1st millennium BC

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Millennia:

2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium

The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of successive empires. The Neo-Assyrian Empire, followed by the Achaemenids. In Greece, Classical Antiquity begins with the colonization of Magna Graecia and peaks with the rise of Hellenism. The close of the millennium sees the rise of the Roman Empire. In South Asia, the Vedic civilization blends into the Maurya Empire. The early Celts dominate Central Europe while Northern Europe is in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The Scythians dominate Central Asia. In China, Spring and Autumn Period sees the rise of Confucianism. Towards the close of the millennium, the Han Dynasty extends Chinese power towards Central Asia, where it borders on Indo-Greek and Iranian states. The Maya civilization rises in Central America. The religions of Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism (Vedic religion and Vedanta), Jainism and Buddhism develop. Graeco-Roman Europe, India and China see the rise of literature. World population triples in the course of the millennium, reaching some 170 million people at its close.

Events

• The Iron Age spreads to Western Europe
• Egypt declined as a major power
• The Tanakh was written
• Buddhism was founded by Siddharta Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (6th century BC)
• Jainism was founded by Mahavira (6th century BC)
• Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and created the Persian Empire (6th century BC)
• Sparta and Athens fought the Peloponnesian War
• Darius the Great expanded the Persian Empire to its greatest reach, which extended from Greece, down towards Egypt, and east towards Pakistan (5th century BC)
• Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire (4th century BC)
• Hellenic Greek culture spread through the Mediterranean
• Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire (4th century BC)
• Ashoka the Great expanded the Mauryan Empire to its greatest extent, after conquering most of the Indian subcontinent along with Afghanistan (3rd century BC)
• China was unified under the Qin Dynasty (3rd century BC)
• Celts invaded Western Europe
• The Roman Republic is established
• Rome and Carthage fought the Punic wars
• The Maya civilisation began

Significant persons

• David, Israelite king
• Zoroaster, founder of Zoroastrianism
• Mahavira, founder of Jainism (6th century BC)
• Gautama Buddha, Hindu prince, founder of Buddhism (6th century BC)
• Lao Zi, Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism (6th century BC)
• Confucius, Chinese philosopher (6th century BC)
• Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire (6th century BC)
• Darius the Great, ruler of the Persian Empire (5th century BC)
• Pānini, Indian Sanskrit grammarian, world's first known linguist, considered the father of computing machines (7th-4th century BC)
• Homer, Greek poet (6th-3rd century BC)
• Isaiah, Hebrew prophet
• Jeremiah, Hebrew prophet
• Ezekiel, Hebrew prophet
• Pericles, Athenian statesman
• Socrates, Greek philosopher
• Plato, Greek philosopher
• Aristotle, Greek philosopher
• Alexander the Great, Macedonian conqueror (4th century BC)
• Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan empire (4th century BC)
• Ashoka the Great, ruler of the Mauryan empire (3rd century BC)
• Pingala, Indian mathematician, inventor of the binary number system and the concept of zero
• Qin Shihuang, first emperor of China (3rd century BC)
• Euclid, Alexandrian mathematician
• Archimedes, Greek scientist
• Cicero, Latin orator and philosopher
• Julius Caesar, Roman conqueror and dictator (c. 100 BC-44 BC)
• Virgil, Latin poet

Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

• Iron use becomes widespread
• Buoyancy principle is discovered
• Geometry is developed
• Pythagorean theorem proved
• Eratosthenes proves that the earth is a sphere and estimates its diameter.
• The Phoenicians propagate the phonetic alphabet in the Mediterranean
• Many major religious and philosophical viewpoints are created, further explored or codified

Cultural landmarks

• The Axial Age (8th century BC - 2nd century BC), according to the theory of Karl Jaspers

Centuries and Decades

10th century BC	990s BC	980s BC	970s BC	960s BC	950s BC	940s BC	930s BC	920s BC	910s BC	900s BC
9th century BC	890s BC	880s BC	870s BC	860s BC	850s BC	840s BC	830s BC	820s BC	810s BC	800s BC
8th century BC	790s BC	780s BC	770s BC	760s BC	750s BC	740s BC	730s BC	720s BC	710s BC	700s BC
7th century BC	690s BC	680s BC	670s BC	660s BC	650s BC	640s BC	630s BC	620s BC	610s BC	600s BC
6th century BC	590s BC	580s BC	570s BC	560s BC	550s BC	540s BC	530s BC	520s BC	510s BC	500s BC
5th century BC	490s BC	480s BC	470s BC	460s BC	450s BC	440s BC	430s BC	420s BC	410s BC	400s BC
4th century BC	390s BC	380s BC	370s BC	360s BC	350s BC	340s BC	330s BC	320s BC	310s BC	300s BC
3rd century BC	290s BC	280s BC	270s BC	260s BC	250s BC	240s BC	230s BC	220s BC	210s BC	200s BC
2nd century BC	190s BC	180s BC	170s BC	160s BC	150s BC	140s BC	130s BC	120s BC	110s BC	100s BC
1st century BC	90s BC	80s BC	70s BC	60s BC	50s BC	40s BC	30s BC	20s BC	10s BC	0s BC

 

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