Before the Middle Ages lies a vast stretch of human experience. Ancient history examines societies from the invention of writing roughly five thousand years ago until the conventional end of antiquity around the fifth century CE. It covers the Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, India, and China, among other centers.

Sources include inscriptions, chronicles, coins, and archaeological remains. Scholars reconstruct political systems, economies, religions, and cultural exchanges across long distances. The rise and fall of empires, the development of law and philosophy, and the spread of technologies form major themes.

Periodization varies by region; what counts as “ancient” in the Mediterranean differs from timelines in East Asia. Debates continue over the reliability of later literary sources and the interpretation of material evidence. Ancient history supplies the deep background against which later eras defined themselves.

• Study of the distant past before the Middle Ages
• Relies on texts and archaeology
• Covers multiple early civilizations
• Frames the origins of many institutions