<imagemap>File:1st millennium BC.jpg|thumb|400x400px|From top left clockwise: The Parthenon, a former temple in Athens, Greece; Aristotle, Greek philosopher; Gautama Buddha, a spiritual teacher and the founder of Buddhism; Wars of Alexander the Great last from 336 BC to 323 BC; Letters of the Greek alphabet; People working during the Iron Age; Roman dictator, Julius Caesar is assassinated by the Roman Senate in 44 BC. (Background: A mural from the Assyrian Empire which dissolved in the 7th century BC)
rect 42 28 559 285 Parthenon
rect 626 65 923 350 Aristotle
rect 993 28 1239 387 Gautama Buddha
rect 42 372 425 616 Assassination of Julius Caesar
rect 483 388 749 502 Greek alphabet
rect 775 468 1255 698 Wars of Alexander the Great
rect 453 535 731 698 Iron Age
rect 1 1 1279 719 Assyrian Empire
</imagemap>
The 1st millennium BC, also known as the last millennium BC, was the period of time lasting from the years 1000 BC to 1 BC (10th to 1st centuries BC; in astronomy: JD – ). 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 after the birth of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Julio-Claudian dynasty led by its founder Octavian.
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 (4th to 2nd centuries).
The Roman Republic supplants the Etruscans and then the Carthaginians (5th to 3rd centuries). The close of the millennium sees the rise of the Roman Empire. The early Celtic culture 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 gives rise to the Maurya Empire. The Scythians dominate Central Asia. In China, the Zhou dynasty rules the Chinese heartland at the beginning of the millennium. The decline of the Zhou dynasty during Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period sees the rise of such philosophical and spiritual traditions as Confucianism and Taoism. 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 Olmec civilization declines, and the Maya and Zapotec civilizations emerge in Mesoamerica. The Chavín culture flourishes in Peru.
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 (Roman Empire, Parthian Empire, Graeco-Indo-Scythian and Hindu kingdoms, Han China).
The population of the Americas was below 20 million, concentrated in Mesoamerica (Epi-Olmec culture);
that of Sub-Saharan Africa was likely below 10 million. The population of Oceania was likely less than one million people.
- Pythagorean theorem
- Monotheism
- 5th century BC
- Blast furnace China
- Atomism<!--440 BC-->
- Crossbow<!--5th century BC-->
- Archimedes' principle
- Spherical Earth
- Water clock<!--245 BC--> || 1200–500 BC||
|-
|Poverty Point earthworks || North America, Louisiana || 1650–700 BC
|}
Astronomy
;Historical solar eclipses
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
(BC)
!Date
!Eclipse
Type
!Saros
Series
!Eclipse
Magnitude
!Gamma
!Ecliptic
Conjunction
(UT)
!Greatest
Eclipse
(UT)
!Duration
(Min & Sec)
!Description
|-
|899
|21 Apr
|Annular
|53
|0.9591
|0.8964
|22:32:15
|22:21:56
|00:03:04
|China's 'Double-Dawn' Eclipse [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html] [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0898Apr21A.pdf]
|-
|763
|15 Jun
|Total
|44
|1.0596
|0.2715
|08:11:13
|08:14:01
|00:05:00
|Assyrian Eclipse [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html#-0762] [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0762Jun15T.pdf]
|-
|648
|6 Apr
|Total
|38
|1.0689
|0.6898
|08:24:05
|08:31:03
|00:05:02
|Archilochus' Eclipse [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html#-0647] [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0647Apr06T.pdf]
|-
|585
|28 May
|Total
|57
|1.0798
|0.3201
|14:25:41
|14:22:26
|00:06:04
|Thales Eclipse (Medes vs. Lydians), firstly recorded in Herodotus History. [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html#-0584] [https://www.wired.com/2008/05/may-28-585-bc-predicted-solar-eclipse-stops-battle/] [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0584May28T.pdf]
|-
|557
|19 May
|Total
|48
|1.0258
|0.3145
|12:49:02
|12:52:26
|00:02:22
