This historical outline of the Levant,
its people, and the context in which they have existed comes solely from
empirical, verified, non-religious sources.
Though the information is sketchy, it is in truth all that is available
about a relatively unimportant region.
9400 BCE – The first
walled town of Jericho is built.
3500 BCE – Beginning of
the city of Hamoukar in northeastern Syria.
The
Amorites migrate from the Arabian Peninsula to the Levant.
3300-1800 BCE – Early Bronze
Age in the Levant. First proto-Canaanite city-states in the plains
and in the coastal regions.
3300-3050 BCE – The small town at Tel Esur halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv expands rapidly into what becomes the biggest town in the Southern Levant at 160 acres with over 6000 residents, dwarfing the contemporary sites at Megiddo, Hazor, and Jericho. Founded originally about 5000 BCE, the date which its temple was established, the relative megalopolis was abandoned about 3050 BCE.
3150 BCE – Upper and
Lower Egypt are first unified under Pharoah Menes.
3000-2250 BCE – First floruit
of the city of Ebla in western Syria (First Eblaite Kingdom) when it
dominates the Levant from Anatolia to Mesopotamia to the Red Sea. It was destroyed by Sargon of Akkad.
2900-2334 BCE – Classic era of
Sumer.
2900-2550 BCE – First Mariote Kingdom.
2700-1450 BCE – The Minoan
civilization on Crete dominates the eastern Mediterranean.
2686-2134 BCE – The Old
Kingdom period in Egypt, during which Byblos on the later Phoenician coast is a
virtual colony of Egypt.
2650-539 BCE – Elam
dominates the southern Iranian coast and steppe.
2500-2290 BCE – Second Mariote Kingdom.
2400
BCE -
First mention of the nomadic Amorites, or Amurru, a Canaanite-speaking people
living in what is now Syria.
2334-2154 BCE – The Akkadian
Empire.
2350 BCE – The records
of the city of Elba mention the Ganana.
2300 BCE – The city of Ebla mentions the Aramu, or Arameans, in the region of Aleppo.
2266-1761 BCE – Third Mariote Kingdom.
2250-2030 BCE – Second
floruit of the city of Ebla (Second Eblaite Empire).
2119-2004
BCE -
Neo-Sumerian Empire.
2100 BCE – The Canaanite-speaking Amorites
of the Levant begin migrating east to Mesopotamia.
2030-1640 BCE – The Middle
Kingdom period in Egypt.
2025-1809 BCE – Old Assyrian
Empire.
2000-1800 BCE – Third floruit
of (now Amorite) Ebla (Third Eblaite Kingdom).
2000-1200 BCE – The kingdom of Amurru.
2000-1340 BCE – The kingdom of Qatna.
2000 BCE – The
Execration Texts curse the city of Rusalimum (Jerusalem), whose patron deity is
the Canaanite god of dusk, Shalim.
1894-1595
BCE -
The kingdom of the Canaanite-speaking Amorites in Babylon in Mesopotamia.
1894 BCE – An Amorite chieftain named Sumuabum founds the city of Babylon in lower Mesopotamia.
1800-1190 BCE – The
Amorite city-state of Ugarit flourishes on the Mediterranean coast of what is now Syria.
1810-1525 BCE – The Amorite kingdom
of Yamhad in the northern Levant, southeastern Anatolia, and northwestern
Mesopotamia, ruled from the city of Halab.
1800-1550 BCE – Middle Bronze
Age in the Levant. The region is dominated locally by a coalition in
the north led by the city of Qatna and another in the central Levant by the
city of Hazor. The biggest rival of Qatna is the Amorite kingdom of
Yamhad, whose seat is at Aleppo, while Ugarit dominates the northwestern
coast. In the far south, the cities of Urusalim, Shachmu, and
Jericho dominate; Gezer and Lachish are also important. In the
central Levant, Megiddo, Ataroth, Beth Shean, and Yenoam are also
important. Canaanite cities line the eastern Mediterranean seacoast
from Ugarit in the north, through Arvad, Arados, Byblos, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre,
Akko, Dor, Jaffa, Ashdod, and Ashkelon to Gaza in the south.
1800 BCE – First mention
in Egyptian records of Retenu, the Egyptian name for the southern Levant, from which large numbers of Canaanites
first begin to appear in Lower Egypt in that year. Egytian records divide that northeast region
into Pekanan (roughly Gaza Strip/Philistia), Kananu
(Idumea/Negev-Judea-Samaria), Djahy (Galilee-Golan-Jordan Valley), Remnon
(Lebanon), Amurru (Yamhad, around Aleppo), and Kharu (west of Amurru, along the
coast, centered on Ugarit).
The
city of Elba falls to Yamhad and becomes its vassal.
1792-1750 BCE – Reign of
Hammurabi over the Babylonian Empire.
1750 BCE – The Sumerian
city of Mari refers to the Kinahnu.
1725-1650
BCE – The Canaanites
of the Fourteenth Dynasty rule Lower Egypt from Avaris at the same time as the
Kemitic Thirteenth Dynasty rules Upper Egypt from Memphis.
1650-1530
BCE – The
Canaanite-dominated Hyksos rule Lower Egypt from Avaris as the Fifteenth,
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Dynasties. Upper Egypt, ruled from Thebes,
remains autonomous, though perhaps as vassals, at least in the beginning.
1650 BCE –
A giant space object explodes of a Canaanite city at what is now Tall el
Hammam, Jordan, vaporizing its residents, melting bricks and metal, and burnign
everything else in it. Shockwaves also
destroy the smaller cities at Tall es-Sultan 14 miles to the east (Jericho),
Tell Nimrin, and other sites about the north of the Dead Sea. Afterwards, the region remains sparsely
inhabited for centuries.
1600 BCE – The upper
Mesopotamian city of Nuri refers to the Kinanhnu.
1595-1180 BCE – The Hittites
conquer Hatti in central Anatolia and establish an empire in Anatolia and the northern
Levant.
1595 BCE – The Amorites
are expelled from Mesopotamia by the invading Hittites who sack the city of
Babylon and return to the Levant.
1550-1130 BCE – Late Bronze
Age in the Levant. The inland Levant is dominated by two coalitions,
Qdesh in the north led by Kadesh (in southern Syria but north of Damascus), and
Djahy in the central region (roughly the same as Galilee) led by Hazor, unquestionably
the most prominent city in the whole area, with a lower city of 180 acres to
Megiddo’s lower city of just 12 acres (their upper cities were roughly equal).
The southern Levant, under the more direct suzerainty of Egypt, is less
prominent and greatly reduced but still inhabited. The Egyptian administration center is in Gaza,
which has a temple to Amun.
The
city-states and states in the Levant with which the Pharoahs correspond include
those of Jerusalem, Shechem, Ugarit, Qatna, Amurru, Byblos, Beirut, Sidon,
Tyre, Enisasi in Amqu (Bekaa), Lachish, Kadesh, Ruhiza, Damascus, Kumidi (in West
Bekaa), Acre, Megiddo, Gezer, Gaza, Ashkelon, Taanach, Hazor, Achshaph, Qiltu, Arasni,
Pella, Ruhizzi, Yursa, Tubu, Naziba, Kanatha, Yenoam, and many others.
1550-1069 BCE – The New
Kingdom period in Egypt.
1550 BCE – Pharoah
Ahmose I of the Eighteenth Dynasty expels the Hyksos from Egypt and establishes
the Way of Horus, a line of forts, from Lower Egypt to Gaza, which becomes the
seat of Egyptian rule of a buffer zone in southern Canaan. As part of his campaign he destroys the city
of Jericho in central Canaan and other sites as well, most notably Sharuhen in
the Negev (Tell al-Farah South) after a three year siege. Jericho and the others are not rebuilt until
the 9th century BCE.
1531-1155 BCE – The Hurrian-speaking Kassites conquer and rule Babylonia.
1528 BCE – Ahmose I
campaigns to Djahy in the Levant, even reaching Kedem, on roughly the same
parallel as Byblos.
1507 BCE – Thutmose I
campaigns in the Levant, becoming the first Pharoah to cross the Euphrates
River, but encounters no resistance, only submission from rulers who
subsequently discontinue tribute, leading to another expedition to bring them
to heel
1504-1492 BCE – Pharoah
Thutmosis I campaigns in the Levant against the Mitanni and its allies. At the time, Egypt’s territory extends north
to Anatolia.
1500-1300 BCE – Kingdom of
the Hurrian-speaking Mitanni in upper Mesopotamia, northern Syria (including
Ugarit, Aleppo, and Qatna), and southeastern Anatolia. Kadesh falls under its influence and
sometimes its power
1490 BCE – Pharaoh Thutmose
II’s army campaigns into Upper Retenu (Levant) to put down rebelling cities,
reaching the Euphrates
1480 BCE – Idrimi, son
of the king of Yamhad and ruler of the Apiru of “Ammija of Canaan”, captures
the city of Alalakh on the coast and becomes its king, accepted as a vassal by
the very same Mitanni overlords who had deposed him as king of Yamhad seven
years previously.
1479-1425 BCE – Reign of
Pharaoh Thutmose III, who conducts 14 campaigns in the Levant, co-regent with
his step-mother, Pharoah Hatshepsut, until 1458 BCE
1478 BCE – Hatshepsut’s
army campaign’s in Retenu
1457-1150 BCE – Egyptians
rule all of Canaan from Beth She’an (Scythopolis).
1457 BCE – Battle of
Megiddo, between the forces of Pharoah Thutmose III and Canaanite coalitions led by Kadesh and Megiddo. After the battle, the Egyptians lay siege to
Megiddo, which falls within eight months.
Egyptian rule of the Levant is then based in Beth Shean (later
Scythopolis) at the intersection of the Jordan Valley with the Jezreel Valley. Among the buildings is a temple to the god
Mekal.
1452 BCE – The records
of Thutmose III mention Damascus.
1450-1190 BCE – Heyday of the
northern Canaanite city of
Ugarit.
1450 BCE – A natural
disaster believed to be the eruption of the Thera volcano on Crete destroys the
seat of Minoan civilization, giving birth to the legend of Atlantis. Knossos enjoys a brief hegemony before being
conquered by the rising power of Mycenae.
In
the same year, Thutmose III wins a major victory over the Levantine forces at
the Battle of Kadesh of that year.
1447 BCE – Thutmose III
occupies Naharin, one of the border states of the Mitanni, in his eighth campaign
1445 BCE – Thutmose III
invades the Levant once again to resubdue Naharin in his tenth campaign
1438 BCE – In his
seventeenth military campaign (fourteenth in the Levant), Thutmose III wins his
second Battle of Kadesh
1424 BCE – First
campaign of Pharaoh Amenhotep II in the Levant, to at least the Orontes River,
at which he fought against the forces of Qatna
1420 BCE – Second
campaign of Amenhotep II in the Levant, up to Naharin, in which he later boasts
of capturing 89,600 prisoners, including, among others, “127 princes and 179
nobles of Retenu, 3600 Apiru,
15,200 Shasu, and 36,600 Hurrians.”
1418 BCE – Third
campaign of Amenhotep II in the Levant, up to Sea of Galilee
1401-1391 BCE – Reign of Thutmose
IV, “Conqueror of Syria”, who finally made peace with the Mitanni
1392-1056 BCE – The Middle Assyrian
Empire.
