Ancient history timeline
Pharaohs, philosophers and empires of the ancient and classical world.
143 events, oldest first.
Timeline of Ancient history
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c. 9500 BC
Göbekli Tepe is built
This monumental site in Turkey predates Stonehenge by about 6,000 years.
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c. 8000 BC
The walls of Jericho are built
It is often called one of the oldest walled towns in the world.
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c. 7500 BC
The oldest known pet cat is buried with its owner
The burial in Cyprus shows cats lived alongside people about 9,500 years ago.
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c. 7100 BC
Çatalhöyük is settled
Its houses had no doors; people climbed in through holes in the roof.
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c. 3500 BC
The oldest known leather shoe is made
The shoe, found in an Armenian cave, is roughly a modern women's size 37.
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c. 3500 BC
The wheel is invented
The wheel was used for making pottery before it was used for transport.
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c. 3200 BC
Newgrange passage tomb is built in Ireland
At the winter solstice, sunlight shines straight down its passage into the inner chamber.
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c. 3200 BC
Writing is invented in Sumer
The earliest cuneiform tablets are mostly accounts of grain, beer and livestock.
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c. 3180 BC
Skara Brae village is inhabited in Orkney
Its stone houses still have their stone beds and dressers.
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c. 3100 BC
Egypt is united under its first pharaoh
Egypt then lasted as one kingdom for around 3,000 years.
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c. 2650 BC
The Step Pyramid of Djoser is built
It is the oldest of Egypt's great pyramids.
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c. 2600 BC
The Royal Game of Ur is played
It is the oldest playable board game; its rules were worked out from a clay tablet.
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c. 2560 BC
The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed
It was the tallest human-made structure in the world for nearly 4,000 years.
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c. 2500 BC
Mohenjo-daro thrives in the Indus Valley
The city had covered drains and a 'Great Bath' around 4,500 years ago.
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c. 2500 BC
Stonehenge's great sarsen stones are raised
Its smaller bluestones were dragged from Wales, about 150 miles away.
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c. 2500 BC
The Great Sphinx of Giza is carved
Its nose was missing long before Napoleon's soldiers arrived in Egypt.
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c. 2334 BC
Sargon of Akkad founds the first empire
Legend says he was set adrift as a baby in a basket on a river.
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c. 2100 BC
The Great Ziggurat of Ur is built
Its lower levels survive and were partly reconstructed in the 1980s.
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c. 1900 BC
The palace at Knossos is built on Crete
Its maze-like layout may have inspired the legend of the Labyrinth.
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c. 1800 BC
The first alphabet is created
It was devised by Semitic-speaking workers in Egypt, adapting hieroglyphs.
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c. 1754 BC
The Code of Hammurabi is carved
Its 282 Babylonian laws include the famous principle of 'an eye for an eye'.
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c. 1479 BC
Hatshepsut becomes pharaoh
She was often shown in statues wearing a pharaoh's false beard.
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c. 1450 BC
Cleopatra's Needle is carved in Egypt
It has nothing to do with Cleopatra; it was made for Pharaoh Thutmose III.
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c. 1346 BC
Akhenaten builds a new capital at Amarna
He tried to make Egypt worship a single sun god, the Aten.
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c. 1332 BC
Tutankhamun becomes pharaoh
He was only about nine years old when he took the throne.
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c. 1279 BC
Ramesses II becomes pharaoh
He reigned for about 66 years and fathered over 100 children.
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c. 1274 BC
The Battle of Kadesh
It led to one of the earliest known peace treaties.
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c. 1250 BC
Mycenae's Lion Gate is built
Its two carved lions are the oldest monumental sculpture in Europe.
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c. 1200 BC
The Iron Age begins in the Near East
Iron tools and weapons slowly replaced bronze ones.
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c. 1200 BC
The Olmec carve colossal stone heads
Some of the heads are nearly 3 metres tall and weigh many tonnes.
