ca. 3800 B.C.E.	ca. 1200 B.C.E.
Establishment of first cities in Sumer	Bronze Age Collapse; destruction and drought
ca. 3200 B.C.E.	ca. 1100 B.C.E.
Earliest surviving cuneiform writing	Iron technology improves; beginning of the Iron Age; Phoenicians begin to trade in the Mediterranean
2660–2180 B.C.E.	ca. 965–925 B.C.E.
Period of the Old Kingdom in Egypt	Hebrew kingdom ruled by Solomon
2500 B.C.E.	ca. 900–612 B.C.E.
Bronze weaponry becomes common in Mesopotamia	Assyrian Empire
ca. 2300 B.C.E.	722 B.C.E.
Establishment of Akkadian empire	Kingdom of Israel destroyed by the Assyrians
1792–1750 B.C.E.	587 B.C.E.
Hammurabi rules Babylon	Kingdom of Judah destroyed by the Babylonians
ca. 1600 B.C.E.	550 B.C.E.
Hittites begin to expand their empire	Cyrus the Great consolidates the Persian Empire
ca. 1570–1070 B.C.E.
Period of the New Kingdom in Egypt