Best 3rd Century Bce

The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath is a polished sandstone column erected by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. It is famously topped by a capital featuring four Asiatic lions standing back to back. This Lion Capital of Ashoka was adopted as the National Emblem of India, and its wheel desi...

The Zenon Papyri are a large archive of documents from Ptolemaic Egypt, written mainly in Greek and dating chiefly to the third century BCE. They concern Zenon of Kaunos, an administrator who worked for Apollonius, the finance minister of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and managed affairs connected with a...

The Etruscan Liber Linteus is a linen scroll containing lengthy inscriptions written in the Etruscan language. Dating to the 3rd century BCE, it represents the longest surviving example of this ancient script. The text’s discovery as wrappings on an Egyptian mummy offers unique insight into Etruscan...

Sanchi is a Buddhist religious complex located on a hilltop in Madhya Pradesh, India, best known for its Great Stupa. Commissioned by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, the Great Stupa is one of the oldest surviving stone structures in India. The hemispherical brick dome was later ex...

Anuradhapura is an ancient city in Sri Lanka that served as the island's first established capital from the 4th century BCE until the 11th century CE. It was a major political and religious center, recognized as the cradle of Theravada Buddhism in the country. The site contains massive brick stupas,...

Merv is a major archaeological complex at an oasis in present-day Turkmenistan, near the historic routes linking Central Asia, Iran, and the wider Silk Road. Successive settlements occupied the area from the Bronze Age through the medieval period, creating several adjacent walled cities rather than...

The Decree of Canopus is a priestly decree issued in Ptolemaic Egypt in 238 BCE during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes and Queen Berenice II. Surviving stelae present the text in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic Egyptian, and ancient Greek, anticipating the multilingual format of the Rosetta Stone....

The Cippus Perusinus is a stone monument from 3rd-century BCE Italy bearing a lengthy Etruscan inscription regarding a boundary dispute, making it vital for deciphering the language.

The Tabula Cortonensis is a 2nd-century BCE bronze tablet from Italy detailing an Etruscan legal real estate transaction, serving as the third-longest known Etruscan inscription.

Ancient Meroitic religious complex in Sudan (c. 3rd century BCE–4th century CE), featuring the Great Enclosure, one of the largest ancient monumental structures in sub-Saharan Africa.

A Hellenistic city in northeastern Afghanistan considered one of the easternmost Greek urban centers, established after Alexander the Great's 4th-century BCE eastern campaigns.

Nisa is an ancient archaeological site in Turkmenistan that served as the royal headquarters of the Parthian Empire around 250 BC, featuring monumental defensive walls and temples.