Cyrus the Great founds the Achamenid Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Persian empire was the largest that the ancient world had seen, extending from Anatolia and Egypt across western Asia to northern India and Central Asia.
Civilization (3000 B.C.E. - 500 C.E.)
Humans of ancient Greece invent the crane
The archaeological record shows that no later than c. 515 B.C.E. distinctive cuttings for both lifting tongs and lewis irons begin to appear on stone blocks of Greek temples.
Sun Tzu writes the Art of War
The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare. It has a profound influence on both Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is completed
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, also known as the Artemesium, was constructed in the mid 6th century B.C.E. It was located in Ephesus (modern Turkey), and was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Greeks build the world's first underground aqueduct, the Tunnel of Eupalinos, on the island of Samos
The tunnel is the second known tunnel in history which was excavated from both ends and the first with a geometry-based approach in doing so.
Confucius, a great Chinese philosopher, is born
Confucianism is a philosophical system encompassing ideology, culture and academia, brought together by Confucius, then followed and developed by successive generations of his disciples over the past 2,500 years.
Thales of Miletus becomes first human to predict a solar eclipse
If the account is true, it has been suggested that Thales would have had to calculate the timing of any eclipse by recognizing patterns in the periodicities of eclipses. It has been postulated that Thales may have used the Saros cycle in his determination
Lydia’s King Alyattes mints the first official currency
The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and stamped with pictures that acted as denominations.
Hanno the Navigator of Carthage explores the coasts of West Africa
In the 5th century B.C.E., the Carthaginian explorer Hanno sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, out of the Mediterranean and into hitherto unknown territory down the Atlantic coast of Africa.
The Agora thrives as public commons space in ancient Athens
From the 6th and until the 1st century B.C.E. the Agora as the heart of the government and the judiciary, as a public place of debate, as a place of worship, and as marketplace.