The ancient world runs from the first states (around 3500–3000 BC) to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. A map of the ancient world shows one thing clearly: civilizations appeared in only a few places — the valleys of great rivers — and for a long time remained islands surrounded by peoples living without states.
The first civilizations: river valleys
The first states grew where river floods gave rich harvests and irrigation required organised work:
| Civilization | River | When | On the site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sumer and Akkad | Tigris and Euphrates | from c. 3400 BC | Sumerian City-States, Akkadian Empire |
| Ancient Egypt | Nile | from c. 3100 BC | Unification of Egypt under Narmer |
| Indus (Harappan) | Indus | c. 2600–1900 BC | Indus Valley Civilization |
| Ancient China | Yellow River | from c. 1600 BC | Shang Dynasty |
Mesopotamia produced one of the first writing systems — Invention of writing in Sumer; Egypt had hieroglyphs; later the Phoenician alphabet gave rise to the Greek, Latin and Cyrillic scripts. The world in 2500 BC
The ancient Near East in the 2nd millennium BC
In the second millennium BC the Near East was a system of great powers: Babylonia (the Code of Hammurabi), the Hittites in Anatolia, the New Kingdom of Egypt and Assyria. Crete and Greece had the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures. Around 1200 BC many of these states collapsed almost at once — the Late Bronze Age collapse, linked to the "Sea Peoples", droughts and earthquakes. The world in 1300 BC
The ancient world in the 1st millennium BC
- Assyria and Persia. In the 8th–7th centuries BC Assyria first united almost the whole Near East. It was followed by the Achaemenid Empire, the first empire from Egypt to the Indus.
- Greece. Greek colonies spread around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. After Battle of Marathon and Battle of Thermopylae the Greek city-states kept their independence from Persia.
- Macedon. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in ten years; after his death came the Hellenistic kingdoms — the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire.
- India. The Maurya Empire under Ashoka united almost the whole subcontinent.
- China. After the Warring States China came the Qin Shi Huang unifies China and the Great Wall of China.
Rome and Han: two empires at either end of Eurasia
By the turn of the eras the ancient world had two superpowers: the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean and the Han Dynasty in China, with the Parthian Empire and the Kushan Empire between them. The Silk Road linked them: Chinese silk reached Rome, though Romans and Chinese knew almost nothing about each other. The Zhang Qian's mission to the West opened the route for China. The world in 100 AD
The end of the ancient world
In the 3rd century AD both Rome and Han went through crises: the Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms in China, military anarchy in Rome. The Migration Period followed; after the Division of the Roman Empire, the Western Empire fell in 476 (Fall of the Western Roman Empire) — the usual end date of ancient history and start of the Middle Ages.
The ancient world on a modern map
- Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria — Iraq and north-eastern Syria
- The Hittites — Turkey
- Phoenicia — Lebanon
- The Achaemenid Empire — from Turkey and Egypt to Pakistan, centred on Iran
- The Indus civilization — Pakistan and north-western India
- Carthage — Tunisia
On the Panchronia globe, ancient states sit on the same Earth as today, so it is easy to compare: where Babylon lay relative to Baghdad, or Carthage relative to Tunis.
Questions
What was the first civilization?
Sumer, in southern Mesopotamia (today's southern Iraq): the first city-states appeared there around 3500–3400 BC. A state formed in Egypt at almost the same time.
When was the ancient world?
From the first states and writing (around 3500–3000 BC) to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
Where can I see an ancient world map by year?
On the Panchronia globe: choose a year on the timeline to see the borders of ancient states in that year together with the events.