1351-1334 BCE – Reign of
Amenhotep IV/Akenaten, who introduced monotheism to Egypt in 1346 BCE, during
which a struggle for power broke out between Labayu of Shechem and his Apiru
allies and Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem which leads to Akenaten’s intervention with
Nubian troops. He maintained nearly all
of Egypt’s eastern holdings but lost Amurru (as well as Kadesh) to the Hittites
when its ruler, Aziru, defected.
1350-1330
BCE – The Amarna
letters, written mostly in Akkadian (some in Akkadian cuneiform but
proto-Canaanite language) between Pharaoh Akhenaten in Akhetaten to vassals in
Retenu and Amurru, including, along with several others:
*Abdi-Heba,
king of Urusalim
*Labalya,
king of Shachmu
Mistu,
king of Ugarit
Akizzi,
king of Qatna
Abdi-Asirta,
king of Amurru
Rib-Hadda,
king of Gubal (Byblos)
Ili-Rapih,
king of Gubal (after Rib-Haddi)
Ammunira,
king of Beruta
Zimriddi,
king of Zidon
Abi-Milki,
king of Tyre
Aziri,
king of Amurru (after Abdi-Asirti)
Shuttarna
II, king of Mittani
Abdi-Risa,
king of Amqu (Beqaa)
Etakkama,
king of Q'dash
Arzawija,
king of Ruhiza
Biryawaza,
king of Damascus
Arahattu,
king of Kumidi (West Bekaa)
Zatana,
king of Acco (Acre)
*Biridija,
king of Megiddo
*Several
kings of Gezer
*Iahtiri,
king of Gaza
*Widia,
king of Asqalon
Rewaasa,
king of Taanach
1306 BCE – Kadesh, lost
to Egypt since 1306 BCE, is recaptured by the future Seti I.
1290 BCE – Pharaoh Seti
I campaigns in Canaan, recapturing Yenoam and Beth Shean, among other cities,
and recovering the lost territories of Kadesh and Amurru from the Hittites. The campaign is provoked by attacks upon
Egypt by a group of Shasu in the Sinai peninsula, whom his army battles on
their way into Canaan, in the records of the time identifying the Shasu with
the Apiru
1275 BCE – First
campaign of Pharaoh Ramses II in Canaan up to at least Beirut, where he erects
a stele commemorating his victory
1274 BCE – Second
campaign of Ramses II in Canaan in which he defeats the Hittite Empire at the
Battle of Kadesh, the largest chariot battle in history, but loses the city
1272 BCE – Third
campaign of Ramses II against rebellious states in Canaan, in which he
eventually retakes territory up into Syria, including Kadesh, and captures Edom
and Moab in addition to chasing a band of Shasu warriors across the Negev
1269 BCE – Seventh campaign
of Ramses II in Canaan, recapturing Dapur from the Hittites
1258 BCE – Peace treaty
between Egypt and Hatti at Kadesh mentions Sumur north of Byblos as Egypt’s
northernmost possession on the seacoast
1250-550 BCE – The Canaanite kingdom of Moab, capital at Kerak.
1230 BCE – The upper
city of Hazor is destroyed, most likely in a popular uprising.
1210-1100 BCE – The Elamite Empire.
1210 BCE – History’s first recorded naval battle, between the Cypriots and the Hittites
1208 BCE – The Merneptah
Stele and the Great Karnak Inscription recording that Pharaoh’s campaigns
against the Libu and the Sea Peoples include a victory over the Canaanite city-states of Gezer,
Yanoam, and Ashkelon, as well as Hurru and a landless people called Isiriar.
1206-1130 BCE – Collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations such as the Mycenaean kingdoms in Hellas, Anatolia, and the Aegean, including Cyprus; the Hatti (Hittite) Empire in Anatolia and Syria; the New Kingdom in Egypt and Palestine; and, later, the Middle Assyrian Empire. Southern Palestine becomes deserted except for
Philistia on the coast. This period also marks the migration into the Levant of the Arameans, at first dominated by Assyria but indepedent after its collapse.
1206 BCE – Pharaoh Merneptah allows the Shasu of Edom to bring themselves and
their animals into the kingdom for water during a major drought.
1200-1150 BCE – Bronze Age collapse of the Mycenean kingdoms in the Aegean and Anatolia, the Hittite kingdoms of Anatolia and Syria, and the New Kingdom in Egypt and Palestine.
1200-539 BCE – The merchant-warriors of the coastal city-states of Canaan, from
Arvad in the north to Dor in the south, dominate the Mediterranean region
culturally and economically, including giving the world the alphabet. Including Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut,
Tripoli, Haifa, and Jaffa, among others, this collection of coastal city-states
come to be referred to as Phoenicia by outsiders.
1200-900 BCE – Dark Ages in most of West Asia
1194-1184
BCE – The Trojan War
of the Achaeans of Mycenean Hellas (Greece) against the Wilusa confederation in
Anatolia at the south side of the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, with its seat
at Troy, or Illion. The Fall of Troy at
the end of the war.
1191 BCE – The city of
Ugarit is destroyed by the Sea Peoples.
1185-734 BCE – The Neo-Hatti
states in northern Syria.
1180-110 BCE – The Canaanite kingdom of Edom, based at
Bozrah until displaced by the Aramaic-speaking Nabateans in 168 BCE.
1180 BCE – Hattusa, the
capital of the Hittites, is burned to the ground, to remain desolate for half a
millennium
1178 BCE – The Battle of
Djahy between Ramses III and the Sea Peoples marks the beginning of the decline
of the New Kingdom’s power in the Levant.
Kadesh is destroyed the same year and hever reinhabited.
1175 BCE – Gath, Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Gaza fall to the Philistines,
invaders from the sea with a Minoan culture that soon fades along with their
language as they assimilate.
1155 BCE – Elam conquers
Kassite-ruled Babylonia.
1150 BCE – The Egyptian administration center at Beth Shean is entirely
destroyed by fire; a new Canaanite city rises on top of the ruins.
1150-1000 BCE – Southern Palestine experiences a drastic drop in native population at the same time the central highlands experience a rapid increase. Most notable at the sites in the central highlands is the lack of pig bones.
1135 BCE – Canaanites
from Tyre establish the city of Hippo (modern Annaba, Algeria) on the North
African coast.
1130-722 BCE – Early Iron Age in the Levant.
Southern area is deserted except for scattered hamlets and a few small
villages.
1130 BCE – The city of Megiddo, still showing signs of loyalty to and/or
domination by Egypt, is destroyed.
1115-734 BCE – The Arameans dominate most of the Levant.
1104 BCE – Canaanite
colonists found the city of Gadir (Cadiz) in Iberia.
1100 BCE – Canaanite
colonists found the city of Lpqy (Khoms, Libya), called Leptis Magna after the
end of the Punic Wars.
The new Canaanite city at Beth Shean (Scythopolis)
is conquered by the Philistines.
1056 BCE – The collapse of the Middle Assyria Empire allows the Arameans to become independent in the northern Levant, in which they establish several small kingdoms, including Aram-Damascus, from which they eventually spread into northern Palestine as far as the region later known as Galilee.
1000-332 BCE – The Canaanite kingdom of Ammon, with its seat at Rabath Amman.
950 BCE – Canaanite
colonists establish the city of Calpe (modern Gibraltar) in southern Iberia.
925 BCE – Campaign of Pharoah Sheshonq I in Palestine and the rest of
the Levant up to and including Damascus, concluding with the Battle of
Bitter Lakes. Inscriptions on the side of the Great Temple of Karnak
include among his vanquished foes nearly 150 towns, including Gaza, Megiddo, Aijalon,
Gibeon, Gathpadalla, Byblos, and many others, but no mention of Jerusalem,
Shechem, Jericho, Israel, or Judah.
Corresponding evidence (statues and inscriptions) has been found at
Megiddo, Byblos, and Damascus. Sheshonq
died three years later, however, and with him so did his conquests.
911-605 BCE – The New Assyrian Empire.
883-871 BCE -
Probable reign of Omri, king of Israel, a Canaanite hill tribe arising in central Palestine. He is probably the first
territorial king of Israel, and the land he ruled is called Bit-Humria, the
Land (or House) of Omri, in the records of surrounding countries.
878 BCE – Omri king of Israel founds the city of Samaria as his capital. He also embarks on a building/rebuilding
program that includes Gezer, Hazor, and Megiddo.
854-846 BCE – Conquest
of the Levant by Assyrian emperor Shalmaneser III, described by the Kurkh
Monolith, which portrays native forces as being led by Hadadezer of
Damascus, Iruleni the Hamathite, Ahab the Israelite, Aha Gindibui the Arabian,
Ba’asa of Ammon, Ahaabbu of Sir-il-la-a-a,
Matinubaal the Arvidite, and Adudnubaal the Shianian.
During
the reign of Ahab, Samaria expands exponentially and becomes fully integrated
into the cultural, economic, and political life of the region. Temples to several gods are built, including
to Yahuweh and to Baal.
843 BCE – Hazael, king
of Damascus, erects a stele in the city of Dan commemorating his victory over the
kings of Israel and of Bit-Dawid.
840 BCE – Mesha the
Dibonite, king of Moab, erects a stele commemorating his victory over Omri,
king of Israel, and Bit-Humria,
which possibly contains a reference to “Bit-Dawid”.
831 BCE – The city of
Qarthadast (Carthage, or New City) is established by colonists from the Canaanite city of Tyre. Qarthadast eventually rises to the
hegemony of the Phoenician colonies in the central and western Mediterranean.
830 BCE – The city of
Gath is destroyed by Hazael, king of Damascus, leaving the cities of the
seacoast as the only major concentrations of Philistine population and clearing
a major impediment to resettlement of the south.
9th cent.-587 BCE – A citadel at Tel Arad adjacent to a former
Bronze Age city in northern Negev includes a temple (“House of Yahweh”) with
graven images to Yahuweh and Asherah.
825
BCE -
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in Nimrud in Mesopotamia depicts
Jehu, son of Omri, of Bit Umria, and Parsua, or Persia (Pars).
803
BCE -
Adad-nirari III of Assyria conducts an expedition to the Levant, visiting
Hatti, Amurru, Tyre, Sidon, Edom, Philistia, Aram, and Bit-Humria
c. 800 BCE – Inscriptions at
Kuntillet Ajrud in Sinai mention Yahuweh, El, Baal, and Asherah, specifically blessings
“by Yahuweh of Samaria and by Asherah” and “by Yahuweh of Teman (“the south”, later called Yehud) and by Asherah.”
800 BCE – Bar Hadad
III, Aramean king of Damascus, erects in Aleppo the Melqart Stele, which
commemorates his father Hazael’s victory over Israel.
799 BCE – Canaanite
colonists establish the city of Attiq (Utica, Tunisia) in North Africa.
797 BCE – The Rimah
Stele of Adad-nirari III mentions Joash, king of Samaria.
770 BCE – Canaanites from Tyre found the city
of Malaka on the southern coast of Iberia.
c. 750 BCE – Inscriptions
at Khirbet el-Qom by “Uriyahu” mention Yahuweh and Asherah.
740
BCE - Tiglath-pileser
III defeats the rulers of several cities in Palestine, including Menahem of
Samaria. He makes Megiddo the seat of
the province he erects in the region.
c. 736 BCE – A temple is built at Tel Motza, 5 kilometers outside
Jerusalem.
734 BCE – The Assyrian
Empire conquers coastal Levant.
732 BCE – Assyria forms its Levantine possessions into the satrapy of Eber-Nari.
722-586 BCE – Middle Iron
Age in the Levant.
