Earth's axis slowly traces a circle, like a spinning top, over about 26,000 years: this is precession. Around 2700 BCE, the north celestial pole pointed not to our Polaris but to Thuban, in the constellation Draco. In about 12,000 years, bright Vega will take over the job.
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.