Ancient history

For other uses, see Ancient history (disambiguation).

"Ancient" redirects here. For the times before writing, see protohistory and prehistory. For
related subjects, see Antiquity (disambiguation).
"Ancient historian" and "Ancient World" redirect here. For historians who lived in ancient
Rome, see Roman historiography. For a TV series, see The Ancient World (TV series).

Khafre's Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. 2500 BC or perhaps earlier)

Ancient history
Preceded by Prehistory

Ancient Near East

Sumer

Egypt

Elam

Akkad

Babylonia

Canaan

Hittite Empire

Crete (Minoan)

Syro-Hittite states

Georgia

Anatolia

Armenia

Neo-Assyrian Empire

Urartu

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Medes

Classical antiquity

Greece

Persia (Achaemenid)

Hellenism

Rome

Africa

Late Antiquity
East Asia

China

Korea

Japan

South Asia

Indus Valley

Vedic period

Maha Janapadas

Maurya Empire

Chola Empire

Satavahana

Gupta Empire
See also

History of the world

Ancient maritime history

Protohistory

Axial Age

Iron Age

Historiography

Ancient literature

Ancient warfare
Cradle of civilization

Followed by the Postclassical Era

Human history

and prehistory

before Homo

(Pliocene epoch)

Prehistory
(three-age system)

Stone Age
Lower Paleolithic

Homo

Homo erectus

Middle Paleolithic
Early Homo sapiens
Upper Paleolithic
Behavioral modernity
Neolithic
Cradle of civilization
Bronze Age

China

Europe

India

Near East

Iron Age
Bronze Age collapse

China

Europe

India

Japan

Korea

Near East

Nigeria

Recorded history
Ancient history
Earliest records
Postclassical era
Modern history

Early

Later

Contemporary

Future

Human history
Prehistory
Recorded history
Ancient

Earliest records

Africa
Americas

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Mediterranean

Near East

Postclassical

Africa
Americas

Central Asia

East Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Europe
Middle East

Modern

Early modern

Modern

Contemporary
See also

Modernity

Futurology

Future

Ancient history is the aggregate of past events[1] from the beginning of recorded human
history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of
recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with Sumerian Cuneiform script, the
oldest discovered form of coherent writing from the protoliterate period around the 30th
century BC.[2]
The term classical antiquity is often used to refer to history in the Old World from the
beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC (First Olympiad). This roughly coincides with
the traditional date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of
ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Archaic period in Ancient Greece. Although the
ending date of ancient history is disputed, some Western scholars use the fall of the Western
Roman Empire in 476 AD (the most used),[3][4] the closure of the Platonic Academy in 529
AD,[5] the death of the emperor Justinian I in 565 AD,[6] the coming of Islam[7] or the rise of
Charlemagne[8] as the end of ancient and Classical European history.
In India, ancient history includes the early period of the Middle Kingdoms,[9][10][11] and, in
China, the time up to the Qin Dynasty.[12][13]

Contents

1 Study
o 1.1 Archaeology
o 1.2 Source text

2 Chronology
o 2.1 Prehistory
o 2.2 Timeline of ancient history

2.2.1 Middle to Late Bronze Age

2.2.2 Early Iron Age

2.2.3 Classical Antiquity

2.2.3.1 Early classical ancient history

2.2.3.2 Mid-classical ancient history

2.2.3.3 Late classical ancient history

2.2.3.4 Classical ancient history end

3 Prominent civilizations
o 3.1 Comparative timeline
o 3.2 Comparison table
o 3.3 Historical ages
o 3.4 Southwest Asia (Near East)

3.4.1 Mesopotamia

3.4.2 Ancient Persia

3.4.3 Armenia

3.4.4 Arabia

3.4.5 Levant

3.4.6 Israel

3.4.7 Phoenicians

o 3.5 Africa

3.5.1 Egypt

3.5.2 Nubia

3.5.3 Axum

3.5.4 Land of Punt

3.5.5 Nok culture

3.5.6 Carthage

o 3.6 South Asia

3.6.1 Indus Valley Civilization

3.6.2 Mahajanapadas

3.6.3 Middle kingdoms

o 3.7 East Asia

3.7.1 China

3.7.1.1 Ancient era

3.7.1.2 Spring and Autumn

3.7.1.3 Warring States

3.7.2 Japan

3.7.3 Korea

3.7.4 Vietnam

3.7.5 Mongols

3.7.6 Huns

o 3.8 Americas

3.8.1 Andean civilizations

3.8.2 Mesoamerica

o 3.9 Europe

3.9.1 Etruria

3.9.2 Greece

3.9.3 Rome

3.9.4 Late Antiquity

3.9.5 Germanic tribes

4 Developments
o 4.1 Religion and philosophy
o 4.2 Science and technology
o 4.3 Maritime activity
o 4.4 Warfare
o 4.5 Artwork and music

5 See also

6 References
o 6.1 Citations and notes
o 6.2 General information

7 External links
o 7.1 Websites
o 7.2 Directories