Ancient History

BC 4000 – BC 1000
The period of recorded human history before the Dark Ages.

• Dark Ages
  • : transition to Classical History
  • Mesopotamia & Asia Minor (Anatolia) ⇒ Persia
  • Ancient Greece ⇒ Greece
• 6 Cradle of Civilization
  • Old World (The Four Great Ancient Civilizations):
    • ① Mesopotamian Civilization (Iraq)
    • ② Egyptian Civilization (Egypt)
    • ③ Indus Civilization (India)
    • ④ Chinese Civilization (China)
  • New World:
    • Caral Supe civilization (Andean civilization)
    • Olmecs civilization (Mesoamerica)
  • The Four Great Ancient Civilizations
    Human civilization developed primarily along river valleys, giving rise to the Four Great Ancient Civilizations:
    • ① Mesopotamian Civilization ☞ Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
    • ② Egyptian Civilization ☞ Nile River
    • ③ Indus Civilization ☞ Indus River
    • ④ Chinese Civilization ☞ Yellow River & Yangtze River
• Sumer (BC 4000 – 2350): 1st city
• Akkad: 1st Empire
• Ur III: destroyed Sumer
• Babylon (BC 1894 – BC 1595): Old Babylonia / Middle Babylonia (Kassie’s); Legal Innovation
  • BC 1800: Hammurabi unified all of Mesopotamia
  • BC 1750: Code of Hammurabi
• Old Assyria (BC 2000 – BC 1600): Commerce Innovation
  • BC 1900: Jews migrated from Ur to Canaan
• Canaan / Phoenicia (BC 1200 – BC 700): Invention of Alphabet
• Hebrews:
  • Israelites: BC 722: conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire(Northern Kingdom of Israel; often referred to as the Ten Lost Tribes)
  • Jews: BC 597: exiled by the Neo-Babylonian Empire(Kingdom of Judah)
• Hittites (BC 1750 – BC 1220)
  • BC 1595: destroyed Old Babylonian Kingdom
  • BC 1274: Battle of Kadesh (Egypt vs. the Hittites); end of the Hittites
• Ancient Greece
  • Aegean Civilization
    • Minoans (BC 2200 – BC 1400)
    • Mycenaeans (BC 1800 – BC 1000)