The 1st millennium BC, also known as the last millennium BC, was the period of time lasting from the years

1000 BC The 1000s BC is a decade which lasted from 1009 BC to 1000 BC. Events and trends * 1006 BC— David becomes king of the ancient United Kingdom of Israel (traditional date). * Earliest evidence of farming in the Kenya highlands. * c. 1000 BC� ...

to 1 BC (

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The re ...

to 1st centuries BC; in astronomy: JD – ). It encompasses the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

in the Old World and sees the transition from the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

World population In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living. It was estimated by the United Nations to have exceeded 8 billion in November 2022. It took over 200,000 years of human prehistory and history for th ...

roughly doubled over the course of the millennium, from about 100 million to about 200–250 million.Klein Goldewijk, K. , A. Beusen, M. de Vos and G. van Drecht (2011). The HYDE 3.1 spatially explicit database of human induced land use change over the past 12,000 years, Global Ecology and Biogeography20(1): 73–86.
pbl.nl
. Goldewijk et al. (2011) estimate 188 million as of AD 1, citing a literature range of 170 million (low) to 300 million (high). Out of the estimated 188M, 116M are estimated for Asia (East, South/Southeast and Central Asia, excluding Western Asia), 44M for Europe and the Near East, 15M for Africa (including Egypt and Roman North Africa), 12M for Mesoamerica and South America. North America and Oceania were at or below one million. Jean-Noël Biraben, "Essai sur l'évolution du nombre des hommes", ''Population'' 34-1 (1979), 13–25 (p. 22) estimats c. 100 million at 1200 BC and c. 250 million at AD

/ref>

Overview

The

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

dominates the Near East in the early centuries of the millennium, supplanted by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century. Ancient Egypt is in decline, and falls to the Achaemenids in 525 BC. In Greece,

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

begins with the colonization of Magna Graecia and peaks with the conquest of the Achaemenids and the subsequent flourishing of

Hellenistic civilization In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

(4th to 2nd centuries). The

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

supplants the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

and then the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

(5th to 3rd centuries). The close of the millennium sees the rise of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. The early

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

dominate Central Europe while Northern Europe is in the

Pre-Roman Iron Age The archaeology of Northern Europe studies the prehistory of Scandinavia and the adjacent North European Plain, roughly corresponding to the territories of modern Sweden, Norway, Denmark, northern Germany, Poland and the Netherlands. The regio ...

. In East Africa, the Nubian Empire and

Aksum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole regio ...

arise. In South Asia, the

Vedic civilization The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...

gives rise to the Maurya Empire. The

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

dominate Central Asia. In China, the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

rules the Chinese heartland at the beginning of the millennium. The decline of the Zhou dynasty during Spring and Autumn period and the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

sees the rise of such philosophical and spiritual traditions as

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

and

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

. Towards the close of the millennium, the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

extends Chinese power towards Central Asia, where it borders on

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent ( ...

and

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

states. Japan is in the

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon ...

. The

Olmec civilization The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

declines, and the

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

and Zapotec civilizations emerge in Mesoamerica. The Chavín culture flourishes in Peru. The first millennium BC is the formative period of the classical

world religion World religions is a category used in the Religious studies, study of religion to demarcate the five—and in some cases more—largest and most internationally widespread religious movements. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...

s, with the development of early Judaism and

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

in the Near East, and Vedic religion and

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

in India. Early literature develops in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. The term

Axial Age Axial Age (also Axis Age, from german: Achsenzeit) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers. It refers to broad changes in religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from about the 8th to the 3rd centu ...

, coined by

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (, ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspe ...

, is intended to express the crucial importance of the period of c. the 8th to 2nd centuries BC in

world history World history may refer to: * Human history, the history of human beings * History of Earth, the history of planet Earth * World history (field), a field of historical study that takes a global perspective * ''World History'' (album), a 1998 albu ...

more than doubled over the course of the millennium, from about an estimated 50–100 million to an estimated 170–300 million. Close to 90% of world population at the end of the first millennium BC lived in the Iron Age civilizations of the Old World (Roman Empire,

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...

, Graeco-

Indo-Scythian Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th centur ...

and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

kingdoms,

Han China The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...

). The population of the Americas was below 20 million, concentrated in

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...

(

Epi-Olmec culture The Epi-Olmec culture was a cultural area in the central region of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz. Concentrated in the Papaloapan River basin, a culture that existed during the Late Formative period, from roughly 300 BCE to roughly 250 ...

); that of Sub-Saharan Africa was likely below 10 million. The population of Oceania was likely less than one million people.

Ancient history

Timeline

10th century BC The 10th century BC comprises the years from 1000 BC to 901 BC. This period followed the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Near East, and the century saw the Early Iron Age take hold there. The Greek Dark Ages which had come about in 1200 BC cont ...

