Timeline · Sumer → now

Five thousand years, in order.

The homepage gives you the shape at a glance. This is the whole procession, age by age, every figure and text laid out in the order it arrived, each with the world it walked into. 90 entries across six ages.

I First LightII The Axial AgeIII Hellenistic & RomanIV Late AntiquityV The Middle AgesVI The Modern Era
I

First Light

Early Civilisations · 4000 BCE to 1200 BCE · 19 entries

The first gods were city gods. Sumer raised Inanna, Egypt enthroned Ra and Osiris, and as soon as humans learned to write they wrote down their dead and their kings, the bargains a fragile people struck with flood, sun and the underworld.

  1. 3000 BCEInanna DivinitySumerian goddess of love, war and the heavens.
  2. 2950 BCESet DivinityEgyptian god of chaos, storms, and the desert. Set murdered his brother Osiris and contested Horus for the throne of Egypt. Embodiment of chaos in the cosmic order.
  3. 2600 BCERa DivinityThe Egyptian sun god, creator and king of the gods. Each day Ra sailed his solar barque across the sky and each night fought the serpent Apep in the underworld to be reborn at dawn.
  4. 2500 BCEOsiris DivinityEgyptian god of the afterlife, resurrection, and the Nile’s fertility. Murdered and dismembered by his brother Set, restored by Isis, he became lord and judge of the dead.
  5. 2400 BCEIsis DivinityEgyptian goddess of magic, healing and motherhood.
  6. 2100 BCEEpic of Gilgamesh BookSumerian–Akkadian epic; among the oldest surviving literature.
  7. 2000 BCEApep DemonThe ancient Egyptian serpent of chaos and darkness. Each night Apep attempted to devour Ra's solar barque, threatening to end existence itself.
  8. 1800 BCEAbraham ProphetThe patriarch revered by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as the father of nations. His covenant with the one God marks the root of the Abrahamic traditions.
  9. 1550 BCEEgyptian Book of the Dead BookFunerary texts guiding the soul through the afterlife.
  10. 1500 BCEKrishna DivinityThe eighth avatar of Vishnu and one of Hinduism’s most beloved deities. As charioteer to Arjuna he delivered the Bhagavad Gita, teaching duty, devotion, and the eternal Self.
  11. 1500 BCERigveda BookOldest of the Vedas; foundational Hindu scripture.
  12. 1300 BCEArk ArtifactGold-covered chest holding the tablets of the Law; throne of the divine presence among Israel.
  13. 1300 BCEMoses ProphetHebrew prophet and lawgiver.
  14. 1300 BCETablets ArtifactThe two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, given to Moses at Sinai.
  15. 1300 BCEThe Golden Calf ArtifactThe idol cast from melted gold while Moses was on the mountain, the archetype of false worship.
  16. 1300 BCEZeus DivinityKing of the Greek gods, ruler of Olympus and wielder of the thunderbolt. Zeus overthrew the Titans, ordered the cosmos, and presided over gods and mortals as god of sky and justice.
  17. 1300 BCEArk RelicGold-covered chest holding the tablets of the Law; throne of the divine presence among Israel.
  18. 1300 BCETablets RelicThe two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, given to Moses at Sinai.
  19. 1300 BCEThe Golden Calf RelicThe idol cast from melted gold while Moses was on the mountain, the archetype of false worship.
II

The Axial Age

Prophets & Sages · 1200 BCE to 300 BCE · 24 entries

Then, across Eurasia and almost at once, the axis of the sacred swings inward. Zoroaster splits the world into light and lie; the Buddha walks away from the gods; the Hebrew prophets demand justice over sacrifice; Confucius and Laozi remake China; the Greeks invent philosophy.

