A time-line of the PersiansWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
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See also a timeline of the Near East
See also a timeline of the Arabs 4200 BC: Susa is founded in western Persia 3100 BC: Tables in proto-Elamite script 2700 BC: a first dynasty creates the Elamite kingdom (non Semitic) in western Persia with capital in Susa 2350 BC: The Akkadians conquer Susa 2180 BC: the Akkadian empire is destroyed by the Guti, who invade from the north, and the Elamites of Susa regain their independence 2007 BC: the Elamites of Susa capture Ur 2000 BC: the game of chess ("shatranj") develops in Persia 1340 BC: King Untash-Napirisha of Elam founds a new capital at Chogha Zanbil 836 BC: Shalmaneser II, King of Assyria, defeats the Medes, who rule in Persia 722 BC: Dayaukku/De‹oces founds the Median dynasty 710 BC: Daiukku founds the new capital of the Medians/Persians at Hakmataneh/Ecbatana (Hamadan) 700 BC: Achaemenes founds the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia in Anshan, subject to Media 675 BC: Khshathrita/ Phraortes unites the Median tribes and expels the Assyrians from northeastern Iran 653 BC: the Scythians invade the Median empire (northeast Persia) 646 BC: king Ashurbanipal of Assyria raids the Elamite capital Susa in Persia 626 BC: the Medians/Persians defeat the Scythians 625 BC: Median king Cyaxares moves the capital to Ecbatana (Hamadan) 615 BC: the Medes capture Assyrian cities 612 BC: the Babylonians, led by king Nabopolassar, and their allies the Medes, led by Cyaxares, destroy the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (as well as Nimrud) and split the Assyrian empire (Mesopotamia to Babylon and Elam to Media) while Egypt recovers control of Palestine and Syria 600 BC: Zarathustra forms a new religion in Persia 559 BC: Cyrus Achaemenian unifies Elam, and moves the capital of the Achaemenids to Susa 550 BC: Cyrus Achaemenian defeats Astyages, emperor of the Medes, conquers its capital Ecbatana (Hamadan), and unifies Media and Elam in the Persian empire 546 BC: Cyrus overthrows Croesus of Lydia 539 BC: Cyrus of Persia sacks Babylon and frees the Jews 530 BC: Cambyses becomes king of Persia 525 BC: Cambyses of Persia conquers Egypt at the battle of Pelusium 522 BC: Cambyses dies and civil War erupts in Persia 521 BC: Darius becomes king of Persia and divides Persia into satrapies 521 BC: Darius of Persia expands the Persian empire beyond the Indus River 518 BC: Darius founds the new capital of Persia, Persepolis 514 BC: the Persian kind Darius invades Scythia 500 BC: Darius makes Aramaic the official language of the Persian empire 490 BC: Darius of Persia attacks mainland Greece 485 BC: Darius dies and Xerxes becomes king of Persia 480 BC: the Greeks expels the Persians from Europe 465 BC: Artaxerxes I Longimanus becomes king of Persia 424 BC: Xerxes II becomes king of Persia 404 BC: Artaxerxes II Mnemon becomes king of Persia 358 BC: Artaxerxes III Ochus becomes king of Persia 336 BC: Darius Codomannus becomes king of Persia 334 BC: Alexander defeats the Persian army at the Dardanelles 333 BC: Alexander invades the Persian empire from Syria to Palestine 331 BC: Alexander the Great conquers Persia and destroys Persepolis, ending the Achaemenid dynasty 329 BC: Artaxerxes V dies, last of the Achaemenians 323 BC: Alexander the Great dies at Babylon and his empire is carved into three empires: Cassander rules over Greece and Macedonia, Lysimachus rules over Thracia and Asia Minor, Ptolemy rules over Egypt, Judea, Syria, Mesopotamia and India 312 BC: Ptolemy's general in Syria, Seleucus Nicator, declares himself satrap of Babylon 305 BC: Seleucus Nicator establishes a kingdom ranging from Syria in the west to India in the east and founds the Seleucid dynasty with capital in Seleucia (Iraq) 303 BC: Seleucus grants Punjab and Afghanistan to Chandragupta Maurya 282 BC: Seleucus defeats and kills Lysimachus and thereby conquers Asia Minor 281 BC: Seleucus is murdered by the king of Thracia and is succeeded by his son Antiochus who transfers the capital to Antiochia 250 BC: Diodotos, a Macedonian ruler of the satrapy of Bactria (Afghanistan), declares its independence from the Seleucids 250 BC: the Parni invade the satrapy of Parthia (northern Iran) and found the Parthian empire with capital in Ctesiphon (near Seleucia) and Arsaces as ruler (founder of the Arsacid dynasty) 248 BC: Tiridates leads the Parthians to independence from the Seleucids 246 BC: defeated by Ptolemy III Euergetes, the Seleucid empire loses eastern lands to the Parthians and to Pergamum 239 BC: Bactria declares independence from the Seleucids 198 BC: the Seleucids under Antiochus III conquer Palestine and Phoenicia from the Ptolemaics 192 BC: the Seleucids under Antiochus III are defeated by the Romans in Thracia 190 BC: Bactrian king Euthydemus defeats Seleucid king Antiochus III at Magnesia 188 BC: Pergamum conquers the Seleucid lands of Lydia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Pisidia 185 BC: Parthians under Priapatius expand into Seleucid eastern Iran 175 BC: Mithraism (an offshoot of Zoroastrianism that worships Ahura Mazda as the sole and creator god) is born in Bactria 170 BC: Batrian king Demetrios I expands Bactria to northwestern India 155 BC: Bactrian king Menander invades northwestern India 145 BC: the Kushan (Yuezhi), nomadic tribes expelled from China by the Hsiungnu (Huns), overthrow the kingdom of Bactria and pushes the Scythians south to Iran and India 141 BC: the Parthians of Mithradates I conquer Media and Elam from the Seleucids, while Edessa becomes de-facto independent 135 BC: the Kushan establish their capital in Kabul 127 BC: the Parthians under Phraates II are defeated by the Scythians 126 BC: the Parthians under Artabanus II conquer Babylonia from the Seleucids, who now control only Syria 124 BC: the Parthians under Artabanus II are defeated again by the Scythians and Mithridates II succeeds Artabanus II as king of Parthia 53 BC: the Parthians led by Orodes II defeat the Romans at Carrhae (Syria) 20 BC: a treaty between Rome and the Parthians fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq) 78 AD: Kanishka, king of the Kushan, enlarges the kingdom from Bactria into Uzbekistan, Kashmir, Punjab, moves the capital to Peshawar and promotes Buddhism 116: Roman emperor Trajan defeats the Parthian king Vologezes III and conquers Mesopotamia, including the Parthian capital Ctesiphon 224: Ardashir, descendant of the priest Sassan, seizes the throne of Persia/Parthia, ends the Arsacid dynasty, and becomes the first Sassanid king with capital in Istakhr (near Persepolis) and Zoroastrianism as the official religion 225: Ardashir I Sassanid defeats Artabanus V, last Parthian ruler, and moves the capital to Ctesiphon 233: Ardashir I Sassanid conquers Kushan 244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Rome 250: Shahpur I establishes the library of Jondi Shahpur, one of the largest in the world 256: the Persians/Sassanids conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia 241: Mani, a thinker from Ecbatana, begins to preach in Seleucia-Ctesiphon 276: Mani is crucified by the Sassanids for tring to incorporate Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism into one religion ("manicheism") 298: the Sassanids sign a peace treaty with Rome 363: the Sassanid king Shapur II defeats the Roman emperor Julian and recapture Nisibis and Armenia 379: Shapur II died after conquering Arabia and reaching the border with China 451: Zoroastran Persia (Sassanids) defeats Christian Armenia 460: Persian king Firuz persecutes Jews, who emigrate to Arabia 484: Zoroastran Persia and Christian Armenia sign a treaty that allows the Armenians to keep their religion 528: the Sassanid intellectual Mazdak advocates the abolition of private property, the division of wealth, nonviolence and vegetarianism 531: Khusro I ascends to the Sassanid throne and is influenced by Mazdakism 560: the Sassanid king Khusro I builds the Palace of the Great Arch in Ctsiphon 579: the Sassanid king Khusro I dies and is succeeded by Khusro II 590: the Sassanid king Khusro II launches a new attack against Byzantium 600: the Zoroastrian high priest Tanar establishes the canon of the Avesta 614: the Sassanids capture Jerusalem from Byzantium 619: the Sassanids capture Egypt from Byzantium 623: Byzantine troops destroy the fire temples of Persia (in revenge for the Persian desecration of