Events of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, 3000 to 500 BCE

during the late 13th to early 12th century BC

Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of the South Caucasus, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean throughout much of the 9th to 7th centuries BCE, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point.

The Minoan eruption was a catastrophic volcanic eruption that devastated the Aegean island of Thera (also called Santorini) circa 1600 BC.

The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 BC during Mesoamerica's formative period.

The traditional dates of the dynasty, from 1766 to 1122 BC, were calculated by Liu Xin during the Han dynasty.

The year of the supposed founding was variously computed by ancient historians, but the two dates seeming to be officially sanctioned were the Varronian chronology's 753 BC (used by Claudius's Secular Games and Hadrian's Romaea) and the adjacent year of 752 BC (used by the Fasti and the Secular Games of Antoninus Pius and Philip the Arab).

The only date within that range matching all the astronomical data is 20 January 1046 BC.

Legends alive in the city for centuries assigned its foundation in 814 BC to a queen of Tyre, Elissa, also called Dido ("beloved").

The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the thirteenth or early twelfth century BC.