<timeline>
Preset = TimeHorizontal_AutoPlaceBars_UnitYear
ImageSize = width:870 barincrement:16
PlotArea = left:20 right:47 bottom:40
Colors =
id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
id:white value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:subtitle value:gray(0.8)
id:grid1 value:gray(0.7)
id:grid2 value:gray(0.88)
id:black value:rgb(0,0,0)
id:brown value:rgb(0.75,0.5,0.3)
id:events value:rgb(0.75,0.75,0.75)
id:mark1 value:rgb(0,0.7,0)
id:mark2 value:rgb(0.7,0,0)
id:years value:gray(0.5)
id:period1 value:rgb(1,1,0)
id:period2 value:rgb(1,0.75,0)
id:gray1 value:gray(0.2)
id:gray2 value:gray(0.4)
id:gray3 value:gray(0.6)
id:gray4 value:gray(0.8)
id:gray5 value:gray(0.9)
BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas
Period = from:-800 till:550
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:200 start:-800 gridcolor:grid1
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:200 start:-700 gridcolor:grid2
AlignBars = justify
BarData=
bar:title
bar:asia
bar:greece
bar:rome
bar:lives
bar:lives2
barset:events
PlotData =
mark:(line,black)
fontsize:S
width:14
shift:(5,-6)
bar:title
from:start till:-510 width:14 color:gray1
from:-510 till:-323 width:14 color:gray2
from:-323 till:-146 width:14 color:gray3
from:-146 till:300 width:14 color:gray4
from:300 till:end width:14 color:gray5
bar:asia
from:start till:-609 shift:(10,-4) color:brown text:Neo-Assyrian Empire
from:-559 till:-330 shift:(20,-4) color:brown text:"Persian Empire"
from:-285 till:-150 shift:(20,-4) color:red text:"Seleucids"
from:-133 till:392 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Roman Asia
from:392 till:end shift:(20,-4) color:brown text:"Sassanids"
bar:greece
from:-750 till:-510 shift:(20,-4) color:red text:Archaic Greece
from:-510 till:-323 shift:(20,-4) color:red text:Classical Greece
from:-323 till:-146 shift:(15,-4) color:red text:Hellenistic Greece
from:-146 till:300 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Roman Greece
from:300 till:end shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Eastern Empire
bar:rome
from:-753 till:-509 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Roman Kingdom
from:-509 till:-31 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Roman Republic
from:-31 till:286 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Roman Empire
from:286 till:476 shift:(20,-4) color:orange text:Western Empire
width:10
align:center
bar:lives
from:-638 till:-558 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Solon
from:-535 till:-475 shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:Herodotus
from:-470 till:-399 shift:(30,-2) color:yellow text:Socrates
from:-384 till:-322 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Aristotle
from:-287 till:-212 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Archimedes
from:-190 till:-159 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Terence
from:-102 till:-44 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Julius Cesar
from:10 till:64 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Paul
from:90 till:168 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Ptolemy
from:205 till:270 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Plotinus
from:347 till:420 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Jerome
from:454 till:526 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Theoderic
bar:lives2
from:-700 till:-630 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Lycurgus
from:-582 till:-496 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Pythagoras
from:-495 till:-429 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Pericles
from:-356 till:-323 shift:(0,-2) color:yellow text:Alexander
from:-276 till:-194 shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:Erathostenes
from:-190 till:-120 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Hipparchus
from:-70 till:-19 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Virgil
from:23 till:79 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Pliny
from:168 till:254 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Origen
from:280 till:337 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Constantine
from:354 till:430 shift:(28,-2) color:yellow text:Augustine
from:480 till:525 shift:(20,-2) color:yellow text:Boethius
align:left
barset:events
at:-776 text:First Olympiad
at:-582 text:Pythian Games
from:-499 till:-448 shift:(70,-4) align:center color:events text:Persian Wars
from:-431 till:-404 shift:(70,-4) align:center color:events text:Peloponnesian War
at:-390 text:sack of Rome
from:-323 till:-180 shift:(140,-4) align:center color:events text:Wars of the Diadochi
from:-264 till:-241 shift:(55,-4) align:center color:events text:First Punic War
from:-218 till:-201 shift:(60,-4) align:center color:events text:Second Punic War
from:-60 till:-53 shift:(48,-4) align:center color:events text:First Triumvirate
at:-49 text:Caesar's civil war
from:-27 till:-14 shift:(35,-4) align:center color:events text:Augustus
at:69 text:Year of the Four Emperors
from:96 till:180 shift:(102,-4) align:center color:events text:Five Good Emperors
from:166 till:180 shift:(60,-4) align:center color:events text:Marcomannic Wars
at:325 text:Nicaea
from:376 till:382 shift:(36,-4) align:center color:events text:Gothic War
at:393 text:Theodosian decrees
at:455 text:sack of Rome
</timeline>