E.

Salmon was caught with spears.

Walls of Jericho are 13 feet high, 10 feet thick and about 11 miles long.

7,000 B.C.E.

Mehegarth (now Pakistan) residents are using beads made from alabaster, lapis, lazuli and turquoise.

White bread was being made.

6,500 B.C.E.

Skis are being made in Scandinavia.

6,200 B.C.E.

Cloth is woven from flax fiber.

6,000 B.C.E.

Egyptians are using a crude written language.

5,000 B.C.E.

Babylonians ferment vinegar from date palms to enhance flavor (adding absinth, celery, lavender, mint, portulaca, ruta, saffron and tarragon).

Beer and wine is being made.

Brain surgery is being done.

Cambat (Khambat), India has bead and gem making technology and is also making low-fire, grass embedded pottery.  (This town today is still a center for bead making and stone cutting).

Irrigation practiced in the Fertile Crescent.

People are farming in Western Europe.

Ploughs are being made in Mesopotamia.

4,500 B.C.E.

By this time, gold work is being done.

Tell Hamoukar (now northern Syria) has an obsidian carving industry making arrowheads, beads, blades and sharp tools.

4,241 B.C.E.

Egyptian calendar starts.

4,000 B.C.E.

Apples and dates were planted.

Bronze is being used by the Maikops.

Bronze work is being done in Thailand.

Cement is being made in Egypt.

Copper mining occurs in Danube valley.

Indus Valley civilization in India exists.

Riverboats are being made in Egypt.

Silk is being made in China.

3960-3908 B.C.E.

Pharaoh Cheops’s lifetime.  The oldest known ship, approximately 133 feet by 26 feet and built for tomb vs. actually sailed, was found near his tomb.

3,800 B.C.E.

An engineered roadway is built in England.

3,600 B.C.E.

Thailand first makes bronze when it adds tin to copper.

3,500 B.C.E.

Babylonians and Egyptians are worshipping the moon and the sun.

Beads made of meteoric metal are in use in Jirzak, Egypt.

Carts are being used in Sumer.

Clay ship model build in Sumerian city of Eridu.

Egyptians are decorating ax handles, make up containers and pottery with giraffes.

Moccasins made of laced up leather are being made.  (Women’s size 7 were found preserved in an American cave).

Obelisks served as town square timekeeping devices.

Papyrus rolls are put in mummy cases.

Plywood is used in Egypt.

Sticks were harnessed to oxen to plow.

Wheel is used in Mesopotamia.

Writing is being done in Sumer.  Both Babylonians and Egyptians are writing.

3,360 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

King Meres is King of Egypt.

3,300 B.C.E.

Aegean Island villages are trading olive oil with Crete and Greece.

3,200 B.C.E.

Men in the Italian Alps are wearing loincloth (the Otzi Man found in 1991).

Wheel is used in Iraq.

3,250-2,770 B.C.E.

Pre-dynastic and early dynastic Egypt.

3,100 B.C.E.

Baths are built in Gaza.

3,000 B.C.E.

Babylonians are living in valley between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers known as the Plains of Babylonia.

Babylonians are using cuneiform writing into clay.

Babylonian temple library in Nippur contained several rooms of clay tablets.

Bronze Age (3,000 to 1100 B.C.E.).  Bronze bladed chisels used in Egypt.

Chinese are creating enamels, lacquers and varnishes to use on their fingernails as a status symbol.

Egyptians are using perfume.

Glass is made in Egypt.

Iberians crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to go into what is now Spain.

Ligurians crossed the Pyrenees from Italy to go into what is now Spain.

Sledges are made in Scandinavia.

Smyrna (Turkish Izmir) founded.  Homer may have lived here.  In 27B.C. it was administered by Rome.

Soap is made in Babylonia by the Sumerians.

Stonehenge consists of a circular ditch.

War occurs in fight over Sumer in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

Writing is being done.

Yeast used in leavened bread in Egypt.

3,000-2,000 B.C.E.

Egyptian dolls are made of flat pieces of wood and painted with geometric designs.  The hair is made of strings of clay or wooden beads.

