HUMAN HISTORY - BCE Flashcards
PALEOLITHIC
Meaning
Beginning
Significance
End
Meaning Old Stone Age - HUNTER GATHERERS
Beginning: 2.6M BP
Significance: hunter gatherers only but with stone tools
End: 20,000-10,000 BCE First agriculture started the Mesolithic
OUT OF AFRICA THESIS
Thesis Date
This Thesis posits that modern man (Homo sapiens) first arose in Africa and began migrating to other parts of the earth approximately 50,000 years ago.
MESOLITHIC
Meaning
Beginning
Significance
End
Meaning: Middle Stone Age with AGRICULTURE
Beginning: ~20,000-10,000 BCE First agriculture (different times in different locations)
Significance: During the Mesolithic Era agriculture became prevalent. Semi-permanent small villages were established. There is also evidence of extensive animal domestication during this period.
End: with the rise of Neolithic, or Stone Age Cities ~10,000 BCE first PROTO-CITIES Jericho Çatalhöyük ~4000 BCE Sumerian CITY STATES in Mesopotamia
[Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It was originally post-Pleistocene, pre-agricultural material in northwest Europe about 10,000 to 5000 BCE, but material from the Levant (about 20,000 to 9500 BCE) is also labelled Mesolithic.]
BERING LAND BRIDGE
Where
When and why opened and closed
Size
Sometime after 14,500 years BCE It is believed that a small human population of at most a few thousand arrived in Beringia from eastern Siberia during the Last Glacial Maximum before expanding into the settlement of the Americas.
This would have occurred as the American glaciers blocking the way southward melted, but before the bridge was covered by the sea about 9,000 years BCE
Was huge, the size of BC + Alberta
NEOLITHIC
Meaning
Beginning
Significance
End
Meaning: New Stone Age with CITIES
Beginning: ~10,000 first Proto-cities (different dates in different locations)
Significance: The Neolithic Era saw the development of more permanent villages and the first cities, many of which contained walls and defensive fortifications. Plants were further domesticated, public works such as canals were established to assist in agriculture, and animal herding became prevalent.
End: ~3000 BCE Beginning of the Bronze Age in Mesopotamia, Egypt, etc.
PROTO-CITY
Why are they called a ‘Proto’ city?
Two distinguishing features
A proto-city is a large village or town of the Neolithic such as Jericho and Çatalhöyük (Cha-tal-HOO-yik) and also any prehistoric settlement which has both rural and urban features.
A proto-city is distinguished from a true city in that it lacks planning and centralized rule. For example, Jericho evidently had a class system, but no roads, while Çatalhöyük apparently lacked social stratification. This is what distinguishes them from the first city-states of the early Mesopotamian cities in the 4th millennium B.C.
PROTO-CITIES
Name two of the oldest
Give their oldest dates
Locations
Pronunciations
9600 BCE Jericho, near Jerusalem, near the Dead Sea
7500 BCE Çatal Höyük (Cha-tal-HOO-yik), in central southern Anatolia
Name the very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in central southern Anatolia.
Date began
Date flourished
Date ended
Meaning
Çatalhöyük (Cha-tal-HOO-yik)
Began: 7500 BCE
Flourished: 7000 BC
Ended: 5700 BC
from Turkish çatal “fork” + höyük “mound”)
ÇATAL HÖYÜK
Pronounciation
Dates
Location
Meanimg
Began: 7500 BCE Cha-tal-HOO-yik
Location: Southern Anatolia
Flourished: 7000 BC Was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement.
Ended: 5700 BC
Meaning: from Turkish çatal “fork” + höyük “mound”)
FIRST CITY-STATES
Date
Location
Significance
How is it different to what came before?
~ 4000 B.C.
Location: Sumerian City States in Mesopotamia
Significance: First “Civilisation”
A City State is distinguished from a Proto-City in that had planning and centralized rule. For example, Jericho evidently had a class system, but no roads, while Çatalhöyük apparently lacked social stratification. End:
MESOPOTAMIA
Where is it?
Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers in the south of modern-day Iraq. It is the eastern arm of the Fertile Crescent.
FIRST CIVILISATION
Date began
Location
Significance
Date: ~4000 BCE
First civilisation was the Sumerian City-States in Mesopotamia
A City State is distinguished from a Proto-City in that had planning and centralized rule. For example, Jericho evidently had a class system, but no roads, while Çatalhöyük apparently lacked social stratification.