Jerusalem) 626: the Sassanids besiege Byzantium 627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh 628: Khusrau II is assassinated by his troops while the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids 632: the Sassanid queen Purandokht signs a peace treaty with Byzantium 636: the Arabs capture Ctesiphon, the last Sassanid is assassinated in Merv and the Sassanid empire ends 460: Persian king Firuz persecutes Jews, who emigrate to Arabia 600: Steel is invented in Iran (Persia) 632: Abu Bakr, one of Mohammed's followers and the first Muslim caliph ("prophet's successor"), quells upheavals throughout Arabia and declares war on the Roman and Persian (Sassanid) empires 650: the Arabs conquer the whole of Persia 697: the Arabs force the Persians to abandon the Pahlavi alphabet in favor of the Arabic script 749: Abu 'l-'Abbas Saffah, whose army is led by the Persian general Abu Muslim Khorasani, replaces the Umayyad dynasty with the Abbasid dynasty 840: Sibovayh, a Persian scholar, codifies the Arabic grammar and writes the first Arabic dictionary 850: the Persian mathematician Khwarazmi founds Algebra and invents the Arabix numerals 867: the Saffarids (shiite) in eastern Persia become virtually independent 879: the Safarid ruler Yaqub Leys revolts against the Arabs and unifies most of Persia 899: the Samanids defeat the Saffarids and expand their empire to Persia but adopt the Persian language 945: the Buyids (shiite) descend from the Caspian Sea, and invade Abbasid Persia 949: Adud Dawla of the Buyid dynasty adopts the Persian imperial title shah 950: Pahlavi, the language of Persia, is reformed according to the Arabic script 962: the Ghaznavid kingdom is founded in Afghanistan (at Ghazni) by Alp-tegin, a Turkic slave soldier of the Samanids 977: the Buyid shah Adud Dawla conquers Baghdad and seizes effective control of the caliphate from the Abbasids 977: Sebaktigin, king of the Ghaznavid kingdom, invades northern India and Central Asia 999: the Ghaznavids of Afghanistan defeat the Samanids of Persia in Khurasan and the Qarakhanids seize Bukhara 1030: Mahmud Ghazni dies and the Ghaznavid empire declines 1038: the Seljuks, led by Toghrul Beg, defeat the Ghaznavids near Merv and invade Persia, moving their capital to Isfahan 1055: the Seljuks defeats the Buyids, invade Mesopotamia and install themselves in Baghdad under the suzerainty of the Abbasids 1091: the Seljuqs move their capital to Baghdad 1118: Mohammed I ibn Malikshah dies and the Seliuq empire breaks up into independent kingdoms in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Anatolia 1153: the Khwarazmis conquer Persia from the Seljuqs 1194: the last Persian Seljuq ruler dies and Seljuq power collapses in Iran 1220: the Mongols invade Transoxania (Bukhara and Samarkand) and Iran/Persia 1258: the Mongols destroy the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad (killing 800,000 people including the last Abbasid caliph), conquer Persia, Mesopotamia and Syria and establishing an Ilkhanate with capital in Baghdad 1260: the Mamluks stop the Mongols in Syria and annex Syria 1263: the Mongol leader Hulegu assumes the title of "Ilkhan" as ruler of Persia 1274: the Persian astronomer Nasir Al-Din Tusi builds the Maraghah observatory 1294: Kublai Khan dies and the empire fragments in khanates, one of them being the Ilkhanate, descendants of Hulegu, with capital in Tabriz 1295: Ghazan, the Ilkhan, converts to Islam, and the Ilkhanate becomes a sultanate 1301: Shaykh Safi al-Din, founder of the Safavid dynasty, founds a sufi order in Uzbekistan 1335: Abu Said dies and the Ilkhanate disintegrates 1365: the turkic-speaking Timur overthrow the Chaghatai khanate and conquers Iran (Persia), the old Ilkhanate, establishing his capital in Samarkand 1351: the turkic-speaking Qara Quyunlu dynasty establishes itself over northwestern Iran 1406: the turkic-speaking Qara Quyunlu dynasty moves its capital to Tabriz 1413: Timur's empire begins to disintegrate 1447: the turkic-speaking Qara Quyunlu under Jahanshah conquer Shiraz 1469: the turkic-speaking Aq Quyunlu dynasty takes control of most of Persia 1501: Shah Ismail I (a 14-year old boy who claims to be a descendant of the 12th imam) unites Iran/Persia and most of