Dolls were found in graves.

2,250-1,500 B.C.E.

Harappa and Mahenjo-Dora in India exist.  Cities are refound in 1922.

2,228 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Yao, Chinese emperor, establishes idea of a contrail faith (the Religion of Savants) with its civil and moral laws and penal code.

2,800 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Fou-si, Chinese, invents the alphabet.

2,770-2,200 B.C.E.

Old Kingdom of Egypt.

2,700 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Gilgamesh is 5th king of Uruk (Sumerian) and poet (and demigod) ruling for 126 years.

2,630 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Imhotep, architect, builds first stone monument (200 foot tomb) in Saqqara, Egypt.

2,600 B.C.E.

Egyptians are embalming their dead.

Egyptians have dentist/physicians for their workers.

Egyptians ordered forty ships built of cedar trunks.

Magnetic properties in some rock are known.

2,666-1,024 B.C.E.

Kashmir in India is a kingdom governed by the princes of Hindu and Tartar dynasties.

2,589-2,566 B.C.E.

Reign of Khufu, Egyptian Old Kingdom pharaoh who had the Pyramid of Khufu/Great Pyramid of Giza built.

2,580 B.C.E.

The Pyramid of Khufu is Giza, Egypt is 455 feet high and highest structure in the world.

2,500 B.C.E.

Baths are being built in Pakistan.

Beginning of Minoan civilization in Greece.

Chinese are using bronze vessels about this time.

Egyptians are making mirrors made of polished metal made of bronze, silver, or gold.

Egyptians are using shaduf, counterweight lever, for buckets used in moving water.

Log made roads exist in Belgium, Holland and Lower Germany.

2,500 B.C.E. INVENTIONS AND INTRODUCTIONS

Individual toilets invented.

2,500-1,500 B.C.E.

India’s city plans have water and waster disposal systems.

2,323-2,279 B.C.E.

Lifetime of Sargon, Akkadian emperor who conquered Sumerians (now Anatola, Western Iran and Syria) and ruled from 2,270 to 2,215.  He founded Babylon.

2,300-1,800 B.C.E.

Egypt’s towns have toilets.

2,300 B.C.E.

Akkadians sack Ebla.

India area is making disk beads of ostrich eggs.

2,100 B.C.E.

Stonehenge now has ten upright sarsens.

2,050-1,786 B.C.E.

Middle Kingdom time in Egypt.

2,050 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Ting-Ti, dynasty of Honir, encourages doctrine of Buddhism (reincarnated as Prince Shakya Muni) in China.

2,000 B.C.E.

Babylonian influence in Mediterranean regions of Asia.  They are also using the signs of the Zodiac.

Belts are being made in China.

Borax, mineral composed of boron, oxygen, sodium and water, is mined in salt lakes of Kashmir and Tibet.

Cloth is dyed.

Crete and Minoan civilizations.

Doll with kitchenware are being played with in Sicily, Italy.

Egyptian tombs along with Pompeii, Italy frescoes show imitation of bicycles.

Egyptians are using eye shadow.

Egyptians are using keys.  The Romans also used.

Egyptians are using pottery.

Egyptians had wooden paddle dolls.

Egyptians smelt gold and silver and use copper alloys.

Glass is made in Egypt.

Harps and lute, musical instruments, are being made.

Hittites occupy central highlands (Egypt/Middle East).  They are later defeated in Syria.

Rubber is used in Mesamerica.

Spoked wheel chariot used in the Middle East.

Water clock made in Egypt.

2000 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Hammurabi is King of Babylonia.

2,000-1,500 B.C.E.

Gold Age of Crete in Greece.

1,950 B.C.E.

A Middle East road exists from Alexandria, Egypt following the Mediterranean shore into Palestine and Lebanon, to Antioch and along the Anatolian shore to Hellespont.

Egyptians are using contraception.

1,792-1,750 B.C.E.

Lifetime of Hammurabi, king in Mesopotamia (present Iraq south of Bagdad) who ruled 55 years.  He rebuilt most of city, built canals and created a code of laws.

