Written in Akkadian after the Persian king Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BCE, this clay cylinder is often hailed as the 'first charter of human rights', and a replica is on display at UN headquarters in New York. Historians see it mainly as royal propaganda in the Mesopotamian tradition: Cyrus presents himself as chosen by the god Marduk, restoring shrines and letting deported peoples return home.
Around 2300 BCE, Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, became high priestess of the Moon god at Ur. She composed hymns to the goddess Inanna and put her name to them. She is the oldest person identified as the author of a literary work, about 1,500 years before Homer.
Squeeze Earth's 4.5 billion years into a single 24-hour day. Homo sapiens shows up around 11:59:54 p.m., roughly six seconds before midnight. All of written history, from Sumerian tablets to today, fits into the final tenth of a second. A cosmic blink.