The History of Aquatics: 7000 B.C. - A.D. 1800.

7000-5000 B.C. References to ancient Middle Eastern cave drawings of swimmers very likely point to those at Wadi Sora (sometimes spelled Sura), also known as "The Cave of Swimmers," the same cave portrayed in the 1996 movie "The English Patient." It is located in southwestern Egypt, near the border of Libya. The positioning of the figures drawn in the cave lead many to believe that they are "swimming," although no proof of this hypothesis has been found. Some experts claim that the figures, which are part of a large scene involving many other drawings, often are shown out of context and that the "swimmer figures" are more likely to have a ritual or magical meaning. ... Egyptians who have settled alongside the Nile River in ancient Nagada also are likely to have been avid swimmers at this time because city residents use the river daily for transportation and trade. Swimming seems to be especially popular among the noble classes, and drawings on frescoes and pottery point to early forms of the swimming pool con structed in noblemen's palaces.

36 B.C. Emperor Suigiu introduces great swimming competitions in Japan. Centuries later, Japanese Emperor Go-Yoozei rules that schoolchildren should know how to swim. In 1603, Japan starts the first national swimming organization and, in 1810, Japan holds its first three-day meet.

400 B.C. Plato considers anyone who does not know how to swim to be uneducated. As a form of insult, Greeks dismiss those who do not know how to swim.

400 B.C. An early Greek circular bath found in Delphi has steps around the perimeter and is deep enough for swimming.

700 B.C. References to swimming appear in Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey.

883-859 B.C. An Assyrian bas relief, excavated in 1845 from the palace of Nimrud in what is now northern Iraq, portrays two Assyrian archers, dressed in pointed helmets and short kilts, shooting at their victims, forcing them to flee via the river. Three men are in the water: one is swimming and the other two are blowing into inflated animal skins to support themselves in the water.

1700 B.C. The earliest known baths can be traced to the Minoan Empire at the palaces of Minos in Knossus, Crete, which would become the cultural center of the eastern Mediterranean. Later, Greeks credit Mines with building the first navy and clearing the Aegean of pirates.