Events, Verisoph

c. 330 King Ezana converts Aksum to Christianity 0 cit. King Ezana adopted Christianity in the mid-fourth century, most likely through Frumentius, a Syrian brought to the court who later became the first bishop of Aksum. This made Aksum one of the earliest states anywhere to embrace the faith, close behind Armenia and around the same time as the Roman Empire. Ezana's later coins replaced the old crescent-and-disc symbols with the cross, marking the change in the state religion. politics / religion ●●●

c. 336 Saturnalia's midwinter customs feed into Christmas 0 cit. The Roman festival of Saturnalia brought feasting, gift-giving, and a loosening of rules in late December, and some of its spirit carried into Christmas. The church set the Nativity in the same season of older winter festivals. culture / religion ●●●

c. 336 Christmas is placed on December 25, the date of the sun's rebirth 0 cit. December 25 was celebrated as the birthday of the Unconquered Sun near the winter solstice, and Christian Rome fixed the birth of Christ on the same day. Scholars still debate how far the sun festival shaped the choice. culture / religion ●●●

c. 350 Kingdom of Kush at Meroe Collapses 0 cit. Around 350 CE the Nubian Kingdom of Kush, centered on Meroe, declined and was raided by the Kingdom of Aksum. The long-lived African state faded, and its capital was largely abandoned. politics / war ●●

c. 350 The great stelae of Aksum are raised 0 cit. Aksum's kings marked royal graves with towering carved granite obelisks, the largest single pieces of stone ever quarried and raised as monuments in the ancient world. The tallest that once stood reached over 30 metres before it fell and broke. One great stele looted by Italy in 1937 stood in Rome for decades and was finally returned to Ethiopia in 2005. culture / religion / technology ●●

27 February 380 Christianity becomes Rome's state religion 0 cit. Emperor Theodosius I issues the Edict of Thessalonica, making Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Other Christian sects and pagan cults lose imperial favor. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 380 Religion and ideology 0 cit. Organized belief as a structure of authority. Faith, doctrine, moral systems, and ideological programs command loyalty, legitimize rulers, and help define the boundaries of acceptable thought and conduct. pillar / religion ●●●●●

c. 380 'Pagan' becomes the name for the old religions 0 cit. As Christianity spreads, Christians borrow the Latin word paganus, a country-dweller or civilian, as a dismissive label for followers of the old gods. 'Pagan' was never a religion anyone chose to belong to; it was an outsider's name for everyone else. culture / religion ●●●

May 381 First Council of Constantinople 0 cit. The second ecumenical council expands the Nicene Creed, affirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The revised creed is still recited in most Christian churches. religion ●●●

387 Armenia divided between Rome and Persia 0 cit. Rome and Sassanid Persia partition the Armenian kingdom between them, ending its independence. Most of Armenia falls under Persian control, with a smaller western portion under Rome. Caught between two great powers, Armenians would spend much of the next fifteen centuries divided along a shifting eastern-western line. diplomacy / politics ●●

391 The Serapeum of Alexandria is destroyed 0 cit. A Christian crowd destroys the Serapeum, the great temple of the god Serapis and one of the wonders of the ancient world. It became a symbol of the violent end of organized paganism in the Roman world. religion / war ●●●

392 Theodosius outlaws pagan worship 0 cit. The emperor Theodosius bans public and private pagan sacrifice and makes Christianity the sole religion of the Roman state. The old cults were driven underground after a thousand years of open worship. politics / religion ●●●●

395 Theodosius splits the empire between his sons 0 cit. On the death of Theodosius I the empire passed to his two sons, Arcadius in the east and Honorius in the west, and the halves never again shared a single ruler. Contemporaries saw it as one more division of power, but the split proved permanent. The east, richer and more urban, would survive the shocks that broke the west. politics ●●

