Events, Verisoph

c. 2501 BCE Inanna, later Ishtar, is the goddess of love and war 0 cit. The Sumerian Inanna and her Akkadian counterpart Ishtar embodied both sexual love and battle, linked to the planet Venus. Her worship spread widely and influenced later Near Eastern and Greek goddess figures. religion / war ●●●

c. 2335 BCE Sargon of Akkad's standing army 0 cit. Sargon of Akkad built one of the earliest known standing professional armies, said to number 5,400 soldiers who ate at his table year-round rather than returning to farms between campaigns. This let him campaign continuously and hold together the first known empire spanning Mesopotamia. The exact figure comes from later Akkadian inscriptions and cannot be independently verified. politics / war ●●

1595 BCE The Hittites sack Babylon 0 cit. The Hittite king Mursili I raids down the Euphrates and sacks Babylon, ending the dynasty of Hammurabi. The Kassites later take the city and rule it for centuries. politics / war ●●

c. 1451 BCE Israel Enters Canaan 0 cit. In Ussher's chronology Israel crosses the Jordan under Joshua in 1451 BC and the walls of Jericho fall. The conquest of Canaan begins in the biblical account. religion / war ●●●●

c. 1285 BCE Deborah and Barak Defeat Sisera 0 cit. In the traditional chronology the prophetess Deborah and Barak defeat the Canaanite commander Sisera about 1285 BC, near Mount Tabor. The Song of Deborah in Judges 5 celebrates the victory. religion / war ●●

c. 1259 BCE Treaty of Kadesh 0 cit. The earliest surviving written peace treaty, concluded between Ramesses II of Egypt and Hattusili III of the Hittite Empire after decades of war over Syria. It established peace, mutual defense, and the return of fugitives. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●●

c. 1245 BCE Gideon Defeats Midian 0 cit. The tradition places Gideon's victory over the Midianites about 1245 BC, won with a band of only three hundred men. Judges records that the land then had rest for forty years. religion / war ●●

c. 1180 BCE Fall of the Hittite Empire 0 cit. Around 1180 BC the Hittite capital Hattusa was destroyed and abandoned, ending the empire that had ruled much of Anatolia and northern Syria. Only smaller Neo-Hittite states survived in the aftermath. politics / war ●●●

c. 1177 BCE Late Bronze Age Collapse 0 cit. Around 1177 BC a wave of destruction toppled the Mycenaean, Hittite, and other palace states across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East. Cities were burned and abandoned, and several writing systems and trade networks disappeared. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 1048 BCE David Takes Jerusalem 0 cit. The traditional chronology places David's capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites in 1048 BC. The city becomes his capital and the ark is later brought there. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 1046 BCE Zhou conquest of Shang and the Mandate of Heaven 0 cit. At the Battle of Muye around 1046 BCE, King Wu of Zhou defeated the last Shang king and founded the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou justified their rule through the Mandate of Heaven, the idea that Heaven grants authority to just rulers and withdraws it from tyrants. politics / religion / war ●●●●●

771 BCE Start of the Eastern Zhou and Spring and Autumn period 0 cit. After nomadic attacks destroyed the western capital, the Zhou court moved east to Luoyang in 771 BCE. Royal power weakened and regional states grew more independent during the Spring and Autumn period. politics / war ●●●●

c. 745 BCE Assyrian professional army reforms 0 cit. Tiglath-Pileser III reorganized the Assyrian army into a permanent, centrally supplied force rather than a seasonal levy of vassal troops. The reforms added standardized iron weapons, siege units, and cavalry alongside chariots, and provincial governors were required to supply fixed troop quotas. This professionalized army underpinned Assyria's rapid territorial expansion in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. war ●●

c. 722 BCE Fall of the Kingdom of Israel 0 cit. In 722 BC the Assyrian empire captured Samaria and ended the northern Kingdom of Israel. Much of its population was deported, and the region became an Assyrian province. politics / war ●●●

