13th century BC

This bronze ritual wine vessel, dating from the Shang Dynasty in the 13th century BC, is housed at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

Overview

The 13th century BC was the period from 1300 to 1201 BC.

Events

• 1300 BC — Cemetery H culture comes to an end.
• 1295 BC — End of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
• 1290s BC — Destruction of Troy VIIa, most likely candidate for a historical event underlying the legendary Trojan War.
• 1282 BC — Pandion II, legendary King of Athens, dies after a nominal reign of 25 years. He reportedly only reigned in Megara while Athens and the rest of Attica were under the control of an alliance of Nobles led by his uncle Metion (son of Erechtheus of Athens) and his sons (including in some accounts Daedalus). His four sons lead a successful military campaign to regain the throne. Aegeus becomes King of Athens, Nisos reigns in Megara, Lykos in Euboea and Pallas in southern Attica.
• 1279 BC, (May 31) — Ramesses II becomes leader of Ancient Egypt.
• 1278 BC — Seti I dies, 1 year after his son, Ramesses II is crowned.
• 1274 BC — The Battle of Kadesh in Syria. Egyptians and Hittites sign the earliest known peace treaty at the end of the Battle of Kadesh.
• 1269 BC — Ramses II, king of ancient Egypt, and Hattusilis III, king of the Hittites, sign the earliest known peace treaty.
• 1251 BC, (September 7) — A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece.
• 1250 BC — Wu Ding emperor of Shang Dynasty to 1192 BC.
• 1230s BC — Aegeus, legendary King of Athens, receives a false message that his designated heir Theseus, his son by Aethra of Troezena, is dead. Theseus had been sent to his overlord Minos of Crete as an offering to the Minotaur. Medus, Aegeus' only other son (by Medea of Colchis), had been exiled in Asia and would become legendary ancestor to the Medes. Believing himself without heirs the King commits suicide after a reign of 48 years. He is succeeded by Theseus, who actually still lives. The Aegean Sea is reportedly named in his honor.
• 1210 BC — Pharaoh Merneptah defeats a Libyan invasion.
• 1213 BC — Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erechtheus and second cousin of Theseus' father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. The latter seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him (though other accounts place these events a decade later, in the 1200s BC).
• 1212 BC — Death of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great.
• 1204 BC — Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus' father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds assassinates him. (Other accounts place these events a decade earlier. See 1210s BC.)
• c. 1200 BC — The Cimmerians start settling the steppes of southern Russia? (Undocumented conjecture).
• 1200 BC — Ancient Pueblo Peoples civilization in North America. (approximate date)
• 1200 BC — Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa.

Significant persons

• 1251 BC — A lunar eclipse might mark the birth of Hercules
• c. 1225 BC — Birth of legendary Helen to King Tyndareus of Sparta and his wife Leda
• 1224 BC — Death of Ramesses II of Egypt
• Merneptah, Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1212 BC–1202 BC)
• Amenmesse, Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1202 BC–1199 BC)
• Moses (if historical), led Hebrew Exodus (may have been earlier)
• Pangeng of China

Decades and Years

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