Timeline of the Ancients

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Timeline of the Ancients
Timeline of the Ancients

Contents

Summary

To present the timeline of the Ancients is to present a timeline for a major portion of the Stargate saga. The Ancients are the founders of the Stargate network and along with their brethren the Ori are the creators of humanity in at least three galaxies. To tell their story, one must also include the story of those who were created by them and who inherited their legacy long after they moved on.

Ancients: On the Path to Enlightenment

The advanced human race known as the Ancients have a very long history, having lived over a period of at least 50 million years. As the Ancients evolved both mentally and physically, they learned that their next stage of evolution was the shedding of the physical body to live as a form of intelligent energy on a higher plane of existence. This process, known as ascension, requires that the individual be prepared to handle the responsibility of increased knowledge and power as an enlightened being. Because ascension requires this added maturity, one should seek to better himself while still in human form. With this in mind, the philosophy of the Path to Enlightenment was established, giving the individual guidance as he made his way toward a state of higher being. Those with less spiritual beliefs saw ascension simply as a natural physical evolution of their species, but still might have applied the term "Path to Enlightenment" to the process because ascension does expose one to the knowledge of the universe and thus enlightenment.

"Ascension doesn't make you all knowing or all powerful. It is just the beginning of the journey," Daniel Jackson explained to his friends. Even so, the reality of it is that once ascended, a being does become more knowledgeable and powerful, which can be a dangerous thing if the individual is not yet prepared to handle such knowledge and power responsibly and benevolently. Two major groups of Ascended Beings sprang up as the result of two diametrically opposed philosophies as to how to handle the power of being ascended and using that power against others, including the "lowers" ("humans and such") of the corporeal plane of existence. These two groups actually came from a single human society who existed a very long time ago in a distant galaxy: the Altera, who later became known as the Ancients and then as The Others, and the Ori.

The Altera leaned toward the scientific study of their world, while the Ori had a more spiritual perspective, which ultimately translated into the ascended Ori's establishing a religion with themselves as the gods so that they could obtain more power by being worshiped by humans. This ability to draw power from the humans' worship has never been explained, but apparently, all planes of existence are bound to each other in some way as part of a vast, infinite universe. The ascended Ancients saw the Ori's corruption and decided to have no interaction with humans whatsoever so as to avoid becoming corrupt themselves. Unfortunately, the Ori's corruption was so complete that they deemed their brethren, the Ancients, as "evil spirits" who were "selfish in their powerful advantage" and felt that the only way to keep their believers on the "true path" was to destroy anyone who tried to lead them "astray". Over fifty million years after the Altera left their home galaxy, the differences between the two original groups of humans were exacerbated to affect ascended and corporeal beings alike, making it a war of cosmic significance.

Not all Ancients ascended at once; there were different periods of time in which the advanced humans had evolved to the point where it was achievable. Ancients still had children and lived lives as human beings, some of them already quite powerful in their own right (with advanced brain function, telekinesis, enhanced hearing, enhanced strength, the ability to heal through touch, the ability to read another's mind, and precognition), before ascending. This means that generations upon generations of Ancients achieved ascension throughout the ages. Advanced humans in the Pegasus Galaxy were still ascending when the Atlantis Expedition encountered them about two years after Atlantis was discovered. It isn't known how close the Alterans or Ori were to achieving ascension at the time of the rift over 50 million years ago; therefore, it is unclear if any of the Altera and Ori of that time actually ascended, including Amelius, the Alteran who invented the Stargate.

There were some major events, however, that precipitated early ascension (i.e., before one's physical death), and thus are considered mass ascension episodes on the timeline. Two such instances were when the plague swept through the Milky Way Galaxy five to ten millions years ago, and the other, when the Ancients abandoned Atlantis and returned to Earth 10,000 years ago. It appeared to be a generally-accepted rule that once one achieved ascension that there was no looking back (releasing of one's burden) and that one would not return to human form again, although that ability did exist. Some ascended beings have demonstrated the ability to transform back and forth between human and ascended forms multiple times at will (such as Shifu in the Milky Way and Chaya in Pegasus). These mass ascensions left human form Ancients behind to carry on, and sometimes these groups behaved expressly different than their predecessors, taking different paths and embracing different philosophies.

Despite these differences, it appeared that the majority of the human Ancients held scientific discoveries in high esteem, so when it came time to leave their mortal existence behind, they dropped almost everything pretty much where it was for someone else to pick up and improve upon. Sir Isaac Newton said it best when he stated, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Even though each generation, or evolution, of humanity had to "reinvent the wheel", after man achieved travel to other planets, there was plenty of technology and knowledge left behind as a legacy, or inheritance, upon which he could build for further advancements. The Ancients put in place some ways to prevent the premature use of some of their most dangerous technologies, but on the other hand, they didn't interfere when they saw their legacies being abused, such as when the Goa'uld used their Stargate network to enslave others, which included their second generation of humans. This watching, but not interfering, was the result of their belief that man (or sentient beings) had the right to exercise his own free will ... no matter what the cost.

Historical Periods and Notes

MAJOR HISTORICAL PERIODS OF THE ANCIENTS
Date Range Period Human Ascended Galaxy Notes
Over 50 million years ago Alteran Yes Uncertain Original home galaxy, often referred to as simply the Ori galaxy because only the Ori remained there. The Altera and their brethren the Ori were humans on the evolutionary path toward ascension, but it is unknown if there were ascended beings who existed before or during this period, and if they existed, whether or not the humans were aware of them. The Ori greatly outnumbered the Altera and were preparing to wipe them out because of their conflicting philosophical views. By the end of this period, the only Ancients that existed were the Altera, the mountaintop villagers who chose to leave their home aboard a single spaceship rather than engage in a war. The Ori were left behind to continue on their own path.
5 to 10 million years ago to 50 million years ago Ancient Yes Possible Primarily in the Milky Way, their new home that they named "Avalon". The Altera became known as the Ancients. This period includes the establishment of the Stargate network in the Milky Way, the exploration of their new home galaxy and nearby ones, the formation of alliances, the advancement in weapons and other technology, the development of the means to collect and store their accumulated knowledge, and the continued research into the acceleration of evolution through genetic alteration to achieve ascension. Some of the Ancients had evolved to the point that they could ascend on their own. The defining moment that ends this period is the occurrence of the plague that swept throughout the galaxy and forced the Ancients to ascend, to leave the galaxy, or to die out.
10,000 years ago to 5 to 10 million years ago Lantian Yes Yes Pegasus. The Ancients were called the Ancestors by the humans of the Pegasus galaxy. This period opens with the plague sweeping throughout the Milky Way that forced the Ancients to leave the galaxy in one form or another—whether it be by ascending, by leaving the galaxy as humans (in spaceships, for example), or by dying out. The Ancients that ascended joined together in a collective called The Others. The Ori, although not hit by a plague, also ascended and established themselves as the gods of the religion "Origin". This period also includes the creation of the second generation (evolution) of humanity in the three galaxies: the original Altera/Ori home galaxy, the Milky Way, and Pegasus. As they did in the Milky Way, the Ancients in Pegasus built a Stargate network and settled on several planets. By the end of this period, more Ancients had ascended and apparently joined their own ancestors who were with The Others; however, no more ascended beings joined the Ori because the Ori did not wish to share their power and prevented their humanity from evolving to the point where they could ascend on their own or through the use of advanced technology. This period ends when the last of the Lantian survivors of the Wraith-Ancient War abandoned Atlantis and used the Stargate to return to Earth, where they blended into Earth's societies, left the planet through the Stargate, or ascended.
Present to 10,000 years ago Legacy Possible Yes All except original home galaxy. This is when the majority of Ancients are Ascended Beings, and other races use and abuse their legacy. At the beginning of this period, the Lantian Ancients had just returned to Earth after abandoning Pegasus to the Wraith and chose to blend in with Earth's societies, to leave Earth through the Stargate, or to ascend. Proof of the Ancients' blending into the human population of the Milky Way is the natural occurrence of the ATA gene (Ancient Technology Activation gene) that allows the possessor to activate and interface with genetically-keyed Ancient technology, as well as the cultural influences of the world's ancient civilizations. Some Ancients from earlier in this period survived into the modern era in human form via stasis, time travel, or some other form of technological means, while a few Ascended Ancients chose to retake human form. This period includes the reopening of the Stargate in modern times and a near-repeat of history as the humans of Earth assimilate the Ancients' legacy, which not only includes knowledge and technology, but also old rivalries that the Ancients had failed to resolve.

In the shows and movies, the terms "Alteran" and "Ancient" have been used interchangeably, as have the terms "Ancient" and "Lantian" (or "Atlantian"). Sometimes, the terms have been combined with "Ascended" to help the reader narrow down the period or place from which an individual originated (such as the "Ascended Atlantian Ancient Morgan Le Fey"). The divisions presented in the above chart are merely meant to clarify the timeline herein. Basically said, the Ancient family tree is defined by the descendants of the Altera who left their home galaxy millions upon millions of years ago, and this family tree has branched off in several directions since that time. Although the term "Ancients" has been used (in the shows) to describe advanced humans and ascended alike, it should be noted that just as there have been different groups of man inhabiting a single planet, so there have been many groups of "Ancients" inhabiting the universe.

As a group of ascended beings, the Ancients have been called "The Others", but it should be noted that The Others include more than just ascended Ancients; there were also individuals who were helped to ascend by an ascended and some who might have ascended with the use of Ancient technology that was left behind. In actuality, The Others is a group or collective of ascended beings who have agreed to a certain set of rules regarding their role as ascended beings and how they do or do not interact with the lower planes of existence (especially the corporeal plane). Based on that definition, it is also possible that The Others include ascended beings who preceded the Altera/Ancients or who evolved concurrently in another part of the universe, but this has yet to be addressed. There do exist other energy lifeforms that could be considered ascended beings, since it is known that there are many levels or planes of existence associated with ascension. One such lifeform was captured by the Ancients in Atlantis and studied in the Lantians' efforts to achieve ascension through genetic manipulation. Conversely, not all Ancients were members of The Others; some were exiled for breaking the rules.

