Ancient World
Sushruta Samhita: Ancient Indian Surgery and Early Rhinoplasty
Became the leading surgical text of Ayurveda and the source of the Indian method of nose reconstruction that influenced modern plastic surgery.
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
Mahajanapadas: The Sixteen Great Kingdoms of Ancient India
Rival states of the Gangetic plain were absorbed one by one into Magadha, which grew into the first large empire of northern India.
Ancient World
Taxila: Ancient City of Learning and Trade in Gandhara
A major city of Gandhara for about a thousand years, later abandoned; its ruins were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
Ancient World
Cloaca Maxima: Ancient Rome's Great Sewer and Its History
The drain made the Forum valley usable and became the trunk of Rome's sewer system; parts of it still carry water today.
Ancient World
Roman Forum: The Political Heart of Ancient Rome
The Forum became the political, religious and legal centre of Rome and is now one of the world's best-known archaeological sites.
Ancient World
Mahavira and the Rise of Jainism in Ancient India
Mahavira reshaped and spread the Jain tradition, founding a fourfold community of monks, nuns and lay followers that survives today.
Ancient World
Babylonian Exile: Deportation of the Judeans to Babylon
Judah's royal family, elite and craftsmen were deported to Babylonia; after the Persian conquest of Babylon some returned to rebuild the Temple, while a lasting Jewish community remained in Mesopotamia.
Ancient World
Reforms of Solon (594 BC): Laying the Foundations of Athens
Debt slavery was abolished, debts secured on land were cancelled and citizens were ranked by wealth instead of birth, though civil strife continued and Athens fell to tyranny in 561 BC.
Ancient World
Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC): Fall of Judah to Babylon
Babylonian victory; Jerusalem and the First Temple were destroyed, the Kingdom of Judah ended and much of its elite was deported to Babylonia.
Ancient World
Battle of the Eclipse (585 BC): Medes and Lydians Make Peace
The fighting stopped, a peace treaty was sealed by a royal marriage, and the Halys River became the border between Lydia and Media.
Ancient World
Eclipse of Thales (585 BC): The Birth of Greek Philosophy
Thales' reputation for predicting the eclipse made him the first celebrated Greek thinker, and his search for natural explanations began the Milesian school of philosophy.
Ancient World
Ishtar Gate of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar's Glazed Brick Gateway
The gate became the best-known monument of ancient Babylon; its front section was reconstructed in Berlin, while its foundations remain at the site in Iraq.