A Stone Age sculptor shapes a timeless image of female fecundity in the famous Willendorf Venus

The pharaoh Narmer celebrates a victory with a sculpted relief showing his personal dominance over the enemy

The sculptors of the Cyclades produce stylized and formal figures, mainly female, in white marble

The largest sculpture of the ancient world, a sphinx with the face of the pharaoh Khufu, is carved in situ at Giza

One of the regular sitters to the court sculptor Thutmose is the pharaoh's wife, Nefertiti

Massive stone heads carved by the Olmecs provide a dramatic beginning to the story of American sculpture

Ashurbanipal commissions a magnificent relief of a lion hunt for his new palace at Nineveh

An Olmec sculptor creates the piece known today as the Wrestler

Kritios sculpts a naturalistic male nude, now the earliest surviving masterpiece in a central tradition of Greek art

A life-size bronze of a racing chariot, with its driver and horses, is presented to Delphi to commemorate a victory in the games

Phidias sculpts a huge statue of the goddess Athena, to be the central feature of the new Parthenon

Myron sculpts the Discus Thrower, an outstanding example of the Greek ability to suggest movement

Phidias creates a massive statue of Zeus, covered in gold and ivory, to stand in the temple at Olympia

The Colossus, a giant statue of Helios the sun god, is erected beside the harbour of Rhodes

A great lighthouse, subsequently one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is built on the island of Pharos, off Alexandria

Antipater, a Greek author living on the Phoenician coast, lists the seven wonders of the world

A Venus is carved in marble, and centuries later becomes an ideal of female beauty after being found on the island of Milo

Hindu temple sculptors develop a sinuous and full-bodied style for the naked female form

A naturalistic style of Buddhist sculpture develops in the Gandhara region, part of modern Pakistan

Sculptors in the Roman empire develop the most brutally realistic convention in the history of portraiture

The bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, on the Capitol in Rome, begins a long European tradition of public sculpture

Ardashir, the Persian king, commissions a relief of himself in triumphant mood - carved high on a rock face at Naqsh-e Rustam

Small ivory panels, with Gospel scenes carved in relief, provide a delicate beginning to the story of Christian sculpture

Caves along the Silk Road are decorated with a profusion of carvings in the traditions of Mahayana Buddhism

The huge stone heads standing on Easter Island are carved and erected at some time between the sixth and seventeenth century AD