Zhou
Imperial China · -1046 – -256
4 figures
Classical Antiquity dynasties (499 BC–300)
From the rise of Greek city-states through the high Roman Empire.
6 dynasties
Mauryan Empire
South Asia / India · -322 – -185
The first empire to unify the majority of the Indian subcontinent, known for its highly organized administration and Ashoka's conversion to pacifism.
2 figures
Ptolemaic Dynasty
Ancient Egypt / Hellenistic World · -305 – -30
A Macedonian Greek royal house that ruled Egypt following the death of Alexander the Great. Known for adopting the customs of Egyptian Pharaohs, including extensive sibling marriage, and building the Library of Alexandria.
7 figures
Qin
Imperial China · -221 – -206
4 figures
Han
Imperial China · -206 – 220
2 figures
Roman Empire
Roman Empire / Mediterranean · -27 – 476
The empire that ruled the Mediterranean world for half a millennium and shaped the foundations of Western law, governance, language, and Christianity. From Augustus's establishment of the principate in 27 BC to the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476, more than seventy emperors held the throne — by inheritance, adoption, civil war, and the sword of the Praetorian Guard. The Western half collapsed in the fifth century under Germanic pressure; the Eastern half outlived it by a thousand years.
21 figures