1000 BCE - After Bronze Age Collapse
China’s oldest existing collection of poetry was written around 1000 BCE to 600 BCE, The Classic of Poetry (Shijing). In Mesopotamia literature such as the anonymous Dialogue of Pessimism was written, exploring existential doubt and the futility of human endeavor. The refined Standard Babylonian version of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh was compiled.
(Map is approximate and for illustration purpose only.)
Map highlights: Diverse late Bronze Age and early Iron Age cultures in the British isles, Atlantic coast, France, and Iberia – Growing trade in metal – Development of regional identities after the Bronze Age collapse – Increasing maritime exchange – Urnfield cultures across Central Europe – Expanding exchange networks linking the Danube, Mediterranean, and Baltic regions – End of the Mycenaean palace world – Early Phrygia communities in central Anatolian – Neo-Hittite/Luwian states in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria – Phoenician city-states – Assyria weakened after the Bronze Age collapse, but surviving – Third Intermediate Period Egypt – Loss of Egyptian control in Nubia – Early Vedic cultures in northwestern India – Ganges region emerging in the east – Diverse South Indian Neolithic-Early Iron Age communities – Western Zhou China
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