To get the most from this detailed timeline, it is recommended that the reader be familiar with the main characters of the SG-1 team and of the Atlantis Expedition; with other major races of the Stargate universe, specifically, the Asgard, Nox, Furlings, Goa'uld, Jaffa, Asurans (and by association, the Replicators), and the Wraith; and with the significance of the Abydonians and Tok'ra. Tied very closely to the Ancient arc is SG-1 character Dr. Daniel Jackson, who opened the Stargate on Earth, was once ascended himself, discovered Atlantis, and had direct contact—and conflict—with Ascended Ancients, Ascended Goa'uld, and Ascended Ori. Ascended Ancients of note are Oma Desala, Orlin, Merlin, and Morgan Le Fay. In opposition to the Ascended Ancients are the ascendeds Anubis of the Goa'uld and Adria of the Ori.

Not all of the events in the timeline can be tied down to an exact date, so estimates or approximations were made and noted. For example, the development of the Goa'uld to the point that they were taking Unas as hosts and traveling through the Stargate and in spaceships has not been clearly defined in the shows, but was considered important enough to be included herein. By default, the majority of the events are from the Milky Way Galaxy's frame of reference, so if an event happened in Pegasus or the Ori home galaxy, it is identified as such.

As the name of this timeline implies, the focus of this article is on the path the Ancients took from their home galaxy to leaving behind their legacy as they moved on to another plane of existence. It also is biased toward the perspective of the humans of Earth and of Stargate Command in particular. Not all of the episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are mentioned. For an overview of each season and the movies, the following articles are suggested as great kicking-off points:

  • Episode Guides — an index to Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and the Stargate movies. Each episode guide provides a summary; a list of characters; a list of articles about groups, locations, technology, and races specific to that episode; and links to further reading.
  • Transcripts — an index to transcripts for the Stargate movies and all of the Stargate SG-1 episodes.
   

Over 50 Million Years Ago

This time estimate is based on the life of the crystal in the DHD found in Antarctica, where it is thought that the original Stargate was placed in the Milky Way. (6.04 "Frozen")

The Ancients were originally known as the Altera who lived in one society with those known as the Ori in a distant galaxy:
  • They were humans on the evolutionary path toward ascension, the shedding of the physical body to live as a form of intelligent energy on a higher plane of existence. (9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
  • The Ori's intentions were at first good, but sometime later they developed an extreme view based on a philosophy they called "Origin", which in the oldest known form of their language means "truth", which stymied technological and scientific advancement. (9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • The Altera isolated themselves in the mountains because their definition of "truth", which was the result of "the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, through argument and debate," conflicted with the Ori's definition of "truth" that was defined by their religion. The foundations of this religion are not known, but it is possible that The Book of Origin was originated at this time to "teach meditation on one's worth and significance, the path of righteousness towards a state of higher being." This "path" was also known as the Path to Enlightenment, which is what the Ancients called ascension. (Later, the Ascended Ancient Oma Desala taught a similar philosophy toward ascension by placing on the walls of her temple on the planet Kheb "an instruction book on how to reach this ethereal plane of existence, some kind of other world.") (3.20 "Maternal Instinct", 9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • The Altera lived as simple villagers on the surface of their mountaintop settlement, but underground, they pursued their scientific studies and built a starship. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • As the gap widened between the views of the Altera and the Ori, the Ori began building up an army to strike down the Altera. An Alteran scientist named Amelius proposed the use of a device called the "Ark of Truth" (which he might have also invented) that could also strike down the Ori, but without bloodshed. Instead, this device would brainwash the Ori into seeing the "truth" (i.e., anything that the programmer placed into it), but the Alteran leadership voted against using it because it was "forced indoctrination" and went against their belief in the right for one to exercise his own free will. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • The Altera left their galaxy in their starship instead of engaging in a war with the Ori. They left behind several pieces of their technology, including a long range communications device and the Ark. Amelius most likely left the Ark behind hoping that the Ori would discover and use it, and thus know the "truth", but the other Alterans hoped that it would be destroyed when they burst through the mountaintop in their starship. (9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • On the eve of the Alterans' leaving, Amelius was inspired to create the Stargate. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
   

50 Million Years Ago

The Altera settle in the Milky Way Galaxy and become known as the Ancients:
  • The Altera traveled for thousands of years until they reached a "belt of stars" and made a new home in the Milky Way Galaxy, which they called "Avalon", and built the network of Stargates, which they called "Astria Porta". (10.02 "Avalon Part 2")
  • The first landing place for the Alteran starship in the Milky Way was on the planet Dakara. (Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • Other early settlements of the Ancients in the Milky Way included Earth, which the Ancients called "Terra" and which might be the site of the galaxy's first Stargate, and Praclarush Taonas. (6.04 "Frozen", 7.22 "Lost City Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project")

30 Million Years Ago

This time estimate is based on the map of Earth brought up by Jack O'Neill when he had the second download of the Ancient Repository of Knowledge. The map he showed his teammates from the control chair of the Praclarush Taonas Outpost did not account for 30 million years of continental drift. He identified the location of Atlantis, the Lost City of the Ancients, as being on what became Antarctica. Since O'Neill was using the knowledge from the Ancient Repository of Knowledge from P3X-439, it can be assumed that the knowledge within that Repository was at least 30 million years old (and most likely not updated since that time). (7.22 "Lost City Part 2")

The Ancients continue to populate and explore the Milky Way:
  • By this time, Atlantian city-ships (which might have also been called "Lantian cities") existed on Earth in the area now known as Antarctica and possibly on Praclarush Taonas. An Outpost existed on Praclarush Taonas that was identical to the Outpost found in Antarctica, which was associated with the city-ship Atlantis. Each Outpost had a ring transporter platform and was powered by a device the Ancients called a "Potentia", which is called a "Zero Point Module" (ZPM) by modern-day humans. (7.22 "Lost City Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1", 1.16 "The Brotherhood")
  • Other early settlements were Taoth Vaclarush, Valos Cor, and Verus Gen Bree. (10.02 "Morpheus", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project")
  • The Ancients had built a large settlement on P3X-439 and placed a Repository of Knowledge within a monument's walls. The Repositories are meant to contain all of the current knowledge of the Ancients who populated the database at the time. (7.21 "Lost City Part 1", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2")
   

5 to 10 Million Years Ago

This time estimate is based on what was determined by the researchers at the Antarctic Outpost as to when the city-ship Atlantis left Earth for the Pegasus Galaxy. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")

Several of the events in this section don't have specific dates, but illustrate the development of the civilizations created by the Ancients and the Ori in their galaxies.

A plague sweeps through the Milky Way Galaxy; Ancients ascend; Ancients leave Earth in the city-ship Atlantis; Ancients and Ori create the second generation of humanity in three galaxies:
  • A plague swept through the galaxy and killed many of the Ancients. A similar plague was created by the Ori Priors in modern times that prompted Daniel to believe that the Ori had been responsible for this older plague, but that was mere conjecture and has never been confirmed. A Prior created the "Prior Plague" using his own DNA as a foundation, which would suggest that the plague that swept through the Milky Way was a product of the Ancients' own doing as they experimented with DNA manipulation to achieve ascension. Evidence of the Ancients' research into altering one's DNA in order to achieve ascension was the existence of very sophisticated DNA Manipulation Devices, two of which were found on planets that would later be designed as P3X-367 and P3X-584. (4.06 "Window of Opportunity", 6.16 "Metamophosis", 6.22 "Full Circle", 9.05 "The Powers That Be", 9.09 "Prototype", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
  • Some Ancients tried to develop a time machine to undo this tragedy, but they failed, shut the machine down, and let the end come. (4.06 "Window of Opportunity")
  • During this time, the Ancients who survived the plague either ascended or left the galaxy (perhaps in a city-ship like that of Atlantis or by intergalactic Stargates, for example). Most likely none of the Ancients who left the galaxy were carriers of or infected with the plague. (6.04 "Frozen", 6.22 "Full Circle"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • The Ancients had been in the process of creating their crowning achievement on the planet Vis Uban, but they had to stop work because of the plague. Vis Uban, or "Place of Great Power", was abandoned and its was the last Stargate address listed in the Ancient Repository of Knowledge that was located on the planet P3R-272, which has been called the "Place of Our Legacy", probably meaning that this particular Repository had the complete record of the Ancients before they left the galaxy (either physically or through ascension) or died of the plague. (2.16 "The Fifth Race", 7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 7.21 "Lost City Part 1")
  • Ancients on the city-ship Atlantis in Antarctica left Earth to start over and settled on a planet they named "Lantia" in the Pegasus Galaxy. They left behind an Ancient woman who stayed at the Outpost and who was later discovered buried in the ice. She carried the plague, so it is possible this is why she was left behind. (6.04 "Frozen", Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • Rumors of the existence of the Clava Thessara Infinitas, or "Key to Infinite Treasure", were later established that said that the Ancients stored away vast riches, including weapons, before their ascension. The Clava Thessara Infinitas is supposed to lead one to this treasure if one can decode the key. Presumably, this key is a Stargate address. (10.08 "Memento Mori", 10.16 "Bad Guys", 10.19 "Dominion")
  • The Ancients (it is unknown which group) used the device on Dakara to seed the galaxy with new life, thus creating the second evolution of humanity in the galaxy. This creation most likely was done only to Earth via the Stargate since man is believed to have evolved first on Earth and then was spread throughout the galaxy by the Goa'uld through the use of starships or of the Stargate network that the Ancients left behind. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.03 "The Enemy Within", 8.18 "Threads")
  • At about the same time, the Ori were also ascending and created a second generation of humanity in their home galaxy. The ascended Ori added to (or if it didn't exist, created) The Book of Origin about worshiping them as gods because they discovered that they could gain more power in the ascended planes through man's relinquishing of his free will (this generation of humanity was most likely created solely to empower the ascended Ori). The Ori promised to help their followers to ascend, since these humans couldn't ascend on their own because they are not advanced enough in their evolution, but this promise was a lie since the Ori did not intend to share their power. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
  • The ascended Altera/Ancients joined in a collective called "The Others" that used their combined power to shield the existence of humanity in the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies so that the Ori didn't know that they existed or where to find them. (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
  • The Ori taught their humanity that the Altera/Ancients were "evil spirits" and wrote about the rift that separated them in The Book of Origin. The Altera's mountaintop settlement was called "Ortus Mallum", and after they left, the Ori followers built their capital city, the City of the Gods, on the plains nearby. This new settlement came to be known as Celestis. (The actual time that this city was built is not known.) The City of the Gods was the training place for men to become the Priors of the Ori and the abiding place of the ascended Ori. (9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.11 "The Fourth Horseman Part 2", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • Several generations of Ori Priors and unbelievers alike searched the ruins of the Alteran mountaintop settlement. Whenever the Priors found artifacts that pre-dated the Ori ascension, they deemed them as heretical and then brought them to the City of the Gods to be burnt in the fires. Heretics searched for evidence to discredit the Ori's word and intention and gathered up these artifacts in secret until they could obtain enough proof that would cause even the most fervent believers to doubt the Ori. (9.02 "Avalon Part 2", 9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.19 "Crusade Part 1", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • Humans in the Ori's home galaxy were spread apart on different planets and traveled to and from Celestis using ring transporters. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 9.19 "Crusade Part 1", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • The Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy from the city-ship Atlantis seeded the galaxy with humanity and unwittingly created their future rival, the Wraith. The Wraith were the result of the blending of the DNA of the iratus bug and humans. This blending resulted in the Wraith's need to feed on humans for their own survival. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • It's possible that more than one city-ship left the Milky Way when Atlantis did since an identical city-ship was later found on another planet in Pegasus, but it was in poor condition and almost totally buried; only the central tower protruded above the ground. Some of the humans who populated this planet in modern times had Ancient DNA and were most likely descendants of humans and Ancients who lived in that city-ship. Additionally, there might have been a city-ship associated with the "Lantian city" built on Praclarush Taonas, a planet the Ancients abandoned as soon as they learned of their sun's impending death. (10.03 "The Pegasus Project"; Stargate Atlantis: 2.15 "The Tower")
  • Lantian Ancients built great cities, one of which was on the planet Athos. They also built research facilities on other planets, including one where they experimented in mini-drone technology. The original, larger size of these drones were already operational in their Milky Way Outposts. The Ancients added another level of security to protect their mini-drone research by requiring that only someone with a pass key could activate the drones. The Ancients in Atlantis also continued in their research into accelerating evolution to achieve ascension. (7.22 "Lost City Part 2"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1", 1.03 "Hide and Seek", 3.14 "Tao of Rodney", 4.14 "Harmony")
  • Lantian Ancients also decided that they'd interact with their human creation so that they could exchange knowledge and friendship. Some of this interaction, however, was much more on the experimental level: they seeded human settlements on several planets and linked to them with a computer interface from which the people were given instructions on how to build their societies. Each planet in this "sociological experiment" had an array of 100 satellites that communicated with a control center in a building on the east side of Atlantis. The people looked to their "oracle", whom they deemed a deity, for guidance all the way down to how to dress and how far to develop. This experiment is in sharp contrast to the non-interference rules of the Lantians' ascended brethren who had joined in the collective of The Others. (Stargate Atlantis: 3.15 "The Game")

