History · Curated list
Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia and 22 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
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Most written-about first. Each description summarises the civilisation's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Cradle of civilization in North Africa
A cradle of civilisation along the lower Nile, in the east of North Africa. It grew out of prehistoric Egypt around 3150 BC, when Lower and Upper Egypt were united by Menes, whom most Egyptologists believe to be the same person as Narmer.
Wikidata · Photo: Most likely Hamish2k, the first uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0
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2
Greek civilization from 1200 BC to 600 AD
An ancient civilisation lasting from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the close of classical antiquity: a loose group of city-states and regions related in language and culture, centred mainly in the northeast of the Mediterranean. Before Roman times, most of it was formally united only once, from 338 to 323 BC, under the Kingdom of Macedon.
3
Historical region of West Asia
A historical region of West Asia in the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the north of the Fertile Crescent, roughly matching the territory of today's Iraq.
4
Roman civilisation from the 8th century BC to the 5th century AD
In modern history-writing, Roman civilisation from Rome's founding, in Italy, in the 8th century BC until the Western Roman Empire fell apart in the 5th century AD. It covers the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) and the Roman Empire up to the fall of its western half.
Wikidata · Photo: FeaturedPics, CC BY-SA 4.0
5
Ethnic group of central Mexico and its civilization
A Mesoamerican civilisation that flourished in central Mexico from about 1300 to 1521, made up of several ethnic groups of the region, above all those speaking Nahuatl.
Wikidata · Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosemania/, CC BY 2.0
6
Mesoamerican civilization (c. 2000 BC – 1697 AD)
A Mesoamerican civilisation that lasted from antiquity into the early modern period. Known for its ancient temples and its glyphs (script), it is also noted for its astronomy, calendar, mathematics, architecture and art.
7
Ancient Mesopotamian civilization from 3300 to 1900 BC
The oldest civilisation we know of, in the south of historical Mesopotamia, arising in the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages, between the 5th and 4th millennium BC. It counts, like Elam next door, among the cradles of civilisation, alongside Mesoamerica, Caral-Supe, the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, the Indus Valley and Egypt.
Wikidata · Photo: Jolle at Catalan Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
8
Bronze Age civilisation in South Asia
Also called the Indus Civilisation, or IVC, a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwest of South Asia that lasted from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. With China, Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, it was one of the ancient world's four centres, and it covered more ground than Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt put together.
Wikidata · Photo: Photograph: Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0
9
Pre-Roman civilization of Etruria (9th–1st century BC)
A civilisation that the Etruscans built in Etruria, in ancient Italy, sharing one language and culture and forming a federation of city-states. After conquering neighbouring lands, at its largest it covered roughly today's Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Lazio, and also the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto and western Campania.
Wikidata · Photo: Novios Plautios (340-330 BCE) photos by Egistos Sani, Public domain
10
Ancient pre-Iranian civilization between 3200 and 539 BC
An ancient civilisation whose heartland lay in Iran's far west and southwest, reaching from the Khuzestan and Ilam lowlands into a small part of today's southern Iraq. Its modern name comes from the Sumerian transliteration elam(a), with the later Akkadian elamtu and the Elamite haltamti.
12
Bronze Age civilization on Crete and other Aegean Islands
A Bronze Age culture centred on the island of Crete, known for Minoan art and monumental architecture, and often regarded as Europe's first civilisation.
Wikidata · Photo: User:Bibi Saint-Pol, CC BY-SA 3.0
Late Bronze Age Greek civilization
Also called the Mycenaean civilisation, the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, from about 1750 to 1050 BC. It was the first advanced civilisation on the Greek mainland that was distinctly Greek, with palace states, urban organisation, artworks and a writing system.
Ancient Indo-Aryan region and civilisation in South Asia
An ancient Indo-Aryan culture and historical region in what are now northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. At the crossroads of South and Central Asia, it was known as an influential Buddhist civilisation that took in many influences from the regions around it.
Ancient South Asian historical period
Also called the Vedic age, the stretch of Indian history, spanning the late Bronze and early Iron Ages, in which the Vedas and the rest of Vedic literature were composed in the northern subcontinent. It fell between the end of the Indus Valley cities and a new wave of city-building that started c. 600 BCE in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain. The Vedas, texts for ritual use, underpinned the influential Brahmanical ideology that developed in the Kuru kingdom, a union of several Indo-Aryan tribes.
18
Phoenician city-state
An ancient civilisation of North Africa. From a small settlement in what is now Tunisia it grew into the Carthaginian Empire, a great power that dominated the western Mediterranean.
Culture that flourished 100 to 800 AD in Peru
A civilisation that flourished in northern Peru from about 100 to 800 AD, in the Regional Development Epoch. A Southern Moche state had its capital near today's Moche, Trujillo, Peru, and several other regions, perhaps independent, were under Moche influence.
20
? – 108 BC state in East Asia
Also called Gojoseon, and in its own time Joseon, the first kingdom of the Korean Peninsula. Korean mythology says the legendary king Tan'gun founded it.
Wikidata · Photo: Ismoon ( talk ) 11:10, 3 December 2017 (UTC), CC BY-SA 4.0
21
Group of city-states in present-day Myanmar
A group of city-states in present-day Upper Myanmar that lasted from roughly the 2nd century BCE into the mid-11th century. They were founded as the Pyu, who spoke a Tibeto-Burman language, moved from Tibet into Mainland Southeast Asia; they are the earliest inhabitants of Burma of whom records survive.
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22
Civilization in southern Peru, c. 100 BC–800 AD
An archaeological culture that flourished from c. 100 BC to 800 AD by the dry southern coast of Peru, in the valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and of the Ica Valley. Much influenced by the earlier Paracas culture, known for its very complex textiles, the Nazca made many crafts and technologies, among them geoglyphs, textiles and ceramics.
23
Ancient Native American culture in Four Corners region of the US
Also called the Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples in what is now the Four Corners region of the United States: southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. They are thought to have grown, at least partly, out of the Oshara tradition, which came from the Picosa culture.
24
Near Eastern civilization during the Iron Age
Two Israelite kingdoms of the Southern Levant in the Iron Age, whose history began when the Israelites first appeared in the hill country of Canaan.
Wikidata · Photo: Talmoryair, Public domain
25
c. 2250–1700 BC Central Asian archaeological culture
Usually shortened to BMAC, the modern archaeological name for a Middle Bronze Age civilisation of southern Central Asia, in the lands around the Aral and Caspian Seas. It is also called the Oxus Civilisation.
Every Wikidata item that is an ancient civilisation, or a civilisation, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 25 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
These belong on the list but Wikidata does not file them where the query looks:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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