Late Paleolithic / proto-Neolithic remains discovered at Shanidar

Early farming community at Nimrik

Halaf culture emerges in northern Mesopotamia

Ubaid culture develops on the alluvial plain in southern Mesopotamia (Sumer and Elam)

Kish, the earliest city in Mesopotamia we recognize today, founded circa 5000 BC, followed by Eridu, founded circa 4900 BC; followed by the first true city Uruk, founded circa 4200 BC (would eventually grow to more than 80,000 inhabitants).

Early Bronze Age

The world's first cities appear along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers just north of what is now the Persian Gulf. Collectively, these cities comprise the Umk culture, named after the principal city, Uruk, which is the Biblical Erech

Sumerian temples appear at Erldu; first ziggurat is built at Al-Ubaid

Early Middle Bronze Age

The city of Uruk, with a population of more than 50,000 is ruled by the Sumerian king. Gilgamesh who has since become me the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World‘ and the Babylonian ‘Epic of Gilgamesh“.

Great wealth and power are accumulated by the ruling class, as evidenced by the Royal Cemetery and the ‘Death Pit‘ at Ur (Ur Ill Style, early Dynastic IIIA period, the pinnacle of Sumerian culture); .

Dynasty of Lagash rises in Sumer; Laghash's king, Ur-Nanshe, is the earliest Sumerian ruler whose name is known from inscriptions

Entemena. king of Lagash issues the first known legal decree ["Entemena instituted liberty in Lagash. He restored the child to its mother and the mother to its child; he cancelled interest.”].

Lugal-Zage-Si, king of Uruk and Umma (reign: 2296 - 2271 BC), conquers Lagash.

Akkadian Empire reaches its zenith under Sargon I's third successor and grandson, Naram Sln, the King Akkad, Sumer & Elam ["l'he Mighty One"], the first Mesopotamian ruler to claim divinity ('Sin' refers to god) for himself. Akkadian Empire falls to the Gutians after Naram-Sin's death.

The Sumerian King List records all kings and dynasties that ruled Sumer from the earliest times. Eridu is the earliest identified settlement on the list that modern archaeologists have been able to confirm.

Ur-Nammu, founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, unites - Lagash and Ur, builds the Great Zlgurrat at Ur, writes the Law Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today, written in the Sumerian language circa 2100-2050 BC.

Ur III rule and Sumer weaken, probably due to an increase in the salt content of the soil, thereby making farming difficuit; the Elamites from Persia invade Sumer, destroy its capital, Ur, then withdraw; Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur Ill) collapses.

Amorites rule Akkad & Sumer (North & South Babylonla)

The Old Babylonlans employ advanced mathematics, such as multiplication, division and square roots; they use a system based on 12 and 6 to measure time; we still use their system for counting minutes and hours.

The Hittltes from Anatolia (modem-day Turkey) expand their empire into northern Mesopotamia (present-day Kurdistan).

Akkadian Cuneifonn becomes the common language of the Near East for official/religious texts.

Early Iron Age

the "Bronze Age Collapse" sweeps across the ancient world; drought ensues; crops fail; trade routes are interrupted; palace cultures are replaced by isolated village cultures; literacy declines.

The Elamite army (from western Persia) seizes Babylonia. Kassite rule in Babylonia comes to an end.

Neo-Assyrian king Aohurnaolrpal II builds a new capital and palace with splendid reliefs at Nimrud.

After decades of war between Ashumasirpal II and the Syrian alliance, the Neo-Assyrian king Adad-nerara II sacks Damascus in 796 BC (confirmed by archaeology and reported in the Bible, 2 Kings 13:5).

figleth-Pileser III's son and successor Shalmaneoer V dies in battle quelling a revolt in Samaria (present"”day Israel); is succeeded by Sargon II.

Sargon II's death in battle against the Cimmerians is considered a bad omen; his successor Sennacherib abandons Dur Sharmkin, builds a new capital at Ninevah where he forms a library of Sumerian and Babylonian tablets. Sennacherib is a prolific builder and powerful ruler who subdues most of western Asia.

After years of conflict, Sannacherib sacks Babylon, leaves the ruined city unoccupied for several years, while turning his attention to the invasion of Egypt.

Assyrian capital Nineveh becomes the world's largest city; the second largest is Thebes in Egypt.

A generation after Sannacherib destroyed it, Ashurbanlpal rebuilds Babylon, continues his military campaign, sacks Susa, defeats the Elamites; founds a library at Nineveh which contains the earliest complete copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

An alliance of Chaldeans and Babylonians, Medes from northern Persia and Susianlans from Egypt attack Assyria; the Assyian king is kiIIed; Assyria's key cities Nineveh and Ashur are sacked.

Nabopolassar's son and successor, the Babylonian-Chaldean King Nabuchadnozzar II conquers Jerusalem, destroys the Temple (the Jews and Temple goods are exiled to Babylon (\"Babylonian Captivity\") until the Persian conquest of Babylon in 538 BC); Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt (568), re-builds Babylon Palace, builds the Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Eight Wonders of the Ancient World.

which began at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC) culminates in the defeat of the Persian army by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugemela (331 BC) near present-day Arbil.

Alexander dies at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

Alexander's cavalry commander Seleucus I Nlcator and two other officers assassinate Perdiccas, the Empire's newly-Installed regent and guardian of Alexander's unborn son. Securing himself at Babylon, Seleucus seizes all of Alexander's conquered territory from Syria to India, including all of Mesopotamia, forming the vast Seleucld Empire.

