BC: Tiglath-Pileser III becomes the new king of Assyria. With time he conquers neighboring countries and turns Assyria into an empire. BC: Spring and Autumn period begins in China; Zhou dynasty's power is diminishing; the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought. That model continued to exist in Constantinople for the entirety of the Middle Ages, where the Byzantine Emperor was considered the sovereign of the entire Christian world. The Patriarch of Constantinople was the Empire's highest-ranked cleric, but even he was subordinate to the emperor, who was "God's Vicegerent on Earth". The Greek-speaking Byzantines and their descendants continued to call themselves "Romans" until the creation of a new Greek state in 1832.

Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and a half millennia. [63] It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3100 BC, traditionally under Menes. [66] The civilisation of ancient Egypt was characterised primarily by intensive agricultural use of the fertile Nile Valley; [67] the use of the Nile itself for transportation; [68] the development of writing systems – first hieroglyphs and then later hieratic and other derived scripts – and literature; [69] the organisation of collective projects such as the pyramids; [70] trade with surrounding regions; [71] and a polytheistic religious tradition that included elaborate funeral customs including mummification. [72] Overseeing these activities were a socio-political and economic elite [73] under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler from a succession of ruling dynasties. [74] Dever, William (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-0975-9. Grabbe, Lester L., ed. (2008). Israel in Transition: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIa (c. 1250–850 B.C.E.). T&T Clark International. ISBN 978-0-567-02726-9.Emperor Constantine I dies, leaving his sons Constantius II, Constans I, and Emperor Constantine II as the emperors of the Roman empire. Biggs, Robert D. (1974). Inscriptions from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh (PDF). Oriental Institute Publications. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-62202-9. Hodges, Henry; Newcomer, Judith (1992). Technology in the Ancient World. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 978-0-88029-893-3. Mendis, Ranjan Chinthaka (1999). The Story of Anuradhapura. Kotte: Lakshmi Mendis. ISBN 978-955-96704-0-7.

Late 4th millennium BC: Sumerian cuneiform writing system [1] [2] and Egyptian hieroglyphs are first used The Achaemenid Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great, who first became king of the Persians, then conquered the Medes, Lydia, and Babylon by 539 BC. The empire built on earlier Mesopotamian systems of government to govern their large empire. By building roads, they improved both the ability to send governmental instructions throughout their lands as well as improving the ability of their military forces to be deployed rapidly. Increased trade and upgraded farming techniques increased wealth, but also exacerbated inequalities between social classes. The empire's location at the centre of trading networks spread its intellectual and philosophical ideas throughout a wide area, and its religion, while not itself spreading far, had an impact on later religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. [42] Cyrus' son Cambyses II conquered Egypt, while a later emperor, Darius the Great, expanded the empire to the Indus River, creating the largest empire in the world to that date. [43] But Darius and his son Xerxes I failed to expand into Greece, with expeditions in 490 and 480 BC eventually failing. [44] The Achaemenid dynasty and empire fell to Alexander the Great by 330 BC, and after Alexander's death, much of the area previously ruled by the Cyrus and his successors was ruled by the Seleucid dynasty. [45] Assimilation of Baltic and Aryan Peoples by Uralic Speakers in the Middle and Upper Volga Basin (Shaded Relief BG)BC: Burebista is assassinated in the same year like Julius Caesar and his empire breaks into 4 and later 5 kingdoms in modern-day Romania. The Chinese civilisation that emerged within the Yellow River valley is one of earliest civilisations in the world. [99] Prior to the formation of civilisation, neolithic cultures such as the Longshan and Yangshao dating to 5000 BC produced sophisticated pottery, cultivated millet, and likely produced clothes woven from hemp and silk. [100] Rice was also farmed and pigs and water buffalo were kept for food. Longshan potters may have used the pottery wheel to produce their wares. [101] Ancient Chinese traditions described three ancient dynasties that predated the unification under the Qin and Han dynasties. These were the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou. It was not until the later 20th century that many historians considered the Shang or Xia to be anything other than legendary. [102] Little is yet known about the Xia, which appears to have begun around 2200 BC, and may have controlled parts of the Yangtze River valley. [103]

Israel had emerged by the middle of the 9th century BC, when the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III named " Ahab the Israelite" among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853). Judah emerged somewhat later than Israel, probably during the 9th century BC, but the subject is one of considerable controversy. [52] Israel came into conflict with the Assyrians, who conquered Israel in 722 BC. The Neo-Babylonian Empire did the same to Judah in 586. After both conquests, the conquering forces deported many of the inhabitants to other regions of their respective empires. [53] In politics, the late Roman conception of the Empire as a universal state, headed by one supreme divinely appointed ruler, united with Christianity as a universal religion likewise headed by a supreme patriarch, proved very influential, even after the disappearance of imperial authority in the west. This tendency reached its peak when Charlemagne was crowned "Roman Emperor" in the year 800, an act which led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. The notion that an emperor is a monarch who outranks a mere king dates from this period. In this political ideal, there would always be a Roman Empire, a state whose jurisdiction extended through the entire civilized western world.Kristiansen, Kristian; Larsson, Thomas B. (2005). The Rise of Bronze Age Society. Cambridge University Press. BC: Warring States period begins in China as the Zhou king became a mere figurehead; China is annexed by regional warlords. We are also home to the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies – the only research centre in the UK which brings all of these subjects together in a single unit. Further information: Carolingian Renaissance, Ottonian Renaissance, Renaissance, Classicism, and Legacy of the Roman Empire BC: The beginning of Shang dynasty in China, evidence of a fully developed writing system, see Oracle bone script.

For other uses, see Antiquities (disambiguation). A centaur struggling with a Lapith on a metope from the Parthenon, in the British Museum (London), part of the Elgin Marbles An Assyrian lamassu in the Louvre Chinese ritual wine server ( guang), circa 1100 BC AD: Death of Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar (Octavian), ascension of his adopted son Tiberius to the throne. This was the period when, if the Trojan War is real, it probably happened. It probably corresponds to the time of the Biblical Book of Exodus. See also: Classical antiquity The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, located on the Acropolis in AthensRobert Weiss notes (1969:8) that Ionic columns from the Baths of Caracalla were used in Innocent II's rebuilding of Santa Maria in Trastevere, 1139 Following the fall of Babylon to the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great allowed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem, [54] and some of the exiles from Judah returned to Judea, [55] where they remained under Persian rule until the Maccabean revolt led to independence during Hellenistic period until Roman conquest. [56] Phoenicia [ edit ] In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were Taoism, Legalism and Confucianism. The Confucian tradition, which would attain dominance, looked for political morality not to the force of law but to the power and example of tradition. [112] Confucianism would later spread into the Korean peninsula [174] and Japan. [175]