*Timeline 499BCE - 1BC*E

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499BC        Athens and Eretria supported an Ionian revolt against
Persian rule.
    (AP, 7/9/05)

496BC        Sophocles (d.406BC), the 2nd Greek dramatist after
Aeschylus, was born about this time. He is considered by some as the
greatest of the Greek dramatists. His works include: "Oedipus Rex" and
"Antigone."
    (eawc, p.11)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.D6)

496BC - 406BC    Sophocles added valuable elements to the developing
tragic drama. His work involved all men in the tragic elements of life.
His work included the drama Philoctetes. It was about how the Greeks
needed the aged Philoctetes and his magic bow to capture Troy, but had
exiled him to a remote island. They send Neoptolemus, son of Achilles,
to secure the bow by deceit and trickery. In 1990 the play was rewritten
by Seamus Heaney, 1995 Nobel poet laureate, as "The Cure at Troy."
    (V.D.-H.K.p.51)(LSA, Spg/97, p.14)(WSJ, 12/3/97, p.A20)

495BC - 429BC    Pericles, Athenian leader during the early years of the
Peloponnesian Wars.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.55)

494BC        In Rome the first victory of the plebeian class over the
patricians resulted in an agreement between the two classes to allow the
plebeians to elect officers, and tribunes with the power to veto any
unlawful acts of the magistrates.
    (eawc, p.10)

492BC        Goujian, the king of Yue (later part of China?s Zhejiang
province), was taken prisoner after a disastrous campaign against King
Fuchai, a neighbor to the north. After a few years Fuchai let him return
home as his vassal.
    (Econ, 12/4/10, SR p.3)
492BC        Darius put his son-in-law, Mardonius, in charge of a
Persian expedition against Athens and Eretria, but the loss of the fleet
in a storm off Mount Athos forced him to abandon the operation.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)

490BC        Sep 2, Phidippides of Athens set out on his 26-mile run
that inspired the Marathon. Phidippides was sent to seek troops from
Sparta to help against the invading Persian army. The Spartans were
unwilling to help, until the next full moon, due to religious laws. On
Sept. 4th, Phidippides returned the 26 miles Marathon without Spartan
troops.
    (MC, 9/2/01)

490BC        Sep 9, First Persian attack on Greece. Greeks led by
Miltiades defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. Pheidipiddes,
a hemerodromi or long-distance foot messenger, was dispatched to run 26
miles from marathon to Athens to announce the victory. He reached Athens
and proclaimed: "Rejoice! We conquer!" The he dropped dead. In the
Battle of Marathon Darius the Great of Persia was defeated by the
Greeks. The Greeks initiated the war when Persia, the strongest power in
western Asia, established rule over Greek-speaking cities in Asia Minor.
[see Sep 12]
    (HFA, '96, p.38)(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T7)(eawc, p.10)

490BC        Sep 12, Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General
Miltiades drove back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at
Marathon. [see Sep 9]
    (HN, 9/12/98)

490BC        Empedocles (d.430BC), Greek philosopher, was born. He is
best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four
classical elements. An important idea in ancient Greek philosophy is
that "Nothing comes from nothing", so that what exists now has always
existed, since no new matter can come into existence where there was
none before. An explicit statement of this, along with the further
principle that nothing can pass away into nothing, is found in
Empedocles  (ca. 490-430 BC): "For it is impossible for anything to come
to be from what is not, and it cannot be brought about or heard of that
what is should be utterly destroyed."
    (Econ, 2/7/09, p.72)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass)

490BC     A Persian force under Datis, a Mede, destroyed Eretria and
enslaved its inhabitants but was defeated by the Athenians at Marathon.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)    

490BC - 479BC    The Greco-Persian War is commonly regarded as one of
the most significant wars in all of history. The Greeks emerged
victorious and put an end to the possibility of Persian despotism.
    (eawc, p.10)

c490BC - 430BC    The Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea proposed a number
of paradoxes to support the claim of Parmenides that the world was a
motionless, unchanging unity. The race between Achilles and the tortoise
is one example.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1660)(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E5)

486BC        The first stretch of the north-south Grand Canal was begun
and completed by about 400BC. It became fully navigable in the 14th century.
    (WSJ, 10/25/99, p.A50)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(Econ, 5/22/10, SR p.12)

486BC        Darius, ruler of Persia, died. His preparations for a 3rd
expedition against Greece were delayed by an insurrection in Egypt. He
was succeeded by his son Xerxes.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)

486BC - 465BC    Xerxes the Great, king of Persia, ruled Egypt as the
3rd king of the 27th Dynasty. His rule extended from India to the lands
below the Caspian and Black seas, to the east coast of the Mediterranean
including Egypt and Thrace. Persia?s great cities Sardis, Ninevah,
Babylon, and Susa were joined by the Royal Road. East of Susa was
Persopolis, a vast religious monument. To the north of Persia were the
Scythians.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.49)(eawc, p.11)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

c485BC    Athenian democracy was accompanied by an intellectual
revolution with beginnings in Sophism. Sophists situated ethics and
politics within philosophical discourse, which before was limited to
physics and metaphysics alone. Protagoras, the leading Sophist, stated:
"Man is the measure of all things." For him all truth, goodness, and
beauty are relative to man's necessities and inquiries. In opposition to
the Sophists emerged Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, each of whom offered
alternatives to the Sophist's relativism.
    (eawc, p.11)

484BC - 420BC    Herodotus was the first historian to lay out a coherent
story. He authored the 9-book history of the Graeco-Persian War:
"Researches into the Causes and Events of the Persian Wars," and the
"The Histories of Herodotus." He also wrote a book dedicated to his
travels through Egypt.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.53)(SFC, 3/26/97, p.A12)(eawc, p.11)
484BC - 420BC    Herodotus claimed that the Etruscans were Lydians who
had immigrated to Italy from Asia Minor. But modern scholars believe the
Etruscans evolved from an indigenous population of Iron Age farmers of
the Villanovan culture.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.710)
484BC - 420BC    The Greeks always called the Etruscans the Tyrrhenians,
after the prince Tyrrhenus who, according to Herodotus, led them to the
shores of Etruria.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.718)
484BC - 420BC    Herodotus mentioned gold-digging ants and that some
were kept at the palace of the Persian king. It was later learned that
the Persian word for marmot is equivalent to mountain ant, and that
marmots in the Dansar plain of northern Pakistan bring up gold dust from
their burrows.
    (SFC, 11/25/96, p.A10)

484BC - 406BC    Euripides was an Athenian tragedian who brought the
gods and heroes down to earth. He presented pictures of human life that
were sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, but always and undeniably real.
[see 480-406]
    (V.D.-H.K.p.52)

487BC        Sep 23, Greek dramatist Euripides, was born. He wrote
"Medea" and "The Trojan Women." His plays used a device called "Deus ex
Machina," literally "God from a machine." Today the term refers to
sudden events that come from nowhere to advance the plot. [see 484-406,
480-406]
    (MC, 9/23/01)

483BC        Themistocles, fearing destruction at the hands of the
Persians, persuaded his fellow Athenians to build a navy of one hundred
triremes. He also oversaw the fortification of the harbor at Piraeus,
which then replaced Phaleron as the port of Athens.
    (www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture7b.html)(AM, 7/05, p.12)
483BC        Gautama Siddhartha Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, died
about this time in Kushinagar, in northern India.
    (eawc, p.9)(SSFC, 10/14/07,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha)

482BC        Goujian, the king of Yue (later part of China?a Zhejiang
province), marched north with some 50,000 warriors and attacked King
Fuchai putting his kingdom to the sword.
    (Econ, 12/4/10, SR p.3)

481BC - 221BC    The Waring States period of the Chou Dynasty. [see
475-221] The states of Ch'in and Ch'u emerged as the primary competitors
in the struggle to found an empire. During this period a 4-tiered class
structure emerged consisting of lesser nobility (including scholars),
the peasant farmers, the artisans, and the merchants, who held the
lowest position in society. This was also known as the period of the
Hundred Schools of Thought with the emergence of several schools of
political philosophy that included: Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and
Legalism.
    (eawc, p.5,11)

480BC        Aug 9, The Persian army defeated Leonidas and his Spartan
army at the battle Thermopylae, Persia. In 1998 Steven Pressfield
authored: "Gates of Fire, An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae."
In 2006 Paul Cartledge authored ?Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed
the World.?
    (HN, 8/9/98)(SFEC, 11/29/98, BR p.3)(WSJ, 11/11/06, p.P11)

480BC        Sep 20, Themistocles and his Greek fleet won one of
history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes' Persian force off
Salamis. Persia under Xerxes attacked Greece. Athens got burned but the
Athenian fleet under Themistocles trapped and destroyed the Persian navy
at Salamis. Phoenician squadrons were at the heart of Xerxes' fleet; the
king of Sidon was among his admirals. 31 states of the Hellenic League
fought Xerxes.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.49), (NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(HN, 9/20/98)(WSJ, 4/26/99,
p.A18)

480BC        Oct 20, Greeks defeated the Persians in a naval battle at
Salamis. [see Sep 20]
    (HN, 10/20/98)

480BC        Xerxes performed a sacrifice at the site of Troy on his way
to battle the Greeks.
    (Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.50)

480BC        The Acropolis temples were destroyed during the Persian
invasion. The ruins lay untouched for 30 years until 447, when Pericles
initiated a reconstruction program.
    (WSJ, 12/14/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A22)
   
c480BC    Vardhamana Mahavira, the semi-legendary teacher who reformed
older doctrines and established Jainism, died. He is regarded as the
24th and latest Tirthankara, one of the people to have attained personal
immortality through enlightenment. Jainism was founded as a dualistic,
ascetic religion as a revolt against the caste system and the vague
world spirit of Hinduism.
    (WUD, 1994, p.762,1488,1580)

c480BC    Herodotus said marijuana was cultivated in Scythia and Thrace,
where inhabitants intoxicated themselves by breathing the vapors given
off when the plant was roasted on white-hot stones.
    (WSJ, 2/8/05, p.D7)

480BC - 406BC    Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist. He authored "Medea,"
"Alcestis," "The Cyclops," "The Trojan Woman," and "The Bacchae." His
drama dealt with situations that were analogous to human life. In 1997
Greek archeologists claimed to have discovered the island cave where he
worked. [see 484-406, 487]
    (WSJ, 1/10/97, p.A9)(WUD, 1994, p.492)(USAT, 1/15/97, p.9A)(LSA,
Spg/97, p.14)(EEE, p.12)(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A8)

479BC        Aug 27, A combined Greek army stopped the Persians at the
battle at Plataea.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.49)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)

479BC        Confucius (b.551BC), K'ung Fu-tzu [K'ung Fu-tse], Chinese
philosopher, died. In 2008 Kung Te-cheng (b.1920), the 77th lineal
descendent of Confucius, died in Taiwan. In 2006 Kung Yu-jen, the 80th
lineal descendent was born.
    (WSJ, 11/1/08, p.A6)

479BC        In China the philosopher Mo-tzu (d.438BC), founder of
Mohism, was born. He taught a message of universal love and compassion
for the common plight of ordinary people.
    (eawc, p.11)

478BC        Athens led other Greek states in the formation of the
Delian League to provide money for a common defense against Persia.
Athens used much of the money for building projects that included the
Parthenon. The League continued even after the end of the Greco-Persian
War and transformed into a naval empire with Athens as its leader.
    (eawc, p.11)(Econ, 7/11/09, p.19)

475-221BC    The Waring States period. [see 403-321BC]
    (SFC, 4/10/97, p.A16)

474BC        The Etruscans were routed by the Greeks of Syracuse in a
sea battle off Cumae near Naples.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.739)

c470BC    Hanno the Navigator, Carthaginian sailor, described his
encounters with ?hairy, wild people? on the west coast of equatorial Africa.
    (ON, 11/04, p.11)

c470BC - 469BC     Jun 5, Socrates (d.399BC) was born in Athens. He
served as an infantryman during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and
Sparta. A sophist (teacher of philosophy), he claimed not to know
anything for certain and used the interrogatory method for teaching. He
left no written works. He was a major critic of popular belief in Athens
and was the protagonist of Plato's dialogues. "Education is the kindling
of a flame, not the filling of a vessel." [3rd source has him born in 469]
    (V.D.-H.K.p.43)(CFA, '96, p.48)(WU, p.1350)(Hem., 1/97, p.96)(eawc,
p.11)

469BC        Sophocles (d.406BC), the 2nd Greek dramatist after
Aeschylus, was born. He is considered by some as the greatest of the
Greek dramatists. His works include: "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone."
    (eawc, p.11)

467BC        A meteorite crashed to earth and convinced Greek
philosopher Anaxagoras that heavenly bodies were not divine beings. He
became the world's earliest figure to be indicted for atheism.
    (WSJ, 11/21/03, p.W4)

465BC        Xerxes the Great, king of Persia, was assassinated.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

465BC - 424BC    Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes I, ruled Persia in the
Achaemenis dynasty and Egypt as the 4th king of the 27th Dynasty. The
books of Ezra and Nehemiah remember his warmly because he authorized
their revival of Judaism.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

461-429BC    In Athens this was the "Age of Pericles." Athenian
democracy reached perfection and the court systems were completed. A
jury system was put in place with the jury serving as the absolute
authority in judicial matters.
    (eawc, p.11)

460BC        Herodotus turned back in frustration at the first cataract
at Aswan. He stated: "Of the source of the Nile no one can give any
account."
    (NG, May 1985, p.629)
460BC        Democritus born in Abdera, SW Thrace. First proposed theory
of atoms as the basic particle of all matter. Only bare fragments of his
work survive.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.38)

460BC - 400BC    Thucydides lived about this time. As author of the
History of the Peloponnesian Wars, he inserted into his history speeches
by important war figures that he made up. He also wrote on the Athenian
slaughter of the Melians. He is associated with the historical view that
cycles of growth, expansion and decline are a natural part of
international life. In 2005 Perez Zagorin authored ?Thucydides: An
Introduction for the Common Reader.?
    (WSJ, 5/13/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/19/06,
p.D8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides)

455BC        Artaxerxes, ruler of Persia, put down a revolt in Egypt.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

c450BC    The golden plate known as the "Phiale Mesomphalos" was made.
In 1998 it was valued at $1.2 million and held by US Customs.
    (WSJ, 10/8/98, p.W14)
450BC        In 2006 archaeologists in Bangladesh said they had
uncovered part of a fortified citadel at Wari, northeast of Dhaka,
dating back to this time that could have been a stopping off point along
an ancient trade route.
    (Reuters, 3/15/06)
450BC     Roman law was codified in the twelve tablets. The law allowed
the plebeians to have knowledge of their relationship to the law. The
plebeians were primarily farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen with foreign
backgrounds. The patricians made up the aristocracy.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.67)(eawc, p.11)
450BC        Herodotus journeyed to the Scythian lands north of the
Black Sea and heard tales of women who were fierce killers of men. He
named these women "Amazons," from a Greek word meaning without one
breast. Legend had it that one breast was removed in order to carry
quivers of arrows more conveniently.
    (SFC, 1/28/97, p.A1,5)
450BC        The Nok people of present day Nigeria began making iron tools.
    (ATC, p.110)
450BC        Epicharmus, Sicilian Greek comic poet, died: "The wise man
must be wise before, not after."
    (AP, 12/29/97)

