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TIMELINE 3rd MILLENNIUM B.C.
Copyright 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000 by Magic Dragon Multimedia.
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We examine both works of fiction and important contemporaneous works on non-fiction which set the context for early Science Fiction and Fantasy.

There are 48 hotlinks here to authors, magazines, films, or television items elsewhere in the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide or beyond. Most recently updated: 17 March 2002 [43 Kilobytes]

This web page draws heavily on FACTS as listed in "The Timetables of Science", by Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988]. It does not copy the TEXT of that fine and recommended reference, and has value added in correlating the scientific and literary production of the century, and in hotlinking to additional resources.
Facts were also checked against "The 1979 Hammond Almanac" [ed. Martin A. Bacheller et al., Maplewood, New Jersey, 1978], p.795. It also utilizes facts from Volume I of D.E. Smith's "History of Mathematics" [(c) 1921 by David Eugene Smith; (c) 1951 by May Luse Smith; New York: Dover, 1958]. Jump Straight to the Chronology, or else first read:

3rd MILLENNIUM B.C.: Executive Summary

{to be done}

Mathematical/Scientific/Philosophical People of the Millennium:

Imhotep
wife of Emperor Huang-ti
more {to be done}
(we know the rulers, but rarely the geniuses in their courts)

Chronological list of Politico-Military Names

King Etana
Cheops (Khu-Fu)
Meskiaggasher
Emperor Huang-ti
Gilgamesh
King Lugalannemundu
King Eannatum
Sargon the Great
Queen Semiramis
Ur-Nammu
more {to be done}

Fiction About the 3rd MILLENNIUM B.C. {to be done} Jump to Century-by-Century Chronology of 3rd MILLENNIUM B.C.: 3100 BC to 3000 BC 3,000 BC to 2,900 BC 2,900 BC to 2,800 BC 2,800 BC to 2,700 BC 2,700 BC to 2,600 BC 2,600 BC to 2,500 BC 2,500 BC to 2,400 BC 2,400 BC to 2,300 BC 2,300 BC to 2,200 BC 2,200 BC to 2,100 BC 2,100 BC to 2,050 BC 2,050 BC to 2,000 BC

3100 BC to 3000 BC

3,100 - 2,700 BC: Old Kingdom Egypt [David W. Koeller] 3150-2890 B.C.: First Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Narmer
Aha
Djer
Djet
Den
Anedjib
Semerkhet
Qaa

Principal Kings of Egypt

3,000 BC to 2,900 BC

Cuneiform writing is developed by the Sumerians as an outgrowth of their method of recording numbers [Hellemans p.10] Chapter 4 of John Heise's 'Akkadian language' on the origin and development of cuneiform. The Babylonians predict eclipses. [Hellemans p.10] Donkeys and mules are domesticated in what is now Israel. [Hellemans p.11] Cotton is cultivated in India. [Hellemans p.10] Tooth filling occurs in Sumer. [Hellemans p.10] Impressions of clay tokens used in Sumeria for showing measures of grain become standardized as the first numerals; a small measure of grain becomes 1, while a larger measure becomes 10; around the same time symbols are introduced for 60 and 360. [Hellemans p.11] c. 3,000 BC: Near modern Baghdad stood the city of Kish, which became one of the major cities of Sumer during the reign of King Etana. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 3,000-1,500 BC: In the Indus valley of Northern India, there were two great civilizations: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, both with architecture of court-yard houses, and both with modern drainage technology. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] ca.3000 BC: There were, at this time, 12 city-states in Sumer:

Kish
Uruk (in the Bible, Erech)
Ur
Sippar
Akshak
Larak
Nippur
Adab
Umma
Lagash
Bad-tibira
Larsa

