Sargon of Akkad creates the first empire ( range of dates )

1. Sargon of Akkad creates the first empire (range of dates) 2334 – 2279 BCE

2. 12 Great Sumerian city-states existed by this year 3000 BCE

3. Hammurabi of Babylon ruled during these years (range of dates) 1792 – 1750 bCE

4. Shamshi-Adad of Assyria ruled during these years (range of dates) 1813 – 1781 BCE

5. Ziggurat at Ur is constructed 2600 bCE

6. Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon during these years (range of dates) 605 – 562 BCE

7. Groups of hunters-gatherers settled along the Tigris and Euphratres rivers and started farming 8500 BCE

8. Cyrus the Great comes to power in Persia 550 bCE

9. Nebuchadnezzar puts down the Jewish rebellions and burns the city of Jerusalem 587 BCE

10. Hanging Gardens of Babylon are constructed 600 BCE

11. Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia invent the wheel and the sailboat to help them transport goods 3500 BCE

12. Writers simplify pictographs into wedge-shaped cuneiform 2500 BCE