SUMERIA
Date began
Significance
Began: c. 4000 BCE.
Significance: The first civilization (“cities with law and order”) was Sumeria and rose in Mesopotamia, which is the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers in the south of modern-day Iraq. Sumeria was a collection of city-states. Not an Empire. End:
SUMERIA
Location
Date began
Began: c. 4000 BCE.
Location: Mesopotamia
Significance: Was a collection of city-states, often considered the first civilisation.
CUNEIFORM FIRST DEVELOPED
Date
Civilisation
Meaning
Date: 3300 BCE
Civilisation: Ancient Sumerians
Meaning: Cuneiform refers to the wedge-shaped writing developed by the ancient Sumerians. Initially developed for the purposes of recordkeeping, cuneiform became a way to transfer early literature and legal codes.
ANCIENT EGYPT
Dates
Ancient Egypt can roughly be dated from 3200 BCE to 330 BCE
BRONZE AGE
Beginning
Meaning
Significance
End
Beginning: 3000 BCE The Bronze Age began around 2000-3000 B.C. in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley, and slightly later in other areas.
Meaning: Copper and Tin together make the much harder Bronze. Needs temperatures of around 1000deg C
Significance: The Bronze Age marks man’s first significant use of writing and metals like bronze and copper.
End: Iron Age at its earliest in 1200-1100 BC in Italy, the Balkans, the Caucuses, Anatolia
THE GREAT FLOOD
What really happened
Date
Where did it happen, city where it’s been studied
Names of three rivers
2900 BCE: Simultaneous flooding of the KURUN, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, studied at SHURUPPAK. It would seem to have been a localised event caused through the damming of the KURUN river through the spread of dunes, flooding into the TIGRIS, and simultaneous heavy rainfall in the NINEVEH (NIN-eh-vah) region, spilling across into the EUPHRATES. Would have flooded all the cities of Sumeria.
2700 BCE: Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, travelled to speak to a wise sage (Oot nah PISH tim) who was a survivor of the flood. A poem was composed, The Epic of Gilgamesh.
2200 BCE: It was finally written down.
1000 BCE: The Hebrew Bible in the time of King David included the story of Noah
GREAT FLOOD -> NOAH TIMELINE
Date of Flooding
Date Epic (who and where) is composed
Date Epic is written down and language
Date and author of Hebrew bible
2900 BCE: Simultaneous flooding of the Karyn, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, studied at Shuruppak.
2700 BCE: Gilgamesh is king of Uruk. He travels to meet the sage Utnapishtim (Oot nah PISH tim), who had survived the Great Flood. Poems are composed about it.
2200 BCE: Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem in ancient Akkadian, is written down.
1000 BCE: Hebrew Bible, written during the period of King David’s reign, includes the story of Noah.
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
Location
Dates
Significance
Historicity
Location: Uruk in Sumeria
Date: 2700 BCE
Significance: As old as 2100–2000 BCE, the Epic of Gilgamesh is an Akkadian poem that is considered the first great work of literature. In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who builds the city walls of Uruk to defend his people and, after the death of his friend Enkidu, then travels to meet the sage Utnapishtim (Oot nah PISH tim), who had survived the Great Flood.
The great flood was probably from the simultaneous flooding in 2900 BCE of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. (Uruk was next to the Euphrates river.) It would seem to have been a localised event caused through the damming of the Kurun through the spread of dunes, flooding into the Tigris, and simultaneous heavy rainfall in the Nineveh region, spilling across into the Euphrates. Given the similarities in the Mesopotamian flood story and the Biblical account, it would seem that they have a common origin in the memories of the Shuruppak account. Established civilizations in Egypt and China and Israel were not impacted by any widespread or global flood during the time of Gilgamesh or Noah’s Ark. Gilgamesh’s supposed historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BCE, shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artefacts associated with Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh. The earliest Sumerian Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur (2100–2000 BCE). One of these poems mentions Gilgamesh’s journey to meet the flood hero, as well as a short version of the flood story. The earliest Akkadian versions of the unified epic are dated to ca. 2000–1500 BCE. Due to the fragmentary nature of these Old Babylonian versions, it is unclear whether they included an expanded account of the flood myth; although one fragment definitely includes the story of Gilgamesh’s journey to meet Utnapishtim. The “standard” Akkadian version included a long version of the story and was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BCE. {
OLDEST SURVIVING WRITINGS
Dates
Significance
2500-2300 BCE
End of ‘Prehistory’ The oldest written texts date to sometime between the 26th and 24th centuries BCE
AKKADIAN EMPIRE
Who began it
Location
Dates
Beginning: Around 2200 BCE, Sargon the Great conquered several of the Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia, merging them into the Akkadian Empire. The Akkadian Empire was the first of the world’s empires.