722 BCE – The Assyrian
Empire puts down a revolt by the Arameans, Samaritans, and Philistines. Refugees flood into southern Palestine, inhabiting it in large
numbers for the first time in more than five centuries. The account of Sargon II describes his conquest
of Samaria and the “whole house of Omri”, from which he forms the province of
Samerina.
701 BCE – Prompted by
Egypt and Babylonia, Yehud rebels against Assyrian overlordship under Hezekiah and
Sennacherib puts it down, though he has to return to Nineveh to stop a
rebellion there without taking Jerusalem.
700
BCE -
Canaanites establish a colony on the island of Malta, with their capital at
Maleth (modern Mdina).
678-549 BCE – The Median
Empire in Iran, southwestern Central Asia, northern Mesopotamia, and eastern
Anatolia.
650 BCE – Warriors from
southern Palestine establish a military colony on the island of Yeb (Elephantine)
in Egypt, complete with a fully functioning temple to Yahuweh and Anath-Yahuweh
presided over by a high priest of the Zadokite dynasty, which sits side-by-side
with the Egyptian temple to Khnum. The deities Bethel, Haram, Eshem, Nabu,
and Anath-Bethel are also mentioned in some of the papyri and worshipped there
as well, in addition to Khnum.
There
are also military colonies established near the northeast border towns
of Migdol and Tahpanhes-Daphnae, in Pathros, in Noph, and in the capital at
Memphis. Other Arameans (as they are invariably called in the Elephantine papyri from the time) make up part of the colony across from
Yeb at Syene (Aswan).
At
this time, there are also cult centers in central Palestine at Mizpah, Gibeon, Shechem,
and Bethel, with the latter being the most significant, and in southern Palestine at Lachish, Ta’anek, Beersheba, Deir’Alla, and elsewhere.
626-539 BCE – The Aramaic-speaking Chaldean
Empire.
600
BCE -
Canaanites from Carthage colonize the island of Sardinia, establishing several
cities such as Tharros, Bithia, Sulcis, Nora, and the capital, Kalaris.
597 BCE –
Nebuchadnazzar II (aka Lucifer) of the Chaldean Empire conquers the Southern
Levant, making Yehud a tributary client state after successfully besieging the
“city of Yehud”. The deposed and
deported king of Yehud, Jehoiachin, becomes the first Exilarch, or nasi, of the
Jewish community of Babylon in a line that lasts until 1040 CE.
586-63 BCE – Late Iron Age
in the Levant.
586 BCE – Nebuchadnezzar
II puts down a rebellion by Yehud, destroys its capital, and establishes it as
a sub-province of Samerina.
559
BCE – Koroush Kabir (Cyrus
the Great) becomes king of Parsa and of Ansan in Iran and promulgates the
world’s first Bill of Rights.
550
BCE – Canaanites found the city of Oea
(Tripoli, Libya).
Qedarites
from northern Arabia conquer the kingdom of Moab and it disappears as an
independent political entity.
549-336
BCE – The Achaemenid
Empire, with Aramaic as its official language and tolerance its official
stance toward various religions,
549
BCE - Koroush Kabir of
Parsa and Ansan completes the conquest of the Median Empire. One of his first acts is to severely restrict
the power of the Zoroastrian Magi.
547 BCE – Iran conquers
Ionia in western Anatolia.
539 BCE – Iran conquers
Babylonia, and along with it Syria, Phoenicia, Samerina, Yehud, and Philistia.
Koroush makes the region the 5th satrapy, or satrapy of Babylonia-Abar
Nahara, with Yehud still a sub-province of Samerina. Coinage in Yehud
from the period depicts the god Yahuweh on one side and his consort the goddess
Anath on the other.
The
religion of Yehud in the beginning of the period appears to be henotheistic,
moving into mononlatrism, and gradually becoming monotheistic under the
influence of Zartosht's religion, then in its strictly monotheistic phase,
imported by the conquerors. The name of Zartosht's chief deity, Ahura
Mazda, becomes Asara Mazas in Aramaic, or simply Mazas, which in Greek
becomes Moses.
525 BCE – Iran under
Cambyses II conquers Egypt and makes it the 6th satrapy.
500
BCE –
Canaanites from Phoenicia establish the city of Finike in Anatolia.
Also
about this time, the Samaritans first construct a temple atop Mount Gerizim.
499-449 BCE – Greco-Persian
Wars.
495
BCE -
Canaanite colonists from Qart Hadasht found the city of Tinga (modern Tangiers,
Morocco).
482 BCE – Mesopotamia
is split from the 5th satrapy as the 9th satrapy under
Xerses I
480 BCE – The First
Sicilian War, between Qarthadast and the Canaanites of Sicily and the Greeks of Magna Graecia.
450 BCE – The Greek
historian Herodotus publishes The
Histories, in which he defines the region approximately the same as
Mandatory Palestine as “Palaistine”.
This continues to be the Greek name for the region up to the present.
411 BCE – The temple to Yahuweh and the other
gods at Elephantine is destroyed by local devotees of the god Khnum, probably
as a result of the Hebrews recently adopted monolatry, which forbade worship
of any other god but Yahuweh.
410-340 BCE – The Second
Sicilian War.
407 BCE – Papyri exist
of correspondence of the Yahwists at Elephantine with the sons of Sinballidh
(Dalaiah and Shelemiah), an earlier governor of Samaria (which has a temple at
Mt. Gerizim), and Bagayavahu (aka Bagaos or Bagoses), Iranian governor of Yehud
(which has a temple at Mt. Moriah), asking permission for and help with
rebuilding it, both of which were given.
404-342 BCE – Egypt
reestablishes its independence under the 28th, 29th, and
30th dynasties, before returning to Iranian rule in 342 BCE.
350 BCE – Rabbinic
literature states that the temple destroyed in 70 CE had stood for 420 years,
which would make this the year it was completed (not counting Herod’s
renovation).
343 BCE – Sidon rises
in revolt, seeking independence on Egypt’s example, and Artraxerses Ochus burns
the city to the ground. He sends those
from Yehud who supported the revolt to the satrapy of Hyrcania, roughly Gilan, Mazandaran,
and northern Khorasan
342
BCE – Bagoas reconquers Egypt for Artraxerses Ochus.
334-323 BCE – Conquest of
the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, including the
Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Bactria, and northern India.
332 BCE – Alexander
conquers Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia, and Egypt. In Egypt, he establishes the city of
Alexandria, which has a large Jewish section from its very beginning, two of
the five districts of the city.
Around
this time, the senior male line to the priesthood in Yehud migrates to
Samerina, where they are made high priests in the temple on Mount Gerizim. The Judeans respond by going matrilineal on
them.
331 BCE – Samarian
revolt and subsequent occupation of Samareia by a garrison of Macedonian
troops.
330 BCE – The
Achaemenid dynasty falls to the Arsacids of Parthava (northern Khorasan).
323-30 BCE – The Ptolemaic
Empire in Egypt, Libya, and the Levant.
323 BCE – Ptolemy the
Great takes control of Egypt.
322-172 BCE – Wars of the
Diadochi, the successors of Alexander.
The central and southern Levant falls to the Antigonid Empire.
320 BCE – Onias I ben
Jaddua, progenitor of the Oniad dynasty, becomes high priest.
315-307 BCE – The Third
Sicilian War, which leaves Qarthadast in control of the entire island of
Sicily.
312-63 BCE – The Seleucid
Empire in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran (until thrown out by the Arcasids), and
Central Asia (until the rise of Graeco-Bactria).
301 BCE – Ptolemy’s
control of Palestina is firmly secured after the Battle of Ipsus. Greek cities and military colonies are established
throughout Palestina.
300
BCE-325 CE -
Dominance in the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia of Hellenistic philosophy:
Pythagoreanism, Sophism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Platonism, Peripateticism,
Skepticism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Electicism, Hellenistic Judaism, Neopythagoreanism,
and Plotinism.
Early 3rd century BCE – The Jewish
Torah in its five-book form is first published.
280-275 BCE – The Pyrrhic
War in Sicily, between the republics of Qarthadast and Roma on one side
and Magna Graecia, Epirus, and Samnium on the other.
274-271 BCE – First Syrian
War.
264-241 BCE – The First
Punic War, between the republics of Qarthadast and Roma.
260-253 BCE – Second Syrian
War.
256
BCE-650 CE – Graeco-Buddhism
in Central Asia influences philosophy and religious thought over a wide range,
west to the Mediterranean and east to China along the Silk Road.
256-125
BCE – The Graeco-Bactrian
Kingdom in Central Asia.
247 BCE-224 CE – The Arsacid
Empire of Iran.
246-241 BCE – Third Syrian
War.
242 BCE – Joseph ben
Tobiah is appointed tax collector for the entire province of Palestina and
founds the Tobiad dynasty, which becomes rivals to that of the Oniads.
228
BCE - The Canaanite
general Hasdrubal from the city of Qart Hadasht in North Africa establishes a
new Qart Hadasht on the Tartesian city of Mastia in southern Iberia.
219-217 BCE – Fourth Syrian
War.
219 BCE – Samareia
passes to the Seleucids after its governor, Theodotus of Aetolia, switches his
allegiance at the beginning of the war.
218-201
BCE – The Second Punic War, in which Roman general
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus conquers the city of Qart Hadasht in Iberia
and renames it Cartago Nova, which later becomes Cartagena.
202-195
BCE – Fifth Syrian War.
200
BCE-300 CE -
Peak of the Mediterranean/Southwest Asian Mystery Cults, including the
mysteries of Isis (Serapis), Eleusis (Demeter and Persephone), Orpheus,
Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele (Attis), Sabazius (in Thrace), Adonis (in the Levant),
and Iesous (in Alexandria).
198
BCE – Iudeia passes from the Ptolemaic Empire to that
of the Seleucids.
191
BCE - The Great Sanhedrin separates the office of the Nasi
(head of its assembly) from that of the High Priest.
185 BCE – High Priest
Simon II, son of Onias II, dies, and conflict breaks out between his sons Onias
III, pro-Ptolemy and anti-Hellenistic, and Jason, pro-Seleucid and
pro-Hellenistic. To the north,
cosmopolitan Samareia has always been pro-Hellenistic.
180-125
BCE -
Graeco-Indian Kingdom in the northern Indian subcontinent.
175 BCE - The Tobiads
eventually join the pro-Hellenistic party to remove Onias III and place Jason
on the throne of high priest. Jason
begins a program of increasing Hellenization, converting Jerusalem into a
Hellenistic city. Circumcision begins to
be abandoned.
170-168 BCE – Sixth Syrian
War.
168 BCE – The Aramaic-speaking Nabateans
establish a kingdom in Transjordan (Coele-Syria) with their seat at the city of
Petra, which becomes the hub of trade in the region. The displaced Idumaeans migrate to the Negev.
Former
high priest Jason makes a failed attempt to return to power and flees to
Sparta.
After
invading Egypt and being forced to withdraw by the Roman Republic, Antiochus IV
of the Seleucid Empire sacks Jerusalem and empties the temple of its sacred
objects, and also restores Menelaus to the throne of high priest. This he did in retaliation for the revolt of
former high priest Jason against his brother and in support of Ptolemy.
159-153 BCE – The actual
years of the First Judean Civil War, also known as the Maccabean Revolt (against the Seleucid Empire). At the end, Jonathan Apphus, the first ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty, is high priest, Judea is de facto independent, and the Ammonites have been conquered, bringing Gilead (Galaaditis) under Jerusalem's rule.