448-380BC     In Greece Aristophanes, considered by some as the greatest
Greek comedy writer, lived. His work includes "The Clouds" and
"Lysistrata." Greek comedy like Greek tragedy originated in the
Dionysian festivals. In Lysistrata he described how Greek women
abstained from sex until their men stopped fighting in the Peloponnesian
war.
    (EEE, p.12)(SFC,11/8/97, p.A10)

447BC        Athens under Pericles initiated a reconstruction program
that included the construction of the Parthenon on the Acropolis.
    (WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A22)

447BC - 432BC    The marble friezes of the Parthenon were carved.
    (AM, 5/01, p.14)

444BC        Ikos of Tarentum won the Olympic Pentathlon. He gave up sex
as part of his training regimen.
    (WSJ, 2/8/06, p.A1)

c444BC - 360BC     Agesilaus II, King of Sparta: "If I have done any
deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be my monument. If not, no
monument can preserve my memory."
    (AP, 10/29/97)

440BC - 420BC    Sophocles composed his tragedy "The Trachinian Women."
It described what happened when he put on the robe woven by his wife
Deianeira. In 1680 Pierre Puget made his bronze sculpture of Herakles
(Hercules) struggling in the burning tunic.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.55)

438BC        The Parthenon was built atop the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
    (SFC, 7/14/96, p.T7)

434BC        The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras suggested that the sun is
just a ball of fire about as large as the Peloponnesus, floating in the
air about 4,000 miles above the Earth. He believed that the Earth was
flat and thereby estimated the diameter of the sun to be about 35 miles.
    (SCTS, p.3-4)

433BC        In China the Marquis Yi of Zeng died about this time. His
tomb was discovered in 1978.
    (WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)

432BC        An Athenian devised a 19-year "Metatonic cycle" to
reconcile the lunar and solar years.
    (SFC, 11/29/03, p.D2)

431BC        Euripides wrote his tragedy "Medea," based on the legend of
the sorceress Medea, daughter of Aeėtes, King of Colchis, and wife of
Jason, whom she assisted in obtaining the Golden Fleece. It describes
how Jason abandoned the sorceress Medea to marry Glauke, a Corinthian
princess.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.55)(WUD, 1994, p.890)

431-404BC    The Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta. It was
finally won by Sparta. Athenian trade was destroyed and democracy was
overthrown as Athens surrendered to Sparta as a subject state. Sparta
assumed dominance over the Greek world and replaced many democracies
with oligarchies. In 1972 Geoffrey de Ste. Croix (1910-2000), British
Marxist historian, authored "The Origins of the Peloponnesian War." He
pinned the cause of the conflict on the Spartans.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.50)(EEE, p.12)(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A21)

430BC        Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War tells
how the Spartans attempted to destroy the city of Plataia with a flaming
mixture of pitch and sulfur.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)
430BC        Legend has it that the Greek philosopher Empedocles (b.430)
climbed Mount Etna only to leap into its crater in despair. It is said
that he jumped in out of frustration because he couldn?t figure out how
the volcano worked. Empedocles was the author of a work called "On Nature."
    (PacDisc. Spring/?96, p.26)(WSJ, 8/21/01, p.A17)

430BC - 410BC    A mysterious disease killed one-third of the Athenian
population. Thucydides, who was stricken but recovered, described the
plague in Athens (likely an outbreak of typhus fever) in Book 2 of his
History of the Peloponnesian War.
    (NH, 6/97, p.11)(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P8)

429BC        Pericles (b.490BC), Athenian statesman, died of the plague.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1071)(NH, 6/97, p.10)

427BC        May 21, Plato (d.347BC), Greek philosopher, was born. His
work included the "Republic," and the dialogues "Critias" and "Timaeus"
in which he mentioned the island empire of Atlantis. He claimed that an
Egyptian priest confided information about Atlantis to Solon, the
Athenian legislator, whose memoirs Plato claimed to have read. In 1998 2
books on Atlantis were published: "Atlantis Destroyed" by Rodney
Castleden and "Imagining Atlantis" by Richard Ellis.
    (HN, 5/21/98)(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.W9)

424BC        Thucydides in his history of the Peloponnesian War tells
how the Spartans used pitch and sulfur against the Athenians at Delium.
In this 7th year of the war unexpected Boeotian horsemen charged on the
right flank of Athenian hoplite column causing many Athenians to flee.
Socrates and Alcibiades retreated into the woods and survived.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(SSFC, 9/21/03, p.M6)

415BC        Greece undertook its Sicilian Expedition. The overseas
adventure destroyed Athenian power and freedom.
    (WSJ, 1/19/06, p.D8)

411BC        Aristocratic Athenians, including students of Socrates,
overthrew Athen?s democracy in conspiracy with Alcibiades. The
oligarchic junta lasted only a few months.
    (Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)

410BC        Darius II, ruler of Persia, quelled a revolt in Media but
lost control of Egypt. He secured much influence in Greece in the
Peloponnesian War through the diplomacy of Pharnabazus, Tissaphernes,
and Cyrus the Younger.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

407BC        Euripides wrote "The Bacchae" while residing at the court
of the king of Macedon. He had left Athens in the last years of its war
against Sparta. The play dealt with the violent introduction of the cult
of Dionysos into the city of Thebes.
    (WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A8)

406BC        Athenian admirals abandoned scores of shipwrecked sailors
after a victory over the Spartans at Arginusae. A storm prevented the
ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken
Athenian triremes from performing their duties, and a great number of
sailors drowned.
    (Econ, 1/23/10, p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arginusae)

406BC        Euripides (b.480/484), Greek tragic dramatist, died. His
plays included Phedre, which tells the story of a queen?s incestuous
love for her stepson.
    (EEE, p.12)(Econ, 6/20/09, p.89)
406BC        Sophocles (b.496/97BC), the 2nd Greek dramatist after
Aeschylus, died. He is considered by some as the greatest of the Greek
dramatists. His works include: "Oedipus Rex" and "Antigone."
    (eawc, p.11)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.D6)

405BC        Aristophanes wrote his play ?The Frogs.? It tells how
Dionysus, the god of theater, travels to Hades with his slave Xanthias
to bring back the shade of a great playwright who will revive the
declining art of drama and make the world a better place.
    (WSJ, 7/23/04, p.W1)

405BC        Persian rule of Egypt ended.
    (eawc, p.9)

404BC        Another coup toppled Athen?s democracy. Leaders included
Critias and Charmides, relatives of Plato. Oligarchs conducted a reign
of terror for much of a year before Athens reclaimed its democracy.
    (Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)

404BC        Artaxerxes II succeeded Darius II over Persia but was
challenged Cyrus the Younger.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

404BC - 399BC    Amyrtaios, believed to be a Libyan, ruled Egypt
following the death of Darius II from Sais as the 1st and only ruler of
the 28th Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)

404-338BC    Sparta is not able to persist in the rule of Greece. Power
over Greece shifts from Sparta to Thebes and then to numerous other
city-states, none able to maintain rule over such a large empire.
    (http://eawc.evansville.edu)

403-321BC    During the Waring States period in China, the Pu people
buried wedged wooden coffins into the cliffs a 1,000 feet above the
Yangtze River in Jingzhu Gorge. [see 475-221BC]
    (NH, 7/96, p.36,37)

401BC        Oligarchs in Athens schemed a 3rd coup but failed.
    (Econ, 12/19/09, p.63)

401BC        In the Battle of Cunaxa Cyrus attempted to oust his brother
Artaxerxes from rule over Babylon. Greek forces, hired to help Cyrus,
were left stranded when Cyrus died. The Greek army elected Xenophon to
lead them back home. Xenophon later authored his ?Anabasis? (expedition
up country), which told the story of return home. In 2005 Tim Rood
authored ?The Sea, The Sea,? an analysis of Xenophon?s life story
following his death.
    (WSJ, 5/4/05, p.D10)

400BC        In 2007 a 2,400-year-old golden mask that once belonged to
a Thracian king was unearthed in a timber-lined tomb in southeastern
Bulgaria.
    (AP, 7/17/07)
c400BC    In southern Greece the Phigaleians built a temple in tribute
to Apollo for restoring their homeland taken by invading Spartans. The
temple of Apollo Epikourios near Bassai was said to have been designed
by Iktinos.
    (Arch, 9/00, p.16)
c400BC    The first temple known to be dedicated to the "supreme" Zeus
was constructed about this time. In 2003 a 2,400BC - year-old headless
marble statue was found along with 14 columns depicting eagles, one of
the symbols of Hypsistos Zeus, the chief deity of ancient Greece.
    (AP, 8/2/03)
400BC        In India Panini's "Sutra," the earliest Sanskrit grammar,
was written.
    (EEE, p.12)
c400BC    In a wave of Celtic expansion tribes poured through the Alps
into Italy.
    (NGM, 5/77)
400BC        Korean farmers about this time brought rice to Japan.
    (Econ, 12/19/09, p.66)
400BC        By this time the Sarmatians were occupying outposts of the
Roman empire in the Balkans.
    (SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
c400BC    A nomadic tribal chief was buried at Pazyryk in southern
Siberia. This tomb in the Altay Mountains was later found and discovered
to contain wool fabrics, a carpet, a saddle of felt and leather, felt
figures of swans, a horse harness with carved wooden rams' heads. and a
fleece in near perfect condition. The origin of the carpet with its
1,125,000 knots is under debate. It might have come from Assyria or Iran.
    (NG, 5.1988, pp. 567-569)

400BC - 300BC    In China the Zhuangzi, the 2nd great Taoist text, was
compiled.
    (WSJ, 12/26/00, p.A9)
400BC - 300BC    The Chinese began suffering from fierce attacks of
nomadic herdsmen, the Hsiung-nu, from the north and west. They began to
build parts of what came to be called the Great Wall for protection.
    (SFEM, 10/12/97, p.24)
c400BC - 300BC    The Greeks founded Neopolis (Naples), their "New City"
in the 4th century BC They carved blocks of tufa stone to build the city
structures and left behind cavernous quarries. Centuries later the
Romans turned the quarries into cisterns and connected them with
tunnels. Water was brought in from the Serino River in the hills of
Avellino, 96 miles to the north. This provided the water supply until 1883.
    (SFEC, 1/26/97 , p.T9)
400BC - 300BC    Tamassos was the capital of one of 11 kingdoms on
Cyprus that were abolished at the end of the 4th century and replaced by
a unified administrative system.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 p.20)
400BC - 300    Aeneas the Tactician in his siege craft manual advised
generals defending city walls to throw burning bags of linen fibers
treated with sulfur and pitch on the enemy.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)
400BC - 300BC    The Greek writer Ephorus referred to the Celts,
Scythians, Persians and Libyans as the four great barbarian peoples in
the known world.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.11)
400BC - 300BC     King Bardhylus united Illyria, Molossia (Epirus) and
part of Macedonia. The Illyrian kingdom reached its peak.
    (www, Albania, 1998)
400BC - 300BC    A mint of this time served Chersonesos on the Crimean
peninsula with a population of 10,000 to 20,000.
    (SFC,12/19/97, p.F6)
c400BC - 300    Praxiteles sculpted Aphrodite, the 1st known sculpture
of a nude woman.
    (SFC, 6/3/00, p.D4)
c400BC - 300    Archestratus was a 4th century Greek Sicilian. His
writings included recipes of the time.
    (SFC, 3/31/99, p.A8)
400BC - 300    Theophrastus, a natural historian, wrote a treatise on
pyrophoric minerals.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.58)
c400BC - 200BC    The "creative" phase of classical Greek geometry. The
subject was studied by Prof. Wilbur Richard Knorr (d.1997 at 51) of
Stanford who wrote: "The Evolution of Euclidean Elements," "Ancient
Sources of the Medieval Tradition of Mechanics," "The Ancient Tradition
of Geometric Problems," and "Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval
Geometry."
    (SFC, 3/20/97, p.A24)(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.D5)

400BC -  250CE    The Yayoi culture is identified by its pottery.
Mongoloid people from Korea entered Japan and mixed with the older Jomon
populations.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.34,38)

c400BC - 1100CE    Anuradhapura served as the capital of Sri Lanka
(Ceylon) during this period.
    (SFC, 9/16/96, p.A9)

399BC        Feb 15, Socrates was condemned to death on charges of
corrupting the youth and introducing new gods into Greek thought. A
tribunal of 501 citizens found Socrates guilty of the charge of impiety
and corruption of youth. Socrates b.(469BC) had been the teacher of two
leaders who were held responsible for the Greek?s loss to Sparta in the
Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). Plato?s Apology, Crito, and Phaedo
describe Socrates? trial, imprisonment and death.
    (eawc, p.11)(HNQ, 3/21/00)

399BC        May 7, Socrates (b.469BC), Greek philosopher, committed
suicide. He had been indicted for rejecting the Gods acknowledged by the
State, of bringing in strange deities, and of corrupting the youth.  In
2007 Emily Wilson authored ?The Death of Socrates.?
    (www.crystalinks.com/socrates.html)(WSJ, 11/24/07, p.W8)

399BC - 393BC    Nepherites served as the 1st ruler of Egypt?s 29th
Dynasty. During his rule he entered into an alliance with Sparta against
the Persians. A gift ship to Sparta was lost at Rhodes, which had
defected to the Persians.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

396BC        Roman legions sacked the Etruscan city of Veio, after a
ten-year siege, ended the city's long conflict with Rome.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.711)(SFC, 6/17/06, p.A12)

395BC        Agesilaos of Sparta ravaged northwestern Turkey.
    (Arch, 7/02, p.8)

394BC        Athens, Greece, declared an embargo on Megara about this
time. The ensuing 27-year struggle left the Athenians humiliated and
Magara?s ally, Corinth, triumphant.
    (Econ, 10/21/06, p.70)

393BC - 380BC    Hakoris served as the 2nd or 3rd ruler of Egypt?s 29th
Dynasty. There is some confusion because a king named Psammuthis ruled
in 393BC. During Hakoris? reign there was a 3 year war with Persia.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

391BC - 377BC    Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, ruled over Mylasa about
this time. The Persian king Artaxerxes II Mnemon appointed Hecatomnus as
satrap of this part of the Achaemenid Empire. A 2,800-year-old tomb and
carved coffin, decorated with reliefs of a bearded reclining man,
believed to be Hecatomnus, was discovered in 2010.
    (AP, 8/13/10)(www.livius.org/he-hg/hecatomnids/hecatomnus.html)

387BC        Rampaging bands of Celts captured Rome and then settled
down to a life of agriculture in the Po Valley.
    (NGM, 5/77)

384BC        Aristotle (d.322 BC) was born in Stagira, Macedonia. He
entered Plato's Academy at age 17. After several years as tutor to
Alexander the Great he returned to Athens and founded the Lyceum. [see
Mar 7, 322 BC]
    (V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(WSJ, 9/30/98, p.A16)(NH, 12/98, p.10)(SFC,
8/13/02, p.A13)

384-322BC    Demosthenes, Greek statesman: "He who confers a favor
should at once forget it, if he is not to show a sordid, ungenerous
spirit." 
    (AP, 10/4/00)

382BC - 336BC    Philip II of Macedon, king of Macedonia (359-336), and
father of Alexander the Great.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1081)

380BC        Nepherites II, son of Hakoris, served as the 4th and final
ruler of Egypt?s 29th Dynasty. He reigned for only 4 months before being
overthrown.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