399 Faxian's pilgrimage to India 0 cit. The monk Faxian traveled overland to India from 399 to seek Buddhist scriptures. His written account is a valuable record of Buddhist Asia. exploration / religion ●●●

c. 400 Jerusalem Talmud compiled 0 cit. Rabbis in the Galilee complete the Jerusalem Talmud, a commentary on the Mishnah. Though later overshadowed by the Babylonian Talmud, it preserves the legal tradition of the Land of Israel. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 Avesta compiled under the Sasanians 0 cit. Zoroastrian priests under the Sasanian dynasty collect and write down the Avesta, the scriptures of Zoroastrianism, after centuries of oral transmission. The canon anchors the faith that was then Persia's state religion. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Germanic god of war 0 cit. The Roman day of Mars became Tuesday, named for the Germanic war god Tiw or Tyr, a match of like gods. The Romance languages kept the Mars form, as in French mardi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Wednesday is named for Woden, the Germanic Odin 0 cit. The Roman day of Mercury became Wednesday, named for Woden, the Germanic form of Odin, seen as a like figure. French kept the Mercury form as mercredi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Thursday is named for Thor, the thunder god 0 cit. The Roman day of Jupiter became Thursday, named for the thunder god Thor, matched to the sky god Jove. French kept the Jupiter form as jeudi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Friday is named for Frigg, the Germanic goddess 0 cit. The Roman day of Venus became Friday, named for the goddess Frigg or Freya, matched to the goddess of love. French kept the Venus form as vendredi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 The mother-and-child image passes from Isis to Christian art 0 cit. The widespread image of Isis nursing the infant Horus is often compared to later depictions of Mary and the Christ child. Art historians note the visual echo between the two devotional images. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 The Germanic gods name the days of the week 0 cit. Germanic peoples map the Roman planetary week onto their own gods: Tiw's day (Tuesday), Woden's day (Wednesday), Thunor's day (Thursday), and Frigg's day (Friday). Four days of the modern English week still carry the names of the Norse gods. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 400 Redaction of the Jerusalem Talmud 0 cit. Scholars in the Galilee produced the Jerusalem Talmud, a commentary and expansion on the Mishnah known as the Gemara. Left unfinished under Roman pressure, it remained shorter and less authoritative than its Babylonian counterpart. culture / religion ●●

c. 405 Mesrop Mashtots creates the Armenian alphabet 0 cit. The monk and scholar Mesrop Mashtots devises a distinct alphabet for the Armenian language, reportedly to make scripture and learning available in the vernacular. The script gives Armenians a durable written identity that outlasts every empire that later rules them. It remains in use, little changed, to this day. culture / religion / science ●●●

c. 405 to c. 500 Golden Age of Armenian letters 0 cit. With the new alphabet, the fifth century becomes a golden age of Armenian writing. Scholars translate the Bible and Greek and Syriac works into Armenian, and historians such as Movses Khorenatsi and Koryun set down the nation's early history. This literary foundation helps preserve Armenian culture through later centuries of foreign rule. culture / religion ●●

24 August 410 Sack of Rome by Alaric 0 cit. On 24 August 410 CE the Visigoths under Alaric captured and sacked the city of Rome. It was the first time in nearly 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy, a shock felt across the Roman world. politics / war ●●●●

415 Hypatia of Alexandria and the end of an age 0 cit. Hypatia taught mathematics and astronomy and edited commentaries on Apollonius and Diophantus, one of the few women of antiquity whose scholarly work is recorded. She was murdered by a mob amid the religious and political strife of a declining Alexandria. Her death is often used as a symbol for the fading of the classical mathematical tradition in the Mediterranean. politics / religion / science ●●

c. 420 The deicide charge and Augustine's doctrine of the Jewish witness 0 cit. Early Church writers accused the Jewish people as a whole of killing Christ, a charge known as deicide that fed centuries of hostility. Augustine of Hippo argued that Jews should not be killed but preserved in a subjected state as living witnesses to the truth of Christian scripture, citing the psalm verse slay them not. His witness doctrine both justified their subjugation and, in principle, restrained outright massacre. culture / religion / society ●●●

c. 426 Augustine Sets Out Just War Criteria 0 cit. In The City of God, completed around 426, Augustine of Hippo argued that war could be morally justified when waged by legitimate authority, for a just cause, and with right intention, rather than out of hatred or lust for power. His arguments, developed across several of his writings, became the foundation of the Christian just-war tradition. Later thinkers, including Thomas Aquinas, built directly on Augustine's criteria. religion / war ●●●

c. 427 Nalanda becomes a major center of learning 0 cit. Nalanda grew into a large Buddhist monastic university that drew students from across Asia to study logic, medicine, and scripture. It flourished for centuries before its decline in the twelfth century. religion / science ●●●

