History of "Palestine" 1273 BCE to 1948
The only time "Palestine" was ruled by "Palestinians" or any people from the Arabian Peninsula was briefly around 635 A.D.
"The only Arab domination since the Conquest in 635 A.D. hardly lasted, as such, 22 years...," the Muslim chairman of the
Syrian Delegation attested in his remarks to the Paris Peace Conference in February 1919.
"Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new
tool in the continuing battle against Israel... " Zuheir Muhsin, late Military Department head of the PLO and member of its
Executive Council, Dutch daily Trouw, March 1977
A.D.
1273 BCE
423 BCE
371 BCE
312 BCE
285-246
BCE
199 BCE
175 BCE
168 BCE
165 BCE
142 BCE
135-104
BCE
104-103
BCE
103-76
BCE
76-66
BCE
63 BCE
Ruler *
Israel
Iranian
Israel
Iranian
Israel
Greek
Israel
Egyptian
Israel
Greek
Israel
GreekSyrian
Israel
GreekSyrian
Israel
GreekSyrian
Israel
Israel
Conquest of Canaan ** under Joshua,
Babylon invades and destroys First Temple [Persian empire was based in modern day Iran]
King Cyrus issued decree to restore Jewish Nation
Battle of Gaza; Seleucus controls Syria and Babylonia [Seleucid empire was based in Macedonia,
northern Greece]
Rule of Ptolemy II
Seleucid monarchy occupies Judea **
Antiochus Epiphanes came to throne in Syria
Pagan idol set up in Temple
Macabean Revolt, beginning of Hasmonean dynasty
Shimon rules and gains Judean indepence
Rule of Yochanan Hyrkanus
Israel
Rule of Yehudah Aristobulus
Israel
Rule of Alexander Yannai
Israel
Rule of Salome Alexandra
Civil War: Hyrkanus vs. Aristobulus. Pompey intervenes, Conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey, Judea
becomes Roman Vassal.
Caesar appoints Antipater ruler of Judea
70
132-136
Israel
Roman
Israel
Roman
Roman
Roman
351
395
438
614
628
633-637
639
660
661
Roman
Turkish
Turkish
Iran
Turkish
Syrian
Syrian
Syrian
Syrian
47 BCE
The Romans conquer Jerusalem
Jewish revolt under Bar Kochba; final defeat of Judah and loss of political sovereignty, rename area to
"Palestine" **
Jewish revolt to end foreign rule; Roman Empire adopts Christianity.
Palestine part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, still called Judea or Judah.
Empress Eudocia allows Jews back to Temple site, misinterpreted by Jews as return to nationhood.
Persian conquest under Chosroes (with the support of a Jewish army).
"Palestine" reconquered by the Byzantines
Arab conquest; shortly afterward, attempt by Jews to restore their nation.
Muawiyah Arab governor.
Muawiyah is made the first Omayyad Caliph of Damascus.
Murder of Ali; Omayyad Dynasty begins.
750
Iraq
Last Omayyad Caliph defeated; reign of the Abbassid Caliphs of Baghdad (Persian, Turk, Circassian,
Kurd).
878
Egyptian
Ahmad, b. Tulun, a Turkish general and governor of Egypt, conquers Palestine; reign of the Tulunides
(Turks).
904
Iraq
The Abbassids of Baghdad reconquer Palestine.
906
Carmathians Inroads of the Carmathians.
934
Egyptian
The Egyptian lkhshidi princes conquer Palestine; their reign begins.
969
Egyptian
The Fatimid Caliphs of Cairo conquer Palestine.
969-971 Carmathians War with the Carmathians.
970-976 Turkish
Byzantine invasion.
1070-1080 Turkish
Seljuq Turks conquer Palestine.
1099
Crusaders
The Crusaders conquer Jerusalem, massacre the Jewish and Muslim populations; reign in parts of
Palestine until 1291.
1187
Crusaders
Saladin of Damascus, a Kurd, captures Jerusalem and the greater part of Palestine.
1244
Mongolian
The Kharezmians, instigated by Genghis Khan, invade Palestine; Jerusalem's population is
slaughtered, the city sacked.
1260
Egyptian
Mameluk Sultans of Egypt defeat Mongols at Ain Jalut, in Palestine; their reign begins.
1260
Egyptian
Mongol invasion; Jerusalem sacked.
1291
Egyptian
End of the Latin (Crusaders) Kingdom.
1299-1303 Mongolian
Mongol invasion.
1516-1517 Turkish
The Ottomans conquer Palestine.