1 Million Years Ago

This time estimate is based on Carter's calculations as to how long ago the Praclarush sun started to turn into a red giant. (7.22 "Lost City Part 2")

Several of the events listed in this period have no exact dates, but are included to show the development of other life forms in addition to humans in the galaxy.

More Ancient settlements decay and are lost, but some are taken over by other races/lifeforms:
  • Praclarush Taonas was made uninhabitable at least one million years ago, based on Carter's estimate. The Ancient Outpost that remained stayed intact when its shield held back lava that eventually formed a dome once the molten rock cooled down. (7.22 "Lost City Part 2"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • Microscopic organisms retreated into an orb because of the death of their world (later designated as P5C-353) 100,000 years ago. (2.07 "Message in a Bottle")
  • Crystalline entities occupied a planet designated as P3X-562. Similar entities also existed in Pegasus. (1.07 "Cold Lazarus"; Stargate Atlantis: 4.04 "Doppelganger")
  • Sentient liquid lifeforms took over a planet with ruins now covered completely in water. (4.07 "Watergate")
  • Energy lifeforms took over the former planet of the Ancients designated as P4X-377. (4.20 "Entity")
  • Firefly-like energy lifeforms lived on a moon later designated as M4C-862 and similar lifeforms developed on a planet in Pegasus. (4.19 "Prodigy"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.12 "The Defiant One")
  • Amphibious humanoids emerged as a technologically-advanced race on the planet Oannes. (1.13 "Fire and Water")
  • Goa'uld symbiotes and Unas developed concurrently on P3X-888. The symbiotes began taking the Unas as hosts. They eventually developed the ability to travel through the Stargates and in starships. (Stargate: The Movie, 4.08 "The First Ones")

11 to 30 Thousand Years Ago

Alternate means of survival are explored by races who remained after the Ancients left the Milky Way; Lantia's sun has two CME events:
  • The humanoid race from the Ida Galaxy known as the Asgard began exploring the Milky Way in spaceships. The distance was great enough that they had to use some form of suspended animation to survive. The ship was lost, but rediscovered by the Asgard 30,000 years later. Only one of the travelers remained intact, and the Asgard hoped to use his DNA as a template to reverse the degradation that the Asgard race had experienced due to their sole use of cloning as a way to perpetuate their race. (5.22 "Revelations")
  • About 15,000 years ago, an Ancient science vessel named Adaris was hit by a blast of radiation from a coronal mass ejection (CME) from Lantia's sun in Pegasus. The entire crew was killed except for the pilot, who opened a hyperspace window just as the ship was hit. He flew back to Lantia, just slightly ahead of the radiation wave, and arrived in time to warn everyone in the city. The Ancients raised the city's shield and extended it far enough to protect a large portion of the planet from the blast. The Ancients recorded such CMEs in their database and found that the sun went through an unusually turbulent sunspot cycle every fifteen thousand years. There were only two entries for these CMEs in the Atlantis database that was accessed in modern times, which might indicate that these events were part of a new phase of their sun's life since the Ancients had been there for 5-10 million years and would have recorded more events if there had been any. No details are available about what happened when the CME occurred 30,000 years ago, other than there might still be evidence of mass extinction on the parts of the planet that weren't protected by Atlantis's shield. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1", 3.12 "Echoes")
  • Humans were settled on the planet known as Altair, but they had to develop a way to preserve themselves when the surface of their planet became toxic. They created android bodies in which to harbor copies of their consciousnesses. It is possible these humans did not originate from the Milky Way, as it has been proven that their civilization existed at least 11,000 years ago, which is approximately 1,000 years before the Goa'uld discovered humanity on Earth and began spreading man to other planets in the galaxy through the Stargate network and by starship. It is also possible that the Ancients seeded more than one planet 5 to 10 million years ago. (1.19 "Tin Man")

10.1 Thousand Years Ago

According to the records associated with Project Arcturus, the war with the Wraith lasted at least one hundred years. (Stargate Atlantis: 2.06 "Trinity")

Atlantians awaken the Wraith and start a hundred-year war:
  • The Ancients in Atlantis awakened the Wraith and a war was started when the Wraith began to consume human populations (by sucking out their life forces). Scientists of the city started to develop nanites to kill Wraith from within, but the nanites exceeded their programming and took on human form. These human-form Replicators were settled on Asuras and came to be known as Asurans. It is speculated that the Asurans tried to realize their original programming by developing a nanovirus that would kill human populations so that the Wraith would starve to death. The Ancients sent their warships to Asuras and bombarded the Asuran settlement to destroy them because they were deemed a failed experiment, but unbeknownst to them, some nanites survived and began to build their society once more. Very little documentation concerning the Asurans' existence was left in the Atlantis database. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.13 "Hot Zone", 3.05 "Progeny", 4.08 "The Seer")
  • Other types of technology created by the Ancients to fight in the war were developed: one was meant to accelerate the evolution of an individual to achieve ascension; others were weapons, some of which were abandoned before they were completed: Lagrange Point Satellite was placed as a last line of defense for Atlantis and fired a powerful energy beam; Project Arcturus on the Dorandan homeworld was meant to be a powerful energy weapon, but the technology was untested and ended up killing several of the Ancients and Dorandans before the Wraith returned to the world and destroyed it; a device that was aimed at killing Wraith from within by creating explosive tumors turned out to be harmful to everyone in proximity, including Ancients and humans; an underwater drilling platform was designed to draw geothermal energy into Atlantis, but was abandoned, apparently when the siege on the city began. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.12 "The Defiant One", 2.06 "Trinity", 3.14 "Tao of Rodney", 3.17 "Sunday", 3.18 "Submersion")
  • At the height of the war, the Ancients built a hangar facility on the planet Taranis where they kept one of their damaged warships, the Hippaforalkus, named after an Ancient general. The facility's shields were powered by geothermal energy drawn from the magma chamber in the caldera of a dormant supervolcano. Because of the dangers of causing the volcano to reawaken, the Ancients programmed in several failsafes to prevent the shields from being run continuously at maximum capacity for an extended period of time. (Stargate Atlantis: 2.19 "Inferno")
  • The Ancients created a place called "Sanctuary" where they and others could hide from Wraith attacks inside a time dilation field. The shielded bubble was powered by a Potentia (what would later be called a Zero Point Module (ZPM)), and time within it was approximately 250 times faster relative to time outside of it. The doorway into Sanctuary was only one-way, meaning that once a person stepped inside, he couldn't turn around and go back out. The main purpose of the Sanctuary wasn't just for the humans who found it to hide from the Wraith, but for the last of the Ancients to seek the path to ascension. (Stargate Atlantis: 2.12 "Epiphany")
  • During the war with the Wraith, an ascended Ancient named Chaya (also known as Athar) was so enraged at what the Wraith were doing that with a single thought she destroyed those who were about to attack a planet named Proculus in the Pegasus Galaxy. This caught the attention of The Others, and they punished her by limiting her protection to that planet alone. No one coming to the planet for sanctuary could stay, and she was not allowed to help other worlds. She loved these people so much and wanted to interact with them, so from time to time, she'd temporarily retake human form to live among them, and in modern times, she posed as the priestess to the protective "god" Athar. Chaya was the name she used when she was the human priestess and Athar was her ascended form's name. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.14 "Sanctuary")
  • One by one, Ancient worlds fell to the Wraith. The Ancients abandoned their great cities, including the one on the planet Athos, which the Athosian humans called the City of the Ancestors. The Athosians never ventured into the city for fear that their entry would summon the Wraith. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • The Ancients sent out three of their powerful warships deep into Wraith territory, and they were captured by the Wraith. The Wraith used the ships' ZPMs to power a cloning facility that produced thousands upon thousands of their drone soldiers. After that, the war was won for the Wraith because they severely outnumbered the Ancients and could execute relentless attacks. (Stargate Atlantis: 4.12 "Spoils of War")
  • The Wraith attacked and weakened another Ancient warship. The Ancients lost communications, and their shields were also failing, but they managed to escape into hyperspace, even with engine damage. Then, they realized that their main drive was giving off deadly radiation, so they were forced to abandon ship. They had every intention to return to the ship and repair it, but didn't get the chance. The warship was left to drift in a two-hundred-year elliptical orbit around a nearby dwarf star. (Stargate Atlantis: 4.05 "Travelers")
  • The Ancients began hiding Potentias throughout the galaxy. One such place was the planet Dagan, where the people worshiped the Ancients, and so when a Lantian came to the planet with the Potentia and asked that they hide it from the Wraith, the Sudarian people took the request quite seriously. A brotherhood of fifteen monks was formed, called the "The Quindosim", whose sole purpose was to protect the sacred artifact. Their hope was that one day the Lantians would return and reward the Sudarian people for completing their task. The Quindosim, which included one "Master Handler", five "Protectors", and nine "Stone Carriers", knew that the potential existed that all of them would be lost in Wraith cullings, so they left behind a series of clues so that the Potentia would continue to be protected, yet still be retrievable for when the Lantians returned for it. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.16 "The Brotherhood")
  • The Ancients' battleship Aurora was crippled far from Atlantis, so the crew placed themselves into stasis chambers for the long trip back to Lantia. The crew was still in stasis when the galaxy fell to the Wraith. (Stargate Atlantis: 2.09 "Aurora")
   