159 BCE – With the high
priesthood vacant after the death of Alcimus without a clear successor, civil
war breaks out in Judea.
154 BCE – Onias IV, son
of Simon bar Onias and brother of Jason and Menelaus, flees infighting and
slaughter to sanctuary in Egypt, where he sets up a colony and temple at
Leontopolis, called the Land of Onias in colloquial language.
153-37 BCE – The Hasmonean
dynasty rules Judaea as high priests from Jerusalem when Jonathan Apphus takes
the position after backing the winner in a Seleucid dynasty struggle, who happens
to be the same claimant backed by the Ptolemys.
For the next thirty-seven years, the Hasmoneans rule as clients of the
Seleucids.
149-146
BCE – Third Punic War.
132
BCE - Completion of the Septuagint, the first collection
of Jewish scriptures in a single body, written in Greek at Alexandria.
122 BCE – Approximate
date of the Samaritan Torah in its present form.
116
BCE – The Seleucid imperial power in the region disintegrates,
and the Hasmonean high priest at the time, John Hyrcanus, takes the title
Basileus, achieving independence.
110 BCE-525 CE – The Himyarite Kingdom, called the Homerite Kingdom in Greek, dominates the Arabian peninsula.
110
BCE – Basileus John Hyrcanus forces the Idumaeans to
convert to Judaism.
108
BCE – After a long siege, Hyrcanus destroys Samaria and
the temple atop Mt. Gerizim.
104
BCE – Basileus Aristobolus invades the kingdom of Chalcis, inhabited by the Itureans, a Aramean-Arab people spreading north along the eastern borders of Phoenicia. He conquers its southern region and forcibly converts its inhabitants. The northern part of the conquered territory becomes known as Iturea. The sparsely-inhabited southern part becomes Galil ha-Goyim, or Galilee, District of the Gentiles, and Aristobolus begins the practice of deporting
political undesirables there.
100 BCE-960 CE – The Empire of Aksum in northern Ethiopia.
90
BCE – Basileus Alexander Janneus conquers from the
Nabateans the region later known as Perea and forces it inhabitants to convert.
93-87
BCE - The Second Judaean Civil War, at the end of
which Basileus Alexander Jannaeus crucifies over 800 rebels at Jerusalem after
slaughtering their families in front of them by slitting their throats.
81
BCE – Jannaeus officially annexes Galil ha-Goyim to his kingdom and begins to populate it with
transplanted Judaeans.
67-63
BCE – Hasmonean, or Third Judean, Civil War. Aristobolus II, son of Alexander Jannaeus and
brother of then king and high priest Hyrcanus II, overthrows his brother and
assumes rule.
63 BCE – Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus conquers Greater Syria, bringing
a final end to the decrepit Seleucid Empire.
Syraea proper becomes an imperial province under a proconsularis. In Iudaea, Pompey restores
Hyrcanus II as high priest, though not as king, and Antipater of Idumaea becomes procurator over all the former Hasmonean lands.
Honi
the Circledrawer is stoned to death in Jerusalem.
57 BCE – Aulus Gabinius, new proconsul
of Syraea, rebuilds the city of Samaraea destroyed by the Hasmoneans. He also divides the former Hasmonean kingdom
into five administrative districts governed from Jerusalem, Sepphoris
(in Galilaea), Jericho, Amathus (in Peraea), and Gadara (south edge of the Sea of
Galilaea), and removes Samaraea from Jerusalemite jurisdiction, attaching it
directly to the province of Syraea.
49-45
BCE – Great Roman Civil War, between Caesar’s Populares
and Pompey’s Optimates.
47
BCE – Hezekiah ben Garon declares himself King of the
Jews and begins a rebellion in Galilaea that is put down by Herod the Idumaean, son of Antipater. Hyrcanus II is granted the title of ethnarch,
but in practice he reports to Antipater, who appoints his son Phasael as
governor of Jerusalem and his son Herod as governor of Galilaea.
44
BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar and Antipater I are both
assassinated. In the latter case, this
leaves the ethnarch, Hyrcanus II, in control of Iudaea.
43-33
BCE – Government of Roma by the legally-recognized
(Second) Triumvirate made up of Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavius, Marcus Antonius,
and Marcus Ameilius Lepidus.
40-37
BCE – Fourth Judean Civil War. Antigonus II Mattathias, son of Aristobolus
II, overthrows Hyrcanus and removes Phasael, mutilating the former and causing
the other to commit suicide. Herod flees
to Roma where is is proclaimed King of the Jews by the Senate.
36/37 BCE – Atretas IV of the Nabateans defeats Herod Antipas, ending a war that started over the latter divorcing the former's daughter, Phasaelis, to marry Herodias, widow of his brother Philip. Many citizens of Galilee and Perea credit Antipas' defeat to his murder of dissident preacher John the Baptist.
37
BCE – Herod overthrows Antigonus and assumes the de
facto as well as de jure status of King of the Jews. Hanameel the Egyptian becomes high priest,
though Herod replaces him the following year with Aristobolus III, brother of
his Hasmonean wife, Mariamne, and son of Alexander, son of Aristobolus II.
36
BCE - Lepidus is expelled from the Triumvirate, left with
only the title Pontifex Maximus. Octavius has control of Gallia,
Hispania, Italia, and Africa, while Antonius has Aegyptus, Graecia, Asia, and
Syria.
Herod has high priest Alexander assassinated,
returning Hanameel to the position.
32-30
BCE – Anthony’s Civil War, of Octavius against Antonius
and Cleopatra VII Philopater of Aegyptus.
31
BCE-10 CE – Rabban Hillel the Elder is nasi of the Great
Sanhedrin.
30
BCE - After Octavius awards the city of Samaraea to
Herod, he renames it Sebastos. On top of
the former site of the temple of Ba’al, Herod builds a temple to Octavius and
another to Kore.
Herod appoints Jesus ben Fabus as high priest.
27
BCE - The Senate of Roma grants Octavius the cognomen of
Augustus and he adopts the title “princeps senatus, princeps civitas”, making
him the first emperor and changing the Roman Republic into the Imperium
Romanum.
25
BCE-50 CE - Life of Iulius Philo Iudaeus of Alexandria.
23
BCE – Herod appoints Simon ben Boethus, the father of
his third wife, named Mariamne like his second wife, to the post of high
priest.
19
BCE – Herod builds the Fortress Antonia outside what
are then the city walls of Jerusalem, next to the Temple Mount, and adjacent to
that a shrine to the syncretic god Serapis next to two pools rededicated to the
god of healing Asclepius and the goddess of luck Fortuna.
13
BCE – Herod finishes building the city of Caesarea
Martima, which becomes the new capital of his kingdom.
10
BCE – Herod rebuilds the Samaritan temple on Mt.
Gerizim.
4
BCE – Revolt of Judas Sepphoraeus and Matthias bar
Margalus, in which their students cut down the Roman eagle above the Temple
gate.
Death of Herod the Great. Archelaus inherits Iudaea, Samaraea, and
Idumaea as ethnarch, Antipas inherits Galilaea, Peraea, and Decapolis, Philippos
inherits Ituraea (the Arabs unconquered by Aristobolus), Trachonitis, Batanaea, Gaulanitis, and Panaeas, and
Salome I inherits Paralia (Philistia).
Pesach revolt against Archelaus, reportedly
three thousand dead.
Shavuot revolt against Sabinus, Augustus' treasurer in Syria.
Idumaea, Iudaea, Peraea, and Galilaea rise in revolt
after the death of Herod the Great. A messianic pretender (and former slave of Herod) named
Simon leads the revolt in Peraea, another pretender named Anthronges that in
Iudaea, and Judas ben Hezekiah that in Galilaea, while Herod’s cousin Achiab
leads the rebels in Idumaea.
Caius, a general for Publius Quinctilius Varus, legatus of Syria, destroys the capital of
Galilaea, Sepphoris, and sells most of its population into slavery. Varus marches straight to Jerusalem only to find
the rebels have fled. In the aftermath,
over 2000 rebels are crucified, though Judas the Galilean remains free.
1
BCE – The city of Sepphoris is rebuilt by Antipas as
the city of Autocratis. The city
includes a Roman temple in the city center.
Initially, it is Antipas’ capital.
6
CE – Octavius Augustus deposes Archaelaus and joins
all his territories into a single sub-province called Iudaea with a praefectus
under Legatus Publius Suplicius Quirinius, proconsularis of Syraea, who
begins a tax census of the province. Revolt of Judas the Galilean.
The capital of Iudaea is moved to Caesarea Palestinae.
15-116
CE – The former province of Assyria called Adiabene,
centered on Arbela (Arbil in modern Iraq), exists as an independent kingdom
that is officially Jewish in religion.
20
CE-30 CE – Rabban Shammai is nasi of the Great Sanhedrin
after Shimon ben Hillel.
20
CE – Antipas builds a new capital at the village of
Rakkat on the shores of the Sea of Galilaea, renaming the city Tiberias, after
the current emperor.
30
CE – Gamaliel I ben Shimon succeeds Rabban Shammai as
nasi of the Great Sanhedrin.
Rioting breaks out in Jerusalem during Sukkot over
aqueducts into Jerusalem built by Pontius Pilatus, praefectus of Iudaea, using
money from the temple that is put down by legionaries beating the protestors
with staves.
Death of Isho Nasraya bar Miriam (Jesus the Nazarene, son of Mary), the prophet from Galilaea.
Succession of his brother Yaqub as leader of The Way.
36
CE – The Samaritan Prophet and his followers occupy Mt.
Gerizim in an attempt to rally their fellow Samartans for separation from
Iudaea. Pontius Pilatus, praefectus of
Iudaea, puts down the insurrection so brutally that Vitellius, legatus of
Syraea, sends him back to Roma.
38
CE – Riots against and massacre of the Jews in
Alexandria, provoked by the prefect Aulus Avilius Flaccus, for which he was
later executed by emperor Caligula.
40
CE – Riots between Greeks and Jews break out in
Alexandria.
41-44
CE – Marcus Iulius Agrippa reigns over Iudaea (and
with it Samaraea and Idumea) as Agrippa I, King of the Jews, while his brother
Herod rules over Chalcis from 41 CE.
44
CE – Death of Agrippa.
Herod of Chalcis inherits authority over the Temple, while the rest of
Agrippa’s realm again comes under direct Roman rule.
45
CE – The revolt of Theudas in Iudaea under procurator
Cuspius Fadus.
46-48
CE – Jacob and Simon (sons of Judas the Galilean) Uprising
against the procurator Tiberius Julius Alexander, a Jew from Alexandria.
48-70 – Reign of Agrippa II as King of the Jews, last of the line of Herod the
Great.
49 – Rumors of the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem by troops of
Ventidius Cumanus, procurator of Iudaea (Gentiles from Caesarea and Sebastos),
lead to riots which cause the trampling deaths of thousands in the city for Pesach and Matzot.
Rioting in the Jewish sector of Rome instigated by
“Chrestus”, perhaps in response to the incident above, leads to the Jews being
expelled from the city by emperor Claudius.
52 – Invasion of Samaraea by Galileans led by Alexander and Eleazar ben
Dinaeus, seeking revenge for Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem slain in the region. Cumanus leads his troop in killing many of
the militants and taking the rest prisoner.
