-1336 - -1327
Tutankhamun rules Egypt.
-1300
The Egyptians start to grow opium poppies in Thebes and trade opiates with Greece, Carthage and Europe.
-1300 - 0400
The Iron Age witnesses the greater sophistication of smelting to produce hard steel tools and weapons. Societies also become more complex.
-1300
Polynesian colonisation begins.
-1230
Possible date for the Fall of Troy.
-1200
The Egyptians learn to create gold leaf.
-1200 - -0800
The Phoenicians flourish as a sea-trading people around the Mediterranean.
-1200 - -0300
Chavin Civilisation in Peru.
-1200 - -0539
Phoenician Empire.
-1116
Alcoholic drinks are known to exist in China.
-1100
The Indian sacred text, the Rigveda mentions cotton.
-1100
Opium poppies are cultivated on Cyprus.
-1100
The Phoenicians found a trading post in Cadiz helping to develop Spanish wine cultivation.
-1091
Gold squares are used as currency in China.
-1060
The Turin Papyrus Map shows the location of a Nubian gold mine.
-1046 - -0256
The Zhou Dynasty in China.
-1000
The Olmecs are probably the first people to cultivate cacao beans and discover their usage.
-1000
Sugar cane is cultivated in India.
-1000
The large scale cultivation of rice in Southern China causes wheat to be supplanted as the staple food in the region.
-0992
The Queen of Sheba gives King Solomon a gift of spices.
-0850
Homer wrote the Iliad and Odyssey at about this date.
-800
Horizontal windmills are invented in Persia to power the grinding of wheat.
-0776
Laurel bay leaves are used in the wreaths awarded to victors in the first Olympic games.
-0750
Sugar cane is cultivated in China.
-0750
Greek bireme (two level) vessels become common. They are followed by triremes, three level vessels invented in Turkey.
-0700 - -0100
Etruscan civilization. Gold jewelry became very popular as a status symbol.
-0700
The Chinese start to build floating castles or warships at some time after this date.
-0610
The Lydians introduce gold coinage.
-0580 - -0500
Pythagoras.
-0563 - -0483
Siddhartha Gautama, the supreme Buddha.
-0551 - -0479
Confucius.
-0550
Cotton is planted in Persia.
-0550
The Greeks use silver to make coins, to put in water and wine barrels to keep it fresh, and for treating wounds.
-0550 - -0330
First Persian Empire.
-0550
Egyptian explorers circumnavigate Africa.
-550
Greek colonies in Southern Russia grow wheat to feed Athens and other city states.
-0535 - -0475
Heraclitus.
-0530
Pythagoras uses mustard seed to treat scorpion stings.
-0525 - -0456
Aeschylus.
-0510
Persian soldiers near the River Indus come across 'the reed which gives honey without bees'.
-0510
Scylax, a Greek in the Persian navy, explores the Arabian Sea and the coastlines of Egypt and India.
-0509 - -0027
The Roman Republic expands steadily around the Mediterranean and throughout Europe.
-0509
The Roman Republic is created.
-0500
Pythagoras discusses the importance of numbers and harmony in the universe.
-0500
Indian growers discover the process of producing sugar crystals by pounding the cane and boiling the juice.
-0500 - 0900
Zapotec culture flourishes in the Oaxaca valley in Mexico.
-0500
Cloaca Maxima (the big sewer) is built in Rome.
-500
Invention of the Scythe in Iran.
-0495 - -0405
Sophocles.
-0484 - -0425
Herodotus.
-0481 - -0221
The Warring States period ends with the emergence of the First Emperor.
-0480
Hanno the Navigator explores the north and west African coast.
-0477 - -0404
The Greek City States organise as the Delian League.
-0470 - -0399
Socrates.
-0460
Hippocrates acknowledges some medinal uses for opiates.
-0460 - -0377
Hippocrates, Greek physician notes the effects of food, occupation and climate in causing disease.
-0432
The Parthenon is completed in Athens.
-0427 - -0347
Plato.
-0384 - -0322
Aristotle.
-0356 - -0323
Alexander the Great.
-0335
Aristotle writes on natural history and the structure of the universe.
-0333 - -0326
Alexander the Great spreads the use of opium during his travels in Persia and India.
-0333
Alexander the Great defeats Darius III and controls the Persian kingdom. The capture of Persian gold helps to fuel the expansion.
-0332
Alexander the Great establishes Alexandria.
-0332
Alexander the Great conquers Egypt.
-331
During the Siege of Persia, Alexander the Great's tent is set ablaze by clay vessels filled with oil.
-0326
Alexander the Great and his men encounter cotton, or 'wool growing on trees'.
-0326
Alexander the Great invades India.
-0325 - -0265
Euclid.
-0325
Alexander the Great encounters sugar cane when he invades India.
-0321 - -0185
The Mauryan Dynasty rules in India.
-300
Alchemists start the quest for the philosopher's stone to turn base metals into gold.
-0290 - -0211
Archimedes creates many inventions in his lifetime including the Archimedes screw.
-0269
The Roman Empire makes silver coins part of its currency, which spreads throughout the trading world.
-0264 - -0148
The Punic Wars. Rome defeats the Carthaginians, based in Tunis, and conquers Spain, which becomes a major source of silver to fund the expansion of the Empire.
-0250
Ctesibius invents the first keyboard style musical organ, the 'Hydraulis'.
-0250
Apollonius of Rhodes writes The Voyage of the Argo, a legend first told in around 1,300 BC, describing a group of heroes exploring trading routes from Greece to the Black Sea, along the Danube and back via the Adriatic. Gold prospectors around the Black Sea used sheep's fleeces to recover gold dust in the rivers, possibly creating the idea of a golden fleece.
-0250 - 0900
The Classic period of Mayan Civilisation in Central America. They build temple complexes, invent a complex writing system and work by a 365 day solar year.
-250
Philo of Byzantium is credited with creating the first waterwheel.
-0221 - -0206
The Qin Dynasty in China. Standardised script and agreed weights and measures are introduced.