World

Topics represented

Roman Empire (81) · World history (71) · British Empire (59) · Politics (57) · Law & constitutions (48) · Culture (42) · Resistance & colonized agency (38) · Colonization & sovereignty (35) · Law & imperial government (33) · War & military technology (29) · Decolonization & independence (26) · Self-government & Commonwealth (17)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. 343 BCE–290 BCE

   Samnite Wars

   Wars between Rome and Samnite communities unfolded in several phases between 343 and 290 BCE. They consolidated Roman primacy across much of Italy at high human and material cost.

2. 338 BCE

   Dissolution of the Latin League and graded citizenship

   After the Latin War, Rome dissolved the Latin League and applied different citizenship and alliance statuses to Italian communities. Integration was graded and unequal, not a uniform grant of full citizenship.

3. c. 323 BCE–c. 31 BCE

   Navies and siege platforms in the Hellenistic world

   After the fragmentation of Alexander’s empire, several Hellenistic kingdoms developed larger navies, ships of varying sizes, and capacities for ramming or projecting weapons at range; siege machinery also figured in maritime and coastal campaigns. Scale and function varied across kingdoms and ports, so no linear evolution or single “arms race” is inferred.

4. c. 323 BCE–c. 31 BCE

   Hellenistic world

   After Alexander’s death, his generals divided the empire into successor kingdoms. For nearly three centuries, Hellenistic political and cultural forms circulated across a broad area and mixed with local traditions; they were neither a single culture nor a complete replacement for existing ones.

5. 287 BCE

   Lex Hortensia

   The Lex Hortensia of 287 BCE made decisions of the plebeian assembly binding on all citizens. The change conventionally closes one phase of the Conflict of the Orders without equalizing wealth or political power.

6. 280 BCE–275 BCE

   War against Pyrrhus

   Rome fought Pyrrhus of Epirus between 280 and 275 BCE in southern Italy. The conflict linked Roman expansion to political and military networks of the Hellenistic Mediterranean.

7. c. 269 BCE

   Early Roman silver coinage

   Numismatic evidence places the development of Roman silver coinage around 269 BCE, in dialogue with standards from Greek Italy. This phase should not be conflated with the later introduction of the denarius.

8. 264 BCE–241 BCE

   First Punic War

   The First Punic War pitted Rome against Carthage from 264 to 241 BCE, with land and naval operations centered on Sicily. Roman victory does not summarize the diverse communities affected by the war.

9. c. 260 BCE–c. 232 BCE

   Ashoka’s edicts as inscribed governance

   Ashoka’s rock and pillar edicts communicated instructions on government, dhamma, and administrative relations in the Mauryan Empire. They are recorded here as a legal and public technology of inscription, not as a modern constitution or a summary of Buddhist traditions.

10. c. 260 BCE–c. 232 BCE

    Ashoka’s edicts

    During Ashoka’s reign, rock and pillar inscriptions communicated policies and principles of dhamma across the Mauryan Empire. They are sources for government and public communication as well as evidence of his links to Buddhism; they do not by themselves summarize the experience of the whole subcontinent.

11. 241 BCE

    Sicily, Rome’s first province

    After the First Punic War, Sicily became Rome’s first province. The province introduced forms of administration and fiscal extraction distinct from the Italian alliance.

12. 221 BCE–206 BCE

    Qin statutes and procedures

    Excavated Shuihudi manuscripts preserve statutes and answers concerning administration, investigation, and sanctions in Qin. They show concrete, complex written practices; they do not justify a simple image of a totalitarian Legalist state or prove identical compliance across the empire.

13. 221 BCE–206 BCE

    Qin weapon components and craft organization

    The Terracotta Army and its weapons provide archaeological evidence for Qin weapon components, including crossbow triggers and parts that could be replaced. Studies of production discuss standardization, state supervision, and craft work; they do not justify simply describing this as modern “industrial” production or claiming that Qin invented either the crossbow or interchangeable manufacture.

14. 221 BCE

    Qin unification of China

    Qin conquered the rival states and unified China under an emperor in 221 BCE. The new centralized administration promoted standardization of writing, weights, measures, and coinage, though the Qin empire was brief and its policies had uneven effects.

15. 218 BCE–201 BCE

    Second Punic War

    The Second Punic War again pitted Rome against Carthage from 218 to 201 BCE. The invasion of Italy, recruitment, and supply demands affected civilian and allied populations.

16. c. 211 BCE

    Introduction of the denarius

    Around 211 BCE, Rome introduced the denarius as a new silver coin during the Second Punic War. Its adoption reorganized Republican currency without immediately replacing every form of payment.

17. c. 211 BCE–c. 146 BCE

    Transfer and appropriation of Greek art in Rome

    During Mediterranean expansion, Greek works, artists, and models reached Rome through trade, commission, and spoils. The process was not a one-way cultural transfer and does not reduce Greek art to Roman property.

18. c. 206 BCE–c. 220

    Han legal administration

    The Han state inherited and modified Qin legal institutions, combining written statutes, administrative hierarchies, and Confucian languages. The process was prolonged and regionally uneven, not an immediate replacement of one legal model by another.

19. c. 206 BCE–c. 220

    Han Empire

    The Han dynasty adapted Qin institutions and consolidated imperial administration, public works, and road networks. The period included dynastic changes, expansions, and crises; describing it as an empire does not erase its regional diversity or internal transformations.

20. c. 200 BCE–c. 100 BCE

    Latifundia, slavery, and rural change

    Between the second and first centuries BCE, slavery and large agricultural estates intensified in parts of Italy. The extent and causes of rural depopulation remain debated, so this entry records an uneven process.

21. 200 BCE–168 BCE

    Macedonian Wars

    The Macedonian Wars between 200 and 168 BCE brought Rome into sustained intervention in the Greek world. Perseus’ defeat at Pydna was decisive but did not exhaust the autonomy or conflicts of Greek cities.

22. c. 180 BCE

    Lex Villia annalis and cursus honorum

    The Lex Villia annalis, enacted in 180 BCE, regulated the sequence of magistracies and age requirements associated with the cursus honorum. It formalized elite careers rather than equally opening access to office.

23. 167 BCE

    Suspension of the citizen tributum

    After the defeat of Macedonia, Rome stopped regularly collecting the tributum from its citizens in 167 BCE. The measure did not eliminate provincial taxation or the financial burdens of war.

24. 149 BCE–146 BCE

    Destruction of Carthage and Corinth

    Campaigns from 149 to 146 BCE ended with the destruction of Carthage and Corinth by Roman forces. Both cities had later histories, and this entry does not make military violence an inevitable or civilizing outcome.

25. c. 139 BCE–c. 220

    Central Asian networks under the Han and the so-called Silk Roads

    From the second century BCE, exchanges of high-value goods between China, Central Asia, Western Asia, and the Mediterranean intensified through multiple routes and intermediaries. “Silk Road” is a modern label for networks that had no single name and included diplomacy, war, taxation, and local commerce as well as long journeys. Zhang Qian’s mission was diplomatic, not a simple commercial opening.

26. 135 BCE–132 BCE

    First Sicilian Slave War

    The First Sicilian Slave War unfolded between 135 and 132 BCE. The conflict shows the structural violence of slavery and tensions in the provincial economy without reducing enslaved people to a single experience.

27. 133 BCE–121 BCE

    Gracchan reforms and political conflict

    The tribuneships of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus advanced measures concerning land, grain supply, and political participation. Senatorial opposition and violence exposed limits of Republican institutions; this was not one coherent social program.

28. 133 BCE–129 BCE

    Pergamon bequest and province of Asia

    Attalus III bequeathed his kingdom to Rome in 133 BCE; after conflict with Aristonicus, Rome organized the province of Asia. The process transformed administration and resource extraction in Asia Minor.

29. c. 115 BCE–c. 220

    Han exchange networks and Silk Road routes

    Connections among Han, Parthia, Rome, Kushan, and other societies enabled staged movements of goods, people, and ideas. “Silk Road” is a modern name for many routes and transactions; individuals rarely traveled the entire distance.

30. 113 BCE–101 BCE

    Cimbrian War

    Wars against the Cimbri and Teutones mobilized Roman armies in Gaul and Italy. Marius’ victories mattered to his prestige, but do not by themselves prove a single “Marian reform” of the army.