**Near East:

**Near East: Shoshenq I invades

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

**Aegean:

Helladic Helladic chronology is a relative dating system used in archaeology and art history. It complements the Minoan chronology scheme devised by Sir Arthur Evans for the categorisation of Bronze Age artefacts from the Minoan civilization within a h ...

period ends *

9th century BC The 9th century BC started the first day of 900 BC and ended the last day of 801 BC. It was a period of great change for several civilizations. In Africa, Carthage is founded by the Phoenicians. In Egypt, a severe flood covers the floor of Luxor ...

** Chavín culture in Peru **

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

872 BC This article concerns the period 879 BC – 870 BC. Events and trends *879 BC—Death of Zhou yi wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China. *879 BC—Kalhu is dedicated. Some historians say that Assurnasirpal II gives a banquet for 69,574 persons ...

: Nile floods the Temple of Luxor **Egypt: 836 BC: Civil war in Egypt ** North Africa:

814 BC Events * Carthage is founded by Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by queen Dido. The city developed into a maritime power that dominated the Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

founded ** China:

841 BC This article concerns the period 849 BC – 840 BC. Events and trends * 845 BC— Pherecles, King of Athens, dies after a reign of 19 years and is succeeded by his son Ariphron. * 842 BC— Shalmaneser III devastates the territory of Damascus; ...

–

828 BC This article concerns the period 829 BC – 820 BC. Events and trends * 828 BC/827 BC (14th year in the era of Gònghé)—King Xuan of Zhou becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China, ending almost two decades of the Gonghe Regency. * 828 BC—Xi ...

Gonghe Regency The Gonghe Regency () was an interregnum period in Chinese history from 841 BC to 828 BC, after King Li of Zhou was exiled by his nobles during the Compatriots Rebellion, when the Chinese people rioted against their old corrupt king. It lasted un ...

8th century BC The 8th century BCE started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC. The 8th century BC is a period of great change for several historically significant civilizations. In Egypt, the 23rd and 24th dynasties lead to rule from ...

727 BC This article concerns the period 729 BC – 720 BC. Events and trends * 728 BC—Piye invades History of ancient Egypt, Egypt, conquering Memphis, Egypt, Memphis, and receives the submission of the rulers of the Nile Delta. He founds the Twenty-fi ...

: Egypt: Kushite invasion (

25th dynasty The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of t ...

) ** 771 BC: China: Spring and Autumn period **Near East:

: Death of

Tiglath-Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

, Babylonia secedes from

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

**Near East:

722 BC This article concerns the period 729 BC – 720 BC. Events and trends * 728 BC—Piye invades Egypt, conquering Memphis, and receives the submission of the rulers of the Nile Delta. He founds the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. * 728 BC—Diocles ...

: Sargon II takes

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

;

Assyrian captivity The Assyrian captivity (or the Assyrian exile) is the period in the history of ancient Israel and Judah during which several thousand Israelites from the Kingdom of Israel were forcibly relocated by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This is one of the man ...

of the Israelites. **Greece: Archaic Greece,

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as w ...

**Greece:

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

776 BC The year 776 BC is largely known for being the first year of the Attic calendar The Attic calendar or Athenian calendar is the lunisolar calendar beginning in midsummer with the lunar month of Hekatombaion, in use in ancient Attica, the ancest ...

: Greece: First

Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...

**753 BC: Europe: foundation of Rome *7th century BC Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal - king riding killing lion

**671 BC: Assyrian conquest of Egypt **Near East: 631 BC: Death of Ashurbanipal, decline of the Assyrian Empire *6th century BC **Egypt: 592 BC: Psamtik II sacks Napata **Sudan: Aspelta moves the Kushite capital to Meroe **Near East: 539 BC: Achaemenid conquest of Babylon under Cyrus the Great **South Asia: Śramaṇa movement and "second urbanisation" **South Asia: Pre-sectarian Buddhism, Early Buddhism **Europe: 509 BC:

*5th century BC **China: 479 BC: death of Confucius **China: 476 BC:

**China: 486 BC: Grand Canal (China), Grand Canal construction begins **Near East: Second Temple Judaism, redaction of the Hebrew Bible ** Greece: beginning of the Classical Greece, classical period (Greece in the 5th century BC). ** Greece: Greco-Persian Wars (Battle of Marathon, Battle of Thermopylae) ** Greece: 440 BC: Herodotus' ''Histories (Herodotus), Histories'' ** Greece: 431 BC: Peloponnesian War **Oceania: Austronesian peoples, Austronesian expansion reaches Western Polynesia *4th century BC **Greece: 395 BC: Corinthian War **Egypt: 343 BC: Persian Egypt, Achaemenid conquest World in 323 BCE

