History of mankind. From ancient times to the 6th century BC

Historical chronology, as is known, is divided into two periods. In the beginning there was a time that contemporaries call the stage BC. It ends with the onset of the first year. At this time, our era began, which continues to this day. And although today, when naming the year, people do not say "AD", nevertheless, this is implied.

First calendars

The process of human evolution has created the need to streamline dates and times. The ancient farmer needed to know as accurately as possible at what time it is better for him to sow seeds, the nomadic livestock breeder - when to move to other territories in order to have time to provide his livestock with fodder.

So the very first calendars began to appear. And they were based on observations of celestial bodies and nature. Different nations also had different time calendars. For example, the Romans kept their reckoning from the day of the founding of Rome - from 753 BC, while the Egyptians - from the first moment of the reign of each of the dynasties of the pharaohs. Many religions also created their own calendars. For example, in Islam, a new era begins with the year when the prophet Muhammad was born.

Julian and Gregorian calendars

Gaius Julius Caesar founded his calendar in 45 BC. In it, the year began on the first of January and lasted twelve months. This calendar was called the Julian.

The one we use today was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory the Twelfth. He managed to eliminate some significant inaccuracies that had accumulated since the first. At that time, they were as much as ten days. The difference between Julian and increases by about a day every century, and today is already thirteen days.

In history, reckoning always plays a big role. After all, it is important to imagine in what period of time a significant event in the life of mankind took place, whether it was the creation of the first tools of labor or the beginning. They say that history without dates is similar to mathematics without numbers.

Religious form of reckoning

Since the beginning of our era is calculated from the year considered the date of the birth of Jesus, the corresponding record is often used in the religious version: from the birth of Christ and before him. There is still no completely accurate historical data on when life appeared on our planet. And only based on religious and historical artifacts, scientists can draw conclusions about when this or that event approximately occurred. In this case, the years BC are indicated in chronologically reverse order.

Zero year

The mention of the division between the time before and after the Nativity of Christ is associated with a calculation in astronomical notation, made according to the numbers of integers on the coordinate axis. The zero year is not customary to use in either religious or secular notation. But it is very common in astronomical notation and in ISO 8601, an international standard issued by an organization such as the International Organization for Standardization. It describes the format of dates and times and provides guidelines for their application in an international context.

Countdown

The concept of "BC" gained its distribution in the chronology after its use by the Venerable Bede, a Benedictine monk. He wrote about it in one of his treatises. And already starting from 731, the calculation of time was divided into two periods: before our era and after it. Gradually, almost all countries in Western Europe began to switch to this calendar. The most recent of these was Portugal. It happened on August 22, 1422. Until January 1, 1700, Russia used the chronological calculation of the Constantinople era. The Christian era "from the creation of the world" was taken as the starting point in it. By and large, many eras were based on the relationship between the “days of the creation of the world” and the entire duration of its existence. And Constantinople was created under Constantius, and the chronology for it was carried out from September 1, 5509 BC. However, since this emperor was not a "consistent Christian", his name, and at the same time the countdown compiled by him, are reluctantly mentioned.

Prehistoric and historical eras

History is prehistoric and historical eras. The first of them begins with the appearance of the first man, and ends when writing appeared. The prehistoric era is divided into several time periods. Their classification is based on archaeological finds. These materials, from which people made tools before our era, the period when they used them, formed the basis for recreating not only time frames, but also the names of the stages of the prehistoric era.

The historical era consists of the periods of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as the New and Modern Times. In different countries, they came at different times, so scientists are not able to determine their exact time frame.

It is well known that the new era at the very beginning was not calculated by a continuous count of years, for example, starting from the first year and up to, let's say, the current one. Its chronology began much later, with the date of the Nativity of Christ. It is believed that it was first calculated by a Roman monk named Dionysius the Lesser in the sixth century, that is, more than five hundred years after the dated event. To get the result, Dionysius first counted the date of the Resurrection of Christ, based on church tradition that the Son of God was crucified in the thirty-first year of life.

The date of his Resurrection, according to the Roman monk, is the twenty-fifth of March 5539 according to the calendar “from Adam”, and the year of the Nativity of Christ, therefore, became the 5508th in the Byzantine era. It must be said that the calculations of Dionysius up to the fifteenth century raised doubts in the West. In Byzantium itself, they were never recognized as canonical.

From the seventh to the third millennium BC, there was the Neolithic era on the planet - the period of transition from the appropriating form of economy, namely hunting and gathering, to the productive one - agriculture and cattle breeding. At this time, weaving, grinding stone tools and pottery appeared.