22 June 431 Council of Ephesus 0 cit. The third ecumenical council condemns Nestorius and affirms Mary's title Theotokos, bearer of God. The dispute drives the Church of the East into a lasting separate existence. religion ●●●

c. 432 Saint Patrick's mission and the Christianising of Ireland 0 cit. Later tradition dates the mission of Saint Patrick, a Romano-British cleric once enslaved in Ireland, to around 432. His own writings survive, but much of his life is legend added by later medieval writers. Over the fifth and sixth centuries Christianity spread across a Gaelic Ireland that lay beyond the old Roman frontier, blending with existing Celtic culture rather than arriving by conquest. culture / religion ●●

8 October 451 Council of Chalcedon 0 cit. The fourth ecumenical council defines Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human. Churches in Egypt, Syria, and Armenia reject the formula, creating the Oriental Orthodox split that endures today. religion ●●●●

451 Battle of Avarayr 0 cit. Armenian forces under Vardan Mamikonian fight the Sassanid Persian army, which is trying to force Armenians to abandon Christianity for Zoroastrianism. The Armenians lose the battle and Vardan is killed, but sustained resistance leads to the Nvarsak treaty of 484, which secures the right to practice Christianity. Avarayr becomes a lasting symbol of Armenian faith and identity. religion / war ●●

c. 452 Leo the Great turns back Attila legendary 0 cit. Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun near Mantua and, by tradition, persuaded him to withdraw from Italy. The episode became a symbol of the bishop of Rome acting where the Western emperors could not. politics / religion ●●●

c. 460 Buddhist cave temples of Yungang and Longmen 0 cit. Under the Northern Wei, artisans carved monumental Buddha images into cliff faces at Yungang and later Longmen. The grottoes mark the deep rooting of Buddhism in China. culture / religion ●●●●

4 September 476 Fall of the Western Roman Empire 0 cit. The Germanic general Odoacer deposes the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus, ending the line of Western Roman emperors. The date marks the conventional close of antiquity and the start of the medieval world in Europe. politics ●●●●●

476 Rome falls, and the East survives contested 0 cit. The Germanic commander Odoacer deposed the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus and sent the western imperial regalia to Constantinople, an act later marked as the end of the western Roman Empire. The eastern half carried on unbroken, still calling itself Roman and still governed from Constantinople. Historians debate how sharp a break 476 really was, since imperial authority in the west had been fading for decades. politics / war ●●●

c. 476 The empire that called itself Roman 0 cit. Its people never called themselves Byzantines. They were Rhomaioi, Romans, heirs of an unbroken state that ran from Augustus to 1453. The label 'Byzantine' was coined by the German scholar Hieronymus Wolf in 1557 and spread among later historians, partly to deny the Greek-speaking Orthodox east a claim on the Roman name. The term is a modern convenience for a state that saw itself simply as Rome. culture / society ●

494 Gelasius I and the doctrine of two powers 0 cit. In a letter to Emperor Anastasius I, Pope Gelasius I argued that the world is ruled by two powers, the sacred authority of priests and the royal power of kings. The text became a foundation for later claims of Church independence from the state. politics / religion ●●●

c. 499 Aryabhata and place value in classical India 0 cit. In a compact verse text the astronomer Aryabhata worked with a decimal place-value system, computed a sharp value of pi, and gave methods for square and cube roots. Indian mathematicians used a positional decimal system with nine digits, the seedbed from which a true zero would grow. His work also advanced the sine tables at the heart of later trigonometry. science ●●●

c. 500 The Babylonian Talmud is completed 0 cit. The academies of Babylonia complete the core redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, a vast record of legal debate and lore built on the Mishnah. It becomes the central text of Jewish law and study. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 500 Compilation of the Babylonian Talmud 0 cit. Jewish scholars in Babylon compiled the Babylonian Talmud around 500 CE, a central text of rabbinic law and tradition. Babylon remained a major center of Jewish learning for centuries. culture / religion ●●●