Delegations from both sides to Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, proconsularia of Syria, lead to the crucifixion of the prisoners and the beheading of several
more Galileans and Samaritans involved.
56 – Assassination of the high
priest Jonathan ben Ananus in the Temple courtyard by Sikarii, then led by
Menachem, grandson of Judas the Galilean.
58 – Uprising of the messianic
pretender known as the Egyptian Prophet ending in a battle at the Mount of
Olives.
59 – An uprising by the Sikarii led
by an unnamed messianic pretender is put down by the new procurator, Porcius
Festus, with the deaths of all involved.
62 – A holy man named Jesus ben
Ananias appears in Jerusalem at Sukkot predicting the destruction
of the city. The priests and elders turn
him over to the procurator, Lucceius Albinus, who has him flogged, but
eventually lets him go. He eventually
dies during the Siege.
Death
of James bar Joses, on orders of Ananus ben Ananus, high priest. He is succeeded as leader of the Nazarenes by
his cousin, Simon bar Cleopas.
64 – After he is blamed for the
Great Fire of Rome, the emperor Nero blames the “Chrestians” and begins a
persecution of those in the city.
65 – After the procurator Gessius
Florus invades the Upper City of Jerusalem and seizes several leading men whom
he has scourged and crucified, rioting breaks out in which 3000 people are
killed. Zealots sieze the Temple Mount,
leading to a stand-off with Roman troops in Fortress Antonia. Tensions are dissipated by Agrippa II.
66-73 – The First, or Great, Jewish Revolt. Some
of the leaders of the various factions are:
Ananus
ben Ananus, former high priest, killed in Temple siege by Judean Zealots, 68 CE
Joseph
ben Gorion
Joseph ben Mattathias (aka Josephus), military governor of Galilaea until 67 CE
John
ben Levi of Giscala, leader of the Galilean Zealots after Josephus (messianic pretender)
Eleazar
ben Simon, leader of the Judean Zealots
Simon
bar Giora, peasant leader in Iudaea (messianic pretender)
Eleazar
ben Hanania, leader of Temple forces after Ananus
Menachem
ben Yehuda, leader of the Sikarii (messianic pretender)
Eliezer
ben Ya’ir, leader of the Sikarii garrison in Masada
Matthias,
leader of the 20,000 Idumeans
Monabazus
and Kenadaeus, leaders of 500 Adiabene troops, fight mostly with Bar Giora
Niger
of Perea
Silas
the Babylonian
John
the Essene
67 – Vespasian, with the Legio X Fretensis and Legio V Macedonica, and Titus, with the Legio Legio XV Apollinaris, begin crushing the revolt in Galilaea, which they finish the next year.
The Samaritans join the uprising in 67 CE, and Legatus Sextus Vettulenus Cerealis puts them down, destroying
the rebuilt temple on Mt. Gerizim and the city of Sebastos.
68 – Legio X Fretensis
destroys the community at Qumran, the monastery serving as the center of the
Essene sect.
Siege of Jerusalem in which the Zealots and the Idumaeans overthrew Ananus ben Ananus and the Temple Guard and took over the city of Jerusalem.
70 – Largely due to dissension among the Galilean Zealots, the Judean
Zealots, the Sikarii, and the Temple Guard and Idumeans in which the Sikarii
burn all the stored food to push the population to fight, Titus Flavius Caesar
Vespasianus Augustus takes Jerusalem and utterly destroys it, including the
Temple Mound. The Sanhedrin is
re-established in Yavneh along with the Palestinian Patriarchate, both headed
by the Nasi, who is then Yohanan ben Zakkai.
At the height of the siege, the Romans crucify five
hundred a day around the city walls.
Survivors of the siege of Jerusalem not crucified
are deported to North Africa to become the ancestors of the Maghrebim.
71 - Legio X Fretensis, under legatus Lucilius Bassus, the new governor of Iudaea, takes over the Western Hill, also known as Mount Zion and the Upper City. For building materials, they use stones from Antipas' palace.
72 – Vespasian builds the city of Flavius Neapolis on top of the village
of Mabartha, two kilometers from the ruined Sebastos.
Legio X lays siege to the fortress of Machareus, but before the legionaries finish building the ramp to the top of the wall, the defenders capitulate and Lucius Flavius Silva, now legatus for the Legion, allows them to depart unmolested.
Later in the fall, Silva and the Legion lay siege to the fortress of Masada in the south.
73 – Masada falls in 73. Two women and five children who hid in a cistern are the only survivors of mass suicide.
Tiberius Julius Alexander, Praefectus of
Aegyptus, is Titus’ second-in-command (later of the Praetorian Guard), and upon
returning to his territory destroys the temple of Onias in Leontopolis because
Vespasian fears it may become a center of dissent.
Revolt of Jonathan the Weaver, messianic pretender and survivor of Masada, in Cyrenaica, easily put down by Catallus, governor of the Pentapolis.
96 – James bar Menachem and Zoker
bar Menachem, grandsons of Judas bar Joses, are leaders of the Christians in
Palestina.
100 – Death of Hanina ben Dosa.
106 – Upon the death of Rabbel II
Soter, the Imperium Romanum annexes Nabataea and organizes it as the province
of Arabia Petraea.
115-117 – The
Second Jewish Revolt, or Kitos War, aka Rebellion of the Diaspora.
This set of conflicts is simultaneous with Trajan’s campaigns against
the Arsacids of Iran, which includes subjugation of the Jewish kingdom of
Adiabene and its absorption into the Roman province of Assyria. The Jews of Mesopotamia prove staunchly loyal
to their Iranian overlords, who have allowed them a great deal of autonomy
under their Davidic Exilarch.
The
wars in the west begins with an uprising by the Jews of Alexandria in the
aftermath of the conquest of Adiabene. The
praefectus of Egypt uses his remaining legion to put it down. But then the violence spreads to other parts
of both Lower and Upper Egypt. At the
same time, a messianic pretender named Lukuas rises up in Cyrenaica, he and his
rebels drive out the Gentiles as well as killing a quarter million of them, burning
temples and official buildings, their goal being to create a Jewish state. Later he and his rebels forge east to Alexandria
and burn every temple and most civic buildings relating to Rome as well, plus
the entire Jewish sector.
In
Cyprus, which is evenly divided, the Jewish half of the population rises under Artemion and
attacks the Gentile half, racking up a bodycount equal or surpassing that in
Cyrenaica, these rebels having similar goals of a Jewish state.
In Palestina, the revolt is led by Pappus and Julianus, who make their headquarters at Lydda.
Trajan sends Quintus Marcius Turbo to Egypt, where he defeats the army of Lukuas, who escapes to Palestina. There he dies at Lydda at the hands of the army of Lusius
Quietus, which has previously defeated the Jews of Edessa and Nisibia in
Mesopotamia.
The
Jewish quarter of Alexandria is completely destroyed, by the rebels. The Jewish population of Cyprus is
eradicated, that in Egypt drastically reduced, and the entire province of
Cyrenaica becomes a desolation.
122
- Publius
Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus establishes Colonia Aelia Capitolina
where Jerusalem used to be, largely for veterans of the Legio X Fretensis,
stationed in Palestina since the Great Jewish Revolt.
132-135 – The Third Jewish Revolt, or Bar Kokhba
War, led by messianic pretender Simon bar Kokhba, with Rabbi Akiva ben
Joseph as its spiritual leader. At the end of the war, the rebels casualties
number 580,000 according to Roman historian Dio Cassius.
After the war’s conclusion, Hadrian merges all the
provinces in the area as Syraea-Palestina and finishes the building of Aelia
Capitolina. The new city includes a freshly
rebuilt Temple Mount with a wall around it and temples to Jupiter (later
claimed as the site of the Temple of Herod) and of Juno and Minerva (later claimed
as the site of Herod’s Royal Stoa) atop it.
Nearby is a grotto to Venus (later claimed as the Holy Sepulchre and
earlier used to worship Adonis-Tammuz), a shrine to Asclepius (later claimed as
the pool of Bethesda), and a temple of Mercury (later claimed as the Upper
Room). Meanwhile in nearby Bethlehem,
the cave later claimed to be the site of the Nativity serves the same function
for followers of the god Mithras, having served previously as the birth place
of Tammuz and Adonis.
The refugees from this war became the first Jews of Arabia, later growing into some thirteen tribes in western central Arabia and four groups in the south. The remaining Jews in Judea were largely evacuated to Galilee.
In the meantime, Hadrian rebuilds the temple of the
Samaritans, who did not participate in the uprising, on Mt. Gerizim.
142 – The Empire revives the Sanhedrin and the Palestinian Patriarchate.
193-235 – The Imperium Romanum is ruled by a dynasty of Phoenician descent
that hails from North Africa, beginning with the assent of Septimus
Severus. The Jews who have supported him
in wars with various rivals flourish while the Samaritans who backed his rivals
decline.
193 – The province of Syraea-Palestina is divided into Syraea Coele
(essentially Syraea as we have it today), Syraea Phoenice (Phoenicia), and Syraea
Palestina (the remainder).
196 –
Septimus Severus builds Colonia Sebastia on the site of the former capital of
Samaraea.
219 – Abba Arika, aka the Rav, returns to his home in Babylonia after the
death of Judah ha-Nasi, under whom he had been studying in Usha, where the
Sanhedrin and academy were based after the Bar Kokhba War. In Nehardea, he establishes his own academy
that leads ultimately to the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud.
220 – The Ghassanids (Arabs) establish a kingdom in Coele-Syraea with their
seat at Jabiyah in the Golan Heights and convert to Christianity.
221 – Christian historian and traveler Sextus Julius Africanus of
Palestine mentions that the Desposyni live in the towns of “Nazara” and “Cochaba”
(probably in Peraea and Damascus) in the first use of the term for members of
the family descended from Jesus bar Joses.
224-651 – The Sassanid Empire.
224 – The Arsacid Empire in Iran
falls to the armies of the Sassanids in Fars, and the Sassanid Empire is
established by Ardashir I. Though officially Zoroastrian, it tolerates all
religions.
235-284 - Crisis of the
Third Century in the Imperium Romanum: the empire nearly collapses under the
weight of invasion, civil war, plague, and depression.
260-273 – The Palmyrene
Empire in Aegyptus, Syraea-Palestina, and southeast and south
central Anatolia.
266 – The Lakhmids (Arabs) establish
a kingdom allied to the Sassanid Empire with their seat at al-Hirah in southern
Mesopotamia.
270-420 - First
kingdom of the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and Gandhara.
273 – Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus defeats Palmyra and returns its territories to the Imperium Romanum.
284-480 –
Dominate period of the Imperium Romanum, so called for Gaius Aurelius Valerius
Diocletianus Augustus demanding to be addressed as Dominus, a practice
every ruler after him follows.
285 – Diocletian divides the Imperium Romanum into Eastern and Western halves
under himself at Nicodemia in the east and Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Herculius Augustus, the lesser of two equals, in the west at Roma.
289 - Legio X Fretensis, stationed in Jerusalem since the First Jewish Revolt, leaves, and Jews are readmitted to the city to live. None can remember exactly where upon Mount Moriah the Temple of Herod once stood.
293 – Diocletian divides the Imperium Romanum into four parts, known as
the Tetrarchy, and moves the capital of the West from Roma to Meliandum (Milan).
313 – The Tetrarchy system falls, leaving Constantine sole emperor, though
the system of smaller provinces grouped into twelve dioceses remains intact. He issues the Edict of Milan after his
mother, Helena, discovers the sites of the life of Christ and finds a fragment
of the True Cross.
