500 BCE – 500 CE

Classical

Empires that linked continents: Greece, Rome, Gandhara, Qin China and the Nabataeans.

Prehistoric Bronze Age Iron Age Classical Medieval Early Modern

By continent: Classical in Asia (4) Classical in Europe (2)

Greece · 5th c. BCE

Temples built under Pericles that became a symbol of classical Greece.

Jordan · flourished c. 1st c. BCE – 1st c. CE

A Nabataean trading capital carved straight into rose-red sandstone cliffs.

Italy · destroyed 79 CE

Streets, houses, shops and graffiti preserved under volcanic ash in 79 CE.

Sri Lanka · 5th c. CE

Gardens, frescoes and a lion-gate stairway leading to a palace in the sky.

Pakistan · c. 6th c. BCE – 5th c. CE

Three successive cities and dozens of Buddhist monasteries at a crossroads of empires.

Mexico · c. 1st–6th c. CE

One of the largest cities in the world in the first centuries CE, laid out along the Avenue of the Dead.

China · c. 210 BCE

Found by farmers digging a well in 1974 — each soldier with individual features.

One site, one myth, one artifact — in your inbox weekly.