Ancient means belonging to the distant past, especially to the period in history before the end of the Roman Empire. They believed ancient Greece and Rome were vital sources of learning. + anciently an·cient·ly Salisbury Plain was known anciently as Ellendune
very old; "an ancient mariner" belonging to times long past especially of the historical period before the fall of the Western Roman Empire; "ancient history"; "ancient civilizations such as those of the Etruscans and Sumerians"; "ancient Greece