Ancient States

These are states and regimes that no longer exist. They are kept out of the test’s default comparison set and are labelled wherever they appear, so a defunct state is never presented as a present-day match without saying so.

• Ancient Egyptc. 3100–30 BC · no longer existsA Nile Valley civilization ruled by pharaonic dynasties through periods of unity and fragmentation. Sacred kingship, temples, and agricultural administration structured society; practices and institutions varied over three millennia.
• Democratic Athensc. 508–322 BC · no longer existsA city-state of Ancient Greece, Athens was the cradle of direct democracy, with citizens deciding the polis's course in assembly, although participation excluded women, foreigners, and slaves from political life.
• Spartac. 900–192 BC · no longer existsA militarist city-state of Ancient Greece, Sparta organized its whole society around war, with a mixed regime of kings and council, rigid discipline, austerity, and dominance over a vast subjugated population.
• Macedonian Empire336–323 BC · no longer existsEmpire formed by the conquests of Philip II and Alexander the Great, combining Macedonian military monarchy, Persian administration, Greek city founding, and Hellenistic cultural fusion over diverse territories.
• Persian Empire (Achaemenid)550–330 BC · no longer existsThe first great universal empire in history, Achaemenid Persia governed dozens of peoples through autonomous satrapies, roads, and tribute, tolerating local languages, laws, and religions under the absolute authority of the King of Kings.
• Roman Empire27 BC–AD 476 · no longer existsA vast empire of antiquity, Rome united military power, law, and centralized administration under the emperor, expanding across three continents and bequeathing language, laws, and institutions that shaped Western civilization.
• Kingdom of Israelc. 1047–930 BC · no longer existsA monarchy uniting the Hebrew tribes under Saul, David and Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel concentrated power in a king anointed by a prophet, with Jerusalem and the Temple as its religious center, the law of the Torah, tribal levies and expansion over its neighbors.
• Republican Rome509–27 BC · no longer existsAn aristocratic republic of antiquity, Rome balanced consuls, Senate, and tribunes of the plebs in a mixed system of elective magistracies, expanding across the Mediterranean through citizen legions and a strong cult of civic virtue.