This is a list of ancient great powers. A great power is a nation or state that through economic, political or military strength is able to exert power and influence over not only its own region, but beyond to others.

The first recognized great powers came about in Europe after the Napoleonic era when the formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814.Webster, Charles K, Sir (ed), British Diplomacy 1813–1815: Selected Documents Dealing with the Reconciliation of Europe, G Bell (1931), p307.

Ancient Africa and Western Asia

Sumer and Akkad

Sumer Sumer is among the earliest known civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in southern Mesopotamia in what is modern-day Iraq in the 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language, and the city-states in the region. Multiple dynasties and empires ruled over the Sumerian city-states, the most influential one being the Akkadian Empire.

Hurrians

Hurrians The Hurrians were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. The Hurrian kingdoms were in Northern Mesopotamia and its people lived in the adjacent regions during the Bronze Age. The largest and most influential Hurrian state was the Kingdom of Mitani. The Hittite Empire included a large Hurrian population and the Hurrian culture had a significant influence on Hittite religion.

By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples, except perhaps in the Kingdom of Urartu. The Hurrian peoples were not incredibly united, existing as quasi-feudal kingdoms. The Kingdom of Mitanni was at its height towards the close of the 14th century BC. By the 13th century BC, the Hurrian kingdoms had been conquered by foreign powers, chiefly the Assyrians.

Babylonia

The profound political, social, and cultural influence imposed upon the Near East by the civilization known as the Ancient Babylonian Empire was the most pervasive in this historical period. The city itself, Babylon, positioned itself as a center of pivotal historical developments for centuries. There were 3 major Babylonian Dynasties: Amorite, Kassite, and Chaldean. This political entity was most predominate within the southern portion of Mesopotamia. It existed as an unremitting rival of the northern Assyrian Mesopotamians. Although it was assaulted and militarily overcome on several occasions, it did exist as a stalwart presence from the later 3rd millennium BC to the middle of the 6th century BC. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC, the Babylonian Empire was the most powerful state in the ancient world. Its capital, Babylon, was beautifully adorned by King Nebuchadnezzar, who erected several famous buildings. Even after the Babylonian Empire had been overthrown by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, the city itself remained an important cultural center. This period would be considered the zenith of Babylon's dominance in its two-and-a-half millennium history. Ancient Babylon was officially conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the late 6th century BC.

Assyria

Neo-Assyrian Empire In early times, the term Assyria referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur. Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia, the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital. The Assyrian homeland was located near a mountainous region, extending along the Tigris as far as the high Gordiaean or Carduchian mountain range of Armenia, sometimes known as the "Mountains of Ashur". The Assyrian kings controlled a large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian kingdoms, or periods. The most powerful and best-known nation of these periods is the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 934–609 BC.

Shalmaneser III (858–823 BC) attacked and reduced Babylonia to vassalage, and defeated Aramea, Israel, Urartu, Phoenicia and the Neo-Hittite states, forcing all of these to pay tribute to Assyria. Shamshi-Adad V (822–811 BC) inherited an empire beset by civil war which he took most of his reign to quell. He was succeeded by Adad-nirari III who was merely a boy. The Empire was thus ruled by the famed queen Semiramis until 806 BC. In that year Adad-nirari III took the reins of power. After his premature death, Assyria failed to expand further during the reigns of Shalmaneser IV (782–773 BC), Ashur-dan III (772–755 BC) and Ashur-nirari V (754–746 BC).

Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BC) its domination spanned from the Caucasus Mountains in the north to Nubia, Egypt and Arabia in the south, and from Cyprus and Antioch in the west to Persia in the east. Ashurbanipal destroyed Elam and smashed a rebellion led by his own brother Shamash-shum-ukim who was the Assyrian king of Babylon, exacting savage revenge on the Chaldeans, Nabateans, Arabs and Elamites who had supported him. Persia and Media were regarded as vassals of Ashurbanipal. He built vast libraries and initiated a surge in the building of temples and palaces.

Hittites

Hittite Empire

The Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom in the great loop of the Kızılırmak River, centered at Hattusa, in north-central Anatolia, from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Empire was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, northwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until as late as the 8th century BC.

