Ancient history facts

The ancient world was stranger, cleverer and more familiar than most of us were taught. A tour, region by region.

Ancient Egypt

The Great Pyramid was the tallest human-made structure on Earth for nearly 4,000 years.
The pyramid builders were mostly paid labourers, not slaves, judging by workers' villages and tombs found nearby.
Egyptians used a form of toothpaste made from ingredients like salt, mint and dried iris flowers.

Mesopotamia

Writing was invented in Sumer around 3200 BC; many early tablets are accounts and receipts.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of literature.
Our 60-minute hour and 360-degree circle trace back to the Babylonian base-60 number system.

Ancient Greece

The Antikythera mechanism, built around 2,100 years ago, is often called the first analogue computer.
Eratosthenes estimated Earth's circumference remarkably accurately using shadows and geometry.
Athenian juries could have hundreds of citizens, chosen by lot to resist bribery.

Ancient Rome

Rome's aqueducts carried water for dozens of kilometres using only gravity.
The Pantheon's dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
Graffiti preserved at Pompeii includes jokes, election slogans and love notes.

Where can I read more ancient history?

Ancient Scroll is an endless, shuffled feed of real stories from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, archaeology and beyond — a calmer thing to scroll than the news. Tap any story to read it in full.