End: 2050 BCE: Some 150 years the empire was established, it collapsed for reasons historians continue to theorize about.
SARGON THE GREAT
Empire Dates
Why ‘Great ‘?
Akkadian Empire
Beginning: around 2200 B.C., he conquered several of the Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia, merging them into the Akkadian Empire.
The Akkadian Empire was the first of the world’s empires.
End: 2050 BCE: Some 150 years the empire was established, it collapsed for reasons historians continue to theorize about.
CYRUS THE GREAT vs SARGON THE GREAT
Dates
Empires
Why Great?
SARGON: 2200 BCE, Akkadian Empire.
He conquered several of the Sumerian city-states of Mesopotamia, merging them into the first of the world’s empires.
CYRUS: 550 BCE: Achaemenid Empire
The first Persian Empire, it became larger than any previous empire in history. He respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered, through proxy ‘satraps’ and established a very successful model for establishing a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects.
WORLD’S FIRST EMPIRE
Name
Dates
Location
Founder
Akkadian Empire
~2200 BCE
Mesopotamia
Sargon the Great conquered several of the Sumerian city-states, merging them into the Akkadian Empire. The Akkadian Empire was the first of the world’s empires.
2050 BCE: Some 150 years the empire was established, it collapsed for reasons historians continue to theorize about.
Base-60 Numbering System
Who
Why
When
Math is a prerequisite for understanding and predicting the movement of the planets. Planetary movement was an essential component of Mesopotamian religion. As part of their mathematical development, the Mesopotamians developed the base-60 numbering system, which is still used in navigation and to tell time.
Well preserved tablets, mostly from 1800 to 1600 BCE, cover topics that include fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic equations and the Pythagorean theorem. The Babylonian tablet YBC 7289 gives an approximation of Pi accurate to three significant sexagesimal digits (seven significant decimal digits).
HAMMURABI
Dates
Empire
Famous for
1792-1750 BCE
A powerful Babylonian emperor.
Hammurabi’s law code is among the earliest recorded legal systems, and it could be quite harsh. The famous “eye for an eye” required the loss of an eye if one caused someone else to lose an eye, even accidentally.
OLD ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
Dates, Why began?
MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
dates, why began?
Why ended?
2025 BCE: after the collapse of the Akkadian Empire
14th Century BCE: the fall of the Old Assyrian Empire -> Middle Assyrian
934 BCE: establishment of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
ANCIENT ANATOLIAN EMPIRES
Before Alexander
In Order
Hittites 1600 BCE - 1178 BCE
Lydians 1178 BCE - 546 BCE
Achaemenids 546 BCE - 330 BCE
Macedonians 330 BCE (Alexander the Great)
THE HITTITE EMPIRE
Dates
Location
Began
Conquered by
1600 BCE: began in Hattusa in central Anatolia
1178 BCE: Conquered by the Assyrians [Middle Assyrians, Who?]
The PHOENICIANS
Dates
Location
Significance
Who Conquered
1500 BCE began
Location: Started in the Eastern Mediterranean in the west of the Fertile Crescent and established city-states along the coastline of what is now Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and south-west Turkey.
They were a prominent maritime empire with a far-flung trading network that ranged as far as Spain and North Africa.
539 BC: conquered by Persian King Cyrus the Great
THE HITTITE EMPIRE
Date of Furthest Extent
Date and name of Famous Battle
1350 BCE: Spread to cover Anatolia and into upper Mesopotamia. They were among the first to use iron weapons and pioneered the use of chariot warfare.
1274 BCE: The Battle of Kadesh, against the Egyptians under Ramses II, is the first historical battle for which sufficient records exist that historians can analyze tactics and formations. [Who was the ?]
AKHENATEN
Date of death
Wife
Son
d. 1336 BCE (13 yrs before Tutankhamen)
Queen: Nefertiti
Son: Tutankhamen
AKHENATEN Names Religion Art
Originally called Amenhotep, he changed his name to mean “Effective for Aten” and tried to shift his culture from Egypt’s traditional polytheistic religion to worship of a single god Aten. The shifts were not widely accepted and after his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were destroyed, and his name excluded from the king lists. Pictorial arts from his reign have a unique style and high quality.
