Before Common Era (BCE)
- Late 4th millennium BCE: Sumerian Cuneiform emerged from the proto-literate Uruk period, allowing the codification of beliefs and creation of detailed historical religious records.
- 3200 BCE – 3100 BCE: Newgrange, the 250,000 short tons (230,000 t) passage tomb aligned to the winter solstice in Ireland, was built.
- 3100 BCE: The initial form of Stonehenge was completed. The circular bank and ditch enclosure, about 110 metres (360 ft) across, may have been completed with a timber circle.
- 2900 BCE: The second phase of Stonehenge was completed and appeared to function as the first enclosed cremation cemetery in the British Isles.
- 2635 BCE – 2610 BCE: The oldest surviving Egyptian pyramid was commissioned by Pharaoh Djoser.[verification needed]
- 2600 BCE: Stonehenge began to take on its final form. The wooden posts were replaced with bluestone. It began taking on an increasingly complex setup (including an altar, a portal, station stones, etc.) and shows consideration of solar alignments.
- 2560 BCE: This is the approximate time accepted as the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest pyramid of the Giza Plateau.
- 2400 BCE – 2300 BCE: The first of the oldest surviving religious texts, the Pyramid Texts, was composed in Ancient Egypt.
- 2200 BCE: The Minoan civilization developed in Crete. Citizens worshipped a variety of goddesses.
- 2150–2000 BCE: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh—originally titled He who Saw the Deep (Sha naqba īmuru) or Surpassing All Other Kings (Shūtur eli sharrī)—were written.
- 2000-1500 BCE: The people of Canaan occupy the southern Levant region developing the oldest known origin of the beliefs of Judaism.
- 1600 BCE: The ancient development of Stonehenge came to an end.
- 1500 BCE: The Vedic period began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
- 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE: The oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rigveda was composed. This is the first mention of Rudra, a fearsome form of Shiva as the supreme god.
- 1353 BCE or 1351 BCE: The beginning of the reign of Akhenaten, sometimes credited with starting the earliest known recorded monolatristic religion, in Ancient Egypt.
- 1300 BCE – 1046 BCE: The polytheistic religion of the Chinese Shang dynasty reached its mature form.
- 1300 BCE – 1000 BCE: The "standard" Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh was edited by Sîn-lēqi-unninni.
- 1200 BCE – 800 BCE: Religion during the Greek Dark Ages is seen to be a continuation of Bronze Age Greek Religion. This period ended in 800 BCE.
- 1200 BCE: The Olmecs built the earliest pyramids and temples in Central America.
- 877 BCE – 777 BCE: The life of Pārśvanātha, 23rd Tirthankara of Jainism.
- 800 BCE – 300 BCE: The Upanishads (Vedic texts) were composed, containing the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism and Buddhism.
- 8th to 6th centuries BCE: The Chandogya Upanishad is compiled, significant for containing the earliest to date mention of Krishna. Verse 3.17.6 mentions Krishna Devakiputra (Sanskrit: कृष्णाय देवकीपुत्रा) as a student of the sage Ghora Angirasa.
- 6th century BCE: Possible start of Zoroastrianism; Zoroastrianism flourished under the Persian emperors known as the Achaemenids. The emperors Darius (ruled 522–486 BCE) and Xerxes I (ruled 486–465 BCE) made it the official religion of their empire.
- 5th century BCE: The first five books of the Jewish Tanakh, the Torah (Hebrew: תורה), are probably compiled.
- 551 BCE: Confucius, founder of Confucianism, was born.
- 600 BCE – 500 BCE: The earliest Confucian writing, Shu Ching, incorporates ideas of harmony and heaven.
- 599 BCE – 527 BCE: The life of Mahavira, 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism.
- c. 570 BCE: Pythagoras, founder of Pythagoreanism, was born.
- 563 BCE – 400 BCE: Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism, was born.
- 515 BCE – 70 CE: Second Temple period. The synagogue and Jewish eschatology can all be traced back to this period.
- 447 BCE: The Parthenon is dedicated to the goddess Athena.
- 399 BCE: Socrates was tried for impiety.
- 369 BCE – 372 BCE: Birth of Mencius and Zhuang Zhou.
- 300 BCE: The oldest known version of the Tao Te Ching was written on bamboo tablets.
- 300 BCE: Theravada Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka by the Venerable Mahinda.[citation needed]
- c. 250 BCE: The Third Buddhist council was convened by Ashoka. Ashoka sends Buddhist missionaries to faraway countries, such as China, mainland Southeast Asia, Malay kingdoms, and Hellenistic kingdoms.
- c. 200 BCE: Worship of Yahweh's consort Asherah ends in Israel.
- 140 BCE: The earliest grammar of Sanskrit literature was composed by Pāṇini.
- 140 BCE – 200 CE: The Development of the Hebrew Bible canon.
- 100 BCE – 400 CE: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one of the oldest texts in Yoga, were composed.