1,700 B.C.E.

Egyptian women believed charms could protect them against women’s medical problems including childbirth.

1,600-2,600 B.C.E.

Indus Valley civilization is making iron and stone beads in barrel, biconical, cylindrical, discoid, spherical and tubular shapes.

1,600 B.C.E.

Beginning of Mycenaean civilization in Greece.

1,560-1.087 B.C.E.

New Kingdom time in Egypt.

1,552-1,527 B.C.E.

Ahmose I rules Egypt.

1,506-1,494 B.C.E.

Thutmose I rules Egypt.

1,500 B.C.E.

China is using crowie shells as coins.

India invades by Aryans who dominate them for 1,000 years.

Pictograms first appear in caves.

1,500 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt authorizes the first known expedition to find giraffes (giraffes).  Five boatloads of items returned with African birds, greyhounds.  Monkeys, ivory and perfumes.

1,500 B.C.E. INVENTIONS AND INTRODUCTIONS

Chariot is introduced into Egypt.

1,500-500 B.C.E.

Bronze Age people settle in Wales.

1,494-1,490 B.C.E.

Thutmose II rules Egypt.

1,490-1,468 B.C.E.

Hatshepsut rules Egypt.

1,450 B.C.E.

Cretan cities in Greece are destroyed with the exception of Knossos.

1,375 B.C.E.

Knossos, Greece is destroyed.

1,364-1,347 B.C.E.

Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten rules Egypt.

1,352 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Egypt’s Pharaoh Tutankhamun is buried with many of his possessions including 145 loincloths.

1,350 B.C.E.

Showers are built in Egypt.

1,347-1,337 B.C.E.

Tutankhamen ruled in Egypt.

1,399 B.C.E.

Fiji is inhabited by migrants from Indonesia or Philippines.

1,286 B.C.E.

Battle of Kadesh, (a city in now Syrian Arab Republic) where Egyptian Emperor under Ramses II and Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II fought.  It was the largest chariot battle ever with 5,000 to 6,000 chariots.

1,279-1,212 B.C.E.

Lifetime of Ramses II.  Egyptian king from for 67 years from 1,247 to 1,337.

1,200-800 B.C.E.

Celts (Bronze Age) arrive in Wales bringing their language that is basis for modern Welsh language.

Greek Dark Ages.

1,200 B.C.E.

Chariots of baked clay drawn by horses or mules are being made in Greece.

China’s Vin Dynasty has manned balloons, possibly smoke powered.

Egypt has decorated toy tops made of wood and stone.

Knossos, Greece is destroyed again.

Mycenaean sites in Greece are destroyed.

Olmecs in Mexico exist.

Phoenician merchants supply luxuries to Mediterranean areas.

Trojan War between Trojans and Greeks occurs and Troy is destroyed.

1,200 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Ramses V, Egyptian pharaoh, died, about this time, from an infection from a rat.

1,115 B.C.E.

Chinese invent compass.

1,100-1,000 B.C.E.

Writing disappears from Greece.

1,100-800 B.C.E.

Dark Ages.

1,050 B.C.E.

Head shrinking is practiced in South America.

Philistines living on the southern coast of Canaan, southwest of Jerusalem) defeat the Israelites.

1,000-250 B.C.E.

Phoenicians ruled the seas in much of the Mediterranean and make improvements of Egyptian ship designs.

1,000 B.C.E.

Aryans invade Indian sub continent.

Arc used in construction.

Children played with balls and dolls and in Thebes a toy tiger with glass eyes, bronze teeth and a mouth that opened and shut.

Chinese have books.

Europe first begins to make glass beads.

Iron Age.

Jerusalem is transporting water from springs in cisterns from outside the city.

Ship captains from Hiram and Solom bring Indian apes, peacocks and sandalwood to Palestine along with Sanskrit names.

1,000-965 B.C.E.

David, King of Israel’s lifetime.

961-922 B.C.E. 

Solomon, King of Israel rules.  Agriculture centers around grain (barley, wheat), olive oil and wine.