TUTANKHAMUN
Date and age of death only
d. 1323 BCE (19) Believed to have been the son of the pharaoh Akhenaten.
Ruled from age 6 when his father died.
RAMESES THE GREAT
Dates
Famous Battle
1279 BCE to 1213 BCE
Often considered the most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire.
1274 BCE The Battle of Kadesh, against the Hittites, is the first historical battle for which sufficient records exist that historians can analyze tactics and formations.
OZYMANDIAS
Who was he?
In antiquity, Ozymandias was a Greek name for pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled Egypt from 1279 BCE to 1213 BCE
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
-From Percy Shelley’s 1818 “Ozymandias”
TROY
Dates
Location
Modern dating: c. 1260–1180 BC
In 1868 the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began excavations at what is now Hissarlik in Turkey. On the basis of those excavations, Hissarlik is now accepted by most scholars to be the location of Troy.
After the Battle of Kadesh in Syria, the Hittites also lost some of their cities along the Aegean Sea.
[Formerly under the Hittites, the Assuwa confederation defected after the battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittites (c. 1274 BC). In 1230 BC Hittite king Tudhaliya IV (c. 1240–1210 BC) campaigned against this federation. Under Arnuwanda III (c. 1210–1205 BC) the Hittites were forced to abandon the lands they controlled in the coast of the Aegean. It is possible that the Trojan War was a conflict between the king of Ahhiyawa and the Assuwa confederation.]
THE OLMECS
Dates
Significance
1200 BCE to 400 BCE
The first civilization to arise in Mesoamerica.
Known for their giant 40 tonne stone heads.
IRON AGE
Beginning
Significance
End: Ancient Near East
End: Central and Western Europe
End: Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia
Beginning: 1200 BC in Italy, the Balkans, the Caucuses, Anatolia
End - Ancient Near East: c. 550 BCE
End - Central and Western Europe: 1st century BCE
End - Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia: 800 CE
Meaning: The term “Iron Age” implies that the production of carbon steel has been perfected to the point where mass production of tools and weapons superior to their bronze equivalents become possible. (requires temperatures of 1500deg C to smelt.)
End: The Iron Age is taken to end, also by convention, with the beginning of the historiographical record. For the Ancient Near East the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire c. 550 BCE (considered historical by virtue of the record by Herodotus) is usually taken as a cut-off date, in Central and Western Europe the Roman conquests of the 1st century BCE. The Germanic Iron Age of Scandinavia is taken to end c. CE 800, with the beginning of the Viking Age.
LYDIA
Beginning
Location
End
c. 1178 BCE: developed after the decline of the Hittite Empire
Location: western Anatolia
End: 546 BCE Conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great
THE FIRST ALPHABET
Civilisation
Dates
The Phoenicians Invented it around 1050 BCE
NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
Dates
Location
Known for?
911 BCE
Location: Mesopotamia Iron Age empire, most powerful at the time, perfected early techniques of imperial rule.
Following the conquests beginning 911 BCE, they emerged as the most powerful state in the known world at the time, eclipsing and conquering rivals such as Babylonia, Persia, Lydia, Phrygians, Israel, Judah, Phoenicia, and Egypt. They perfected early techniques of imperial rule, many of which became standard in later empires. Known for their fierce battle tactics and use of cavalry, they also developed their own monumental architecture, including sculptures of winged bulls that guarded their capital at Nineveh.
609 BCE: At the Fall of Harran the Babylonians and Medes defeated an alliance with the Egyptians, after which it largely ceased to exist as an independent state,
ANCIENT CARTHAGE
Date and Name of Origin
Location
Significance
Dates of war
Fall
814 BCE: Phoenician started a colony. Name means Qart-ḥadašt (“New city”)
Location: modern-day Tunisia
Significance: Became the only existential threat to the Roman Empire until the coming of the Vandals several centuries later.