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c. 1046 BC
The Zhou dynasty begins in China
It lasted around 800 years, longer than any other Chinese dynasty.
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c. 1000 BC
The Uffington White Horse is carved
The chalk figure is about 110 metres long.
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c. 814 BC
Carthage is founded, according to tradition
Legend says Queen Dido founded it.
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753 BC
Rome is founded, according to legend
Tradition dates it to 21 April, still celebrated as Rome's birthday - after the first Olympics.
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c. 650 BC
The Library of Ashurbanipal is assembled
Its clay tablets survived because the palace burned down, baking them hard.
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c. 621 BC
Draco gives Athens its harsh laws
His laws were so severe that 'draconian' still means harsh.
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612 BC
Nineveh falls to the Babylonians and Medes
The great Assyrian capital was never rebuilt.
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c. 600 BC
The first coins are minted in Lydia
They were made from electrum, a natural mix of gold and silver.
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594 BC
Solon reforms the laws of Athens
He cancelled debts and freed Athenians who had been enslaved for debt.
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587 BC
Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem
The fall of the city began the Babylonian exile of the Jews.
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585 BC
Thales predicts a solar eclipse
The eclipse halted a battle between the Medes and the Lydians.
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c. 575 BC
Babylon's Ishtar Gate is built
Its blue glazed bricks show lions, bulls and dragons; it now stands in a Berlin museum.
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551 BC
Confucius is born
His teachings shaped Chinese government and society for over 2,000 years.
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539 BC
Cyrus the Great captures Babylon
The Cyrus Cylinder records the event and is sometimes called an early charter of rights.
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c. 530 BC
Pythagoras founds his school in Croton
His followers reportedly refused to eat beans.
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c. 518 BC
Darius I begins building Persepolis
Its staircases are carved with delegations bringing gifts from across the empire.
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509 BC
The Roman Republic is founded
Romans were so wary of kings that the word 'king' stayed taboo for centuries.
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508 BC
Cleisthenes makes Athens a democracy
His reforms gave power to every male citizen, not just the rich.
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490 BC
The Battle of Marathon
Legend says a messenger ran to Athens with news of the victory, inspiring the modern marathon.
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480 BC
The Battle of Salamis
The Greek fleet lured the larger Persian navy into narrow straits.
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480 BC
The Battle of Thermopylae
The famous 300 Spartans fought alongside several thousand other Greeks.
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479 BC
The Battle of Plataea
It ended the Persian invasions of mainland Greece.
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432 BC
The Parthenon is completed
It has served as a temple, a church, a mosque and an Ottoman gunpowder store.
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431 BC
Pericles delivers his Funeral Oration
The speech praising Athenian democracy was recorded by Thucydides.
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404 BC
The Peloponnesian War ends
Sparta defeated Athens after 27 years of war.
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399 BC
Socrates is sentenced to death
Found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens, he chose to drink hemlock rather than flee.
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c. 390 BC
The Gauls sack Rome
Legend says the sacred geese of Juno raised the alarm on the Capitol.
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c. 350 BC
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is built
The tomb was so grand that every 'mausoleum' is named after it.
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343 BC
Aristotle begins tutoring Alexander the Great
Alexander was about 13 when Aristotle began teaching him.
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338 BC
Philip II of Macedon wins at Chaeronea
His son Alexander, aged 18, led the cavalry.
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333 BC
Alexander defeats Darius at Issus
Darius fled, leaving his mother, wife and children behind.
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331 BC
Alexander defeats Persia at Gaugamela
Alexander beat a much larger Persian army led by Darius III.
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331 BC
Alexander the Great founds Alexandria
It became one of the largest cities in the ancient world.
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330 BC
Alexander the Great burns Persepolis
The great Persian palace was looted and set on fire by Alexander's army.
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323 BC
Alexander the Great dies
He built an empire stretching from Greece to India and died aged just 32.
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c. 322 BC
Chandragupta founds the Maurya Empire
His empire covered most of the Indian subcontinent.
