9 Humanities Time Line The following is a selective listing of some major figures and works of the Humanities (right column) and their relation to important events in History (Center Column) c = approximately First Column: Century Second Column: Events in History Third Column: Humanities Giants (write your entries here) Before the Common Era (BCE) = Before Christ (BC) c. BC 15,000 - 10,000 Old Stone Age Cave art at Lascaux and Altamira c. BC 7000 Native Americans may have migrated from northern Asia c. BC 5,000 New Stone Age Pottery invented. First large-scale architecture Bronze tools c. BC 3500 - 2350 Sumerian Period in Mesopotamia. Reign of Gilgamesh (2700) Pictographic writing. Construction of first ziggurats. Cult of Mother Goddess c. BC 3200 Egyptian civilization established Hieroglyphic writing (BC 3100) Great Sphinx & Gaza Pyramids (2650-2514) c. BC 2000 c. BC 1900-1600 Babylonian period Epic of Gilgamesh (earliest version) Law Code of Hammurabi ( BC 1792-1750) c. BC 1500 Hinduism develops in India with polytheism The Vedas The Upanishads c. 1400-1300 Egypt Amenhotep IV establishes monotheism Tutankhamen reestablishes polytheism c. BC 1300-1200 Moses leads exodus from Egypt Egypt Architecture at Luxur, Karnak, Abu Simbel (1298-1232) BC 1200-100 Judaism develops monotheism in Middle East Old Testament c. BC 1200 Presumed period of Trojan War c. BC 1027--256 Golden age of Chinese philosophy Lao-tzu, 6th cent. Confucius (557-479) c. BC 900-700 Age of Homer and Greek mythology Large free-standing sculpture evolves (c. 650) The Odyssey The Iliad 600-500 Buddhism in India Siddhartha Gautama (564-483) Festivals of Dionysus in Athens Sappho (early 6th century) Aeschylus (525-456) Pythagoras discovers numerical relationships of music (c. 550) Heraclitus teaches theory of "impermanence." 500-400 Golden Age of Athens Red-figure style of vase painting Sophocles (496-406) Euripides (485-406) Socrates (469-399) Plato (c. 427-347) Herodotus (440) History of the Persian Wars 400-300 Alexander the Great Aristotle (c. 384-322) Common Era (C.E.) Or Anno Domini* (A.D. ) *Latin for "Year of the Lord" 01-100 AD Jesus Christ. (c. 0-33) Christianity develops in Palestine, expands as far as Rome New Testament c. 400 AD Fall of Rome to the Goths St. Augustine (354-430) 500-700 AD Mohammed (571-632) Islam develops in Middle East Qur'an 700-800 AD Moors occupy Spain The Alhambra 900-1000 AD Tale of Genji, Japan, earliest known novel Lady Marasaki Shikibu (978- 1031) 1000-1100 AD Norman conquest of England in 1066 Bayeux Tapestry Al-Ghazzali, Musim (1058-1111) 1100-1200 AD Japanese feudal period, rise of Samurai Angkor Wat, Cambodia Moses Maimonides (1135-1244) 1200-1300 AD High Middle Ages in Western Europe Notre Dame Cathedral St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) 1300-1400 AD Renaissance begins to emerge Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) 1400-1500 AD High Renaissance starts .

1. 9
Humanities Time Line
The following is a selective listing of some major figures and
works of the Humanities (right column) and their relation to
important events in History (Center Column)
c = approximately
First Column:
Century
Second Column:
Events in History
Third Column:
Humanities Giants
(write your entries here)
Before the Common Era (BCE) =
Before Christ (BC)
c. BC 15,000 - 10,000
Old Stone Age
Cave art at Lascaux and Altamira
c. BC 7000
Native Americans may have migrated
from northern Asia
c. BC 5,000
New Stone Age
Pottery invented.
First large-scale architecture
Bronze tools

2. c. BC 3500 - 2350
Sumerian Period in Mesopotamia.
Reign of Gilgamesh (2700)
Pictographic writing.
Construction of first ziggurats.
Cult of Mother Goddess
c. BC 3200
Egyptian civilization established
Hieroglyphic writing (BC 3100)
Great Sphinx & Gaza Pyramids (2650-2514)
c. BC 2000
c. BC 1900-1600
Babylonian period
Epic of Gilgamesh (earliest version)
Law Code of Hammurabi ( BC 1792-1750)
c. BC 1500
Hinduism develops in India with polytheism
The Vedas
The Upanishads
c. 1400-1300
Egypt
Amenhotep IV establishes monotheism
Tutankhamen reestablishes polytheism

3. c. BC 1300-1200
Moses leads exodus from Egypt
Egypt Architecture at Luxur, Karnak, Abu Simbel (1298-1232)
BC 1200-100
Judaism develops monotheism in Middle East
Old Testament
c. BC 1200
Presumed period of Trojan War
c. BC 1027--256
Golden age of Chinese philosophy
Lao-tzu, 6th cent.
Confucius (557-479)
c. BC 900-700
Age of Homer and Greek mythology
Large free-standing sculpture evolves (c. 650)
The Odyssey
The Iliad
600-500
Buddhism in India
Siddhartha Gautama (564-483)
Festivals of Dionysus in Athens
Sappho (early 6th century)
Aeschylus (525-456)
Pythagoras discovers numerical relationships of music (c. 550)