Fought the Greeks in the “Greek-Punic Wars” c. 600–265 BCE
and the Romans in the Punic Wars 264-146 BCE
146 BCE: completely destroyed by the Rome in the Third Punic War.
THE MAYANS
Location
Dates
750 BCE - The first Mayan cities developed
900 CE - Mayan decline, though Chichén Itzá (in Yucatán, Mexico) remained an active urban center.
THE MAYANS
Cultural accomplishments
Cultural Accomplishments:
Hieroglyphic script—the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas
Architecture and Art, Temples, Palaces, Pyramids
Mathematics, Calendar, and Astronomical system
THE MAYANS
Location and date began
Location: Began in Guatemala and Belize
Date: c.750 BCE
Spread into Mexico and Central America
CONSTANTINOPLE
Order of its status as capital city for four Empires
Colony of the Greeks 657 BCE (As Byzantium)
Roman Empire 330 - 1204 (As Constantinople)
(Latin Empire 1204 - 1261)
Byzantine Empire 1261 - 1453
Ottoman Empire 1453 - 1923
Turkey 1923 - present (As Istanbul)
BYZANTIUM
Date founded
c. 657 BCE: colonized by the Greeks
ROME (Ancient City of Rome)
Dates
Beginning: 753 BCE “Romulus and Remus”
End: 476 CE Last Roman Emperor
NEBUCHADNEZZAR
Empire seceded from
Empire’s dates only
Empire conquered by
Empire: Neo-Babylon
620 BCE: his father rebelled against Assyria
539 BCE: conquered by Cyrus the Great
Nebuchadnezzar was the eldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, an Assyrian official who rebelled and established himself as king of Babylon in 620 BCE; the dynasty he established ruled until 539 BCE when the Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by Cyrus the Great. Nebuchadnezzar is first mentioned in 607 BCE, during the destruction of Babylon’s arch-enemy Assyria, at which point he was already crown prince. In 605 BCE he and his ally Cyaxares, ruler of the Medes and Persians, led an army against the Assyrians and Egyptians, who were then occupying Syria, and in the ensuing Battle of Carchemish, Necho II was defeated and Syria and Phoenicia were brought under the control of Babylon. (Name means “O god Nebu, preserve/defend my firstborn son”) was king of Babylon c. 605 BCE – c. 562 BCE, the longest and most powerful reign of any monarch in the Neo-Babylonian Empire
LYDIA
Invention and date
Famous Ruler
Mythology
Conquered by whom and date
Was the first to introduce coin money, sometime around 610 BCE
Coins would prove a handy medium of exchange, both because they replaced barter and were easier to transfer from place to place.
Croesus ‘Creesus’ reigned for the last 14 years before being conquered in 546 BCE by the Persian king Cyrus the Great.
Croesus became an almost mythological figure of unimaginable wealth.
BABYLONIAN EXILE
605 BCE Judah and Daniel Captured and held in Babylonia
539 BCE Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon, frees the Jews
CARTHAGE WAR VS GREEKS
Dates Name and its meaning
Which Greeks?
c. 600–265 BC “The Greek-Punic Wars.”
Punic was their Religion (and a language)
Fought the Sicilians
TOWER OF BABEL
Probable dates
Name of the Structure
Location
Names of Rulers
590-560 BCE Etemenanki (Sumerian: “temple of the foundation of heaven and earth”) was the name of a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk in the city of Babylon.
It was famously rebuilt by the 6th-century BCE Neo-Babylonian dynasty rulers Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II.
According to modern scholars, the biblical story of the Tower of Babel was likely influenced by Etemenanki during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews.
CYRUS THE GREAT
Founded what Empire?
Dates
Conquered who
Conquered by who
550 BCE: in the wake of the Hittite defeat by the Assyrians, founded the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire, which became larger than any previous empire in history.
546 BCE Conquered Croesus of Lydia (Also Media, Babylon and Egypt)
330 BCE Conquered by Alexander the Great
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE
Who did they conquer? (Date Range is enough)
Who conquered them?
- Persian Uprising vs Media 550 BCE
- Conquest of Lydia 546 BCE
- Conquest of Babylon 539 BCE
- Conquest of Egypt 525 BCE
- Fall to Macedonia 330 BCE
ACHAEMENID EMPIRE
Dates
Founder
Who did they conquer?
Why great?
550 BCE: Founded by Cyrus the Great, it was the first Persian Empire, larger than any previous empire in history.
They conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire and Egypt.
Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered, ruling through Satrapies.
546 BCE Conquered Croesus of Lydia
330 BCE Conquered by Alexander the Great
SATRAPY
What was it
Who Founded it
What Empire
Local Rulers, proxies for the Achaemenid Emperors
550 BCE: Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. The administration of the empire through satraps became a very successful model for centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage and profit of its subjects.
Torah - when written
And why?
