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Right Ahead |
Left Behind |
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1st Millennium BC |
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| Chinese invent the sundial. | -30 | |
| -43 | December 7 Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated. | |
| -44 | Julius Caesar makes himself dictator for life. | |
| February 29 Julius Caesar establishes the Julian calendar of 365.25 days and institutes leap year. | -45 |
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| City of Florence founded. | -62 |
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| Chinese develop the magnetic compass. Romans use waterpower to mill grain. |
-101 |
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| Judea gains independence from Syria. | -142 |
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| -146 | Romans sell 500,000
Carthaginian citizens into slavery. |
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| -212 | Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang burns writings of dissidents and some dissidents. | |
| Construction begins on the Great Wall of China. | -214 | |
| -215 | Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China, attempts to destroy philosophical texts. | |
| -225 | Alexander destroys Thebes. | |
| June 19 Eratosthenes accurately measures the diameter and circumference of Earth. | -240 | |
| -264 | Gladiator combat
becomes popular in Rome. |
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Archimedes invents Archimedean screw.
Archimedes defines specific gravity. |
-265 | |
| Alexandria's harbor is marked by a 300-foot lighthouse. | -285 | |
|
Euclid produces Elements, outlining his principles of geometry.
Hellenistic Age begins in Greece as science, art, philosophy, and reason reign. Greek philosopher Democritus conceives idea that all matter is composed of atoms. Aristotle establishes lyceum. |
-300 | |
| -322 | Demosthenes commits suicide. | |
| Ptolemy establishes Museum of Alexandria. | -323 | |
| -390 | Gauls sack Rome. | |
| -399 | Socrates ordered to die for his unconventional ideas. | |
| City of London founded. | -400 | |
| Hippocrates introduces scientific medicine. | -429 | |
| Greek philosopher, Leucippus, declares that all natural events have a natural cause. | -430 | |
| -431 | Greek physician, Empedocles, introduces the concept of the four bodily humors. | |
| Greek philosopher,
Heraclitus, teaches that "all is flux."
Heraclitus declares that dreams are not journeys into the supernatural. |
-440 | End of Indian civilization in Mexico. Jewish law forbids marriage between Jews and aliens. |
| Greek Golden Age begins. | -457 | Pericles introduces dualistic scheme of the universe. |
| Roman farmer, Cincinnatus, resigns as dictator after defending the city from invaders. | -458 | |
| -479 | Persians destroy Babylon. | |
| Confucius begins to write. | -495 | |
| Chinese philosopher, Han Fei-Tzu, writes that food production is more important to survival that population growth. | -500 | Indians develop Jainism, urging escape from illusions of physical world. |
| Confucius begins to develop his philosophy. | -551 | |
| Cult of Dionysius attempts to thwart hereditary priesthood in Athenian nobility. | -546 | |
| Anaximander of Miletus draws the first map of the known world. | -540 | |
| -580 | Siddartha Gautama develops Buddhism. | |
| Thales of Milletus accurately predicts a solar eclipse. | -585 | |
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Nebuchadnezzar II builds the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. |
-586 | Judah conquered by Assyrians. |
| -594 | Athenians halt agricultural exports, plant more olive trees causing erosion of Greek hillsides. | |
| -597 | Babylonians conquer Jerusalem. | |
| Anaximander of Miletus draws the first map of the known world. | -600 | Nebuchadnezzar II burns Jerusalem. |
| Egyptians begin circumnavigation of Africa. | -609 | |
| -621 | Athenian lawyer Draco introduces harsh, "Draconian" laws and punishments. | |
| Coinage introduced by Greeks. | -625 | |
| Greeks begin to speculate on the nature of the universe. | -635 | |
| -650 | Zoroaster develops religion with concept of good and evil. | |
| Byzantium founded by Greeks. | -658 | |
| -698 | Babylon destroyed by Assyrians. | |
| Chinese introduce crop rotation, field drainage, equipment rental, and grain surplus storage. Aqueducts constructed in the Near East. |
-700 | Greeks begin to worship gods. |
| -710 | Ethiopians conquer Egypt.
Assyrians destroy Memphis and Thebes. |
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| Rome founded. | -756 | |
| Greeks stage first Olympics. | -776 | |
| Greeks and Egyptians begin to trade. | -801 | Indians begin to venerate cows and dairy products. |
| Homer creates Illiad and Odyssey. | -850 | |
| Chinese cut and refrigerate rice.
Chinese use rockets and fireworks, called "arrows of fire" in records seized from Kai-Fung-Fu. |
-1000 | Chinese deforestation set the stage for erosion and floods. |
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