1799
French
Napoleon conquers Palestine, but is defeated at Acre.
1831
Egyptian
Ibrahim Pasha, adopted son of Egypt's Viceroy, occupies Palestine.
1840
Turkish
Ibrahim Pasha compelled by the Powers to leave Palestine; Turkish rule restored.
1840
Turkish
English writers and statesmen begin to discuss the possibility of a Jewish restoration.
1871-1882 Turkish
First Jewish agricultural settlements.
1909
Turkish
Foundation of the all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv.
1917-1918 British
Allies occupy the whole of Palestine, east and west of the Jordan River; British military administration,
end of Ottoman reign.
1917-1918 British
Balfour Declaration granting "Jewish Homeland" internationally approved.
1920
British
British (pre-Mandate) civil administration; Turkish sovereignty renounced, treaty includes Balfour
Declaration
1922
British
Palestine Mandate; Jewish National Home confirmed.
1923
British
Palestine Mandate comes into operation.
1923
British
Seventy-five percent of Palestine is set aside as an independent Arab "Palestinian" state,
Transiordan.
1925
British
Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened.
1927
British
High Commissioners receive Commission for Transjordan.
1929
British
Arab revolt.
1936-1939 British
Arab revolt and civil war.
1946
British
Establishment of Arab state of Transiordan.
1948
Israel
End of Mandate for Palestine; establishment of State of Israel; Arab-Jewish war.
1948
Israel
Eastern Palestine-Transjordan-.occupies the West Bank area of Western Palestine, becomes
"Jordan," constituting over eighty percent of Palestine.
* For familiarity we cite the closest modern country which contained the seat of power at the time.
** Canaan, Judea and "Palestine" refers to both the East and West banks of the Jordan river, what is Israel and Jordan today..
Source: Joan Peter's "From Time Immemorial" Harper & Row Publishers
(with over 150 pages of well sourced footnotes) and
"History of the Jewish People - The Second Temple Era" by Mesorah Publications
WHAT DOES "PALESTINE" MEAN?
It has never been the name of a nation or state. It is a geographical term, used to designate the region at those times in history
when there is no nation or state there.
The word itself derives from "Peleshet", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as
"Philistine". The Philistines were mediterranean people originating from Asia Minor and Greek localities. They reached the
southern coast of Israel in several waves. One group arrived in the pre-patriarchal period and settled south of Beersheba in
Gerar where they came into conflict with Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Another group, coming from Crete after being repulsed
from an attempted invasion of Egypt by Rameses III in 1194 BCE, seized the southern coastal area, where they founded five
settlements (Gaza, Ascalon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gat). In the Persian and Greek periods, foreign settlers - chiefly from the
Mediterranean islands - overran the Philistine districts. From the time of Herodotus, Greeks called the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean "Syria Palaestina".
The Philistines were not Arabs nor even Semites, they were most closely related to the Greeks. They did not speak Arabic. They
had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs. The name "Falastin" that Arabs today use for "Palestine"
is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Greco-Roman "Palastina"; which is derived from the Plesheth, (root
palash) was a general term meaning rolling or migratory. This referred to the Philistine's invasion and conquest of the coast from
the sea.
The use of the term "Palestinian" for an Arab ethnic group is a modern political creation which has no basis in fact - and had
never had any international or academic credibility before 1967.
Though the definite origins of the word Palestine have been debated for years and are still not known for sure, the name is believed to be
derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew word peleshet. Roughly translated to mean rolling or migratory, the term was used to describe the
inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt - the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people - more closely related to the Greeks
and with no connection ethnically, linguisticly or historically with Arabia - who conquered in the 12th Century BCE the Mediterranean
coastal plain that is now Israel and Gaza.
A derivitave of the name Palestine first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century BCE when the historian Herodotus called the
area Palaistin?(Greek - Παλαιστ?νη). In the 2nd century CE, the Romans crushed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba (132 CE), during
which Jerusalem and Judea were regained and the area of Judea was renamed Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with
the land of Israel.
Under the Ottoman Empire (1517-1917), the term Palestine was used as a general term to describe the land south of Syria; it was not an
official designation. In fact, many Ottomans and Arabs who lived in Palestine during this time period referred to the area as Southern
Syria and not as Palestine.
After World War I, the name Palestine was applied to the territory that was placed under British Mandate; this area included not only presentday Israel but also present-day Jordan.
Leading up to Israel's independence in 1948, it was common for the international press to label Jews, not Arabs, living in the mandate
as Palestinians. It was not until years after Israeli independence that the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were called
Palestinians.