380BC        In Egypt a giant stone was set at the Nile's exit into the
Mediterranean by order of Pharaoh Nektanebo I. A smaller stela noted the
name of the city as Herakleoin. The city was submerged by an earthquake
around 800CE. In 2001 the stones were pulled from the sea.
    (SFC, 6/8/01, p.A9)

380BC - 362BC    Nectanebo served as the 1st ruler of Egypt?s 30th Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

380BC - 700    The site at Tra Kieu, Vietnam, is believed to be
Simhapura, the former capital of an Indianized Cham kingdom.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.H)

373BC        The Greek city of Helike was destroyed by an earthquake.
Historians recorded that rats, snakes and weasels had abandoned Helice
just days before the quake struck.
    (NH, 10/02, p.78)(WSJ, 5/16/08, p.A6)

373BC        The Persian army moved to attack Egypt. They abandoned the
effort when the Nile flooded over the Delta.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

373BC - 288BC    In China the Confucianist Meng-Tzu (Mencius) lived. He
departed from the ideas of Confucius by positing a theory of just
rebellion against immoral rulers. [see 371-289BC]
    (EEE, p.12)

371BC        Jul, Sparta, led by King Agesilaus II, was decisively
defeated in the Battle of Leuctra by the Thebans under Epaminondas (47),
commander of the Boeotian League, which was an alliance of 11 city
states in central Greece.
    (HNQ, 10/24/00)(ON, 9/06, p.1)

371BC - 289BC     Mencius, Chinese philosopher: "The great man is he who
does not lose his child's heart." [see 373-288BC]
    (AP, 11/19/98)

370BC        Epaminondas, commander of the Boeotian League, led an army
into the Peloponnese and captured the prefecture of Messenia, which had
been ruled and enslaved by Sparta for 3 centuries.
    (ON, 9/06, p.3)

c369BC - c286BC Chuang-tzu (Zhuang Zhou), Chinese philosopher and
writer. His work included the spiritual masterpiece "Inner chapters."
"Rewards and punishments are the lowest form of education."
    (AP,  11/11/97)(NH, 7/00, p.59)(SSFC, 2/18/01, DB p.35)

367BC        In Rome the first plebian consul was elected to the
assembly. The Plebeians also became eligible to serve as lesser
magistrates, formerly a position reserved for the aristocratic class.
Because an ancient custom allowed promotion from the magistracy to the
Senate, the patrician-dominated Senate was broken.
    (EEE, p.12)

367BC - 348BC    Aristotle studied under Plato at the Academy in Athens.
He left Athens to travel for 12 years and returned to Macedonia where he
tutored Alexander, son of Philip for 3 years. It was Plato who said that
"A woman is only a lesser man."
    (V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)

367BC - 283BC    Ptolemy I (Soter), founder of the Macedonian dynasty of
Egypt. He ruled Egypt from 306-285.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1162)

365BC - 360BC    Teos, son of Nectanebo, served as the 2nd ruler of
Egypt?s 30th Dynasty. He failed in an attempted attack on Persia and was
deserted by the Egyptians and Greek mercenaries. He fled to Persia where
Artaxerxes II gave him refuge.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

364BC        Gan De, noted Chinese astronomer, reported a viewing of
Jupiter and one of its 16 moons.
    (SFC, 4/10/97, p.A16)

363BC        Artaxerxes III (Ochus), son of Artaxerxes II, became king
of Persia.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

362BC        Epaminondas, commander of the Boeotian League, confronted
an army of Spartan and Athenian troops near Mantinea. The Boeotians won
the battle but Epaminondas died from a javelin wound.
    (ON, 9/06, p.3)

360BC        Greek philosopher Plato, in his "dialogues" from about this
time, said an island he called Atlantis "in a single day and night...
disappeared into the depths of the sea." He described Atlantis as "an
island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the
Pillars of Hercules." In 2011 a US-led research team, using a satellite
photo of a suspected submerged city, suggested a site just north of
Cadiz, Spain, as the site of Atlantis.
    (Reuters, 3/12/11)

360BC - 343BC    Nectanebo II served as the 3rd and final ruler of
Egypt?s 30th Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

359-336    Philip II ruled the Kingdom of Macedonia. He founded Plovdiv,
Bulgaria.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1081)(SFC, 7/18/96, p.E1)

358 BC     Illyrians were defeated by Philip II of Macedonia.
    (www, Albania, 1998)

356BC        Alexander the Great (d.323) was born in Pella, Greece.
Alexander also married the daughter of Darius, whom he defeated in 333,
and a Sogdian princess while staying firmly attached to his comrade,
Hephaistion.  Alexander later married a barbarian princess, Roxana, the
daughter of the Bactrian chief Oxyartes.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great)(WSJ, 5/15/98,
p.W11)(SFC, 7/29/09, p.A4)

354BC        Demosthenes wrote a series of speeches, later called the
Philippics, which urged Athenians to defend the city against Philip of
Macedon.
    (ON, 9/00, p.12)

352BC        The Greek Mausoleum of Helicarnassus was built. It was
destroyed by an earthquake in the 1300s.
    (WSJ, 10/10/01, p.B1)

350BC     First evidence of humans in southwest Colorado: corn pollen.
Nomadic hunter-gatherers planted crops in the spring, then left to
forage and hunt over the summer, returning in the fall to harvest and
seek shelter in caves for the winter. They made baskets of yucca fibers,
sometimes waterproofed with pitch from pińon pine.
    (HN, 2/11/97)
c350BC    The zi were probably living in Colorado caves. Their present
name comes from a Navajo word meaning "the ancient ones" or "the ancient
enemy."
    (HNQ, 7/1/01)
350BC        Babylonian tables of astronomical numbers regularly use zero.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.28)
c350BC    The time of Praxiteles, Greek Athenian sculptor.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1129)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.19)
c350BC    The new philosophy of the Cynics emerged led by Greek
philosopher Diogenes (404-323). He argued against conventional life and
that people should live naturally and strive for self-sufficiency.
    (eawc, p.13)(SFC, 10/29/08, p.G2)
c350BC    Temples in Greece began to be used by ill worshippers hoping
for a cure from the gods. These were later considered as the first
hospitals.
    (SFEC,6/11/00, Z1 p.2)
c350BC    The kingdom of Illyria emerged in the region of Shkoder in
what is now Albania.
    (CO, Grolier's Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)
350BC        The Chavin civilization had a settlement at this time on
the north-western coast of Peru. The elite of this civilization tracked
the movement of the sun throughout the year.
    (Econ, 3/3/07, p.84)

350BC - 338BC    In China Shang Yang ruled the Ch'in Dynasty. He
operated against the assumptions of a theory of absolute aggression
justified by the "School of Law."
    (EEE, p.12)
350BC - 283BC    Kautilya, Indian political advisor, lived about this
time. He is generally called Chanakya (derived from his father's name
"Chanak") but, in his capacity as author of the Arthashastra, is
generally referred to as Kautilya derived from his clan's name "Kotil"
(Kautilya means "of Kotil"). He was a master of the shrewd act of diplomacy.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanakya)

348-345BC    Aristotle lived and taught in Assos, (later Behramkale),
Turkey, before he was summoned to teach Alexander in Macedonia.
    (SFC, 10/6/05, p.E8)

347BC        Plato (b.427BC), the most distinguished student of
Socrates, died. His real name was Aristocles. Plato meant broad and he
was known to have broad shoulders. He was a prolific writer and
considered by some as the most important of all Greek philosophers. His
works were all in dialogue form and include: the "Apology," the
"Symposium," the "Phaedo," the "Phaedrus," and the "Republic."
    (EEE, p.12)(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)

343BC        Artaxerxes III of Persia led a successful campaign against
Egypt and Nectanebo II fled to Ethiopia. Artaxerxes appointed
Pherendares as satrap of Egypt and returned to Babylon laden with
treasures.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

343-332BC    In Egypt the Persians ruled for a 2nd time.
    (eawc, p.13)

343BC - 338BC    Artaxerxes III (Ochus), king of Persia, served as 1st
ruler of Egypt?s 31st Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

342BC        Menander (c.~291), Greek playwright, was born about this
time in Athens. He wrote more than 100 plays, but many of his works have
been lost. A 9th century manuscript from a Syrian monastery contains 200
verses from Menander's play "Dyskolos" ("The Grouch"). In 2003 a scholar
reported another 200 verses in the document appear to be by Menander.
    (AP, 12/6/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander)

341-270BC    Epicurus, Greek philosopher born [342BC] in Samos, held
that happiness is the supreme good. He had studied under Democritus and
was a confirmed atomist. His happiness is interpreted to mean the
avoidance of pain.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.71)(eawc, p.14)

340BC        Aristotle argued for the spherical shape of the Earth in
his "On The Heavens."
    (BHT, Hawking, p.2)

340BC        In 1962 a papyrus scroll was found in a grave, about five
miles northwest of Thessaloniki. It was part of a rich cemetery
belonging to the ancient city of Lete. The original several yards of
papyrus, rolled around two wooden runners, was found half burnt. It
dates to around 340 BC, during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, father
of Alexander the Great.
    (AP, 6/1/06)

c340BC - 265BC    Zeno of Citium, aka Zeno the Stoic, was born in
Cyprus. [see 335-263]
    (WUD, 1994, p.1660)

c340BC - 200CE    Balathal near Udaipur in northeast India was
reoccupied by a new people who built a massive rampart around the site
and later abandoned it.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)

338BC        In Greece Philip of Macedon conquered the country and was
succeeded by his son 2 years later. Athens ceased to be a major power
from this point on. Philip?s League of Corinth was composed of impotent
Hellenic states that had lost their collective freedom at the battle of
Chaeronea.
    (eawc, p.13)(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A18)
338BC        Philip II erected Olympia?s Philippeion in Athens following
his victory at Chaeronea. The round marble building was completed by his
son, Alexander.
    (AM, 7/04, p.24)

338BC        Artaxerxes III (Ochus), king of Persia, was murdered by his
own commander Bagoas.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
338BC        Arses, the youngest son of Ochus, succeeded his father as
king of Persia. He served as the 2nd ruler of Egypt?s 31st Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

336BC        King Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, was
murdered at a theater in Aigai in northern Greece.
    (AP, 8/29/09)
336BC        Alexander inherited the throne of Macedonia and all of
Greece. He went to see the Oracle of Delphi but was initially refused
entry. He forced his way and dragged the seeress into the temple.
Plutarch wrote: "As if conquered by his violence, she said, 'My son,
thou art invincible.'" "That is all the answer I desire," replied
Alexander. He began his campaign to acquire new territory in Asia at age
22. Within 4 years he conquered the entire Persian Empire.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.50)(NG,Jan,1968 , p.1,4)(eawc, p.13)

336BC        Arses, king of Persia and ruler of Egypt?s 31st Dynasty,
was murdered by his commander Bagoas.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

335BC        Aristotle opened the Lyceum in Athens which was devoted to
scientific work. He invented the science of logic, and divided the
sciences into different fields distinguished by subject matter and
methodology. He believed in the innate inferiority of slaves and
females. He wrote the "Nicomachean Ethics," a book about virtue and its
reward, happiness. He identified circularity in reasoning as the
"fallacy of the consequent" i.e. A good man is one who makes the right
choices. Greek archeologists claimed to have found the Lyceum site in 1997.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(USAT, 1/15/97, p.9A)

335BC - 332BC    Darius III was raised to the throne of Persia by the
eunuch Bagoas, who had killed the 2 previous rulers. Darius in turn had
Bagoas murdered.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)   

c335BC - c263BC    Zeno the Stoic set up a school in Athens at the Stoa
Poikile (Painted Colonnade), and taught that happiness consists in
conforming the will to the divine reason, which governs the universe.
Thus a man is happy if he fully accepts what is and does not desire what
cannot be. Zeno was a Phoenician from Kition on Cyprus. He taught that
"events were destined to repeat themselves" in endless cycles. [see 340-265]
    (V.D.-H.K.p.71)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.189)(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E5)

334BC        Alexander (22) left Pella, Greece, with 30,000 foot
soldiers and 5,000 cavalry and proceeded to conquer western Asia
including Miletus and Samos. His favorite horse was named Bucephalus. At
Gordium, where King Midas is fabled to have held court, Alexander solved
the puzzle of the Gordian knot by severing it with his sword.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.50)(NG, Jan, 1968 , p.1,4,6)(ON, 1/01, p.9)

c334BC    Seleukos I, a general under Alexander the Great, founded
Antioch on the banks of the Orontes River.
    (AM, 11/00, p.69)

333BC        Alexander first confronted Darius, king of Persia, and
defeated him at the battlefield of Issus. During the Renaissance German
painter Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538) painted a depiction of the battle.
    (NG, Jan, 1968 , p.18)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W11)
333BC        Alexander the Great (353BC-323BC), married a barbarian
(Sogdian) princess, Roxana, the daughter of the Bactrian chief Oxyartes.
Alexander also married the daughter of Darius, whom he defeated in 333,
while staying firmly attached to his comrade, Hephaistion.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.68)(Hem., 2/97, p.116)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W11)
333BC        Alexander?s forces overcame the Pisidians of Sagalassos.
    (AM, 11/04, p.38)

c333 BC    Hittite lands and the village known as Ancyra (later Angora,
Ankora) was conquered by Macedonians led by Alexander the Great.
    (HNQ, 4/15/02)

332BC        Jul, In Phoenicia Alexander stormed the island of Tyre by
building a causeway to the island. He then besieged the city of Gaza. He
moved on to conquer Egypt and founded Alexandria.
    (R.M.-P.H.C.p.71), (NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167)

332BC        Alexander entered Egypt and founded Alexandria. A fishing
village at the site was called Rhakotis. In 2007 archeologists found
evidence of urban settlement at Alexandria dating back to about 1,000 BC.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)(AP, 7/26/07)

332-63BC    The Hellenistic period in Israel.
    (AM, 9/01, p.32)

331BC        Sep 23, Alexander's scouts encountered the camp of King
Darius near Guagamela. The force numbered 25,000 horsemen, 50,000 foot
soldiers, 200 chariots and 15 war elephants.
    (ON, 1/01, p.11)

331BC        Oct 1, Alexander the Great decisively shattered King Darius
III's Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a tactical masterstroke
that left him master of the Persian Empire.
    (HN, 10/1/98)

331BC        Alexander left Egypt and left Cleomenes of Naukratis in
charge. This position was later claimed by Ptolemy. When Alexander died,
Ptolemy's generals divided the kingdom.
    (www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

331BC        Alexander conquered the Persian Empire and made his way to
India and conquered part of it.
    (eawc, p.13)

331BC        The Achaemenid King of Persia, Darius III, died in Bactria.
Bessus, the satrap of Bactria had him murdered.   
    (AHD, 1971, p.10)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)

331BC        Alexander reached Persopolis, the capital of Persia, and
burned it.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.50)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.48)

330BC        Alexandria became the capital of Egypt.
    (SSFC, 5/9/04, p.A17)
c330BC    Euclid showed that an infinite number of Prime numbers exists,
but occur in no logical pattern.
    (SFC, 11/23/98, p.A3)

330BC - 320BC    A Temple of Zeus was built at Nemea, Greece, on the
foundations of an earlier temple.
    (SSFC, 8/21/05, p.B2)

329BC        Alexander the Great took Samarkand [in what is now
Uzbekistan]. Its ancient name was Marakanda.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1264)