Sumerian King List (one of the earliest historical documents) claims that eight kings of Sumer reigned before the famous flood [see 5000 BC]. After that, it claims, the city-states vied for the temporary seat of power until roughly 2800 BC, when King Etana of Kish united them under his power. After Etana, the city-states warred for power; thus weakened the Sumerian Empire, ripening it for conquest, by the Elamites, and then by the Akkadians. Babylonia and Assyria according to Compton's Encyclopedia 2,980-2950: Imhotep, Egyptian physician and architect (born near Memphis). [Hellemans p.10] Imhotep was thought to be a commoner at birth, living in the reigns of Djoser and his successors. Imhotep was promoted through the ranks of temple and governmental officials, becaming one of Djoser's most trusted advisors. Imhotep, at last, High Priest of Ptah, vizier, "overseer of works", architect, and was considered responsible for the construction of Djoser's Step Pyramid and its surrounding funerary complex. Imhotep on Geocities

2,900 BC to 2,800 BC

Sumerian writing progresses from simple pictographs to symbols that can represent syllables, greatly extending the scope of written language; a key element in the transition is the representation of proper names with symbols that stand for parts of the name. [Hellemans p.10] The Great Pyramid of Giza is built as a tomb for the Egyptian pharaoh Cheops (Khu-Fu); the base is almost a perfect square; with the greatest deviation froma right-angle only 0.05%; the orientation of its sides is exactly north-south and east-west. [Hellemans p.11] Family Tree of King Cheops The first version of Stonehenge is constructed on the Salisbury Plain (England); it consists of an earthen bank and a ditch, along with 56 pits known as the Aubrey Holes, after John Aubrey, who discovered them, and only three stones, including the Heel Stone. [Hellemans p.11] Dating Stonehenge 2890-2649 B.C.: Second Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Hotepsekhemwy
Peribsen
Khasekhemwy

Principal Kings of Egypt 2900 BC: Mesopotamia; Mesopotamian flood Sir Max Mallowan, successor to Leonard Woolley, estimates date of Mesopotamian flood at 2900 BC using Sumerian King list. However many will dismiss the idea of there ever having been a single flood and assign dates hundreds of years apart for various "flood layers" in different tells.. #49. Stanford "3000 BC" notes 2900 BC: Global; Huang Ho River First recorded Huang Ho River flood in 4275 BP Ward, 1978, "Floods, a geographical perspective." #50. Stanford "3000 BC" notes

2,800 BC to 2,700 BC

c. 2,800 BC: In Erech, a dynasty was founded by Meskiaggasher, which came to rival city of Kish, in Sumer. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2800 BC: Mesopotamia; The Flood and Noah's Ark Andre Parrot in his 1954 book "The Flood and Noah"s Ark" indicates significant flood deposits at Kish, Shuurupak, Uruk, and Lagash centering on about 2800 B.C. #52. Stanford "3000 BC" notes 2800 BC: California; Summer warming, 2800 Sudden summer warming, bristle cone pine tree rings. #51. Stanford "3000 BC" notes -------------------------------------------------- Astronomical evidence shows that by 2,773 BC the Egyptians have instituted a 365-day calendar, although the evidence can also indicate that the calendar began as early as 4,228 BC. [Hellemans p.11] Corbeled arches and domes are built in Mesopotamia; corbeling refers to building an arch or dome with layers of brick or stone set up so that each layer projects beyond the one beneath it, like an upside-down staircase. [Hellemans p.11]

2,700 BC to 2,600 BC

Culture of silkworms is started in China; according to legend, the wife of Emperor Huang-ti is the first to unroll a cocoon and make silk. [Hellemans p.11] 2,700 - 2,000 BC: On the Greek mainland, early Helladic culture flourished, plus (on the Aegean islands) the Cycladic culture; both carved figurines. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2700 BC: Nevada; Woodrat midden, Nevada; return of moisture brings first Woodrat midden in 3000 yrs at the mother of all woodrat nests, dated 4070 BP, evidently following great basin drought. Mono lake and juniper expansion between 4000-5000 BP #63. Stanford "3000 BC" notes 2700 BC: Mesopotamia; Gilgamesh, king of Uruk Gilgamesh, king of Uruk; general agreement among Mesopotamian scholars #53. Internet Mesopotamian Resources {hotlink to be done} Stanford "3000 BC" notes 2,686-2,181 BC: Egypt's Old Kingdom, with spectacular architecture and art. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] c.2,650 BC: The reigning King of Erech (Uruk) was Gilgamesh, hero of legends of Sumeria, still known today -- and arguably the first Science Fiction epic: Ancient Precursors: Oldest Science Fiction Novel. [see also 1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2649-2575 B.C.: Third Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Sanakht
Netjerkhet (Djoser)
Sekhemkhet