c. 500 The Kaaba and pre-Islamic Arabia 0 cit. Before Islam, Mecca is a trading town whose Kaaba shrine houses idols of many tribal gods; Muslims later call this era the jahiliyya, the age of ignorance. Pilgrimage and trade fairs draw Arabian tribes to the city. This is the world into which Muhammad is born around 570. culture / religion / society ●●

c. 500 Tiwanaku rises by Lake Titicaca 0 cit. On the high altiplano near Lake Titicaca, Tiwanaku grows into a major ceremonial and political center with monumental stonework such as the Gateway of the Sun. It spread its influence through colonies and trade across the southern Andes before declining around 1000 CE, possibly amid drought. culture / society ●●

c. 500 to c. 600 Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud 0 cit. The academies of Babylonia produced the Talmud Bavli, a vast record of legal argument, story, and debate built on the Mishnah. Editors such as Ravina and Rav Ashi are credited with its main redaction, though final polishing by the later Savoraim ran into the following century. It became the central text of rabbinic study. culture / religion ●●●

c. 500 Bantu-speaking farmers reach the Lake Victoria basin 0 cit. Iron-using, grain- and cattle-keeping Bantu speakers spread into the Lake Victoria region during the first millennium CE, part of the long Bantu expansion out of the Cameroon-Nigeria borderland. Linguistics and archaeology, not written records, place them here; the western Bantu of Kenya descend from these settlers who mixed with earlier hunter-gatherers and later Nilotic neighbours. The date is a broad estimate rather than a fixed event. economy / society ●●●

c. 520 Bodhidharma and the origins of Chan 0 cit. Tradition credits the Indian monk Bodhidharma with bringing to China the meditation-centered teaching that becomes Chan Buddhism. Transmitted to Japan centuries later, the school is known there as Zen. religion ●●●

1 August 527 Justinian takes the throne 0 cit. Justinian I became sole emperor and set out to restore the old Roman world in full, in territory, in law, and in faith. With his wife Theodora, a former actress and a formidable political partner, he drove a program of reconquest and reform. His reign became the high point of early Byzantine ambition. politics ●●

c. 529 Benedict founds Monte Cassino 0 cit. Benedict of Nursia establishes his monastery at Monte Cassino and writes his Rule for monastic life. The Rule becomes the template for Western monasticism for a thousand years. religion ●●●

529 Justinian closes the Academy of Athens 0 cit. The emperor Justinian shuts the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens, the last school of pagan philosophy descended from Plato. It is often taken as the symbolic end of ancient paganism. culture / religion ●●●

January 532 The Nika riots nearly topple Justinian 0 cit. Rival chariot-racing factions, the Blues and Greens, united in revolt and set much of Constantinople ablaze, chanting 'Nika' (victory). With the mob proclaiming a new emperor, Justinian was ready to flee until Theodora reportedly urged him to stand. His general Belisarius trapped the crowds in the Hippodrome and killed tens of thousands, ending the rising in blood. politics / society ●●

533 Belisarius reconquers North Africa 0 cit. Justinian's general Belisarius landed in North Africa and crushed the Vandal kingdom in a swift campaign, returning the rich province to imperial rule. The victory opened Justinian's western reconquest and revived the dream of a Mediterranean ruled from one throne. It also stretched the empire's armies thin across a vast frontier. politics / war ●●

534 The Corpus Juris Civilis codifies Roman law 0 cit. A commission under the jurist Tribonian gathered centuries of tangled Roman law into a single ordered body, begun in 529 and revised by 534. The Code, Digest, and Institutes preserved Roman legal thought and carried it to later ages. Rediscovered in the medieval west, it became the foundation of the civil-law tradition across much of Europe. culture / politics / society ●●●

27 December 537 The Hagia Sophia rises over Constantinople 0 cit. Justinian rebuilt the great church of Holy Wisdom after the Nika fire, crowning it with a dome so wide and light it seemed to hang from heaven. On entering it he is said to have exclaimed that he had outdone Solomon. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in Christendom and the heart of Orthodox worship, later a mosque and now a monument. culture / religion / technology ●●●

c. 540 The reconquest of Italy from the Goths 0 cit. Belisarius and later the eunuch general Narses fought a long war to take Italy from the Ostrogoths, capturing Ravenna in 540 and finishing the struggle by 554. The campaigns restored imperial rule but wrecked the peninsula, ruining cities and starving the countryside. The exhausted gains were largely lost within a generation to the invading Lombards. politics / war ●●

