610 – 620s

Events in the 610s 5

• 330 – 610 The Early Empire (330–610) The Early Byzantine period spans from Constantine's founding of Constantinople to the death of Maurice and the accession of Heraclius. It encompasses the Christianisation of the Roman Empire, the fall of the West (476), Justinian's great reconquest of North Africa and Italy, the construction of Hagia Sophia, the Plague of Justinian (the first pandemic in recorded history), and the exhausting Persian wars that leave both empires vulnerable to the Arab conquests. This is the period in which the Roman Empire becomes the Byzantine Empire -- Greek in language and culture, Orthodox in religion, but Roman in law and institutional identity.
• 600 – 610 Persian wars exhaust the empire The wars of Maurice and Phocas against Sassanid Persia (572-628) drain Byzantine resources to the point of collapse. Phocas's brutal usurpation (602) triggers a Persian invasion that overruns Syria, Egypt and Anatolia. Only Heraclius's extraordinary campaigns (622-628) recover these territories -- too late to prevent the Arab conquests that follow within a decade.
• 610 – 1025 The Middle Period (610–1025) The Middle Byzantine period spans from Heraclius's accession to the death of Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer. It encompasses the catastrophic loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt and North Africa to the Arab conquests, the iconoclasm controversy that splits the empire for over a century, the conversion of the Slavs and Bulgars to Orthodox Christianity, and the Macedonian dynasty's military and cultural renaissance. The period ends at Byzantine apogee under Basil II, when the empire controls more territory than at any time since Justinian.
• 618 – 907 Tang Dynasty — China's cosmopolitan golden age Poetry, silk, Buddhism and the world's largest empire The Tang dynasty is widely considered China's cultural peak. Its capital Chang'an (modern Xi'an) was the world's largest city with over a million inhabitants, cosmopolitan with merchants, monks and diplomats from across Asia. The Tang produced China's greatest poets — Li Bai and Du Fu — and saw Buddhism flourish. Woodblock printing was invented. China's civil service examination system was refined into the model used for 1,300 years.
• 618 – 907 Woodblock printing invented in China Reproducing text at scale — precursor to Gutenberg During the Tang dynasty, Chinese craftsmen developed woodblock printing — carving an entire page of text and images into a wooden block, inking it and pressing paper against it. The world's oldest dated printed book, the Diamond Sutra (868 AD), was produced using this technique. It was brought to Europe via the Silk Road, where it inspired Gutenberg's movable type press six centuries later.