The ancient or 'classical' world begins with the invention of written language, and follows the organization of human culture into governments and societies much like we practice today. Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome were civilizations that lasted for hundreds — and in Egypt's case thousands of years. They were super powers because they brought law and order to their people, providing a certain amount of peace and stability. Peace and stability leads to a civic life, creating the space for creativity, education and commerce. This in turn grows prosperity and enables building projects, temples, roads and art. Written language, unified law, and centralized government allowed these ancient cultures to thrive on a scale that warped past hunter and gatherer societies and created the foundation on which we create our modern civilization in the west.
Super power of all super powers.
4000 BCE-30 BCEPoetry, war, and the invention of law
3500 BCE-1000 BCEThe lost faces of the ancient world
3000 BCE-1200 BCEThree dynasties birth Chinese art and philosophy.
2070 BCE-256 BCEA Nubian Empire rivals Egypt for 1000 years
2000 BCE-400 CEHistory's greatest navigators
2000 BCE-500 CEKnow Thyself
800 BCE-31 BCEDeath & Gold
800 BCE-43 CEA mysteriously happy people at the fringes of the classical world
768 BCE-100 BCEThe roads make the empire
753 BCE-530 CEHuman-animal hybrids in the melting pot of ancient cultures
600 BCE-500 CECity of Water & Fire
400 BCE-600 CEThe largest economy in the world for 1500 years
230 BCE-550 CE