722 BCE Assyrian Conquest of the Kingdom of Israel 0 cit. The Neo-Assyrian Empire captured Samaria and ended the northern kingdom of Israel around 722 BCE. Much of the population was deported, a source of the later legend of the ten lost tribes. religion / war ●●●

c. 721 BCE Fall of Samaria 0 cit. In Ussher's chronology Samaria falls to Assyria in 721 BC and the northern kingdom of Israel ends. The ten tribes are carried into captivity in the biblical account. politics / religion / war ●●●●

c. 710 BCE Sennacherib's Invasion of Judah 0 cit. The traditional chronology places Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in the reign of Hezekiah about 710 BC. The biblical account records that Jerusalem is spared when the Assyrian army is struck down. religion / war ●●●

c. 676 BCE Rise of the Greek Hoplite Phalanx 0 cit. Greek city-states developed the hoplite phalanx, a close-order infantry formation of citizens who bought their own armor and fought as equals in the line. Hoplite service tied military duty to citizenship: the man who could afford arms had a stake in, and a voice in, the polis. This citizen-soldier model shaped Greek political life and became a reference point for later ideas about who has the right and duty to fight. society / war ●●

626 BCE Nabopolassar founds the Neo-Babylonian empire 0 cit. Nabopolassar throws off Assyrian rule and founds the Neo-Babylonian, or Chaldean, empire. Under him and his son the city reaches its greatest glory. politics / war ●●●

10 August 612 BCE Fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire 0 cit. On 10 August 612 BC a coalition of Medes and Babylonians stormed and sacked Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. The victory broke Assyrian power, and the empire ceased to exist within a few years. politics / war ●●●●

c. 601 BCE Spartan Agoge 0 cit. Sparta built its citizen body around compulsory military education, the agoge, which took boys from around age seven and trained them for a lifetime as soldiers. The system made Sparta the most militarized society of classical Greece, where the male citizen's role was defined almost entirely by war. Ancient writers, including Xenophon and Plutarch, treated Sparta as the model case of a state organized around military virtue. society / war ●●

c. 588 BCE Fall of Jerusalem and Destruction of the Temple 0 cit. In Ussher's chronology Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar and Solomon's Temple is burned in 588 BC, and Judah is carried into exile in Babylon. Modern reckonings place the destruction in 587 or 586 BC. politics / religion / war ●●●●

587 BCE Babylonian exile and the fall of the First Temple 0 cit. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem, destroys the First Temple, and deports much of the population to Babylon. The exile is well attested and marks a turning point in Jewish history. Cut off from the Temple, the exiles deepen their focus on scripture and law. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 586 BCE Fall of the Kingdom of Judah 0 cit. Around 586 BC the Neo-Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple, and ended the Kingdom of Judah. Much of the population was exiled to Babylon. politics / religion / war ●●●●

586 BCE Babylonian Conquest of Judah 0 cit. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE, destroyed the First Temple and exiled much of Judah's elite. The event ended the independent kingdom of Judah. religion / war ●●●●

586 BCE Babylon destroys Jerusalem and carries off the Jews 0 cit. Nebuchadnezzar's army destroys Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple and deports the Judean elite to Babylon. The Babylonian captivity reshaped Judaism, produced much of the Hebrew Bible in its current form, and gave the word Babylon its lasting weight for exile and worldly power. religion / war ●●●●

c. 551 BCE Persian Immortals established 0 cit. The Achaemenid kings maintained an elite infantry corps of 10,000 men called the Immortals, kept always at exactly that strength by immediately replacing any casualty or sick soldier. Herodotus describes them as the household troops and personal guard of the Persian king. They formed the core of Persian royal armies at Marathon, Thermopylae, and Plataea. war ●●

c. 546 BCE Fall of the Lydian Kingdom 0 cit. Around 546 BC Cyrus the Great defeated King Croesus and captured the Lydian capital Sardis. Lydia, one of the wealthiest states of Anatolia, became a Persian province. politics / war ●●●

12 October 539 BCE Fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great 0 cit. On 12 October 539 BC the Persian army of Cyrus the Great entered Babylon, ending the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The city was taken with little fighting and absorbed into the Achaemenid realm. politics / war ●●●●