  1. 1200 BCEAthena DivinityGreek goddess of wisdom, craft and war.
  2. 1000 BCEAhura Mazda DivinityThe supreme god of Zoroastrianism, the Wise Lord and source of all light, truth, and order. His eternal struggle against Ahriman frames the cosmos as a battle of good and evil.
  3. 1000 BCEZoroaster ProphetFounding prophet of Zoroastrianism.
  4. 1000 BCEAvesta BookPrimary collection of Zoroastrian sacred texts.
  5. 850 BCEI Ching BookThe Chinese Book of Changes, an ancient divination manual of sixty-four hexagrams that became a cornerstone of Confucian and Taoist cosmology.
  6. 800 BCEBeelzebub DemonThe "Lord of the Flies", a Philistine god demonised in scripture as a prince of hell. In demonology he ranks second only to Satan among the fallen.
  7. 800 BCEMoloch DivinityCanaanite deity associated with fire and child sacrifice. Condemned repeatedly in Hebrew scripture as the consuming darkness that devoured the innocent.
  8. 700 BCELilith DemonNight demon of Mesopotamian and Jewish lore. In later legend the first wife of Adam who refused submission and fled Eden, becoming a queen of demons and a threat to newborns.
  9. 675 BCETyphon DemonThe last great monster of Greek mythology, a hundred-headed titan who nearly destroyed the Olympians. Zeus finally buried him beneath Mount Etna.
  10. 600 BCEAhriman DemonAngra Mainyu, the Zoroastrian principle of evil and darkness. Eternal adversary of Ahura Mazda, author of death, disease, and all suffering in the world.
  11. 600 BCETorah BookThe five books of Moses; core of the Hebrew Bible.
  12. 532 BCEPythagoras PhilosopherGreek philosopher-mystic of number and harmony.
  13. 530 BCELaozi PhilosopherThe semi-legendary sage credited with the Tao Te Ching and the founding of Taoism. He taught the Way (Tao), effortless action (wu wei), and harmony with the natural order.
  14. 523 BCEGautama Buddha PhilosopherThe Awakened One, founder of Buddhism.
  15. 515 BCEConfucius PhilosopherChinese sage whose teachings on virtue, family, ritual, and benevolent governance shaped East Asian civilisation for two millennia through the Analects.
  16. 505 BCEMara DemonThe Buddhist tempter who appeared beneath the Bodhi tree to prevent Siddhartha's enlightenment. Mara embodies desire, delusion, and the fear of death.
  17. 500 BCESatan DemonThe Adversary of the Abrahamic traditions, accuser, tempter, and prince of darkness. From the heavenly prosecutor of Job to the cosmic enemy of God, Satan personifies opposition to the divine.
  18. 500 BCEThe Upanishads BookThe philosophical climax of the Vedas, exploring Brahman, Atman, karma, and liberation. They turned ritual religion inward toward the unity of the self and the absolute.
  19. 400 BCETao Te Ching BookFoundational text of Taoism, attributed to Laozi.
  20. 388 BCEPlato PhilosopherGreek philosopher of the Forms; vast influence on later mysticism.
  21. 380 BCEThe Ring of Gyges ArtifactA ring granting invisibility, Plato’s thought-experiment in what an unwatched soul will dare.
  22. 380 BCEThe Ring of Gyges RelicA ring granting invisibility, Plato’s thought-experiment in what an unwatched soul will dare.
  23. 353 BCEAristotle PhilosopherStudent of Plato and tutor of Alexander, the founder of formal logic, biology, and ethics. His systematic philosophy underpinned both Islamic and Christian medieval thought.
  24. 325 BCEThe Analects BookThe collected sayings of Confucius compiled by his disciples, the foundational text of Confucian ethics, governance, and the cultivated life.
III

Hellenistic & Roman

The Marketplace of Gods · 300 BCE to 300 CE · 23 entries

Alexander pours every deity into one cosmopolitan marketplace. Mystery cults, Hermeticism and Gnosticism trade initiations in the same ports; a small Jewish sect around Jesus begins to spread along the Roman roads.

