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Ancient RomeRoma
EuropeHeartland today: 
Italy
753 BCE is the legendary founding date fixed by Varro; the settlement is older and the city younger (about 600 BCE). Many museums stop 'ancient Rome' at 476 CE, when the last western emperor was deposed, but the eastern half ruled from Constantinople and called itself Roman until 1453. No single PeriodO definition covers the whole span; the sources give the museum and library periods for each part.
Before and after
In the Aegean:Came before: Ancient Greece
Rome took mainland Greece in 146 BCE, when it defeated Corinth.
In central Italy:Came before: Etruscan civilization
Rome and the Etruscan cities grew up side by side; Rome absorbed Etruria step by step, completing it in the 1st century BCE.
In Britain:Came before: Celtic Iron Age
The Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 CE.
In the Rhineland:Came after: Carolingian Empire
Roman rule on the Rhine ended in the 5th century; the Frankish Merovingian kings ruled in between.
In Egypt:Came before: Ancient Egypt
Octavian made Egypt a Roman province in 30 BCE, after Cleopatra VII's death.
Meanwhile…
- Maya civilization
Mesoamerica · Longest-lasting hereThe Maya Long Count calendar tracks days in an unbroken count from a mythical starting point in 3114 BCE.
Compare - MuiscaMuysca
South America · A small gold raft found near Bogotá, showing figures around a chief, is thought to depict the Guatavita gold-dust ceremony.
Compare - Ancient EgyptKemet (km.t)
Africa · Oldest here (disputed dates)The Ptolemies' Alexandria, with its lighthouse and library, grew into a city of hundreds of thousands while Qin's First Emperor unified China in 221 BCE and Rome fought Carthage.
Compare - Han dynasty汉
China · China's majority ethnic group still calls itself "Han people" today, after this dynasty.
Compare - Celtic Iron Age
Europe · Celtic peoples left almost no writing of their own; nearly everything known about their beliefs comes from Greek and Roman authors who saw them as enemies.
Compare - Zapotec civilizationBe'ena'a Mesoamerica ·
Zapotec nobles were buried in stone tombs beneath their own houses, later reopened and reused for centuries.
Compare
A town on the Tiber that grew into an empire ringing the Mediterranean, then lived on for another thousand years from Constantinople. Its rulers went from kings to elected consuls to emperors; its law, roads and Latin language still shape half the world; and the eastern half kept calling itself Roman until Ottoman cannon breached its walls in 1453.
Also alive at the same time
- Spring and Autumn period
- Warring States period
- Qin dynasty
- Han dynasty
- Three Kingdoms
- Sui dynasty
- Tang dynasty
- Song dynasty
- Yuan dynasty
- Ming dynasty
- Chavín culture
- Paracas culture
- Moche culture
- Nazca culture
- Tiwanaku
- Muisca
- Wari Empire
- Chimú culture
- Inca Empire
- Maya civilization
- Olmec civilization
- Zapotec civilization
- Teotihuacan
- Mixtec civilization
- Toltec civilization
- Aztec Empire
- Celtic Iron Age
- Etruscan civilization
- Ancient Greece
- Carolingian Empire
- Vikings
- Holy Roman Empire
- Ancient Egypt
Key events
Wars
Punic Wars Rome and its alliesAncient Rome, Rome's Italian allies, Mamertines of Messana (asked Rome for help in 264 BCE), Massalia (Marseille), whose ships sailed with the Roman fleet, as at the Ebro in 217 BCE, Syracuse under Hiero II (allied with Rome 263–215 BCE), and Masinissa's Numidians (from 206 BCE)
againstCarthage and its alliesCarthage, Iberian, Celtic and Ligurian allies and mercenaries, Syracuse (allied with Carthage 264–263 BCE and 214–212 BCE), and Syphax's Numidians (206–203 BCE)
Carthage was destroyed in 146 BCE and its remaining land became the Roman province of Africa; Rome had already taken Sicily and Iberia from Carthage in the earlier wars.
Gallic Wars Rome and its alliesAncient Rome, Gallic peoples allied with Rome, among them the Remi and, until 52 BCE, the Aedui, and Germanic horsemen hired by Caesar
againstGallic, Germanic and British peoples who fought CaesarHelvetii and their allies (58 BCE), Suebi under Ariovistus (58 BCE), Belgic peoples, among them the Nervii and the Eburones, Veneti and other peoples of Armorica, Britons under Cassivellaunus (54 BCE), and Arverni and the Gallic coalition led by Vercingetorix (52 BCE)
Rome held all of Gaul up to the Rhine; Caesar withdrew most of his troops in 50 BCE as civil war loomed, and Gaul was organised into Roman provinces in 27 BCE.
Fall of Constantinople The Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire and Serbian Despotate (cavalry its ruler was forced to send as an Ottoman vassal)
againstThe Byzantine Empire and its alliesAncient Rome, Genoese soldiers under Giovanni Giustiniani, Venetians in the city, Ships and men sent by the Pope and by Alfonso of Aragon, and Ottoman prince Orhan Çelebi and his Turkish followers, who fought on the Byzantine side
The Ottoman Empire took Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and made it its capital; the Byzantine Empire ended with the death of Constantine XI.