TIMELINE MESOPOTAMIA
Date (BC)	Period	Event	Ruler	Object	Building
6000	Ubaid Culture5400- 4300 BC			Stamp Seals indicating Ownership 6000 BC	Tripartite Houses; e.g. Tell Madhhur
5000		Copper first used in Mesop. First cities founded in Sumer		Painted Beaker from Susa c. 5000-4000 BC, Pottery	Temple XVII at Eridu
4500				Figurines of baked clay deposited in graves	Temle XVI, c. 4900 BC
4000	Uruk Period 4300-3100 BC	City of Eridu expands		Mud brick vaults used in underghround tombs.	Uquair Temple Iraq, temples follow tripartite house plans. Labour invested in temple construction indicates imortance of religion
3900
3800					Temple VII at Eridu
3700
3600
3500	Proto- Literate Period c. 3500-3000 BC	City of Ur Founded		Female Head from Uruk, c. 3500-3000 BC, Marble	White Temple at Erech or Uruk (Warka)
3400		Cylinder Seal developed		Vase from Uruk, c. 3500-3000 BC, Alabaster
3300		Cuneiform Writing developed		Female monster from *, c. 3500-3000 BC, Limestone
3200
3100		Experi-mental Bronze-work			Cone Mosaics from Pillared Hall at Uruk
3000	Early Dynastic period 3000- 2350 BC	Wheel Appears		Statuette from Tell Amsar, c. 3000 BC, Gypsum	Sin Temple II at Khafaje
2900					Sin Temple V at Khafaje
2800
2700			Gilgamesh rules in Uruk		Sin Temple VIII at Khafaje
2600				Soundbox from a harp, from Ur, c. 2685 BC, Gold Lapis Lazuli and shell inlay	Oval Temple at Khafaje
2500		Rulers of Ebla trade with Mediterranean Peoples
2400			Sargon I rules in Akkad
2300	Later Sumerian 1350- 1600 BC	c. 2350 Akkadians gain comlete control over Sumer	Sargon II of Akkad dominates Sumer, becomes King	Head of Akkadian Ruler from Nineveh, 2300-2200 BC, Bronze
2200		c. 2250, Narmsin Conquers Ebla	Naramsin, grandson of Sargon II becomes King	Victory Stele of Naramsin, c. 2300-2200 BC, Pink Sandstone
2100		Shulgi introduces new taxation system (differentiated), new calendar and earliest surviving code of laws; started scribal schools and reformed the system of weights and measures.	2095-2047 King Shulgi of Ur	Head of Gudea, from Telloh, c. 2100 BC, Diorite	Ziggurat & Precinct at Ur, c. 2113-2006 BC
2000		End of Sumerian power		Brick Vaults used in temples and palaces	Stele of Ur Nammu, 2113-2096 BC
1900
1800
1700		Law code of Hammurabi introduced	Hammurabi rules Babylon c. 1790-1750 BC	Stele of Hammurabi, from Susa, c. 1750 BC, Basalt
1600		c. 1595 Sack of Babylon by the Hittites from Turkey		Venus tablet of Kish: astronomical records
1500		c. 1590 Kassites from the Zagros Mountins in Iran seize Babylon			Map of City of Nippur on a clay tablet
1400
1300	Assyrian 1350-612 BC
1200				Kudurru: boundary stones used to record royal land grants.
1100
1000
900			c. 911-891 King Adad Nirari II
800		853 Battle of Qarqaar King Shalmaneser III defeated by King Ahab of Israel and Hadad-ezer of Damscus		Earliest door not fixed on hinges but pivoted on posts with the bases resting on a socket stone: Palace of Balawat in Iraq built by Shalmaneser III	Rassam Obelisk from Nimrud
700		c.720 Sargon II conquers Israel and founds city of Khorsabad (Dur Sharrukin)	722-705 Sargon II of Assyria; 704-681 Sennacherib; 681-668 Esahaddon; 668-627, Ashurbanipal.	Sennacherib builds Palace at Nineveh supported on the Bull and lion shape bases, Lamassu
600		c. 689 Sennacherib invades Babylonia; c. 625 Babylon re-emerges as major power; 612 Nineveh sacked by Babylonians; Nebuchadnezzar II conquers Judah and exiles Jews to Babylon	605 Nebuchadnezzar II becomes king of Babylon	Boundary Stones with carved pictures of gods; Ishtar Gate of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II
500	Persian Empire	539 Cyrus Captures Babylon; and makes Pasargardae his Capital; Darius starts building the highway between Susa (Iran) to Ephesus (Turkey = 1,500 miles)	557-29 Cyrus the Great reigns over his Persian Empire; 521-486 Darius I reigns Persia		Persepolis built by Darius I from 518 and completed by Xerxes and Ataxerxis 70 years later
400		499-479 Persia Wars with Greece
300
200
100
0