Cronologia dell'Iraq che stiamo "civilizzando"

5000 BC	Earliest evidence of human culture in Mesopotamia
~4700 BC	Hassunah period: earliest pottery making culture
~4400 BC	Halaf period: pottery culture with knowledge of metal
~3900 BC	Ubaid period: first well-known culture from southern Mesopotamia; the Ubaids give the first evidence of temple and other sophisticated architecture
~3600 BC	Warka period: first civilization after the Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia; the Warka period marks the beginning of the Protoliterate period in Mesopotamia
~3400 BC	Gawra and Ninevite periods
2900 BC	Pre-dynastic Sumerians
2750 BC	First Sumerian dynasty of Ur
2340-2125 BC	Sargon I begins the Akkadian rule in Mesopotamia
2100-1800 BC	Third Sumerian dynasty of Ur
1800-1170 BC	Old Babylonian period
1728-1685 BC	Hammurabi, author of the first known Code of Laws
1600-1100 BC	Staggered periods of Hittite hegemony over Mesopotamia
1520-1170 BC	Periods of Kassite dominance
1200-612 BC	Assyrian period
714-681 BC	Reign of Sennacherib, whose conquest of Judah resulted in the first deportations of the Hebrews
668-626 BC	Reign of Ashurbanipal, the most energetic of the Assyrian conquerors
612 BC	Fall of Nineveh
612-539 BC	Neo-Babylonian Period
~650-600 BC	Zarathustra, the founder of Persian Zoroastrianism
605-565 BC	Reign of Nebuchadnezzar; his conquest of Judah and subsequent deportation of some Hebrew peoples mark the beginning of the Hebrew Exile
539 BC	Fall of Babylon and the beginning of Persian dominance in Mesopotamia
546 BC	Conquest of Lydia and the Greek cities of Asia Minor by Cyrus
521-486 BC	Reign of Darius I; the Persian empire at its fullest extent, from Macedon to Egypt, Palestine to India
499-494 BC	Rebellion of Greek cities against Persian rule
490-489 BC	Darius I invades Greece on a punitive expedition against Athens; known in Greek history as Persian Wars
480-479 BC	Invasion of Greece by Xerxes
479 BC	Defeat of Persian armies by the Greeks
~400 BC	Beginnings of Mithraism in Zoroastrianism
334-330 BC	Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great
330 BC	Alexander enters Babylon; final fall of the Persians and Mesopotamian dominance over the region; beginning of Hellenistic period
250 BC	Founding of Manicheism, an offshoot of Mithraism and Zoroastrianism, by Mani, a priest of Ecbatana