  1. 200 BCEQuetzalcoatl DivinityThe Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerica, god of wind, wisdom, and the morning star. Bringer of maize, learning, and the calendar, opposed to human sacrifice.
  2. 200 BCEBhagavad Gita BookKrishna’s discourse within the Mahābhārata.
  3. 200 BCEBook of Enoch BookAn apocalyptic Jewish text describing the fall of the Watchers, the origin of evil, and visions of the end. Hugely influential on early Christian and Gnostic thought.
  4. 100 BCEPāli Canon BookEarliest complete Buddhist scriptural collection.
  5. 90 BCEDead Sea Scrolls BookThe library of the Qumran community, the oldest surviving biblical manuscripts, recording an apocalyptic Judaism awaiting a final war of light against darkness.
  6. 0 CEMahabharata BookThe vast Sanskrit epic of the Kuru war, containing the Bhagavad Gita. At 100,000 verses it is the longest poem ever composed and a complete map of dharma.
  7. 13 CEJesus ProphetCentral figure of Christianity.
  8. 15 CEMary DivinityThe mother of Jesus, venerated as Theotokos (God-bearer) and Queen of Heaven. Across Christianity she is the supreme intercessor and the human vessel of the divine.
  9. 19 CEJudas Iscariot HistoricalFigureThe disciple who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. His name became the byword for treachery, yet his act set the Passion in motion.
  10. 27 CECaligula HistoricalFigureRoman emperor remembered for cruelty, megalomania, and demanding worship as a living god. He sought to install his statue in the Jerusalem Temple before his assassination.
  11. 53 CENero HistoricalFigureRoman emperor who blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome and launched the first state persecution of the faith. Killed his own mother and executed saints Peter and Paul.
  12. 85 CEThe Gospels BookThe four canonical accounts of the life of Jesus.
  13. 100 CELoki DemonThe Norse trickster, shape-shifter and father of monsters. Loki’s schemes bring about the death of Baldr and, at Ragnarök, he leads the forces of chaos against the gods.
  14. 100 CELucifer DemonThe fallen morning star, the most beautiful of angels cast from heaven for pride. In Milton and Christian tradition, Lucifer’s rebellion is the archetype of all defiance against God.
  15. 100 CEOdin DivinityThe Allfather of Norse myth, god of wisdom, war, poetry, and death. Odin sacrificed an eye for knowledge and hung nine nights on Yggdrasil to win the runes.
  16. 123 CEMarcion ScholarEarly Christian heresiarch who rejected the Hebrew God.
  17. 130 CEValentinus ScholarThe most influential Gnostic teacher; elaborated the Sophia myth.
  18. 150 CEYaldabaoth DemonThe blind, lion-faced Demiurge of Gnosticism, the false creator who fashioned the material world and imprisoned divine sparks in flesh, ignorant of the true God above him.
  19. 200 CEHermes Trismegistus DivinityLegendary sage credited with the Hermetic writings.
  20. 200 CECorpus Hermeticum BookThe Greek wisdom texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, teaching the divine mind, rebirth, and the ascent of the soul. They ignited the Renaissance occult revival.
  21. 215 CESamael DemonThe Poison of God, a Gnostic and Kabbalistic dark angel. In Gnostic cosmology, Samael is the blind god who mistakes himself for the highest and enslaves souls in matter.
  22. 245 CEMani ProphetFounder of Manichaeism, a dualist religion of light against darkness that spread from Persia to China and Rome. He cast himself as the final prophet after Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus.
  23. 250 CENag Hammadi Library BookCollection of Gnostic gospels recovered in 1945.
IV

Late Antiquity

Faith Becomes Empire · 300 CE to 700 CE · 5 entries

The secret becomes the state. Christianity is enthroned in Rome and Zoroastrianism in Persia; the canons close, the heresies are named, and out of Arabia comes Muhammad with a recitation that will remap half the world.