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312 BC
Work begins on Rome's Appian Way
Parts of the ancient road are still used today.
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c. 300 BC
Euclid writes his Elements
It was used to teach geometry for more than 2,000 years.
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c. 285 BC
The Library of Alexandria is founded
Ships docking in Alexandria reportedly had their books seized so they could be copied.
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c. 280 BC
The Lighthouse of Alexandria is completed
At over 100 metres tall, it was one of the tallest structures on Earth for centuries.
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c. 270 BC
Aristarchus says the Earth goes round the Sun
His idea came about 1,800 years before Copernicus.
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264 BC
The First Punic War begins
Rome built its first proper navy to fight Carthage.
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c. 260 BC
Emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism
He had his edicts carved on rocks and pillars across India.
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c. 240 BC
Eratosthenes measures the Earth
He used shadows in two Egyptian cities and got remarkably close.
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226 BC
An earthquake topples the Colossus of Rhodes
It stood for only about 54 years, but its ruins drew sightseers for centuries.
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221 BC
Qin Shi Huang unifies China
The first emperor standardised writing, coins and even the width of cart axles.
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218 BC
Hannibal crosses the Alps with elephants
He set out with 37 war elephants; very few survived the campaign.
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216 BC
Hannibal crushes Rome at Cannae
His encircling tactics are still studied in military academies today.
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c. 214 BC
Qin Shi Huang links up the Great Wall
Much of the wall standing today was built much later, under the Ming.
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212 BC
Archimedes dies in the siege of Syracuse
Legend says his last words were 'Do not disturb my circles.'
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c. 210 BC
The Terracotta Army is buried with China's first emperor
Each of the thousands of clay soldiers appears to have a different face.
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202 BC
Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
The victory ended the Second Punic War.
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202 BC
The Han dynasty begins in China
China's majority ethnic group still calls itself the Han.
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196 BC
The Rosetta Stone is carved
It repeats one decree in hieroglyphs, Demotic script and ancient Greek.
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146 BC
Rome destroys Carthage
Rome also destroyed the Greek city of Corinth in the very same year.
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100 BC
Julius Caesar is born
He was born into an old patrician family that claimed descent from the goddess Venus.
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c. 100 BC
The Antikythera mechanism is made
The bronze gear device predicted eclipses and planetary positions.
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73 BC
Spartacus leads a slave revolt
His army of escaped slaves defeated several Roman armies.
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69 BC
Cleopatra is born
She lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid.
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55 BC
Julius Caesar's first expedition to Britain
It was more of a reconnaissance than a conquest; the Romans invaded properly nearly a century later.
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52 BC
Caesar defeats Vercingetorix at Alesia
The victory completed Rome's conquest of Gaul.
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49 BC
Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon
'The die is cast,' he reportedly said, as he started a civil war.
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48 BC
Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus
Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was killed.
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45 BC
The Julian calendar takes effect
To realign the seasons, the year before it lasted 445 days.
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44 BC
Julius Caesar is assassinated
He was stabbed 23 times on the Ides of March at a meeting of the Senate.
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31 BC
The Battle of Actium
Octavian's victory over Antony and Cleopatra left him master of the Roman world.
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30 BC
Cleopatra dies
Her death ended the Ptolemaic dynasty and made Egypt a Roman province.
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AD 9
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Germanic tribes wiped out three Roman legions.
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AD 14
Augustus dies
He reportedly asked friends whether he had played his part well in the comedy of life.
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AD 41
Emperor Caligula is assassinated
Roman writers claimed he planned to make his horse a consul.
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AD 43
Claudius invades Britain
The emperor brought war elephants with him to Britain.
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c. AD 50
Hero of Alexandria describes a coin-operated machine
His vending machine dispensed holy water when a coin was dropped in.
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c. AD 60
Boudica leads a revolt against Rome
Her forces burned Londinium, the Roman town that became London.
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AD 64
The Great Fire of Rome
The story that Nero fiddled as Rome burned is a myth - the fiddle hadn't been invented.