10 Thousand Years Ago

Goa'uld discover humanity on Earth; Atlantian Ancients abandon Atlantis and return to the Milky Way; Ancients and Goa'uld influence man's development:
  • Ten thousand years ago, in 8000 B.C., a Goa'uld discovered humanity on Earth and established himself as the Egyptian god Ra. Other Goa'uld followed suit, using Earth's ancient religions to pose as the physical embodiment of their gods. Humans became the favored vessels, or hosts, for the Goa'uld symbiotes, but Unas were also used concurrently. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.10 "Thor's Hammer", 2.17 "Serpent's Song", 3.08 "Demons")
  • The Goa'uld Telchak used as a template an Ancient healing device, now called the Telchak Device, to construct the sarcophagus, a healing device that helps the Goa'uld maintain their human host bodies for thousands of years (Ra kept his young male host from 8000 B.C. all the way through to modern times) and prolong their own lives. (Stargate: The Movie, 7.11 "Evolution Part 1")
  • The Goa'uld genetically engineered the Jaffa from humans so that they could increase the odds that Goa'uld symbiotes would survive the blending with their future human hosts by giving them a period of incubation in the Jaffa's abdominal pouches. Jaffa were given long and healthy lives as a benefit, and the male Jaffa were appointed as the Goa'uld's soldiers. The first Jaffa was created in a ceremony of implantation held in the temple on Dakara, which is also where it is said that Anubis first rose from the dead (the means of this resurrection is currently unknown). (1.02 "Children of the Gods Part 2", 1.03 "The Enemy Within", 6.10 "Cure", 8.16 "Reckoning Part 1")
  • The Wraith sieged Atlantis for many years, reducing the Ancients' numbers to only those who were inside the city itself. After their last transport ship that was headed for the city for evacuation was destroyed by the Wraith, the city-dwellers abandoned Atlantis through the Stargate back to Earth. The High Council of Atlantis, however, was aware that their city would be rediscovered by the Atlantis Expedition 10,000 years into the future because an alternate version of Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the Expedition leader, used a timeship to travel to their time and told them of the city's discovery. The final recording that the Ancients left to explain their time in Pegasus alludes to their knowledge of future events by explaining what happened to those who returned to Earth and by mentioning "their kind" returning to the city. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1", 1.15 "Before I Sleep") The bulk of the message is as follows:
...exchange knowledge and friendship. In time, a thousand worlds bore the fruit of life in this form. Then one day, our people set foot upon a dark world where a terrible enemy slept. Never before had we encountered beings with powers that rivaled our own. In our over-confidence, we were unprepared and outnumbered. The enemy fed upon the defenseless human worlds like a great scourge, until finally, only Atlantis remained. This city's great shield was powerful enough to withstand their terrible weapons, but here we were besieged for many years. In an effort to save the last of our kind we submerged our great city into the ocean. The Atlantis Stargate was the one and only link back to Earth from this galaxy, and those who remained used it to return to that world that was once home. There, the last survivors of Atlantis lived out the remainder of their lives. This city was left to slumber, in the hope that our kind would one day return.
  • The Ancient warship Tria was removed from a battle with Wraith cruisers and started back to Atlantis until the crew heard that Atlantis was being evacuated for Earth. They decided to set their course for Earth and started on their way. (Stargate Atlantis: 3.10 "The Return Part 1")
  • From information he had gathered from a time traveling Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the Atlantian Janus programmed the city's failsafes to kick in when the Expedition was detected coming through the Stargate (10,000 years into the future) so that the city-ship would rise from the ocean and lighten its energy requirements. The time traveling Weir, however, had to stay in the abandoned city for the 10,000 years necessary for her to manually rotate the three ZPMs. She stayed in a stasis chamber and only came out when she had to switch the power. Only Janus was aware that Weir stayed behind as the rest of the Lantians abandoned the sunken city. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.15 "Before I Sleep")
  • Knowing how precious ZPMs would be in the future, Janus gave the time traveling Weir the Stargate addresses of five places where he knew there to be ZPMs, including Dagan and a planet later designated as M7G-677. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.06 "Childhood's End", 1.15 "Before I Sleep", 1.16 "The Brotherhood")
  • The Pegasus planets that had Lantian "Oracles" were left to fend for themselves. Some were wiped out by the Wraith, but others continued on their own with varying degrees of success. (Stargate Atlantis: 3.15 "The Game")
  • The cruiser commanded by the Wraith Queen who was leading the siege on Atlantis crashed into Lantia's ocean, but there were survivors who were trapped inside. A Wraith supply ship carrying human cargo crashed on a planet near the Lagrange Point Satellite, possibly having been downed by the weapons platform. This crash also left survivors. (Stargate Atlantis: 1.12 "The Defiant One", 3.18 "Submersion")
  • Those Ancients who returned to Earth saw that Earth was harsh and its people were too primitive by comparison to their advanced society. They had no hope of living among them as Lantians nor of rebuilding their great society, so they spread themselves out to many lands, planting a few small seeds of civilization among the first tribes of man. Others left through the Antarctic Stargate, and the remainder chose to live their lives in seclusion and meditation to achieve ascension. (10.03 "The Pegasus Project")
  • Among those Ancients who returned to Earth were Janus, who built the time machine out of a puddle jumper (a small shuttle craft that can fit through a Stargate) that a future version of Weir used; Moros, who was the last High Councilor of Atlantis; and Ganos Lal, who was a teacher. It is believed that Janus built a new timeship on another planet in the Milky Way. Both Moros and Ganos achieved ascension through seclusion and meditation. (8.13 "It's Good To Be King", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.15 "Before I Sleep")
  • The legend of the Lost City of Atlantis was spread among the Greeks on Earth (recorded in the writings of Plato) and was written about in the Ancient language on a stone tablet that was discovered by Ra, who stored it on one of his planets called Abydos. (6.22 "Full Circle"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • The Ancients who returned to Earth from Atlantis also influenced the Romans (as the "ancient ones" who were the "builders of the roads"), established Latin as an Earth language (Ancient and Latin are very similar), and infused their DNA into the populace (there are descendants of these Ancients who are able to activate Ancient technology that is keyed to Ancient genetic imprints). (2.16 "The Fifth Race", 7.22 "Lost City Part 2", 8.13 "It's Good to Be King"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • Daniel speculated that some of the Ancients might have influenced the religions of the world by making fire an evil or demonic symbol as a way to warn Earthlings of the nature of the Ori. Fire was the icon of the religion "Origin" and symbolized warmth, energy, and light. The Ascended Ori, who were the "gods" of the religion, manifested themselves in a wall of fire and called it "The Flames of Enlightenment". (9.03 "Origin Part 3")
  • Daniel has also speculated that Oma Desala, or an Ancient who knew of her teachings, influenced the Buddhists, who have "The Eightfold Path to Enlightenment". Oma Desala's name means "Mother Nature" in an African tribal language, so it also possible that she influenced the worship of nature or some forms of the occult, as she was able to manipulate such things as the weather and fire with her ascended powers. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct", 9.02 "Avalon Part 2")
  • The Asurans reached their height once again and resumed their programming of going after the Wraith in Pegasus, but the Wraith figured out how to reprogram them to stop their attacks. Both the Wraith and the Asurans developed on their own after that: The Wraith dominated the galaxy while the Asurans thrived in isolation. (Stargate Atlantis: 4.03 "Reunion")
  • Ra planted a Stargate in Giza, Egypt, and used it to spread humanity to other planets, including Abydos, where he used them as slaves. By this time, the Ancients' Stargate in Antarctica was most likely inaccessible due to being buried in the ice. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.18 "Solitudes")