329BC - 326BC     After conquering Persia, Alexander the Great invaded
Afghanistan. He conquered Afghanistan, but failed to really subdue its
people. Constant revolts plagued Alexander.
    (www.afghan, 5/25/98)

327BC - 326BC    Alexander the Great passed through the Indus Valley and
installed Greek officials in the area.
    (eawc, p.13)

326BC        Alexander crossed the Indus river at Hund and then the
Jhelum river and defeated King Porus at the edge of India. This was his
last great battle.
    (NG, Jan, 1968, p.56)

326BC        The Charsadda site (aka Bala Hisar) in northern Pakistan
was besieged by Alexander. It then passed from Mauryan to Indo-Greek,
Parthian, Sassanian, and Kushan rule. The pagan Kalash of Pakistan later
claimed to be descendants of Alexander's soldiers.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.C)(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A17)

325BC        Pytheas (c380BC-310BC), Greek merchant, geographer and
explorer, made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around
this time. He traveled around Great Britain, circumnavigating it between
330 and 320 BC. He claimed to have sailed past Scotland and mentioned a
land called Thule, where the surrounding ocean froze and the sun
disappeared in winter.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas)

325-300BC    Flavius Josephus, historian of the first century, wrote
that a Samaritan Temple was built (on Mt. Gerizim) that was a copy of
the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Josephus dated it to the late part of
the fourth century. The temple's first chief priest is said to have been
Manasseh, a Jewish priest who married a Samaritan woman named Nikaso.
The Jewish elders forced Manasseh to choose between the Jewish Temple or
his wife. He chose his wife and her father, Sanballat, built for
Manasseh a copy of the Jewish temple on Mt. Gerizim.
    (SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)

323BC        Jun 10, Alexander died in Persia at Babylon at the age of
32. His general, Ptolemy, took possession of Egypt. Apelles was a
painter in Alexander's court. He had been commissioned by Alexander to
paint a portrait of Campaspe, Alexander's concubine. Apelles fell in
love with Campaspe and Alexander granted her to him in marriage. In 1984
Curtius Quintas Rufus authored "the History of Alexander." In 1991 Peter
Green authored "Alexander of Macedon, A Historical Biography."
?Alexander the Great? by Norman F. Cantor (d.2004) was published in 2005.
    (BS, 5/3/98, p.12E)(WSJ, 2/11/00, p.W6) (ON, 1/01, p.11)(SSFC,
12/25/05, p.M3)

323BC        The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, a Graeco-Roman seaport
(later in Turkey), was completed after 125 years of construction. It was
acclaimed the most beautiful structure in the world and considered one
of the 7 architectural wonders of the ancient world. Its ruins were
discovered in 1869 by archeologist John T. Wood (d.1890).
    (ON, 11/00, p.3)
323BC        The Greeks ruled Bactria (Northern Afghanistan)
    (www.afghan, 5/25/98)
323BC        The death of Alexander provided an opportunity for an
independent state in India. Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya
dynasty, the first Indian empire with its capital in Patna.
    (eawc, p.13)(SC, 5/18/02)

323BC-285BC        Ptolemy I Soter, son of Lagus and commander under
Alexander, ruled Egypt as the first king of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Under
his rule the library of Alexandria was commissioned.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)(http://tinyurl.com/bodry)

323BC - 30BC        In Greece this period is called the Hellenistic Age,
the time from Alexander's death to Roman rule. The principle work on
this period is "Hellenistic Athens" by Prof. William Scott Ferguson
(1875-1954). In 1995 Prof. Christian Habicht published "Athens from
Alexander to Antony" in Germany. An English edition was translated by
Deborah Lucas Schneider in 1997.
    (WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
323BC - 30BC        Ptolemy and his descendants ruled over Egypt. This
era came to be known as the Ptolemaic period. At the ancient library of
Alexandria Callimachus of Cyrene was the first to catalog writings
alphabetically.
    (Enc. of Africa,1976, p.167)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)(SFEC, 11/10/96,
Parade p.13)
323BC - 30BC        During the Hellenistic Age the Grand Theater of
Ephesus was built into the side of Mt. Pion and could hold 24,000
spectators.
    (SFEC, 1/18/98, p.T7)

322BC        Athens was brought under the control of the Macedonian
empire. Demosthenes was sentenced to death, but he escaped and sought
refuge on the island of Calauria, where he committed suicide after
troops followed him. In 1927 Charles Darwin Adams authored "Demosthenes
and His Influence."
    (ON, 9/00, p.12)
322BC        Mar 7, Aristotle (d.322 BC) died. His writings included
treatises on logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric and natural
sciences. He first described language in terms of subject and predicate
as well as parts of speech. Aristotelian logic is based on a small
number of unambiguous constructs, such as, "if A, then B": the truth of
one implies the truth of another. This celebrated rule gives
Aristotelian reasoning the power to establish facts through inference.
The constructs also included A=A, representing that every entity is
equal to itself. He defined politics as the science of the sciences that
looks after well-being. His writings included "De Generatione Animalum."
His "Historia Animalium" was later translated by D'Arcy Wentworth
Thompson." "Hope is a waking dream." The opening of his "Metaphysics"
began: "All men by nature desire to know."
    (V.D.-H.K.p.44,45)(I&I, Penzias, p.73)(Hem., 1/96, p.11)(LSA,
Spg/97, p.6)(EEE, p.12)(AP, 8/9/98)(WSJ, 9/30/98, p.A16)(NH, 12/98,
p.10)(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A13)
322BC        The Mauryans ruled over India.
    (WH, 1994, p.13)

320BC-c235BC    In China the philosopher Hsun-tzu, the founder of
Legalism, lived. He was an orthodox Confucianist and believed strongly
in moral education. He repudiated any belief in a spiritual realm and
believed that human beings are evil by nature.
    (eawc, p.13)

316BC        The Ba people on the Yangtze River were subjugated by the Qin.
    (NH, 7/96, p.31)
316BC        The Ch'in conquered Shu and Pa (modern-day Szechuan) and
gained a serious advantage over the Ch'u.
    (eawc, p.13)

315BC        Thessaloniki, Greece, was founded about this time and
flourished during the Roman and Byzantine eras. In 2008 Greek workers
discovered around 1,000 graves, some filled with ancient treasures,
while excavating for a subway system. Some of the graves, dated from the
first century B.C. to the 5th century A.D., contained jewelry, coins and
various pieces of art.
    (AP, 3/11/08)

312BC        Appius Claudius, the Blind, as consul began the building of
the Via Appia. The historian Procopius states that the road was
completed at this time. It ran due south from Rome to Capua.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.69)(SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
312 BC     King Glauk of Illyria expelled the Greeks from Durrės.
    (www, Albania, 1998)

310BC        Aristarchus of Samos founded Hellenistic astronomy.
Contrary to Aristotle he said that the earth and all the other planets
revolve around the sun. [see 300BC-200BC]
    (eawc, p.14)
310BC        Pytheas (b.c380BC), Greek merchant, geographer and
explorer, died about this time. He made a voyage of exploration to
northwestern Europe around 325 BC. He traveled around a considerable
part of Great Britain, circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BC.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas)

309BC        Heracles, the illegitimate teenage son of Alexander the
Great, was murdered about this time during the wars of succession and
buried in secret.
    (AP, 8/29/09)

309-247    Ptolemy II (Philadelphus). He ruled Egypt from 285-247?.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1162)

304BC        Cnieus Flavius, a commoner, brought justice to Rome by
stealing a calendar. He posted his purloined tablet in the Roman Forum.
The letters A-H corresponded to an 8-day Roman market-day cycle.
    (SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.5)
304BC        In India Chandragupta traded 500 war elephants to Seleucus
in exchange for the Indus region and lands immediately to the West.
    (eawc, p.14)

~302BC    Mithradates Ktistes shortly after 302 BC created the Kingdom
of Pontus on the southern coast of the Black Sea. It would be ruled by
his descendants mostly bearing the same name, till 64 BC. He was for a
time in the service of Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontus)

301 BC    The generals of Alexander fought the Battle of Ipsus in
Phrygia that resulted in the division of the Greek Empire into 4
divisions ruled by Seleucus, Lysimachus, Cassander and Ptolemy. Greek
cities revolted against Macedonian rule but to no avail.
    (eawc, p.13)

c300BC    In 2005 a well-preserved and colorful mummy from the 30th
pharaonic dynasty was unveiled at Egypt?s Saqqara pyramid complex.
    (SFC, 5/4/05, p.A1)
300BC        Euclid compiled his "Elements of Geometry." Included was
his demonstration for "regular partitioning."
    (V.D.-H.K.p.37)(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.B1)
c300BC    In Greece Epicureanism and Stoicism originated in Athens. Both
Epicurus and Zeno, the Stoic, believed in an individualistic and
materialistic philosophy. Neither believed in spiritual substances. The
soul was thought to be material. The Epicureans believed that pleasure
is the highest good, and that only by abandoning the fear of the
supernatural can one achieve tranquility of mind. The Stoics believed
that tranquility of mind was only achieved by surrendering the self to
the order of the cosmos.
    (eawc, p.14)
300BC        Kautilya (aka Chanakya), an Indian statesman and scholar,
authored the Artha-Shastra (the Science of Material Gain) at the end of
the 4th century BC. This is the first known treatise on government and
economy.
    (www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Ancient/Kautilya.html)
300BC        In Ireland 2 men were murdered about this time. In 2005
their preserved remains were found in a peat bog. One dubbed Clonycavan
Man was about 5 feet 2 inches and used hair gel. The other, dubbed
Oldcroghan Man, stood 6 feet 6 inches. "Oldcroghan Man was stabbed
through the chest. He was then decapitated and his body cut in half
while Clonycaven Man had his head split open with an axe before he was
disemboweled.
    (Reuters, 1/7/06)
300BC        Carthago Nova (Cartagena, Spain) had coins minted in the
Greek style. One face bears the image of Melqart, chief god of Tyre, the
other face shows a horse and palm tree, emblems of Carthage.
    (NG, Aug., 1974, p.171)
300BC        Spain was named by the Carthaginians about this time as
Ispania, meaning land of rabbits. The Romans changed the name slightly
to Hispania, which evolved to Espana (Spain).
    (SSFC, 12/19/10, p.M2)
c300BC    As early as this time, travelers went to Petra in the
northwest corner of the Arabian peninsula for its abundant spring water.
    (ATC, p.55)
c300BC    Palur in eastern India near Chilika Lake has yielded
red-and-black-ware potsherds, one of which had the image of a boat.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
300BC        Dura-Europos, a Greek colony was built on the Euphrates in
eastern Syria.
    (SSFC, 6/28/09, p.A8)
c300BC    By about this time iron-working had spread all along the
savanna belt of West Africa.
    (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)
300BC        Seleucia was founded about this time in southeastern Turkey
as a Greek settlement by Seleucus I Nicator one of Alexander?s generals.
Seleucia was on the west bank and Apamea on the east bank of the
Euphrates River. In 64 BC it was conquered and ruled by the Roman Empire
and with this shift the name of the city was changed into Zeugma,
meaning "bridge-passage" or "bridge of boats." 
    (Arch, 9/02, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma_(city))

300BC-250CE        Late preclassic period of the Maya.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)

c300BC-200BC    Aristarchus, Greek philosopher of the late 3rd cent.,
proposed the Sun as the center of the universe. [see 310BC]
    (NH, 9/96, p.70)
c300BC-200BC    Apollonius, Greek poet emigrant from Alexandria to
Rhodes, and author of the "Argonautica."
    (HH, 1932, p.498)(SFC, 9/15/97, p.E3)
c300BC-200BC    In China an emperor dispatched the sailor Hsu Fu to
search the Pacific Ocean for the "drug of immortality." He came back
empty-handed after the first trip and set out again never to return.
    (SFEC, 8/17/97, Z1 p.3)
c300BC-200BC    In China Qu Wan, a poet and official, despaired on the
possibility of justice in this world and threw himself into a river.
    (WSJ, 9/24/97, p.A20)
c300BC-200BC    In Egypt scientists of the Univ. of Calif. Berkeley
expedition of 1899 uncovered hundreds of crocodile mummies encased and
stuffed with papyrus covered with writings from the ruins of the city of
Tebtunis. The site dated from the 3rd century BC when Ptolemy the Great
ruled.
    (SFC, 12/4/96, p.A4)
300BC-200BC        In 2006 archaeologists at the San Bartolo site in
Guatemala dated Mayan hieroglyphs painted on plaster and stone to this
period.
    (Reuters, 1/5/06)
300BC-200BC        The city of Berenice on the Mediterranean coast
(later in Libya) was named by the Greeks.
    (SFC, 6/15/99, p.C6)
c300BC-200BC    Andronicus Livius, a Roman actor of the 3rd cent. BC
improvised silently and originated pantomime.
    (SFC,12/27/97, p.C3)
300BC-200BC        During the 3rd century BC Mongolia became the center
of the Hsiung-nu empire.
    (www.gobiexpeditions.com)
300BC-200BC        In Thailand Ban Chaibadan on the Pasak River is one
of several sites that has archaeological remains that show the
development of a complex society.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)

300BC-64BC        Antioch served as the capital of the kingdom of Syria.
    (WUD, 1994 p.66)
300BC-68BC        The Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran, Jordan, date to this
period. The scrolls are usually identified with the Jewish-monkish cult,
the Essenes, know for their pathological aversion to stool. In 2004
Chicago Prof. Norman Golb authored ?Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.? In
2009 Israeli scholar Rachel Elior theorized that the Essenes, did not
exist. She suggested they were really the renegade sons of Zadok, a
priestly caste banished from the Temple of Jerusalem by intriguing Greek
rulers in 2nd century BC. When they left, they took the source of their
wisdom - their scrolls - with them.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.74)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W11)(SFC, 9/6/04, p.A4)(TIME,
3/17/09)
300BC-68BC        The Dead Sea Scrolls dating to this period were
discovered by Bedouin at the caves of Qumran in Jordan in 1947. The
scrolls predated the Christian gospels, but contained many similarities.
They also contained some differences from the traditional (Masoretic)
text of the Hebrew Bible. In 1955 Edmund Wilson published "The Scrolls
from the Dead Sea." In 1998 Hershel Shank published "The Mystery and
meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls." From 1978-1998 over 6,000 books were
written about the scrolls. The discovery date was later contested as
were many of the historic circumstances surrounding the scrolls [see
Jordan 1947].
    (WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W11)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A20)

295BC        The Battle of Sentinum. Etruria was defeated by Rome and
the Etruscan decline continued for more than 200 years.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.739)

290BC        Ptolemy I of Egypt authorized the construction of the
Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria. It became one of the seven wonders of
the ancient world.
    (www.unmuseum.org/pharos.htm)
290BC        The 110-foot Colossus of Rhodes, one of the ancient seven
wonders of the world, was built to the sun god Helios.
    (AM, 7/00, p.16)

287BC        In Rome the plebeians passed a law that allowed the
decisions of the assembly to override the Senate.
    (eawc, p.14)
287BC        Theophrastus (b.c371BC), Greek philosopher, died. He
produced the 1st known work on plant reproduction ?De historia
plantarum. He was a contemporary of Aristotle and succeeded him as head
of the Lyceum.
    (www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e01/01a.htm)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.88)