Principal Kings of Egypt

2,600 BC to 2,500 BC

2,600 - 2,500 BC: Harappan Civilization (India/Pakistan) at its height [David W. Koeller] The Harappan Civilization - Mathematics and the LiberalArts The Chinese use a vertical pole to project the shadow of the Sun for estimating time. [Hellemans p.10] 2575-2465 B.C.: Fourth Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Sneferu
Khufu (Cheops)
Khafra (Chephren)
Menkaura (Mycerinus)
Shepseskaf

Principal Kings of Egypt

2,500 BC to 2,400 BC

Since 2,500 BC: "climates fairly similar to the present (except about [600 BC] relatively wet/cold event of unknown duration in many areas)." "A quick background to the last ice age" c. 2,500 BC: Harappan Culture in India [David W. Koeller] 2,500-1200 BC: Celts, considered barbarians, actually had a sophisticated culture that grew to dominate a good section of western Europe, with warriors on horseback, wielding weapons of iron, and were ruled by a priestly class of Druids. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2,500-1100 BC: Western Europe had a reasonably unified megalithic culture about which we know little, except for study of enormous ceremonial constructions of stone, such as chamber tombs (dolmens), and huge stone slabs (menhirs). These slabs are sometimes arranged in circles, as at Stonehenge (England) and Carnac (Brittany). [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2,500 BC: A powerful king from Adab, King Lugalannemundu, formed an uneasy coalition of the city-states of Sumer. When he died, civil war erupted for some 200 years. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2,500 BC: Early pottery in the Americas. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2465-2323 B.C.: Fifth Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Userkaf
Sahura
Nyuserra
Unas

Principal Kings of Egypt 2,450 BC: The civil war between the the city-states of Sumer entered a period in which the city-state of Lugash was predominant, under King Eannatum. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] Units for length, weight, and capacity are legally fixed in Mesopotamia. [Hellemans p.10] Standard weights, used in trade, are developed by the Sumerians; they are based on the shekel of 8.36 grams [129 grains or 0.29 ounces] and the mina, 60 times as heavy. [Hellemans p.13] A form of soldering to join sheets of gold is used by the Chaldeans in Ur (Mesopotamia) [Hellemans p.11] Egyptian carvings from this time show a surgical operation in progress. [Hellemans p.11] The yak is domesticated in Tibet. [Hellemans p.11] The Yak, by Kate Paterson and Debbie Kenyon-Roberts The cat is domesticated in Egypt. [Hellemans p.11] Cultivation of the yam is found in Western Africa [Hellemans p.11] "Yams (Dioscorea species) are important carbohydrate staple food in West Africa. Yams are also of considerable importance in parts of East Africa, the Pacific area including Japan, the Caribbean and tropical America. Yam production technologies vary in response to differences in ecology and biodiversity in yam zones. About 95.3% of the world yams are produced in Africa out of which Nigeria accounts for 74.6%. Ethnocentrism is associated with yam in Nigeria, where yam is designated a 'king crop' among other roots and tubers. Nigeria is reputed to have the most advanced yam culture and civilization in the world. Yam is still a totem of maleness and a compulsory item in marital ceremonies among the Igbos of Nigeria. In spite of its socio-cultural importance and culinary roles, yam has received little research attention. This is a threat to the sustainability and productivity of yam." Yam: Threats to its Sustainability in Nigeria Peanuts are domesticated in tropical America. [Hellemans p.11] The Peanut Institute "The U.S. consumed over 1.5 billion pounds of peanuts in 1997. For more facts, see Peanut FAQs...." Flint is mined in Europe. [Hellemans p.11] FLINT: Give yourself the edge "Flint is found throughout chalk and most clay areas of Britain. It is a hard brittle rock that can by broken into flakes. The flakes can be worked into shape by an assortment of techniques, producing tools with very sharp edges. The finest flint tools were made during the Neolithic period and such was the demand that mines were dug down into the chalk to reach the best quality flint. Some of these mines went down 50 - 60 feet, and were dug out using antler tools." Civilizations in Crete, the Cyclades, and parts of Greece work metal and build tile-roofed houses with several rooms. [Hellemans p.13] Chariot wheels are used by Sumerian armies. [Hellemans p.13] Historical evolution (from 4th millennium BC) of the 'ratha' or chariot in Indian Civilization and in vivid contact areas in Mesopotamian Civilization and the Ancient Near East

