12,000 years ago Humans and dogs team up
A canine jaw, discovered in a cave in Mesopotamia, is the earliest evidence of the domestication of dogs

8000 BC Sheep the first farm animals
Sheep are the first farm animals of which evidence of domestication survives, from a settlement in northern Iraq

7000 BC
Barley is cultivated in the Middle East

4000 BC Sledges for transport
In Mesopotamia, and on the grass steppes of southern Russia, oxen are used to pull heavy loads on sledges

4000 BC Plough pulled by humans
A simple hand-held plough is in use in Egypt and Mesopotamia, at least 1000 years before a heavier version is pulled by oxen

4000 BC Beer in Mesopotamia
Beer is brewed in Mesopotamia, where barley is an indigenous crop

3100 BC Civilization in Mesopotamia
Sumer develops as the first centre of Mesopotamian civilization

3100 BC Writing in Mesopotamia
Writing is developed, at Sumer, as cuneiform script on clay tablets

3100 BC
The invention of writing marks the transition, in academic terms, from prehistory to history

3000 BC Leverage applied
The lever is in use in both Mesopotamia and Egypt

3000 BC Potters find use for wheel
Potters in Mesopotamia turn their pots on wheels

3000 BC Ass domesticated in Egypt
The ass, until now roaming wild from northeast Africa to Mesopotamia, is domesticated in Egypt

3000 BC Gold in use as currency
The earliest known currency, consisting of gold bars, is in use in Egypt and Mespotamia

2800 BC Bronze Age dawns
Objects are cast in bronze, at Ur in Mesopotamia - introducing what is later called the Bronze Age

2800 BC Music on harp and lyre
The harp and the lyre are in use as musical instruments in Mesopotamia

2600 BC
The Sumerians, in Mesopotamia, write multiplication tables on clay tablets

2500 BC First image of soldiers
The treasures found in the royal cemetery at Ur include a depiction of soldiers in copper helmets, armed with battleaxes

2500 BC Royal servants buried alive
Some ninety royal servants, including soldiers, grooms and female musicians, are buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple at Ur

2500 BC Enuma Elish in oral tradition
Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story, spreads in oral form

2500 BC Royal family enjoys backgammon
The ruling family of Ur plays a board game which appears to be the same as modern backgammon

2400 BC
The rich trading city of Mari, on the Euphrates, is an important centre in northern Mesopotamia

2350 BC Sargon rules
Sargon conquers the other Mesopotamian states and establishes a dynasty with a new capital at Akkad, close to modern Baghdad

2000 BC
The god Ashur is worshipped at a shrine on the Tigris known by his name (the origin of the word Assyria)

1830 BC
Babylon is a tiny region, about 50 miles across, when Amorites establish there the first Babylonian dynasty

1800 BC Abraham on the move
Abraham leaves Ur and moves with his tribe and flocks towards Canaan

1800 BC Warriors cut a dash in chariots
In Mesopotamia the new weapon is a light chariot, drawn by two horses

1750 BC
Shamshi-Adad I conquers Ashur and the surrounding areas, beginning Assyria's first brief period as a regional power

1750 BC Planets identified in Babylon
Babylonian astronomers name many of the constellations and identify the planets

1750 BC
Zimri-Lim builds himself a spectacular palace with some 300 rooms in his capital city of Mari in northern Mesopotamia

1750 BC Banking service in Babylonian temples
Priests in Babylon make loans from the temple treasure, introducing the concept of banking

1750 BC Babylonians line up the numbers
The Babylonians introduce an important step in the story of arithmetic - the concept of place value in numbers, with digits on the left having greater value than those on the right

1740 BC
Shamshi-Adad I conquers the rich and ancient kingdom of Mari, and puts on the throne his son Yasmah-Adad

1728 BC
Hammurabi inherits the relatively minor kingdom of Babylon

1728 BC
Hammurabi begins a programme of conquest and coalition which will vastly extend the Babylonian empire

1720 BC Hammurabi lays down the law
The Code of Hammurabi gives a detailed picture of Babylonian law and society

1720 BC First laws concerning slaves
The Code of Hammurabi is the first surviving document to record the law relating to slaves

1700 BC
Hammurabi, in the process of winning control over the whole of Mesopotamia, conquers the northern territories of Mari and Ashur

1700 BC
Hammurabi destroys Mari (concealing for posterity an extraordinary cuneiform archive not discovered until 1933)

1700 BC
More than 25,000 cuneiform tablets (unearthed since 1933 at Mari) provide a detailed account of Assyria in the late 18th century BC

1700 BC
Ashur, or Assyria, sinks into almost a millennium of fluctuating but largely diminished fortunes

1531 BC Babylon hit by Hittites
Babylon is destroyed by the Hittites, invaders from Anatolia, but reestablishes itself in subsequent centuries

1400 BC Fighting from light chariots
All the separate regions of Mesopotamia are by now ruled by aristocracies of warriors fighting from light chariots

