Humanities timeline

Rome

Period: 753 BCE to May 29, 1453

Middle Ages

Period: 476 BCE to 1453 BCE

Julius Caesar death

44 BCE

born 100 BC
stabbed to death
He was a politically adept and popular leader of the Roman Republic who significantly transformed what became known as the Roman Empire by greatly expanding its geographic reach and establishing its imperial system.

Empire begins

27 BCE

It began in Rome in 753 BC. Rome controlled over two million square miles stretching from the Rhine River to Egypt and from Britain to Asia Minor.

Rome at the greatest extent

117

The Roman Empire in 117 AD, at its greatest extent. Officially the final emperor of the Western empire.

Rule of Diocletian

284

Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become Roman cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor.

Rule of Constantine

306

Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I, was a Roman Emperor who ruled between 306 and 337 AD. Born on the territory now known as Niš, he was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer. His mother was Empress Helena. His father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD.

Legalization of Christianity

325

Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.

Split of the Roman Empire and move to Constantinople

330

Split of the Roman Empire:By 285 CE the Roman Empire had grown so vast that it was no longer feasible to govern all the provinces from the central seat of Rome. The Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into halves with the Eastern Empire governed out of Byzantium (later Constantinople) and the Western Empire governed from Rome.

First Sack of Rome

410

The Sack of Rome occurred on 24 August 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths led by King Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position first by Mediolanum in 286 and then by Ravenna in 402.

End of Western Empire

476

In 476 C.E. Romulus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. The order that the Roman Empire had brought to western Europe for 1000 years was no more.

Reign of Justinian

527

As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justin's death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign.

Muslims Conquer North Africa

647

The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb continued the century of rapid Arab Early Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 AD and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of Northern Africa.

Battle of Tours

Aug 10, 732

At the Battle of Tours near Poitiers, France, Frankish leader Charles Martel, a Christian, defeats a large army of Spanish Moors, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Cordoba, was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from Gaul, never to return in such force.

Viking Invasions

793

Viking expansion is the process by which Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, sailed most of the North Atlantic, reaching south to North Africa and east to Russia, Constantinople and the Middle East as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries.

Rule of Charlemagne

800

He united much of western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. He was the first recognised emperor to rule from western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded is called the Carolingian Empire.

Missionary of St. Cyril and Methodius

862

In 862, when Prince Rostislav of Great Moravia asked Constantinople for missionaries, the emperor Michael III and the patriarch Photius named Cyril and Methodius. In 863 they started their work among the Slavs, using Slavonic in the liturgy.

East-West Schism

1054

The East–West Schism, also called the Great Schism and the Schism of 1054, was the break of communion between what are now the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches, which had lasted until the 11th century. To press it upon the Eastern patriarchs was to prepare the way for separation; to insist upon it in times of irritation was to cause a schism. ... The Roman churches, without consulting the East, added “and from the Son” (Latin: Filioque) to the Nicene Creed.

Crusades

1096

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups. In all, eight major Crusade expeditions occurred between 1096 and 1291.

Magna Carta

1215

The Magna Carta was a document signed by King John after negotiations with his barons and their French and Scots allies at Runnymede, Surrey, England in 1215. ... It is one of the most celebrated documents in the History of England. It is recognised as a cornerstone of the idea of the liberty of citizens.

Mongol Invasion

1236

The Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century was the conquest of Europe by the Mongol Empire, by way of the destruction of East Slavic principalities, such as Kiev and Vladimir.

Architect Brunelleschi designs the dome for the Florence Cathedral

1296

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, commonly called the Duomo Cathedral of Florence, helped set the tone of the Italian Renaissance. ... The Duomo of Florence was especially important because of three unique features that helped spark the Renaissance and inspire artists and engineers across Europe.

Renaissance

Period: 1300 to 1600

Dante writes his epic poem the Divine Comedy.

1320

The Divine Comedy is an epic poem (a poem that is very long, like a story) written by Dante Alighieri. It is about a trip through the afterlife. The poem has three parts: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise, or Heaven). The Divine Comedy is a piece of world literature.

100 year war

1337

The Hundred Years' War was fought between France and England during the late Middle Ages. It lasted 116 years from 1337 to 1453. The war started because Charles IV of France died in 1328 without a son. Edward III of England then believed he had the right to become the new king of France through his mother.

Plague

1340

The plague is a serious bacterial infection that can be deadly. Sometimes referred to as the “black plague,” the disease is caused by a bacterial strain called Yersinia pestis. This bacterium is found in animals throughout the world and is usually transmitted to humans through fleas.

The Papacy returned to Rome

Sep 13, 1376

The most influential decision in the reign of Pope Gregory XI (1370–1378) was the return to Rome, beginning on 13 September 1376 and ending with his arrival on 17 January 1377.