The Hittites were also famous for their skill in building and using chariots, some of which could carry up to three men each, as the Battle of Kadesh demonstrated. The Hittites have been said to be pioneers of the Iron Age. Actual iron objects found at Hittite sites (such as Bogazköy and Alaca Höyük) don't give any indication of iron having been used functionally, although a few early Hittite sources make many references to many different types of iron objects. However, these are mainly temples' inventory lists, so the objects listed are there because of their 'ceremonial or intrinsic value' only. The Late Bronze Age Ḫattušili III letter which documents Hittite production and export of iron has been used to make the claim that the Hittites held a monopoly of iron at that time. However, there is literary and material evidence in other areas around the Eastern Mediterranean which seems to detract from this idea. The Hittites passed much knowledge and lore from the Ancient Near East to the newly arrived Greeks in Europe.

Hittite prosperity was mostly dependent on control of the trade routes and metal sources. Because of the importance of northern Syria to the vital routes linking the Cilician Gates with Mesopotamia, defense of this area was crucial, and was soon put to the test by Egyptian expansion under Pharaoh Rameses II. The outcome of the Battle of Kadesh is uncertain, though it seems that the timely arrival of Egyptian reinforcements prevented total Hittite victory. The Egyptians forced the Hittites to take refuge in the fortress of Kadesh, but their own losses prevented them from sustaining a siege. This battle took place in the fifth year of Rameses II (c. 1274 BC by the most commonly used chronology).

Phoenicia

Ancient Phoenicia

Phoenicia was a major power over the Mediterranean between 1200 BC and 539 BC. This ancient Semitic thalassocratic civilization was situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent and centered on the coastline of modern Lebanon. All major Phoenician cities were on the coastline of the Mediterranean, some colonies reaching the Western Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. The Phoenicians used the galley, a man-powered sailing vessel, and are credited with the invention of the bireme. They were famed in Classical Greece and Rome as 'traders in purple', referring to their monopoly on the precious purple dye of the Murex snail, used, among other things, for royal clothing, and for the spread of their alphabets, from which almost all modern phonetic alphabets are derived.

Carthage

Ancient Carthage was a Phoenician civilization based in North Africa, with its capital, the city of Carthage, located in present-day Tunisia. Founded by Phoenician settlers from the city-state of Tyre in the 9th century BC as a small trading colony, Carthage would soon grow and become independent. Carthage began expanding and creating colonies across the Mediterranean, becoming a major power in the region and coming into conflict with its neighbors.

The city-states of Ancient Greece created colonies in the Mediterranean that would rival Carthage, namely Syracuse (), which was founded in the 8th century BC by Corinthian settlers. Syracuse became one of the wealthiest and most powerful city-states in the region and it would rival Carthage for control of the central Mediterranean. The island of Sicily was sought by both Carthage and Syracuse, with both attempting to control the island, leading to the Sicilian Wars which were fought from 580 to 265 BC but were ultimately inconclusive with the Carthaginians retaining western Sicily and the Greeks retaining eastern Sicily.

The Punic Wars between the Roman Republic and Carthage began in Sicily, with Rome's expansionism causing war with Carthage. The First Punic War began in 264 BC and was a Roman victory, ending with the Treaty of Lutatius in 241 BC and the Romans annexing all of Sicily except Syracuse. The Second Punic War began in 218 BC, and during this war, the Carthaginians under the general Hannibal achieved many victories against the Romans, particularly at the Battle of Cannae, where the Romans were surrounded and annihilated by the Carthaginians. However, the Romans invaded Africa under general Scipio Africanus and defeated Carthage at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC and ended the Second Punic War in 201 BC with a peace treaty in which Rome conquered Iberia and reduced Carthaginian Africa and imposed an indemnity on Carthage and restricted its military. The Third Punic War began in 149 BC, when King Masinissa of Numidia took advantage of Carthage's treaty with Rome which prohibited Carthage from declaring war without permission of the Senate and began to invade Carthage and seize its territory. In 151 BC, Carthage sent an army but was defeated at the Battle of Oroscopa and Rome would declare war using this military action as a pretext for war. A Roman army landed at Utica in 149 BC, and despite the Carthaginians surrendering their weapons hoping to appease them, the Romans besieged Carthage. The Romans would lay siege to the city before launching a final assault in 146 BC and breaching the walls. Rome would then systematically destroy the city of Carthage and enslave tens of thousands of its inhabitants. Following the destruction of Carthage, Rome established the province of Africa and made Utica the capital of the province. From 49 to 44 BC, Carthage was rebuilt as a colony by Julius Caesar which would become Roman Carthage.

Ancient Iran

Elam

Elamite Empire