Objective history of the Levant, its people, and their context

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”