4. Heraclitus teaches theory of "impermanence."
500-400
Golden Age of Athens
Red-figure style of vase painting
Sophocles (496-406)
Euripides (485-406)
Socrates (469-399)
Plato (c. 427-347)
Herodotus (440) History of the Persian Wars
400-300
Alexander the Great
Aristotle (c. 384-322)
Common Era (C.E.)
Or Anno Domini*
(A.D. ) *Latin for "Year of the Lord"
01-100 AD
Jesus Christ. (c. 0-33)
Christianity develops in Palestine, expands as far as Rome
New Testament
c. 400 AD
Fall of Rome to the Goths

5. St. Augustine (354-430)
500-700 AD
Mohammed (571-632)
Islam develops in Middle East
Qur'an
700-800 AD
Moors occupy Spain
The Alhambra
900-1000 AD
Tale of Genji, Japan, earliest
known novel
Lady Marasaki Shikibu (978-
1031)
1000-1100 AD
Norman conquest of England in 1066
Bayeux Tapestry
Al-Ghazzali, Musim (1058-1111)
1100-1200 AD
Japanese feudal period, rise of Samurai
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Moses Maimonides (1135-1244)
1200-1300 AD
High Middle Ages in Western Europe
Notre Dame Cathedral
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
1300-1400 AD
Renaissance begins to emerge

6. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
1400-1500 AD
High Renaissance starts in Italy
Leonardo da Vinci (1451-1519)
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Raphael (1483-1520)
1492, Columbus
1500-1600 AD
1517, Martin Luther’s reform proposals in Germany
Sophonisba Anguisola (c. 1532-
1626)
1519, conquest of Mexico by Cortes 1533-1603
Cervantes (1547-1616)
Reign of Elizabeth I, England
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
1600-1700 AD
Blue Mosque, Istanbul
Artemisia Gentileschi (1597-1651)
Dutch masters
Rembrandt (1606-1669)

7. 1620, Pilgrim landing in New World
1640, Puritans close London theaters
John Milton (1608-1674)
1643-1715, Reign of Louis XIV, France
1650-1725, Baroque period,
Moliere (1622-1673)
Taj Mahal, India (1630-1648)
Jean Racine (1639-1699)
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
1700-1800 AD
Age of scientific enlightenment
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
1775, American Revolution
1776, Declaration of Independence
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
1789, French Revolution

8. 1800-1900 AD
1804, Napoleon crowns himself Emperor
1827, First known photograph taken
Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
1837-1901, Reign of Queen Victoria, England
1845, Annexation of Texas from Mexico
1846, Mexican War
1859, Darwin’s Origin of Species
1861-1865, American Civil War
1865, Assassination of Lincoln
1878, Edison invents phonograph
1898, Spanish-American War.
Note: Spain renounced all claim to Cuba and ceded Guam,
Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the U.S., marking the U.S.'s
emergence as a world power.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Henrik Ibsen (1821-1906)
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

9. Claude Monet (1840-1926)
* Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
German philosopher who wrote The Birth of Tragedy from the
Spirit of Music and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He identified two
responses to live events: Apollonian responses were dominated
by reason and analysis and control. Dionysian responses were
dominated by emotion and intuition and freedom. I like this
comparison and I feel I view life from a more Apollonian
viewpoint. I would like to do more reading on FN's critique of
secularism ("God is dead" theology] and his notion of the
"Superman."
Mary Cassatt (1845-1926)
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
1900-2000 AD

10. 1903, First airplane flight by Wright brothers
Mahatma Gandhi, India (1869-1948)
1905,Theory of Relativity
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
1913, 69th Regiment Armory Show
1913, Rite of Spring opening night riot
1914-1918, World War I
1917, Russian Revolution
1920, women get the vote in U.S.
1920s, Jazz Age
1921, Harlem Renaissance
1929, Stock Market crash, Great
Depression
1937, Nationalist rebels in Spain call on Nazis to bomb the
town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
1941-1945, World War II
1942, United Nations formed
1945, USA drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima , Japan
1948, UN establishes state of Israel
1948, assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
1968, assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

11. 1989, Berlin Wall taken down
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)
Martha Graham (1894-1991)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Paul Robeson (1898-1976)
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957)
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)
Orson Welles (1915-1985)
Anne Frank (1929-1945)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-
1968)

12. 2001-
September 11, 2001, destruction of the
World Trade Center
Years and Centuries A.D.
Note that the date (e.g. 487 A.D.) is always less than the
number of the century (The year 487 is in the Fifth Century).
This is because the first 100 years of a century starts with year
0, not year 100.
Examples:
· 01-99 is the First Century and all of the dates are before 100:
Year 12, year 67, etc.
· 100-200 is the Second Century and the dates are in the 100's:
Year 110, Year 188.
· 1900-1999 is the Twentieth Century and all of the dates are in
the 1900s: 1995, etc.