314 – Syraea-Palestina becomes part of the new Diocese of Oriens.
318 – Eight of the Desposyni of the Levant, leaders of the continuing
Jewish Church, travel to meet with Sylvester I, Bishop of Roma.
325-1627 – The Jewish kingdom of Semien flourishes in East Africa until
conquered by and added to the Christian empire of Ethiopia.
325 – Constantinus Augustus convenes the
First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church at Nicaea, which upholds Athanasianism,
condemns Arianism, recognizes the See of Alexandria as nearly equal to Rome,
affirms the same for the See of Antioch but with a little bit less equality,
and establishes the status of the See of Jerusalem.
326-328 – Elena, mother of Constantinus Augustus journeys on a lengthy tour of Palestina to see the sites and relics of the life of Jesus. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesaraea, guides her on the tour, and the temple of Jupiter on Mount Moriah becomes the site of the Temple of Herod, the temple of Juno and Minerva, also on Mount Moriah, becomes the site of Royal Stoa, the grotto to Venus in the Lower City (earlier used to worship Adonis-Tammuz) becomes the site of the Holy Sepulchre, a shrine to Asclepius adjacent to Fortress Antonia becomes the pool of Bethesda, and the temple of Mercury in the Upper City the Upper Room. In Bethlehem, the cave then revered as the birthplace of Mithras (and earlier of Tammuz and Adonis) becomes the site of the Nativity.
328 – The Empire of Aksum adopts Christianity as its official religion.
330 – Constantine establishes Nova
Roma, later Constantinopolis, at the site of the city of Byzantium, making it
the senior capital of the whole Imperium Romanum.
337 – At the death of Constantine,
the Imperium Romanum is divided into three praetorian prefectures: the
Prefecture of Galliae (including Britanniae, Hispaniae, Germaniae, and
Tingitana); the Prefecture of Italiae (plus the Balkans and Africa); and the
Prefecture of the Orient (Thracia, Anatolia, Syraea-Palestina, Aegyptus, Libya). The Praefecti of these units have authority only over civil
administration. In addition to these regions, Roma and Constantinopolis
each have their own Praefectus.
341 – The Imperium Romanum carves
the province of Euphratensis out of Syria Coele.
350 – Compilation of the Jerusalem
Talmud.
351-352 – Revolt of the
Jews in Galilaea against Caesar Flavius
Claudius Constantius Gallus, led by Isaac of Diocaesarea and Patricius Natrona,
the latter a messianic pretender.
356 – The Imperium Romanum carves out
the Prefecture of Illyricum (Illyria, Dalmatia, Graecia, and Dacia), largely
from Italiae.
360-363 - The
reign of Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus, known as Julian the Apostate, the
last pagan ruler of the Imperium Romanum.
363 – Iulianus Augustus orders the
temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt, but the effort fails largely due to sabotage
by Christians, ambivilance by Jewish leaders in Palestina, and his own death in
battle against the Sassanids in Iran.
364 – Imperator Caesar Flavius
Jovianus Augustus orders the Library of Antioch burned and decrees the death
penalty for ancestor worship and for taking part in any pagan ceremonies, even
private ones. He also forbids
non-Christians from commanding Roman soldiers.
366 – Damasus I, Bishop of Roma,
convinces Flavius Valentianus Augustus to give him the title Pontifex Maximus,
becoming the first Pope in the modern sense of the word.
380 -
The Edict of Thessalonika, issued jointly by Flavius
Theodosius Augustus, Flavius Gratianus Augustus, and Flavius Valentianus
Augustus, makes Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Imperium
Romanum.
The royalty of Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen converts
to Judaism, and the elite and many of the common people soon follow.
381 – The Second Ecumenical Council at
Constantinopolis condemns Apollinarianism and recognizes the primacy of the See
of Constantinopolis over any other save Roma.
389-395 – Theodosian
War on Paganism in the Imperium Romanum.
390 – The Imperium Romanum reorganizes
the provinces of Greater Syraea into Euphratensis Prime (Hierapolis), Euphratensis
Secunda (Cyrrhus), Syraea Prima
(Antioch), Syraea Salutaris (Apamea on
the Orontes), Phoenice Paralia
(Tyre), Phoenice Libanensis
(Emessa), Palestina Prima (Caesarea Maritima), Palestina Segunda
(Scythopolis), Palestina Tertia (Petra), Arabia (Bostra), Osrhoene (Edessa),
and Mesopotamia (Amida).
391 - The Theodosian
Decrees outlaw several pagan religious practices. The eternal fire at the
temple of Vesta is extinguished and the Vestal Virgins disbanded. The
Serapeum in Alexandria, chief temple of the syncretic god Serapis, is destroyed
completely by a mob of Christians inspired by a decree from Pope Theophilus,
Bishop of Alexandria. The mob also destroys the Musaeum of the city with
its Great Library of Alexandria.
392 - Theodosius
Augustus closes the sanctuaries of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, bringing
the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries to an end.
393 - The last of the
ancient Olympic Games, banned after this year by decree from Theodosius
Augustus, who shuts down the Oracle of Delphi as well.
415 -
Mathmetician and widely-respected pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria,
daughter of Theon Alexandricus, the last director of the Great Library, is
pulled from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged through the streets of the
city to the Caesareum, where she is flayed with sea shells, dismembered, and
burned by a crowd inspired by St. Cyril of Alexandria.
Honorius
Augustus confiscates all pagan temples in the Imperium Romanum.
420-567 - Hephthalite
interlude in Bactria and Gandhara.
425 - In a joint
decree, Flavius Honorius Augustus and Flavius Theodosius Junior Augustus
abolish the Palestinian Patriarchate and the office of Nasi.
431 – The Third Ecumenical Council
at Ephesus condemns Nestorianism and affirms to Mary, mother of Jesus, the
title “Theotokos”. This precipitates the
Nestorian Schism, the secession of the Church in Iran and in Mesopotamia.
451 – The Fourth Ecumenical Council
at Chalcedon condemns Eutychian monophysitism, affirms the dual natures of
Christ, and publishes the Chalcedonian Creed.
This brings on the Chalcedonian Schism of the Sees of Alexandria,
Antioch, and Armenia.
453 - The method of dating Easter is
altered by Pope Leo I.
476-1461 – Byzantine period
of the Imperium Romanum/Basilea Rhomain
484 – Samaritan Justa Uprising. Afterwards, Flavius Zeno Augustus has the
temple of the Samaritans on Mt. Gezirim destroyed.
495 – Samaritan occupation of Mount
Gerizim and massacre of the chapter and garrison of the Church of St. Mary.
500 – Compilation of the Babylonian
Talmud.
525 – The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar falls to the Christian Empire of Aksum.
529 – Ben Sabar Revolt in Samaraea,led
by Julianus ben Sabar. Flavius Petrus
Sabbatius Iustinius puts down the revolt with the help of the Ghassanids,
slaughtering and enslaving tens of thousands. He also outlaws the
practice of Samaritanism.
The
Academy of Plato is closed by order of Iustinianus Augustus.
553 – The Fifth Ecumenical Council
at Constantinopolis attempts to reconcile the Catholic Church with the Syrian
and Coptic Monophysites by condemning the Three Chapters, the writings of
Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyprus, and Ibas of Edessa, but this merely
results in a schism by the Sees of Aquilea, Liguria, Aemilia, Meliadunum, and
Itria.
556-572 – Revolt in
Palestina begins with Jews and Samaritans slaughtering the Christians of
Caesarea.
567-647 -
Second kingdom of the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and
Gandhara.
602-628 – The
Byzantine-Sassanid War, the last conflict between Iran and the Imperium
Romanum, ends the centuries-old running conflict.
608 – Pogrom against the Jews of
Antioch.
610 – With the succession of
Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus, Greek becomes the official
language of the Imperium Romanum.
Revolts
by the Jews of Antioch, Tyre, and Acre against the Imperium Romanum, ending
with massacres in the first two cities.
614-629 – Revolt
against Heraclius Augustus. The Jews in Palestina rise up against the Imperium Romanum as allies of the Sassanids under Nehemiah
ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias. Nehemiah,
son of of the Babylonian exilarch and a messianic pretender, is killed by
Christians in Jerusalem the same year. The
revolt spreads to include the Jews of Tyre, Damascus, Cyprus, and Edessa. After the fall of Jerusalem in 614, the area
becomes a Commonwealth under the Sassanid Empire.
628 – The forces of the Imperium
Romanum decisively defeat those of the Sassanid Empire at the Battle of
Nineveh, ending the Romano-Perisan Wars once and for all.
629 –
Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus assumes the title Basileus tuv
Basileuv (Shahanshah) in honor of his defeat of the
Sassanids. He also changes the pronomen from Imperator Caesar to Basileus
and the cognomen from Augustus to Sebastos so that he is now Basileus Flavius
Heraclius Sebastos, with the empire now called the Basilea Rhomaion.
630-969 – The multi-ethnic Khazar Khaganate dominates the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus Mountains. Officially Jewish, it is an ally of the Imperium Romanum against the Sassanids and the Abbasids, and has close relation with the Jewish communities of Iran and the Levant. During the Middle Ages, it is second only to Al-Andalus as a center of Jewish culture and a haven of religious toleration, including Orthodox, Monophysite, and Nestorian Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and various national cults (Norse, Finn, Slav).
632-661 – The Rashidun
Caliphate of the Islamic Empire.
637-960 - The age
of the Masoretes, Karaite Jewish scholars in Tiberias and Jerusalem in
Palestina and in Sura and Nahardea in Mesopotamia, who edit the Tanakh into its
current form.
637 - Muslim Arab armies invade the
Basilea Rhomaion and conquer Syraea-Palestina, in which they erect Bilad
al-Sham, made up of five districts: Jund Dimashq (Damascus), Jund Filastin (southern
Palestina), Jund al-Urdun (northern
Palestina), Jund Hims (Homs),
and, later, Jund Qinnasrin (Aleppo).
639 – Muslim armies conquer Armenia and Aegyptus from the Basliea Rhomain.
642 - Muslim invaders defeat the
Sassanid armies decisively at the Battle of Nihawand.
650 - The official
version of the Quran is decided and published under Caliph Uthman ibn Affan.
651 – The Umayyad Caliphate adopts Iranian
administration and customs, but gradually imposes the Arabic language on the former
empire and its own new territories.
652 – Muslim armies conquer nearly
all of North Africa from the Basilea Rhomain.
654 – Muslim armies conquer Cyprus
from the Basilea Rhomain.
656-661 - First
Islamic Civil War, following the assassination of Uthman ibn Affan, between the
forces of newly acclaimed Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib and those of Muhammad's wife
Aisha bint Abu Bakr, Talhah ibn Ubaydallah, and Az Zubayr ibn al-Awwam.
It ended with the proclamation of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan as Caliph and a
peace treaty between him and Hassan ibn Ali.
661-750 - The Umayyad
Caliphate of the Islamic Empire, based in Damascus.
663 – Basileus Konstantinos
Pogonatos Sabastos moves the seat of the Basilea Rhomaion from
Konstantinopoulis to Siracusa in Sicilia.
665-689 – Muslim
conquest of North Africa from the Basilea Rhomain.
668 – The seat of the Basilea
Rhomain returns to Konstantinopoulis.
674 – Muslim armies subdue Greater Khorasan,
completing their conquest of the former Sassanid Empire.