2,400 BC to 2,300 BC

The Chinese introduce a method of taking observations of the sky based on the equator of the Earth and the poles; this method is not adopted in the West until Tycho Brahe in the sixteenth century AD, although it is now the standard way to record astronomical observations all over the world. [Hellemans p.12] Positional notation is developed in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians; unlike most other common numeration systems, the Sumerian system has a base of 60 instead of 10; this sexagesimal system using the cuneiform symbols continues in use throughout Mesopotamia until Hellenic times, although even then the astronomers continue to use it [and we, today, have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour; 60 arc seconds in an arc minute; 60 arc minutes in an arc degree]. [Hellemans p.13] 2,325 BC: The huge Mesopotamian Empire was ruled by Sargon the Great, who established the capital city of Agade (in Akkad), famous for its palace and temples [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] Sargon the Great The Armies of Sumer and Akkad, 3500-2200 BC "Sargon the Great provided the world with its first example of a military dictatorship. Sumerian civilization was among the oldest urban civilizations on the planet. In Sumer the first attempts at writing emerged to [produce] first detailed records, written or carved in stone, of military battles..... No society of the Bronze Age was more advanced in the design and application of military weaponry and technique than was ancient Sumer, a legacy it sustained for two thousand years before bequeathing it to the rest of the Middle East.... The period of interest for the student of military history is that from 3000 to 2316 B.C., the date that Sargon the Great united all of Sumer into a single state. This period was marked by almost constant wars among the major city- states and against foreign enemies. Among the more common foreign enemies of the southern city-states were the Elamites, the peoples of northern Iran. The conflict between Sumerians and Elamites probably extended back to Neolithic times, but the first recorded instance of war between them appeared in 2700 B.C., when Mebaragesi, the first king on the Sumerian King List, undertook a war against the Elamites, and 'carried away as spoil the weapons of Elam.' This first 'Iran-Iraq war' was fought in the same area around Basra and the salt marshes that have witnessed the modern conflict of the last decade between the same two states...." Sargon of Akkad produces maps in Mesopotamia for land taxation purposes. [Hellemans p.13] The oldest preserved weight, found in the Mesopotamian city of Lagash, is 477 grams (about 17 ounces). [Hellemans p.13] 2323-2150 B.C.: Sixth Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Teti
Meryra Pepi I
Merenra
Pepi II