The word Palestine or Filastin does not appear in the Koran. The term peleshet appears in the Jewish Tanakh no fewer than 250 times.
CHRIST
Historian Flavius Josephus wrote one of the earliest non -biblical accounts of Jesus.
Flavius Josephus, original name Joseph Ben Matthias, (born AD 37/38, Jerusalem—died AD 100, Rome), Jewish priest,
scholar, and historian who wrote valuable works on the Jewish revolt of 66–70 and on earlier Jewish history. His major books
are History of the Jewish War (75–79), The Antiquities of the Jews (93), and Against Apion.
The first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who according to Ehrman “is far and away our best source of
information about first-century Palestine,” twice mentions Jesus in Jewish Antiquities, his massive 20-volume history
of the Jewish people that was written around 93 A.D.
Thought to have been born a few years after the crucifixion of Jesus around 37 A.D., Josephus was a well -connected
aristocrat and military leader in Palestine who served as a commander in Galilee during the first Jewish Revolt
against Rome between 66 and 70 A.D. Although Josephus was not a follower of Jesus, “he was around when the
early church was getting started, so he knew people who had seen and heard Jesus,” Mykytiuk says.
In one passage of Jewish Antiquities that recounts an unlawful execution, Josephus identifies the victim, James, as
the “brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah.” While few scholars doubt the short account’s authenticity, says
Mykytiuk, more debate surrounds Josephus’s lengthier passage about Jesus, known as the “Testimonium Flavianum,”
which describes a man “who did surprising deeds” and was condemned to be crucified by Pilate. Mykytiuk agrees with
most scholars that Christian scribes modified portions of the passage but did not insert it who lesale into the text.
Tacitus connects Jesus to his execution by Pontius Pilate.
Another account of Jesus appears in Annals of Imperial Rome, a first-century history of the Roman Empire written
around 116 A.D. by the Roman senator and historian Tacitus. In chronicling the burning of Rome in 64 A.D., Tacitus
mentions that Emperor Nero falsely blamed “the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their
enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of
Tiberius.”
Joseph Klausner, a Jewish researcher, sums up some of the conclusions which can be drawn from the Talmudic theories about
Jesus: “There are some reliable theories regarding the fact that his name was Yeshua (Yeshu) of Nazareth; that he practised
sorcery (that is to say that he performed miracles, as was common in those days) and seduction and led Israel astray; that he
mocked the words of the wise and discussed Scripture in the same way as the Pharisees; that he had five disciples; that he said he
had not come to revoke the Law, nor to add anything to it; that he was hung upon a piece of wood (crucified) as a false authority
and seducer on the eve of the Passover (which fell on a Saturday); and that his disciples cured disease in his name”
(J.Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth, p.44)
The Roman historian Suetonius (c.69-c.122 CE) mentions a persecution and banishment of Christians around 50 CE during the
reign of Claudius Caesar. This account was written about the same time as Tacitus wrote his.
History of Jesus Christ
QUESTION: History of Jesus Christ - What influence has He had on the world?
ANSWER:
Jesus - Over the years the name of Jesus Christ has conjured up more emotion in people than any other name. Some people use
His name as a curse word, others in loving endearment, and others yet in a desperate lifeline. People have either hated Him or
loved Him, many have given their very lives for Him. Wars have been fought over Him. Some people try to deny that He ever
existed. Others say He was just a good teacher or a prophet. Others call Him their Savior - their all in all.
For the Jews, Jesus arrived as the long awaited Messiah. But on His arrival many did not recognize Him. Others refused to accept
Him because He did not fit their image as a King. Everywhere He went in His short life on earth, He made enemies and devoted
friends. Men hated Him so deeply that they sought to end His life and did crucify Him. Amazingly as the Bible had predicted
centuries before their occurrence, all of the events of His life from His lowly birth to death on a cross and then to His
resurrection, did occur just as they had been predicted. In spite of this, many people still refused to believe in Christ's existence
or reality. They refused to believe the words that He had spoken during His sojourn on earth.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ greatly impacted His devoted followers. At His death many went into hiding, fearing
for their very lives. But at His resurrection, they finally figured out what He had been trying to tell them and became powerful
witnesses to the things that He had said and done. They spoke of how He had changed their lives and the lives of others whom
He had touched. The words of their testimony and the power of His name continued to change the lives of many others.
