Timeline of ancient history

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For events before recorded history, see Timeline of prehistory.

Timeline of Ancient history is the historical events in time of the documented ancient past from the beginning of recorded history until the Early Middle Ages.

Brief ancient chronology

(Common Era years in astronomical year numbering)


Bronze Age and Early Iron Age[edit]

For earlier events, see Timeline of human prehistory.



Classical Antiquity[edit]

Main article: Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It refers to the timeframe of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.[4][5] Ancient history includes the recorded Greek history beginning in about 776 BC (First Olympiad). This coincides roughly with the traditional date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC and the beginning of the history of Rome.[6][7]

End of ancient history in Europe[edit]

The date used as the end of the ancient era is arbitrary. The transition period from Classical Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages is known as Late Antiquity. Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century (c. AD 284) to the Islamic conquests and the re-organization of the Byzantine Empire under Heraclius. The Early Middle Ages are a period in the history of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 to 1000. Not all historians agree on the ending dates of ancient history, which frequently falls somewhere in the 5th, 6th, or 7th century. Western scholars usually date the end of ancient history with the fall of Rome in AD 476, the death of the emperor Justinian I in AD 565, or the coming of Islam in AD 632 as the end of ancient European history.

For later events, see Timeline of mediaeval history.


See also[edit]


  • Kristiansen, Kristian; Larsson, Thomas B. (2005). "The Rise of Bronze Age Society". Cambridge University Press. 
  • Libourel, Jan (1973). "A Battle of Uncertain Outcome in the Second Samnite War". American Journal of Philogy 94 (1): 71. doi:10.2307/294039. Retrieved September 2007. [dead link]
  • "Livius. Articles on Ancient History". 

Citations and notes[edit]

  1. ^ Kristiansen & Larsson 2005
  2. ^ Guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies By Jared M. Diamond. pg 218
  3. ^ Caroline Alexander, "Stonehenge," National Geographic, June 2008.