Ancient History Timeline Figures, Classical Style: Featuring Famous Works of Art!
Last summer I went a little nutty. See, I was SO excited that our curriculum recommended a timeline. SO SO excited that timeline figures came with it.
Until ...
I opened the packaging.
The timeline figures were ... not well done.
Like a coloring book. Humans with limbs and facial features out of proportion, oddly different line weights from one to the next, some tiny, some huge, some with pictures, some without. If I ran across the figures free on some website, I’d … keep looking. The fact that they came with a purchased curriculum still makes me shake my head.
So I asked myself the logical question: would I really want to laminate these and look at them on my family room wall FOREVER?!
Um. No.
I searched Google for ones I liked better.
I found these, which are super cute and have almost all the ancients I could want, plus a few our particular curriculum didn’t include. But the figures that were missing, well, they were missing. (They were free when I first wrote this post—sadly, the days of free resources are over. Almost. Keep reading!)
Plus, plus I was getting an idea.
Always dangerous.
I was having a vision of The Ultimate Timeline Figures. They would include all the ancients. They would feature classic art. They would be informational. And beautiful!
I searched. They didn't exist.
So OF COURSE I had only one option. I had to make my own.
So I did.
I printed them on paper and laminated them (cardstock would work too, but I found it unnecessary). We've been using them all year. See?
And you can too! Scroll down for the free download! (An actual FREE resource? Yes!)
This is a wall. This is a wall with a timeline. Any questions? (If you get that reference, you’re oooooold, like me)
Ancient History Timeline Figures Using Classic Art
That's right, classic art. I lovingly created all the cards I'd need, doing my best to ensure all images were public domain. And since it seemed silly to keep them all for myself, I thought I'd share them with everyone.
So here they are!
Each card has:
one key person and/or event with date (if available—i.e., I did not “date” creation because that can be touchy. Add or adjust dates with Sharpie as needed.)
a classic image
title/date of the historical painting
These are compatible, more or less, with My Father's World (I have used), Tapestry of Grace (what I have also used in the past and may return to because it’s my first, truest curriculum love), Mystery of History, Story of the World, Classical Conversations, RC History and more.
As you can see below I also used the super cute ones linked above. Because, hey, they're adorable and why not?
Organize Your Timeline With Washi Tape
Another tip: Washi Tape!
To organize our crazy timeline I put strips of colored Washi Tape and marked them off: "Europe" or "Cradle of Civilization/Middle East" or "Bible" or "Africa" or "Americas."
This proved to be a great way to see what was going on simultaneously in different parts of the world.
With the ancients there's not a lot going on (well, ok, there WAS a lot, but not a lot we have records of/study in history), so the timeline figs there are pretty thin.
The one problem we ran into consistently: too little wall space. We ran out of wall loooong before we ran out of history. If we relocate, we’d use a long hallway rather than the family room wall.
Ancient History Timeline Figures Downloadable PDF
Click below to download, and be sure to leave me a comment because I'd love to see how you put the cards to use. Really! (And thanks to those who have commented! You are awesome! Nobody comments on blogs anymore because they’re almost all infomercials full of ads and links to other people’s content. Not me, though!) Plus, you can now follow my timeline board on Pinterest if you want the scoop on new figures the moment I find (or make) them!
What do you say? Would you like these free printable timeline figures?
Ancient History Timeline Figures
Showing my new redesign to optimize legibility, give more space to images, and use a little less ink. PLUS!!! My original 36-card set has grown! It now includes 84 (EIGHTY FOUR!) figures!!! (The freebie has 66! Still a lot more than the original.) It carries you from creation to the Golden Age of Greece and includes key peoples and events from every major continent (obviously not Antarctica). You don’t even want to know how long it took me to find all the dates, images, and create these. Let’s just say it was a lot.
Since first designing this resource, I’ve added a shop. You can support this site and purchase the 84-Card, Updated and Redesigned set here, or sign up below for the FREE 66-Card set (still fully redesigned and updated!).
So, what do you think?
So all this is to say: download, print, share! Just pretty, pretty please don't re-post the PDFs themselves. Link back to this page instead, ok? Because I worked really, really hard on these.
If you’re loving this resource, you can support this site by purchasing the file from Teachers Pay Teachers. I only get a fraction of the cost, but my goal with the profits is to one day be able to … buy a cup of coffee for a friend. I have a long ways to go, and saying “no” to advertisers who want to turn my site into a pop-up-advertising nightmare isn’t helping, but someday, I know it’ll happen. The coffee part, not the pop-up part. ;-)
Update: I'm currently (2024) preparing to do a year of US History and will slowly build Exploration to Modern cards as time allows! I’m not a “professional printable creator” so “as time allows” really means: when all the other things are done!
Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when they’re ready!!!
I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...