680-692 – Second
Islamic Civil War, between Caliph Yazid ibn Muawiyah and Husayn ibn Ali at the
Battle of Karbala then continuing between the former and Abdallah ibn
al-Zubayr. The Battle of Karbala results in the permanent Sunni-Shia
split.
680 – The Basilea Rhomain recognizes
the First Bulgarian Empire as the dominant power in the Balkan peninsula.
681 – The Sixth Ecumenical Council
at Konstantinopoulis condemns Monoernergism and Monothelitism.
692 – The Quintisext Council in
Trullo affirms the Pentarchy of the Church order (Roma, Constantinopolis,
Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) and sets the Biblical canon.
698 - The Exarchate of Africa falls
to the Muslim armies of the Umayyads, except the city of Septum (Ceuta), which
remains in the Basilea Rhomaion under an autonomous comes.
710 - Julian, last Comes of Septum,
switches his loyalty from the Basilea Rhomaion to the Umayyad dynasty when he
needs closer allies in his fight against the Visigothi, leading to the invasion
of Hispaniae.
711-1492 – La
Convivencia in Al-Andalus, coexistence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
711 – The Mauri following the
Umayyads invade Hispaniae. Their
conquest of the peninsula is complete by 718 and they establish Al-Andalus.
718-1147 – The Golden
Age of the Sephardim, the Jewish population of Iberia under the regimes of
Al-Andalus.
732 – Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi of
Al-Andalus invades over the Pyrenees into Aquitania, which he conquers before
proceeding northward, only to be halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of
Tours, Tours being a major holy site to the Franks as the burial place of St.
Martin.
750-1258 – The (originally Khorasani based-)
Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad, brings about the Islamic Golden Age.
Scientists, philosophers, artists, writers, and engineers flourish in all parts
of the far-flung and often in-fighting empire.
Arab political and cultural influence wanes as Iranians and Turks move
to the forefront of the leadership in the Caliphate.
756-929 – The Emirate
of Cordoba, nominally subordinate to the Abbasid Caliphate, begun when a prince
of the former Umayyad dynasty overthrows the ruler of Al-Andalus.
760-795 - Term in
office of Anan ben David, credited as the founder of Karaite Judaism (first
called Ananism), as Exilarch, or nasi, of the Jewish community in Baghdad, a
rival to the traditional Exlilarch of Babylon.
787 – The Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea
condemns Iconoclasm and the doctrine of Purgatory, and also decrees that every
altar in every church should contain a holy relic.
819-999 – Samanid Empire
in Greater Iran.
847 – Muslim armies capture the
realm of the Lombards in southern Italiae in 847, and the region becomes the
Emirate of Bari.
850 – The Abbasids in Baghdad begin
to lose supreme military control, and politically the Caliphate subdivides into
autonomous and independent emirates, such as the Umayyads in Al-Andalus,
Idrisids, Aghlabids, Tulunids, Sajids, Hamdanids, Buyahids, Alids, Samanids,
and Saffarids, though all at least nominally acknowledge the authority of the
Caliph.
871 – The Basilea Rhomaion retakes its lost
lands in southern Italiae and forms them into the Thema of Longobardia.
900-1100 – Golden Age of
Karaite Judaism throughout the Muslim world.
909-1171 – The Fatimid
Caliphate, based in Cairo. Ismaili (a
sect of Shia) in thought, it begins in Tunis but soon transfers to Egypt before
spreading across North Africa and down the east coast of the Arabian peninsula.
929-1031 – The Umayyad
Caliphate of Cordoba.
929 – Emir Abd-al-Rahman III of
Cordoba proclaims himself Caliph, in opposition to the rival Abbasid Caliph in
Baghdad and the Shia Caliph in Tunis.
940 – Death of David ben Zakkai,
last Exilarch of the Jewish community of Babylon to play a major role in world
affairs.
960 – Forces under a Jewish female usurper named Gudit overthrow the ruling dynasty of Jarma, to which the seat of the Christian Ethiopian empire had been moved from Aksum, beginning the Ethiopian Dark Ages. Her descendants rule until 1135, when they are displaced by the Christian Zagwe dynasty.
963-1187 – The Ghazvanid
Empire in Iran and Central Asia.
965 – Sicilia falls to Muslim
invaders who establish the Emirate of Sicily.
In response, the Basilea Rhomaion unites the themata of Calabria,
Lucania, and Longobardia under the Strategos of Bari as Kapetan and Patricius,
forming the Katepenate of Italia.
966-1939 – The Kingdom
of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1569, and those areas of
the Russian Empire after 1795 (including western Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and
Maldova) serve as the main center of the Ashkenazi culture.
1009 – Out of outrage over fraudlent miracles
perpetrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Fatimid caliph
Al-Hakim bir-Amr Allah. Christians in Europe respond with expulsions and
pogroms against European Jews. This is the beginning of the first End
Times obsession since the primitive days of the Church and leads to the
Crusades.
1018 – War between the Basilea
Rhomain and the First Bulgarian Empire ends in the dissolution and surrender of
the latter.
1021 - The
Caliph of Fatima decrees in the Edict of al-Hakem that all Jews and Christians
living in the southern Levant must either emigrate or convert to Islam and
orders destruction of all non-Islamic places of worship. The majority of
Samaritans in and around Nablus convert.
1031 – The Caliphate of Cordoba
begins to disintegrate.
1037-1194 - The
Great Seljuk Empire.
1040 – The Berber Almoravid dynasty
of Morocco eventually rules the Western Maghreb and Al-Andalus from Marrakesh.
Death
of Hezekiah ben David, last Exilarch of Babylon in a line stretching back to Jehoiachin,
last Davidic king of Yehud, deposed and exiled in 597 BCE, and last Gaon of the
Talmudic academy of Pumbedita.
1054 – The Great Schism of the
Christian Church takes place when the Patriarch of Roma and the Patriarch
of Konstantinoupolis excommunicate each other.
1077-1256 – Khwarzemid
Empire in Iran, southern Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
1077 – Seljuk leader Suleyman bin
Kutalmish establishes the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia in territory taken from
the Basilea Rhomain.
1081-1086 – Rodrigo Diaz
de Vivar, the former alfarez to Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile better known as
El Cid (from al Seyyed), fights as general of the forces of the Muslim rulers of Zargosa,
leading Muladis, Moors, Berbers, and Malians.
1094-1099 – El Cid
conquers Valencia and establishes a multi-ethnic principality where Moors and
Christians live side-by-side.
1095 – The First Crusade begins in
1095 when Basileus Alexios I Komnenos Sebastos in Konstantinoupolis asks
Pope Urban II, as a fellow Roman, for assistance against the Seljuk Turks, and
he responds with the Council of Clermont to call up volunteers.
1096 – The so-called German Crusade
in which the flourishing Jewish communities along the Rhine and the Danube
Rivers are thoroughly destroyed.
1099 – The victorious Crusaders
establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality of Antioch, County of Edessa,
and County of Tripoli.
Edgar
Aetheling and many of his companions serve the Basilea Rhomain in the Varangian
Guard for a number of years.
1120 – The Almohad Berbers establish
a Caliphate that soons covers the remaining Muslim territories in the Iberian
peninsula.
1147-1149 – The Second
Crusade attempts to reconquer Edessa, but fails.
1147 – The conservative Almohads
replace the Almoravids on the Iberian peninsula.
The
North German and Danish Crusade against the Wends fails.
1171-1341 – The Kurdish Ayyubid
Sultanate. Founded by Salah al-Din Yusuf
ibn Ayyub and based in Egypt, this Sunni sultanate spreads over Libya and
Tunisia as well as the Levant and western Arabia.
1185-1550 – The Medieval
Inquisition.
1187-1192 – The Third
Crusade, against the armies of Saladin, by Imperium Romanum Sacrum ruler
Frederick I Barabossa, French king Philip II Augustus, and English king Richard
Coeur d’ Leon.
1192 – The Treaty of Ramla between
Richard the Lionheart and Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin) effectively
ends the rule of the Crusaders, who have already lost nearly all their
territories in the Levant to Saladin.
A
tiny portion of the Mediterranean coast around the city of Acre, held by the
Knights Templar, maintains the title of Kingdom of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the French establish the Kingdom
of Cyprus.
1198-1290 – The Livonian
Crusade by the Teutonic Knights.
1201-1925 – The Grand
Sharifs of Mecca rule the Hejaz.
1202 - The Fourth Crusade begins in
1202 with the intention of reconquering the Holy Land, but instead attacks the
Basilea Rhomain.
1204 – After the capture
of Konstantinoupolis, the Crusaders divide the conquered territory into
the possessions of the Republic of Venice (primarily Crete) and those of the
Imperium Romaniae (Latin Empire) and
its vassel states: Kingdom of Thessalonika, Principality of Achaea, Duchy of
Athens, and Duchy of Naxos. Rhodes becomes the headquarters of the
Knights Hospitaller.
The
surviving “Greek” portions of the empire include the Empire of Nicaea, the
Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus.
1209-1229 – The
Albigensian Crusade against the wealthy Cathari of the Languedoc.
1212 – The Children’s Crusade.
1217-1221 – The Fifth
Crusade, by the kings of Austria, Hungary, Jerusalem, and Antioch, attempting
to take back Jerusalem.
1219 – Genghis Khan invades the Kwarezmian Empire in Iran. In the next two decades, countless cities in Greater Iran are destroyed and the region’s population reduced from 2.5 million to just 250 thousand.
1224-1502 - Golden
Horde in Eastern Europe, western Urals, Crimea, region north of the Volga.
1224 – The “Greek” Despotate of
Epirus conquers the “Latin” Kingdom of Thessalonika.
1228-1229 – The Sixth
Crusade, by Frederick II of the Imperium Romanum Sacrum.
1230-1272 – The Prussian
Crusade, by the Teutonic Knights.
1238-1492 – The Emirate
of Granada of the Nasrid dynasty, at least nominally vassal to the Crown of
Castilla.
1238 – Mohammad I ibn Nasr
establishes the Emirate of Granada.
1248-1254 – The Seventh
Crusade, by Louis IX of France, attempting to relieve the Knights Templar in
the Levant.
1250-1487 - The
Karamanid Empire. Founded by Hoca Saddedin from Azerbaijan, the empire of
the former Seljuk general eventually conquered by the Ottomans is notable for
having a six-pointed blue star, which the State of Israel now calls the Star of
David but in medieval times is called the Seal of Suleiman, or Solomon as a
symbol for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian mystics, on its flag.
1258 - The Mongol armies of Hulagu
Khan invade Mesopotamia and destroy Baghdad, bringing an end to the Abbasid Caliphate.
1261 – The “Greek” Empire of Nicaea
reconquers the “Latin” Imperium Romaniae and reestablishes the Basilea
Rhomaion.
1261-1517 - The Shadow
Caliphate. The Mamluk Sultanate supports an Abbasid survivor of the
Mongol invasion to continue the Caliphate in Cairo.
1270 – The Eight Crusade, by Louis IX
of France, targeting Tunis in North Africa.
1271-1272 – The Ninth
Crusade, by Edward I of England, against the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in
attempted coordination with the Mongol Ilkhanate.
1285-1415 – Ifat
Sultanate in the Horn of Africa.
1291 – The Mamluk Sultanate captures
Acre, the last territory of the Crusaders in the Levant, ending the Kingdom of
Jerusalem, though the monarchs of Cyprus claim the title of King (Queen) of
Jerusalem until their own fall (to Venice) in 1489.