**Greece/Asia/Egypt: 330s BC: conquests of Alexander the Great, end of the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonian Empire, beginning of the Hellenistic period **South Asia: Mauryan Empire *3rd century BC **China: Qin Dynasty, Qin Unified China **China: 206 BC:

**South Asia: 261 BC: Kalinga war **Rome: Roman expansion in Italy **Rome/Carthage: Punic Wars *** 264 BC: First Punic War *** 218 BC Second Punic War *2nd century BC **Rome/Carthage: 149 BC Third Punic War, Roman province of Africa Statue-Augustus (cropped)

**Rome/Greece: 146 BC Battle of Corinth (146 BC), Battle of Corinth, beginning of the Greece in the Roman era, Roman era **South Asia: 185 BC: Fall of the Maurya Empire **China:

became the state ideology of China *1st century BC **China: 91 BC: Records of the Grand Historian finished **Rome/Europe: 58–50 BC Gallic Wars **Rome: 32/30 BC: Final War of the Roman Republic (Battle of Actium) **Rome/Egypt: 31 BC: Roman conquest of Egypt **Rome/Europe/West Asia/Africa: 27 BC:

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

*8th century BC **

, the first alphabet with vowels. *7th century BC **Trireme *6th century BC **Diolkos, paved trackway ** Pythagorean theorem **Monotheism *5th century BC ** Blast furnace China ** Democritus, Atomism **History of crossbows, crossbow **siege engine *4th century BC **Pāṇini, formal grammar **Kyrenia ship *3rd century BC **Lighthouse of Alexandria **Malleable Cast iron China ** Archimedes#The Golden Crown, buoyancy (Archimedes) ** Eratosthenes, Spherical earth ** water clock ** Qin Dynasty, Qin built and unified various sections of the Great Wall of China. ** Qin built Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum guarded by the life-sized Terracotta Army. *2nd century BC **Antikythera mechanism

Literature

;Greco-Roman literature Archaic period *

(late 8th or early 7th c.), ''Iliad'', ''Odyssey'' *Hesiod (8th to 7th c.), ''Theogony'' and ''Works and Days'' *Archilochus (7th century), Greek poet *Sappho, (late 7th to early 6th c.), Greek poet * Ibycus * Alcaeus of Mytilene * Aesop's Fables Classical period *Aeschylus (c. 525–455 BC), Greek playwright *Herodotus (484–425 BC), ''Histories (Herodotus), Histories'' *Euripides (c. 480–406 BC), Greek playwright * Xenophon: ''Anabasis (Xenophon), Anabasis'', ''Cyropaedia (Xenophon), Cyropaedia'' *Aristotle (384–322 BC), corpus Aristotelicum Hellenistic to Roman period * Septuagint * Apollonius of Rhodes: ''Argonautica'' * Callimachus (310/305-240 B.C.), lyric poet * Manetho: ''Aegyptiaca'' * Theocritus, lyric poet * Euclid: ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' * Menander: ''Dyskolos'' * Theophrastus: ''Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus), Enquiry into Plants'' * Old Latin Livius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius, Plautus, Quintus Fabius Pictor, Lucius Cincius Alimentus * Classical Latin: Cicero, Julius Caesar, Virgil, Lucretius, Livy, Catullus ;Chinese literature *''I Ching'' (date unknown, between the 10th and 4th centuries BC) * ''Book of Songs (Chinese), Classic of Poetry (Shījīng)'', ''Shujing, Classic of Documents (Shūjīng)'' (authentic portions), ''I Ching, Classic of Changes (I Ching)'' * ''Spring and Autumn Annals (Chūnqiū)'' (722–481 BC, chronicles of the state of Lu (state), Lu) * Confucius: ''Analects (Lúnyǔ)'' * ''Book of Rites, Classic of Rites (Lǐjì)'' * ''Zuo Zhuan, Commentaries of Zuo (Zuǒzhuàn)'' * Laozi (or Lao Tzu): ''Tao Te Ching'' * Zhuang Zhou, Zhuangzi: ''Zhuangzi (book)'' * Mencius: ''Mencius (book), Mencius'' ;Sanskrit literature *Vedic Sanskrit: Vedas, Brahmanas *Vedanga *Mukhya Upanishads *early layers of the Sanskrit epics (c. 3rd century BC to 4th century AD) ;Hebrew * c. 8th to 7th c.: the Book of Nahum, Book of Hosea, Book of Amos, Book of Isaiah * c. 6th c.: Psalms * c. 5th century: redaction of the Torah * 3rd century: Ecclesiastes * 2nd century: Book of Wisdom ;Avestan * ''Yasht'', Avesta, Vendidad ;Other (2nd to 1st century BC) ; *Pali literature: Tipitaka *Tamil :Sangam literature *Aramaic: Book of Daniel

Overview

Ancient history

Timeline

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Literature

Archaeology

Astronomy

Centuries and decades

References