TIMELINE




 

PREHISTORIC & ANCIENT ART
 

The Ancient World

Pre-Classical Civilizations


3000bc: tablets from Uruk in Sumer attest to the invention of cuneiform writing.

c.3000bc: Narmer unites Egypt under a single pharaoh.

2500bc: oldest civilization in the Indus valley flourishes in northern India; in Egypt, papyrus and ink are used for writing.
 
2400bc: literature in the local Semitic language develops at Ebla in Syria.

2000bc: Crete affirms her supremacy in the Aegean Sea.

c.1894bc: Babylon ("Gate of Gods") is founded on the banks of the Euphrates.
 
c.1700bc: verified use in Crete of the still undeciphered linear A script.

1600bc:earliest urban civilization established in China under the Shang Dynasty.
 
c.1350bc: early example of alphabetical writing, with 30 characters, appears at Ugarit, in Syria.

1402bc: under Amenophis III, Egypt attains its utmost splendour.

1347bc: Tutankhamun abolishes the cult of Aten (the Sun), introduced by Akhnaton and his wife Nefertiti, and restores the traditional worship of Amun.

1200BC: the Veda, the most important collection of Sanskrit religious texts, is completed in India; first migrations of the Dorian people into Greece occur, heralding the end of Mycenaean civilization.
 
1100bc: the practice of horseriding and use of the saddle spreads through the Near East.

667bc: Assyrian kingdom achieves its maximum expansion under Assurbanipal.

c.770bc: Chinese empire splits into numerous small kingdom.

55Obc: Cyrus the Great of Persia deter the Medes, conquering Asia Minor, Babylonia, Syria, and Palestine.

Greek Civilization

Greek Civilization


1050-900bc: production begins of proto-Geometric style pottery decorated with patterns and motifs.

c.900-800bc: with the continued penetration of the Doric peoples into Greece, Sparta
evolves from the settlement of Lacedaemon.

776bc: the first Olympic Games are held.

c.730-700bc: the first Greek colonies in southern Italy are founded.

624bc: Thales, the father of Hellenic philosophy, is born in Miletus.

c.600bc: knowledge of the Iliad and Odyssey spreads through the Hellenic world.

510-507bc: Clisthenes gives Athens a democratic constitution.

472bc:Aeschylus composes his tradegy, The Persians.

460-429bc: Athens begins its period of greatest democracy under Perikles.

c.447-438bc: The architect Ictinus builds the Parthenon.

431bc: the Peloponnesian War breaks out, lasting 30 years and leading to the collapse of Athenian power.

399bc: Socrates is tried and condemned to death.

387bc: Plato's Academy is founded in Athens.

351bc: Demosthenes composes the first Phillipic, an appeal to the Greek states for solidarity against the Macedonian threat.

338bc: battle of Cheronea: the Macedonian hegemony over Greece begins.

336bc: Alexander the Great becomes King of Macedonia.

290bc: the Library at Alexandria is created, the first in the ancient world.

168bc: with the defeat of Pidna, Macedonia becomes a Roman province.

c.150bc: Venus is sculpted, attributed to Milo.

86bc: Athens is occupied and sacked by the Roman army led by Scilla.

27bc: the province of Achaea is created.
 

Rome

Italic Civilization


1000—800bc: various local geometric styles in pottery and bronzework develop in the Early Iron Age.
 
c.850bc: Sardinian Nuragic civilization reaches its greatest splendour.

753bc:according to legend, Romulus founds a village called Rome on the Palatine Hill.

c.600bc: parts of Italy participate in Greek art styles.

540bc: after a period of dispute, the Etruscans are victorious over the Greeks in a sea battle off Corsica.
 
509bc: the last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, is ejected from Rome and the republican period begins.
 
474bc: after the battle of Cuma, the Greeks become dominant in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

450-400bc: large quantities of Greek Attic pottery are imported into Etruria; large-scale votive bronzes are produced in Etruria.

c.400bc: the Lucanians take Posidonia (Paestum).

396bc: Veio is destroyed by Marcus Furius Camillus; thus begins the Roman subjugation of the Etruscan world.

312bc: the Appian Way is laid out.

290bc: the third Samnite war ends in Roman triumph.
 
212bc: Syracuse is conquered by the Romans.

133bc: laia of Cyzicus comes to Italy, where she gains fame for her portrait paintings.

106bc: birth of Marcus Tullius Cicero, orator, politician, and philosopher.

89bc: the sculptor Pasiteles, originally from Magna Graecia and the creator of a five-volume catalogue devoted to the most beautiful statues ever made, is granted Roman citizenship.

44bc : fear of the sovereign power of Julius Caesar prompts his assassination.