539 BCE Cyrus the Persian takes Babylon and frees the Jews 0 cit. Cyrus the Great captures Babylon almost without a fight, ending the Neo-Babylonian empire. His decree, recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder, lets the exiled Jews return home and rebuild the Temple, a turning point for Judaism and an early charter of a ruler's tolerance. religion / war ●●●●

c. 538 BCE Fall of Babylon 0 cit. In the traditional chronology Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians in 538 BC, the night of Belshazzar's feast in the book of Daniel. Persian rule opens the way for the exiles' return. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 510 BCE Roman Citizen Legion Established 0 cit. With the founding of the Roman Republic, military service became a duty of property-owning male citizens organized into legions, funded and led largely by the citizens themselves. Command rotated through elected magistrates, and soldiers returned to civilian life after campaigns. This citizen-army model lasted for centuries before Rome moved toward a professional standing force. politics / war ●●

c. 500 BCE Sunzi and the Art of War 0 cit. The military treatise attributed to Sunzi set out principles of strategy, deception, and adaptation. It became one of the most influential works on warfare in world history. culture / war ●●●

c. 493 BCE Foedus Cassianum 0 cit. Alliance between the early Roman Republic and the Latin League that ended the Latin War and set terms for shared defense and division of spoils. It anchored Rome's position in Latium for over a century. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

484 BCE Athenian trireme fleet expansion 0 cit. On Themistocles' proposal, Athens used revenue from a newly discovered silver vein at Laurium to build about 200 triremes instead of distributing the money to citizens. The fleet, built ostensibly for a war with Aegina, proved decisive against the Persian invasion two years later. It also made Athens a naval power and shifted political weight toward the citizens who rowed the ships. politics / war ●●●

September 481 BCE Battle of Salamis 0 cit. A Greek fleet built around Athenian triremes defeated the much larger Persian navy in the narrow straits near Salamis. The victory ended the immediate threat of a Persian conquest of mainland Greece and established naval power as central to Greek strategic thinking. It is one of the earliest well-documented decisive naval battles in Western history. war ●●●

475 BCE Start of the Warring States period 0 cit. By around 475 BCE the Zhou realm had fractured into rival states that waged large-scale war for supremacy. The era brought mass infantry armies, reforms, and intense competition. politics / war ●●●●

c. 459 BCE Cincinnatus Returns to the Plough 0 cit. According to Roman tradition, the farmer Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was appointed dictator to lead Rome against an invading army, won the campaign in sixteen days, then resigned his absolute power and returned to his farm. Whether or not the story is literally accurate, Romans told it as the ideal of the citizen-soldier who takes up arms only when needed and gives up power willingly. The Cincinnatus figure became a lasting symbol of civilian restraint over military power, invoked centuries later by figures such as George Washington. politics / war ●●

c. 449 BCE Peace of Callias 0 cit. Reported peace between Athens and the Persian Empire that ended the Greco-Persian Wars, keeping Persian ships out of the Aegean. Its existence is debated by historians. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

421 BCE Peace of Nicias 0 cit. Treaty between Athens and Sparta intended to end the first phase of the Peloponnesian War for fifty years. It quickly unraveled and fighting resumed within a few years. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

387 BCE Peace of Antalcidas 0 cit. Also called the King's Peace, this settlement dictated by Persia ended the Corinthian War and recognized Persian control over the Greek cities of Asia Minor. It made the Persian king arbiter of Greek affairs. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

336 BCE Founding of the Macedonian Empire of Alexander 0 cit. Alexander the Great inherited the throne of Macedon and launched a conquest of the Persian Empire. Within a decade he built an empire reaching from Greece to India. politics / war ●●●●●

332 BCE Judea Passes to the Greeks 0 cit. Alexander the Great conquers the Persian empire in 332 BC and Judea passes under Greek rule. Later tradition, following Josephus, told of Alexander being shown the prophecies of Daniel at Jerusalem. politics / war ●●

1 October 332 BCE Battle of Gaugamela 0 cit. Alexander the Great destroys the Persian army of Darius III, ending the Achaemenid Empire. Greek language and culture spread across the Near East, shaping the Hellenistic world for centuries. politics / war ●●●●

332 BCE Alexander the Great Conquers the Levant 0 cit. Alexander the Great's conquest brought Judea under Hellenistic rule. Greek culture and later dynasties, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, governed the region. culture / war ●●