The end of the fourth - the beginning of the first millennium BC: the Bronze Age reigns on the planet. Metal and bronze weapons are spreading, nomadic pastoralists appear. changed to Iron. At this time, the first and second dynasties ruled in Egypt, uniting the country into a single

In 2850-2450 BC. e. the economic rise of the Sumerian civilization began. From 2800 to 1100, the Aegean or Ancient Greek culture rises. Almost at the same time, the Indus civilization was born in the Indus Valley, the highest flowering of the kingdom of Troy was observed.

Around 1190 B.C. e. the powerful Hittite state collapsed. After almost four decades, the Elamite king captured Babylonia, and his power flourished.

In 1126-1105 BC. e. came the reign of the Babylonian sovereign Nebuchadnezzar. In 331, the first state was formed in the Caucasus. In 327 BC. e. was held by the Indian company of Alexander the Great. During this period, a lot of events took place, including the uprising of slaves in Sicily, the Allied War, the Mithridatic Wars, the campaign against the Parthians, the reign of Emperor Augustus.

And finally, between the eighth and fourth years BC, Christ was born.

New chronology

For different peoples, the concept of chronology has always been unequal. Each state solved this problem independently, while being guided by both religious and political motives. And only by the nineteenth century did all Christian states establish a single point of reference, which is still used today under the name "our era." The ancient Mayan calendar, the Byzantine era, the Hebrew chronology, the Chinese - they all had their own date of creation of the world.

For example, the Japanese calendar began in 660 BC and was updated after each death of an emperor. The Buddhist era will soon enter the year 2484 and the Hindi calendar will enter the year 2080. The Aztecs updated their chronology once every 1454, after the death and rebirth of the Sun. Therefore, if their civilization had not died, for them today it would be only 546 AD...

Ancient map of the world

Before our era, travelers were also interested in the world and made drawings of their routes. They transferred them to tree bark, sand or papyrus. The first map of the world appeared many millennia before the new era. It was the rock paintings that became one of the first images. While people were scouting the Earth, they became especially interested in the ancient maps of past eras. Some of them represent our planet as a huge island washed by the ocean, on others you can already see the outlines of the continents.

Babylonian map

The very first map created before our era was a small clay tablet found in Mesopotamia. It dates from the end of the eighth - the beginning of the seventh centuries BC and is the only one that has come down to us from the Babylonians. The land on it is surrounded by seas called "salt water". Behind the water are triangles, obviously denoting the mountains of distant lands.

This map shows the state of Urartu (modern Armenia), Assyria (Iraq), Elam (Iran) and Babylon itself, in the middle of which flows the Euphrates.

Map of Eratosthenes

Even the ancient Greeks represented the Earth as a sphere and argued this very elegantly. Pythagoras, for example, said that everything is harmonious in nature, and the most perfect form in it is a ball in the form of which our planet exists. The first map drawn from this image of the Earth belongs to Eratosthenes. He lived in the third century BC in Cyrene. It is believed that this scientist who led and coined the term "geography". It was he who, for the first time before our era, drew the world into parallels and meridians and called them "going side by side" or "noon" lines. The world of Eratosthenes was one island, which was washed by the North from above and the Atlantic Ocean from below. It was divided into Europe, Ariana and Arabia, India and Scythia. In the south was Taproban - the current Ceylon.

At the same time, it seemed to Eratosthenes that “antipodes” live on the other hemisphere, which cannot be reached. After all, people then, including the ancient Greeks, thought that it was so hot near the equator that the sea boils there, and all living things burn out. And, on the contrary, it is very cold at the poles, and not a single person survives there.

Map of Ptolemy

For several centuries, another map of the world was considered the main one. It was compiled by the ancient Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy. Created about one hundred and fifty years BC, it was part of the eight-volume "Guide to Geography".

According to Ptolemy, Asia occupied the space from the North Pole to the very equator, displacing the Pacific Ocean, while Africa smoothly flowed into terra incognita, occupying the entire South Pole. To the north of Scythia was the mythical Hyperborea, and nothing was said about America or Australia. It was thanks to this map that Columbus began to get to India, while sailing west. And even after the discovery of America, they continued to use the map from Ptolemy for some time.

HISTORY OF HUMANITY

Chronology of the most important events in world history

–From ancient times to the 6th century BC–

VIII - III millennium BC Neolithic, the period of transition from an appropriating economy (gathering, hunting) to a producing one (agriculture, cattle breeding). In the Neolithic era, stone tools were polished and drilled; earthenware, spinning, weaving appeared.

V - the first half of the IV millennium BC The first agricultural communities, the decomposition of primitive communal relations in ancient Egypt.

IV - III millennium BC Copper Age. Stone tools predominate, but copper ones appear. The main occupations of the population are hoe farming, cattle breeding, and hunting.

