| Date(s) B.C./B.C.E. |
|
|
|
| c. 3000 |  |
|
* Mesopotamia: Sumerian civilization; cuneiform writing
* Egypt: Nile valley civilization; hieroglyphic writing |
| c. 2200 | c. 1950 Abram and Sarai (Genesis 17:8) | covenant community, extended family, nomadic herders |
* Bronze Age
* Egypt: Old Kingdom * No. America: early Inuit society |
| c. 1800 | Joseph in Egypt
Israelites enslaved in Egypt |
agricultural society
patriarchal structure |
* Egypt: Age of Pharaohs
* Mesopotamia: Epic of Gilgamesh written (c. 1750) * Crete: Minoan civilization |
| c. 1250 | Moses, the Exodus
wilderness |
nomadic tribal migration | * China: Shang dynasty (c. 1480-1050) |
| c. 1210 | Joshua | invasion of Canaan | * Rise of India's civilizations |
| c. 1120 | Judges (Judges 1) | agricultural economy tribal villages | * Greece: c. 1190 Trojan War * China: Chou dynasty |
|
c. 1020
c. 1000 c. 965-922 |
Saul
David Solomon |
monarchy --multiple villages to kingdom | * Central America: founding of Mayan dynasties |
| c. 931-722 | writing of much biblical text
Early prophets (Amos) |
Solomon's kingdom divided: North, Israel;
South, Judah
722 Assyrians conquer Israel |
* North Africa: founding of Carthage by Phoenicians
* Greece: first Olympic Games; Homeric epics * Italy: founding of Rome |
| c. 732-540 | 621 Hilkiah finds Deuteronomy text
Editing of OT material Prophecies of Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk |
587 Babylonians conquer Judah, destroy Temple, deport people to Babylon |
* Persia: Zoroaster
* Greece: Aesop's Fables; Sappho; laws of Solon |
| c. 536-480 | Building of Second Temple
Prophecy of Zechariah, Haggai |
538 Cyrus allows Israelites to return to
Jerusalem; Judah a
Persian province |
* India: Siddhartha Gautauma, the Buddha (c. 563-483)
* China: Confucius (c. 551-479) * Greece: Archaic period |
| c. 480-397 | 480 Esther becomes Queen of Persia
458 Ezra sent to Judah 444 Nehemiah 397 Prophecy of Malachi |
Ezra's reforms; building of Second Temple | * Greece: Persian Wars; Classical Age; Pericles in Athens; Parthenon built; Socrates, Plato, Euripides, etc.; Peloponnesian War |
| 353-200 | 285-246 Septuagint translated in Alexandria | 333 Alexander the Great conquers Persian Empire; Hellenization begins | * Rise of Roman Republic |
| c. 200-100 | First books OT Apocrypha written | Seleucid heirs of Alexander rule Judea |
* China: Han dynasty
* Rome conquers Carthage, Greece, and Asia Minor |
| 168-165 | Maccabean revolt overthrows Seleucids | Jewish self-rule under Hasmoneans
c. 143 Essene community begins |
|
| 100-1 B.C. | c. 4 B.C. birth of Jesus
4 B.C. death of Herod the Great |
63 B.C. Romans invade, violate Temple; Judea becomes a Roman province
30 B.C.-180 A.D. Pax Romana (Roman peace) unites Mediterranean world |
* 73-70 B.C. Sicily and Italy: Romans defeat slave revolt led by Spartacus, crucify 6,000
* 30 B.C. death of Cleopatra; Rome annexes Egypt; Rome shifts from Republic to Empire under Augustus |