2 to 5 Thousand Years Ago

The Goa'uld reach the height of their power while the Ascended Ancients observe; Kheb and ascension become part of the Jaffa's belief system:
  • Five thousand years ago, the Goa'uld reached the height of their power in a feudal system headed by the oldest and most powerful among them who were called "System Lords". Ra recorded the Stargate addresses of the planets in the Goa'uld's domain in a cartouche room on Abydos. Not all of the planets in the Stargate network were included, however, as it was later discovered when Jack O'Neill obtained a download from an Ancient Repository of Knowledge that included all of the Stargate addresses that the Ancients originally had before the Goa'uld rose to power. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 2.16 "The Fifth Race", 3.03 "Fair Game", 9.01 "Avalon Part 1")
  • By this time, the Great Pyramid and Sphinx existed in Egypt. The Great Pyramid was used as a landing platform for Ra's mothership, as was the pyramid on Abydos. (Stargate: The Movie, 8.19 "Moebius Part 1", 8.20 "Moebius Part 2")
  • Ra's place as the most powerful System Lord was tested when the humans of Earth revolted and buried the Stargate in 2995 B.C. After this revolt, Ra outlawed writing, but not before the news of the revolt was recorded on cave walls on the planet Abydos. The current timeline that includes this revolt was impacted by time travelers who prevented Ra from taking the Stargate from Earth after he discovered the plans for the rebellion. (Stargate: The Movie, 8.19 "Moebius Part 1", 8.20 "Moebius Part 2")
  • The Goa'uld's slaves built large starships called ha'tak that used naquadah, the same material used by the Ancients to build the Stargates. The Goa'uld used the ring transporters as a primary means of appearing like gods by traveling on a beam of light into their temples. (Stargate: The Movie, 5.08 "The Tomb")
  • At least 5,000 years ago, the Ascended Ancient Oma Desala built her temple on Kheb and started offering to help those who sought the Path to Enlightenment to ascend. These people weren't evolved far enough to ascend on their own, so Oma used a person's level of enlightenment, or truth of spirit, as a measure, focusing on only helping "good" people. Her doing this was against the rules of non-interference The Others had established, so she was banished, yet she still continued to do her work. The Goa'uld learned of Kheb and so did their Jaffa. Oma used her great powers as an ascended being to scare off the Goa'uld, but the Jaffa embraced the thought of the afterlife through the Path to Enlightenment, or ascension. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct", 9.08 "Babylon")
  • A group of Jaffa warriors called the Sodan sought to find Kheb 5,000 years ago, but they ended up on another Ancient planet where they began to live in freedom and to worship the Ancients as gods, something the Ancients strictly denied because they knew that the power of worshipers could corrupt them like the Ori had been corrupted. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct", 9.08 "Babylon", 9.10 "The Fourth Horseman Part 1")
  • Four thousand years ago, the Oannes being named Nem began missing his mate Omoroca. He knew that she had gone to Earth—to Babylon—to help free humans from the Goa'uld Belus, but he didn't know what had become of her. He did assume from her absence, though, that Earth fell completely into the hands of the Goa'uld. Apparently having nothing else to do, he waited and waited for a messenger to come through the Stargate to tell him "what fate Omoroca." (1.13 "Fire and Water")
  • Possibly three thousand years ago, the Goa'uld Marduk was imprisoned and punished by his own priests for his particularly brutal ways. The priests confined him in his sarcophagus and placed a flesh-eating creature in there with him to torment him indefinitely. (5.08 "The Tomb")
  • Two thousand years ago, the Goa'uld Queen Egeria started a movement against Ra called "Tok'Ra". She believed in a symbiotic relationship between human host and symbiote, rather than the symbiote's taking a human host by force and using the body against the human's will. All of Egeria's offspring were called Tok'ra, and they waged their own war against the Goa'uld System Lords by infiltration. Ra banished Egeria by extracting her from her host and putting the symbiote in a canopic jar with a special lining and sedative that kept her alive. The jar was then built into a wall of a temple on the planet Pangar. Egeria's offspring assumed she was dead, and no more Tok'ra could be added to their ranks without her. (4.04 "Crossroads", 6.10 "Cure")
  • Sometime during their stay on Earth, the Goa'ulds Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Hathor were also banished. Osiris and Isis were placed in canopic jars similar to the one in which Egeria was banished. They were thought to have been in these jars for several thousand years (possibly 3000 years, based on an estimate made by archaeologists who studied the jars in modern times). Several of the artifacts found with the jars in a small pyramid temple in Egypt were dated to be over 10,000 years old. Seth had tried to overthrow Ra and had to flee. He went into hiding among various tribes of man on Earth, taking new hosts every four hundred years or so because he didn't have access to a sarcophagus (it's also possible that the Stargate had been buried by this time as well). Written record of his cults go as far back as 1000 B.C. (including in the legends of the Greeks as the god Typhon). Hathor, Ra's daughter and queen, was locked inside a sarcophagus and placed in a Mayan tomb in Mexico where she stayed for almost two thousand years. (1.14 "Hathor", 3.02 "Seth", 4.14 "The Curse")


ca A.D. 500

This time estimate is based the Merlin hologram's message that was discovered in Avalon. In it, he associated King Arthur to Ambrosius Aurelianus, who fought in the Battle of Badon, which most scholars place at around A.D. 500. (9.01 "Avalon Part 1")

Moros and Ganos Lal begin to actively oppose the Ori:
  • Once ascended, Moros learned of the Ori and how The Others were shielding humanity from them. He believed that the Ori were a major threat not only to the humans, but also to the ascended Ancients who were their rivals. He decided to give up his ascension and return to human form to develop a weapon that could be used against ascended beings. He returned to this form with his knowledge and powers, making him one of the most powerful beings of his time on Earth. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project")
  • Moros, who became known as Myrddin and then Merlin of Arthurian legends, reestablished "Avalon" on Earth (the name the Altera gave to their new home in the Milky Way) and what remains of it exists to this day inside the Glastonbury Tor in England. This place also has a ring transporter, holographic technology, and sophisticated interactive artificial intelligence computer systems, as well as the treasures of Ambrosius Aurelianus (King Arthur). (9.01 "Avalon Part 1", 9.02 "Avalon Part 2")
  • Merlin developed a phase-shifting device, later called "Arthur's Mantle", to hide himself in an alternate dimension to develop his weapon in secret, supposedly where The Others could not find him. When he left Earth, he left this device behind in "Avalon". (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle")
  • Merlin started settlements on other planets, all centered around King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, including the community on a planet called "Camelot", where he had his sanctuary and left his library of research, historical documents, and prophecies. He protected his library and his anti-ascended weapon with a sophisticated security system. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle", 9.20 "Camelot Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2")
  • The Others sent Ganos Lal to watch Merlin because they feared that he might be successful in developing this device that could destroy ascended beings. Ganos, whose name is Morgan Le Fay in Arthurian legends, found Merlin on "Camelot" and destroyed the weapon, but preserved Merlin in an Ancient stasis chamber because she agreed with what he was trying to do as far as the Ori were concerned. Merlin's disappearance prompted Arthur and his Knights to go on the Quest for the Holy Grail, but in this case, the Holy Grail was a misinterpretation of the name for the Sangreal, which really was a "Blood Stone" in the form of a red jewel worn as a pendant. (9.20 "Camelot Part 2", 10.03 "The Pegasus Project", Stargate: The Ark of Truth)
  • For well over a thousand years, Merlin lived in that pod, oblivious to the passage of time and growing old ever so slowly. (10.11 "The Quest Part 2")
  • Morgan established a private network of Stargates to hide Merlin and his knowledge of how to build the weapon. She put in place clues so that Arthur and his Knights could figure out where Merlin was hidden, but none of them succeeded in their quest. Among the planets visited by the Knights in their quest were Castiana, Sahal, and Vagonbrei. (9.20 "Camelot Part 2", 10.10 "The Quest Part 1", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2")
  • The Others continued to shield humanity, apparently satisfied with Morgan's destruction of the weapon. (9.03 "Origin Part 3", 10.11 "The Quest Part 2")

ca A.D. 1000

This time estimate is based on Jacob/Selmak's reaction to the news that Anubis had returned to rejoin the System Lords and on the conversation Osiris had with Yu concerning Anubis's absence. (5.16 "Last Stand Part 2")

Anubis ascends with the help of Oma Desala:
  • Around this time, Anubis and Telchak were in battle over the Ancient device now known as the Telchak Device from which Telchak had designed the sarcophagus. Anubis won the battle, but he didn't find the Device. Telchak had hidden it in one of his temples in Central America, in modern-day Honduras. Telchak became known as the Mayan god Chac, and it is believed that the Device was the basis of the Fountain of Youth myth because of its healing and rejuvinating powers. (7.11 "Evolution Part 1")
  • The System Lords were a select group of Goa'uld who had the greatest power and the largest domains. Among these System Lords were Ra, Apophis, Yu, and Anubis, to name but a few. Anubis, however, committed crimes that even the Goa'uld described as "unspeakable", so they threw him off of the System Lord's High Council and tried to kill him. (5.16 "Last Stand Part 2")
  • Apparently Anubis was very interested in powerful Ancient technology (as his pursuit of the Telchak Device indicates) and by this time, he had discovered Ancient research on ascension. He fled to Kheb and tricked Oma into ascending him. As soon as Oma realized what she had done by ascending an evil being such as a Goa'uld, she tried to undo her work, but The Others stepped in. They sent him back "halfway" between corporeal existence and ascension, but he still remained a being of energy with eternal life. They also forbade him to use any knowledge or power obtained through ascension, unless he otherwise would have gained it as a Goa'uld. Anubis was out of the System Lord picture for a thousand years before he made his return. He had to develop a containment shield that allowed him to interact with those in the corporeal plane. This containment shield gave him a humanoid appearance, but he had to wear a cloak that hid his "face". (6.22 "Full Circle", 8.03 "Lockdown", 8.18 "Threads")

ca A.D. 1600

The Others banish Orlin for interfering with the development of the Velonans:
  • By this time, The Others had long established their rules of non-interference as far as interacting with the lower planes of existence, but there were still some members among them who felt a strong attachment to humans. One such Ancient was Orlin, who didn't want to stand by and watch as the Goa'uld overtook the Velonans, so he communicated the knowledge of how to build a powerful weapon for defense. The Velonans were not advanced enough on their own to take the responsibility of suddenly having such power, so after they used the weapon on the Goa'uld, they turned it on other planets for conquest. The Others destroyed the Velonans because they would have been destroyed by the Goa'uld if Orlin had not interfered and banished Orlin to the desolate planet, where he remained all by himself for four hundred years. (5.03 "Ascension")

A.D. 1928

The Langford Expedition uncovers the Giza Stargate:
  • Professor Langford was leading an archaeological expedition in Giza, Egypt, in 1928, when he discovered a large circular coverstone and a ring-shaped device underneath it. The coverstone and the device were kept in storage in Egypt for several years until Langford could get the items shipped to the United States for study. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • Langford's Expedition also found several small artifacts, including a gold pendant that had the eye of Ra etched on it. Langford's little daughter Catherine was given the necklace, and she always wore it, believing it was a good luck charm. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")

