Ancient Worlds

Ancient Egyptian civilization grew up along the Nile River, whose predictable floods shaped farming, religion, and the calendar.

Mesopotamia is often called a cradle of civilization for its early cities, writing, and law codes.

Ancient Greece was a network of independent city-states whose ideas shaped Western philosophy, theater, and politics.

The Roman Republic governed through elected offices and the Senate before giving way to one-man rule.

The Roman Empire stretched across three continents and connected its territories with roads, law, and trade.

The Achaemenid Persian Empire governed diverse peoples across a huge territory, often allowing local customs to continue.

The Phoenicians were Mediterranean traders whose alphabet influenced the Greek and Latin scripts.

Carthage grew from a Phoenician colony into a major Mediterranean power before its wars with Rome.

Babylon was a major Mesopotamian capital associated with Hammurabi's laws and the legendary Hanging Gardens.

The Assyrian Empire built one of the ancient world's largest libraries at its capital, Nineveh.

The Kingdom of Kush built its own pyramids in Nubia and once ruled Egypt as its 25th dynasty.

The Etruscans lived in central Italy before Rome's rise and influenced early Roman religion and engineering.

The Minoans built elaborate palace complexes on Crete and are considered one of Europe's earliest civilizations.

Mycenaean Greece preceded classical Greece and is associated with the legendary events of the Trojan War.

The Byzantine Empire carried on Roman traditions from its capital at Constantinople for over a thousand years.

The Hittites built a powerful Anatolian empire and fought Egypt to a standstill at the Battle of Kadesh.

Elam was an ancient civilization in what is now southwestern Iran, long in contact with Mesopotamia.

Sumer is regarded as the earliest known urban civilization, credited with early writing and the wheel.

The Indus Valley Civilisation built grid-planned cities with advanced drainage long before many later urban centers.

The short-lived Qin dynasty unified China's warring states and standardized writing, currency, and measurement.

The Han dynasty expanded Chinese territory and trade, and its name is still used for the Han ethnic majority.

The Maurya Empire united much of ancient India and, under Ashoka, spread Buddhist teachings through inscribed pillars.

The Gupta Empire is remembered for advances in mathematics, astronomy, and the arts across ancient India.

The Vedic period produced the Rigveda and other texts that shaped later Hindu religious tradition.

The Xia dynasty is traditionally regarded as China's first, known mainly through later written accounts.

The Maya built city-states across Mesoamerica known for monumental architecture, writing, and astronomy.

Sparta organized its society around military training and is remembered for disciplined warfare.

Classical Athens developed an early direct democracy and became a center of philosophy and drama.

The Olmecs carved giant stone heads and influenced later Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya.

The Nazca culture etched enormous geoglyphs into the Peruvian desert whose full purpose is still debated.

The Kingdom of Aksum controlled major trade routes and left behind massive carved stone monuments.

Silla was one of Korea's Three Kingdoms and later unified much of the peninsula under its rule.

The Library of Alexandria was one of the ancient world's largest collections of scrolls and scholarship.

Teotihuacan grew into one of the ancient world's largest cities, though the identity of its builders is still studied.

The Nok culture of West Africa left behind striking terracotta figures and early evidence of ironworking.

The Chavín culture built an influential temple complex high in the Peruvian Andes.

Troy is the city at the heart of Homer's epics and has been excavated at Hisarlik in modern Turkey.