1000 BC Abacus in everyday use
The abacus is used as an everyday method of calculation by Phoenicians and Babylonians

883-859 BC
Assyria, during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II, once again recovers an extensive empire

870 BC Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud
Ashurnasirpal II creates a spectacular new capital at Nimrud (and claims to have had 69,574 guests at his palace-warming party)

870 BC Assyrian annual conquests
An annual event in Assyria is the departure of the army in spring for an expedition of ruthless and brutal conquest

850 BC Battering ram in Assyria
The Assyrians develop the battering ram into a mobile and powerful siege engine

850 BC Pottery glazes in Mesopotamia
The technique of glazing pottery is discovered in Mesopotamia, though used at this stage only for decorative arts arts purposes

800 BC Steel weapons
The Assyrian army makes good use of the new technology by which iron can be hardened into steel suitable for weapons

710 BC Lock and key for Assyrian palace
The first known lock and key is fitted in the new palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad, in Assyria

700 BC Assyrians build Nineveh
Sennacherib moves the Assyrian capital to a new site at Nineveh

689 BC Assyrians destroy Babylon
The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, destroys with great brutality the city of Babylon

650 BC Ashurbanipal's clay library
Ashurbanipal commissions a great library of cuneiform clay tablets at Nineveh

650 BC Full story of Gilgamesh
The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is known in its complete form from texts in the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh

645 BC Ashurbanipal's lion hunt in stone
Ashurbanipal commissions a magnificent relief of a lion hunt for his new palace at Nineveh

612 BC Babylonians destroy Nineveh
The Medes and the Babylonians destroy Nineveh and bring to an end the power of Assyria

605 BC Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar comes to the throne of Babylon, beginning a prosperous reign of more than forty years

586 BC Jews in captivity in Babylon
The Jews, taken into captivity in Babylon, form the first community of the Diaspora

580 BC Hanging gardens of Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar builds the hanging gardens of Babylon, supposedly to comfort a homesick wife

580 BC Jews in Babylon develop synagogue
The synagogue, as a simple place of Jewish worship, develops during the Babylonian captivity

550 BC Idea of Messiah gives hope
The optimistic concept of the Messiah is part of the Jewish response to captivity in Babylon

539 BC Persia absorbs Babylon
A Persian army captures Babylon and brings it into the empire of Cyrus the Great

331 BC Alexander defeats Darius at Gaugamela
Moving northeast into Mesopotamia, Alexander again defeats Darius III (at Gaugamela), leaving Persia open to his advances

323 BC Alexander dies in Babylon
Alexander, still only 33, dies in Babylon following a banquet

312 BC Seleucia founded on Tigris
Seleucia is founded as a new capital on the Tigris, eclipsing Babylon and recycling much of the older city as building material

299 BC New city at Antioch
Seleucus founds Antioch as a Greek city on the trade route between Mesopotamia and Europe

200 BC Palmyra thrives on caravans
The oasis city of Palmyra acquires importance on the caravan route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean

100 BC Parthians build Ctesiphon
The Parthians develop the site of Ctesiphon, on the east bank of the Tigris opposite Seleucia

540 Khosrau I builds at Ctesiphon
Khosrau I builds himself a superb new palace, of which the great vaulted Taq-e Kisra remains today at Ctesiphon

540 Carpet commissioned by Persian emperor
Khosrau I commissions a spectacular Spring Carpet for the floor of his hall of audience in Ctesiphon

627 Byzantines recover True Cross
The Byzantine emperor Heraclius recovers the True Cross from Ctesiphon

637 Muslims capture Ctesiphon
The Arabs defeat a Persian army at Kadisiya and then sack the city of Ctesiphon, effectively bringing to an end the Sassanian dynasty

656 Ali defeats Aisha
Othman is assassinated, and Ali wins power as the fourth Muslim caliph - defeating Muhammad's widow Aisha at the 'battle of the camel' near Basra

680 Death of Husain
Husayn, the son of Ali, dies at Karbala in a battle against rival Muslims and becomes the most holy of Shi'ite martyrs

750 Karaites rely on scripture alone
Karaism, relying on scripture rather than rabbinical commentary, develops among the Jewish community in Babylon

762 Baghdad and the caliphs
The Abbasid caliphs create Baghdad as a new capital city on the Tigris

800 Zero in Indian maths
The use of zero, essential in practical mathematics, is now familiar in India and is adopted in Baghdad

800 Translation of texts in Baghdad
Scholars in Baghdad begin translating Greek and Syriac texts into Arabic

800 Thousand and One Nights
The luxury of Baghdad, under the caliph Harun al-Rashid, is evident in the Thousand and One Nights

from the 9th century
The ancient site of the city of Babylon is gradually abandoned and becomes covered in silt from the Euphrates, until archaelogical excavation begins in the 19th century

