Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Greek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

The Etruscans had established political control in the region by the late 7th century BC, forming the aristocratic and monarchial elite. The Etruscans apparently lost power in the area by the late 6th century BC, and at this point, the Italic tribes reinvented their government by creating a republic, with much greater restraints on the ability of rulers to exercise power.

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• Classical antiquity
• Classical antiquity, Archaic period (8th to 6th centuries BC)
• Classical antiquity, Phoenicians and Carthaginians
• Classical antiquity, Greece
• Classical antiquity, Iron Age Italy
• Classical antiquity, Roman Kingdom
• Classical antiquity, Classical Greece (5th to 4th centuries BC)
• Classical antiquity, Hellenistic period (323 BC to 146 BC)
• Classical antiquity, Roman Republic (5th to 1st centuries BC)

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