287BC - 212BC    Archimedes, Greek mathematician, physicist and
inventor. He discovered the principles of specific gravity and of the
lever. His works included "Method of Mechanical Theorems" and "On
Floating Bodies." He named the number, later known as pi, as the
Archimedes Constant. Scientists in 2000 began translating the Floating
Bodies treatisse from a single known parchment copy, dating to about
1000CE, that was scraped and reused for a prayer book.
    (SFC, 10/30/98, p.A7)(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.C5)(SFC, 10/14/00, p.C1)(SFC,
5/23/05, p.A4)

285BC - 246BC    Ptolemy II (b.c309BC, Philadelphus) of Macedonia served
as the 2nd king of Egypt?s Ptolemaic Dynasty. During his reign (285-247)
he founded the Cyprian port of Famagusta and built a canal to link the
Nile to the gulf of Suez.
    (NG, 8/04, Geographica)(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

280BC        The Achaean League was reformed along political lines. It
had been a confederation of Achaean cities formed for religious
observances and was broken up by the Macedonians.
    (AHD, 1971, p.10)

280BC        Li Ssu, Legalist scholar, was born in the kingdom of Ch?u,
later a region of China.
    (ON, 9/04, p.1)

279BC        The Pharos at Alexandria was constructed. The lighthouse,
one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was toppled by an earthquake in
1303CE. It was rediscovered by archeologists in the waters off
Alexandria in 1996.
    (SFEC, 4/5/98, Par p.20)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.B1)
279BC        The Celts plundered the shrine at Delphi and then retreated
north to Thrace. The Thracians later routed the intruders.
    (NGM, 5/77)

278BC        Qu Yuan (b.~340BC), Chinese poet and scholar, died. His
poems included ?The Lament,? written following the capture of Yingdu,
capital of Chu, by General Bai Qi of the state of Qin.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu_Yuan)

273BC - 232BC    Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, ruled
India, an area of a million sq. miles, and 50 million people. He was the
most impressive ruler of the Maurya dynasty and was strongly disposed in
favor of Buddhism, which orientation showed positively in his public policy.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.21)(EAWC, p.14)

270BC        The Nubian royals opted for burial at Meroe about this time
and pyramids were built there for some 700 years.
    (Arch, 9/02, p.56)

269BC        The Roman system of coinage was established.
    (eawc, p.14)

265BC        Rome completed its domination of the entire Italian
peninsula and began its pursuit of a larger empire that resulted in a
series of wars with other nations.
    (eawc, p.14)

264BC        Rome initiated the Punic Wars with Carthage, an oligarchic
empire that stretched from the northern coast of Africa to the Strait of
Gibraltar. The primary cause was the Carthaginian expansion into the
Greek cities of Sicily. Carthage was forced to surrender its control
over the western region of Sicily and this marked the end of the first
Punic War. The three Punic Wars: 264-241 BC, 218-202 BC, 149-146 BC,
also known as the Carthaginian Wars, finally resulted in the destruction
of Carthage and Roman control of the western Mediterranean.
    (eawc, p.14)(HNQ, 8//00)

262BC        War broke out between Carthage and Rome. Three long wars
lasted till 146BC when Carthage was destroyed by Rome.
    (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167-8)

261BC        Rome captured a Punic quinquereme. In two months they
copied it plank by plank and built 100 like it and eventually the Roman
fleet was able to defeat the Carthaginians.
    (NG, Aug., 1974, p.178)

260BC        Ashoka, the 3rd ruler of the Mauryan empire (India),
converted to Buddhism after defeating the Kalinga region. He began
promoting Buddhist teaching throughout the subcontinent and beyond to
Sri Lanka and even Greece.
    (www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/04/ssa/ht04ssa.htm)

259BC        Qin Shi Huangdi (d.210BC), the emperor who unified China,
was born about this time. He became ruler of Qin at age 13. In 2006 Tan
Dun?s opera ?The First Emperor,? premiered at the NY Metropolitan with
Placido Domingo as the Emperor. It was based on the life of Qin Shi
Huang (First August and Divine Emperor).
    (WSJ, 12/27/06, p.D8)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.87)

256BC        The Carthaginian city of Kerouane was sacked by the Romans.
    (NG, 8/04, p.48)

251BC        Aryan Hindus occupied Ceylon. [see Sri Lanka]
    (eawc, p.14)

250BC        About this time Eratosthenes ascribed the difference
between the positions of the noon sun at Alexandria and at Styrene at
the summer solstice as due to the curvature of the Earth and not due to
the proximity of the sun. He thereby calculated the radius of the Earth
to be about 4,000 miles. The modern value is 3963 miles.
    (SCTS, p.6)
250BC        About this time Aristarchus of Samos, a Greek astronomer,
proposed the idea of a sun-centered cosmology.
    (Econ, 9/24/11, p.106)
250BC        In India a general council of Buddhist monks was held in
Patna, where the canon of Buddhist scripture was selected.
    (eawc, p.14)
250BC        In India Emperor Ashoka ordered a sculpture of four Asiatic
lions about this time. The image later became a model emblazoned on
India?s passports and currency.
    (WSJ, 6/27/07, p.A9)
c250BC    In Patan, Nepal, the 4 corners are marked by stupas said to be
constructed on orders of Emperor Ashoka.
    (WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A17)
250BC        In Persia about this time two brothers, Arashk (Arash Pers.
Arsaces, Lat.) and Tirdat (Tiridates), with their forces under the
command of five other chiefs, occupied the district of upper Tejen.
Arashk (Arsaces) was to become the first king of the Ashkanian (Arsacid
or Parthian) dynasty. In 2005 the Ashkali community in Kosovo claimed
roots to this period.
    (www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/ashkanian/parthian.htm)
250BC        A finely burnished red pottery was introduced by the
Parthians into northern Oman.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 p.53)

250BC - 150BC    Punic wars between Rome and Carthage. [see 264BC & 146BC]
    (V.D.-H.K.p.63)

250BC - 1.4k CE    The city of Jenne-jeno on the inland delta of the
Niger River (Mali) was inhabited over this period. Iron tools similar to
that of the Nok people indicate that Nok craftspeople had come to this
site. It was discovered by archeologist in 1977.
    (ATC, p.110)

247BC        Li Ssu left Ch?u and traveled to Ch?in, a kingdom where
Legalist doctrines were practiced. He found employment with Lu Pu-wei,
the king?s grand councilor, who was compiling an encyclopedia. Lu Ssu
soon became tutor to Prince Zheng, heir to the throne of Ch?in.
    (ON, 9/04, p.2)

246BC        Jan 9, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 2nd king of Egypt?s
Ptolemaic Dynasty, died.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

246BC        In China the Ch'in completed the Chengkuo canal connecting
the Ching and Lo rivers. This created a key agricultural and economic
area in western Szechuan. About the same time the last Chou ruler was
deposed.
    (eawc, p.14)
246BC        Qin Shihuangdi (13), became the head of Qin, one of 7 major
Chinese states.
    (AM, 9/01, p.35)

246BC-222BC        Ptolemy III Euergeter served as Egypt?s 3rd ruler of
the Ptolemaic Dynasty. In 2010 archeologists discovered a temple,
thought to belong to Queen Berenice, wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled
Egypt in the 3rd century B.C. Archeologists believed that the temple
might have been dedicated to the ancient cat-goddess Bastet.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)(AP, 1/19/10)

241BC        Mar 10, The Battle of Aegusa in which the Roman fleet sank
50 Carthaginian ships occurred.
    (HN, 3/10/98)

241BC        The Romans incorporated Sicily as a province.
    (AM, 11/00, p.12)

240BC        Jun 19, Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of Earth
using two sticks.
    (DTnet, 6/19/97)(HN, 6/19/98)

239BC-169BC        Ennius, Roman poet: "A friend in need is a friend
indeed."
    (SSFC, 5/18/03, Par p.26)(WUD, 1994, p.474)

238BC        The Romans occupied Sardinia.
    (SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)

238BC-227CE     The Parthians (238 B.C.-A.D. 227) ruled the Persian
Empire despite attempts by the Roman Republic (133-27 B.C.), the Roman
Empire (27 B.C.-A.D. 476) to conquer it.  During the centuries-long
struggle, border towns and provinces in the Near East passed back and
forth like Alsace-Lorraine or the Polish Corridor would in
nineteenth-and twentieth-century Europe. Rarely in the history of human
conflict has a feud such as the one between the empires of Rome and
Persia lasted so long and accomplished so little.
    (HNQ, 12/22/00)

236BC        Archimedes, according to the Roman architect Vitruvius,
built his first elevator about this time.
    (SFC, 8/23/08, p.F4)

234BC - 149BC     Cato, Roman statesman and historian: "If you are ruled
by mind, you are a king; if by body, a slave."
    (AP, 1/11/99)

233BC        General Quintus Fabius Maximus led a Roman victory against
the Ligurian tribes northwest of Italy.
    (ON, 9/05, p.6)

232 BC     King Agron died, the Illyrian throne was occupied by Queen
Teuta.
    (www, Albania, 1998)

231BC        King Qin Shihuangdi (28), head of one of 7 major states,
embarked on a series of campaigns that in 10 years created China. The
king of Ch?in invaded Han.
    (AM, 9/01, p.35)(ON, 9/04, p.3)

230BC        Celtic warriors were repelled at Pergamon. The king of
Bithynia had invited some 20,000 Celts as mercenaries and after 50 years
of pillaging they were repelled and settled in Galatia.
    (NGM, 5/77)

230BC        The capital of Han fell. Its king and entire extended
family were massacred. Han was absorbed by Ch?in and under Li Ssu?s
direction was transformed into a Legalist state.
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)

228BC        The Kingdom of Chao fell to the Ch?in.
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)

225BC        The Kingdom of Wei fell to the Ch?in.
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)

225BC        Polybius, a Greek historian, described the naked gaesatae,
Celtic spearmen, at the Battle of Telamon, northwest of Rome where the
Romans defeated the Celts.
    (NGM, 5/77)

224BC        An earthquake reportedly broke the Colossus of Rhodes at
his knees.
    (AM, 7/00, p.16)

223BC        The Kingdom of Ch?u fell to the Ch?in. Li Ssu had the royal
family spared.
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)

222BC        The Kingdom of Yen fell to the Ch?in. The royal family was
slaughtered.
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)

222BC-205BC        Ptolemy IV Philopater served as Egypt?s 4th ruler of
the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

222BC - 196BC    The Romans showed up at the site of Milan and subdued
the Gauls after 26 years of butchery. Mittaland was Latinized to
Medioland, i.e. middle of the plain, and later transformed to Milano.
    (SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T12)

221BC        The Kingdom of Ch?i fell to the Ch?in and Li Ssu advised
King Zheng that there were no other countries worth conquering. King
Zheng proclaimed himself Shi Huangdi, ?First Emperor of the World Under
Heaven.?
    (ON, 9/04, p.3)
221BC        The Qin (Ch?in) unified China at the end of the "Warring
States." King Zheng engaged in a process of unifying 7 kingdoms in China
under a central bureaucracy. He killed most of the people in the 6 rival
kingdoms and buried alive 400 scholars whose loyalty he questioned. The
1998 Chinese film "The Emperor?s Shadow" was directed by Zhou Xiaowen.
It was a historical drama of the first emperor (Ying Zheng or Jiang Wen)
of a united China. The 1999 film "The Emperor and the Assassin,"
directed by Chen Kaige, was about Zheng.
    (eawc, p.5,14)(NH, 7/96, p.31)(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)(SFC, 6/24/98,
p.E3)(SFEC, 12/12/99, Par p.11)(SFEC, 1/16/00, DB p.42)   

221BC - 206BC    Qin Shi Huang ruled as the first emperor of China. His
tomb is in X?ian, one of the ancient capitals of China, and is guarded
by thousands of life-sized terra-cotta soldiers. He fixed Chinese script
of 2,500 characters. The Great Wall of China was completed under Shi
Huangdi and his minister Li Ssu. In 2001 it was found that the Great
Wall extended into Gansu province to Xinjiang and measured 4,470 miles.
The wall was extended during the Ming Dynasty. In 1990 Arthur Waldron
authored ?The Great Wall of China.?
    (WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A20)(ON, 9/04, p.3)(WSJ,
5/10/06, p.D12)

221BC - 220AD    A section of the Great Wall was built during the Qin
(221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC to 220 AD) dynasties in northeastern Jilin
province. In 2009 the Xinhua news agency reported the discovery of this
section, 11km (6.7 miles) further east than what was previously thought
to be the wall's terminus.
    (AFP, 9/22/09)
       
218BC        The Romans renewed their efforts against Carthage as
Carthage expanded into Spain. This 2nd Punic War lasted 16 years (202BC)
at the end of which Carthage was forced to surrender all of its
territory to Rome except for its capital city in North Africa.
    (eawc, p.15)(HNQ, 8/9/00)

218BC        Hannibal crossed Portugal on his way to storm Rome.
    (SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)

218 - 201BC    Numidia, ancient Roman name for part of northern Africa
roughly equivalent to modern Algeria. In the Second Punic War (218-201
BC) between Carthage and Rome, western Numidia supported Carthage. King
Masinissa of eastern Numidia joined the Romans. With the victory of
Rome, Masinissa controlled all Numidia.
    (WWW, Encarta, 12/19/98)

217BC        Jun 21, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal destroyed a
Roman army under consul Gaius Flaminicy in a battle at Lake Trasimenus
in central Italy. Hannibal of Carthage attacked Roman Consul Flaminio at
Tuoro on Lake Trasimeno in Umbria. Hannibal's army of Numidians,
Berbers, Libyans, Gascons, and Iberians was down to one elephant after
crossing the Alps with 39. His army of 40,000 drove the Romans into the
lake where 15,000 died as opposed to 1,500 of Hannibal's men. Two nearby
towns were named Ossaia (boneyard) and Sanguineto (bloodied).
    (SFEM, 10/12/97, p.37)(HN, 6/21/98)

217BC        During the Second Punic War Rome appointed Quintus Fabius
Maximus as dictator to stave off Hannibal?s Carthaginian army.
    (ON, 9/05, p.6)

216BC        Aug 2, Hannibal Barca of Carthage won his greatest victory
over the Romans at Cannae. Hannibal seized a grain depot in the small
village of Cannae in order to lure the Romans to battle. Having crossed
over the Alps, Hannibal's forces defeated the Romans at the Trebia River
and also at Lake Trasimene. Thereafter, the Romans were unwilling to
commit a large force to attacking Hannibal. However, Hannibal's spies
had learned two Roman consuls shared command of the legions and
attempted to goad the more impetuous of the two into battle at Cannae.
    (HN, 8/2/98)(HNQ, 11/16/00)

214BC        In China the building of the Great Wall was begun. It was
designed to keep out the destitute and starving nomadic Hsiung Nu people.
    (eawc, p.15)

214BC        Guangdong province became a part of China.
    (WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A26)

213BC        Minister Li Ssu convinced Ch?in King Zheng to outlaw all
philosophies except Legalism. Some 500 Confucian scholars resisted and
were buried alive. A number of Confucian and Taoist libraries were burned.
    (ON, 9/04, p.4)

212BC        Archimedes (b.287BC), Greek mathematician, died. Legend
holds that he was killed by a Roman soldier during an invasion of
Syracuse, because he was too busy doing calculations to obey the
soldier?s orders.
    (SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)

211BC        Roman legions overran the Greek settlement of Morgantina on
Sicily.
    (SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)