End of IV millennium BC The unification of the nomes of Ancient Egypt into two large kingdoms - Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

the end of IV - rocked I millennium BC. Bronze Age. Distribution of bronze metallurgy, bronze tools and weapons. The emergence of nomadic pastoralism and irrigated agriculture, writing, slave-owning civilizations. It was replaced by the Iron Age, which came with the spread of iron metallurgy and the manufacture of iron tools and weapons.

OK. 3200 - approx. 2800 BC Early kingdom in Ancient Egypt; reign of the I and II dynasties. The unification of Egypt into a single strong centralized state.

OK. 2850 - c. 2450 BC Rule of the First Dynasty of Ur in Sumer. The economic rise of Sumer,

OK. 2800 - ca. 2250 BC Ancient kingdom in Egypt; reign III - VI dynasties. Expansion of the territory and political influence of Egypt. Three pyramids were built at Giza.

OK. 2800 - 1100 BC Aegean (Crete-Mycenaean) culture - the culture of Ancient Greece of the Bronze Age. Geographical variants of the Aegean culture are distinguished: in Crete - Minoan, in mainland Greece - Helladic, on the islands of the Aegean Sea - Cycladic culture,

oh. 2500 BC The Sumerian king Eannatum conquers Ur and Kish. 2316 - 2261 BC The reign of Sargon, king of Akkad. The conquest of Babylonia, Elam, Assyria and part of Syria by Sargon and thereby uniting all Mesopotamia under the rule of one ruler and creating the largest Mesopotamian power in Asia Minor with its center in Akkad,

OK. 2300 - oh. 1700 Indian Civilization in the Indus Valley.

OK. 2250 - ca. 2050 BC Board VII - X dynasties in Egypt. The period of internal fragmentation and decline of Egypt,

OK. 2140 - ca. 2030 BC The rule of the Ur dynasty brings the Sumero-Akkadian kingdom to the highest height of its power. In the next 100 - 150 years, the Sumero-Akkadian kingdom falls into decay and the Sumerians as a nation disappear,

OK. 2050 - ca. 1750 BC The Middle Kingdom in Egypt, the reign of the XI - XVII dynasties. The unification of Egypt and its transformation again into a large and strong state,

OK. 2000 BC The Hellenes (Greeks) - an Indo-European-speaking people - begin to migrate from the north to the territory of modern Greece. Indo-Europeans related to the Greeks are trading from the north to the Apennine peninsula,

OK. 2000 - ca. 1000 BC Aryan tribes from the northwest seep into India. 1894 - 1595 BC Board I Babylonian, or Amorite,

dynasties. Rise of Babylon. 1813 - 1781 BC The reign of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I. Assyria conquers all of Upper Mesopotamia and turns into a large Western Asian state.

OK. 1800 - c. 1300 The highest flowering of the Trojan kingdom. Ended with the earthquake experienced by Troy (1300).

1792 - 1750 BC The reign of the sixth king of the I Babylonian dynasty, Hammurabi, who united Babylon under rule; throughout Mesopotamia, carried out large-scale civil reform and construction programs, and instituted the first systematic legal code. Rise of Babylon

OK. 1742 BC e. Kassite invasion of Babylonia

OK. 1710 - c. 1560 BC Egypt under the Hyksos. The Hyksos introduced the Egyptians to light-wheeled (spoked) chariots drawn by horses, previously little known in Egypt.

OK. 1680 - c. 1650 BC The reign of the Hittite king Labarna. Completion of the unification of the Hittite kingdom.

1620 - 1590 BC The reign of the Hittite king Mursili I. Strengthening of centralization in the Hittite kingdom. The conquest of Babylon by the Hittites (1595), which contributed to the final approval of the Kassite kings on the Babylonian throne.

XVI - XV centuries. BC. The heyday of the state of Mitanni and the creation of a strong power in the territory of Mesopotamia. Mitannian influence extended to a significant part of Assyria and began to penetrate into Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia and even Palestine.

~ 1595 - c. 1155 BC. Kassite rule in Babylon. The regular use of horses and mules in military affairs and transport, the use of a combined plow-sower in agriculture, the creation of a road network, the intensification of foreign trade,

OK. 1580 - 1085 BC The period of the New Kingdom in Egypt. The reign of the three most powerful dynasties - XVIII, XIX and XX. Rise of Ancient Egyptian Civilization, c. 15th century BC. Branching off of the Proto-Slavic tribes from the Indo-European massif.

