13th century BC

"1200s BC" redirects here. For the decade, see 1200s BC (decade).

Eastern Hemisphere in 1300 BC.

Chinese ritual bronze wine vessel, Shang Dynasty, 13th century BC, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

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

Events

• 1300 BC: Cemetery H culture comes to an end in the Indus Valley.
• 1292 BC: End of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, start of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
• 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.
• (May 31), 1279 BC: 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.
• 1258 BC: Ramses II, king of ancient Egypt, and Hattusilis III, king of the Hittites, sign the earliest known peace treaty.
• (September 7), 1251 BC: A solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes, Greece.
• c. 1250 BC: Approximately 4,000 men fight a battle at a causeway over the Tollense valley in Northern Germany, the largest prehistoric battle north of the Alps known so far.
• 1250 BC: Wu Ding King of Shang Dynasty to 1192 BC.
• c. 1250 BC: Oracle bone script the earliest known form of writing in Ancient China.
• c. 1250 BC: Chariots appear in Ancient China.
• 1250 BC: The Lion Gate at Mycenae is constructed (comparable with Hittite architecture).
• c. 1230 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.
• 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 II.
• 1208 BC: Pharaoh Merneptah defeats a Libyan invasion.
• 1206 BC: Approximate starting date of Bronze age collapse, a period of migration, unrest and destruction in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East.
• 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: Start of Iron Age in Near East, eastern Mediterranean, and India.
• c. 1200 BC: Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa.
• c. 1200 BC: Massive migrations of people around the Mediterranean and the Middle-East. See Sea People for more information.
• c. 1200 BC: Aramaic nomads and Chaldeans become a big threat to the former Babylonian and Assyrian Empire.
• c. 1200 BC: Migration and expansion of Dorian Greeks. Destruction of Mycenaean city Pylos.
• c. 1200 BC: The proto-Scythian Srubna (Timber-grave) culture expands from the lower Volga region to cover the whole of the North Pontic area.
• c. 1200 BC: The Cimmerians start settling the steppes of southern Russia? (Undocumented conjecture).
• c. 1200 BC: Olmec culture starts and thrives in Mesoamerica.
• c. 1200 BC: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán starts to flourish.
• c. 1200 BC: Ancestral Puebloan civilization in North America.

Significant persons

Although many human societies were literate in this period, some individual persons mentioned in this article ought to be considered legendary rather than historical.

• 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
• 1212 BC—Death of Ramesses II of Egypt
• Moses—A Hebrew prophet found in the Old Testament in the Bible called the Exodus.
• Merneptah, Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1212 BC–1202 BC)
• Amenmesse, Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1202 BC–1199 BC)
• Pan Geng of Shang dynasty China

Sovereign states

See: List of sovereign states in the 13th century BC.