The classical world
500 BC to AD 500, about 1,000 years
Great empires and the ideas that outlived them: Persia, Greece, Rome, the Mauryas, Han China, the Maya.
The twelve eras, each step to the right ten times closer to today.
Meanwhile, around the world
The 15 places on this site that we know from this era. Today’s coastlines.
Region by region
Africa
- 196 BCThe Rosetta decree
The Americas
- about 300 to 200 BCMaya writing
Asia
Nothing written here yet. This is a gap in the archive, not in history.
Europe
- From about 400 BC, for 300 yearsMaiden Castle’s great ramparts
- 55 and 54 BCCaesar crosses to Britain
- AD 43The Roman invasion
- AD 60 to 61Boudica’s revolt
- AD 122Hadrian’s Wall begun
- AD 211Severus dies at York
- AD 286 to 296Carausius rules Britain
- AD 400 to 410The Roman army leaves Britain
- About 420 to the early 600sWest Stow village
- AD 43 to the early 400sRichborough
- Founded AD 47 to 50; empty by about 450London
- Fort about AD 47; city from the 90s; centre empty by the mid 400sWroxeter
- Founded in the later first century ADBath
- Founded in or around AD 71York
- About AD 85 to after 400Vindolanda
- Forts from about AD 86; a town until the early 400sCorbridge
- Built about AD 124; held into the 400sChesters
- Begun within a decade of AD 122; held to about 400, perhaps laterHousesteads
- Built soon after AD 122; lived in until about 500Birdoswald
- Probably built AD 285 to 290Portchester
The Middle East
Nothing written here yet. This is a gap in the archive, not in history.
Oceania
Nothing written here yet. This is a gap in the archive, not in history.
On the school courses
- Primary: Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
- Primary: Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) Ancient Greece: a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
- GCSE OCR GCSE Ancient History (J198): Britannia, from conquest to province, AD 43 to c.84
- A level OCR A Level Ancient History (H407): Ruling Roman Britain, AD 43 to c.128