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322 CE

This year falls in the Classical antiquity (c. 500 BCE–500 CE). Large empires rule much of Eurasia, among them Persia, the Maurya and Gupta states of India, Han China and Rome. Classical Greece, the spread of Buddhism and the rise of Christianity belong to this era, which ends as the western Roman Empire falls in the fifth century CE.

Within fifteen years

Civilization · Classical antiquity · Gupta EmpireGupta Empirec. 320–550 CEThe Gupta Empire ruled northern India in what Indians remember as a golden age. Science, mathematics, and Sanskrit literature flourished; the concept of zero took shape. Hun invasions ended it about 550 CE.

Civilization · Early Middle Ages · Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire330–1453The Byzantine Empire was the eastern half of Rome, which survived a thousand years after the west fell. Its capital Constantinople was the richest city in Christendom. Ottoman Turks took it in 1453.