Principal Kings of Egypt

2,300 BC to 2,200 BC

2296 BC: Chinese record a comet; the earliest known record of a comet sighting. [Hellemans p.12] The Akkadians conquer the Sumerians. [Hellemans p.12] 1200 BC: In Ruin, Symbols on a Stone Hint at a Lost Asian Culture By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD New York Times May 13, 2001 http://channel.nytimes.com/2001/05/13/world/13LOST.html In an unexpected benefit of the cold war's end, Russian and American archaeologists say they have discovered an ancient civilization that thrived in Central Asia more than 4,000 years ago, before being lost in the sweep of history. The people of that area, the archaeologists say, built oasis settlements with imposing mud-brick buildings and fortifications. They herded sheep and goats and grew wheat and barley in irrigated fields. They had bronze axes, fine ceramics, alabaster and bone carvings and jewelry of gold and semiprecious stones. They left luxury goods in the graves of an elite class. The accomplishments of those unknown people in what are now the republics of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan began to emerge over several decades of excavations by archaeologists of the Soviet Union, who worked diligently but in academic silence behind closed borders. The surprising scope of society suggested a stage of social and economic development generally regarded as civilization. All that seemed lacking was evidence of number or writing systems. With the end of the cold war, American archaeologists have joined the Russians in exploring the region, and now they are reporting that they have found inscriptions showing that these people may have indeed had writing, or at least were experimenting with a form of proto- writing around 2300 B.C. "We are rewriting all the history books about the ancient world because of the new political order in our own time," Dr. Fredrik T. Hiebert, a University of Pennsylvania archaeologist involved in the excavation, said in an interview last week. In the most recent and provocative discovery, Dr. Hiebert uncovered a small stone object engraved with four or five red-colored symbols or letters that apparently bear no resemblance to any other writing system of the time. Other scholars agreed that the symbols seemed to be unlike contemporary scripts in Mesopotamia, Iran or the Indus River valley. Dr. Hiebert made the discovery last summer in ruins at Annau, a site near the border with Iran and only eight miles from the Turkmenistan capital, Ashgabat. He described the findings a week ago at a symposium at Penn and yesterday at a conference on language and archaeology at Harvard. "You can say we have discovered a new ancient civilization," Dr. Hiebert said. At the same time, the pyramids of Egypt had been standing for three centuries, power in the Tigris and Euphrates valley was shifting from Sumer to Babylon and the Chinese had yet to develop writing. Dr. Victor H. Mair, a specialist in ancient Asian languages and cultures at Penn, who was not on the research team, said of the inscription, "I definitely think that's writing." Dr. Mair added that the discovery of ruins of an advanced culture in a region "where there was thought to be just space and emptiness fills an enormous gap" in terms of trade and cultural exchange across Asia in antiquity. It suggested that people in Asia more than 4,000 years ago were not as isolated as once supposed, he said, but probably had continentwide connections. The dozens of settlement ruins of the newfound civilization stretch east from Annau across the Kara- Kum desert into Uzbekistan and perhaps the northern part of Afghanistan. It is an area 300 to 400 miles long and 50 miles wide. Since no one knows who the people were or what they called themselves, archaeologists have given the culture the prosaic name of the Bactria Margiana Archaeology Complex, or BMAC (pronounced BEE-mack), after the ancient Greek names of two regions it encompasses. Long after the ruins were buried in sand, the area was traversed by the legendary Silk Road, the caravan route linking China and the Mediterranean lands from the second century B.C. to the 16th century A.D. The oases that served as way stations for rest and resupply on the Silk Road also supported the BMAC civilization, which presumably was trading far and wide over some kind of ancestral Bronze Age Silk Road. Dr. Carl Lamberg-Karlovsky, a Harvard archaeologist, questioned whether the symbols on the artifact represented true writing. But he said that Dr. Hiebert's discovery "falls into place with other research showing that this culture was working out some sort of communication system, though it never reached the level of complexity in writing as its neighbors did." Until the waning days of the Soviet Union, foreign scholars knew almost nothing of the nature and extent of the BMAC culture. Reports of findings were confined to Soviet journals. In the post-cold-war openness, Russian archaeologists are eagerly sharing their knowledge and inviting collaboration with Westerners. Dr. Hiebert plans to