541 The Plague of Justinian sweeps the empire 0 cit. A pandemic, now generally identified as bubonic plague, reached Constantinople and killed a large share of its people before spreading across the Mediterranean. Ancient writers give enormous death tolls that modern scholars treat with caution, but the toll was clearly severe. It drained the manpower and taxes Justinian needed and helped ensure his reconquests could not hold. science / society ●●●

c. 550 The island of saints and scholars 0 cit. From the sixth century a network of Irish monasteries such as Clonmacnoise, Glendalough and Iona became centres of learning and manuscript work. Irish monks like Columba and Columbanus carried Latin and Christian scholarship back into a post-Roman Europe, which gave Ireland its reputation as an island of saints and scholars. The claim that Irish monks singlehandedly saved Western civilisation is a popular framing that historians treat as an overstatement. culture / religion ●●

c. 552 Buddhism reaches Japan 0 cit. The king of Baekje in Korea sends Buddhist images and scriptures to the Japanese court, the traditional date of Buddhism's arrival in Japan. Some sources place the event in 538. The new religion soon wins imperial patronage. religion ●●●

14 November 565 Justinian dies with the empire overstretched 0 cit. Justinian died having reconquered much of the west, but the effort left the treasury empty and the borders thinly held. His successors inherited a state exhausted by war, plague, and taxation. Within decades most of the western gains slipped away, and the empire turned to defending its Greek and Anatolian core. politics ●●

c. 578 Founding of Kongo Gumi 0 cit. Prince Shotoku brings builders from Baekje to construct the Shitenno-ji temple, and the Kongo family firm they establish becomes the world's oldest documented company. It builds Buddhist temples in Japan for over 1,400 years. culture / economy / religion ●●●

589 Sui reunification of China 0 cit. The Sui dynasty conquered the southern Chen in 589 CE, ending nearly three centuries of division. It rebuilt centralized government across a reunified empire. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 589 to c. 1038 The Geonim lead the Babylonian academies 0 cit. The Geonim, heads of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita, served as the leading legal authorities of the Jewish world for centuries. Through written responsa to distant communities they turned the Talmud into a living, applied system of law. religion / society ●●

3 September 590 Gregory the Great becomes pope 0 cit. Gregory I takes office and turns the papacy into a governing institution, administering Rome, negotiating with kings, and sending missionaries to England. His pontificate is widely seen as the moment the medieval papacy takes shape. politics / religion ●●●●

590 to 604 Gregory the Great and the papal state 0 cit. Pope Gregory I governed Rome and its lands as a de facto ruler, organizing defense, food supply and diplomacy as imperial authority faded in Italy. His pontificate expanded the practical and political reach of the papacy. politics / religion / society ●●●

c. 600 The stirrup 0 cit. Paired foot supports let a rider stay firmly seated and use weapons from horseback. The stirrup reshaped cavalry warfare across Asia and Europe. technology / war ●●●

c. 600 Brigid the goddess passes into a Christian saint and Candlemas 0 cit. The Irish goddess Brigid and her festival Imbolc in early February shaded into the cult of Saint Brigid and the feast of Candlemas. The blending shows how a pagan figure could be reworked as a Christian one. culture / religion ●●

c. 600 Paganism lingers in the countryside 0 cit. For centuries after the cities converted, rural Europe kept the old festivals, charms, and holy wells. Both 'pagan' and 'heathen' (dweller on the heath) meant country folk, because the old ways survived longest in the fields. religion / society ●●

c. 600 The Wari expansion 0 cit. From its capital near modern Ayacucho, the Wari build an expansive state across much of highland Peru, marked by planned administrative centers and terraced farming. Many scholars see Wari roads and provincial administration as forerunners of methods the Inca later scaled up, though the relationship is debated. politics / society ●●

605 Construction of the Grand Canal 0 cit. The Sui built a vast canal system linking the Yellow and Yangtze river regions. It moved grain and goods between north and south and became a backbone of the economy. economy / technology ●●●●●

