Artemisia, widow of Mausolus, builds him a tomb at Halicarnassus so spectacular that his name provides a new word - mausoleum

The theatre at Epidaurus is the earliest and best surviving example of a classical Greek stage and auditorium

The Qin emperor joins up earlier fortifications to create the Great Wall of China

The earth drawings of the Nazca people, known now as the Nazca Lines, are some of the largest works of art ever created

Antipater, a Greek author living on the Phoenician coast, lists the seven wonders of the world

Roman author Vitruvius writes De Architectura, now generally known as The Ten Books of Architecture

The Romans construct the massive Pont du Gard to bring water to the city of Nîmes

The Pantheon, roofed with the most spectacular dome of antiquity, is built in Rome by Hadrian

The rock tombs of prosperous Petra, now incorporated in the Roman empire, are carved in the cliffs as classical temples

Constantine founds several churches in Rome, among them the first St Peter's

Constantine's new churches in Rome introduce an important element in church architecture, the transept

The first church of Santa Sophia in Constantinople, begun by Constantine himself, is completed

The squinch, soon followed by the more sophisticated pendentive, proves a great boon to builders of domes

Belisarius, conquering the Vandals in north Africa, pioneers the strategic concept of the castle

The great domed church of Santa Sophia, bebuilt on the orders of Justinian, is completed after only five years of construction

The vast dome of Santa Sophia in Constantinople is supported on a square of four arches, making the most sophisticated use so far of the pendentive

Prince Shotoku Taishi, an enthusiastic patron of Buddhism, builds the Horyuji temple and pagoda at Nara

The Dome of the Rock is completed as a Muslim shrine on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

The style of architecture of early medieval Europe is Romanesque, in the sense of deriving from Roman examples

Pope Leo III consecrates Charlemagne's new palace chapel in Aachen, modelled on San Vitale in Ravenna

During refurbishment of the mosque at Kairouan, in north Africa, a high fluted dome is added

With the end of inconoclasm, the screen between the nave and the altar sanctuary becomes covered in icons in Orthodox churches

Work begins on a new cathedral in Durham, which will become an outstanding example of Norman (or Romanesque) architecture

The full flowering of the Romanesque style is seen in the nave of the abbey church at Vézelay, in France

Work begins on the exquisite palace chapel in Palermo, built for the Norman kings of Sicily