1st millennium BC


The 1st millennium BC was the period of time between from the year 1000 BC to 1 BC.
It encompasses the Iron Age in the Old World and sees the transition from the Ancient Near East to classical antiquity.
World population roughly doubled over the course of the millennium,
from about 100 million to about 200-250 million.

Overview

The Neo-Assyrian Empire dominates the Near East in the early centuries of the millennium, supplanted by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century.
Ancient Egypt is in decline, and falls to the Achaemenids in 525 BC.
In Greece, Classical Antiquity begins with the colonization of Magna Graecia and peaks with the conquest of the Achaemenids and the subsequent flourishing of Hellenistic civilization.
The Roman Republic supplants the Etruscans and then the Carthaginians. The close of the millennium sees the rise of the Roman Empire. The early Celts dominate Central Europe while Northern Europe is in the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
In East Africa, the Nubian Empire and Aksum arise.
In South Asia, the Vedic civilization blends into the Maurya Empire. The Scythians dominate Central Asia. In China, the Spring and Autumn period sees the rise of Confucianism. Towards the close of the millennium, the Han Dynasty extends Chinese power towards Central Asia, where it borders on Indo-Greek and Iranian states. Japan is in the Yayoi period. The Maya civilization rises in Mesoamerica.
The first millennium BC is the formative period of the classical world religions, with the development of early Judaism and Zoroastrianism in the Near East, and Vedic religion and Vedanta, Jainism and Buddhism in India. Early literature develops in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Tamil and Chinese. The term Axial Age, coined by Karl Jaspers, is intended to express the crucial importance of the period of c. the 8th to 2nd centuries BC in world history.
World population more than doubled over the course of the millennium,
from about an estimated 50-100 million to an estimated 170-300 million.
Close to 90% of world population at the end of the first millennium BC lived in the Iron Age civilizations of the Old World.
The population of the Americas was below 20 million, concentrated in Mesoamerica ;
that of Sub-Saharan Africa was likely below 10 million. The population of Oceania was likely less than one million people.

Ancient history

Timeline

Some of the central figures of the Axial Age are legendary or semi-legendary, with no contemporary written records available
;Rulers
;Religion, philosophy, scholarship
;Greco-Roman literature
Archaic period
Classical period
Hellenistic to Roman period
;Chinese literature
;Sanskrit literature
;Hebrew
;Avestan
;Other
CultureRegionPeriodNotes
Urnfield cultureEurope, Central1300-750 BCBronze Age Europe
Atlantic Bronze AgeEurope, Western1300-700 BCBronze Age Europe
Painted Grey Ware cultureSouth Asia1200-600 BCBronze Age India, Indo-Aryan migration
Late Nordic Bronze AgeEurope, North1100-550 BCBronze Age Europe
Villanovan cultureEurope, Italy1100-700 BCIron Age Europe
Greek Dark AgesGreece1100-800 BCDorian invasion
Iron Age IINear East1000-586 BCAncient Near East, List of archaeological periods
Sa Huỳnh cultureSoutheast Asia, Vietnam1000 BC-AD 200-
Woodland periodNorth America1000 BC - AD 1000List of archaeological periods
Bantu expansionSub-Saharan Africa1000 BC-AD 500-
Middle Nok PeriodSub-Saharan Africa, West900-300 BCIron metallurgy in Africa
Novocherkassk cultureEurope, Eastern900-650 BC-
Chavín de HuántarSouth America, Peru1200-500 BC
Poverty Point earthworksNorth America, Louisiana1650-700 BC-
OlmecsMesoamerica1500-400 BC-
Adena cultureNorth America, Ohio1000-200 BC
Liaoning bronze dagger cultureEast Asia800-600 BC
Middle MumunEast Asia, Korea800-300 BC
Etruscan civilizationEurope, Italy800-264 BC-
Paracas cultureSouth America, Peru800-100 BC
-
Hallstatt cultureEurope, Central800 BC-500 BCIron Age Europe, Thraco-Cimmerian, Celts
British Iron AgeEurope, Britain700-50 BCInsular Celts
Zapotec civilizationMesoamerica700 BC - AD 700
Pazyryk cultureCentral Asia600-300 BCScythians, Saka, Pazyryk burials
Aldy-Bel cultureCentral Asia600-300 BCScythians, Saka
La Tène cultureEurope, Central/Western500-50 BCGauls
Pre-Roman Iron AgeEurope, North500-50 BCProto-Germanic
Northern Black Polished WareSouth Asia500-300 BCVedic period
Late MumunEast Asia, Korea550-300 BC
UreweSub-Saharan Africa400 BC-AD 500Iron metallurgy in Africa
Late Nok PeriodSub-Saharan Africa, West300-1 BCIron metallurgy in Africa
Nasca cultureSouth America, Peru100 BC-800 AD
-
Calima cultureSouth America, Colombia200 BC-400 AD-
Hopewell traditionNorth America100 BC-AD 400-
TeotihuacanMesoamerica100 BC -AD 550-
Ipiutak SiteNorth America, Alaska100 BC -AD 800-

Astronomy

;Historical solar eclipses
Year
DateEclipse
Type		Saros
Series		Eclipse
Magnitude		GammaEcliptic
Conjunction
Geatest
Eclipse
Duration
Description
89921 AprAnnular530.95910.896422:32:1522:21:5600:03:04China's 'Double-Dawn' Eclipse
76315 JunTotal441.05960.271508:11:1308:14:0100:05:00Assyrian Eclipse
6486 AprTotal381.06890.689808:24:0508:31:0300:05:02Archilochus' Eclipse
58528 MayTotal571.07980.320114:25:4114:22:2600:06:04Thales Eclipse, firstly recorded in Herodotus History.
55719 MayTotal481.02580.314512:49:0212:52:2600:02:22The Siege of Larisa, firstly recorded by Xenophon.
4802 OctAnnular650.93240.495111:56:5411:51:0100:07:57Xerxes' Eclipse. recorded by Herodotus History.
4313 AugAnnular480.98430.838814:45:3414:54:5200:01:05Peloponnesian War.
42421 MarAnnular420.94300.943307:43:3007:54:2900:04:398th Year of Peloponnesian War.

Centuries and decades