Old-Testament: [OT] Early Middle Eastern Chronology

Selected Chronology of Middle Eastern up to the establishment of the kingdom of Israel

3450 BCE - The world's first cities appear along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers just north of what is now the Persian Gulf (near presumed location of Eden). Collectively, these cities make up the Uruka. No unified government links these cities, and they remain independent for almost one thousand years.
3200 BCE - Sumerians invent the wheel
3100 BCE - Writing invented by Sumarians. recording the first epics in world history, including Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and the first stories about Gilgamesh.
2700 BCE - The Sumerian King, Gilgamesh, rules the city of Uruk, which has now grown to a population of more than 50,000. Gilgamesh is the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the later Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh."

2320 BCE - Sargon conquers the independent city-states of Sumer and institutes a central government. But by 2130, Sumer regains its independence from Akkadian rule, though it does not revert back to independent city-states. At this time, Sumer is ruled from the important city of Ur.
2320 BCE - Sargon conquers the independent city-states of SUMER and institutes a central government. But by 2130, Sumer regains its independence from Akkadian rule, though it does not revert back to independent city-states. At this time, Sumer is ruled from the important city of Ur.
2100 BCE - The Sumerian King List is written, recording all the kings and dynasties ruling Sumer from the earliest times. According to this list, Eridu is named as the earliest settlement, a claim that seems to be confirmed by archeological evidence.

2000-1600 BCE - The Old Babylonian period begins in Mesopotamia after the collapse of Sumer. The Sumerians are conquered by the Amorites, who are situated in Babylon. The Amorites introduce their Semitic language, an early ancestor to Hebrew, into the region.
1900 BCE - The Epic of Gilgamesh is redacted from Sumerian sources and written in the Semitic language. Thus, though Gilgamesh was Sumerian, his Epic is Babylonian.
1900-1500 BCE - Sometime between these dates a Semitic group of nomads migrate from Sumer to Canaan and then on to Egypt. They are led by a caravan trader, the Patriarch Abraham, who will become the father of the nation of Israel.
1800 BCE - The Old Babylonians are employing advanced mathematical operations, such as, multiplication, division and square roots. In addition, they are using a duodecimal system (a system based on 12 and 6) to measure time. We still use their system for counting minutes and hours.
1763BCE - The Amorite King, Hammurabi, conquers all of Sumer. Around the same time, he writes his Code of Laws containing 282 rules including the principles of "an eye for an eye" and "let the buyer beware." It is one of the first codes of law in world history, predated only by the Laws of Lipit-Ishtar.

1595 BCE - The Hittites, another non-Semitic people who speak an Indo-European language, capture Babylon and retreat, leaving the city open to Kassite domination. The Kassites remain in power for about three hundred years, maintaining the Sumerian/Babylonian culture without offering innovations of their own.

1300-612 BCE - The Assyrians, a Semitic people, establish an empire spreading out from the town of Assur in northern Mesopotamia. By 1250, they commit themselves to conquering the Kassite Empire to the south.
1286 BCE - The HITTITE empire falls in 1185, to the "Sea People," an invading group coming from the West whose precise identity is unknown.
1250-1200 BCE - The Hebrews, who migrated from Canaan to Egypt several hundred years earlier, return from Egypt after wandering for several years in the Sinai desert and begin the 100-year long conquest of Canaan.

1225 BCE - The Assyrian ruler, Tukulti-Ninurta, captures BABYLON and the region of southern MESOPOTAMIA, but Assyrian control does not last long.
1200-1020 BCE - The Hebrews are ruled by the Judges during a period of relative stability that will be upset with the Philistine invasion of 1050.
1050 BCE - The Philistines invade Israel from the North. Facing the threat of annihilation, the Hebrews ask Samuel, the last of the judges, to select a king.
1020 BCE - Samuel selects Saul to be king of Israel thereby unifying the tribes of Israel into a nation. Facing many losses against the Philistines, Saul eventually commits suicide. Around the same time, David, undertaking his own campaign against the Philistines, proves victorious.
1004 BCE - David becomes king of Israel. As such, he begins to build a centralized government based in Jerusalem, implementing forced labor, a census and a mechanism for collecting taxes. The First Temple period of Hebrew history begins with the rule of David

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