330 BCE Fall of the Achaemenid Empire 0 cit. In 330 BC the armies of Alexander the Great overran the Persian heartland, and the last Achaemenid king, Darius III, was killed by his own officers. The empire that had ruled from the Aegean to the Indus came to an end. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 316 BCE Rome adopts the manipular legion 0 cit. During the Samnite Wars, Rome reorganized its army from a Greek-style phalanx into smaller, more flexible units called maniples, arranged in three lines by age and experience (hastati, principes, triarii). This gave Roman armies far greater tactical flexibility on broken terrain than a rigid phalanx allowed. The manipular legion remained Rome's basic fighting formation for more than two centuries. war ●●

241 BCE Treaty of Lutatius 0 cit. Peace treaty ending the First Punic War, under which Carthage evacuated Sicily and paid a large indemnity to Rome. It made Rome the dominant naval power in the western Mediterranean. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

c. 222 BCE Qin unification of China 0 cit. The state of Qin conquers the last of the Warring States and its king becomes Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor. The unified imperial model he creates endures in China for more than two thousand years. politics / war ●●●●

215 BCE Macedonian-Carthaginian Treaty 0 cit. Secret alliance negotiated between Hannibal of Carthage and Philip V of Macedon against Rome during the Second Punic War. Roman forces captured envoys carrying the text, exposing the pact and triggering the First Macedonian War. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

214 BCE Qin construction of the Great Wall 0 cit. The Qin linked and extended earlier walls into a continuous defensive line against northern nomads. The work used forced labor on a vast scale. technology / war ●●●●

206 BCE Collapse of the Qin and Chu-Han contention 0 cit. Rebellions broke out soon after the First Emperor's death, and the Qin fell in 206 BCE. Rival leaders Liu Bang and Xiang Yu then fought for control. politics / war ●●●

c. 205 BCE Rome imports the goddess Cybele as Magna Mater 0 cit. During the war with Hannibal, Rome brought the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele to the city as the Great Mother on the advice of an oracle. Her ecstatic cult and priests became a striking foreign presence in Roman religion. religion / war ●●

188 BCE Treaty of Apamea 0 cit. Peace between Rome and the Seleucid king Antiochus III after his defeat at Magnesia. It stripped the Seleucids of Asia Minor and confirmed Roman dominance in the eastern Mediterranean. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

c. 185 BCE Fall of the Maurya Empire 0 cit. Around 185 BC the last Mauryan emperor was killed by his general Pushyamitra Shunga, who founded a new dynasty. The empire that had once unified most of the Indian subcontinent dissolved into smaller states. politics / war ●●●

22 June 168 BCE Fall of the Kingdom of Macedon 0 cit. At the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC the Roman legions crushed the Macedonian army of King Perseus. The Antigonid monarchy was abolished, and Macedon was broken up and later annexed by Rome. politics / war ●●●

168 BCE to 161 BCE Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Temple 0 cit. Jews led by the Maccabees revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV, who had banned Jewish practice and defiled the Temple. Their victory restores Jewish worship and independence under the Hasmonean dynasty. The rededication of the Temple is remembered in the festival of Hanukkah. politics / religion / war ●●

167 BCE to 164 BCE The Maccabean Revolt 0 cit. Jewish fighters led by the Maccabees rebelled against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV after he restricted Jewish practice. Their rededication of the Temple is commemorated as Hanukkah. religion / war ●●●

165 BCE The Maccabean Revolt and Rededication 0 cit. Judas Maccabeus and his brothers drive out the Seleucid forces and rededicate the Temple in 165 BC by the traditional reckoning. The feast of dedication, Hanukkah, commemorates the event. politics / religion / war ●●●

146 BCE Destruction of Carthage 0 cit. In 146 BC Roman forces ended the Third Punic War by storming and razing Carthage. The city was destroyed, its people enslaved, and its territory became the Roman province of Africa. politics / war ●●●●