1298-present – The
Warsangali Sultanate has governed most of Somalia since the 13th century.
1299-1923 – The Ottoman Sultanate: At one time the most powerful state in the
world, the empire covered Anatolia, the Levant, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt,
North Africa, the Caucausus, Crimea, the Balkans, and the Danube Valley in
its peak
1302 – The island of Arwad off the
coast of Syria, the very last stronghold of the Knights Templar in the Levant,
falls.
1305-1378 - The “Babylonian
Captivity of the Church”, with the move of the Papacy to Avignon, France.
1307 – Philip IV of France arrests
all the Knights Templar in his kingdom and begins torturing false confessions
out of them. Several of the Templars are
recorded to have confessed to following “Bafomet”, with the accounts giving
various descriptions of this demon or false god; Bafomet, however, is a French
corruption of the name Muhammad dating back to the 13th century.
The
Seljuk Sultanate of Rum falls to the Ottomans.
1312 - Philip intimidates Pope
Clement V into disbanding the entire Templar order and turning over its assets
and surviving personnel to the Knights Hospitaller, though the order still
survives in Portugal as the Knights of Christ and in Aragon as the Order of
Montessa.
1340 – The Basilea Rhomaion reabsorbs
the “Greek” Despotate of Epirus.
1354 – The Ottoman Turks cross into
Europe.
1370-1526 – The Timurid
Empire covers Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.
1378-1417 – The Papal
Schism, with one Pope in Rome and another in Avignon; England supports the
former while Scotland, along with France, supports the latte.
1396 – The Ottomans finish conquering
the Second Bulgarian Empire.
1420-1750 -
Witch-hunt Crusades. The body count from
these is 60,000.
1431-1445 – The Council of
Florence defines Papal Supremacy and attempts to resolve differences between
the Patriarchate of Rome and those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and
Jerusalem to affect a reunion, but it ultimately fails. The chief sticking points are the Filioque
clause in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, Purgatory, and Papal Primacy,
the first being the question on which agreement is never reached.
1432 – The Basilea Rhomaion
reconquers the “Latin” Principality of Achaea.
1442-1443 - The
Crusade of Varna, a disastrous defeat for the Kingdom of Hungary,
the Principality of Wallachia, the Serbian Despotate, and the Kingdom of
Poland at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, which leads to the swift
conquest of the Balkan nations.
1453 – Konstantinoupolis falls
to the armies of the Ottoman Empire, and the Basilea Rhomain, or Imperium
Romanum, comes to an end. Mehmed II, Sultan of the conquering Ottomans,
assumes the title Kaysar-I Rum (Caesar
Romanus).
1456 – The Ottomans conquer the
“Latin” Duchy of Athens.
1461 – The “Greek” Empire of
Trebizond, fragment of the Basilea Rhomain independent since 1204, falls to the
Ottoman Empire.
1492 – Isabella I of Castille and
Ferdinand II of Aragon, having finished the Reconquista with the defeat of the
Emirate of Granada, last of the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula,
become rulers of all Spain. They
immediately issue decrees expelling Jews from the peninsula; most of the
Sephardim flee to the Ottoman Sultanate.
1501-1722 – The Safavid
dynasty rules Greater Iran, including all of Baluchistan, western Afghanistan,
all of Kurdistan, all of Azerbaijan, most of Armenia, and most of Mesopotamia.
1501 – Ismail I establishes the
Safavid Empire in Iran, which makes Athnashariyyah Shia Islam its official
religion.
1517-1924 – The Ottoman
Caliphate, based out of Konstantinople.
1517 – The Reformation begins.
1525 - The
Mikraot Gedolot, the "Rabbinic Bible" with Tanakh, Masoretic notes,
Aramaic Targum, and commentaries, is first published in Venice.
1526-1764 – The Mughal
Empire controls nearly all the Indian subcontinent and modern Pakistan.
1536-1821 – The Portugese
Inquisition.
1542-1860 – The Roman
Inquisition.
1542 – Pope Paul III establishes the
Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, which is
now called the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
1560 – The Counter-Reformation
begins.
1570 – The Ottomans conquer the
Republic of Venice’s Kingdom of Cyprus.
1579 – The Ottomans annex the “Latin”
Duchy of Naxos, last remaining vassal state of the former “Latin” Imperium
Romaniae.
1609 - Philip II of Spain decrees the expulsion of the Moriscos, the descendants of Muslims who converted Christianity, from Spain, a process which takes five years.
1624 – Death of Shelemiah ben Pinas,
according to Samaritan tradition the last high priest of the line of Eliezer
ben Aaron; he is succeeded by Tzedaka ben Tabai Ha’aba’tai, according to
tradition head of the line of Othmar ben Aaron.
1736 – Nader
Afshari overthrows the moribund Safavid Empire and becomes the last great
conqueror of the region, but his empire dissipates after his assassination in
1747.
1744-1818 – The House of
Saud rules most of Arabia, except for the Hejaz, as the Emirate of Dirayah.
1770’s-1880’s – The Haskalah,
or Jewish Enlightenment, begins in Central European Galicia and spreads
throughout Europe. Begun as a movement
under Moses Mendelssohn seeking freedom from the suffocating Talmud-only
education of Orthodox rabbis, it leads to Reform Judaism and assimilationism on
one hand and to Zionism on the other.
1796 – The Qajar dynasty comes to
power in Iran.
1798-1801 – Napoleon’s
campaign in Egypt and the Levant.
1801-1805 – First Barbary
War, between the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.
1813-1914 – The Great
Game, between the Russian Empire and the British Empire for control of Central
Asia.
1815 – The Second Barbary War,
between the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.
1818-1891 – The House of
Saud rules a reduced Emirate of Nejd.
1840 – The former Church of Ireland priest
turned Protestant evangelist John Darby, inventor of the doctrines of
dispensationalism and futurism, sets forth the foundations of restorationism,
the belief in the return of Israel to Palestine as a sign of the end times in a
series of eight lectures in Genevam essentially establishing Christian Zionism.
1853-1856 – The Crimean
War, of the Russian Empire versus France, the United Kingdom, and the Ottoman
Sultanate.
1878 – The first two permanent
colonies of European Jews are established in Palestine.
1880 – The Ottoman Sultanate divides
the Vilayet of Syria into the Vilayet of Damascus, the Vilayet of Aleppo, the
Vilayet of Beirut, the Mutasarrifate of Deir ez-Zor, the Mutasarrifate of Mount
Lebanon, and the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.
1891-1921 – The House of
Rashid rules much of Saudi Arabia once ruled by the Saudis.
1897 – Theodore Hertzl establishes
the World Zionist Organization to promote resettlement of Jews in Palestine and
eventual establishment of a Jewish State.
1914-1919 - The Great
War, also known as the First World War.
1916-1918 – The Arab
Revolt against the Ottoman Sultanate, initiated by Mecca Sharif Hussein bin
Ali.
1917 – The Balfour Declaration states
that the British government supports the creation of a Jewish homeland in
Palestine.
1920 – The League of Nations divides
the territories of the former Ottoman Sultanate, minus Anatolia, among the
victors in the recent war. To France
goes the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon while to the United Kingdom goes
Palestine and Mesopotamia.
1921 – Mesopotamia becomes
independent as the Kingdom of Iraq.
The
Emirate of Transjordan splits off from the British Mandate of Palestine.
1922 – Lebanon secedes from Syria.
1924-1925 – The Sharifian
Caliphate.
1924 – Mustafa Kemal Attaturk
overthrows the Ottoman Sultanate to establish the Republic of Turkey. He
abolishes both the Sultanate and the Caliphate along with the title
Kaysar-i-Rum and changes the name of Konstantinople to Istanbul, moving the
capital to Ankara. The Sharif of Mekka
declares himself Caliph, but his effort dissipates in a little over a year.
1925 – The Pahlavi dynasty comes to
power in Iran.
1932 – Adbul Aziz ibn Saud, king of
Nejd and of Hejaz, establishes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1936-1939 – Great Arab
Revolt against the British colonial rule and Jewish immigration into Mandate Palestine.
1941 – France surrenders its Mandate
over Syria.
1947-1948 – The Civil War
in Mandatory Palestine between the Zionist Jewish immigrants and the native
population, during the Haganah perpetrates the Nakbam the ethnic-cleansing of
the southern Levant of its native population.
1948 – End of the British Mandate of
Palestine. Zionist militias—Haganah,
Irgun, Stern Gang—attack Arab towns and villages in disputed areas, committing
massacres such as the one in Deir Yassin, which results in the expulsion of
750,000 native Palestinians, an event known as the Nakba.
1948-1949 – The
Arab-Israeli War when the Zionists declare the State of Israel within not only
the Jewish areas of Palestine but the territories it stole in the Nakba.
1956 – The Suez War. The United Kingdom, France, and Israel
together invade the Sinai with the intent of seizing the Suez Canal from Egypt.
1967 – The Six Day War. Israel launches pre-emptive strikes against
Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, capturing the Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan
Heights. Israeli Defense Forces kill
23,500 but lose only 983.
On
the third day, Israeli forces attack the U.S.S. Liberty, a U.S. Navy surveillance ship clearly flying the American
flag. The Israeli planes make three
runs, the first coming as sailors are sunning themselves on the deck. An Israeli torpedo boat fire five torpedoes
at the ship. Thirty-four sailors die,
another 171 are wounded.
1969-1970 – The War of
Attrition, between Egypt and Israel.
1973 – The Yom Kippur War. Israel on one side, with Egypt, Syria, Iraq,
and Jordan on the other, the sole instance in which Israel was not the
aggressor.
1975-1990 – The Lebanese
Civil War.
1978-present – The Afghan
Civil War.
1978 – Operation Litani; Israel
invades southern Lebanon up to the Litani River.
1979-1989 – Soviet
Intervention in Afghanistan.
1979 – The Iranian Revolution.
1980-1988 – The Iran-Iraq
War.
1982-2000 – The South
Lebanon Conflict, between Israel, Lebanon, and various proxies, begun when
Israel invades Lebanon.
1982 – Invasion of Lebanon by
Israel. Subsequent actions include the
massacre of 3500 men, women, and children in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee
camps perpetrated by the Falangist allies of the IDF under IDF guard.
1987-1993 – The First
Palestinian Infitada.
1990-1991 – The Gulf War.
2000-2005 – The Second
Palestinian Infitada.
2001-present – The War in
Afghanistan
2003-2011 – The Iraq War.
2006 – The July War in Lebanon, Israel
against Hezbollah.
2008 - The First Gaza War, aka “Operation Cast
Lead”
2009 – The Green Revolution against
the Islamic Republic takes place in Iran.
2011-present – The Arab
Spring in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Libya,
Kurdistan, Bahrain, and Syria.
2011 – Widespread protests take place
in Israel, with marches and demonstrators camping in the streets and public
squares. Meanwhile, the nonviolent civil
disobedience movement moves to the fore in Palestine.
2012 - Second Gaza
War, aka “Operation Pillar of Defense”
2014 - Third
Gaza War, aka “Operation Protective Edge”
“You have to
distinguish between two things – the economy and the stock market. The economy is the sum of all the goods and
services that are produced in the country every day. The stock market is something very
different. There is no economy and no
production of goods and services. There
are only fantasies in which people from one hour to the next decide that this
or that company is worth so many billions, more or less. It doesn’t have a thing to do with reality or
the economy.” – Stieg Larsson