850 Mamelukes employed in Baghdad
The caliphs in Baghdad begin to employ Turkish slaves, or Mamelukes, in their armies

1050 Pigeon post in Baghdad
The rulers of Baghdad harness homing pigeons as postmen.

1055 Togrul Beg enters Baghdad
Togrul Beg enters Baghdad and is granted by the caliph the title of sultan, which becomes hereditary in his Seljuk dynasty

1100 Greek texts reach west Europe
Greek texts, translated by Arabic scholars in Baghdad, gradually make their way through the Muslim world to Christian Europe

1258 Mongols sack Baghdad
When Hulagu and his Mongol army reach Baghdad, in 1258, it is said that 800,000 of the inhabitants are killed - and the caliph is kicked to death

1831 Mamelukes suppressed in Baghdad
Mameluke power ends with their suppression in Baghdad, following a massacre in Cairo twenty years earlier

1845 Layard comes across Nimrud
British archaeologist Henry Layard, in his first month of digging in Iraq, discovers the Assyrian city of Nimrud

1853 Nineveh lion hunt unearthed
Hormuzd Rassam discovers the magnficent lion-hunt reliefs in the palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh

1914 November 23 British seize Basra
A British force seizes the Turkish port of Basra, to safeguard the supply of Persian oil

1915 November 22 British defeat at Ctesiphon
A British and Indian force is defeated by the Turks at Ctesiphon, on the bank of the Tigris

1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement
Britain and France sign the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, dividing up spheres of influence in the Middle East

1916  April 29 British surrender at Kut
The British garrison at Kut, on the Tigris, surrenders to the Turks after a five-month siege

1917  March 11 British take Baghdad
The British commander Stanley Maude captures Baghdad from the Turks

1920  May British mandates in Middle East
League of Nations mandates give Britain responsibility for Iraq, Transjordan and Palestine

1921 Faisal becomes king of Iraq
Faisal, having lost Syria, is given the throne in the British mandated territory of Iraq

1927 Royal cemetery at Ur
British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovers the treasures of the royal cemetery at Ur

1958 King of Iraq murdered
The king of Iraq, Faisal II, is murdered in Baghdad in a coup led by Abdul Karim Qassim

1958 Kurds launch guerrilla war in Iraq
Nationalist Kurds in the north of Iraq launch a guerrilla war against the new government in Baghdad

1968 Coup in Iraq
A military coup in Iraq brings to power a government composed mainly of Ba'thists

1979 Saddam Hussein terrorizes Iraq
Saddam Hussein begins a reign of terror in Iraq, reading out at a meeting the names of fellow Ba'athists who are to be taken out and shot

1980 Iraq invades Iran
Saddam Hussein invades Iran, beginning an 8-year war that will bring massive human cost

1985 Arms to Iran
President Reagan's administration breaks a US embargo with secret arms sales to Iran in return for assistance in the release of US hostages in Lebanon

1988 Iran-Iraq war ends
The Iran-Iraq war ends with the border between the countries unchanged and more than a million dead

1988 Saddam uses chemical weapons
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein uses chemical weapons against the Kurds of northern Iraq

1990 Saddam invades Kuwait
Iraqi troops cross the border into Kuwait and are soon in control of the whole country and its oil wells

1990 Saddam annexes Kuwait
Saddam Hussein announces the annexation of Kuwait, claiming it to have been historically part of Iraq

1991 War in the Gulf
The Gulf War begins when Iraq fails to meet the UN deadline for withdrawal from Kuwait

1991 Allied tank victory ends Gulf War
With all Iraqi troops expelled from Kuwait by Allied tanks, President Bush declares a ceasefire in the Gulf War

1991 Safe haven for Kurds
Kurds in northern Iraq achieves a measure of autonomy in a safe haven imposed by the UN

1999 Sadiq al-Sadr is assassinated
Moderate Shiite cleric Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr and two of his sons are assassinated in the Iraqi city of Najaf

2003 Invasion of Iraq
US, British, Australian and Polish forces invade Iraq

2003 Saddam toppled in Baghdad
US forces are in control of Baghdad and an excited crowd topples from its plinth a massive statue of Saddam Hussein

2003 'Mission Accomplished'
President Bush prematurely celebrates his Iraq achievement with a speech on a US aircraft carrier in front of a banner declaring 'Mission Accomplished'

2003 Saddam captured
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is found hiding in a subterranean hole in a farmyard near Tikrit

2004 Abuses revealed at Abu Graib
Abuses in the US military prison at Abu Ghraib in Iraq are revealed on US television

2005 Election in Iraq
The first general election is held in Iraq, for 275 members of a permanent Iraqi General Assembly

2006 Saddam Hussein to hang
An Iraqi court sentences former dictator Saddam Hussein and two of his senior colleagues to death by hanging

2006 Saddam is hanged
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad, a month after being convicted of a few of his crimes