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| | | | World History timeline |
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| c. 200 BC |
| | | The earth drawings of the Nazca people, known now as the Nazca Lines, are some of the largest works of art ever created | |
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| c. 200 BC |
| | | Indian cavalrymen ride with their big toes in loops of leather or fabric - a first step towards the stirrup | |
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| c. 200 BC |
| | | Seafarers reach and colonize the Pacific island of Samoa | |
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| c. 200 BC |
| | | The oasis city of Palmyra acquires importance on the caravan route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean | |
|  | Palmyra
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| c. 200 BC |
| | | The Mochica develop a civilization, in the north of modern Peru, known for its realistic pottery sculpture | |
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| 196 BC |
| | | The Romans, after defeating Macedon, announce at the Isthmian Games that all Greek states are now free under Roman protection | |
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| 196 BC |
| | | The text of the Rosetta stone is chiselled into a black basalt slab in the three scripts hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic Egyptian, and Greek | |
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| 188 BC |
| | | Sparta's ancient political system comes to an end, but the ordeal by flogging lingers on as a tourist attraction in the temple of Artemis | |
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| c. 185 BC |
| | | Plautus and Terence, in the second and third century BC, create a Roman drama based on Greek originals | |
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| 183 BC |
| | | Hannibal, to avoid falling into Roman hands, commits suicide in the Bithynian town of Libyssa | |
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| 176 BC |
| | | The Yuezhi, defeated by the Xiongnu, move west - before eventually descending into Bactria and northwest India | |
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| c. 170 BC |
| | | Parchment is invented by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum, according to traditional accounts | |
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| 168 BC |
| | | Antiochus IV places a statue of Zeus above the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem, provoking violent reactions from the Jews | |
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| 165 BC |
| | | The Jewish leader Judas the Maccabee captures Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple | |
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| c. 160 BC |
| | | The Roman statesman Cato the Elder writes Origines ('Origins'), a history of Rome which survives only in fragments | |
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| c. 150 BC |
| | | The earliest inscriptions in an American script are those of the Zapotecs, from about this period | |
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| 149 BC |
| | | Rome picks a quarrel with Carthage to begin the Third Punic War | |
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| 146 BC |
| | | Carthage is destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War | |
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| 141 BC |
| | | Simon the Maccabee is appointed high priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, with the position declared hereditary in his family | |
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| c. 140 BC |
| | | The Greek astronomer Hipparchus is credited with the invention of the astrolabe, measuring the angle of sun or star above the horizon | |
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| c. 140 BC |
| | | The priestly Sadducees are confronted in the Sanhedrin by a new opposition party - the Pharisees | |
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| 139 BC |
| | | A secret ballot is instituted for Roman citizens, who mark their vote on a tablet and place it in an urn | |
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| 138 BC |
| | | Zhang Qian, a Chinese diplomat, begins a spell of twelve years as a captive of the nomadic horde, the Xiongnu | |
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| 133 BC |
| | | The tribune Tiberius Gracchus is murdered by a mob which includes Roman senators | |
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| c. 130 BC |
| | | The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, mapping the stars, observes but cannot explain the precession of the equinoxes | |
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| c. 130 BC |
| | | Hipparchus proposes a grid of 360° of latitude and longitude for mapmaking | |
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| 129 BC |
| | | Hipparchus completes the first scientific star catalogue, mapping some 850 stars | |
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| c. 126 BC |
| | | Zhang Qian reaches Bactria and is the first to bring news of western Asia back to China | |
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| c. 125 BC |
| | | Under the Han dynasty the Confucians become the official civil servants in China, with entry to the service regulated by examination | |
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| 121 BC |
| | | The Romans establish a province in the south of France, still acknowledged in the name Provence | |
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| 121 BC |
| | | The tribune Gaius Gracchus is murdered by an armed group, led by a consul, after which 3000 of his supporters are rounded up and executed | |
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| c. 120 BC |
| | | Antipater, a Greek author living on the Phoenician coast, lists the seven wonders of the world | |
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| c. 120 BC |
| | | Sima Qian undertakes (and carries through against unusual odds) a major survey of Chinese history | |
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| 106 BC |
| | | A caravan leaves China with goods destined for Persia - proof that the eastern half of the Silk Road is now open | |
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| 102 BC |
| | | The Roman general Gaius Marius defeats the Teutones, a German tribe which has made deep inroads into southern Gaul | |
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| 101 BC |
| | | A German tribe, the Cimbri, press into northern Italy until they are defeated at Vercellae and driven out of the peninsula | |
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