Ev

Caesar orders a corps of 17 doctors for every 7,000 soldiers; they are the first military doctors

The Senate, controlled by Pompey, orders Caesar (who had gained considerable power after his military victories in Gaul) to withdraw his troops. Caesar refuses and marches on Rome with a Roman legion. Caesar establishes himself as dictator for life and emperor. Julius Caesar retains the

The first evidence of state organization is in China, the Andes, and Southeast Asia. In Mesopotamia, the transition occurred a good 3,700 years earlier, while in Mesoamerica it occurred two or three centuries earlier, and finally in West Africa in the 10th century AD.

Lucretius wrote De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), where he states that “heavy bodies fall faster than light ones only in air and water, because these media yield more easily to what is heavier. But in a vacuum everything falls at the same

Gaius Julius Caesar’s first campaign in Transalpine Gaul, to stem the southward migration of Ariovistus’s Helvetii and Germani. These events are immortalized in the first book of De Bello Gallico.

Syria becomes a Roman province

Hipparchus

Archimedes builds the first planetarium, discovers Archimedes’ Principle and the ratio between the volume of a sphere and a cylinder.

Early Han Dynasty in China: years are also counted with a sexagesimal cycle, like days

China. A series of uprisings against the Qin Empire erupts, led by regional elites, disgruntled commoners, and even some imperial officials. The Qin Empire was probably the most ambitious totalitarian experiment in pre-modern human history, before the modern era (which saw Stalin, Ceausescu, Hitler, Kim

In China, gunpowder is made from sulfur + saltpeter + coal dust.

First Punic War (Romans – Carthaginians) (264 – 241 BC, according to other sources)

Ptolemy founded the Great Library of Alexandria (600,000 texts); upon entering the city, visitors had their books confiscated, copied, the original given to the Library and the copy given to the visitor; thanks to this mechanism, many copies of ancient texts are still found throughout

Mesoamerica (present-day Mexico). The first evidence of state organization in the Americas, which generally involved a complex social structure and the maintenance of an army, is present. In Mesopotamia, the transition occurred 3,400 years earlier; in the Andes, China, and Southeast Asia, it occurred around

Plato and Aristotle, and the Pythagoreans before them, introduced the concept of a spherical Earth, which became commonly accepted in Hellenic civilization.

Aristarchus and his follower Seleucus are the only astronomers of antiquity to support a heliocentric system.

Alexander the Great arrives in Samarkand, where he is still remembered, and signs of it are everywhere. His name here is Iskander Khan. The city of Termez, near the border with present-day Afghanistan, still bears the name given to him by Macedonian troops. In the

The Greek Menaechmus studied ellipses for the first time, together with parabolas and hyperbolas, as lines obtainable by sectioning a conical figure.

Egypt: XXX Dynasty (of Sebennytos): Nectanebo I (378-360), Teos (361-359), Nectanebo II (359-341)

The plague rages in Athens for over a year and leads to its conquest and the collapse of its hegemony in the Mediterranean.

The Pythagoreans discovered the amicable numbers 220 and 284 (that is, numbers for which the sum of the divisors of one equals the other and vice versa).

Zeno’s Sophisms: Achilles’s failure to reach the tortoise and the arrow’s failure to shoot

Pythagoras dies

Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, after occupying Babylon, issues a decree allowing Jewish exiles to return to Palestine.

King Cresius mints the first pure gold and silver coins

The heart of the Jewish nation lives in exile in Babylon

Maximum expansion of the Persian Empire, under Cyrus II (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Crimea, Turkey, the entire Middle East, Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan)

The Assyrians were familiar with ergotism (ergot), a harmful growth on the ear of wheat. In damp winters and unsuitable storage conditions, mold and fungus thrive. The first documented outbreak in Europe occurred in 857 AD, on the German side of the Rhine. There were

The Babylonians, aided by the Medes, conquer Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. And in 609 BC, the last Assyrian king was defeated at Harran. Finally, in 605 BC, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians, the last power that could stop them, at Carchemish in northern Syria. But

Anatolia. The first true coin of the form we know today is minted (but in Mesopotamia, silver shekels, standard 8.33-gram silver pieces, had already been used as payment for four centuries). King Alyattes of Lydia in Western Anatolia minted gold and silver coins, indicating on

Egypt: The Lower or Late Period

Foundation of Rome

The Rosetta Stone confirms that the practice of general debt cancellation was in use in Egypt in the 8th century BC.