A.D. 1931

The Steward Expedition finds the tomb of Osiris and Isis:
  • The Steward Expedition found a small pyramid temple several miles outside of present-day Cairo, Egypt. They uncovered several artifacts, including 10,000-year-old ones and the canopic jars into which Osiris and Isis had been banished. The ship transporting these artifacts to the United States sank off the coast of New Jersey six months after the discovery. Isis died when her canopic jar was damaged in the shipwreck, but Osiris's jar remained intact. When the Expedition members unsealed the tomb, they were exposed to mold spores that caused them all to die within a year. From all of this misfortune, the artifacts were said to be cursed because the tomb had been disturbed. (4.14 "The Curse")

A.D. 1945

First modern man from Earth travels through the Stargate to another world; Pangarans find Egeria:
  • Dr. Langford convinced United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt to begin the study of the device he found in Egypt, which he called the "Doorway to Heaven". Roosevelt thought that it might have been a weapon, which was very appropriate considering it was after the start of World War II. Langford's research team had to attach power and dial the Stargate manually because they didn't have the Dial Home Device (DHD). It was later revealed that the Russians confiscated it from the Germans after the end of the war. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 4.07 "Watergate")
  • One of the members of Langford's research team was Professor Ernest Littlefield, a young archaeologist who was engaged to be married to Langford's 21-year-old daughter Catherine. Littlefield was so preoccupied with studying the Stargate that he failed to ask Langford for Catherine's hand in marriage. He determined that the cartouche on the coverstone was actually a six-point location in space and that the device was capable of going to lots of places because there were more than six symbols on it. Langford dismissed this theory, instead advocating that "doorway to heaven" could mean that the device kills. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • The team randomly dialed the Stargate and succeeded at making a connection. Littlefield volunteered to go through it. He was fitted in a diver's suit, but after he passed through the event horizon, the Stargate deactivated, and his umbilical was severed. No one knew what had happened to him, but they all assumed that he was dead. The Stargate was packed into a storage crate and placed in an armory in Washington, D.C. The research film and papers were packed away into boxes and stored in the Pentagon. Langford never told Catherine that the Stargate had been activated and that Ernest had stepped through it. Instead, he told her that Ernest died in an explosion at the lab. Catherine, brokenhearted, never married. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 2.21 "1969")
  • At about this same time (perhaps closer to A.D. 1950), the people of the planet Pangar found Egeria's canopic jar and began conducting research on the symbiote. They found that the Goa'uld have a natural healing property that they could exploit. They forced the queen to produce larvae, which they in turn began to use as an ingredient in a drug they called "Tretonin". They developed a usable formula by 1970 and began taking the drug that gave them perfect health. Unfortunately, after continual use, the drug destroyed their immune systems, and the users had to stay on the drug or die. Research and development continued until they met SG-1 during its sixth year of operation. (6.10 "Cure")

ca A.D. 1969

Although Stargate: The Movie was released in 1994, the series Stargate SG-1 held it as canon that Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill went through the Stargate to Abydos one year prior to the series' premiere on Showtime on 27 July 1997. Several dates in this section are derived from the 1997 premiere date and from what was said about the study of the Stargate in the pilot "Children of the Gods". It should also be noted that the location of the Stargate in the movie was Creek Mountain, whereas it was established in the pilot that the Stargate had been housed in Cheyenne Mountain when Daniel reopened it.

Catherine Langford resumes the study of the Giza Stargate:
  • Catherine Langford began to study the Stargate once again using her father's research notes, which he told her were all that existed to document his project. She still wasn't told that her father's team activated the "Doorway to Heaven" back in 1945 and that Ernest Littlefield had gone through it. The study of the device was slow, but Catherine recognized the need to provide it with stable power to unlock the inner ring. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 2.21 "1969")
  • Langford's interest in starting up the study of the device once again might have been sparked by a visit from a young man claiming to be the son of one of her father's colleagues. He and the young woman who accompanied him discussed the discoveries made by the Langford Expedition and asked about the current whereabouts of the device. Amazingly, this young couple were actually the time travelers Dr. Daniel Jackson and Captain Samantha Carter, who had been accidentally sent back to 1969 by the Stargate and needed to get back to their own time where they were members of SG-1 in the Stargate Program. (2.21 "1969")
  • Starting in 1982, Catherine's research team began to develop a computerized system to dial the Stargate instead of having to do it manually. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1")
  • Catherine was not given access to her father's team's research that was classified and filed away in the Pentagon when her project came under the control of the Air Force around 1985. This time, the project was overseen by General West and was kept deep in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Catherine was promised complete autonomy in the project, even though it was being overseen by the US military. The research team continued to develop a computer program that would spin the inner ring and lock the chevrons on the Stargate, but they never could get the device to activate because they failed to recognize the need for the seventh chevron (to indicate the point of origin to plot a course to the point in space defined by the other six symbols in the Stargate address from the coverstone). (Stargate: The Movie, 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • Air Force Captain Samantha Carter held a doctorate in Theoretical Astrophysics and was assigned to Catherine's team to study the Stargate sometime around 1994. Most of her time was spent at the Pentagon trying to convince the Air Force to continue the study of the device, even though they still didn't know what it was. This project was later called the Stargate Program after Dr. Daniel Jackson solved the riddle of the device's function. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 2.09 "Secrets")
  • Also around 1994, Catherine brought in new team members to translate the coverstone and study the device in Cheyenne Mountain. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1")


ca A.D. 1996

This time estimate is based on the premiere date of Stargate SG-1 (1997) and not that of the release of Stargate: The Movie (1994).

Dr. Daniel Jackson reopens Earth's Stargate; Ra is killed; Abydos is freed; Daniel marries Sha're and stays on Abydos:
  • Finally, after two years of study by a team of linguists who were assigned to translate the coverstone, Catherine Langford recruited the young archaeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson. Langford had read about Dr. Jackson's theories on the Great Pyramid's having been built long before the majority of the archaeological community believed, basing this conclusion on the writing forms found inside the Pyramid. She believed that if anyone could translate the coverstone correctly, it would be Jackson, and that he'd be the one to figure out what the Stargate really was. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • Langford gave Jackson a plane ticket to Colorado, and having nowhere else to go, he decided to take the trip. Catherine had told him that he'd have a chance to prove his theories correct and that made him curious. Langford showed Jackson the coverstone and he fixed the translations immediately, telling them that the hieroglyphs told of a "Stargate", not a "Doorway to Heaven". Using this information, he translated the cartouche as a Stargate address represented by symbols that were depictions of constellations. He figured out that the Stargate went to other points in space by the use of the six-symbol address and the point of origin without having yet laid eyes on the actual Stargate itself. (Stargate: The Movie)
  • Once he was given access to the Stargate, Daniel figured out the point of origin symbol and the team successfully dialed the Stargate to the address on the cartouche, which happened to be that of Abydos, Ra's planet. (Stargate: The Movie)
  • Colonel Jack O'Neill led a team, which also included Dr. Jackson, through the Stargate to Abydos, where they met the Abydonians, descendants of ancient Egyptians whom Ra brought through the Stargate. They spoke Ancient Egyptian, a language that was no longer spoken on Earth, but that Daniel quickly picked up after a native woman, Sha're, introduced the sounds to him. Sha're showed Daniel the records of their people's enslavement that was drawn on the walls of a cave system. (Stargate: The Movie)
  • While the expedition was on Abydos, Ra came to gather the latest yields from the naquadah mines. Ra's guards killed Daniel and imprisoned the rest of the team's members, including O'Neill. Ra was curious about the Ra necklace that Catherine had given to Daniel for "good luck", so he revived him in the sarcophagus. Daniel spoke with Ra in Ancient Egyptian, and Ra told Daniel that he planned to send to Earth and detonate the bomb that O'Neill had brought with him in case he found a threat. (Stargate: The Movie)
  • With the help of the Abydonians, especially a group of boys led by Sha're's brother Skaara and her father Kasuf, the Earthmen vanquished Ra. O'Neill and Jackson sent the bomb that Ra had armed and enhanced with the naquadah to Ra's ship by using the ring transporter that linked the temple directly to Ra's ship. The ship blew up in Abydos's orbit. Little did they know that their destruction of Ra would throw the System Lords into chaos as they vied for control of Ra's vast territory, which included Earth. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1")
  • Daniel and Sha're fell in love, so Daniel decided to stay with her on Abydos while O'Neill and his surviving team members returned to Earth through the Stargate. After they left, Daniel buried the Abydos Stargate. (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1")
  • Col. O'Neill had been retired from the Air Force at the time he was called by General West to oversee the Stargate Program (as it was later called). This resignation was at the heels of O'Neill's son's tragic accidental death (he shot himself with O'Neill's service revolver). O'Neill had been quite suicidal after his son's death, but the mission to Abydos renewed his purpose. Even so, he once again resigned from the Air Force after his return to Earth. O'Neill returned the Ra necklace to Catherine with a message from Daniel: "Tell Catherine this brought me luck." (Stargate: The Movie, 1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • After about a month on the planet, Daniel discovered Ra's map room with all of the Stargate addresses of the planets in the Goa'uld's domain. Curious, he unburied the Stargate and tried out some of the addresses, but couldn't make a lock. He figured that these Stargates had been either destroyed or buried just like the one on Earth had been. Knowing the dangers that reopening the Stargate could bring, Daniel trained Skaara and other Abydonians to keep a 36-hour watch by arming them with the Earth weapons that O'Neill's team left behind. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1")

ca A.D. 1997-1998

This time estimate corresponds to Season One of Stargate SG-1.