Jesus so impacted some people that they changed from hating His followers to becoming one of them. Saul of Tarsus was an
example of such a person. (Story found in Acts 9). Jesus continues to influence people in a like manner today. C. S. Lewis claimed
to be an Agnostic before his total transformation to Christ and writing the book, Mere Christianity. Author, Lee Stroebel, claimed
to set out to prove the assertions for Christ to be false prior to writing A Case For Christ. Many scientist have set out to prove the
fallacy of creationism and other biblical theories only to find themselves turning to Christ instead as they found the Bible to be
true and accepted Christ, not only as their Creator but as their Savior.
The world today has embraced diversity and in so doing has attempted to educate others about their culture and religious
beliefs with the exception of Christianity. Even though Christianity is the largest religion in the world, the mention of the name of
Christ is forbidden in many schools and at national events. The entertainment industry has shunned any accurate religious
portrayals, or the use of the name of Jesus in their productions in spite of the immense popularity of such pictures as The Passion
of Christ. Religious persecution is steadily growing against Christianity.
It seems that the more strongly the world protests hearing the name of Jesus, the more clearly it is shows He is alive and active
on earth. He is a powerful force in the lives of His followers who wait in eager expectation for the fulfillment of the Bible
prophecies that have been predicted about His Second Coming when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the
name of Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus Christ (c. 6/4 BCE - c. 30 CE), also called Jesus son of Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Galilee or simply “Christ”, was a
Jewish religious leader who became a central figure in Christianity, regarded by most Christian branches as God himself. He is
also considered an important prophet in Muslim tradition and the precursor of Prophet Muhammad.
Christ was not originally Jesus’ name. It was customary among ancient Jews to have only one name and add either the father’s
name or the name of their place of origin. This is why during his life, Jesus was called sometimes Jesus of Nazareth and other
times Jesus son of Joseph, which is supported by Christian sources (Luke 4.22; John 1.45; 6.42; Acts 10.38). The word Christ is not
a name but a title derived for the Greek word christos, a term analogous to the Hebrew expression meshiah, “The anointed one”.
Many Jews hoped that the former glory of Israel would be restored by a newly anointed son of King David, and they used the
Messiah title to refer to this restorer. Early Christian literature sometimes combined the name of Jesus and his title using them
together as Jesus’ name: Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. The reason for this is that the early followers of Jesus’ teachings believed he
was the Messiah.
Historical Context
The life of Jesus began in north and central Palestine, a region between the Dead Sea and the Jordan River in the east and the
Eastern Mediterranean in the west. This region was under Roman control since the 1st century BCE, initially as a tributary
kingdom. The Roman campaigns, coupled with internal revolts and the incursion of the Parthians, made the region very
unstable and chaotic up until 37 BCE, when Herod the Great (c.73 BCE - 4 BCE) became king. The region gradually gained
political stability and became prosperous. Although Jewish in religion, Herod was a vassal king who served the interests of
the Roman Empire.
After Herod’s death in 4 BCE, the Romans intervened again in order to split up the Herodian kingdom between three of Herod
the Great’s sons. Galilee in the north and Perea in the southeast were entrusted to Herod Antipas (c. 20 BCE - c. 39 CE), whose
reign (4 BCE - 39 CE) covered the entire life of Jesus. Philip the Tetrarch was appointed ruler over northern Transjordania.
Herod Archelaus was made ruler of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, and he exercised his power with tyranny and brutality; some
of these abuses are recorded in the gospel of Matthew (2.20-23). The combination of killings, revolts, and social turbulence in
Archelaus’ realm was too much for the patience of Roman authorities: in 6 CE the Emperor Augustus deposed and exiled
Archelaus, sending him to Gaul, and his domain became the Roman Province of Iudaea in 6 CE (sometime spelled Judea, not to
be confused with Judea proper, the region between Samaria and Idumea). Thus, Iudaea was under direct Roman administration
and the province was governed by rulers directly appointed by the Roman Emperor.
JESUS BELIEVED THAT OUTWARD COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW WAS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS INNER VALUES
SUCH AS LOVE OF ONE'S ENEMIES.
The Dates of Jesus
The birth of Jesus raises an interesting paradox in chronology. The Romans used a dating system in which the year of the
mythical foundation of the city or Rome was its main reference point and they named that year 1 AUC, which stands for ab urbe
condita, “from the founding of the city”. Many centuries after the life of Jesus, Dionysius Exiguus (c. 470 - c. 544 CE), a Greek
Monk and theologian who lived in Rome, came to the conclusion that Jesus was born in 753 AUC, and this date became widely
accepted. The old Roman dating system was gradually replaced by a new system in which the main reference point was the
birth of Jesus. That year came to be known as 1 AD, Anno Domini “The year of our Lord”. The years before the birth of Jesus
were named BC, “before Christ”. This means that, according to Dionysius Exiguus' calculations, the city of Rome was founded
753 years before the birth of Jesus. Instead of the BC/AD notation, modern scholarship has an alternative naming for the
traditional dating: BCE “before the Common Era” and CE “Common Era”.
