Ancient empires quiz: Can you match these lands to the historical powers that ruled them?

From the Andes to the steppes of Central Asia, great empires have waxed and waned. Can you match each territory to the culture that once ruled it?

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A centuries-old mosaic showing a map of of the holy land.
Can you match empires to their maps? Here, we see a sixth-century mosaic map from Jerusalem's Saint George Greek Orthodox Church.
(Image credit: Paul Biris via Getty Images)

Empires have shaped human history, often growing from a single city or cultural group into territories spanning continents.

Some empires rose through conquest, and others grew through trade or shrewd alliances. Their borders, captured in maps described by historians or revealed by long-forgotten burials and artifacts, show just how far their influences once reached.

Olivia Maule
Live Science Staff Writer

Olivia Maule is a science journalist whose beats include space, biotechnology and the environment. She holds a B.A. in biology and a B.S. in anthropology from the University of Florida and completed a master's degree in science communication at U.C. Santa Cruz. A 2025 AAAS Mass Media Fellow, she wrote stories and produced videos during a summer at El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico's largest newspaper, and has written for Eos, Mongabay, Science magazine and Stanford Report. Olivia is a native Spanish and English speaker. 

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