|The Siege of Larisa, firstly recorded by Xenophon. [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0556May19T.pdf]
|-
|480
|2 Oct
|Annular
|65
|0.9324
|0.4951
|11:56:54
|11:51:01
|00:07:57
|Xerxes' Eclipse. recorded by Herodotus History. [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0479Oct02A.pdf]
|-
|431
|3 Aug
|Annular
|48
|0.9843
|0.8388
|14:45:34
|14:54:52
|00:01:05
|Peloponnesian War. [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html#-0430] [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0430Aug03A.pdf]
|-
|424
|21 Mar
|Annular
|42
|0.9430
|0.9433
|07:43:30
|07:54:29
|00:04:39
|8th Year of Peloponnesian War. [https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEplot/SE-0423Mar21A.pdf]
|}
Centuries and decades
{| cellpadding="3" border="0"
|-----
| align="right" | 10th century BC
| align="right" | 990s BC || align="right" | 980s BC
| align="right" | 970s BC
| align="right" | 960s BC || align="right" | 950s BC
| align="right" | 940s BC
| align="right" | 930s BC || align="right" | 920s BC
| align="right" | 910s BC || align="right" | 900s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 9th century BC
| align="right" | 890s BC || align="right" | 880s BC
| align="right" | 870s BC
| align="right" | 860s BC || align="right" | 850s BC
| align="right" | 840s BC
| align="right" | 830s BC || align="right" | 820s BC
| align="right" | 810s BC || align="right" | 800s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 8th century BC
| align="right" | 790s BC || align="right" | 780s BC
| align="right" | 770s BC
| align="right" | 760s BC || align="right" | 750s BC
| align="right" | 740s BC
| align="right" | 730s BC || align="right" | 720s BC
| align="right" | 710s BC || align="right" | 700s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 7th century BC
| align="right" | 690s BC || align="right" | 680s BC
| align="right" | 670s BC
| align="right" | 660s BC || align="right" | 650s BC
| align="right" | 640s BC
| align="right" | 630s BC || align="right" | 620s BC
| align="right" | 610s BC || align="right" | 600s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 6th century BC
| align="right" | 590s BC || align="right" | 580s BC
| align="right" | 570s BC
| align="right" | 560s BC || align="right" | 550s BC
| align="right" | 540s BC
| align="right" | 530s BC || align="right" | 520s BC
| align="right" | 510s BC || align="right" | 500s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 5th century BC
| align="right" | 490s BC || align="right" | 480s BC
| align="right" | 470s BC
| align="right" | 460s BC || align="right" | 450s BC
| align="right" | 440s BC
| align="right" | 430s BC || align="right" | 420s BC
| align="right" | 410s BC || align="right" | 400s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 4th century BC
| align="right" | 390s BC || align="right" | 380s BC
| align="right" | 370s BC
| align="right" | 360s BC || align="right" | 350s BC
| align="right" | 340s BC
| align="right" | 330s BC || align="right" | 320s BC
| align="right" | 310s BC || align="right" | 300s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 3rd century BC
| align="right" | 290s BC || align="right" | 280s BC
| align="right" | 270s BC
| align="right" | 260s BC || align="right" | 250s BC
| align="right" | 240s BC
| align="right" | 230s BC || align="right" | 220s BC
| align="right" | 210s BC || align="right" | 200s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 2nd century BC
| align="right" | 190s BC || align="right" | 180s BC
| align="right" | 170s BC
| align="right" | 160s BC || align="right" | 150s BC
| align="right" | 140s BC
| align="right" | 130s BC || align="right" | 120s BC
| align="right" | 110s BC || align="right" | 100s BC
|-----
| align="right" | 1st century BC
| align="right" | 90s BC || align="right" | 80s BC
| align="right" | 70s BC
| align="right" | 60s BC || align="right" | 50s BC
| align="right" | 40s BC
| align="right" | 30s BC || align="right" | 20s BC
| align="right" | 10s BC || align="right" | 0s BC
|}
References
- Based on the works of Joseph Needham