700s BC (decade)

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	9th century BC – 8th century BC – 7th century BC
Decades:	730s BC 720s BC 710s BC – 700s BC – 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC
Years:	709 BC 708 BC 707 BC 706 BC 705 BC 704 BC 703 BC 702 BC 701 BC 700 BC
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

Events and trends

• 706 BC—Spartan immigrants found Taras (Tarentum, the modern Taranto) colony in southern Italy.
• 706 BC—Sargon II dies.
• 705 BC—Sennacherib succeeds his father Sargon II as king of Assyria.
• 704 BC—Sennacherib moves the capital of Assyria to Nineveh.
• 701 BC—Deliverance from Assyrian attack; King Hezekiah of Judah, backed by Nubian Empire, revolts against king Sennacherib of Assyria. Sennacherib sacks many Israelite cities, but fails in his attempt to take Jerusalem.
• 700 BC—The Scythians start settling in Cimmerian areas, slowly replacing the previous inhabitants.
• 700 BC—End of the Villanovan culture in northern Italy and rise of the Etruscan civilization.
• 700 BC—The Upanishads, a sacred text of Hinduism, are written around this time.
• c. 700 BC—Geometric period of vases ends in Ancient Greece. Orientalizing period of vases starts. It starts in Corinth.
• c. 700 BC—Hesiod writes "Theogony".
• c. 700 BC–509 BC—Etruscan supremacy period in Italy.
• After c. 700 BC – Cities again begin to appear on the Indian subcontinent, especially in the north.
• Numa Pompilius reformed the modern Calendar, introducing January and February and adding 5 days to the calendar.

Significant people

• 701 BC—Death of Duke Zhuang of Zheng, China.