The Ancient World

The ancient world, known as antiquity, started about 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia. This cradle of civilization sat between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East (ringing a bell from history class?) The Ancient Near East had great empires, like the Sumerians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. Meanwhile, we’ve got the Ancient Egyptian civilization, which produced pharaohs, pyramids, and mummies. It had a great run from about 3100 BCE to 30 BCE, when Cleopatra died, and Rome took over.

Over in the European Mediterranean, the Aegean civilization thrived in Greece but collapsed with the Mycenaeans. These are the dudes of Trojan War fame that Homer wrote about in The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Ancient Greek civilization we all know and love came into being with temples galore, philosophers, and democracy. The Etruscans set up shop in the tenth century BCE on the Italian peninsula, but still largely remain a mysterious bunch. Then we have the infamous Romans, who first had a republic, then scrapped that for an empire that conquered and expanded into Western Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It collapsed in 476 CE, which ushered in the Middle Ages.

As we excavate the ancient past, please remember! Never read ancient hieroglyphics out loud lest you awaken a mummy that will come to kill us all.