Stargate Command is established, begins active use of the Stargate, and learns more about the Ancients; SG-1 meets the Nox:
  • It took fifteen years and three super-computers for Langford's team to develop a computerized dialing system for the Stargate, even while they didn't realize the device's true function. After the first team went through to Abydos, Capt. Samantha Carter tried to get the Stargate to connect to different destinations, but they never got a lock. After all of these failures, it was determined that the Stargate went only to Abydos. In order to protect Daniel and the Abydonians, O'Neill lied on his report that the Abydos Stargate was destroyed with the bomb he took with him (which he actually used against Ra), so the government began to downsize the project. General West placed Major General George Hammond, a man close to retirement, in charge of the base. Carter was asked to research alternative applications for the Stargate, including using the wormhole for time travel. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1" 2.21 "1969")
  • The Air Force was in the process of withdrawing personnel from the Cheyenne Mountain facility when the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis came through the Stargate with his Jaffa soldiers, kidnapped a female sergeant, and killed several guards before retreating to the planet Chulak. Major General George Hammond reactivated Col. Jack O'Neill to retrieve Dr. Daniel Jackson from Abydos, but Apophis visited there next and took Daniel's wife Sha're and her brother Skaara. The First Prime of Apophis helped the humans escape from Apophis's prison on Chulak. O'Neill requested that Teal'c join his team as an expert in the Goa'uld and Jaffa. Teal'c pledged allegiance to Earth, hoping that his new allies would help bring freedom to his people. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.02 "Children of the Gods Part 2", 1.03 "The Enemy Within")
  • After Daniel explained that the Stargate could go to other places with new addresses calculated based on stellar drift, Stargate Command was activated and created nine teams to explore the galaxy for allies and technology that could help in the fight against the Goa'uld, as well as to rescue Sha're and Skaara, who were now hosts to Goa'uld symbiotes. (1.01 "Children of the Gods Part 1", 1.02 "Children of the Gods Part 2")
  • SG-1 met the Nox, an advanced humanoid race that are quite petite and that are pacifists. Each individual lives to be well over 400 years old, and they have the ability to resurrect someone by channeling the life force gathered from the surrounding nature. They can activate the Stargate without any apparent use of technology and render objects invisible. They live in a city that floats in the sky and in simple grass huts when they're communing with nature. They perceive humans as "very young". It is later learned that the Nox were part of the Alliance of the Four Races with the Ancients, Asgard, and Furlings. (1.08 "The Nox", 1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 2.16 "The Fifth Race")
  • On the planet P3X-972/PB2-908, SG-1 found Ernest Littlefield alive after 50 years in total seclusion and uncovered Heliopolis, the meeting place for the Alliance of the Four Races, which included the Ancients, the Nox, the Asgard, and the Furlings. It has not yet been established when this alliance was formed, but the design construction of the Library device itself implies that the alliance was several million years ago when the Ancients were still in the galaxy and building the Stargate network. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • Ernest Littlefield and Catherine Langford were reunited, and their love for each other was strongly renewed. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus")
  • SG-1 traveled to the planet Oannes, where Nem captured Daniel because he knew about Babylon and cuneiform writing. Nem implanted false memories of Daniel's death into the minds of the rest of the team so that he could have Daniel all to himself without interruption. Daniel and Nem found that both had something in common: they had lost their mates to the Goa'uld. Daniel recalled an old text he had read years before with the aid of a mind probe and finally, after four thousand years, Nem learned that Belus had killed Omoroca while she attempted to free humans of Earth from the Goa'uld. Nem let Daniel go home once he knew her fate. (1.13 "Fire and Water")
  • Archaeologists uncover Hathor in her sarcophagus in a Mayan temple. Once released, she killed the two archaeologists and made her way to the Stargate in Cheyenne Mountain, where she tried to reestablish herself as a Goa'uld Queen with Daniel as her "beloved" pharoah (his seed would be used to help her offspring blend with their new human hosts on Earth) and O'Neill as her first prime (by converting him into a Jaffa). Her plans failed and she escaped through the Stargate to Chulak. Unfortunately, her sarcophagus was destroyed in her escape. (1.14 "Hathor")
  • Stargate Command discovered the Antarctic Stargate by accident. There were frozen Serpent Guards of the Goa'uld buried in the ice near the DHD, which implies that sometime within the last 10,000 years, the Goa'uld attempted to send troops to Earth, unaware of the first Stargate located there. Apparently, it was by some fluke that this Stargate was activated by the Goa'uld at this time rather than the one in Egypt, since both of them held precedence due to each having a DHD attached. (It is possible that the Goa'uld were testing to see if the Giza Stargate was still accessible after the rebellion.) The power crystal in the DHD to the Antarctic Stargate died soon after the discovery, which prompted Carter to later calculate the age of the Stargate to be as much as 50 million years. (1.18 "Solitudes", 4.07 "Watergate", 6.04 "Frozen")
  • The Antarctic Stargate and DHD were put in storage at Area 51 in Nevada. (1.18 "Solitudes", 2.14 "Touchstone")

ca A.D. 1998-1999

This time estimate corresponds to Season Two of Stargate SG-1.

The Tok'ra are revealed; The Asgard identify the Ancients as the builders of the Stargates:
  • Carter was taken as the host of Jolinar of Malshur, a Tok'ra, against her will while helping a planet evacuate from a Goa'uld attack. The System Lords sent an assassin after Jolinar, and he followed her back to Earth through the Stargate. Teal'c killed the assassin, and Jolinar died saving Carter's life. From that moment on, Carter had some of the memories of Jolinar and the ability to use Goa'uld technology, including the ribbon device and healing device. This encounter with Jolinar revealed the existence of the Tok'ra. Her memories helped the team track down the secret Tok'ra base, and Carter saved her dying father's life by persuading him to become a host to a Tok'ra symbiote named Selmak. With Jacob Carter/Selmak acting as the primary liaison, the Tok'ra became allies with the Tau'ri (what the Goa'uld and Jaffa call the humans of Earth, the planet they called "The First World") and the Rebel Jaffa in the fight against the Goa'uld. (2.02 "In the Line of Duty", 2.06 "Thor's Chariot", 2.11 "The Tok'ra Part 1", 2.12 "The Tok'ra Part 2", 3.02 "Seth")
  • Carter and Daniel met Thor of the Asgard as he presented himself in his true form (like a Roswell grey, as Carter put it). SG-1 already knew about the Asgard, but had never seen their true form. The Asgard were named mostly after Norse gods and had studied humans of Earth for a long time. They also felt quite protective of humanity, especially when it came to the way humans were being treated by the Goa'uld. (1.10 "Thor's Hammer", 2.06 "Thor's Chariot", 2.16 "The Fifth Race", 3.03 "Fair Game")
  • Dr. Daniel Jackson's theory that the "ancient ones" built the Stargates and not the Goa'uld was substantiated when Col. Jack O'Neill met the Asgard. O'Neill had taken a download into his mind of an Ancient Repository of Knowledge while on P3R-272, and inputted all the Stargate addresses (created by the Ancients when they built the network) into the dialing computer at Stargate Command. He also drew a detailed schematic of the DHD and revealed the use of an eighth chevron to dial to another galaxy. He used the Ancient knowledge to build a power source needed to dial the great distance to another galaxy and traveled to the Asgard's homeworld in the Ida Galaxy. The Asgard told O'Neill about the Alliance of the Four Races and that the Ancients had moved on a long time ago. The Asgard also removed the knowledge from O'Neill's mind because it was killing him and sent him back to Earth through the Stargate. The fact that O'Neill learned about the Asgard Stargate from the Ancient Repository probably indicates that the Alliance had been established during the time before the Ancients left the galaxy due to the plague, which was at least 5-10 million years ago. (1.11 "The Torment of Tantalus", 2.16 "The Fifth Race"; Stargate Atlantis: 1.01 "Rising Part 1")
  • SG-1 was accidentally sent back to the year 1969 when their wormhole was bent by a solar flare. The Ancients were aware of the possibility of traveling in time by such conditions, so they programmed the DHD and Stargate to prevent a wormhole from being formed during a solar flare event. Earth's Stargate, however, didn't have a DHD attached to it, so the wormhole could be formed without regard to these conditions. In order to find the Stargate in 1969, Daniel and Carter disguised themselves and visited Catherine Langford. She told them the location of the Stargate, and it wasn't long after their visit that Catherine resumed her study of it. The team returned home by using the Stargate to form wormholes that were bent by solar flares. (2.21 "1969")
  • Hathor captured SG-1's O'Neill, Daniel, and Carter and tried to use them to gather information on the current state of affairs since her time on Earth about 2,000 years ago. Teal'c called for a group of Jaffa to help him rescue the Tau'ri and start the Jaffa Rebellion to overthrow the Goa'uld. O'Neill killed Hathor and the team returned to Earth to resume their missions through the Stargate. (2.22 "Out of Mind Part 1", 3.01 "Into the Fire Part 2")

ca A.D. 1999-2000

This time estimate corresponds to Season Three of Stargate SG-1.

