34 BC

c. 400 BC–AD c. 250	Central America [everyday life]	The Late Formative (or pre-Classic) period of Mayan culture takes place in Mexico. By 400 BC, large structures have been built at several sites in the tropical lowland jungle. In the highlands, people begin to put up large clay platforms, some the basis for temples and others for elite houses, flanking open plazas.
c. 200 BC–AD c. 200	South America [religion]	During this period the Nazca Lines are drawn in the desert along the south coast of Peru. These are enormous stylized outlines of animals, including a monkey, whale, spider, and hummingbird, and sets of parallel lines, some as long as 20 km/12 mi. They are believed to be a development of Chavín de Huantar art; they may have had religious significance, or they may have been connected with astronomy.
c. 85 BC–AD c. 52	East Asia [art]	The earliest known Chinese lacquer (found at Lak Lang in North Korea in modern times) is produced.
64 BC–AD c. 52	Syria, Palestine, Seleucid Kingdom, Rome [treaties]	The Roman general Pompey the Great arrives at Antioch in Syria and dictates terms: King Antiochus XIII of Syria is deposed and the Seleucid dynasty ends. Syria becomes part of the Roman provinces. Hyrcanus II and his brother Aristobulus II, rival claimants for the Hasmonaean throne of Judaea, bring their claims before Pompey. Pompey supports the claim of Hyrcanus, but makes Palestine into a Roman province, appointing Hyrcanus as high priest of the Jews but the Idumean Antipater as governor of Roman Judaea.
36 BC–31 BC	Rome [administration]	Roman triumvir Octavian cements his power: in 36 BC he is granted the traditional tribunician rights of sacrosanctity as a mark of honour; in 32 BC he makes his adherents and troops swear an oath of personal loyalty; and in 31 BC he is granted the first of nine successive consulships.
34 BC	Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Rome [administration]	Roman triumvir Mark Antony lapses into the life of an Eastern potentate with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, his wife since 37 BC, when he celebrates his triumph over the Armenian king Artavasdes in the style of Alexandria. In an episode known as the Donations of Alexandria, Mark Antony stages a pageant at which he and Cleopatra, dressed as the Egyptian gods Osiris and Isis, sit on golden thrones together with their children and Cleopatra's son Caesarion whom they declare to be the legitimate son of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar. They proclaim him king of kings, joint ruler of Egypt and Cyprus along with Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra's children are also named as future rulers of parts of the empire yet to be conquered. The declaration enrages the Roman triumvir Octavian, for he sees it as transferring Roman property into Greek hands.
34 BC	Armenia [wars]	The Roman triumvir Mark Antony invades Armenia and carries its king Artavasdes, whom he blames for his defeat by the Parthians in 36 BC, captive to Alexandria, Egypt.