Ancient World
Sun Tzu and The Art of War: China's Classic of Military Strategy
The Art of War became the most influential military treatise of East Asia and, after its translation from 1772 onward, one of the best-known strategy books in the world.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Rigveda: The Oldest Sanskrit Text and Its Hymns, c. 1500 BC
A collection of 1,028 hymns that became the oldest scripture of Hinduism and the earliest major text in any Indo-Aryan language.
Ancient World
Aqueducts of Ancient Rome: From Aqua Appia to Aqua Claudia
Eleven aqueducts gave Rome one of the largest public water supplies of the ancient world, feeding fountains, baths and homes.
Ancient World
Mycenae and the Lion Gate (c. 1250 BC): Citadel of Agamemnon
The most powerful Mycenaean centre gave its name to a civilisation; its palace burned c. 1200 BC and the town was destroyed by Argos c. 468 BC.
Ancient World
Khufu Ship: The 4,500-Year-Old Solar Boat of Giza
One of the oldest, largest and best-preserved ships from antiquity was recovered and reassembled; it is now displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
Ancient World
Gudea of Lagash: The Sumerian Ruler of the Famous Statues
Gudea rebuilt the Eninnu temple of Ningirsu and left the largest group of statues and the longest literary text surviving from Sumer.
Prehistory
Xinglongwa Culture: Early Villages and Jade in Inner Mongolia
An early Neolithic culture of north-east China whose villages, millet and jade working foreshadowed the later Hongshan culture.
Prehistory
Tower of Jericho: The Neolithic Walls of an Ancient Town
Neolithic Jericho built a massive stone tower and wall, among the earliest known monumental structures, and later produced plastered human skulls.
Prehistory
Lebombo Bone: One of the World's Oldest Counting Devices
The notched bone became a widely cited example of early tallying, though its exact purpose remains unknown.
Prehistory
Dmanisi Hominins: Earliest Humans Outside Africa in Georgia
Five skulls and other remains showed that small-brained early Homo had left Africa by about 1.8 million years ago, before the invention of the hand axe.
Prehistory
Diprotodon: Australia's Giant Marsupial and Its Extinction
Diprotodon died out roughly 45,000 to 40,000 years ago, part of a wave of Australian megafauna extinctions after humans arrived.
Prehistory
Pilbara Stromatolites: Evidence of Life 3.5 Billion Years Ago
Fossil microbial mounds in the Pilbara provide the oldest broadly accepted evidence of life on Earth.