Timeline: Mesopotamia

3000 BCE

Early writing tablet

Period: 3000 BCE to 2350 BCE

SUMERIAN

2700 BCE

The Sumerian King, Gilgamesh

The Sumerian King, Gilgamesh, ruled the city of Uruk which had grown to a population of over 50,000. Gilgamesh was the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian “Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh."

2500 BCE

Statue of a "praying Sumerian",

2350 BCE

Sargon instituted a central government.

Sargon conquered the independent city-states of Sumer and instituted a central government.

Period: 2350 BCE to 1800 BCE

AKKADIAN

2260 BCE

monument celebrating victory against the Lullubi from Zagros

2215 BCE

death of Sargon the Great

2193 BCE

Gutian invasion destroys Akkadian empire.

Period: 1800 BCE to 1350 BCE

BABYLONIAN

1792 BCE

Ereshkigal's place in the Mesopotamian Pantheon solidifies

Ereshkigal's place in the Mesopotamian Pantheon solidifies during the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon.

1792 BCE

King Hammurabi builds walls of Babylon.

1763 BCE

Hammurabi died

1595 BCE

Kassite Dynasty rules over Babylonia

Period: 1350 BCE to 539 BCE

ASSYRIAN

1275 BCE

end of Adad Nirari I's reign

1220 BCE

Babylon is under Assyrian control

627 BCE

Death of King Ashurbanipal.

Period: 539 BCE to 1 BCE

PERSIAN CONQUEST

490 BCE

Athens builds a treasury

Athens builds a treasury at Delphi following their victory at Marathon against Persia

485 BCE

Xerxes, King of Persia destroys Babylon

412 BCE