Dates, figs, grapes and pomegranates are also grown.

859-823 B.C.E.

Shalmaneser II accepts elephants and rhinoceros as tribute.

800-1,000 B.C.E.

India is making glass beads.

800 B.C.E.

Greek civilization.

Greeks start to colonize Southern Italy and Sicily.

780-720 B.C.E. POPULATION

Greece’s population grows.

776 B.C.E.

First Olympic Games are held in Greece and are held every four years.  Greek boys play leapfrog, run, jump, skip and wrestle as practice for future events.

756-730 B.C.E.

Green colonies include Trapezus, Cyzricus, Ischia, Cumae, Naxos (Sicily), Syracuse and Mende and Methone.

753 B.C.E.

Romans ate olives, lettuce, seafood, pheasant sausages, roast pig, cold elderberry  tarts bear steaks, nuts, apples, seasoned cheese, snails, eggs and pickled olives.

Romans connected towns via road systems.

Romans had musical instruments such as pipes, lyres, horns, and flutes.

Rome founded on Tibet River by Latins tribes.

750-700 B.C.E.

Greeks start to colonize western Mediterranean.

750-700 B.C.E. INVENTIONS AND INTRODUCTIONS

Greeks develop writing system based on Phoenician alphabet.

740 B.C.E.

Found in 1957, a tomb of a 60 year old man dated to about this time was found.  It is believed it might have been King Midas’ father.  Also buried with the body were tables, serving stands, pottery, etc.

730-720 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Catana, Leontini, Megara Hyblaea, Messana and Sybaris.

722 B.C.E.

Assyrians living in the Upper Tigris River (now Iraq) destroy Kingdom of Israel.

708-700 B.C.E.

Greek colonies included Croton, Taras (Tarentum) and Posidonia (Paestum).

707 B.C.E.

Tarentum, a Greek port, dates to this period.  It was a Spartan base in the wars against Italy.  Spartan boys are taken from their parents at age seven until 20 years old to train and living in pubic institutions.  From 20 to 30 years old he was a warrior living in barracks.

700 B.C.E.

False teeth are made in Italy.

Messenian revolts against Sparta occur in Greece.

Phoenicians circumnavigate Africa.

Spurs are worn.

Stone temples first appear in Greece.

700-500 B.C.E.

Archaic Age of Greece.

688-660 B.C.E.

Greek colonies included Gela, Chalcedon, Locri Epizyphyrio and Byzantium.

668-381 B.C.E.

King Ashurbanipaul of Assyria ruled.  Locust (eaten raw, ground into date or honey spreads, roasted or dried for later us) was a delicacy along with pomegranates.

663 B.C.E.

Thebes is destroyed by the Assyrians.

654 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Acanthus, Lampsacus and Abdera.

650-750 B.C.E.

Hesiod, Greek poet wrote about astronomy, economics, farming, religion and time keeping in several works including Theogony (Genesis).  He also spoke about the use of iron (vs. bronze later).  (In the early 1900’s he was thought to have lived around 850 B.C.).

650 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Cypselus take over rule from Bacchiads in Corinth, Greece and rules city as tyrant.

649-627 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Himera, Cyrene, Sinope, Selinus and Epidamnus.

640-546 B.C.E.

Thales of Miletux, working with geometrical theorems’ lifetime.

630-553 B.C.E.

Stesichorus, Greek lyric author (poet) of 26 books’ lifetime.

625 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Ambracia, Anactorium and Leucas.

610-601 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Naucratis and Perinthus.

604-562 B.C.E.

Nebuchadnezzar II rules.

600 B.C.E.

Ancient dolls found in children’s tombs are made of clay, rags, wood or bone.  Some are made of ivory, wax or terra cotta baked reddish brown clay).  Some dolls at this time had movable limbs and removable garments.

Coins are made in Lydia.

Egyptian and Mesopotamia iron smelting places are making beads of clays and faience in the colors blue, light green and pale red.

Etruscans conquer Latium (West coast peninsula by River Tiber) in Italy.