1490 - 1436 BC The reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III from the XVIII dynasty, one of the most successful Egyptian conquerors. In history, he is known as the first commander who carried out an offensive according to a predetermined plan. As a result of the victorious campaigns of Thutmose III, Palestine and Syria, the lands of Mitanni west of the Euphrates, in the south - vast areas up to the fourth threshold of the Nile were conquered. A grandiose Egyptian power was formed, stretching from north to south for 3200 km. Libya, Assyria, Babylonia, the Hittite kingdom and the island of Crete became dependent on Egypt, paying tribute to it.

OK. 1405 - 1367 BC The reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep 111 from the XVIII dynasty. Under him, the power of Egypt reached its climax, the temple of Amon-Ra in Luxor and the mortuary temple with huge statues of Amenhotep III - the "colossi of Memnon" were built.

OK. 1400 - ca. 1200 BC The heyday of Mycenae, a major center of Achaean culture, the capital of one of the Achaean states.

OK. 1400 - 1027 BC Ancient Chinese State of Yin.

1380 - 1340 BC The reign of the great Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, a sophisticated diplomat, capable commander and far-sighted politician. He expelled the Egyptians from Syria, conquered Mitanni, turned the Hittite kingdom into a powerful military power, stretching from the Chorokh and Araks basins to southern Palestine and from the shores of Galis to the borders of Assyria and Babylonia.

1368 - 1351 BC The reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV from the XVIII dynasty. Trying to break the power of the Theban priesthood and the old nobility, Amenhotep IV acted as a religious reformer, introducing a new state monotheistic cult of the god Aten, who personified the solar disk. He himself took the name Akhenaten, which meant "pleasing to the Aten."

1351 - 1342 BC The reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamun from the XVIII dynasty. Under him, the religious reforms of Amenhotep IV - Akhenaten were canceled. (The tomb of Tutankhamen, excavated in 1922, revealed to the world valuable monuments of ancient Egyptian culture.)

OK. 1340 - 1305 BC The reign of the Hittite king Mursili II. The apogee of the military power of the great Hittite state.

1307 - 1208 BC The period of the reign of the Assyrian kings Adad-Nerari I, Shalmaneser I and Tukulti-Ninurta I, during which the Assyrian state achieves a great upsurge and major foreign policy successes.

1290 - 1224 BC The reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II from the 19th dynasty. As a result of victorious wars with the Hittites, Egyptian power was restored in Palestine and southern Syria. A large temple and economic construction is underway.

OK. 1260 BC In the tenth year of the siege, Troy, a city in the northwest of Asia Minor, was taken and destroyed by cunning. The ten-year Trojan War, which was waged against Troy by a coalition of Achaean kings led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, ended. The events of this war have come down to us thanks to Homer's Iliad.

1225 - 1215 BC The reign of pharaoh Mernept from the 19th dynasty. It was under him that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

OK. 1200 BC Israelites and Philistines invade Canaan (Palestine).

OK. 1200 BC Dorians, one of the main ancient Greek tribes, begin to move from Northern and Central Greece to the southwestern regions of the Peloponnese, and then inhabit the islands of Rhodes, Crete and others.

1198 - 1166 BC The reign of Pharaoh Ramesses III from the XX dynasty. The last pharaoh, under which Egypt is still able to repel the invasion of the Libyan tribes and the "peoples of the sea."

OK. 1190 BC Under the pressure of the “peoples of the sea”, the Hittite state collapsed and ceased to exist forever.

1155 BC The Elamite king Kutir-Nakhkhunte II captured Babylonia. The heyday of the power of Elam, its power extends from the Persian Gulf in the south to the region of the modern city of Hamadan in the north.

1126 - 1105 BC The reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I. A crushing victory over Elam (1115) leads to the overthrow of the rule of the Elamites over Babylon. Short-term heyday of Babylonia.

1085 - 945 BC Rule of the XXI dynasty in Egypt. More and more Libyans, mostly former mercenaries, are settling in Egypt. Some notable Libyans hold high priestly and military positions.

OK. 1030 BC Saul becomes king of Israel.

1027 - 771 BC Western Zhou era in China.

OK. 1013 - 974 BC The reign of David, king of Judah, and later - the entire Israel-Jewish kingdom. He pursued a policy of creating a centralized monarchy. Having conquered Jerusalem, David made it his capital. X - VIII centuries. BC. The period of the highest prosperity of the Phrygian kingdom.

969 - 936 BC The reign of the Phoenician king Ahiram (Hiram). Rise of the Tyro-Sidon kingdom.

950 - 730 BC The reign of the XXII (Libyan) dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt. The founder - Sheshenq I - one of the Libyan leaders who seized the royal throne. Unstable internal situation, separatism of the nomarchs, weakening of the central government. The looming threat of the Assyrian invasion.

