Ancient World
Battle of Vercellae (101 BC): Marius Destroys the Cimbri
Decisive Roman victory; the Cimbri were destroyed as a people on the move and the Cimbrian threat to Italy ended.
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
San Bartolo Murals: Early Maya Paintings of Gods and Kings
The discovery revealed that Maya mythology, kingship and writing were well developed in the Late Preclassic period.
Ancient World
Hopewell Culture: Earthworks and Trade Networks of Ancient Ohio
Native American communities built monumental ceremonial earthworks linked by a continent-wide exchange network; eight Ohio sites became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
Ancient World
Teotihuacan: Rise of the City of the Gods in Ancient Mexico
Teotihuacan grew into a planned metropolis of perhaps 100,000 people whose influence reached across Mesoamerica before its centre was burned around AD 550.
Ancient World
Tigranes the Great: The Short-Lived Armenian Empire (95-55 BC)
Tigranes created the largest Armenian state in history, but after defeats by Lucullus he submitted to Pompey in 66 BC and kept only Armenia as a Roman ally.
Ancient World
Social War (91-88 BC): Rome's Italian Allies Revolt
Rome defeated the rebels militarily but granted Roman citizenship to almost all free communities of Italy south of the Po.
Ancient World
Mithridatic Wars (89-63 BC): Rome Against Mithridates VI
Rome destroyed the kingdom of Pontus; Mithridates died in 63 BC and Pompey reorganised the eastern Mediterranean into Roman provinces and client kingdoms.
Ancient World
Sulla's March on Rome (88 BC): An Army Turns on the City
Sulla seized Rome, outlawed Marius and Sulpicius and kept the command against Mithridates, setting a precedent for civil war.
Ancient World
Sulla's Dictatorship (82-79 BC): Proscriptions and Reforms
Sulla ruled as dictator, killed or ruined hundreds to thousands of opponents and passed reforms strengthening the Senate, most of which were reversed within a decade.
Ancient World
Debate on Salt and Iron (81 BC): Han China's Economic Policy
The wine monopoly and some iron offices were abolished, but the salt and iron monopolies survived; the debate was later recorded in Huan Kuan's Yantie Lun.
Ancient World
Spartacus and the Third Servile War (73-71 BC): Slave Revolt
The revolt was crushed by Crassus in 71 BC; Spartacus died in battle and about 6,000 captured rebels were crucified along the Appian Way.
Ancient World
Pompey's War Against the Pirates (67 BC): Clearing the Seas
Roman victory; piracy in the Mediterranean was broken within months and Pompey gained the prestige that won him the war against Mithridates.