return to Annau, possibly next month, for further excavations to be financed in part by the National Geographic Society. Dr. Victor Sarianidi of the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow found a distinctive architectural pattern in many of the ruins. The buildings at each site appeared to be erected in one burst of construction according to the design of a single architect. The largest buildings were like huge apartment complexes, each bigger than a football field and divided into dozens and dozens of rooms. They were surrounded by multiple mud- brick walls, some as much as 10 feet thick. Beyond lay traces of agricultural fields. In the 1990's, Dr. Hiebert began digging slowly to deeper, and therefore earlier, levels of occupation. He was rewarded last June while excavating beneath a room in what appeared to be an administrative building at Annau. That was where he found the carved symbols on a piece of shiny black jet stone, a type of coal, less than one inch to a side. Archaeologists believe that it was a stamp seal, commonly used in ancient commerce to mark containers by their contents and ownership. The site also contained many lumps of clay that were used to seal vessels or parcels. Scientists analyzing charcoal found with the artifacts dated the material at 2300 B.C., before the larger settlements were built. American radiocarbon dates have established that the BMAC culture was present in Central Asia from 2200 B.C. to 1800 or 1700 B.C. Russian research generally underestimated the culture's antiquity by about 500 years. Back at Penn, Dr. Hiebert showed the symbols to colleagues, and they were stumped. They said the symbols were unlike the Mesopotamian cuneiform script, generally regarded as the earliest writing system, or the proto-Elamite writing on the Iranian plateau. Dr. Gregory L. Possehl, a specialist in Indus archaeology at Penn, said the artifact's shape was wrong for an Indus stamp seal and only one sign could possibly be construed as related to Indus script. "It looks as if it is some kind of writing," Dr. Possehl said last week. "It is unique, as far as I can tell." Dr. Mair assured Dr. Hiebert that the symbols were not Chinese, if the artifact is as early as has been dated. Chinese writing is thought not to have begun until hundreds of years later. Whatever its origins, Dr. Mair said, the type of symbols and the small number of strokes used to create each one "makes me think the writing system is already fairly abstract, not pictographic." Dr. Hiebert is not so sure. He cautioned that there was insufficient evidence to determine if this was an evolved writing system, or if these people had become aware of the existence of writing elsewhere and were experimenting on a system of their own. He speculated that the engraved stamp included a prefix symbol, a marker to designate the category of the word to follow, that preceded four symbols for the word or words. These could stand for the name of a commodity and its owner. The only other example of possible writing by the BMAC people was reported two years ago by Dr. I. S. Klochkov of the Institute of Archaeology in St. Petersburg. He found a pot shard in the ruins at Gonur with what appeared to be four letters of writing in an unknown script and language. Other Russian research has turned up evidence that people of the BMAC culture made notations in pottery and clay. Scholars have many questions about the new ancient civilization, mainly about where the people came from, what influence they had on their times and what happened to them. Dr. Hiebert thinks that the culture emerged near Annau, in the foothills along the Iran-Turkmenistan frontier, where there is evidence of earlier villages. Dr. Sarianidi contends that the culture's roots lie in Turkey. Other scholars point to evidence showing that they might have migrated from the north. The BMAC culture's decline is equally mysterious. "Why that happens remains unclear," said Dr. Lamberg-Karlovsky of Harvard. "The architectural signatures, their fortified buildings, disappear after a few hundred years. Most of the luxury materials disappear. There is a diminution of complexity. Perhaps people revert to smaller settlements, or they leave and are absorbed in other cultures." But for a while, in a land and a time unsuspected by archaeologists until recently, a civilization flourished and then vanished, leaving crumbling walls of mud brick and some cryptic symbols on a tiny piece of stone. 2,205-1,766 BC: Hsia Dynasty of China, with domesticated horses, and cultivation of rice and millet, was the first historical dynasty (there are earlier ones of legend) [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2,200 BC: Barbarian Gutians from what is now Iran conquered Sumer and destroyed the capital city of Agade (in Akkad). [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] People in Central America make pottery. [Hellemans p.13] A map of the Mesopotamian city of Lagash is carved in stone in the lap of a statue of a god; it is the oldest surviving map of a city. [Hellemans p.13]