Rome's victory In the Second Punic War (218-201BC) and conquest of Greece (146 BC) pressures and destabilizes the Seleucld Empire; taking advantage of this weakness, the Parthians defeat the Seleucid army in Mesopotamia; using local Greek-trained builders, the Parthians erect a splendid Hellenistic-style city at Hatra in northern Iraq and a capital at Cteslphon, across the river from Seleucia-on-the-Tigris. Mesopotamia becomes the center of the Silk and Spice Route linking China in the east with Rome in the West.

Parthians maintain control over Mesopotamia, a critical link in Silk Road trade between China and the Mediterranean.

Trajan captures Ctesiphon in southern Iraq, converts Assyria and Babylonia into Roman provinces.

Persian vassal king, Ardasil, re-unites the Persians under the Sassanid dynasty and seizes Ctesiphon (AD 226) as their new capital. setbacks incurred by the Romans and the Byzantine Empire allowed the Sassanids to prosper until the advent of Islam.

First Islamic Civil War

Battle of Karbala occurs near Kufa, which led to the killing of Husayn ibn Ali and the division of the Muslim community into Sunni and Shia sects.

The last Umayyad Caliph Marwan II (744-750) is overthrown and executed by the first Abbasid Caliph, Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah. The Caliphate moves to Baghdad, within the territory of the former Persian Empire; Baghdad evolves into a center of trade and culture.

Revolt in Baghdad forces the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil to move to Samarra, where he built a city, mosque and minaret, and palace complex (al Jafariyya, 859-860).

Baghdad is captured, sacked and burned by the Mongol leader Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Kahn. The Grand Library of Baghdad ("House of Wisdom") is destroyed along with thousands of irreplaceable historical, scientific and artistic works. The city never regains its status as a center of culture and influence.

Ottoman Empire (established in 1299) seizes Baghdad.

Ottomans re-take Baghdad; the next 250 years, the Mesopotamian region serves as a buffer between the Ottoman Turks in the west and the Persians in the east.

Ottomans govern Baghdad directly.

Boundary with Kuwait defined by Anglo-Turkish Convention

Mandate for Iraq and Palestine awarded to Great Britain by the League of Nations.

(23 August) Hashemite King Faysal, son of Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, is crowned as a client ruler with Sunni Arab ministers; boundary with Saudi Arabia is agreed upon, along with creation of Iraq-Saudi Neutral Zone (entire boundary re-defined by treaty in 1981);

(October 3) Iraq becomes an independent state; British maintain a military presence.

(October) first military coup d'etat, under General Bakr Sidqi.

Hashemite monarchy restored under military occupation (ends 26 October 1947).

(February) Hashemlte kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan join into Arab Union Federation.

Qasim claims Kuwait as integral part of Iraq; Kurds begin an11ed revolt against Baghdad.

(18 November) Baathist government is overthrown by Arif and a group of officers.

cease-fire is effected between rebellious Kurds and government forces.

(11 March) the Baath Party Revolution Command Council (RCC) and Mullah Mustafa Barzanl, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), sign a peace agreement, but legal status of Kurdish territory remains unresolved.

Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), a consortium of Western companies, is nationalized.

(March) the Algiers Accord, codified in Baghdad Treaty, fixes southern Iraq-Iran boundary along Thalweg of Shatt al Arab and formally ends Kurdish rebellion.

(1 February) Fifteen days after the departure of the Shah of Iran (ostensibly "on vacation"), Ayatollah' Ruhollah Khomeini takes control of Iraq, resulting in a Shi'ite Muslim theocratic state next to Iraq, which has a Shi'ite majority population and a Sunni Muslim regime and ruling class.

(1 April) The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for an attack on Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Azlz, at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.

(7 June) Israel attacks an Iraqi nuclear research center at Tuwaythah near Baghdad.

Diplomatic relations restored with U.S. (broken again in January 1991).

(16 March) Iraq is said to have used chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabjah.

(2 August) lraq invades Kuwait and is condemned by United Nations Security Council (UNSC); UNSC Resolution 660 calls for full withdrawal; (6 August) UNSC Resolution 661 imposes economic sanctions on Iraq; (29 November) UNSC Resolution 678 authorizes the states cooperating with Kuwait to use 'all necessary means' to uphold UNSC Resolution 660.

(24 February) Ground operations begin.

(Mid-March/early April) Iraqi forces suppress rebellions in the south and the north of the country.

(26 August) No-fly zones, which Iraqi planes are not allowed to enter, are set up in northern and southern Iraq.

(27 June) U.S. forces launch a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the attempted assassination of President George Bush in Kuwait in April.

(10 November) Iraqi National Assembly recognises Kuwait's borders and its independence.

(15 October) Saddam Hussein wins a referendum allowing him to remain president for another seven years.

(31 August) Alter call for aid from KDP, Iraqi forces launch offensive into northern no-fly zone and capture Irbil.

(12 December) Saddam Hussein's elder son, Uday, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in Baghdad.

(16-19 December) After UN staff are evacuated from Baghdad, the U.S. and UK launch a bombing campaign, "Operation Desert Fox', to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

(17 December) UNSC Resolution 1284 creates the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) to replace Unscom. Iraq rejects the resolution.