605 China begins the imperial examination system 0 cit. The Sui dynasty introduced written civil service examinations around 605 AD to select officials by merit rather than birth. The system tied education directly to state power and lasted, with changes, until 1905. politics / society ●●●●

c. 605 China's imperial examination system takes shape 0 cit. Under the Sui dynasty China began selecting officials through written exams on the classics, the keju system. For over a thousand years it tied learning to state service and shaped East Asian attitudes to testing. culture / politics ●●●●

c. 610 Muhammad's first revelation 0 cit. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad receives his first revelation from the angel Gabriel while meditating in a cave on Mount Hira. The revelations, continuing until his death, form the Quran and begin the religion of Islam. religion ●●●●●

c. 613 Early persecution of the first Muslims in Mecca 0 cit. Muhammad begins preaching publicly, calling for worship of one God and drawing early followers among the poor and the young. The ruling Quraysh, whose wealth is tied to the shrine's pilgrim trade, meet the message with mockery and pressure. Some Muslims flee to Christian Abyssinia to escape it. religion / society ●●

c. 615 Aksum shelters the first Muslim refugees 0 cit. According to Islamic tradition, early followers of the Prophet Muhammad fleeing persecution in Mecca were given refuge by the Christian king of Aksum, remembered in Arabic sources as the Negus, or Najashi. The event, called the first hijra, is honoured in Muslim memory as a moment of protection by a just Christian ruler. It is often cited as one reason early Islam did not treat Ethiopia as a land to be conquered. diplomacy / religion ●●

618 Founding of the Tang dynasty 0 cit. The Tang dynasty was founded in 618 CE after the Sui collapsed. It became one of the most powerful and cosmopolitan eras in Chinese history. politics ●●●●●

c. 618 Founding of the Tibetan Empire 0 cit. Songtsen Gampo united the Tibetan Plateau into a single empire. Tibet became a major power in Central Asia and adopted Buddhism during his reign. politics / religion ●●●●

621 The Tang kaiyuan tongbao 0 cit. The Tang dynasty issued the kaiyuan tongbao bronze coin, which set the standard for East Asian cash for centuries. Its weight became a basic unit in the Chinese system of measures. economy ●●●

c. 622 The Hijra 0 cit. Muhammad and his followers migrate from Mecca to Medina, founding the first Muslim community. The event marks year one of the Islamic calendar and the start of Islam's rise into a world religion and civilization. politics / religion ●●●●●

626 Reign of Emperor Taizong and the Zhenguan era 0 cit. Emperor Taizong presided over stable government, legal reform, and expansion. His reign is remembered as a model of good rule. politics ●●●●

c. 628 Treaty of Hudaybiyyah 0 cit. Truce between Muhammad, representing the Muslim community of Medina, and the Quraysh of Mecca. It paused hostilities, allowed a later pilgrimage, and proved a turning point in the rise of Islam. diplomacy / politics / religion ●●●

628 Brahmagupta gives zero the rules of a number 0 cit. Brahmagupta was the first to treat zero as a number in its own right and to state rules for arithmetic with it and with negative numbers, which he described as debts. His attempt to define division by zero was flawed, a problem that would trouble mathematics for centuries. Turning zero from an empty gap into a full number was one of the great conceptual leaps in the history of counting. science ●●●●

628 Heraclius breaks the Persian Empire 0 cit. After the Sasanian Persians overran Syria, Egypt, and Jerusalem, the emperor Heraclius struck deep into Persia and won a crushing victory, ending a war that had raged since 602. He recovered the True Cross and restored the eastern provinces. But both empires were spent by the long fight, and neither was ready for the storm about to come out of Arabia. religion / war ●●

629 Xuanzang's journey to India 0 cit. The monk Xuanzang traveled to India from 629 and returned with hundreds of Buddhist texts. His translations and travelogue greatly advanced Chinese Buddhism. exploration / religion ●●●●

January 630 Conquest of Mecca 0 cit. Muhammad returns to Mecca at the head of a large force and takes the city with little fighting. He clears the Kaaba of its idols and rededicates it to the worship of one God. Most of the Quraysh accept Islam, and Arabia's tribes increasingly align with Medina. politics / religion / war ●●●

