Central Asian Pre-Islam History

Invention of Writing (Sumerian Script)

3000 BCE

The Sumerian archaic (pre-cuneiform) writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs are generally considered the earliest true writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400–3100 BC, with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC.

Pre-Islam - Islam Timeline

Period: 3000 BCE to 570

Birth of the Oxus Civilisation

2400 BCE

The Oxus Civilisation was the first sedentary and intercultural civilization of the region during the Bronze Age. It expanded the banks of both Amu Darya and Murgab river delta. This civilization emerged in 2400 B.C. and disappeared in the in the 2nd millennium B.C.

Fall of the Oxus Civilisation

1900 BCE

Begining of the Greek Civilisation

1100 BCE

Ancient Greece refers to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Dark Ages to the end of antiquity (c. AD 600). In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire. The traditional date for the end of the Classical Greek period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The period that follows is classed as Hellenistic.

Emergence of Horse Riding Pastoralism

1000 BCE

Horse-riding pastoralism emerges as a significant lifeway on the steppes. Although earlier peoples had both ridden horses and been pastoralists, the development of new riding equipment and the military tactic of using a compound bow from horseback allow for the development of an effective fighting force. This new lifeway spreads rapidly across the steppes of Eurasia, and military incursions of nomadic groups disrupt many settled population centers

Foundation of Rome

753 BCE

The Foundation of Rome is the traditional myth and legend handed down by ancient Romabs recounting the story of the city creation. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, twins who were suckled by a she-wolf as infants in the 8th century BC.

Conquest of Central Asia by Cyrus the Great

539 BCE

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Western Asia and much of Central Asia. His conquest of Central Asia spans for 10 years from 549 to 539 B.C

Spitamen’s revolt is suppressed

328 BCE

While Alexander was conquering the region and founding the new city of Alexandria Eschate on the Jaxartes river, news came that Spitamenes had roused Sogdiana against him and was besieging the Macedonian garrison in Maracanda. Too occupied at that time to personally lead an army against Spitamenes, Alexander sent an army under the command of Pharnuches which was promptly annihilated with a loss of no less than 2000 infantry and 300 cavalry.

Alexander the Great’s Conquest of Central Asia

323 BCE

Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, launched military campaigns towards the East and overthrew the Persian empire ruled by Darius. He managed to reach India, and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms.
He died during this military campaigns in Babylon in 323 BC at the age of 32 years old.

Start of the Seleucid Empire

312 BCE

The Seleucid Empire was founded by Seleucus I Nicator following the division of the Macedonian Empire established by Alexander the Great.It lasted until 63 B.C. Seleucus expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander's near-eastern territories. At its height, the empire spanned Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what are now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

Bactria, Sogdiana, and Parthia proclaimed independence

250 BCE

Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom when he seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC and became King Diodotus I of Bactria.

Chinese Emperor sends a huge Embassy to the Parthians which is received in the Parthian capital

138 BCE

The Parthian Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran. Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. The Parian Empire was located on the Silk Road and maintained good commercial relation with China and their generals.

The Kushans divided up Bactria (allegedly)

128 BCE

The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan,and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Emperor Kanishka and the Kushans in general were great patrons of Buddhism, as well as Zoroastrianism[18]. They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China.

Start of the Christian Era

1 BCE

Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus in the 1st century Roman province of Judea. According to the Biblic tradition, Jesus was a Jewish teacher and healer who proclaimed the imminent kingdom of God and was crucified c. AD 30–33.

Start of the Sasanian Empire

224

The Sasanian Empire was the last Persian imperial dynasty before the arrival of Islam in the mid seventh century AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian dynasty.The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, and reestablished the Iranians as a superpower in late antiquity, alongside its neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantine Empire.

The Sack of Rome

410

The Sack of Rome on 24 August 410 AD was undertaken by the Visigoths led by their King, Alaric and led to the destruction of the city Vich was no longer the capital of the Roman Empire.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

476

The fall of the Western Roman Empire refers to the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces.

Conquest of Central Asia by Cyrus the Great

539

The central and southern regions of Central Asia were conquered by King Cyrus the Great, who made it part of his Achaemenid Persian Empire, breaking it down into satrapies, or subservient provinces, three of which – Sogdiana, Khorezm and Bactria – became the first ancient states, which occupied, in whole or in part, the territory of present-day Uzbekistan.

Birth of Muhammad (PBUH)

570

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH) is allegedly born in 570 A.D in Mecca. He belonged to the Banu Hashim clan, part of the Quraysh tribe, and was one of Mecca's prominent families, although it appears less prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime