A timeline of key events during each period of Egyptian history

The essential facts to know about ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt spanned three millennia—more than 10 times the history of the US—but disappeared from the world's consciousness until the 18th century when it was rediscovered by Napoleon's army. Take a trip through the dynastic periods in this three-minute video.

Ancient Egypt for Kids

Ancient Egypt lasted a very long time! This video breaks down the timeline and geography of their civilization, daily life, and education in Egypt (including bringing the "Book of the Dead" to life).

Explore the roughly 190 Egyptian pharaohs across 31 dynasties

The meticulous records kept by scribes in ancient Egypt allow contemporary historians the unusual ability to list the civilization's hundreds of monarchs, from the quasi-legendary Egyptian unifier Narmer (also known as Menes) all the way to the Roman emperors 3,000 years later.

Explore the major archaeological sites of Egypt's 3,000-year history

With this interactive map, you can see when and where every major monument was built, from the Great Pyramid in the Nile River delta to the Greek temple of Isis near contemporary Aswan.

Ancient Egypt began as a collection of independent city-states along the Nile

Those cities were gradually organized into Upper and Lower Egypt, names derived from the northern flow of the river. The region was unified for the first time in 3,100 BCE under King Menes (also known as Narmer).

Watch Mediterranean power shift over millennia with this animated map

The ancient Mediterranean holds a vast amount of history; from Egypt to Rome, the coasts of this sea are home to some of the most advanced ancient civilizations. This video displays on a map the many different civilizations that rose and fell around the fertile region, from the year 2500 BCE to 0 BCE.

A timeline of the ancient Greeks

When exactly were the Ancient Greeks around on Earth? Their roots go back nearly 9,000 years to the Bronze Age with the so-called Minoan civilization. These sea-faring tribes would come together to hold off the invading Persian Empire and culminate in the glories of Athenian democracy, Spartan military discipline, and more. Check out this thorough timeline of the Ancient Greeks.

An interactive timeline of history, from beginning to middle

The history of humanity is a long, winding road, and the history of everything else is even more complex and interwoven. This interactive timeline takes users through the history of the world and includes links to related videos, blurbs, and events. Each event in history is represented by a dot, providing users with a glittering horizon filled with moments of intrigue and impact.

The history of China: a timeline

How long has China existed, and how and when did it evolve into its form? Explore the journey of China from empire to republic (to a republic, again) in this timeline. Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest Chinese dynasty formed at about...

Wealthy Egyptians slept on woven beds to allow air circulation in hot climates

The history of beds is a fascinating look at economics, social science, and cultural beliefs around what takes place during sleep. This brief survey of the history of bed-making begins roughly 5,000 years ago and runs through ancient Egypt and Rome to modern Europe. Take a look here.

Caesar and Cleopatra's complicated affair

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra, a known charmer in history, had a public affair with Roman leader Julius Caesar. Read this article for details and a timeline of their doomed romance—from their first meeting to her later affair with Marc Antony.

The hour originated from an ancient Egyptian astronomical system

The movements of astronomical objects, measured in a day and a year, form the foundation of our sense of time. The Egyptians divided each day and night into 12 time eras, using arbitrarily selected stars as references rather than movements of specific celestial objects.

How do archaeologists determine how old something is?

How old is the item in the photo? According to the MET, it dates back to the 3rd to 5th century. Archaeologists don't just file artifacts under generic time frames such as "ancient" or "super old." They're often able to pinpoint the era or century...

See a timeline of jazz's history

Jazz began in 19th-century New Orleans, though its roots go back even further. This timeline situates the music's evolution alongside American and world history, offering an illuminating exploration of the genre.

The Inca Empire: a timeline

When did the Inca Empire solidify into an empire? When was it invaded by the Spanish? What remains of it today? Click through this timeline to learn more.

A map of the Byzantine Empire

This map, hosted on the World History Encyclopedia, shows the Byzantine Empire in four eras. The area shaded dark purple is the original Eastern Roman Empire. The light purple areas represent the conquests of Justinian. The dark purple line surrounds the middle Byzantine Empire. The hatched area, finally, indicates the small “Latin Empire” established after the Fourth Crusade.

View this timeline of polio milestones and vaccine development

Polio has a long history in art and medicine, dating back centuries. It includes a representation of an apparent polio survivor with a shriveled leg in ancient Egyptian art. See milestones in the history of polio in this timeline.

Nail art can be traced back to 5,000 BCE

Archaeologists discovered Egyptian mummies with nail art and henna-tinted fingertips. The trend would continue informally for centuries until Revlon introduced modern nail polish in 1932.

Ancient Egyptians developed the first pregnancy test—and scientists tested it in the 1960s

A papyrus from about 1350 B.C.E. discusses a test in which a woman would urinate on wheat and barley seeds over the course of several days. If the barley grows, she's having a male child; if the wheat grows, it's a female child; and if nothing grows, she's not pregnant. Scientists went on to test this theory in 1963 and found that about 70% of the time, the urine of pregnant women did promote growth whereas the urine of nonpregnant women didn't—perhaps due to estrogen levels in the urine.

What did the world of the dinosaurs look like?

Mesozoic means "middle life" and this is the time of the dinosaurs. This era includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods, names that may be familiar to you. It ended with a massive meteorite impact that caused a mass extinction, wiping out the dinosaurs.

Explore the collection of vivid frescoes Pompeii left behind

This gallery showcases remarkably preserved frescoes depicting food, daily life, landscapes, and myth. Tools abandoned during the eruption reveal how ancient artists worked, offering insight into Pompeii’s visual culture before Vesuvius buried the city in ash.

A collection of ancient Mayan glyphs and pictographs

The Maya had a syllabic and pictorial writing style that featured many incredibly detailed glyphs. Click here to check out this ancient writing style (and maybe test out their related phonetic sounds).

The 12 tables: Rome's attempt to fairly enforce the law

It's unclear exactly why ancient Romans drafted the Laws of the Twelve Tables in the mid-400s BCE, but the result was a collection of precisely worded, written laws that could be made known to everyone. This article explores the history and importance of these 12 bronze tables, which were an attempt to make the law equally applicable to all and were destroyed when Rome was attacked in 390 BCE.

See a timeline of the events that shaped the Iranian Revolution

From a defamatory newspaper editorial that sparked protests in January 1978 to Khomeini's return from exile and the Shah's flight from Iran in 1979, this timeline traces the rapidly escalating chain of events—protests, crackdowns, and political collapses—that toppled one of the Middle East's most powerful monarchies.

Picasso had several distinct periods

Picasso was known for his ever-evolving style, which art historians have often divided into his artistic periods. Warmer color palettes and subjects characterized his Pink Period (sometimes called the Rose Period). Other phases focused on neoclassical, surrealist, and mythological art and subjects. Below is Family of Saltimbanques from the Pink Period.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.