OK. 900 - approx. 800 BC The Etruscans arrived on the Apennine Peninsula by sea, probably from Asia Minor.

883 - 824 BC The reign of the Assyrian kings Ashurnatsirapal II (before 859) and Shalmaneser III (after 859), during which the aggressive foreign policy of Assyria sharply intensified.

864 - 845 BC The reign of King Aramu, the first ruler of the united Urartu.

825 BC Phoenician colonists from the city of Tire founded Carthage.

825 - 810 BC The reign of the Urartian king Ishluini. It was marked by vigorous activity to strengthen the unified state.

817 - 730 BC The reign of the XXIII dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt. The founder - Petubastis - one of the nomarchs who are not subject to the pharaohs of the XXII dynasty, declared himself the pharaoh of all Egypt. The XXIII dynasty ruled simultaneously with the XXII dynasty, but none of them had real power during this period.

786 - 764 BC The reign of the Urartian king Argishti I. The zenith of the power of the Urartian state. The beginning of the decisive battle between Urartu and Assyria for dominance in Asia Minor.

776 BC First Olympic Games. (They were held in honor of the god Zeus in Olympia 1 time in 4 years. Lasted 5 days. Canceled in 394 AD)

770 - 256 BC Eastern Zhou era in China. The rise of Chinese culture (the emergence of philosophical schools - Confucianism, Fajia, Taoism, etc.).

753 - 715 BC The reign of Romulus, the first (according to legend) king of Rome. Together with his twin brother Remus, he founded Rome (753 BC).

745 - 727 BC The reign of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. In 734 he conquers Israel, in 732 Damascus, and in 729 he takes the crown of Babylon, which remains under the Assyrian yoke almost continuously until 627 BC. Under the rule of Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyria reaches the zenith of its power.

743 - 724 BC First Messenian War. The Spartans capture Messenia. The vanquished must give Sparta half of the harvest.

735 - 713 BC The reign of the Urartian king Rusa I was marked by the growth of the power of Urartu, but ended with the final and irrevocable defeat of Urartu from Assyria (714) in the struggle for political hegemony in Western Asia.

730 - 715 BC The reign of the XXIV dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt (Sais prince Tefnakht). Unification of the Delta and Upper Egypt regions.

722 - 705 BC The reign of the Assyrian king Sargon II. Assyria defeated the Kingdom of Israel (722) and defeated Urartu (714), lost and again restored power over Babylonia.

715 - 664 BC The reign of the XXV (Ethiopian) dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt. Complete unification of the country.

705 - 681 BC The reign of the Assyrian king Sinnacherib. Suppression of the resistance of the states conquered by Assyria. Babylon is taken by storm and destroyed (689).

692 - 654 BC The reign of the Lydian king Gyges. The beginning of the heyday of the Lydian kingdom.

685 - 668 BC The Second Messenian War is an uprising of the Messenians led by Aristomenes against the rule of Sparta. The rebels, in alliance with some cities of Arcadia, inflict a series of defeats on the Spartans. However, Sparta manages to defeat the Messenians, who turn into disenfranchised members of the Spartan community - helots.

681 - 669 BC The reign of the Assyrian king Esarhadtzon. Restoration of the previously destroyed Babylon (679 - 678); wars against the Phoenician city-states of Tyre (676) and Sidon (671); the transformation of Egypt into an Assyrian province (671). Assyrian power stretches from the first rapids of the Nile to Transcaucasia, from the Iranian plateau to Anatolia, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. 672 BC. Having expelled the Assyrians from the western part of their territory, the Medes created an independent state.

669 - c. 633 BC. The reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Wars with Egypt, Elam, Babylonia in an attempt to keep them under the rule of Assyria. The final fall of Egypt (about 655).

664 - 525 BC The reign of the XXVI (Sais) dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt. The liberation of Egypt from the yoke of the Assyrians. The last flowering of statehood and culture of Ancient Egypt.

657-627 BC The tyranny of Cypselos in Corinth. Economic, political and cultural flourishing of Corinth.

650 BC Huan Gong, the ruler of Qi, is officially proclaimed hegemon in the Central China Plain. After his death (643), the kingdom of Qi lost its hegemon position.

636 - 628 BC Reign of Weyag-gun, king of Jin. The period of the highest power of the Jin kingdom, hegemon in the Central China Plain.

632 BC The Athenian aristocrat Cylon, the winner in the Olympic competitions, tried to establish tyranny in Athens, but to no avail (Kilonian turmoil).

627 - 585 BC Tyranny of Periander in Corinth. He continued the policy of his father - Kipsel, eliminated many tribal remnants, organized extensive construction.

