Timeline of Iranian History: Key Dates from Elam to Today

This timeline lists the key dates of Iranian history from the first farming villages of the Zagros to the present, era by era. Iran’s recorded history begins with Elam around 3200 BCE; the first Iranian state, Media, rose in the 7th century BCE; and the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great was founded around 550 BCE. Each date links to the page that tells the story in full.

Dates before about 500 BCE are approximate, and many early ones are disputed. Where scholars disagree, the commonly cited date is given with “c.”. Persian years in the Solar Hijri calendar run from Nowruz (about 21 March), so events are given here in the Western calendar.

Prehistory and Elam (before 700 BCE)

1. c. 10,000–8000 BCE Early cultivation and herding in the Zagros at sites such as Chogha Golan and Ganj Dareh
2. c. 5400 BCE Wine residue in a jar at Hajji Firuz Tepe, among the oldest evidence of wine anywhere
3. c. 3200–2700 BCE Proto-Elamite writing at Susa
4. c. 3200–2100 BCE Bronze Age cities of Jiroft and Shahr-e Sukhteh
5. c. 1250 BCE Untash-Napirisha builds the ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil
6. c. 1200–1100 BCE Shutruk-Nakhunte raids Babylon and carries the stele of Hammurabi to Susa (Middle Elamite kingdom)
7. c. 1500–1000 BCE Iranian-speaking peoples settle the plateau; the date of Zoroaster is debated, with estimates from c. 1500 to c. 600 BCE
8. c. 646 BCE Ashurbanipal of Assyria sacks Susa (fall of Susa)

Medes and Achaemenids (c. 700–330 BCE)

1. c. 7th century BCE Rise of the Medes around Ecbatana (Hamadan)
2. 612 BCE Cyaxares and the Babylonians destroy Nineveh
3. 585 BCE Battle of the Eclipse between Medes and Lydians
4. c. 550 BCE Cyrus II defeats Astyages; the Achaemenid Empire begins
5. c. 547 BCE Cyrus conquers Lydia
6. 539 BCE Cyrus enters Babylon; the Cyrus Cylinder
7. 530 BCE Death of Cyrus
8. 525 BCE Cambyses conquers Egypt
9. 522 BCE Darius I seizes the throne; the Behistun inscription follows
10. c. 518 BCE Work begins at Persepolis
11. 499–493 BCE Ionian Revolt
12. 490 BCE Battle of Marathon
13. 480–479 BCE Xerxes invades Greece: Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea
14. 401 BCE Battle of Cunaxa
15. 387/386 BCE King’s Peace
16. 331 BCE Battle of Gaugamela
17. 330 BCE Persepolis burned; death of Darius III

Alexander, Seleucids and Parthians (330 BCE–224 CE)

1. 324 BCE Mass weddings at Susa
2. 323 BCE Death of Alexander in Babylon
3. 312 BCE Seleucus I takes Babylon; Seleucid era begins
4. c. 247 BCE Arsaces I founds the Parthian state
5. c. 141 BCE Mithridates I takes Seleucia on the Tigris
6. 53 BCE Battle of Carrhae: Surena defeats Crassus
7. 36 BCE Mark Antony’s failed Parthian campaign
8. 116 CE Trajan takes Ctesiphon
9. 224 CE Ardashir defeats Artabanus IV; end of the Parthians

The Sasanian Empire (224–651)

1. 224–226 Ardashir I founds the Sasanian Empire
2. 260 Shapur I captures the emperor Valerian
3. 274 or 276 Death of Mani in prison
4. 363 Julian’s invasion fails; Rome cedes Nisibis
5. 484 Peroz killed by the Hephthalites
6. 531–579 Reign of Khosrow I Anushirvan
7. 602–628 Last Byzantine–Sasanian war
8. 626 Siege of Constantinople
9. 628 Khosrow II overthrown and killed; civil wars
10. 651 Yazdegerd III killed near Merv

Arab conquest and Iranian dynasties (633–1055)

1. 636 or 637 Battle of Qadisiyyah
2. 642 Battle of Nahavand
3. 747–750 Abu Muslim and the Abbasid revolution from Khorasan
4. 816–837 Revolt of Babak Khorramdin
5. 818 Death of Imam Reza at Tus, origin of Mashhad
6. 819–999 The Samanids and the rise of New Persian literature
7. 821 Tahirids rule Khorasan
8. 861 Ya’qub the Coppersmith founds the Saffarid state
9. 945 The Buyids enter Baghdad
10. 1010 Ferdowsi completes the Shahnameh
11. 1037 Death of Avicenna in Hamadan

