The Imperial House of Japan is the family of the reigning Japanese emperor, which according to tradition goes back to Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor, said to have taken the throne in the seventh century BCE. The earliest chronicles, the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, present the emperors as descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Historians regard the first emperors as legendary, and the reliably documented line begins several centuries later, but it is nevertheless regarded as the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world. For much of Japanese history the emperors had little real power, which lay with the shoguns. Under the current constitution the emperor is a symbol of the state.
Before and after
- 8th century BCELibrary of Ashurbanipal
- from 700 BCE to 309 BCEArgead dynasty
- from 664 BCE to 332 BCELate Period of ancient Egypt
- from 664 BCE to 525 BCETwenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 660 BCEImperial House of Japan (traditional date)
- c. 657 BCEFounding of Byzantium (Istanbul)
- 642 BCEBirth of Nebuchadnezzar II
- 628 BCEBirth of Zoroaster
- from 626 BCE to 539 BCENeo-Babylonian Empire
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- c. 1,274 BCEConstruction of Abu Simbel
- from 8th century BCE to 3rd centuryClassical antiquity
- from 206 BCE to 220 CEHan dynasty
- 200 BCEOrigins of Nazca Lines
- 19 BCEConstruction of Western Wall
- from 375 CE to 568 CEMigration Period
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 7th century BCE.