None of the gospels shows much interest in dating accurately the birth of Jesus, and there are no references to the Roman dating
system, nor to any other dating systems used in the Bible. Matthew simply states that Jesus' birth occurred “in the days of
Herod the king [Herod the Great]”. Today we know that the dates worked out by Dionysius Exiguus are not fully accurate.
Herod reigned from 716 AUC (37 BCE) to 749 AUC (4 BCE). This makes it impossible for Jesus to have been born in 753 AUC (1
CE) and at the same time been born “in the days of Herod the King”, who died in 4 BCE. In addition to the reference about the
time of Herod, Luke (3.1-23) says that Jesus was “about thirty years old” when he was baptized “in the fifteenth year
of Tiberius”, which would be around 27 or 28 CE.
Luke (2.1-2) also links the birth of Jesus with a census for taxation purposes ordered by the Roman Emperor Augustus and
driven by Quirnius, the Syrian governor.
-Jesus was born towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great (died 4 BCE) and brought up in Nazareth, Galilee. He was
named Jesus (Yeshu’a in Aramaic, Yehoshua or Joshua in Hebrew, Iesous in Greek, Iesus in Roman) and was conceived between the
engagement and marriage of his parents whose names were Mary (Miriam in Hebrew and Mariam in Aramaic) and Joseph
(Yossef in Hebrew, Yosep in Aramaic). In Matthew 13.55 it is said that his father was a carpenter, and Mark 6.3 says that this was
also Jesus’ profession. It was a common practice during that time that sons would follow their father’s occupation, so it would
be safe to believe that Jesus was a carpenter. Although not certain, it is probable that Jesus' education included a detailed study
of the Hebrew Scriptures, a very common practice among the devout poor in Israel.
His public ministry began after being baptized by John the Baptist. According to the gospel of Luke, this was when Jesus was
about 30 years of age. According to Mark (11.27-33), Jesus saw John the Baptist as an authority and possibly a source of
inspiration. It seems that he performed baptisms parallel to John the Baptist (John 3.22). After the arrest of John the Baptist
(Mark 1.14), Jesus began a new kind of ministry, spreading the message of the kingdom of God approaching and stressing the
importance of repentance by the people of Israel.
Jesus was heavily influenced by the prophet Isaiah, who considered the coming of the reign of God a central topic (Isa. 52.7).
Many of Jesus' teachings have allusions to Isaiah, and he also quotes him on many occasions. Jesus is presented as an
eschatological prophet announcing the definitive coming of God, its salvation, and the end of time.
Jesus gradually gained popularity and thousands of followers are mentioned in the gospels. He shared some attributes with the
Pharisees and the Essenes, two of the Jewish sects at that time. Like the Pharisees, his teaching methods included the expression
of thoughts about the human condition in the form of aphorisms and parables, and he also shared the belief in the genuine
authority of Hebrew sacred scriptures.
--
At some point towards the end of his career, Jesus moved to Jerusalem, Judea, reaching the climax of his public life. Here he
engaged in different disputes with his many adversaries. At the same time, some religious authorities were seeking to entrap
him into self-incrimination by raising controversial topics, mostly of a theological nature. The gospels offer different reasons as
to why the Sanhedrin (the Jewish court) was interested in executing Jesus, but only John (11.47-53) seems convincing enough:
Jesus was seen as a trouble-maker who threatened public harmony. A Roman intervention to restore order, thus breaking the
fine balance between Jewish and Roman power, did not interest the Sanhedrin. An arresting party finally took Jesus to the
Sanhedrin, where he was judged, found guilty of blasphemy, and condemned to death. However, the execution order had to be
issued by a Roman authority; the Jewish court did not have such power at that time. Therefore, Jesus was brought to the
procurator of Rome who ordered Jesus’ execution. Because Jesus never denied the charges, he should have been convicted and
not executed, as the Roman law required in case of confession for such a penalty. On a hill outside Jerusalem, Jesus was finally
crucified and killed, which was not a Jewish form of punishment but a common Roman practice.
--