For many its the Roman empire or the Greeks. Similarly ancient Egypt. Or the British empire. Maybe the Japanese, Chinese and Norse as the next 3.
I have deliberately not mentioned time periods there.
These are the most commonly beloved. What are your favourites and why?
Not empires specifically but how religion shaped / influenced them. Basically the history of collective thought and value systems and how they came about. Christianity’s take over of Rome, Islam’s rise in the Arabian peninsula, Buddhism’s rise and fall in India, the Vedas etc.
The golden road, by William Darylmple has a good collection about Buddhism and religion from India and how it spread across the world.