Greece has more slaves than citizens.

Greek colonies include Massilia, Potidaea, Apollonia and Panticapaeum.

Greek merchant ships travel at four to five knots per hour.  A common type is holkades at about 82 feet long.

Greeks knew about mysterious properties (magnetic) and static electricity in some rocks.

Phoenicians circumnavigate Africa.

Turkey is using coins.

600 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Nebuchadnezzar is King of Babylonia.

Solon, an Athens, Greece legislator, creates new constitution that includes trail by jury and ends enslavement for debts.

600-575 B.C.E.

Hippocratides is Eurypontid king.

598-560 B.C.E.

Greek colonies include Camarina, Acragas and Alalia.

594 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Solon is elected chief archon of Athens bringing social and political reforms.

590-490 B.C.E.

Agiad kings are Leon, Anaxandridas and Cleomenes I.

586 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Nebuchadnezzar II conquers the Kingdom of Judah.

Periander dies ending his tyrant rule in Corinth, Greece.

582 B.C.E.

Pythian Games are held every four years , on the third year of each Olympiad.

Organized events included athletics, chariot races, dramatic competitions, and music.

Recitations and singing.  Prizes were often a crown of bay leaves.

578-535 B.C.E.

Tullius Servius, sixth King of Rome’s lifetime.  He built wall of Rome and a temple for Diana on the Aventine and reorganized Romans into four local tribes instead of three.

575-491 B.C.E.

Eurypontid kings are Agasicles, Ariston and Demaratus.

560 B.C.E.

Athens, Greece farmers are in debt; many are enslaved or lose their property.

560 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Solon, Athenian legislator, (iambic) poet and statesman and founder of Athenian democratic ideas, dies.  He created a system of four classes of people based on income giving them some political power and getting rid of aristocratic ancestry right for governing, instituted new Attic coinage.

559-529 B.C.E.

Cyrus, Achaemenid ruler in power and founder of Persian Empire.  (One of the areas he invades in northwest India).

556-468 B.C.E.

Simonides, Greek lyricist and elegist (type of poem)’s lifetime.

551-479 B.C.E.

Confucius, Chinese philosopher lifetime.

550 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Anaximander invests geographical maps.

546-481 B.C.E.

The Greeks in Asia Minor are ruled by Persia.

543 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Buddha, founder of Buddhism, dies.

525-456 B.C.E.

Aeschylus. Greek playwright lifetime.

525 B.C.E.

Samos (Aegean Sea near Turkey coast) tunnel of 6 feet by 6 feet going 3,400 feet through limestone mountain is built.

521-486 B.C.E.

Darius, King of Persia’s lifetime.  By 519 he tried to restore order by forming an army, instituting annual taxes and religious tolerance, introducing a postal service and standardizing currency.  (One of the areas he invades is Northwest India).

520-459 B.C.E.

Agiad kings are Cleomenes I, Leonidas I and  Pleistarchus.

520 B.C.E.

Scylax is ordered by King Darius I to sail down the Indus River along the Arabian and Persian coasts to get to Egypt.  The exploration voyage took two and one half years.

518-438 B.C.E. 

Pindar, Greek lyric poet’s lifetime.

515-461

Eurypontid kings are Demaratus and Leotychides II.

511 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Phrynichus, Athenian poet of tragedy wins his first victory at dramatic competition.  Some of his work was censored and he introduced female characters and use of the tetrameter.

509 B.C.E.

Last Etruscan king  loses power and the Roman Empire begins.

509-364 B.C.E.

Rome time period of the Early Republic (replaces earlier Regal time period).

509-30 B.C.E.

Romans are a republic with government in three parts (Assemblies, Senate and Magistrates).  The Senate was most powerful and got lifetime appointments.

500-1,500 B.C.E.

Beads made in India are being traded in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

500 B.C.E.

Athens, Greece establishes first city dump.  There is a one-mile trash free zone outside city’s walls.

Chinese built the China Road.

Chinese invent kites.

Democracies in Greek Centers.

Dental bridges are made in Etruria.