Turks and Mongols (977–1357)

1. 998–1030 Mahmud of Ghazni
2. 1040 Battle of Dandanaqan: Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids
3. 1055 Tughril Beg enters Baghdad
4. 1071 Battle of Manzikert
5. 1090 Hasan Sabbah seizes Alamut
6. 1092 Murder of Nizam al-Mulk; death of Malik-Shah
7. 1218 The Otrar massacre of Mongol envoys and merchants
8. 1219–1221 Mongol invasion; Nishapur and Merv destroyed
9. 1256 Fall of Alamut to Hulagu
10. 1258 Sack of Baghdad, end of the Abbasid caliphate
11. 1295 Ghazan Khan becomes Muslim
12. 1335 Death of Abu Sa’id, collapse of the Ilkhanate

Timurids, Turkmens and Safavids (1335–1736)

1. 1381–1405 Timur’s campaigns in Iran
2. c. 1390 Death of Hafez in Shiraz
3. 1405–1447 Shahrukh rules from Herat
4. 1501 Ismail I crowned in Tabriz; Twelver Shi’ism made the state religion
5. 1514 Battle of Chaldiran
6. 1555 Peace of Amasya ends the Ottoman–Safavid war
7. 1588–1629 Shah Abbas the Great
8. 1598 Isfahan becomes the capital (“half the world”)
9. 1622 Capture of Hormuz from the Portuguese
10. 1722 Siege of Isfahan; the Afghans take the city

Afsharids, Zands and Qajars (1736–1925)

1. 1736 Nader Shah crowned on the Moghan plain
2. 1739 Sack of Delhi
3. 1747 Assassination of Nader
4. 1751–1779 Karim Khan Zand rules from Shiraz
5. 1795 Sack of Tiflis
6. 1796 Agha Mohammad Khan crowned; Tehran is capital
7. 1813 Treaty of Golestan
8. 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay
9. 1848–1896 Reign of Naser al-Din Shah
10. 1851 Dar al-Funun opens
11. 1891–1892 Tobacco Protest
12. 1901 D’Arcy oil concession
13. 1906 Constitutional Revolution; first Majlis
14. 1908 Oil struck at Masjed Soleyman
15. 1917–1919 Great Famine
16. 1921 Coup of 1921
17. 1925 End of the Qajar dynasty

The Pahlavi era (1925–1979)

1. 1925 Reza Shah proclaimed shah
2. 1935 “Iran” requested as the country’s name abroad
3. 1936 Unveiling decree
4. 1938 Trans-Iranian Railway completed
5. 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion; Reza Shah abdicates
6. 1946 Iran crisis over Azerbaijan
7. 1951 Oil nationalisation under Mossadegh
8. 1953 Coup of 19 August
9. 1963 White Revolution; uprising of June 1963
10. 1971 2,500-year celebration at Persepolis
11. 1978 Cinema Rex fire; Black Friday
12. 16 January 1979 The shah leaves Iran

The Islamic Republic (1979–today)

1. 1 February 1979 Khomeini returns; 11 February, the revolution’s victory
2. March 1979 Referendum on the Islamic Republic
3. 1979–1981 Hostage crisis
4. 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War; Khorramshahr retaken in 1982
5. 1988 Ceasefire; mass executions of prisoners
6. 1989 Death of Khomeini; Ali Khamenei becomes Supreme Leader
7. 1997 Khatami elected
8. 1999 Student protests
9. 2009 Green Movement
10. 2015 Nuclear agreement (JCPOA)
11. 2020 Soleimani killed; Flight 752 shot down
12. 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests
13. 2024 Raisi dies in a helicopter crash; Pezeshkian elected
14. June 2025 Twelve-Day War with Israel
15. Dec 2025–Jan 2026 Nationwide protests
16. 28 February 2026 US and Israeli strikes begin a new war; Ali Khamenei killed
17. 8 March 2026 Mojtaba Khamenei chosen as Supreme Leader

Using this timeline

For the dynasties in one table, with dates and capitals, see the list of Iranian dynasties and rulers. Long themes that cross these eras have their own pages, such as the history of the Persian language, the capitals of Iran and how Iran’s borders changed.