Civilisations
From antiquity to the Renaissance
3000-332 BC Ancient Egyptian Besides the extraordinary edifices and artefacts that it would bequeath to the world, the civilisation that sat on the Nile laid the groundwork for modern belief systems.
1894-1026 BC Babylonian The Semitic state in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) became a symbol of dissolute power in the Bible.
500 BC-AD 346 Classical Greece The height of sophistication in the ancient world, Hellenic civilisation was as adept at philosophy as it was at warfare.
753 BC-AD 476 Rome Rome would become the largest empire in antiquity, stretching from Spain to the Red Sea.
AD 610 Birth of Islam Muslim tradition holds Muhammad (c 570-632) to be the last of the prophets sent by God.
AD 500-1500 Middle Ages After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire came the medieval period, which ended with the Renaissance.
AD 800 Charlemagne becomes Holy Roman Emperor Also known as Charles the Great, the King of the Franks was the first recognised emperor in Western Europe since the fall of Rome. The Holy Roman Empire he founded lasted in some form until 1806.
AD 1215 Magna Carta Demanded by barons tired of incompetent King John, the 800year-old charter was the birth of British law as we know it.