Olmec Stone Mask, Mexico. The ancient Olmec civilization produced art objects, including the Olmec Stone Mask. The Olmec civilization, also called the Mother Culture of Central America, flourished between 1400 BC and 400 BC and then almost suddenly disappeared, likely due to a local climate

Egypt: Dynasty XXII (Libyan): Sueshonq (945-924), Osorkon II (924-889), Takelot I (889-874), Sheshonq II (889), Osorkon III (874-850), Takelot II (850-825), Sheshonq III (825-773), Pamy (773-767), Siieshonq V (767-730) (Pharaoh, Sreshonq IV never reigned)

The emergence of the first universal and missionary religions. These religions, along with money and empires, constitute the three great unifiers of humanity.

Africa. Bantu populations from Nigeria and Cameroon spread to the African Great Lakes (Rift Valley). They reached the coasts of the Indian Ocean in 200 BC and South Africa in 500 AD.

Zhou Dynasty in China

Egypt. Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses V dies. Clear traces of smallpox are found in his mummified body.

India. The Rigveda, an anthology of sacrificial hymns, is written down. This is the first documented reference to caste in South Asia.

Egypt: XIX Dynasty: Ramesses I (1292-1291), Sethi I (1290-1279), Ramesses II (1279-1212), Merenptah (1212-1202), Sethi II (1201-1196), Amenmesse (1200-1197), Merenptah Siptah (1195-1189), Tauosre (1188-1186)

China. Chinese logogram writing is born. Perhaps as a result of its diffusion from the Sumerian and Egyptian scripts, which originated 1,700 years earlier.

From East Asia, the apple tree (Pirus Malus) spread to Egypt, where, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II (13th century BC), it was cultivated along the Nile valleys. From there, the crop then reached Greece (in the 4th century BC, Herodotus described the grafting

Moses frees the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and brings them back to Israel.

Exodus of the Jews from Egypt led by Moses

Melanesian migrations to Polynesia.

Violent volcanic eruption in Santorini (Thira)

In Crete, the palaces are destroyed: the Mycenaeans replace the Cretans at sea.

Hinduism was born in India as a combination of Aryan religions and indigenous Indian religions; it is codified in the sacred scriptures Vedas (4 books written from 1500 BC to 500 BC) and Upanishads (also considered a further section of the Vedas); among the 330

Eurasia. The invention of alphabetic writing in the Fertile Crescent spread fairly rapidly to the rest of the Eurasian continent, particularly to Europe, North Africa (Carthage), and India. Here too (as with the wheel, cultivation, and livestock farming), the situation in the Americas was drastically

A prophet named Zoroaster (Zarathustra) is active in Central Asia. His beliefs will be passed down from generation to generation until they become the most important dualistic religion: Zoroastrianism. It sees the world as a perpetual battle between the good god Ahura Mazda and the

Thebes, near Luxor, Egypt. Egyptian scholars compile the Rhind Papyrus, now held at the British Museum, which contains a series of mathematical calculations: 84 different mathematical problems commonly used by Egyptian public officials. It is written not in hieroglyphics but in a quicker, simpler script.

Egypt: XVIII Dynasty: Ahmose (1548-1526), Amenhotep or Amenhotep (1526-1505), Tuthmose I (1505-1501), Tuthmose II (1501-1479), Hatshepsut (1479-1457), Tuthmose III (1479-1425), Amenhotep II (1425-1402), Tuthmose IV (1402-1394), Amenhotep III (1394-1356), Akhenaten-am, Smenicrarf (1339-1336), Tutankhamun (1336-1325), Ay (1325-1320), Horemheb (1320-1292)

A gigantic volcanic explosion destroys the island of Thera in the Aegean Sea, contributing to the decline of the Minoan civilization.