210BC        Qin Shi Huang (b.259BC), the first emperor of China, died
while on a journey. His death was kept quite until the entourage
returned home. He was buried near the city of Xi'ab in Central China
with some 7-8,000 larger-than-life terracotta soldiers. The soldiers had
real weapons and each had distinct facial features. Villagers found the
1st terracotta figure in 1974. [see Jul 11, 1975] Qin Shi Huangdi
provided his empire with a uniform script, currency, a measuring system
and a bureaucracy.
    (Smith., 4/95, p. 33,34)(WSJ, 3/11/97, p.A20)(HN, 7/11/01)(Econ,
9/8/07, p.87)
210BC        Crown Prince Fu Su, an anti-Legalist, committed suicide on
orders from a forged message. Prince Hu-hai was installed as the Second
Emperor. Chief eunuch Chao Kao and Li Ssu shared power at first but Chao
Kao gained the backing of Hu-hai.
    (ON, 9/04, p.4)

208BC        Ch?in Chief eunuch Chao Kao had Li Ssu arrested and
condemned to death. Most of Li Ssu?s reforms, including standardized
writing, measurement and money, survived for over 2,000 years.
    (ON, 9/04, p.4)(EWH, 1968, p.57)

207BC        In China the Ch'in Dynasty ended.
    (eawc, p.14)

207-195BC    In China Han Kao-tzu (Liu Ping), a man of humble origins,
became the first ruler of the Former Han Dynasty. The dynasty lasted to 9CE.
    (eawc, p.15)

206BC        Rome destroyed Carthaginian forces at the Battle of
Metaurus in northern Italy.
    (ON, 9/05, p.7)

206BC-25CE    In 2003 China's Xinhua News Agency reported that
archaeologists in western China had discovered five earthenware jars of
2,000BC-year-old rice wine in an ancient Han dynasty tomb (206BC-25CE),
and its bouquet was still strong enough to perk up the nose.
    (AP, 6/21/03)

206BC-220CE        The Han Dynasty ruled in China. The Western Han
period. In the early Han period Prince Liu Sheng had a jade suit made of
2,498 pieces sewn together with gold thread for his death. Jade was also
used to make plugs for his bodies orifices.
    (NH, 7/96, p.31)(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)(WSJ,
9/27/96, p.A16)

205BC-180BC        Ptolemy V Epiphanes served as Egypt?s 5th ruler of
the Ptolemaic Dynasty. He became ruler at age 5 following the death of
his father. He married Cleopatra I and died at age 29 while putting down
insurgents in the Delta. His wife became regent for their young son.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

204BC        The sacred stone of Cybele, the Great Mother, was brought
to Rome, and her worship was established.
    (RFH-MDHP, p.206)

204BC-202BC        Greece and most of Asia Minor came under the control
of the Romans after the Roman victory over Carthage in the 2nd Punic War.
    (WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(ON, 9/05, p.7)

203BC        Hannibal and his army returned home to defend Carthage
against Roman forces.
    (ON, 9/05, p.7)

203BC        Quintus Fabius Maximus, Roman general and dictator, died
shortly before Hannibal?s final defeat. The name Fabian has come to mean
?using a cautious strategy of delay and avoidance of battle.?
    (ON, 9/05, p.7)

202BC        The Han Dynasty began in China.
    (ATC, p.33)
202BC        Roman forces under Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal of
Carthage on the Plains of Zama in northern Tunisia.
    (NG, 8/04, p.44)(www2.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/hannibal.html)

c200BC    Trade between the Arabs and East Africans on the Indian Ocean
was established. It took this long to learn the seasonal winds known as
the monsoons to sail across the Indian Ocean. Between Nov. and March the
monsoon blows from the northeast. Between April and Oct. the monsoon
blows from the southwest.
    (ATC, p.141)
200BC        The Chinese natural history classic "Erya" said that the
Yangtze River was teeming with baiji, a freshwater white dolphin. By
1998 the baiji were on the verge of extinction.
    (SFC, 3/23/98, p.A8)
c200BC    At this time the Chinese were using the sternpost rudder to
steer their ships.
    (ATC, p.12)
c200BC    The Egyptian priest Hor cared for the ibis galleries. His
writings explained that hundreds of people were involved in the animal
mummification business at Saqqara.
    (AM, 9/01, p.29)
c200BC    The Greek Venus de Milo statue of marble was sculpted about
this time. It was found in 1820 on Melos and is now in the Louvre. [2nd
source says 2,500 years old]
    (WUD, 1994, p.1586)(SFEC, 3/9/96, Z1 p.5)
200BC        In Greece Skepticism arose under the influence of the
Carneades. It had close ties to Sophism and taught that because all
knowledge is achieved through sense perception, nothing can be known for
sure. [see Heisenberg 1901-1976]
    (eawc, p.15)
c200BC    Drawings in stone of this time showed women milking elk in
what later became northern Iran.
    (SFEC, 7/19/98, Z1 p.8)
c200BC    In Mexico migrations began toward the area north of Lake
Texcoco where the urban center of Teotihuacan developed.
    (SSFC, 5/6/01, p.T8)
c200BC    A Sanskrit marriage manual dates back to this time
    (SFEC, 11/17/96, Z1 p.2)

200BC-100BC        The excavation of Pergamon (now Bergama), Turkey, in
1876 by German archeologist uncovered a monument called the Great Altar
with a frieze of the mythological hero Telephos. The Telephos Frieze
recounts the story of Telephos, a son of Herakles and legendary founder
of Pergamon. It is viewed as political propaganda legitimizing the rule
of Pergamon's Attalid lineage (after Attalos, its first king's father).
    (WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)(SFC, 5/4/96, p.E-1)
200BC-100BC        The Silk Road made the city of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
rich. Spice and silk merchants stopped here on their way from China to
Europe.
    (WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A1)   

200BC-500CE        The Tunisian city of Leptiminus was a major port for
the shipment of olive oil throughout the Roman Empire. The ancient city
is today largely covered with olive groves. The entire surface of the
city (some 150 hectares) has been surveyed by teams from the Univ. of
Michigan. Two kinds of pottery were made there: African Red Slip Ware
and amphorae.
    (LSA., Fall 1995, p.7)

c200BC-650CE    Caves at Ajanta, India, were painted and sculpted during
this period with court scenes and tales from the Jataka and Bodhisattvas.
    (WSJ, 11/12/98, p.A28)

199BC-150BC        Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Now Afghanistan, it was then
a major stop on the silk route between Rome and China.
    (NG, March 1990, Geographica)
199BC-150BC        Early in the 2nd century BC the Romans made Macedonia
into a province and obliterated the city of Corinth.
    (WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)

c196BC    In Egypt the Rosetta Stone, found in 1799, was inscribed about
this time. It affirmed the rule of Ptolemy V (age 13) in 3 languages.
    (WSJ, 6/5/01, p.B1)

195BC        China's 1st Han Emperor Liu Pang died and his empress Lu
Zhi took the empire for her own family.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.13)(www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0830015.html)

190BC        In the US state of New Mexico a volcanic lava flow occurred
at the 114,000 acre El Malpais National Monument and covered wood that
was later dated to this time.
    (SFC, 12/24/99, p.A25)
190BC        Hipparchus was born in what is now Turkey. He calculated
the length of a year to within 6 1/2 minutes and was the first to
explain the Earth's rotation on its axis. He also compiled the first
comprehensive catalog of the stars. [see 160-125BC]
    (LAT, 3/30/05)

190BC-180BC         The ?Wisdom of Sirach? was written about this time
in Hebrew. Its apocalyptic tone reflects the shock of the Jewish
religious establishment at the encounter with Hellenic culture.
    (Econ, 1/20/07, p.91)(www.updated.org/sirach.shtml)

c190BC-120BC    Hypsicles of Alexanderia, mathematician. He wrote ?On
the Ascension of Stars,? in which he was the first to divide the Zodiac
into 360 degrees.
    (SSFC, 5/9/04, p.A17)(www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/TLAstronomy.htm)

186BC     In China Li Cang, the prime minister of Changsha, died. Lady
Dai, his wife, died about 20 years later. Her tomb was found in the
early 1970s on Mawangdui, a hill in Changsha, near the capital of Hunan
Province. More than 1,400 equally well-preserved artifacts were found
around her, designed to help her in the afterlife.
    (AP, 9/17/09)

184BC        In Rome Cato the Censor (234-149) was elected as one of two
censors, i.e. assessors of property and moral conduct. He aimed to
preserve Roman ways and tried to extirpate Greek influences.
     (V.D.-H.K.p.65)
184BC        In India the Maurya dynasty ended when the last ruler was
assassinated by an ambitious army commander.
    (eawc, p.15)

183BC-182BC        Hannibal, Carthaginian general, committed suicide.
Some reports said that a comet in the night sky was an omen of his death.
    (www2.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/hannibal.html)

180BC        The Great Altar of Pergamon was built at Pergamos in Asia
Minor (later Turkey). It depicted the battle of the gods of Olympus
against the giants.
    (WSJ, 10/27/07, p.W14)

180BC        The Liu clan regained control of China and enthroned
Emperor Wen, a surviving son of Liu Bang.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.13)

180BC        The state of Meroe in Nubia was a great cultural center
whose scribes developed an alphabet to better express the Nubian
language around this time.
    (MT, 10/95, p.10-11)

180BC-164BC        Ptolemy VI Philometor served as Egypt?s 6th ruler of
the Ptolemaic Dynasty. His regent mother died around 176BC and Ptolemy
ruled under the control of his guardians, Eulaeus and Lenaeus.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

175BC-164BC        King Antiochus IV, Seleucid tyrant, ruled Syria.
    (MH, 12/96)(SFC, 12/6/04, p.B2)

171BC        There was a major wave of migration to Japan from the
Korean Peninsula. The migration of other peoples from mainland Asia
around this time brought metal tools, rice and new farming techniques.
Computer modeling in 2011 showed a that the migration also had
significant impact on linguistic development.
    (AP, 5/5/11)

170BC        The rebel Maccabees were able to gain victory in Jerusalem
occupied by Antiochus IV During the re-dedication of the temple they
stretched a days worth of oil out to 8 days for which the holiday of
Hanukkah is celebrated.
    (SFC, 11/27/96, zz1 p.F1)

170BC        Lucius Accius, Roman poet, wrote "Has oderint dum metuant"
(Let them hate us, so long as they fear us). This became a favorite
phrase of Emperor Caligula.
    (SFC, 3/16/03, p.D3)

170BC-160BC     The Bactrian--Parthian era of Afghanistan.
    (www.afghan, 5/25/98)

168BC        The Greek city of Aigai was destroyed by the Romans.
    (AP, 8/29/09)
168BC        Illyria and Epirus were conquered by Rome.   
    (CO, Grolier's Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)
168BC        Syria?s Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled over
Israel and tried to outlaw Judaism. He tried to Hellenize the Jews by
erecting idols. The Jews resisted and began the Maccabean revolt. The
Maccabees were successful until internal dissension tore them apart.
    (eawc, p.15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.27)

167BC        Antiochus IV, the Hellenistic tyrant of the what later
became called the Middle East, began to increase religious persecution
against the Jews in Palestine and outlawed observance of the Torah. This
included the circumcision of males, dietary restrictions and observance
of the Sabbath. He installed a cult of Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Jewish priest Mattathias of Modin defied Antiochus, escaped outside
Lydda with his 5 sons and began a revolt.
    (WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.27)
167BC        Rome presented to Athens the island of Delos, whose
prosperous slave and commodities market brought large profits.
    (WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)

165BC     Romans captured King Gent of Illyria and sent him to Rome.
Illyria went under Roman control.
    (www, Albania, 1998)
165BC        Jerusalem and sacred temple of Judah were recaptured by the
Maccabees. They used guerrilla tactics and elephants as tanks to throw
off the tyranny of the Greco-Syrian oppressors. During the cleanup they
found one container of the sacred oil used to light the temple's
candelabra known as a menorah. They gathered to light the oil which was
expected to last only a day, but lasted eight nights. The event was
memorialized in the celebration of Hanukkah (rededication), the Feast of
Lights. [see 164BC]
    (SFC,12/10/97, Z1 p.4)(SFC,12/23/97, p.A13)(WSJ, 11/27/98, p.W8)

164BC        Ptolemy VI Philometor went to Rome and left Egypt under the
rule of his brother Ptolemy VII Euergetes II Physcon.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

164BC        The Temple of Jerusalem was recaptured by forces under
Judah Maccabee, religious traditionalists from the countryside. [see
165BC] The restoration of Jewish law was also a victory over Jewish
factions who wanted to turn Jerusalem to a city modeled after the Greek
pagan city-states.
    (WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W15)

163BC-145BC        Ptolemy VI Philometor was called back to Egypt and
agreed to split their rule. Physcon assumed rule of the western province
of Cyrenaica and Philometor ruled Egypt.
    (www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)

161BC        Elara (b.235BC), Tamil king (205BC-161BC), died. He ruled
Sri Lanka from the ancient capital of Anuradhapura.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elara_(monarch))

161BC - 137BC    The legendary King Duthagamani ruled Sri Lanka. He
began construction of the Ruvanvali stupa. His brother Saddhatissa
completed the project.
    (Arch, 7/02, p.34)

160BC-125BC        Hipparchus, Greek mathematician and astronomer, often
called the father of modern astronomy. He attempted to calculate the
distance to the moon and the sun. His estimate for the distance to the
moon was 67r vs. the modern value of 60.267r. He estimated the sun to be
37 times farther than the moon and at least 12 times greater in diameter
than the Earth. His figures were accepted for 17 centuries until the
invention of the telescope and precise astronomical instruments.
Together with Ptolemy he graded the visible stars into six magnitudes.
The first magnitude was comprised of about 20 of the brightest stars. He
compiled a stellar catalogue in Alexandria which shows the position of
1080 stars. [see 190BC]
    (SCTS, p.7-8,137,142)

160BC - 220BC    The Weerdinge Couple, 2 men dating to this period, were
found in a Holland bog in 1904.
    (AM, 7/97, p.66)

156BC - 141BC    In China Han Ching-ti ruled the Han Dynasty.
    (eawc, p.15)

155BC-213    Some evidence has it that the Ark of the Covenant was
brought to Ethiopia during this period. The 1992 book "The Sign and the
Seal" by Graham Hancock presents the evidence.
    (SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)

154BC        In China Han Ching-ti wrote the laws of inheritance that
made all sons co-heirs of their father's estate.
    (eawc, p.15)

c150BC    Agora's Stoa of Attalos, a massive colonnaded monument at the
foot of the Acropolis, was dedicated by King Attalos of Pergamon.
    (AP, 4/16/03)
c150BC    The craft of paper making was developed in China around this
time. Paper was made by soaking flattened plant fibers and then allowing
them to dry on a screen.
    (ATC, p.89)
c150BC    Cival was a large and sophisticated Mayan city of some 10,000
people.
    (USAT, 5/11/04, p.7D)
150BC        In 2005 archaeologists at the San Bartolo site in Guatemala
led by Guatemalan Monica Pellecer Alecio found the oldest known Maya
royal burial, from around 150 BC. Excavating beneath a small pyramid,
that team found a burial complex that included ceramic vessels and the
bones of a man, with a jade plaque, the symbol of Maya royalty, on his
chest.
    (AP, 12/14/05)