OK. 625 - 584 BC The reign of the Indian king Cyaxares. In alliance with Babylonia, he destroyed the Assyrian state (605), annexed the territories of Mana, Urartu and the eastern part of Asia Minor to Media.

626 - 605 BC Division of the Assyrian empire between Babylonia and Media. The Assyrian nobility was exterminated, the cities were wiped off the face of the earth, the ordinary population scattered, mixed with other peoples.

626 - 539 BC Chaldean (New Babylonian) power in Babylonia.

621 BC The appearance of the first written laws in ancient Greece. The compiler is the Athenian archon Drakon. The laws were distinguished by cruelty (hence the "draconian laws", "draconian measures").

616 - 510 BC Rule in Rome of the Etruscan kings Tarquinius613 - 591 BC The reign of Zhuang-wang, king of Chu, the first hegemon on the Central China Plain, who did not recognize the supreme supremacy of Zhou.

612 BC The Assyrian capital of Nineveh was destroyed, and its inhabitants were slaughtered by the troops of the Babylonian (Chaldean) king Nabopolassar and the Median king Cyaxares.

610 - 595 BC Reign of Pharaoh Necho II. Major work on the construction of a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. By order of Necho, Phoenician sailors made an unparalleled voyage around Africa.

605 - 562 BC The reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. Captured the territory of Syria and Palestine (605), made a trip to Northern Arabia (598). Twice the rebellious destroyed Jerusalem (597 and 587), liquidated the Kingdom of Judah and took a large number of the inhabitants of Judea into captivity. Under him, the so-called Tower of Babel and hanging gardens were built.

594 BC Solon, a poet, military leader and statesman, was elected archon of Athens. Solon is carrying out reforms to accelerate the elimination of remnants of the tribal system. All debts of peasants and debt slavery are cancelled.

OK. 590 BC. The first "holy war" in Greece (for control of the Delphic sanctuary).

590 - 585 BC The war between Lydia and Media, which ended in peace, the conclusion of which was influenced by a total solar eclipse on May 28, 585, recognized as a bad omen (during the battle, both sides threw down their weapons in horror).

578 - 534 BC The reign of the sixth Roman king Servius Tullius. He is credited with carrying out the centuriate reform, according to which the plebeians were introduced into the Roman community and the entire population of Rome was divided into 5 categories according to the property qualification.

562 - 546 BC The reign of the Lydian king Croesus. The period of the foreign policy heyday of Lydia; ended in a military disaster (546). Lydia became part of the Persian state as one of its satrapies.

560 - 527 BC The reign (with interruptions) of the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus. He carried out reforms in the interests of farmers and trade and craft strata (distribution of land to the rural poor, the minting of state coins, etc.), created a mercenary army, organized public construction (market, water supply, Piraeus harbor, temples, etc.).

558 - 530 BC The reign of the Persian king Cyrus II the Great. He conquered Media, Lydia, Greek cities in Asia Minor, a significant part of Central Asia. He conquered Mesopotamia, including Babylon, reducing it to the position of an ordinary satrapy. Founded the Persian Empire.

OK. 551 - 479 BC Life of Confucius, ancient Chinese thinker, founder of Confucianism.

OK. 540 - ca. 522 The tyranny of Polycrates on the island of Samos. He pursued a policy in the interests of the trade and craft layers: state coinage, construction work, the creation of a military and merchant fleet and army, the struggle with the cities of Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean Sea for trade routes.

530 - 522 BC. The reign of the Persian king Cambyses II. Conquered Egypt (525) and was officially proclaimed pharaoh, founding the XXVII dynasty.

525 - 332 BC Egypt under the rule of the Persians (after 404 BC - intermittently).

OK. 524 BC The defeat of the Etruscans in a naval battle with the Greeks off the coast of Campania.

522 - 486 BC The reign of the Persian king Darius I. Suppressed uprisings in Babylonia, Media, Margiana, Elam, Egypt and Parthia. Conquered the northwestern part of India (c. 518). He made an unsuccessful campaign against the Scythians (512). Failed in the Greco-Persian Wars. He carried out a number of administrative, tax and other reforms, carried out significant construction. The heyday of the Persian Empire, its borders stretch from the Indus in the east to the Aegean in the west, from Armenia in the north to the first Nile threshold in the south.

510 BC The Athenian demos was led by Cleisthenes. Having overthrown the tyranny of the Peisistratids, Cleisthenes carried out a series of democratic reforms that consolidated the victory of the demos over the tribal aristocracy.

509 BC The overthrow of the Etruscan rule in Rome and the establishment of the Republic. The military-political power of the king passed to the consuls.