Egypt: XVI-XVII Dynasty: Antef V, Sobekemsaf I, Sobekemsaf II, Antef VI, Antef VII, Taco I, Taco II, Kamose (1556-1548)

Crete. The Phaistos Disk, a circular clay disk covered in spiral script, was sculpted, with 241 very elaborate signs or letters, evidently printed on the clay. It was discovered in 1908. The meaning of these signs remains a mystery, as nothing else of its kind

Violent earthquake in Crete destroys the famous palaces of Knossos, Phaitos, Malia and Zakros; they will later be rebuilt

Babylon, Mesopotamia. Hammurabi’s law code establishes several provisions for the protection of debtors. At least four episodes of general debt cancellation are listed during Hammurabi’s forty-year reign.

Egypt: XII Dynasty: Amenemhat I (1991-1962), Sesostri I (1973-1928), Amenemrat II (1929-1897), Sesostri II (1897-1878), Sesostri III (1878-1843), Amenemhat III (1842-1798) Amenemhat IV (1799-1790) Sobekneferu (1790-1786)

India. Mohenjo-daro, a flourishing city in the Indus Valley, is destroyed. It had flourished for centuries in the previous millennium. It would be forgotten for millennia, only to be (re)discovered by a British archaeological mission in 1922. No previous Indian civilization had ever noticed this

Egypt: XI Dynasty (continued): Mentuhotep II (2013-2001) Mentuhotep III (2001-1991),

Stonehenge: Solstice Prediction

Glass production begins in the Fertile Crescent.

In Scandinavia, thanks to the advent of metal tools, log cabins became popular: quick-to-build, durable, sturdy, and warm houses.

On the west coast of Greenland, on the island of Qeqertasussuk, lives an ancestor of ours whose remains, along with a lock of hair preserved in the ice, were discovered in 1986. Inuk died at a young age. In the following years, a team of

The 14 generations after David: Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joaram, Uzziah, Joatim, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Maname, Amos, Josiah, Deportation to Babylon.

(Bible: Matthew 1:25) The 14 generations after Abraham: Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez-Zara, Ezrom, Aram, Amminadab, Naason, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David.

Abraham begat Ishmael and Isaac.

The sons of Ham: Ethiopia, Egypt, Put, Canaan. Ethiopia fathered Seba, Avila, Sabta, Raama, Sabteca, Nimrod. Raama begot Sheba, Dedan. Egypt gave birth to those of Lud, Anaam, Laab, Naftuch, Patros, Hasluch, Caphtor, from whence the Philistines came. Canaan fathered Sidon, Heth, Jebusite, Amorite, Gergeseus,

At 105 years old, Seth fathered Enosh; Seth lived another 807 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

At 130 years old, Adam fathered Seth; Adam lived another 800 years and fathered other sons and daughters.

From the Bible: Adam and Eve beget Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel. Cain begets Enoch, Enoch begets Irad, Irad begets Mechniael, Mechniael begets Methusael, Methusael begets Lamech, Lamech begets Jabal, Jubal, Tubalcain, and Naema.

Egypt: XI Dynasty: Antef (or Inyotef) (2137-?), Antef I (?-2121), Antef II (2121-2072), Antef III (2072-2064), Menturotep I (2064-2013)

In Mesopotamia, Sargon I, king of the Akkadians, founded the first empire in the history of the world.

Arabia. Domestication of the one-humped camel (Arabian camel).

Central Asia. Domestication of the two-humped camel (Bactrian camel).

The Sumerians invented money. It was barley, used as currency for all commercial transactions. The most common measure was the Sila, equivalent to about a liter of barley, contained in standard-sized earthenware containers. Five centuries later, the first coin was minted in Mesopotamia, actually an

Indus Valley. The cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro had around 40,000 inhabitants and were sophisticated centers of culture, trade, and industry. But there are no traces of kings or pharaohs, nor even fortifications. Few weapons have been found. There’s not even a trace of a

Beginning of the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia (Bronze Age)

Beginning of the Phoenician civilization in the Middle East (Palestine, Lebanon, Syria) (Bronze Age)