150BC-100BC        In 1901 pieces of an ancient Greek calculating
machine, called the Antikythera Mechanism, were discovered by sponge
divers exploring the remains of a shipwreck off the tiny island of
Antikythera. Radiocarbon dating suggested it was built around 65 BC, but
in 2006 newly revealed lettering on the machine indicate a slightly
older construction date of 150 to 100 BC. In 2008 researchers said the
device, which originally contained 37 gears, included the cycle of the
Greek Olympics.
    (http://tinyurl.com/y255xr)(SFC, 7/31/08, p.A15)

150BC-200CE        In Oman triliths, small, 3-stone monuments, were set
in rows in the Mahra tribal territory. Many were inscribed with an
undeciphered south Arabic script. The Mahra and Shahra are Semitic,
non-Arabic speaking tribes in the Dhofar Mountains that even today
control much of the frankincense region.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 p.53)

149-146BC    Rome and Carthage fought the 3rd Punic War that resulted in
the total defeat of Carthage. All inhabitants of Carthage were sold into
slavery and the city was burned to the ground. As a result of the Punic
wars Rome expanded its empire to cover Spain, North Africa, Greece, Asia
Minor and Egypt.
    (eawc, p.15)(HNQ, 8/9/00)

146BC        Roman forces breached the walls of Carthage. All
inhabitants were sold into slavery. The city was burned to the ground
and the land was sown with salt.
    (NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(NG, 8/04, p.46)

146BC-30BC    All Hellenistic territory became subject to Rome over this
period.
    (eawc, p.15)
146BC-30BC    Roman civilization as a result of the Punic Wars witnessed
a series of cultural conflicts and assassinations.
    (eawc, p.15)

145BC        In China Su-ma Ch'ien, the historian and author of the
"Records of the Historian," was born. He included social and economic
consideration in his history but mentioned nothing of Han Wu-ti and his
administration. He was eventually castrated by Wu-ti after writing an
apology on behalf of the Hsiung Nu. He died around 90BC.
    (eawc, p.15)

141BC        Wu Di (15) became China's 5th Han emperor.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.14)
141BC        The Romans incorporated Macedonia as a province.
    (AM, 11/00, p.12)

137BC        Dutugemunu, Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka (161BC to 137 BC),
died. He gained rule after defeating Elara, a Tamil usurper from India.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutugamunu)

133BC        China's Emperor Wu Di declared war on the Xiongnu, a
nomadic people in northwest China.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.15)
133BC        In Rome Tiberius Gracchus was elected as tribune. He and
his brother, elected in 123BC, strove for reforms in the Roman Republic,
but failed due to the conservative customs of the upper class and their
resistance to change. Marius and Sulla, 2 military leaders, followed the
attempts of the Gracchi.
    (eawc, p.15)
133BC        Attalus III of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. It
became the province of Asia.
    (AM, 11/00, p.12)

130BC     The Huns pushed the Kushan and Scythian nomads west across the
Central Asian steppes.
    (NG, March 1990, p.63)
130BC        The Great Silk Road opened from China to the West.
    (WH, 1994, p.13)

123BC        In Rome Gaius Gracchus was elected as tribune. [see 133BC]
    (eawc, p.15)
123BC        The Romans won a victory over the Gauls near a 3,000 foot
peak that was named Mt. Sainte-Victoire in commemoration. It established
a marker between civilization and barbarism.
    (WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A12)

c119BC    The Huns invaded China.
    (ATC, p.33)

117BC        In China the original salt monopoly was set up during the
Han dynasty.
    (WSJ, 6/20/01, p.A1)

116BC-27BC    Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar and author.
    (AM, 11/00, p.78)(WUD, 1994 p.1581)

113BC        The army of John Hyrcanus, leader of the Hasmonean rulers
in Judea, burns down a Samaritan Temple and the surrounding city. The
temple is thought to be copy of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
Archeologists in 1995 find stone fragments inscribed with the Ten
Commandments written in the Samaritan script, similar to an ancient form
of Hebrew known as Paleo-Hebrew.
    (SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)

108BC-62BC    Catiline, tyrant of Rome. He was defeated by Cicero. This
was a period when civil conflict had become epidemic.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.75)

106BC     Jan 3, Marcus Cicero (d.43BC), Roman orator, statesman and
author, was born. He was elected Consul in 63. He chose to support
Pompey over Caesar and was murdered by Mark Antony: "What is more unwise
than to mistake uncertainty for certainty, falsehood for truth?"
    (V.D.-H.K.p.74)(AP, 4/10/98)(HN, 1/3/99)

106BC-48BC    Pompey. He was a rival to Caesar for Roman power.

105BC        The Jihong Bridge across the Lancang River in Yunnan,
China, was built. It linked 2 portions of the Southern Silk Road.
    (SFEC, 10/6/96, T5)

105BC        The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of
what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. The Numidians were originally
nomadic horsemen. They were defeated by Roman troops in the Jugurthine
War in 105 BC and conquered by Rome in 46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines
ruled successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh
century AD. Jugurtha was the king of Numidia.
    (HNQ, 6/2/98)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)

104BC        Rome faced a slave retaliation in Sicily.
    (eawc, p.15)

c100BC    Jul 12, Gaius Julius Caesar (d.44BC), Roman general and
statesman, was born.
    (WUD, 1994 p.208)(AP, 7/12/97)(HN, 7/12/98)
c100BC    Camulodunum (later Colchester in southeastern England) was
established about this time as a fortress dedicated to the Celtic god of
war.
    (Arch, 7/02, p.46)
c100BC    The Bantu-speaking people began expanding and moving
southeast. It is thought that they originated in the Congo basin (now
Zaire) or the mountains of Cameroon. They used iron, grew millet and
kept goats.
    (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
100BC        The Greek poet Meleager gathered a collection of poems in
his ?anthologia? (The Greek Anthology).
    (WSJ, 11/15/08, p.W10)
100BC        In 2005 archaeologist William Saturno said he was
awe-struck when he uncovered a Maya mural not seen for nearly two
millennia. Discovered at the San Bartolo site in Guatemala, the mural
covers the west wall of a room attached to a pyramid.
    (AP, 12/14/05)
c100BC    The Shilla Dynasty began in southeastern Korea and grew to
become a top-heavy feudal system that covered most of South Korea for
almost 900 years.
    (SFEM, 6/20/99, p.6)
c100BC    The community situated on an island in the Seine River was
known by the Romans in the first century BC as Lutetia. At the time, it
was occupied by the Gallic tribe called Parisii. As the city grew into a
Roman trading center, it came to be known as Paris.
    (HNQ, 4/18/02)
c100BC    The area around Palenque (Mexico) was 1st occupied.
    (SSFC, 5/5/02, p.C5)

100BC - 1BC        A Roman fortified citadel was built about this time
in Moldova. It may have protected a town occupied by a late-era
Sarmatian king.
    (SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
100BC - 1BC        The painted cave of Naj Tunich in the Peten of
Guatemala began attracting pilgrims.
    (AM, 7/97, p.52)
c100BC - 1BC        Diodorus Siculus, Greek historian of the late 1st
century.
    (WUD, 1994 p.405)(AM, 7/01, p.31)

100BC - 100AD    The Mayan site of Palenque was settled by farmers over
this period.
    (SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C10)
100BC - 500AD    The Hopewell Mounds of Ohio were erected by a mound
building culture of this period that dominated the eastern US.
    (AM, adv. circular, p.2)
100BC - 668AD    The Three Kingdoms era of Korea.
    (SFC, 7/26/97, p.E3)
100BC - 1300AD    This represents the time period of the Anasazi culture
of northern Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah and Colorado.
    (WUD, 1994, p.53)

96BC - 81BC    The Circus of Domitian was built in Rome. It later became
the Piazza Navona.
    (SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T5)

95BC - 55BC     The Artaxiad King Tigranes I extends the Armenian state
from Georgia in the north to Mesopotamia and Syria in the south.
    (CO Enc. / Armenia)

95BC - 51BC    T. Lucretius Carus author of the epic poem "On the Nature
of Things", about the science of physics, yet dedicated to pleasure. He
was a devoted follower of Epicurus.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.70)

94BC-56BC    Tigranes (Dikran) the Great, a scion of the Eastern
Dynasty, ruled. He welded the two Armenian satrapies into one kingdom,
and so created the first strong native sovereignty that the country had
known since the fall of Urartu five centuries before.
    (http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/docs/bryce2.htm)

90BC        After centuries of decline, Etruscans become Roman citizens.
    (NG, 6/1988, p.711)

89BC        Roman general Cornelius Sulla sacked Clusium, the Etruscan
capital.
    (Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)

89BC - 80BC    Mithridates, ruler of Pontus in the north of Asia Minor,
made war on Rome and overran much of Asia Minor and parts of Greece. The
Athenians joined Mithridates and was consequently besieged by the Roman
Gen'l. Sulla.
    (WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)

87BC        Chinese Emperor Wu Di died. Sima Qian, historian of the era,
had been castrated by Wu Di for daring to stand in support of a
disgraced general.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.21)

87BC        Haley's comet was observed.
    (NG, Aug., 1974, K.F. Weaver p.223)

c81BC - 30BC        Mark Antony had Cicero murdered. He cut off his
hands and had them nailed to the senate rostrum as a warning to other
men who might wish to speak the truth.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.73)

80BC        Cicero journeyed to Greece and Asia suffering from pthisis
[tuberculosis], and returned cured after 2 years.
    (WP, 1951, p.27)

80BC-70BC    The Romans built the Flavian Amphiteatre and named it after
the family name of Emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum could seat 50,000
spectators and had underground chambers, dens and passageways, an area
known as the hypogeum.
    (SFC, 10/15/10, p.A5)

74BC        According to Pliny the Roman General Lucullus introduced
cherries to Europe. Greeks had cultivated cherries hundreds of years
before this.
    (SFC, 4/12/03, p.E3)

73BC        Rome faced a 2nd slave uprising in Sicily.
    (eawc, p.15)

70BC        Oct 15, Virgil (d.19BC) [Vergil] (Publius Vergilius Maro),
Roman poet, was born in Mantua. He wrote about the mythical founding of
Rome in the Aeneid, which told the legend of Rome's founder and was
considered a national epic.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.60)(HN, 10/15/98)(AMNHDT, 5/98)

70BC - 15BC    Vitruvius, author of De Architecture, translated to
Italian in 1531.
    (TL-MB, 1988, p.14)

69BC        Cleopatra (d.30BC), daughter of Ptolemy XII, was born. She
was queen of Egypt from 51BC-49BC, 48BC-30BC. During her reign she
declared earthworms to be sacred and her subjects were forbidden to kill
them.
    (WUD, 1994, p.276)(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A16)(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A13)

69BC        The Roman Gen'l. Lucullus experienced an attack by the
Samosatans with a flammable mud called maltha (semisolid petroleum and
gases). The event was later recorded by Pliny the Elder (23-79CE), a
Roman naturalist.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)

66BC        Tigranes I, King of Armenia was forced to become a tributary
of Rome.
    (CO Enc. / Armenia)

65BC        Dec 8, Quintus "Horace" Horatius Flaccus (d.8 BC), Roman
poet and satirist best known for his three books "Odes," was born. 
"Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every
day that Fate allows you."
    (HN, 12/8/98)(AP, 11/4/00)

64BC        The Greek settlement of Seleucia (in southeastern Turkey)
was conquered and ruled by the Roman Empire and with this shift the name
of the city was changed into Zeugma, meaning "bridge-passage" or "bridge
of boats."
    (Arch, 9/02, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma_(city))

63BC        Sep 23, Caesar Augustus (63BC-14CE) was born in Rome.
Augustus, first emperor of Rome, ended the era of the Roman Republic and
introduced the Pax Romana, the era of peace. Augustus held power but
shared administrative tasks with the Senate, consuls, and tribunes who
continued to be elected: "Make haste slowly."
    (V.D.-H.K.p.63)(AP, 9/23/97)(AP, 11/20/97)(HN, 9/23/98)

63BC        Cicero was elected Consul of Rome. During this time he
suppressed a conspiracy to murder the entire Senate.
    (WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)
63BC        The Romans conquer the Jews The Jews appealed to Pompey to
settle internal dissention. The Romans intervened and began their
occupation of Palestine.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.102)(eawc, p.15)
63BC        Caesar's troops plundered Terena in Portugal's Alentejo
province.
    (SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)

61BC        Jul 7, Commagene, a small kingdom of the upper Euphrates,
under the reign of King Antiochus, had a citadel area in front of which
a lion was sculpted in relief with recognizable constellations on or
near the lion's body. Prof. Otto Neugebauer of Brown Univ. studied the
marks and identified the date of the sculpture.
    (K.I.-365D, p.127)(NG., Mar., 1961, pp.390-405)

59BC - 52BC    Caesar?s legions battled the Gallo-Celtic tribesmen of
King Vercingetorix in northern Burgundy.
    (SSFC, 12/5/04, p.F4)

55BC        Aug 26, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain. 80
war galleys with some ten thousand foot soldiers prevailed over the
native Britons.
    (AP, 8/26/97)(ON, 6/09, p.6)

55BC        Pompey dedicated his theater, the first to be constructed of
stone in Rome.
    (RFH-MDHP, p.214)

54BC        Jul, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a
2nd time. He was accompanied by Mandubracius, an exiled British
chieftain. The expedition of 10,000 foot soldiers and 2,00 cavalry was
followed by a number of privately owned vessels commissioned by Roman
merchants eager to take advantage of Caesar?s anticipated victory.
    (ON, 6/09, p.7)

54BC        The Eburons, A Belgian tribe under the command of their King
Ambiorix, won a victory against the Roman Legion.
    (http://www.trabel.com/tongeren-history.htm)

54BC        The Romans under Julius Caesar fought the first skirmishes
with the Celts in England. British chieftain Cassivellaunus, who had
killed the father of Mandubracius, led a guerilla style war against
Caesar?s legions. Caesar?s forces prevailed and Cassivellaunus agreed
not to make was against Mandubracius.
    (SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)

54BC        Gaius Valerius Catullus (b.~84BC), Roman poet, died about
this time. He became famous for his epicurean lifestyle and erotic poems.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus)(Econ, 2/23/08, p.103)

54BC - 52BC    The Gauls rose in revolt against Caesar.
    (ON, 6/09, p.7)

53BC        Sep 23, Augustus, the first Roman emperor, or Caesar, was
born. His ascension to the title of emperor marked the end of true Roman
democracy, even though the Senate survived for generations. [see 63BC]
    (MC, 9/23/01)

53BC        Caesar claimed to have wiped out the Celtic Eburones after
they conspired with other groups in an attack that killed 6,000 Roman
soldiers. The Eburones lived in an area that later came be known as part
of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
    (AP, 11/14/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eburones)

53BC        The Persians defeated the Romans in the Battle of Carrhae.
Some 20,000 Romans under Crassus were killed by the Parthian army and
10,000 were captured. The Parthians then used the Romans as guards on
their eastern frontier in what later became Turkmenistan.
    (ATC, p.33)(HC, 9/3/04)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)

52BC        Pompey dedicated his Temple of Venus Victrix.
    (RFH-MDHP, p.214)
c52BC        Cicero defended Titus Milo for the murder of Publius
Clodius. The setting is the background for the historical detective
novel: "A Murder on the Appian Way" by Steven Saylor.
    (SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
52BC        Caesar climaxed his conquest of Gaul at Alesia in northern
Burgundy where he vanquished Celtic forces under Vercingetorix.
    (NGM, 5/77)(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.T4)