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AD 68
Nero dies
His death led to the 'Year of the Four Emperors'.
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AD 70
The Second Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed
Its Western Wall still stands today.
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AD 79
Mount Vesuvius buries Pompeii
Pliny the Younger's letters give the earliest detailed eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption.
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AD 80
The Colosseum opens
Its opening games lasted 100 days.
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c. AD 100
Roman soldiers write the Vindolanda tablets
They include a birthday party invitation sent by one officer's wife to another.
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AD 105
Cai Lun presents paper to the Chinese emperor
Paper took around a thousand years to reach Europe.
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AD 113
Trajan's Column is completed
Its spiral frieze would stretch about 200 metres if unrolled.
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AD 117
The Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent
Under Trajan, it stretched from Britain to the Persian Gulf.
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AD 122
Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins
It ran for 73 miles across northern England, from coast to coast.
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c. AD 126
The Pantheon in Rome is rebuilt
It is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.
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AD 142
Work begins on the Antonine Wall
It lay north of Hadrian's Wall, but the Romans abandoned it within about 20 years.
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c. AD 150
Ptolemy writes the Almagest
Its Earth-centred model of the universe was accepted for about 1,400 years.
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AD 161
Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor
His private notes, the Meditations, are still widely read.
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AD 165
The Antonine Plague begins
It may have killed millions across the Roman Empire.
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c. AD 200
Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Sun is built
The city's original name is unknown; 'Teotihuacan' is what the Aztecs later called it.
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AD 211
Emperor Septimius Severus dies in York
He had come to Britain to campaign in Scotland.
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AD 212
Rome grants citizenship to all free men
Emperor Caracalla's decree may have been mainly to raise taxes.
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AD 220
The Han dynasty ends
China then split into the Three Kingdoms.
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AD 248
Rome celebrates its 1,000th birthday
Emperor Philip the Arab staged lavish games to mark the occasion.
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AD 260
Persia captures the Roman emperor Valerian
He was the first Roman emperor taken prisoner by an enemy.
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AD 271
Rome builds the Aurelian Walls
Long stretches of the 19 km walls still stand.
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AD 286
Diocletian splits the Roman Empire
He divided the empire into eastern and western halves.
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AD 312
Constantine wins at the Milvian Bridge
He said he saw a sign in the sky before the battle and later backed Christianity.
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AD 313
The Edict of Milan
It allowed Christians to worship freely across the Roman Empire.
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c. AD 320
The Gupta Empire is founded in India
Its era is often called India's golden age.
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AD 325
The Council of Nicaea
It produced the Nicene Creed, still recited in churches today.
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c. AD 330
Aksum adopts Christianity
The Ethiopian kingdom was one of the first states to adopt Christianity.
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AD 330
Constantinople becomes Rome's new capital
Constantine named the city after himself; today it is Istanbul.
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AD 380
Christianity becomes Rome's state religion
Emperor Theodosius I made it official.
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c. AD 393
The last ancient Olympic Games are held
The Games had run for more than a thousand years.
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AD 394
The last known hieroglyphic inscription is carved
After it, no one could read hieroglyphs for more than 1,400 years.
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AD 395
The Roman Empire splits for good
After Theodosius I died, his two sons ruled the eastern and western halves.
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c. AD 410
The Roman army leaves Britain
Britons were told to look to their own defences.
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AD 410
The Visigoths sack Rome
It was the first time in about 800 years that Rome had fallen to a foreign enemy.
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c. AD 427
Nalanda becomes a great centre of learning
The Indian monastery-university once had thousands of students.
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AD 453
Attila the Hun dies
He reportedly died of a severe nosebleed on his wedding night.
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AD 455
The Vandals sack Rome
Their name gave us the word 'vandalism'.
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AD 476
The Western Roman Empire falls
The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was a teenager.
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c. AD 481
Clovis becomes King of the Franks
France takes its name from his people, the Franks.
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