508 BC The treaty between Rome and Carthage recognizes the exclusive interests of Rome in the Apennine Peninsula and Carthage in Africa. approx. 505 BC Unification in the Peloponnesian Union of the ancient Greek policies of the Peloponnese (except for Argos and some policies of Achaia) under the hegemony of Sparta.

500 BC An uprising against Persian rule in Miletus, which was joined by Greek cities in the south and north of Asia Minor. The Athenians send twenty ships to help the rebels (498), which became the pretext for the Greco-Persian wars. The Persians defeat the Greeks (498), capture and raze Miletus to the ground (494), and then crush the rebellion everywhere (493).

500 - 449 BC. Greco-Persian wars between Persia and the ancient Greek city-states that defended their independence. ended with the victory of the Greeks. Persia lost possessions in the Aegean Sea, on the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosporus, recognized the political independence of the policies of Asia Minor.

25.07.2016

Archaeologists of Georgia in 2015 discovered an inscription on the altar during excavations on Mount Grakliani, near the village of Igoeti, 40 kilometers from Tbilisi. At first, the age of the inscription was presumably estimated as 7-8 centuries BC.

Now the date is set as accurately as possible. A laboratory in the USA confirmed that the inscription was made in the late 11th and early 10th century BC.

“We took three samples from here, they were sent to the Miami Beta Lab. And the other day we received a completely sensational answer - that this inscription was made either at the end of the 11th century or in the 10th century BC, ”Professor Vakhtang Licheli, head of the Tbilisi State University archaeological expedition, told reporters.
According to him, this means that writing actually appeared on the territory of Georgia three thousand years ago. “We used to think that this happened 1,500 years ago, but now these data have changed and are scientifically confirmed,” the expedition leader said. According to him, the inscription has not yet been deciphered, but scientists suggest that since it was made on the pedestal of the altar, it is related to religion. The meaning of such messages at that time was owned only by priests.
Archaeological excavations in Grakliani also confirm that there was not a spontaneous settlement here, but an organized society where traditions were observed and aesthetic things were created.
Excavations on Grakliani have been underway since 2007, and many unique finds have been made during this period. Among them are seals made in the 4th century BC. e. in southern Mesopotamia. According to Licheli, these are the only such exhibits found in the Caucasus region, they were used to certify legal documents.
The settlements found in Grakliani are laid out on terraces. The houses were of the same type, and climatic conditions were taken into account during their construction - all buildings were oriented to the south, and in winter the sunlight freely penetrated into the houses.
“When Alexander the Great conquered Babylon, he sent an army here to annex the Caucasus. This settlement became a victim of this process. This is evidenced by numerous ceramic dishes that were found in an already abandoned place,” says Prof. Liceli.
The participants of the excavations are students from Georgia, Europe and the USA, they told reporters that in the pagan temple discovered in Grakliani 2500 years ago, the gods of fire and fertility were extolled.
According to them, the settlement discovered in Grakliani is an example of a civilization at the turn of the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Fine pottery was produced here. The inhabitants of Grakliani had their own faith and developed culture. If we take into account the latest data, it turns out that it was they who were the first to create writing in the Caucasus.

Information about the archaeological site of Gracliani appears in the leading scientific publications in France, Holland, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and Spain.

One of the two temple complexes found in Grakliani dates back to the reign of the first king of Iberia (Eastern Georgia) - King Parnavaz (life years 331-239 BC).

The new discovery also completely changes our understanding of historical events in the world. Previously, it was believed that the Caucasus was distanced from the processes of destruction of Ancient Greece and the Hittite empire in the Middle East that were taking place at that time in the world, the expedition participants note.

Until recently, archaeologists attributed the appearance of writing in Georgia to the 4th-5th centuries AD. Although there were suggestions that writing could have been developed on the territory of Georgia in pre-Christian times.

Amphora, "gadra" style, IV-III centuries BC (Theodosian Museum of Antiquities)

The most active in the development of the north Black Sea coasts was the city of Miletus, located on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor (this area was called Ionia) and inhabited by the Ionian Greeks (one of the groups of Hellenic tribes). It developed very intensively, here, faster than in other emerging policies, the internal prerequisites for colonization matured, in addition, from the middle of the 7th century BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor suffered from the aggression of the eastern states - Lydia, Media, and in the 6th century BC AD - Persia.

The first half - the middle of the 6th century BC - the time of the most active settlement of the inhabitants of Ionia outside their homeland. The Greek writer Arrian called Theodosius "an ancient Hellenic city, Ionian, a colony of the Milesians." Fragments of black-figure ceramics and terracotta figurines from Hellas, made no earlier than the second half of the 6th century BC, were found in Feodosia. The most likely time for the founding of Theodosius is around the middle of the 6th century BC.