51BC - 49BC    Cleopatra was queen of Egypt from 51BC-49BC and 48BC-30BC.
    (WUD, 1994, p.276)

50BC        Jun-Aug, In Egypt the "Zodiac of Dendera," a map of the
stars of this period, was carved in stone. It is now in the French Louvre.
    (WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
50BC        Virgil first described the Damask Rose.
    (TGR, 1995, p.3)
50BC        Maastricht, Netherlands, began as a Roman settlement.
    (SSFC, 2/20/05, p.F2)

49 BC        Jan 11, Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon,
plunging Rome into civil war. [see Jan 12, Mar 10]
    (HN, 1/11/99)
49 BC        Jan 12, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River signaling a
war between Rome and Gaul. [see Jan 11, Mar 10]
    (HN, 1/12/99)
49BC        Mar 10, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and invaded Italy.
The event was noted by Suetonius in the phrase: "The die is cast." [see
Jan 11]
    (SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.5)(HN, 3/10/98)
49BC        Mauretania (now northern Morocco and Algeria) became a
client kingdom of Rome.
    (AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)

48BC        Aug 9, Julius Caesar defeated Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus.
    (HN, 8/9/98)
48BC        Sep 28, On landing in Egypt, Pompey was murdered on the
orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt.
    (HN, 9/28/98)(MC, 9/28/01)

48BC        The library at Alexandria was ravaged by fire during the
fighting between Caesar and Ptolemy XIII.
    (WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria)

47 BC        Aug 2, Caesar defeated Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and
declares "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered).
    (HN, 8/2/98)

47BC        Julius Caesar adopted a modified form of the Egyptian
Calendar. Together with Sosigenes, an astronomer from Alexandria, the
new calendar spreads the last 5-6 days of the Egyptian calendar amongst
alternate months. March 1 began the year as a carry over from the old
Roman calendar.
    (K.I.-365D, p.84)

46BC        Caesar's calendar went into effect at the time of the first
new moon after the winter solstice.
    (K.I.-365D, p.86)(AM, 11/04, p.9)

46BC        The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of
what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. They were conquered by Rome in
46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs
conquered the area in the seventh century CE.
    (HNQ, 6/2/98)

45BC        Jan 1, The Julian calendar took effect.
    (MC, 1/1/02)

45 BC        Feb 29, The first Leap Day was recognized by proclamation
of Julius Caesar. Under the old Roman calendar the last day of February
was the last day of the year.
    (HN, 2/29/00)

45BC        Mar, Caesar defeated the least of his rivals and was
proclaimed dictator for life.
    (ON, 6/09, p.7)

c45BC        Colonia Julia Equestris, a Roman veterans' colony, was
founded in what is now Nyon, Switzerland. Nyon is derived from the
Celtic name Noviodunum.
    (AM, Jul/Aug '97 p.10)

44BC        Mar 15, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (b.100BC) was murdered
by Brutus, Cassius and other conspirators on the Ides of March. Caesar
had defeated Pompey in battle and had Pompey murdered in 48BC. He was
perceived as a big threat to the Roman Aristocracy and so his murder was
supported by Cicero and most Romans. In 2006 Adrian Goldsworthy authored
?Caesar: Life of a Colossus.?
    (ATC, p.24)(AP, 3/15/97)(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.D6)
44BC        Quintilis, the fifth month was changed to Julius in honor of
Julius Caesar. A bright comet was declared by the Romans to be the soul
of Julius Caesar ascending to join the gods.
    (SFC, 3/28/97, p.A12)
44BC        Caesar began building a colony at Butrint, Albania. Titus
Pomponius Atticus described the area as "the quietest, coolest, most
pleasant place in the world."
    (Reuters, 6/13/06)

43BC        Mar 20, Ovid (d.17?18CE), Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet,
was born. His writings included: "The Art of Love."
    (WUD, 1994, p.1032)(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.2)(HN, 3/20/01)

43 BC        Apr 21, Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near
Modena, Italy.
    (HN, 4/21/99)

43 BC        Nov 27, Octavian, Antony and Lepidus formed the triumvirate
of Rome.
    (HN, 11/27/98)

43BC        Dec 7, Cicero (b.106BC), considered one of the greatest sons
of Rome was assassinated on the orders of Marcus Antonius. Cicero,
elected Consul in 63, had chosen to support Pompey over Caesar. He
translated Greek works that they might be understood by his fellow
Romans, and tried to apply Greek ethical thought to Roman business and
politics. His last work was "On Duties," where he propounds a common
solution to all social problems i.e. "Always do the right thing... that
which is legal... that which is honest, open and fair...keeping your
word... telling the truth... and treating everyone alike. In 2002
Anthony Everitt authored "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome?s Greatest
Politician," a biography based on his letters. In 2006 Robert Harris
authored ?Imperium,? a novel that covers Cicero?s early courtroom feats.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.74)(HN, 12/7/98)(WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)(WSJ, 11/10/06, p.W4)

42BC        Oct 23, Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the
assassination of Julius Caesar, committed suicide after his defeat at
the Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and
Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1081)(MC, 10/23/01)

42BC        Nov 16, Tiberius Claudius Nero (d.37CE, Roman Emperor, was
born. Tiberius was chosen by Augustus in 4CE as emperor of Rome.
    (V.D.-H.K.p.77) (HN, 11/16/98)

37BC        King Herod (d.4BC) reigned over Judea. During his reign
underground support structures were built for an expansion of the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem. The Wall of King Herod's Second Temple is the famed
"Wailing Wall."
    (SFC, 7/9/96, p.D1)(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A13)(WSJ, 4/9/97, p.A10)

37BC        Virgil (b.70BC), Roman poet, authored the 4th of his
Eclogues. This included text regarding the newborn son of Consul Polio
in which Virgil said the child would initiate a golden age in which lion
and lamb would lie together amid peace and plenty. Early Christians took
this as a prediction of Christ.
    (WSJ, 12/29/07, p.W12)

37BC - 448CE     The Koguryo kingdom straddled what is now North Korea
and part of South Korea and the northeastern Chinese region of
Manchuria. It spread Buddhism throughout the region.
    (AP, 2/1/04)
37BC - 668CE        The Koguryo kingdom (Gaogouli in Chinese) flourished
during this time. At its height the territory stretched from central
Manchuria to south of Seoul, Korea. It was later taught to be one of
Korea?s three founding kingdoms.
    (Econ, 3/31/07, SR p.8)

33BC        Agrippa called for the construction an aqueduct, 500
fountains and 700 basins for central Rome.
    (SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)

32BC        Pompey's theater was damaged in a storm and repaired by
Augustus who especially noted that in repairing it he nowhere recorded
his own name.
    (RFH-MDHP, p.214)
32BC        A Roman coin dating from this time bore the images of
Cleopatra on one side and Marc Antony on the reverse. It represented one
three hundredth of a Roman soldier's salary and was probably minted to
pay the wages of those stationed in Egypt.
    (AFP, 2/14/07)

32BC - 23BC    Octavian ruled as Consul over Rome by self election.

31BC        Sep 2, The Naval Battle of Actium in the Ionian Sea, between
Roman leader Octavian and the alliance of Roman Mark Antony and
Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Octavian soundly defeated Antony's fleet
which was burned and 5000 of his men were killed. Cleopatra committed
suicide. The rivals battled for control of the Roman Empire in the naval
battle of Actium, where Cleopatra, seeing Antony's navy being
outmaneuvered by Octavian's, ordered her 60 ships to turn about and flee
to safety.
    (AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.18)(HNPD, 7/30/98)(MC, 9/2/01)

c31BC        Augustus founded the city of Nikopolis in Epirus
(northwestern Greece) to commemorate his victory over Antony and
Cleopatra at Actium.
    (AM, Jul-Aug/99, p.10)
31BC        Rome under Emperor Augustus annexed the Carthage territory.
    (SSFC, 12/10/00, p.T8)
31BC        An earthquake occurred at the Qumran caves by the Dead Sea
when Herod ruled in Jerusalem. This was the site where fragments of
scrolls from the books of Psalms and Numbers were later found, as well
as a human skeleton beneath boulders from the earthquake.
    (SFC,12/9/97, p.A9)

30BC        Jul 30, Mark Antony, lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra
VII and claimant to the Roman throne, stabbed himself when faced with
certain defeat at the hands of his rival Octavian. Antony expected to be
named the heir to Rome after the assassination of his friend and
confidant Julius Caesar, but had not counted on Caesar naming his
adopted son Octavian as his successor. Shaken by his loss at Actium and
abandoned by his allies, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed
him in death shortly afterward when she allowed herself to be bitten by
a venomous asp.
    (HNPD, 7/30/98)
30BC         Aug 30, Cleopatra, the 7th and most famous queen of ancient
Egypt, committed suicide about this time.
    (AP, 8/30/97)
30BC        Rome gained control over Egypt. The wheat fields of Egypt
became one of Rome's main sources of food. Antony and Cleopatra
committed suicide.
    (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)
30BC         Construction began on the Temple of Isis in Sabratha,
Libya. It was completed in 14CE.
    (SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)

29BC        Cicero complained that "Two of my shops have fallen down...
The tenants have fled... Even the mice have migrated." [see 43BC]
    (SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)

28BC        Oct 9, The Temple of Apollo was dedicate on the Palatine
Hill in Rome.
    (HN, 10/9/98)

28BC        In Rome the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus(d.14AD) was built.
    (WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)

27BC        An earthquake hit Egypt and devastated the temple of
Amenhotep III in Luxor, which dated to about 1389.
    (AP, 4/26/11)
27BC        The Roman senatorial province of Achaea was established. It
comprised all of Greece south of Thessaly.
    (AHD, 1971, p.10)

27BC - 14CE    Octavian, adopted son of Julius Caesar ruled as Rome's
first emperor. He was given the name Augustus (revered or exalted one)
and put an end to the chaos and power struggles that had occurred after
Caesar's assassination. He also expanded the empire by conquering the
territory that ran along the Rhine and Danube rivers.
    (ATC, p.26)

25BC        Augustus received two trade groups from India.
    (ATC, p.33)
25BC        Strabo, a geographer and scholar from Alexandria, made the
most comprehensive map of the known world.
    (SFC, 12/1/98, p.A10)

19BC        Sep 20, The Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro,
b.70BC) died. His epic "The Aeneid" became one of the great classics of
Western literature. The story it tells runs from the end of the Trojan
War to the start of the Roman Empire.
    (WUD, 1994 p.1587)(MC 9/20/01)

19BC         Agrippa had the Aqua Virgo built in Rome.
    (SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)

19BC        A wine jug bearing reference to King Herod was found in an
ancient garbage dump near the synagogue at Masada, Israel. The
cone-shaped, two-handled jug held about 20 gallons of wine and had been
shipped from Italy.
    (SFC, 7/9/96, p.D1)

19BC        Lucius Cornelius Balbus led 20,000 men of the 3rd Augusta
Legion across the Hamada al-Hamra (Red Rocky Plain) in the first Roman
attack on the Garamantian heartland (Libya). Romans turned Ghadames,
Libya, into a garrison town.
    (Arch, 9/02, p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamantes)(SSFC,
6/27/04, p.D12)

16BC        Flying Swallow (16) became empress to China's Emperor Cheng.
    (NG, Feb, 04, p.12)

15BC        King Herod of Judea built the coastal settlement of
Caesarea. It was razed to the ground in 1265.
    (Econ, 4/24/04, p.83)

12 BC        Aug 31, Caligula (Gaius Caesar), 3rd Roman emperor (37-41
CE), was born.
    (YN, 8/31/99)

10BC        Aug 1, Claudius (d.54CE)., Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius
Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius and grandson of the
wife of Augustus, was made emperor after Caligula.
    (HN, 8/1/98)

9BC        The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), ordered by Augustus Caesar,
was constructed in Rome. In 2005 the Museum of the Ara Pacis opened in Rome.
    (WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)

8BC        Augustus, emperor of the Roman Empire. The Roman Senate
changed the name of the month Sextilis to Augustus, and an extra day was
added while subtracting a day from February.
    (K.I.-365D, p.89)
8BC        Augustus Caesar ordered a census under the consulship of
Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius. 4,233,000 Roman citizens were counted.
    (www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
8BC        Horace (b.65BC), Roman poet, died. In 2002 J.D. McClatchy
edited "Horace: The Odes, New Translations by Contemporary Poets.
    (SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M2)

c7BC        Dionysius of Helicarnassus, Greek rhetorician and historian
in Rome, died. He said that history is philosophy learned from examples.
    (WUD, 1994, p.405)(Nat. Hist., 3/96, p.75)

6BC        Apr 17, Jupiter was in a rare alignment with the
constellation Aries and marked an important date for ancient
astrologers. Jesus was believed to have been born in this year.
    (SFC, 4/13/01, p.C1)

6BC - 4BC    Publius Quinctilius Varus served as Roman governor of Syria.
    (http://www.rovenet.com/tno/tacitus%20named%20officials/varus.html)

c5BC -  65CE     Seneca, Roman statesman: "Malice drinks one-half of its
own poison."
    (AP, 6/8/98)

c4BC        The Second Temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt a few years
before the birth of Jesus under King Herod. Jerusalem at this time had a
population of about 100,000 people.
    (SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)

4BC        Publius Sulpicius Quirinus served as Roman governor of
Cilicia, which was annexed to Syria.
    (www.botcw.com/bible/kjv/easton/east0953.htm)

4BC        King Herod the Great died. He governed Judea from 37BC.
    (SFC, 6/26/00, p.A12)

4BC        Lucius Annaeus Seneca (d.65) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman
intellectual, was born in Spain.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger)

4BC - 40CE    Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, tetrarch of Galilee
for this period. He examined Jesus at the request of Pilate. He executed
John the Baptist. Pontius Pilate served as governor of the island of
Ponza before he was made procurator of Judea.
    (AHD, 1971, p.618, 706)(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T12)

3BC        Sep 14, Jupiter appeared to pass very close to the star
Regulus, "the King's Star."
    (SSFC, 12/23/01, Par p.9)

3BC - 2BC    Astronomical events occurred at this time and coincided
with the probable birth of Jesus Christ. During the conjunctions of 3BC,
Jupiter, the King Planet, came into contact with the King Star, Leo the
Lion, which was also the sign for the Jewish tribe of Judah.
    (SFEC, 2/16/97, p.A16)

2BC        Feb 17, Jupiter again appeared to pass very close to the star
Regulus, "the King's Star."
    (SSFC, 12/23/01, Par p.9)

2BC        May 8, Jupiter appeared to pass very close to the star
Regulus, "the King's Star" for a 3rd time in recent months.
    (SSFC, 12/23/01, Par p.9)

2BC        Jun 17, Jupiter and Venus drew close together and appeared to
fuse as a single star. This was later thought to be the Biblical star of
Bethlehem.
    (SSFC, 12/23/01, Par p.9

2BC        Heratosthene of Greece drew a map that showed 3 continents
about equal in size labeled: Europe, Asia and Libya.
    (SFEC, 2/15/98, Z1 p.8)
2BC        The Maccabeans built an aqueduct in Jerusalem.
    (SFC, 9/26/96, p.A10)

1BC        Mar 1, Start of the revised Julian calendar in Rome.
    (SC, 3/1/02)

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