A common hypothesis among scholars is that it was composed in the early Persian period (after 539 BCE fall of Babylon) as a result of tensions between Jewish landowners who had stayed in Judah during the Babylonian captivity and traced their right to the land through their “father Abraham”, and the returning exiles (freed by Cyrus the Great) who based their counter-claim on Moses and the Exodus tradition.
THE BATTLE OF MARATHON
Date
Combatants
Places
The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BCE, during the first Persian invasion of Greece.
It was fought between the citizens of Athens and a Persian force.
The battle was the culmination of the first attempt by Persia, under King Darius I, to subjugate Greece.
The Greek army decisively defeated the more numerous Persians, marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars.
THE BATTLE OF MARATHON
Legend
Date
Location
490 BCE Athens to Marathon 26 miles
According to Herodotus, an Athenian runner named Pheidippides was sent to run from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance before the battle. He ran a distance of over 225 kilometres (140 miles), arriving in Sparta the day after he left.[121] Then, following the battle, the Athenian army marched the 40 kilometres (25 miles) or so back to Athens at a very high pace (considering the quantity of armour, and the fatigue after the battle), in order to head off the Persian force sailing around Cape Sounion. They arrived back in the late afternoon, in time to see the Persian ships turn away from Athens, thus completing the Athenian victory.
Later, in the popular imagination, these two events became confused with each other, leading to a legendary but inaccurate version of events. This myth has Pheidippides running from Marathon to Athens after the battle, to announce the Greek victory with the word “nenikēkamen!” (Attic: νενικήκαμεν; we’ve won!), whereupon he promptly died of exhaustion.
SPARTAN 300
Date
Location
Commanders
480 BCE: The Battle of Thermopylae thər-MOP-i-lee was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.
It took place in August or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae (“The Hot Gates”), ten years after the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
By 480 BC Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian politician and general Themistocles proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae.
A Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass. The Persian army, alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered over one million, but today considered to have been between about 100,000 and 150,000, arrived at the pass in late August or early September.
The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days (the last three were the battle) before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history’s most famous last stands. During two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. After the second day, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing that a small path led behind the Greek lines.
Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans, fighting to the death.
Both ancient and modern writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the power of a patriotic army defending its native soil. The performance of the defenders is also used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain as force multipliers and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds.
THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE
Date
Location
Commanders
Symbolism
480 BCE: The Battle of Thermopylae thər-MOP-i-lee was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.
It took place in August or September 480 BC, at the narrow coastal pass of Thermopylae (“The Hot Gates”), ten years after the defeat of the first Persian invasion of Greece, which had been ended by the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
By 480 BC Xerxes had amassed a huge army and navy, and set out to conquer all of Greece. The Athenian politician and general Themistocles proposed that the allied Greeks block the advance of the Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae.
A Greek force of approximately 7,000 men marched north to block the pass. The Persian army, alleged by the ancient sources to have numbered over one million, but today considered to have been between about 100,000 and 150,000, arrived at the pass in late August or early September.
The vastly outnumbered Greeks held off the Persians for seven days (the last three were the battle) before the rear-guard was annihilated in one of history’s most famous last stands. During two full days of battle, the small force led by Leonidas blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. After the second day, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing that a small path led behind the Greek lines.
Leonidas, aware that his force was being outflanked, dismissed the bulk of the Greek army and remained to guard their retreat with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans, fighting to the death.
Both ancient and modern writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an example of the power of a patriotic army defending its native soil. The performance of the defenders is also used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain as force multipliers and has become a symbol of courage against overwhelming odds.
EMPIRES IN ANATOLIA
In order after Alexander
Alexander the Great 330 BCE
Hellenistic Period 323 BCE - 31 BCE
Roman Empire 31 BCE
Eastern Roman Empire 330 CE
Latin Empire 1204 CE
Byzantium 1261 CE
Ottoman Turks 1453 CE
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Early Life
Early Life: b. 356 BCE, grew up studying with Aristotle and his father Philip II, who had seized control over most of Greece.
At the age of 20, in 336 BCE, he inherited the throne. [Name?]
CARTHAGE WAR VS ROME
Dates
Name and its meaning
Conflict for what areas?
264–146 BCE
The Punic Wars.