8 June 632 Death of Muhammad and the succession crisis 0 cit. Muhammad dies in Medina without a universally accepted successor. Abu Bakr becomes the first caliph, but disagreement over rightful leadership plants the seed of the later Sunni-Shia division. politics / religion ●●●●

632 Founding of the Rashidun Caliphate 0 cit. After the death of Muhammad, the first caliphs led a rapid expansion of the early Islamic state. Within decades it conquered Persia and much of the Byzantine East. politics / religion ●●●●●

c. 636 to c. 651 Muslim conquest of Sasanian Persia 0 cit. Arab armies defeat the Sasanian Empire in a series of battles beginning at al-Qadisiyyah, and by 651 the last Sasanian ruler is dead. Persia passes into Muslim rule, and over following centuries most Persians adopt Islam. Persian scholars and administrators go on to shape Islamic civilization deeply. politics / religion / war ●●●

August 636 The Arab conquests strip away the eastern provinces 0 cit. Armies of the new Islamic caliphate shattered a Byzantine field army at the Yarmuk in 636 and swept through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt within a decade. The empire lost its richest provinces, its grain, and Jerusalem itself, shrinking to Anatolia, the Balkans, and a string of coasts. The blow reshaped Byzantium into a smaller, embattled, and more thoroughly Greek Orthodox state. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 640 Byzantine theme system established 0 cit. Facing Arab and Slavic invasions, the Byzantine Empire reorganized its territory into military provinces called themes, each under a general who commanded local troops settled on land in exchange for hereditary military service. This let the shrunken empire field defensive armies without the cost of a fully professional standing force. The theme system remained the backbone of Byzantine defense for several centuries. politics / war ●●

c. 641 Buddhism established in Tibet 0 cit. Tradition links Tibet's conversion to King Songtsen Gampo and his Buddhist wives from Nepal and China. Later kings invite Indian masters such as Padmasambhava, and Buddhism becomes the core of Tibetan civilization. religion ●●●

c. 645 Arab conquest brings Armenia under the caliphate 0 cit. Arab armies overrun Armenia in the mid-seventh century, and it becomes a province of the caliphate under a resident governor. Armenians keep their Christian faith and much local autonomy through noble houses called nakharars, but pay tribute and periodically revolt. Caliphal control weakens over the following two centuries. politics / religion / war ●●

c. 647 to c. 709 Arab conquest of North Africa 0 cit. Arab forces push west from Egypt across the Maghreb, founding the garrison city of Kairouan around 670 as a base. By the early 700s Muslim rule reaches the Atlantic, and Berber peoples convert in large numbers. North Africa becomes the launch point for the crossing into Spain. politics / religion / war ●●

c. 650 Uthman standardizes the Quran 0 cit. Caliph Uthman commissions a standard written text of the Quran and orders variant copies destroyed. The Uthmanic codex becomes the basis of the Quranic text used across the Muslim world. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 650 Rise of the Srivijaya Empire 0 cit. Srivijaya emerged as a maritime power controlling the straits of Southeast Asia. It dominated trade between India and China and spread Buddhism across the region. economy / religion ●●●●

651 Fall of the Sasanian Empire 0 cit. In 651 CE the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III, was killed while fleeing the Arab conquest. The fall ended the Persian empire and brought Iran under Muslim rule. politics / religion / war ●●●●

651 The Arab conquest ends Zoroastrian Persia 0 cit. The Muslim Arab conquest topples the Sassanid empire, and Zoroastrianism slowly gives way to Islam in its homeland. Over the following centuries many of the faithful would flee eastward to India. religion / war ●●●

661 Founding of the Umayyad Caliphate 0 cit. Muawiya I established the Umayyad dynasty with its capital at Damascus. The caliphate grew into one of the largest empires in history, reaching Spain and Central Asia. politics / religion ●●●●●

661 Umayyad Caliphate established 0 cit. After the civil war that followed the killing of Caliph Ali, Muawiya founds the Umayyad dynasty and moves the capital to Damascus. The caliphate becomes a hereditary empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia. The dispute over Ali's line hardens the divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims. politics / religion ●●●

668 Unification of Korea under Silla 0 cit. Silla defeated Goguryeo and Baekje to unify most of the Korean peninsula. The Unified Silla period brought a flowering of Buddhist art and culture. politics / war ●●●●