The next wave of colonists falls at the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC. It is associated with the anti-Persian uprising of the Greek cities of Ionia, led by Miletus and ended in defeat. It is likely that at that time another batch of settlers from Ionia arrived in Feodosia.

In the first half of the 4th c. BC e. the city became part of the Bosporan state and received a new name - Feodosia - "Given by God". We first meet the name of the city "Feodosia" in the sources of the 4th century BC - the works of ancient authors, inscriptions of the Bosporan kingdom and on the coins minted by the city.

The remark of the ancient grammarian Ulpian is very important: "Feodosia is a place in the Bosporus. The name of the marketplace was given either from a sister or from a wife: there is disagreement about this." Many researchers believe that we are talking about the sister or wife of the Bosporus ruler Levkon 1, who, as we will see later, conquered the independent Theodosian state and annexed it to his possessions. This sad event happened in the first decades of the 4th century BC. It follows that the city used to have a different name. Which?

When the Theodosian state was independent, it issued coins with the inscriptions: "theodeo" or "feodos". This is an abbreviated word, possibly from the male name Theodeos, which includes the word "theo" (deity). Note that on the front side of the early Theodosian coins, a male head is clearly visible. It is known that the Greeks often called their colonies by the names of their founders (Oikists), and after death they honored them as heroes. It seems that the colonists, who settled on the coast of the Feodosia Gulf, named their city in honor of its founder, and later placed his portrait (with a ribbon on his head as a sign of heroization) on their first coins.

--

When Levkon 1 annexed the city to his kingdom, he apparently renamed it Theodosia (Theodosia), that is, God's gift. It is impossible not to notice that the new name is close in sound to the old one, it is possible that in this way the Bosporus king tried to win over his new subjects. In addition, Levkon felt like the second founder of the city: in the 4th century BC, after joining the Bosporus, Theodosius experienced a period of prosperity.

For Levkon and his successors, such an acquisition as Theodosius really became a "gift of God": the royal family and many business people in the Bosporus were enriched at its expense. It is very likely that the deity in the new name of the city meant Apollo, who, firstly, was considered by the Greeks as the patron of the colonists, and secondly, was the supreme deity in the Bosporus. Theodosian coins with the image, possibly, of Apollo and the inscription "Theodos", reflecting the already new name of the city, could be minted shortly after its annexation to the Bosporus. The legends of the next two coin issues - "feudo" and "feu" - also represent the new name of the city - Feodosia.

The starting point is the Nativity of Christ - Jesus Christ. True, many researchers give other dates for the birth of the Savior, and someone refuses to believe in his existence at all, but the conditional calendar reference point exists, and there is no point in changing it. In order not to offend adherents of other religions and atheists, this conditional date, from which the years are counted, is called "our era."

Beginning of our era

According to the Gregorian calendar, our era began with its first year. In other words, first comes the first year BC, and then immediately the first year of our era. There is no additional zero year that could become a "reference point" between these years.

A century is a time span of 100 years. Namely, in 100, and not in 99. Therefore, if the first year of the first century was the first year of our era, then its last year was the hundredth year. Thus, the next - the second century began not from the hundredth year, but from the 101st. If the beginning of our era was year zero, then the period would cover the time from it to the year 99 inclusive, and the second century would begin from the year 100, but there is no zero year in the Gregorian calendar.

In the same way, all subsequent centuries ended and began. Not the 1999s completed them, but subsequent “round” dates with two zeros. Ages do not begin with round dates, but with the first year. The 17th century began in 1601, the 19th - in 1801. Accordingly, the first year of the 21st century was not 2000, as many thought, in a hurry to celebrate, but 2001. At the same time, the third millennium began. The year 2000 did not start the 21st, but ended the 20th century.

astronomical time

A slightly different account of time is used in astronomical science. This is due to the fact that the change of day, a, and years on Earth occurs gradually, hour by hour, and astronomers need a specific reference point that would be common to the entire Earth, for any part of it. As such, the moment was chosen when the indicator of the average longitude of the Sun, if reduced by 20.496 arc seconds, is exactly 280 degrees. From this point in time, an astronomical unit of time is counted, which is a tropical year, or Bessel year - named after the German astronomer and FW Bessel.

The Bessel year begins a day earlier than the calendar year - December 31. In the same way, astronomers count years, so there is a zero year, 1 BC is considered such. In such a system, the last year of the century is indeed the year 99, and the next century begins with the “round date”.

But historians still consider years and centuries not according to the astronomical calendar, but according to the Gregorian, therefore, each century should begin from the first year, and not from the previous “zero”.