istoryworld
All Events
Shamshi-Adad I conquers Ashur and the surrounding areas, beginning Assyria's first brief period as a regional power
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, copied out by Ahmes, an Egyptian scribe, offers some of the world's first exam questions
Babylonian astronomers name many of the constellations and identify the planets
Zimri-Lim builds himself a spectacular palace with some 300 rooms in his capital city of Mari in northern Mesopotamia
Over many centuries Indo-European tribes (Greeks, Germans, Balts, Italics, Celts) move into new territories throughout western Europe
Priests in Babylon make loans from the temple treasure, introducing the concept of banking
Mathematicians in both Babylon and Egypt independently calculate Π to within 1% of the true value
The Babylonians introduce an important step in the story of arithmetic - the concept of place value in numbers, with digits on the left having greater value than those on the right
Shamshi-Adad I conquers the rich and ancient kingdom of Mari, and puts on the throne his son Yasmah-Adad
Egyptian accountants and architects have a symbol for zero, used not as a numeral but as the base line for larger or physically higher units
Hammurabi inherits the relatively minor kingdom of Babylon
Hammurabi begins a programme of conquest and coalition which will vastly extend the Babylonian empire
The Code of Hammurabi gives a detailed picture of Babylonian law and society
The Code of Hammurabi is the first surviving document to record the law relating to slaves
The biblical account suggests that around this period the Hebrews are a captive tribe in Egypt
Hammurabi, in the process of winning control over the whole of Mesopotamia, conquers the northern territories of Mari and Ashur
The Hittites build an empire based on their stronghold at Hattusa (now Bogazkale) in Anatolia
Hammurabi destroys Mari (concealing for posterity an extraordinary cuneiform archive not discovered until 1933)
More than 25,000 cuneiform tablets (unearthed since 1933 at Mari) provide a detailed account of Assyria in the late 18th century BC
Ashur, or Assyria, sinks into almost a millennium of fluctuating but largely diminished fortunes
A bull-fighting fresco in the palace of Knossos is linked with the island's cult of the bull
The characters written in Chinese documents of the Shang dynasty are directly related to those still in use today
Egyptian tombs include paintings of a kind to help the occupants in the next world, whether in the Book of the Dead or on the walls
The New Kingdom begins in Egypt, bringing the most spectacular of all the dynasties
