2334 – 2279 BCE

Sargon of Akkad creates the first empire (range of

dates)

3000 BCE

12 Great Sumerian city-states existed by this year

1792 – 1750 BCE

Hammurabi of Babylon ruled during these years (range of

dates)

1813 – 1781 BCE

Shamshi-Adad of Assyria ruled during these years (range of

dates)

2600 BCE

Ziggurat at Ur is constructed

605 – 562 BCE

Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon during these years

(range of dates)

8500 BCE

Groups of hunters-gatherers settled along the Tigris and

Euphratres rivers and started farming

550 BCE

Cyrus the Great comes to power in Persia

587 BCE

Nebuchadnezzar puts down the Jewish rebellions and burns the

city of Jerusalem

600 BCE

Hanging Gardens of Babylon are constructed

3500 BCE

Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia invent the wheel and the sailboat to help them

transport goods

2500 BCE

Writers simplify pictographs into wedge-shaped cuneiform