108 BCE Marian reforms of the Roman army 0 cit. Consul Gaius Marius opened army recruitment to landless citizens, previously excluded, turning the Roman army into an effectively professional, standing force rather than a temporary levy of property owners. The state now equipped soldiers, who served long terms for pay and expected land grants on discharge. The reform strengthened Rome militarily but made legions loyal to individual generals rather than the state, a factor in the civil wars that followed. politics / war ●●●

c. 108 BCE Marian Reforms Professionalize Rome's Army 0 cit. The consul Gaius Marius opened army recruitment to landless citizens and put the state, rather than individual soldiers, in charge of equipping the legions. Soldiers now served long terms for pay and looked to their generals, rather than the Senate, for land grants and rewards after discharge. The reform created Rome's first professional standing army and tied soldiers' loyalty to individual commanders, a shift historians link to the collapse of the Republic. politics / war ●●●

c. 84 BCE to c. 70 BCE Tigranes the Great builds a short-lived empire 0 cit. Tigranes the Great expands Armenia into a brief regional empire stretching from the Caspian toward the Mediterranean, taking the title King of Kings and building a new capital, Tigranocerta. His empire collapses quickly when Rome intervenes; the Roman general Lucullus defeats him at Tigranocerta in 69 BCE. Armenia soon becomes a buffer and battleground between Rome and Parthia. politics / war ●●●

74 BCE to 72 BCE The revolt of Spartacus 0 cit. An enslaved gladiator named Spartacus led a rebellion of tens of thousands against Rome. The uprising was defeated and thousands of the captured were crucified along the Appian Way. society / war ●●●

63 BCE Pompey Takes Jerusalem 0 cit. The Roman general Pompey captures Jerusalem in 63 BC and Judea comes under Roman power. This sets the political stage of the New Testament era. politics / war ●●

63 BCE Roman Conquest of Judea 0 cit. The Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE and brought Judea under Roman influence. Local client rulers governed under Roman authority. politics / war ●●●

c. January 50 BCE Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon 0 cit. Julius Caesar led his legion across the Rubicon River into Italy, defying the Roman Senate's order to disband his army before returning to Rome. The act triggered civil war and marked one of the clearest breaches of the principle that Roman generals should not turn their armies against the civilian state. It became a lasting example of praetorianism: a military commander using his troops for domestic political power. politics / war ●●●

15 March 44 BCE Julius Caesar is assassinated 0 cit. Senators who feared Caesar was becoming a king stabbed him to death in an attempt to save the republic. Instead his death led to civil war and the end of republican government. politics / war ●●●●

2 September 32 BCE Battle of Actium 0 cit. Octavian's fleet defeats Antony and Cleopatra off the coast of Greece, leaving him sole master of the Roman world. The victory ends the Roman Republic's civil wars and opens the age of emperors. politics / war ●●●●

August 30 BCE End of Ptolemaic Egypt 0 cit. In 30 BC, after defeat at Actium, Cleopatra VII took her own life and Octavian annexed Egypt. The death of the last Ptolemaic ruler ended three centuries of Greek dynastic rule over Egypt. politics / war ●●●●

c. 28 BCE Praetorian Guard established 0 cit. Emperor Augustus formally organized the Praetorian Guard as a standing bodyguard for the Roman emperor, drawing on the older tradition of a general's personal cohort. Nine cohorts were stationed in and around Rome, eventually barracked at the Castra Praetoria. The guard became the most privileged unit in the Roman army, with higher pay and shorter service terms than legionaries. politics / war ●●

c. 28 BCE Augustus Establishes the Praetorian Guard 0 cit. Emperor Augustus formalized the Praetorian Guard, an elite force stationed in and around Rome to protect the emperor. Over the following two centuries the Guard repeatedly made and unmade emperors, becoming the textbook case of praetorianism, where the very troops meant to guard the state's ruler instead control who rules. The term "praetorian" entered later political vocabulary to describe any military force that dominates civilian government. politics / war ●●

c. 14 BCE Augustus establishes standing imperial legions 0 cit. Augustus fixed legionary service at a set term of years, standardized pay, and stationed a fixed number of standing legions permanently along the frontiers rather than raising armies for individual campaigns. He created a state treasury, the aerarium militare, funded by new taxes to pay veterans' discharge bonuses. This turned the Roman army into a permanent institution of the empire rather than a citizen levy raised for each war. politics / war ●●

