Ancient World
Homer and the Iliad and Odyssey: Origins of the Greek Epics
Two epic poems that became the foundation of Greek education and of the Western literary tradition.
Era · c. 3000 BC – AD 500
Ancient World
The first cities, empires and written records, from the pyramids of Egypt to Greece and the Roman Empire.
Ancient World
Tophet of Carthage: Child Burials and a Long Scholarly Debate
The sanctuary was used for about six centuries until Rome destroyed Carthage; most scholars now think at least some of its burials were sacrifices, though the question is still debated.
Ancient World
Tiglath-Pileser III: Reforms That Built the Assyrian Empire
Assyria was reorganised into directly governed provinces backed by a strong royal army, creating the model for later Near Eastern empires.
Ancient World
Messenian Wars (c. 743 BC): Sparta's Conquest and the Helots
Sparta annexed Messenia and reduced most of its population to helots, a subjugation that lasted until 369 BC.
Ancient World
Gordion and King Midas: The Phrygian Kingdom in Anatolia
Under Midas Phrygia became a major power of central Anatolia, remembered by Greeks as a kingdom of fabulous wealth; it was broken by Cimmerian raids in the early 7th century BC.
Ancient World
Founding of Syracuse (733 BC): Corinth's Great Colony in Sicily
Corinthian colonists founded Syracuse, which grew into the largest and most powerful Greek city in Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
Ancient World
Piye's Conquest of Egypt: Kush Founds the 25th Dynasty
The Egyptian rulers submitted to Piye, beginning Kushite rule over Egypt known as the 25th Dynasty, though lasting control came only under his successor Shabaka.
Ancient World
Fall of Samaria (722 BC): End of the Kingdom of Israel
Samaria fell to Assyria, the Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist, and much of its population was deported and replaced by settlers from elsewhere in the empire.
Ancient World
Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad): Sargon II's Lost Assyrian Capital
A vast planned capital completed in about a decade, abandoned soon after Sargon II's death, and in 1843 the first Assyrian palace ever excavated.
Ancient World
Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Siloam Inscription in Jerusalem
A 533 m rock-cut channel brought the waters of the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, and its Hebrew inscription became one of the most important early Hebrew texts.
Ancient World
Siege of Lachish (701 BC): Sennacherib's Campaign in Judah
Assyrian victory: Lachish was stormed and destroyed, its people deported, and Hezekiah submitted and paid heavy tribute, though Jerusalem itself was not taken.
Ancient World
Great Temple of Yeha: Ethiopia's Oldest Standing Building
The temple survives with walls still about 14 metres high and is the best-preserved monument of the pre-Aksumite D'mt kingdom and its links with Saba.