  1. 350 CEThe Talmud BookThe central text of Rabbinic Judaism: centuries of legal debate and commentary on the Mishnah, defining Jewish law, ethics, and practice.
  2. 392 CEAugustine ScholarThe most influential Latin Church Father, author of the Confessions and City of God. He fused Neoplatonism with Christianity and shaped Western doctrines of grace, sin, and time.
  3. 601 CEIblis DemonThe Islamic Shaitan, an angel who refused to bow before Adam and was cast out of paradise. His pride became the origin of evil and the adversary of all creation.
  4. 601 CEMuhammad ProphetFinal prophet of Islam.
  5. 621 CEThe Qur’an BookCentral religious text of Islam.
V

The Middle Ages

The Great Synthesis · 700 CE to 1500 CE · 11 entries

Beneath the institutions, the inner life deepens. Averroes and Aquinas reconcile revelation with Aristotle; Rumi turns longing into poetry; Kabbalah reads the Torah as a code of light; Dante maps the entire Christian cosmos in verse.

  1. 1000 CEPicatrix BookMedieval Arabic manual of astral and talismanic magic, drawing down the powers of the planets.
  2. 1162 CEIbn Rushd ScholarAndalusian polymath who reconciled Aristotle with Islamic thought; decisive influence on scholasticism.
  3. 1240 CERumi ScholarSufi mystic poet; the Masnavi is one of the greatest works of Persian literature.
  4. 1250 CEThomas Aquinas ScholarDominican friar who synthesised Aristotle with Christian theology in the Summa Theologica.
  5. 1283 CEZohar BookThe foundational text of Kabbalah, a mystical commentary on the Torah exploring the hidden nature of God through ten divine emanations, the Sephirot.
  6. 1293 CEDante Alighieri HistoricalFigureItalian poet who mapped the Christian cosmos in the Divine Comedy.
  7. 1300 CEThe Sworn Book of Honorius BookOne of the oldest surviving medieval grimoires; rites of necromancy bound under oath of secrecy.
  8. 1314 CEThe Divine Comedy BookDante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, a poetic summa of medieval cosmology, theology, and the soul’s path to God.
  9. 1450 CEThe Book of Abramelin BookA system for attaining knowledge of one’s guardian angel, and command of the demons beneath it.
  10. 1459 CETorquemada HistoricalFigureFirst Grand Inquisitor of Spain. Under Torquemada thousands were tortured and burned in the name of doctrinal purity, culminating in the expulsion of Jews and Moors.
  11. 1486 CEMalleus Maleficarum BookThe witch-hunters’ handbook whose pages helped send thousands of accused to the stake.
VI

The Modern Era

The Monopoly Cracks · 1500 CE to 2100 CE · 8 entries

Print, reformation and reason break the single story open. Bruno burns for an infinity of worlds; Spinoza quietly dissolves God into Nature; myth becomes something we study as much as believe.

  1. 1504 CEGuru Nanak ProphetFounder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus. He taught one formless God, the equality of all people, and devotion through honest living and remembrance of the divine name.
  2. 1554 CEPopol Vuh BookThe sacred creation epic of the K'iche' Maya. It tells of three attempts to create humanity, the hero twins' journey through Xibalba, and the birth of the maize people.
  3. 1574 CEGiordano Bruno ScholarHermetic philosopher burned by the Inquisition; proposed an infinite universe of worlds.
  4. 1600 CEJakob Böhme ScholarChristian mystic shoemaker whose visions of divine light influenced Western esotericism.
  5. 1604 CEGuru Granth Sahib BookThe living scripture and final Guru of Sikhism, a compilation of devotional hymns proclaiming one God and the equality of all humanity.
  6. 1640 CEThe Lesser Key of Solomon BookA 17th-century grimoire cataloguing seventy-two demons and the seals to bind them, the Ars Goetia.
  7. 1655 CEBaruch Spinoza PhilosopherRationalist philosopher who identified God with Nature (Deus sive Natura).
  8. 1750 CEThe Grand Grimoire BookInfamous black-magic manual for striking a pact with Lucifuge Rofocale, the so-called Red Dragon.