Afghanistan, founds the Safavid dynasty with capital in Isfahan and declares Shiism as the state religion 1534: the Ottomans capture Baghdad 1555: the Ottoman empire conquers Mesopotamia from the Safavid empire 1587: Safavid king Shah Abbas I creates a gunpowder-based military force 1597: Safavid king Shah Abbas I moves the capital to Isfahan 1623: the Safavids capture Baghdad from the Ottomans 1638: the Ottomans capture Baghdad from the Safavids 1722: Mahmoud Khan, an Afghan chieftain, revolts against the Safavids, invades Iran/Persia and captures Isfahan, thus ending the Safavid dynasty 1729: Iranian/Persian general Nadir Shah expels the Afghans 1738: Iranian/Persian general Nadir Shah invades India and captures Delhi 1740: the Astrakhanid dynasty collapses and Uzebkistan and Turkmenistan are absorbed into Iran/Persia 1747: Nadir Shah is assassinated and Iran/Persia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan disintegrate 1747: Ahmad Shah Duran, the Afghan commander of Nadir's bodyguard, proclaims himself the ruler of Afghanistan with capital in Kandahar and founds the Durrani dynasty 1794: Agha Mohammad Qajar unifies Iran (Persia), Uzebkistan and Turkmenistan and founds the Qajar dynasty 1828: Iran (Persia) loses the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) to Russian 1879: Britain invades Afghanistan which becomes, de facto, a British colony 1881: Persia loses Turkmenistan to Russia 1907: Britain and Russia sign a treaty dividing Iran into respective spheres of influence 1911: Russia invades the northern provinces of Iran 1919: Afghanistan gains independence from Britain 1921: general Reza Khan seizes power in Persia with a coup 1933: Zahir Shah becomes king of Afghanistan 1935: Reza changes Persia's name to Iran 1941: Reza Shah Pahlevi ascends to the throne of Iran when his father is deposed by British and Soviet troops for collaborating with the nazis 1946: Britain and the Soviet Union withdraw from Iran 1951: Mohammad Mossadegh becomes prime minister of Iran and nationalizes the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company 1953: the USA's secret services engineer a coup to remove Iran's prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh 1962: the shah Reza Pahlevi of Iran introduces a series of reforms (including women's suffrage) called "white revolution" 1979: the shah Reza Pahlevi is overthrown by the Islamic Revolution and Iran becomes a theocratic republic led by the ayatollah Khomeini with a strong anti-American posture 1980: Iraq (Saddam Hussein) attacks Iran (Khomeini) 1982: the Hezbollah is founded by a radical shiite group with the mission of creating an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon 1983: Iraq uses chemical weapons against Iranian troops 1985: Hezbollah suicide commandos organized by Iran blow up the US and French barracks killing 241 marines and 58 French soldiers 1988: a missile fired by an American warship downs an Iranian civilian plane and kills all 290 passengers aboard 1988: terrorists backed by Libya blow up a Pan Am plane over Scotland killing 259 people probably on behalf of Iran 1988: the war between Iraq and Iran that has cost about one million lives ends with no winner 1997: Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, is elected president of Iran, but the ayatollahs still control the army 1999: a raid on a Teheran student dormitory by Iranian police and right-wing vigilantes triggers student riots 2003: militias of cleric Al-Sadr kill rival cleric Majeed Al-Khoei who just returned from his exile in Iran 2004: Iran's ayatollahs outlaw most of the opposition candidates so that parliamentary elections are won by the conservative party 2004: Iran is accused by the USA of trying to build a nuclear weapon and accepts to stop enriching uranium |
Eras2700 BC - 559 BC: Elamites (Susa) 900 BC - 550 BC: Medes 700 BC - 331 BC: Achaemenids 312 BC - 141 BC: Seleucids 141 BC - 224 AD: Parthians 224 AD - 650 AD: Sassanids 650 AD - 650 AD: Arabs 749 AD - 879 AD: Abbasids 879 AD - 1038: Buyids/Abbasids 1038 - 1194: Seljuks/Abbasids 1258 - 1335: Mongols 1365 - 1501: Timurids 1501 - 1722: Safavids 1794 - 1979: Qajar 1979 - : Islamic republic |
| (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |