-------------------------------------------------------- c. 250,000 - c. 4800 BC: Prehistoric Era c. 250,000 - c. 90,000: Lower Paleolithic Age c. 90,000 - c. 30,000: Middle Paleolithic Age c. 30,000 - c. 7000: Late Paleolithic Age c. 8000 - c. 3500: Neolithic (New Stone Age) settlements prosper in Egypt. Stone tools include polsished stone axes, and a type of flint sickle mounted in an animal's lower jawbone. The flints were mined. Buildings were reed and wattle huts or made of hand-molded clay bricks dried in the sun. c. 7000 - c. 4800: Neolithic Age ?: Tasian culture in Egypt c. 4800 - c. 3050: Predynastic Period c. 4000: The Nile cultures were based on farming villages. c. 4800 - c. 4250: Fayum A culture in Lower Egypt c. 4800 - c. 4200: Badarian culture in Upper Egypt. Black-topped polished bowls (Badarian ware) and terra cotta figurines were produced. Ivory combs and cosmetic articles also date from this period. c. 4500 - c. 3500: Merimde culture in Lower Egypt [c. 4200 BC: Abbashon is created.] c. 4200 - c. 3700: Amratian (aka Nagada I) culture in Upper Egypt. Amratian culture showed technical advances over the Badarian. Decorated ivory and bone combs were found, and animals such as hippos were found on pottery. [c. 3700: Horus replaces Osiris. Abbashon forced to create own cult, seperate from defunct Osiran religion.] c. 3700 - c. 3250: Gerzean A (aka Nagada II) culture in Upper Egypt. Undecorated stone vases from Egypt's Gerzean period superseded vessels of the Amratian culture. Spherical and cylindrical jars were light and skillfully hewn out of solid blocks of hard stone by means of flint borers. Votive objects, tomb paintings and palettes depict battles, ships, animals, and vase bearers. c. 3400: An Egyptian hieroglyphic script develops after now. A hieroglyph could represent either a sound, an idea, or an identifying mark attached to another sign. c. 3300: The Nile Valley provinces have been merged into two seperate kingdoms - Upper and Lower Egypt. c. 3300: The religion of Egypt before the foundation of the dynasties was based on totemism, the idea that there is a relation between kinship groups and specific animals and plants. Each independant principality had its own totem. Horus the falcon was that of Bedhet in the north, white the god Seth, represented by a he-goat, protected Naqadah in the south. Above these local gods was the sun god Re, the source of all life. c. 3250 - c. 3050: Gerzean B (aka Nagada III) culture in Upper Egypt c. 3200 - c. 2000: The Egyptian Copper Age began in the Upper and Lower Kingdoms, after which iron and bronze artifacts were made. c. 2925 - c 2575: Early Dynastic (Archaic) Period c. 2925 - c. 2775: 1st Dynasty c. 2775 - c. 2649: 2nd Dynasty c. 2649 - c. 2575: 3rd Dynasty 2630 - 2611: Djoser reigns. 2611 - 2603: Sekhemkhet reigns. c. 2575 - c. 2134: The Old Kingdom c. 2575 - c. 2465: 4th Dynasty 2551 - 2528: Khufu reigns. 2520 - 2494: Khephren reigns. 2490 - 2472: Menkaure reigns. c. 2465 - c. 2323: 5th Dynasty [c. 2500: During the 5th Dynasty, Abbashon imprisoned by Bastet.] c. 2323 - c. 2150: 6th Dynasty 2289 - 2255: Pepy I reigns. 2255 - 2152: Pepy II reigns. c. 2250: The important state of Ebla is destroyed. c. 2150 - c. 2134: 7th - 8th Dynasties 332 BC - 395 AD: The Greek and Roman Period 51 - 30: Cleopatra VII Q 30 BC: Egypt becomes a province of Rome. [30 BC: Abbashon released by Roman soldier.] 30 BC - 14 AD: Augustus rules Rome (and thus Egypt). 27 BC: Augustus assumes Imperial authority to centralize power. 4 BC - 30 AD: Jesus' life. 8 AD: Ovid completes his poem, 'Metamorphoses'. 14 - 37: Tiberius rules Rome, although imperial power becomes increasingly dependant on the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's bodyguard). 64 AD: The city of Rome burns. Jews and Christians, who are unpopular because they refuse to recognize the emperor's divinity, are blamed. Peter and Paul (later saints) are executed. 66 - 70: Jewish religious revolt, which is suppressed. 68 AD: Bubonic plague in Rome. 70: Jerusalem destroyed. 79 AD: Plague in Rome 115 - 117: Jewish revolt in Alexandria 125: Plague in Rome c. 150 - c. 250: Mithraism is a popular 'saviour' religoun throughout Rome and recieves official patronage. 164 - 180: Antonine Plage, in Rome 172: Revolt in the Delta, quelled by Avidius Cassius c. 200: Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses' (now called 'The Golden Ass') relates the hilarious adventures of a man magically transformed into a donkey. 216 - 276: Mani lives. Manichaeanism - a dualistic religion combining the teachings of Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Gnosticism - becomes widespread from Europe to China. Mani held that knowledge of oneself and God guarenteed salvation (light) and liberation from one's current fallen condition (darkness). The soul had to be kept pure and in communion with God, both of which could be achieved by an abstemious life. c. 220: Christianity arrives in Egypt 249 - 251: Emperor Decian rules Rome. Official persecution of Christians begins as the worship of living rulers becomes proof of loyalty to Rome. 250 - 264: Cyprian plague throughout the Roman Empire. 270 - 274: Egypt falls into the hands of the ruling dynasty of the Syrian city of Palmyra. 285 - 305: Emperor Diocletian rules the Roman Empire. 285: Emperor Diocletian divides Rome into Eastern and Western spheres, with two equal emperors. 293 - 294: Revolt centred at the town of Coptos, put down by Galerius, Diocletan's imperial colleague. 297 - 298: Egypt falls under the dominion of the mysterious usurper, Lucius Domitius Domitinius 297 June/July: Lucius Domitus Domitianus, in Egypt, revolts against Emperor Diocletian. 297 December: Domitianus dies and Aurelius Achilleus, who was Domitianus' corrector and in charge of the defense of Alexandria, succeeds him. By the end of December, Diocletian regains control of Egypt, except for Alexandria. 298 March: Alexandria falls to Diocletian. c. 300: The Mediterranean economy continues to collapse under heavy Roman taxation. [c. 300: Abbashon re-imprisoned by a Christian saint.] 302: Emperor Diocletian visits Egypt. 305 - 313: Emperor Maximinus Daia rules Eastern Rome. 306 - 312: Emperor Maxentius rules Western Rome. c. 305: Saint Catherine of Alexandria is beheaded. [1996: Abbashon re-awakens.] [1998: Today.] -------------------------------------------------------- Although papyrological and numismatic evidence indicates that L. Domitus Domitianus, in Egypt revolted against Diocletian in June/July 297(296?), literary evidence attributes the revolt to Aurelius Achilleus who seems to have been Domitianus' corrector. In any case, Diocletian went to Egypt and probably put the revolt down in March 298. There may not be any contradiction between the literary and papyrological sources. Domitianus seems to have died in December 297 and Achilleus, who was in charge of the defense of Alexandria, may well have succeeded him. Although Diocletian seems to have regained control of Egypt by the end of December 297, Alexandria did not fall until March 298. --------------------------------------------------------