2,200 BC to 2,100 BC

The Sumerians use a 360-day year, 12-month solar calendar along with a 354-day lunar calendar; the calendar has an extra month every eight years to keep it in step with the seasons. [Hellemans p.12] Eighty bluestones are set up at Stonehenge (England) in the form of two concentric circles. [Hellemans p.13] Queen Semiramis builds the first tunnel below a river (the Euphrates), linking the royal palace of Babylon with the Temple of Jupiter. [Hellemans p.13] SEMIRAMIS: Legendary Mysterious Great Queen of Assyria "G.J. Whyfe-Melville states in his novel of Sarchedon: A Legend of the Great Queen, 'She was beautiful no doubt, in the nameless beauty that wins, no less than in the lofty beauty that compels. Her form was matchless in symmetry, so that her every gesture, in the saddle or on the throne, was womanly, dignified, and graceful, while each dress she wore, from royal robe and jeweled tiara to steel breast-plate and golden headpiece, seemed that in which she looked her best. With a man's strength of body, she possessed more than a man's power of mind and force of will.' 'A shrewd observer would have detected in those bright eyes, despite their thick lashes and loving glance, the genius that can command an army and found an empire; in that delicate, exquisitely chiseled face, the lines that tell of tameless pride and unbending resolution; in the full curves of that rosy mouth, in the clean-cut jaw and prominence of the beautifully molded chin, a cold recklessness that could harden on occasion to pitiless cruelty - stern, impracticable, immovable as fate.'" 2,133-1,786 BC: Egypt spread south, established the Middle Kingdom, and expanded its foreign trade greatly. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788]

2,100 BC to 2,050 BC

2,100 BC: The last dynasty of Sumer founded by Ur-Nammu, and establishes a rule of law, perhaps the first. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788] The oldest preserved standard of length is the foot of a statue of the ruler Gudea of Lagash; it is divided into 16 parts and is 26.54 centimeters [10.41 inches] long. [Hellemans p.13]

2,050 BC to 2,000 BC

2040-1991 B.C.: Eleventh Dynasty Egypt. The kings were:

Mentuhptep II
Mentuhotep III
Mentuhotep IV

Principal Kings of Egypt 2,000 BC: Beginning of Settled Agriculture in the Niger River Valley [David W. Koeller] c. 2,000 BC: Aryans move into the Indus Valley [David W. Koeller] ca. 2,000 BC: Stonehenge [David W. Koeller] 2,000 BC: Ur was destroyed by Elamites, ending the Sumerian control of Mesopotamia. [Hammond Almanac, p.788] 2,000 BC: Native North-Americans had settled in permanent villages, where they domesticated dogs, and cultivated manioc, squash, maize, and beans. [1979 Hammond Almanac, p.788]

|Introduction: Overview and Summary |Prehistory: Ancient Precursors |Cosmic History: 13,000,000,000 - 3000 BC |6th Millennium BC: {name to be added} |5th Millennium BC: {name to be added} |4th Millennium BC: {name to be added} |3rd Millennium BC: [You Are Here] |2nd Millennium BC: Abraham to David |1st Millennium BC: {name to be added here} |1st Century: {name to be added here} |2nd Century: {name to be added here} |3rd Century: {name to be added here} |4th Century: {name to be added here} |5th Century: {name to be added here} |6th Century: {name to be added here} |7th Century: name to be added here |8th Century: Beowulf, Charlemagne, 1001 Nights |9th Century: Gunpowder and the first printed book |10th Century: Arabs, Byzantium, China |11th Century: Kyahham, Gerbert, Alhazen |12th Century: Age of Translations |13th Century: Fibonacci and final flowering of Chivalry |14th Century: Dante, Marco Polo, and Clocks |15th Century: Dawn of Scientific Revolution |16th Century: Ariosto and Cyrano on the Moon |17th Century: Literary Dawn |18th Century: Literary Expansion |19th Century: Victorian Explosion |1890-1910: Into Our Century |1910-1920: The Silver Age |1920-1930: The Golden Age |1930-1940: The Aluminum Age |1940-1950: The Plutonium Age |1950-1960: The Threshold of Space |1960-1970: The New Wave |1970-1980: The Seventies |1980-1990: The Eighties |1990-2000: End of Millennium |2000-2010: Future Prizewinners

Where to Go for More

Useful Reference Books Beyond the World Wide Web... there is the library of old-fashioned books printed on paper. I strongly recommend that you start or follow-up your explorations of this web site by consulting any or all of these outstanding sources: "The Timetables of Science", by Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988]. Facts were also checked against "The 1979 Hammond Almanac" [ed. Martin A. Bacheller et al., Maplewood, New Jersey, 1978], p.795. Volume I of D.E. Smith's "History of Mathematics" [(c) 1921 by David Eugene Smith; (c) 1951 by May Luse Smith; New York: Dover, 1958]. {more to be done}
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