Ancient civilizations timeline By enoodee 5000 BCE The Sumer form the first towns and cities. They use irrigation to farm large areas of land. Period: 5000 BCE to 2300 BCE Mesopotamia Civilization 4000 BCE The Sumer establish powerful city-states building large ziggurats, a huge structure built at the center of their cities as temples to their gods. 3500 BCE Much of lower Mesopotamia is inhabited by numerous Sumer city-states such as Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Kish, Lagash, and Nippu 3300 BCE The Sumerians invent the first writing. They use pictures for words and inscribe them on clay tablets. . 3200 BCE The Sumerians begin to use the wheel on vehicles. 3100 BCE King Narmer founded the first Egyptian dynasty 3100 BCE Hieroglyphic script developed Period: 3100 BCE to 30 BCE Ancient Egypt 3000 BCE The Sumerians start to implement mathematics using a number system with the base 60. 2950 BCE First Egyptian pyramid (Step Pyramid at Saqqara) is built for King Zoser 2575 BCE The Great Pyramids of Egypt were built at Dahshur and Giza 1900 BCE The Assyrians rise to power in northern Mesopotamia. 1792 BCE Hammurabi becomes king of Babylon. He establishes the Code of Hammurabi and Babylon soon takes over much of Mesopotamia. 1781 BCE King Shamshi-Adad of the Assyrians dies. The First Assyrian Empire is soon taken over by the Babylonians. 1539 BCE Building of the tombs of the Valley of Kings. 1194 BCE The Trojan war between Troy and Greek causes heavy casualties 1100 BCE Upper and Lower Egypt split Period: 800 BCE to 146 BCE Ancient Greece 776 BCE The first Olympic held by ancient Greek Period: 753 BCE to 476 Ancient Roman Empire 600 BCE First Greek coins are introduced. Period: 600 BCE to 1900 Persian Empire 570 BCE Pythagoras was born 550 BCE Cyrus the Great rises to power and the Persian Empire begins. 539 BCE Cyrus the Great takes the city of Babylon and lets the Jewish people return to Israel. 525 BCE Persians conquer Egypt, lead by the Persian king Cambyses II 522 BCE Darius I becomes King of Persia. He expands the empire and divides it up into states each ruled by a governor called a satrap. 518 BCE The capital of the Persian Empire was established at Persepolis 508 BCE Democracy is introduced in Athens by Cleisthenes. 490 BCE The Greek/Persian Wars 490 BCE The Battle of Marathon 468 BCE Theater becomes a very popular form of entertainment in Greece.. 432 BCE The temple to Athena, the Parthenon, is completed in Athens on the Acropolis. 431 BCE Peloponnesia War between Sparta and Athens 404 BCE Peloponnesian War (Athens vs Spartas) 386 BCE Plato, founds the first institution of higher learning in the western world, it's called the Academy. 336 BCE Alexander the Great becomes king when his father, Philip of Macedon is assassinated. 333 BCE Alexander the Great invades the land and conquers the Persian Empire. 332 BCE Alexander the Great conquers Egypt. 323 BCE The Hellenistic period begins. 323 BCE Alexander defeats Persia and Egypt 196 BCE Rosetta Stone, an agreement between a group of priests and the Egyptian government was carved 146 BCE Rome conquers Greece making it part of the Roman Empire. 30 BCE Egypt becomes a province of the Roman Empire 642 Egypt conquered by Arabs 969 City of Cairo founded 1351 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. 1427 The Sun Stone depicting the ages of the five suns of Aztec mythology is carved and set up Period: 1428 to 1521 Aztec 1438 Pachacunti Inca Yupanqui begins a rebuilding programme in the Inca capital of Cuzco, the religious and administrative capital of the Inca Empire. Period: 1438 to 1532 Inca Empire 1450 Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui founds Machu Picchu in the High Andes. 1470 The Incas conquer the Chimu civilization 1487 The Templo Mayor is completed at Tenochtitlan and inaugurated with the sacrifice of 20,000 captives. 1500 Ottoman Turks ruled Egypt 1507 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. 1510 The Inca abandon the settlement of Machu Picchu. 1521 The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan falls into the hands of spanish forces led by Cortés. 1526 Civil war between the Inca leaders Waskar and Atahualpa. 1526 Huayna Capac constructs fortresses, religious temples and roads throughout the empire. 1530 The Inca empire reaches its greatest extent. 1532 Battle of Cajamarca, Atahualpa, the last Inca ruler is captured and held for ransom by Spanish forces led by Pizarro. 1533 Pizarro takes the Inca capital of Cuzco. 1638 The Crusades - Persians (muslim) vs. Roman Catholics