istoryworld
Events relating to religion
A passage grave with a superb corbelled dome is constructed on the Île Longue off the southern coast of Brittany
The Egyptians paint murals on the walls of tombs, designed to help the occupants in the next world
The first and largest of the three great pyramids at Giza is built for the pharaoh Khufu, later known to the Greeks as Cheops
A superb passage grave is built at Newgrange in Ireland
Some ninety royal servants, including soldiers, grooms and female musicians, are buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple at Ur
Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story, spreads in oral form
At Stonehenge, constructed and altered over many centuries, the largest stones are put in place
To preserve bodies in perpetuity, the Egyptian ruling class develops the elaborate and lengthy process of mummifying an eviscerated corpse
It is not known when cats are first domesticated, but from the start of Egyptian civilization they are sacred animals in temples
To ensure continued comfort in the afterlife, rich Egyptians have models placed in their tombs of the necessary servants and utensils
A ring of large standing stones is raised in England at Avebury, now a village in Wiltshire
The god Ashur is worshipped at a shrine on the Tigris known by his name (the origin of the word Assyria)
The cemetery at Los Millares in Spain contains more than 100 beehive tombs
A bull-fighting fresco in the palace of Knossos is linked with the island's cult of the bull
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 god Osiris, in his tall white headdress, represents in Egyptian tombs the idea of resurrection in the next world
The Jews adopt a long-established Egyptian ritual - the circumcision of boys
The gods Amen and Re are merged at Thebes as Amen-Re, the most important deity in the Egyptian pantheon
The Aryans bring into India the roots of Hinduism, with the Brahmans as a priestly caste
Sacrificial hymns of the Aryans, gathered in the Rigveda, become the earliest Sanskrit literature
Ancestor worship, a central theme of Chinese history, is practised by the royal family and high nobility in Shang times
China produces superb bronzes, in the ritual vessels for sacrifices to the ancestors
The pharaoh Amenhotep III commissions the great temple to Amen-Re at Luxor
The Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV adopts a new deity, Aten, and changes his name to Akhenaten
With the return to favour of the god Amen, the young Tutankhaten's name is changed to Tutankhamun
