The Ancient World

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Narrative Outline - an introduction

Prehistory

Billions of Years - a scientific theory (edited Feb/2008)

Hunters, Gatherers, Growers and Gods - to 4001 BCE

Origins of War - tribal raiding to empire

The Middle East and Africa

The Sumerians - religious continuity, writing, conquest, a concept of sin and paradise (edited Jan/2008)

Africa and Egypt to 1750 BCE - from south of the Sahara to civilization on the Nile

Sargon and the Vanishing Sumerians - Mesopotamia, sin and the Amorites

Myths of Creation and a Great Flood - literature surviving the Sumerians

Hammurabi : Babylon - Hammurabi's conquests, dynasty and its fall to 1550

The Middle East to 1050 BCE - Hyksos, Egyptians, Hittites, Hurrians and Aramaeans

The Hebrews to 1000 BCE - stories of Abraham, Moses and King David (edited Jan/2008)

Solomon, Prophets and Punishment to 640 BCE - Israel to the "lost tribes" and the Assyrian Empire

Zoroastrians and Judaism to 400 BCE - a Jewish state within the Persian Empire

Civilization in India

Ancient India and Hinduism to 1000 BCE - lost civilization, invasion, conquest and caste (edited Mar/2008)

The Upanishads and India to 500 BCE - new cities and attitudes

Jains and Buddhists to 450 BCE - rebellion against Hinduism

Hindu Epic Literature - the Ramayana and Mahabharata

The Maurya Empire and a Dark Age - 320 BCE to 185 CE

The Gupta Empire and Hinduism - to 550 CE

The Far East

The Shang and Zhou Dynasties - to 1000 BCE on the North China plain

Confucius, Taoists and Change, to 260 BCE - argument and war

The Qin and Han Dynasties - 350 BCE to 306 CE

China and Korea, 300 to 500 CE - Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, disintegration and rule by murder

The Ancient Japanese - 300 BCE to 500 CE

Greeks, Alexander, Hellenism and Jews

Europe before 1000 BCE - agriculture, the Mycenae Greeks, Minoans and a dark age

The Greeks to 480 BCE - Homer, class rule and the birth of philosophy

Ancient Greeks, Democracy and Decline - to the 300s BCE

Ideas from Anaxagoras to Aristotle - 480 to 322 BCE

Alexander the Great - 356 to 323 BCE

Alexander's Empire Disintegrates - to 246 BCE

Hellenistic Societies to 222 BCE - trade, diffusions, prosperity and misery

Cynics, Epicureans, Stoics and Skeptics - 400 to 200 BCE

Jews, the Septuagint and Tradition - to 200 BCE

Rome, Jews and Christians

The Rise of Rome - 753 to 221 BCE (edited Jan/2008)

Roman Empire, Republic and Politics by Violence - to 79 BCE

Judea and Civil War - 150 to 63 BCE

From Republic to Emperor Augustus - 73 BCE to 14 CE

Jews and Christians in Rome's Golden Age - the Essenes, Jesus, and Christianity organizes

Family Rule from Tiberius to Nero - 14 to 65 CE

Rome, from Golden Age to Political Chaos - from prosperity to decay under the Severans

Rome's Decline and Christianity's Ascent - to 306 CE

Rome's Christian Emperors - to 410 CE

Augustine Influences Christianity - to 420 CE

Remnants of the Roman Empire to 500 CE - Rome disintegrates

Persia under the Sassanids

Ardashir and the Persians, to 241 CE - Persian culture and the Sassanid Empire begins

Manichaeism, a Universalist Faith - 210 to 276 CE, the Zoroastrian priesthood against religious innovation

The Sassanids to 500 CE - Shapur the Great, war, weakness, communist revolution, and defeat

Africa, Oceania and America

The Americas to 1000 BCE - and benefits prior to agriculture

Southeast Asia and Oceania to 1000 BCE - migrations

Africa, Iron and Empire to 500 CE - aggressions, migrations, iron and empire

The Americas, Southeast Asia and Oceania to 500 CE - migrations, order, disorder and demise