Greek children had toy carts and chariots, yo-yos and rag and wood dolls.

Greek warships, pentekonterees, rowed by 25 oar man on each side are being replaced by a lighter ship (taken out of water when not in use) with 170 oarsmen along with sailors, soldiers for a total of 200 men.

Greeks colonize parts of Hispania/Spain along the Mediterranean coast.

Roman physicians are using medical assistants.

500 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Xenophon, early 4th century country gentleman, Athenian solider and philosopher wrote Oeconomicus (translated as The Householder or the Management of an Estate.

500-479 B.C.E.

Persian Wars between Persians and Greeks.  Four attempts end with Persians failure.

500-430 B.C.E.

Phidias, Greek sculptor lifetime.

500-323 B.C.E.

Archaic Age.

6th CENTURY

Silver is found at Laurium in central Greece.

499 B.C.E.

Greek revolt overthrows tyrants and a league of Ionian cities is established.

499-449 B.C.E.

Persian Wars occurs.

496-406 B.C.E.

Sophocles, Greek playwright of 123 (96 successful) plays’, lifetime.

495 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Pericles, Athenian statesman worked toward democratic constitution, is born.

495-450 B.C.E.

Macedon king is Alexander I.

495-442 B.C.E.

Latin colonies included Signia, Velitrae, Norba and Ardea.

494 B.C.E.

Rome Empire’s Plebeians strike refusing to work or be soldiers.

490 B.C.E.

Battle of Marathon occurs is first Persian invasion of Greece.

Pheidippides, runner carried news of Greek victory ran 22 miles in a little over three hours but died aster telling of news.

485-406 B.C.E.

Euripides, Greek writer’s lifetime.

484-420 B.C.E.

Herodotus, Greek historian’s lifetime.  He travels to Babylonia, Cyrene, Egypt, north Aegean, Palestine, Phoenicia, Scythia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

480 B.C.E.

Second invasions by Persians in Greece occurs at Battle of Thermopylae (lasting three days) and Battle of Salmis in early September.

478 B.C.E.

Athens takes control of Delian League.

470-399 B.C.E.

Socrates, Athens, Greece philosopher’s lifetime.

470 B.C.E.

Hanno of Carthage sails to Sierra Leone.

469-399 B.C.E.

Eurypontid kings are Archidamus II and Agis II.

465-464 B.C.E.

Earthquakes in Sparta.

460 B.C.E.

Democritus, philosopher, may have been more this year.  He studies atomic theory and is author of over 60 treatises.

460-430 B.C.E.

Pericles, general, orator and statesman’s views dominate Athens, Greece.

460-380 B.C.E.

Hippocrates of Cos, Greek physician and medical school founders’, lifetime. (Another source has death at 377).

459-395 B.C.E.

Agiad kings are Pleistonax and Pausanias.

458 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Aristophanes, a comic playwright, wrote Agamemnon.

Cincinnatus is dictator for 16 days and then resigns.

455-400 B.C.E.

Thucydides, historian’s lifetime.  He gave accurate description of events, explanations of causes and effects.

451 B.C.E.

Roman Empire’s Twelve Tables containing laws is created.

450 B.C.E.

Law of the Twelve Tables are early Roman laws.

Roman roads were about 4.80 meters so that two vehicles could pass.  Most were dirt only.

450-413 B.C.E.

Macedon king is Perdiccas II.

450-385 B.C.E.

Aristophanes, Greek comic poet’s lifetime.  He won three first and one second prize in the Lenaca and two second prize and one third prize once in the Dionysia.

450-388 B.C.E.

Aristophanes, Athens, Greece comic playwright’s lifetime.

443 B.C.E.

Romans create Office of Censor to administer treasury, take census and list everyone holding public office.

Thurii was a Greek colony.

441 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Euripides, Greek playwright wins dramatic competition at Dionysia.  He wrote at least 92 plays and was also a poet.

3/15/443 B.C.E.

Julius Caesar is assassinated by Brutus Cassius.

440’s B.C.E.

