Ancient Greek tradition placed the war between the Greeks and Troy around the 12th century BCE; its historicity remains debated.
Approximate date.
Many Eastern Mediterranean states, including the Hittite Empire, collapse or decline sharply during a prolonged period of upheaval.
Ramesses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III conclude one of the earliest peace treaties whose text survives.
Ramesses II's Egyptian army fights the Hittites near Kadesh in Syria, one of the largest chariot battles of antiquity.
The Phoenicians use a consonantal alphabet that became the ancestor of the Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic scripts.
Traditionally, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia in 776 BCE, a date later Greeks used for reckoning time.
Mycenaean civilization, the first advanced civilization of mainland Greece, develops fortified palace centres and Linear B writing.