Sha're dies; Oma Desala and Kheb are discovered; Asgard reveal the existence of the Replicators:
  • The Tok'ra ask for help in locating Seth on Earth. They found him as the leader of a cult near Seattle, Washington. Carter, after having been a temporary host to a Tok'ra symbiote and gaining the naquadah in her blood needed to operate Goa'uld technology, killed Seth with a ribbon device. Obviously repulsed that she could operate the device, that was the first and the last time she used it. (3.02 "Seth")
  • While the host to the symbiote named Amaunet, Daniel's wife Sha're was impregnated against her will. She bore a son, but Amaunet knew that the child would be hunted down and killed by the other System Lords because he, as a human, held the combined memories of the Goa'uld symbiotes that "parented" him. With this genetic memory, the child could threaten their positions of power, and if Apophis planned to take the child as his new host, he would become the most powerful of them all. Their fears about Apophis's intentions were correct, and Amaunet gave her child to her most trusted aide to hide him where he'd be safe: Kheb. (3.10 "Forever in a Day")
  • Sha're and Daniel didn't have much time together at the end of her life, but she was able to tell him that the boy had been taken to Kheb and that she wanted him to find the baby to keep him safe. In a most tragic turn of events, Teal'c killed Sha're when Amaunet was attempting to kill Daniel with a ribbon device. (3.10 "Forever in a Day")
  • SG-1 played a key role in saving Skaara, Sha're's brother. The Goa'uld symbiote was removed from him by the Tok'ra, and Skaara returned home to Abydos. (3.15 "Pretense", 6.22 "Full Circle")
  • It wasn't until Master Bra'tac of the Jaffa and Daniel began to share mythological stories that they figured out where Kheb was located. Bra'tac told a story about Kheb that his father told him: it was a place feared by the Goa'uld, but sacred to the Jaffa who sought the afterlife after the ability to carry a symbiote had passed. This legend was the foundation of the Jaffa's belief in the Path to Enlightenment, or ascension. Unfortunately, the location of Kheb had been lost over the thousands of years that the story was told. Daniel shared that in Earth's mythology, Kheb was the place where Osiris hid from Seth. Bra'tac immediately lit up with excitement, knowing that story as having to do with a planet located in the Lok'na Core. They knew that it would be the only planet in that region of space that the Goa'uld would not have placed in their domain, but the Ancients would have. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct")
  • Indeed, the two had put the pieces together and found Kheb. There, they met a monk who talked like a Zen Buddhist who tested their hearts and intentions. Master Bra'tac felt renewed and left Daniel with the monk to discuss Sha're's son, the Harsesis. Apophis's Jaffa troops arrived and began to storm the temple, but the monk stood in their way, and they killed him with a staff weapon blast. The monk's ascension was the first one witnessed by SG-1 and Bra'tac, and they watched in awe as the monk's body burst into radiant light and then completely disappeared, leaving only his robes behind. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct")
  • Eventually, Oma showed herself to Daniel and gave him access to the child, but he realized that he didn't have the powers that she had demonstrated to keep the boy safe (such as sending lightning bolts to down death gliders and Jaffa, controlling fire, levitating objects). Daniel relinquished the baby into Oma's care, and she took the child from Kheb through the Stargate. (3.20 "Maternal Instinct")
  • The Asgard discovered the Replicators, bug-like mechanical creatures, on an isolated planet and took some for study without understanding the danger they posed. They became, as Thor put it, "a plague on our galaxy that is annihilating everything in its path." SG-1 helped the Thor survive a Replicator attack on his starship, but they beamed the Stargate from the SGC to Thor's ship in order to escape the ship's destruction. This left the SGC without a Stargate, but General Hammond quickly ordered that the Antarctic Stargate be brought out of storage to take the Giza Stargate's place. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1", 4.01 "Small Victories Part 2")
  • Thor's ship crashed into the Pacific Ocean and one of the "bugs" survived on Earth, where it quickly took over a Russian submarine. Fortunately, the infestation was destroyed before more of the Replicators were created (they consumed mostly metals to create more of themselves), but it also meant that the Giza Stargate was lost in the ocean. (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1", 4.01 "Small Victories Part 2")
  • The Russians retrieved the Giza Stargate from the ocean and began their own Stargate Program without the knowledge of the United States. Former Air Force Colonel and NID Agent Harry Maybourne committed treason when he provided the Russians with the information they needed to get their program started. (4.07 "Watergate")

ca A.D. 2000-2001

This time estimate corresponds to Season Four of Stargate SG-1.

Stargate Command learns of the plague that killed many Ancients a long time ago; Osiris takes Sarah Gardner as a his new host; Daniel gets a visit from an Ascended Being:
  • SG-1 met an alien archaeologist on the abandoned Ancient planet designated as P4X-639 where the Ancients had tried to build a time machine in order to escape the plague. Their efforts failed, but Malikai wasn't aware of this history and continued to try to use it to go back and see his deceased wife once again. His activating the machine caused time to loop every ten hours on fourteen planets, including Earth. Eventually, Malikai was convinced to turn the machine off. This was the first mention of the plague as it applied to the Ancients. (4.06 "Window of Opportunity")
  • Stargate Command discovered that the Russians were conducting their own Stargate Program when the SGC's Stargate was unable to dial out. The Russian's Stargate was the primary Stargate on Earth because it had a DHD attached to it. They had connected to a world from which they couldn't disconnect. The entire staff at the Russian's command center in Siberia were killed when the commander issued a "self-destruct" protocol (poisonous gas) after the facility was taken over by energy beings that lived in the water of the planet that they were investigating. After this situation, the Russians couldn't justify having their own program, but they kept the Giza Stargate anyway. (4.07 "Watergate")
  • The sunken Steward Expedition's ship was found and the artifacts were sent to Chicago where archaeologists could study them. Unfortunately, one of these archaeologists, Dr. Sarah Gardner, opened the canopic jar that contained the Osiris symbiote and became his new host. Sarah and Daniel Jackson had been lovers when they studied together in Chicago before Daniel became part of the Stargate Program. He was unable to free Sarah of the symbiote before she left Earth in a personal transport starship that was buried near Osiris's temple. (4.14 "The Curse")
  • After Oma took Sha're's son, she helped him to ascend. She also buried his Goa'uld genetic memories, considered to be the thoughts of a thousand Hitlers, deep into his subconscious mind, telling him that the memories were too strong to resist and the best way to win was to "deny it battle". This philosophy reflected The Others' rules of non-interference: they knew that the power that the Ori were gathering through their worshipers corrupted them, so it was better not to interact with humanity at all so that man's worship could be avoided. Shifu, whose name means "light", told Daniel that he needed to choose a new path concerning handling the Goa'uld, rather than forcing the boy to remember the genetic memories. He then ascended and left through the Stargate, and that was probably the last time Daniel ever saw him. (4.17 "Absolute Power")

ca A.D. 2001-2002

This time estimate corresponds to Season Five of Stargate SG-1.

Ascended Ancient Orlin retakes human form and ascends again; Dr. Daniel Jackson ascends; Anubis obtains the knowledge of the Asgard, some of which is based on Ancient knowledge:
  • When Stargate Command sent teams to Velona, the Ascended Ancient Orlin, who was all alone in his banishment, followed them back through the Stargate to Earth. He was afraid that they'd turn on the weapon he had helped the Velonans build. His banishment was his punishment for giving the knowledge to build the weapon to the Velonans, who weren't prepared to use it. The Others destroyed the Velonans because Orlin had interfered with the Goa'uld who was about to destroy them and then banished Orlin to the desolate planet, where he served his term for 400 years by the time SG-1 encountered him. (5.03 "Ascension")
  • Orlin was attracted to Maj. Samantha Carter from the moment he laid eyes on her and followed her home. There, he shared with her his essence by enveloping her with his energy form. This act was extremely intimate, but Orlin was not satisfied. He decided to return to human form so that he could be with her as a normal human man. While they got to know each other, Orlin proved that being ascended does not give one instant knowledge of everything because he was not aware of Oma Desala nor of her work, which she had been doing during his time as an ascended being. He assumed that she was an outcast like himself. (5.03 "Ascension")
  • Carter's and Orlin's relationship couldn't be pursued because the NID tracked him down at her house and wanted to take him into custody because of the knowledge he held. Orlin built a small personal-sized Stargate in Carter's basement and went back to Velona to stop SG-16 from powering up the weapon. Carter followed. (5.03 "Ascension")
  • When Orlin tried to stop the testing of the weapon, he was shot by SGC personnel. He had succeeded in disconnecting the naquadah reactor from the weapon, but the reactor was about to overload. As Orlin laid dying, The Others arrived, manifested in a dark storm cloud, and accepted him back into the collective. Orlin ascended and then removed the reactor where it could explode safely in the distance. Orlin's acceptance back into the collective demonstrated that The Others could forgive one of their own if he demonstrated his sincerity and worthiness. Orlin had done so by sacrificing himself to save lives. (5.03 "Ascension")
  • The Tok'ra removed the Goa'uld symbiote Qetesh from her host Vala Mal Doran. Her own people couldn't distinguish the difference between a Goa'uld and its host, so Vala was forced to leave her home planet when they spat on her and stoned her. She fled to P8X-412 where she posed as the poor peasants' goddess Qetesh, who already had control of the planet for at least three years. Although she took advantage of the people's adoration, she began to form a genuine bond with them. Afterwards, she left them to pursue a life as a thief and con-artist, talents she had learned from her father Jacek. Before Qetesh was overthrown and removed by the Tok'ra, she was involved in a treasure hunt with the Goa'uld Athena. They were searching for the treasure of the Ancients, the Stargate address for which was encoded on the Clava Thessara Infinitas. Qetesh claimed to have the code to the tablet, but she was removed from Vala before revealing it to Athena. (9.05 "The Powers That Be", 10.08 "Memento Mori", 10.18 "Family Ties")
  • SG-1 and a Russian Stargate team fought against the Goa'uld Marduk in a ziggurat on the planet P2X-338 after he was accidentally let out of his sarcophagus by a Russian archaeological team who were searching for a device called the Eye of Tiamat that was supposedly quite powerful. The symbiote Marduk survived by first taking the flesh-eating creature as a host and then transferring to one of the Russians. The team escaped using a ring transporter that was connected to another building in the temple complex. Marduk and his new host were killed when the ziggurat collapsed in an explosion that SG-1 set with C-4. The Eye was buried with him in the rubble. (5.08 "The Tomb")
  • SG-1 found an android on a planet that had long been abandoned. They took her back to the SGC and reactivated her, and in doing so, discovered that she was the originator of the Replicators, which she programmed as toys that protected her. Her world was destroyed a very long time ago when the Replicators broke loose from her control, killed everyone, and then left. Unfortunately, the Replicators started to take over the base, and Reese had to be neutralized in order to shut the bugs down. Stargate Command gave the remains of Reese, who was irreparably damaged, to the Asgard so that they could find out how to shut down the Replicators that were destroying their worlds. (5.19 "Menace")
  • Daniel caught Oma Desala's attention when he selflessly exposed himself to a lethal dose of radiation in order to prevent an experiment from going critical on the planet Kelowna (now known as Langara). His sacrifice meant the saving of thousands of lives, so as he laid dying in excruciating pain from radiation poisoning, Oma offered him ascension. He took the offer, not knowing everything there was to know about the rules, since Oma, an outcast and rule-breaker herself, was his only guide. He told Jack O'Neill that he felt he could do more as an ascended, however, which indicated that he clearly intended to interfere with events in the corporeal plane as Oma had been doing for thousands of years. (5.21 "Meridian")
  • After Daniel's ascension, SG-1 discovered that the Asgard perpetuated their race through cloning. They had done this for thousands of years, creating a type of immortality by transferring their consciousnesses into "empty" clone bodies. As a matter of fact, cloning could have been used for as long as 30,000 years, the age of one of their ancestors who was discovered still in stasi