The CDLI has moved to a new server

Dear user, the CDLI is now located at https://cdli.earth. Please update your bookmarks and use this new domain name in print.

Periods

Download the list of Periods in text format to your computer

Flat Data

As CSV As TSV

Linked Data

As TTL As RDF/JSON

Expanded Data

As JSON

Cuneiform writing has a long history and was in use as Proto-Cuneiform which appeared at the turn of the fourth millennium, up to the Christian Era. Scroll down to see the most recent periods of the timeline and click on the geo-temporal period of your choice to know more.

Pre-Writing (ca. 8500-3500 BC)

Uruk V (ca. 3500-3350 BC)

Uruk IV (ca. 3350-3200 BC)

Egyptian 0 (ca. 3300-3000 BC)

Uruk III (ca. 3200-3000 BC)

Proto-Elamite (ca. 3100-2900 BC)

ED I-II (ca. 2900-2700 BC)

ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)

ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)

Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)

Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)

Old Elamite (c. 2600-1500 BC)

Linear Elamite (ca. 2200 BC)

Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)

Harappan (ca. 2200-1900 BC)

Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)

Early Old Babylonian (ca. 2000-1900 BC)

Old Assyrian (ca. 1950-1850 BC)

Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)

Middle Hittite (ca. 1500-1100 BC)

Middle Babylonian (ca. 1400-1100 BC)

Middle Assyrian (ca. 1400-1000 BC)

Middle Elamite (ca. 1500-1100 BC)

Early Neo-Babylonian (ca. 1150-730 BC)

Neo-Assyrian (ca. 911-612 BC)

Neo-Elamite (ca. 770-539 BC)

Neo-Babylonian (ca. 626-539 BC)

Achaemenid (547-331 BC)

Hellenistic (323-63 BC)

Parthian (247 BC - 224 AD)

Sassanian (224-641 AD)

modern

Cite this Webpage
CDLI contributors. 2025. “Periods.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. April 17, 2025. https://cdli.earth/periods.
CDLI contributors. (2025, April 17). Periods. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/periods
CDLI contributors (2025) Periods, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/periods (Accessed: April 17, 2025).
@misc{CDLI2025Periods,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-04-17]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2025},
	month = {apr 17},
	title = {Periods},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/periods},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/periods},
}


TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2025/4/17/
PY  - 2025
ID  - temp_id_991628112377
M1  - 2025/4/17/
TI  - Periods
UR  - https://cdli.earth/periods
ER  -
This website uses essential cookies that are necessary for it to work properly. These cookies are enabled by default.