Sennacherib moves the Assyrian capital to a new site at Nineveh

Nebuchadnezzar comes to the throne of Babylon, beginning a prosperous reign of more than forty years

Cyrus, king of the Persians, takes Ecbatana, capital city of the Medes, and establishes the first Persian empire

An Etruscan dynasty rules in Rome and Etruscan influence is now dominant throughout central Italy

Darius I wins the Persian throne and ushers in the heyday of the Achaemenid empire

The rulers of Aksum, the first Ethiopian kingdom, claim descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

The kingdom of Magadha, with its capital at Rajgir (near modern Patna), emerges as the dominant power in north India

Philip II sets about making Macedon the most powerful state in Greece

Alexander the Great is born in Pella, the capital of his father Philip II, at the heart of the expanding Macedonian kingdom

Alexander, still only 33, dies in Babylon following a banquet

The spread of Greek rule by Alexander introduces the Hellenistic age, which will last for three centuries

In the carve up of Alexander the Great's empire, Ptolemy wins Egypt and founds the Ptolemaic dynasty – with himself as the pharaoh Ptolemy I

Alexander's corpse, hijacked by Ptolemy, becomes a sacred relic in Alexandria

Chandragupta Maurya seizes the throne of Magadha, in India, and establishes the Mauryan dynasty

Seleucia is founded as a new capital on the Tigris, eclipsing Babylon and recycling much of the older city as building material

Seleucus founds Antioch as a Greek city on the trade route between Mesopotamia and Europe

Asoka, a devotee of Buddhism, wins the Mauryan throne and establishes India's first empire

After 800 years the Zhou dynasty is brought to an end by the ruler of the Qin kingdom

The ruthless Qin dynasty establishes control over the whole of central China

In the Qin dictatorship, all Confucian books are burnt (except those of any practical use) and 460 Confucian scholars are executed

A delegate from imperial China establishes the kingdom of Nam-Viet with himself as king

The Qin emperor, Shi Huangdi, is buried at Xi'an with a vast army of terracotta soldiers

The Han, the first of the great Chinese dynasties, is established

The Parthians develop the site of Ctesiphon, on the east bank of the Tigris opposite Seleucia

Silla becomes the first of the three kingdoms of Korea, followed by Koguryo in 37 BC and Paekche in 18 BC