Punic was their Religion (and a language)
The Punic Wars were a set of three conflicts between the Roman Republic and Carthage that began in 264 B.C. and lasted until 146 B.C., when Carthage was defeated. Carthage’s demise gave the Romans control of the western Mediterranean, Spain, and North Africa.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Location
Dates
Significance
rule: 335 BCE
Location: Macedonia
Significance: Expanded the Macedonian empire from Greece to Egypt and into Persia and northern India and never lost a battle. He left behind a large empire to be divided among his top generals.
d. 323 BCE (32) [Name?]
THE MAYANS
Location and date of central ruling city
by 200 BCE - Teotihuacan (in Mexico Valley) ruled all Mayan cities
Tay oh tee ‘WUH kahn
DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE
Date
Describe the destruction
146 BCE
Romans pulled the Phoenician warships out into the harbour and burned them before the city.
The Romans went from house to house, capturing and enslaving the people. About 50,000 citizens were sold into slavery.
The city was set ablaze and razed to the ground, leaving only ruins and rubble.
JULIUS CAESAR
Dates
Overview
b. 100 BCE
Conquered Gaul (modern-day France) and even ventured as far as Britain. Using his military might, he seized control of the Roman Republic and had himself named dictator for life. He began a programme of social and governmental reforms, but fearing that he had become too powerful, several senators assassinated him on the floor of the Senate. The civil wars that followed led to the rise of the Roman Empire.
d. 44 BCE
GAUL
Locations
Tribes
Gaul (Latin: Gallia, also modern Greek and Italian for France) was the name given in ancient times to the area of Western Europe centred around France.
Many Celtic tribes lived in the region and were known by the Romans simply as “Gauls”.
[It included northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river.]
TEOTIHUACAN
Civilisation
Location
Significance
Pronounciation
Teoti-huacan (in Mexico Valley) ruled all Mayan cities
Tay oh tee ‘WUH kahn
JULIUS CAESAR
Taking Power
Date
Name
49 BCE: Crossed the Rubicon with the 13th Legion
With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered him to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order and instead marked his defiance by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms. His victory in the resulting civil war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence and he named himself dictator for life.
“Crossing the Rubicon” is today often used as an idiom to mean passing a point of no return.
JULIUS CAESAR
Dates
Overview
b. 100 BCE
Conquered Gaul (modern-day France) and even ventured as far as Britain. Using his military might, he seized control of the Roman Republic and had himself named dictator for life. Fearing that he had become too powerful, several senators assassinated him in on the floor of the Senate. The civil wars that followed led to the rise of the Roman Empire.
d. 44 BCE
JULIUS CAESAR
Death
15 March 44 BCE: Caesar was assassinated on the Senate Floor by a group of rebellious senators led by Gaius Cassius Longinus, Marcus Junius Brutus and Decimus Junius Brutus.
ROMAN CARTHAGE
Dates
Significance
Established by
Conquered by
49 BCE: Re-developed by Julius Caesar
Significance: became the major city of the Roman Empire in the province of Africa, and the second-largest city in the western half of the Roman Empire.
698 CE: Conquered by the Maghreb Empire.
IDES OF MARCH
Literal Meaning
Significance
Famous quote (3 parts)
15 March 44 BCE: “The Ides of March”.
In Latin, Ides meant “divide,” and the date sought to split the month, originally at the rise of the full moon.
Caesar is warned by a soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.” On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “The Ides of March are come”, implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied, “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.” This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.
AUGUSTUS CAESAR
Other name
Dates
Significance
Reigned from 27 BCE
Born Octavia, he was Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew and adopted heir. When Caesar died he was 19 and over the next seventeen years he gained control of the Roman state. After defeating his opponents in a civil war he rose to sole power and had himself declared the first Emperor of Rome in 27BCE.
He incorporated Egypt into the Roman Empire and established a period of calm during a reign that lasted 40 years.
d. 14 CE [Other name?]
JULIUS CAESAR
Heir
His adopted heir and grand-nephew Octavian, later known as Augustus, Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew and adopted heir.
When Caesar died he was 19 and over the next seventeen years he gained control of the Roman state and rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the civil war and became the first Roman Emperor in 27 BC.
He incorporated Egypt into the Roman Empire and established a period of calm during a reign that lasted 40 years.
b. 63 BCE
d. 14 CE
OCTAVIAN
Other name
Dates
Significance
Reigned from 27 BCE
Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew, over the seventeen years from 44 BCE he seized control of the Roman state and had himself named Augustus Caesar and declared the first Emperor of Rome.
Augustus incorporated Egypt into the Roman Empire and established a period of calm during a reign that lasted 40 years.
d. 14 CE [Other name?]