66 to 73 First Jewish-Roman War 0 cit. A Jewish revolt against Roman rule ends with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE. The war scatters the Jewish population and reshapes Judaism. religion / war ●●●

70 Fall of Jerusalem 0 cit. In AD 70 the Roman army under Titus destroys Jerusalem and burns the Second Temple. Christian tradition read the event as the fulfillment of Jesus's prophecy in the Gospels. politics / religion / war ●●●●

September 70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Fall of Judea 0 cit. In 70 CE Roman legions under Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, ending the First Jewish-Roman War. The Judean commonwealth was crushed and its people scattered. politics / religion / war ●●●●

August 70 Destruction of the Second Temple 0 cit. Roman forces under Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. The date is mourned in Judaism as Tisha B'Av and marked a turning point toward rabbinic Judaism. religion / war ●●●●●

August 70 Roman destruction of the Second Temple 0 cit. Roman forces under Titus crush the Jewish revolt and burn the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The loss of the Temple ends sacrificial worship and forces a lasting reshaping of the religion around study, prayer, and law. Its destruction is still mourned on the fast of Tisha B'Av. religion / war ●●●

c. 73 Fall of Masada 0 cit. According to the historian Josephus, the last Jewish rebels at the desert fortress of Masada died as Roman forces closed in around 73 or 74 CE. The site later became a national symbol in Israel. culture / war ●●

c. 100 The cult of Mithras spreads through the Roman army 0 cit. Mithraism, a mystery religion centered on the god Mithras slaying a bull, drew many Roman soldiers and met in underground temples. Its origins drew on the Persian deity Mithra reshaped in a Roman setting. religion / war ●●

132 to 136 Bar Kokhba Revolt 0 cit. Simon bar Kokhba leads a final Jewish revolt against Rome that is crushed with enormous loss of life. Rome bans Jews from Jerusalem and renames the province Syria Palaestina. religion / war ●●●

184 to 205 Yellow Turban Rebellion 0 cit. A massive peasant revolt led by Taoist sect leaders shakes the Han dynasty. Suppressing it empowers regional warlords and begins the Han collapse. religion / society / war ●●●

March 193 Praetorians auction the imperial throne 0 cit. After murdering Emperor Pertinax, the Praetorian Guard openly auctioned the imperial throne to the highest bidder. The wealthy senator Didius Julianus won the bidding and was proclaimed emperor, but he was despised by the public and executed within nine weeks. The episode became the classic symbol of the guard's power to make and unmake emperors by force. politics / war ●●●

March 193 Praetorian Guard Auctions the Roman Throne 0 cit. After murdering the emperor Pertinax, the Praetorian Guard publicly auctioned the imperial throne to the highest bidder, the senator Didius Julianus. The episode is one of the starkest documented instances of a military body openly overriding civilian and constitutional authority. It is cited in civil-military relations literature as an extreme case of praetorianism, where armed force replaces political legitimacy outright. politics / war ●●

208 Battle of Red Cliffs 0 cit. Allied southern warlords defeated the much larger army of Cao Cao on the Yangtze in 208 CE. The battle set the stage for the division of China into three states. war ●●●

220 Fall of the Han Dynasty 0 cit. In 220 CE the last Han emperor abdicated in favor of the warlord Cao Pi, ending four centuries of Han rule. China fragmented into the rival states of the Three Kingdoms period. politics / war ●●●●

220 Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms 0 cit. The last Han emperor abdicated in 220 CE, ending four centuries of Han rule. China split into the rival states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 304 Age of division and the Northern and Southern dynasties 0 cit. From the early fourth century, nomadic peoples ruled the north while Chinese dynasties held the south. This long period of disunity lasted until the Sui reunification. politics / war ●●●

28 October 312 Praetorian Guard disbanded 0 cit. After backing his rival Maxentius, who died at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Emperor Constantine I dissolved the Praetorian Guard and demolished its barracks, the Castra Praetoria. The guard had a long history of assassinating and installing emperors, and Constantine wanted no rival power base in the capital. Its role was replaced by new imperial escort units loyal directly to him. politics / war ●●

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 ●●

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 ●●●

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 ●●●●

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 ●●●

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 ●●

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 ●●●

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 ●●

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 ●●

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. 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 ●●●

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 ●●