Kmj 5/5/14
Survey of Ancient History
1. The Development of Human Kind
Australopithecine, homo habilis, home erectus, homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, homo
sapiens
2. The Development of Technology (Three Age System)
1. Stone Age
Paleolithic Period
* fire is discovered
Neolithic Period
* Homo habilis uses stone tools
* Copper Age
2. Bronze Age
3. Iron Age
3. The Development of Society
Communities of Early Humans- Hunter and Gatherers
Catal Huyuk- Early farm town, large Neolithic town 6500 B.C.
Mesopotamia (a region that gave birth to some of the earliest civilizations)
First Civilization:
Sumer
c. 3500 B.C.
(independent city-state governments, including Ur)
First Empire:
Akkad (Sargon of Akkad)
c. 2330 – 2280 B.C.
(Sumer regains power under Kings of Ur, approx.. 400 years)
Shamshi-Adad of Assyria, North
c. 1810 – 1780 B.C.
Hammurabi of Babylonia, South
c. 1790 – 1750 B.C.
Hittites invade city of Babylon
c. 1200 B.C.
Kassites invade and control Babylonia for 4 centuries.
New Assyrian Empire Reigns
911 – 612 B.C.
…
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Kmj 5/5/14
Historical Time Periods
Historical Periods of Mesopotamia:
Early Sumerian City-States
Early Dynastic Period
Early Empires of Assyria and Babylon
Various Dynastic Periods
New Assyrian Empire
Persian Empire
Seleucid Empire
Sassanid Empire
Historical Periods of Egypt:
Unification by King Menes
Old Kingdom (Built the pyramids)
Middle Kingdom (Created great literature,
art, and architecture)
New Kingdom (Created an empire)
c. 3500 - 2300 BC
c. 2300 – 1800 BC
c. 1800 – 1750 BC
c. 1750 – 911 BC
c. 911 – 612 BC
550 – 330 BC
305 – 67 BC
AD 226 - 642
(*invented the wheel, writing)
c. 3100 BC
2686 to 2181 BC
2055 to 1650 BC
1570 to 1070 BC
Historical Periods of India
Indus Valley River Civilization
Vedic Period
Mauryas
Andhras Dynasty
Guptas
2600 BC
1500 – 500 BC
324 – 183 BC
c. 50 BC – c. AD 300
AD 327 -467
Historical Periods of China
Neolithic Cultures
Shang Dynasty
Zhou Dynasty
Han Dynasty
10,000 – 2000 BC
1766 - 1122 BC
1122 – 256 BC
206 BC – AD 220
Historical Periods of Greece
Minoan Culture reigns on Crete
Mycenaean Age
Greek Dark Ages
Classical Greece
Hellenistic Period
Roman Greece
2800 BC – 1450 BC
1400 – 1100 BC
1100 – 800 BC
500 – 323 BC * Golden Age of Athens 460-429 BC
323 – 146 BC
146 BC – c.500 AD
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(*invented bronze)
Kmj 5/5/14
Historical Periods of Rome
Founding of Rome
Monarchy/Seven Kings
Republic
Empire
Empire Divides
Fall of the Empire (West)
Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire)
753 BC
575 – 509 BC
509 – 46 BC
27 BC – 476 AD
395 AD
476 AD
476 – 1453 AD
*Pax Romana 27 BC – AD 180
A note about ages:
http://www.naciente.com/essay88.htm
“One of the markers of historical progress has been the ability of a people or culture to work metal and its
alloys. Primitive peoples used hard things to cut and slice and to tip their arrows, the most suitable
materials being stone (typically, flint) and animal bone. Prior to the discovery that metals would serve
better, such cultures are typically divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic, for "old stone", "middle
stone", and "new stone" ages.
Now into a new century and a new millennium, we have added many new composite materials to our "tool
kit" to replace customary metals in many applications. We have passed through several other "ages" such as the Industrial Age, the Steam Age, the age of the combustion engine, and the Plastic age, among
others, but the pace of all of this has increased as well and we now find ourselves in a combination of
"ages": the Space Age, the Nuclear Age, the Cybernetic Age. What "ages" are yet to be added to the
historical drama of Man - The Intergalactic Age? The Time Travel Age? One can only guess, but we can
be reasonably sure that all of the future ages will be preceded by the same event that has launched all
the others: someone discovered something interesting.”
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