Aspasia from Miletus on the western coast of Asia Minor was mistress of Pericles leading Athenian statesman.  After his divorce from his wife in the 440’s, they move into together until he dies in 429.

432 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Phidias, Athenian sculptor of bronze, gold, ivory, dies after he is accused of embezzling gold.  His work is in Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia and Parthenon.

431 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Aristophanes, a comic playwright, wrote Medea.

Brasidas, Spartan commander in the Peloponnesian War saves Methone from Athenian attack.

431-404 B.C.E.

Peloponnesian War between Sparta and her allies against Athens.  Greece is devastated. During the second year of the war, a large part of Athens population dies from a plague.

428-354 B.C.E.

Xenophon, Greek author, historian and soldier’s lifetime.

428-347 B.C.E.

Plato, Greek author, mathematician and philosopher’s lifetime.

427-338 B.C.E.

Eurypontid kings are Agis II,  Agesilaus II and  Archidamus III.

424 B.C.E.

Athenian generals during the Peloponnesian War (Athens vs. Sparta) included Demosthenes.  

Hippokrates, Pagondas and Thucydides.

Battle of Delion occurs between Athens and the Boecotian Leagues allied with Sparta.  Each side had about 18,500 and fought with 8 to 25 shields deeps but Sparta was better armed and won.

420-350 B.C.E.

Isaeus, Attic orator and rhetorician’s lifetime.  He wrote at least 50 speeches.

418 B.C.E.

Agis is king of Spartan and Commander in Chief.

The First Battle of Mantinela, part of the Peloponnesian War occurs between Sparta and Athens (and her allies Argos and Manineria). Argives, Kleonaioi and Orneatai lose 700 men, the Athenians and men of Aigine lose 200 (and both generals), the Mantineians 200.  Spartan victory leaves about 300 men dead.

415 B.C.E.

Aging Spartan husbands in order to get more sons lent their wives out to younger partners.

Roman men who murdered their wive’s lover were not punished.

Roman husbands who were sterile allowed to have a relative take his place.

Romans pass a law legalizing a mistress in addition to a wife but marriage still remains unpopular.

413-399 B.C.E.

Macedon king is Archelaus.

412 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Lysias along with three brothers movie to Athens, Greece to manufacture shields.  Later he became Attic orator of more than 200 speeches.

411 B.C.E. FAMOUS PEOPLE

Aristophanes, a comic playwright, wrote Lysistrata.

409-371 B.C.E.

Agiad kings are Pausanias, Agesipolis I and  Cleombrotus I.

405-330 B.C.E.

Ephorus, Greek historian’s lifetime.

405 B.C.E.

General Lysander, Spartan, in a surprise attack captures Athenian fleet.

404-358 B.C.E.

Ctesias, Greek physician and Persian historian for Artaxerxes II’s lifetime.

400 B.C.E.

Catapult is made in Syracuse.

First confirmed kite flying occurred in China.

Greek libraries contained papyrus scrolls mainly about the topic of philosophy.

Greeks now believe the earth is a sphere hanging motionless in the center of the Universe rather then believing the earth was flat and rested on its waters.

Persian provinces were all connected by roads to the capital, Susa.  One road alone was 1,500 miles long.

5th CENTURY B.C.E.

Beauty parlors for women are in use in Greece.

First public baths appear in Greece and slaves assist with warm or cold baths depending on what treatment was wished.

Greek public baths become meeting places for men to discuss business.

Greeks used bicarbonate of soda, clay and potassium solutions in their soaps that were damaging to the skin.

Romans used soap made with less skin damaging ingredients.

399-392 B.C.E.

Macedon kings are Orestes, Aeropus and Amyntas II.

396 B.C.E.

Rome conquers southern Etruria.

394 B.C.E.

Battle of Coronea between Athenians and Thebans against the Spartans ends with Athenian navy victory near Cnidus, Greece.

393-382 B.C.E.

Latin colonies included Circeii, Satricum, Sutrium, Nepete and Setia.

393-369 or 368

Macedon kings are Amyntas II, Pausanias, Amynthas III and Alexander II.