Using Timelines

Timelines show the passage of time as a line.
Events are organized in the order they occurred.
They work like number lines.

Chronology - the order in which events occur

​Dates in Ancient History

In ancient history, years are written with abbreviations.

A year followed by B.C. refers to the number of years before the birth of Christ.

A year preceded by A.D. refers to the number of years after the birth of Christ.

Historians also use B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) for these periods.

PSA: the year AD 1 happened immediately after 1 BC. There is no year 0!

​Other ways to break up time

You'll see the following to describe different chunks of time:
Decade: 10 years
Century: 100 years
Millennium: 1000 years

Sometimes, the language of history isn't as precise. The following words mean:
Epoch: a period of time which begins with a significant event
example: the invention of the internet set off a new epoch in technology
Era: a period of time which is marked by a something new
example: in the era of social media
Age: a period of time defined by a person or event
example: in the age of exploration

Words to be familiar with

You are probably familiar with words like country and city. In ancient history, we will use other words to describe the political boundaries of civilizations.

In history and most of the world, a state is a territory with one organized government. It means the same thing as country.

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​What is a state?

​A tiny-country (state) made up of one main city and land surrounding it.

City-states were very common in Ancient History but there are few examples left today.

​City-State

State, territory, or country ruled by a king or queen.

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​Kingdom

A large collection of lands, countries, city-states, etc. ruled by a single person, called an emperor.

Many of the civilizations we cover will become empires.

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​Empire