Jan Hus Dies

Jul 6, 1415

Hus, Jan (1369–1415) Bohemian religious reformer. He studied and later taught at Prague, where he was ordained priest. Influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe, Hus was excommunicated by Pope Gregory XII in 1411. In De Ecclesia (1412), Hus outlined his case for reform of the Church.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.

1439

Invented around 1439, Gutenberg's movable type printing press initiated nothing less than a revolution in print technology. His press allowed manuscripts to be mass-produced at relatively affordable costs. The 42-line 'Gutenberg Bible', printed around 1455, was Gutenberg's most well known printed item.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.

1439

Invented around 1439, Gutenberg's movable type printing press initiated nothing less than a revolution in print technology. His press allowed manuscripts to be mass-produced at relatively affordable costs. The 42-line 'Gutenberg Bible', printed around 1455, was Gutenberg's most well known printed item.

The invention of printing press

1440

Johannes Gutenberg is usually cited as the inventor of the printing press. Indeed, the German goldsmith's 15th-century contribution to the technology was revolutionary — enabling the mass production of books and the rapid dissemination of knowledge throughout Europe.

Lorenzo de Medici ascends to power in Florence

Jan 1, 1449

Lorenzo de'Medici was a statesman and patron of the arts in Florence, Italy, during the 15th century. He was so important that people referred to him as 'il Magnifico,' the Magnificent. Lorenzo de'Medici (1449-1492) lived during the Italian Renaissance.

End of Eastern Empire

May 29, 1453

On May 29, 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople, Mehmed triumphantly entered the Hagia Sophia, which would soon be converted to the city's leading mosque. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of a glorious era for the Byzantine Empire.

Sistine Chapel

1473

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the Sistine Chapel, the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named.

Botticelli completed the painting The Birth of Venus.

1486

The Birth of Venus is a painting by the Italian artist Sandro Botticelli probably made in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown.

King Henry VIII

Jun 28, 1491

King Henry VIII

Start of Counter-Reformation

1500

The Counter-Reformation was a movement within the Roman Catholic Church. Its main aim was to reform and improve it. It started in the 1500s. Its first period is called the Catholic Reformation.

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.

1503

Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa from 1503 to 1506, but was considered incomplete by Da Vinci until 1516. Da Vinci was never paid for the painting and it never made it to it's intended client. Her husband, Francesco del Giocondo was a wealthy cloth merchant in Florence who never received his painting.

Erasmus published The Praise of Folly

1511

In Praise of Folly, also translated as The Praise of Folly, is an essay written in Latin in 1509 by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam and first printed in June 1511.

Martin Luther nails 95 Theses

1517

The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power of Indulgences[a] is a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther, professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, that started the Reformation, a schism in the Roman Catholic Church which profoundly changed Europe. They

Reformation

Period: 1517 to 1648

Elizabeth I became Queen of England.

Sep 7, 1533

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

Copernicus’ Heliocentric Theory

1543

Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets orbiting around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds.

Galileo was warned by the Catholic Church

1543

Galileo was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy Office to begin trial for holding the belief that the Earth revolves around the Sun, which was deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. Standard practice demanded that the accused be imprisoned and secluded during the trial.

Scientific Revolution

Period: 1550 to 1700

The invention of the microscope

1590

Sometime about the year 1590, two Dutch spectacle makers, Zacharias Janssen and his father Hans started experimenting with these lenses. They put several lenses in a tube and made a very important discovery. ... They had just invented the compound microscope (which is a microscope that uses two or more lenses).

William Shakespeare builds the Globe theatre.

1599

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.

Kepler discovered elliptical orbits

1609

Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion. While Copernicus rightly observed that the planets revolve around the Sun, it was Kepler who correctly defined their orbits. ... Brahe believed in a model of the Universe with the Sun (rayed disk) orbiting the Earth (black dot), but the other planets (symbols) orbiting the Sun.

Galileo studies planets with his telescope

Jan 7, 1610

He subsequently used his newly invented telescope to discover four of the moons circling Jupiter, to study Saturn, to observe the phases of Venus, and to study sunspots on the Sun. Galileo's observations strengthened his belief in Copernicus' theory that Earth and all other planets revolve around the Sun.

30 Years War

1618

The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. One of the most destructive conflicts in human history, it resulted in eight million fatalities not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine, and plague.

Bacon published Novum Organum

1620

The Novum Organum, fully Novum Organum Scientiarum, is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon, written in Latin and published in 1620. The title is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon, which was his treatise on logic and syllogism.

Peace of Westphalia

Aug 24, 1648

The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster, largely ending the European wars of religion.