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History Timeline (1000 – 500 BC)
-1,000
Middle East: Semitic speaking Arameans from
Arabia rule over Mesopotamia, Phonecia
(capture Tyre), King David unites Judah and
Isreal
Greece: Dorian Migration, Greek settlements in
Ionia (Miletus)
Italy: Late Bronze Age, Villanova culture by
Italic Peoples (Iron Age)
So. Asia: Rig Veda Evolves
Asia: Shang rule is overthrown by rugged
nomadic warriors. A new dynasty of Zhou kings
rule. They claim that in heaven their gods
have ousted the rule of the Zhang gods. A
shortage of rainfall sends Aryan tribes from
the Indus Valley to the plains of the Ganges
Valley. Aryan tribal kings have been changing
from elected leaders to autocratic rulers,
allying themselves with the priesthood and
associating themselves and their power with
their gods. People in western Africa are
clearing portions of tropical forest with
stone axes. They plant yams, harvest fruits
and palm nuts and keep goats. In eastern
Africa, south of the Sahara, cattle raising is
spreading alongside people who farm.
Americas: Peru: Chavin and Paracas cultures
Africa: Some priests from Egypt migrate to
Nubia and establish a theocratic state.
-970
Middle East: King David is succeeded by his
son Solomon. Hebrews are writing a Phoenician
language that includes words of Sumerian
origin and have learned stories carried by
that language. Religious toleration prevails
as it had under David. Solomon has temples
built for his wives, who worship gods other
than the Hebrew god, Yahweh. Solomon has a
temple constructed for Yahweh.
-900
Middle East: beginning of New Assyrian Empire,
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Phonecians control Mediterranean trade,
Hebrews dived kingdom into Israel and Judah
Greece: City states grow
Europe: Druids in Gaul and Britain
So. Asia: Aryan expansion into Ganges
Asia: Western Chou (capital, Hao) The kings
land surrounded by feudal states, central
power cannot expand.
Americas: Mexico, Olmec Culture at it’s peak
So. Asia: Some have put traditional Aryan
stories into writing, in what is known as the
Vedas -- Veda meaning wisdom. Those opposed to
this form of communicating their religion are
ignored. The Vedas are considered an
infallible source of timeless and revealed
truth. In the coming century the writings
called Upanishads begin, by persons interested
in the relations between self and universe, an
addition to Hinduism often associated with the
Vedas and beyond Hinduism's routines of ritual
sacrifices -- a collection of as many as two
hundred books to be written across two
centuries. One writer will speculate as to how
many gods really exist and he will conclude
that there is really only one god.
Africa: Nubia (Sudan) is a theocratic state.
-853
Middle East: King Ahab of Israel, allied with
the Phoenicians and with Damascus, defeats the
empire-building Assyrians at QarQar in Syria.
-815
Middle East: The city of Carthage, on the
coast of North Africa, is founded by
Phoenicians from the city of Tyre
-800
Middle East: New Assyrian Empire (cap.
Niniveh), Phoenicians found Carthage, Isreal
and Judah still divided, Egypt dominated by
Lybians
Greece: Illiad and Odyssey composed, Olympic
games, Messenian War
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Europe: Etruscan civilization in Italy
So. Asia: Epic Age in India, Epics
‘Mahabharta’ and ‘Ramayana’ relate to the
events of the epic age
Asia: A barbarian attack overwhelms the old
capital Hao and central authority declines
Americas: Mexico, Olmec Culture at it’s peak
Africa: Some priests from Egypt migrate to
Nubia and establish a theocratic state.
?? In the coming century, Edom comes into
existence as a social and political entity.
-776
Europe: People on mainland Greece are trading
again with peoples east of them, and the
writing that disappeared with the invasions of
previous centuries reappears. A sense of
religious community has developed among
Greece's aristocrats, and, beginning in 776,
aristocrats from various city-states hold midsummer religious festivals at Olympia. Greeks
believe Olympia to be the center of the world
and the home of the gods. In this century,
the poet Homer reworks oral history on the
Trojan War into writing. Called the Iliad,
Homer's work is about an age of heroes. He
praises warrior society and describes all as
the doing of the gods.
-730
Middle East: Nubians again invade Egypt. The
Nubian king, Piankhi, moves his capital to
Memphis and starts Egypt's 25th dynasty. An
Egyptianization of Nubian culture is
beginning, including the use of Egyptian
writing. Egyptian is to be the official
language of Nubian government, and gods among
the Nubians acquire Egyptian names.
-721
Middle East: Assyria overruns Israel,
disperses the Israelites and takes thousands
as slaves. Israel as a nation vanishes. The
Assyrians see their god, Assur, as having
given them victory over the god of the
Hebrews. Assyria's army moves through Judaea,
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conquers Egypt in 676 and establishes the
greatest of empires to date. The great
Assyrian god, Assur, is seen as having
defeated the Hebrew god, Yahweh. As with some
other peoples, Hebrews see demise as
punishment for sin.
-700
Middle East: New Assyrian Empire dominates
conquering Babylon, Syria, and Palestine,
Phoenicians gone? Israel gone? Isaiah on the
scene and Judah pays tribute to Assyria
Greece: Greek colonization (Magna Graecia),
Rise of Sparta, Republic founded in Athens
Europe: Legendary reign of seven kings over
Rome, Celtic tribes in Gaul (Early Iron Age)
Asia: Eastern Chao (cap. Lo-yang), Spring and
Autumn period
Americas: Olmec ceremonial center at La Venta
So Asia: Upanishads and Brahamanas composed
Africa: Kush kingdom conquers Nubia.
-675
Europe: In the coming decades, rebellions
against kings occur in various Greek citystates. Kings are replaced by cliques of
wealthy men -- oligarchies. During the
political turmoil people will find relief in a
new religious cult that promotes everlasting
life, community and emotional abandon. Its god
is Dionysus, a god of fertility and
vegetation. Men of wealth and power fear that
worship of Dionysus might disrupt the order
upon which they depend, but most Greeks hold
onto the gods with whom they grew up, and many
believed more in reason than in letting their
emotions lead them to an acceptance of
promises of eternal bliss.
-655
Middle East: Egypt breaks away from Assyrian
rule. Soon cities in Canaan also break away,
and Phoenicia begins ignoring Assyrian
directives.
-640
Middle East: With the end of Assyrian rule,
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comes a resurgence of worship of the god
Yahweh. King Josiah and Yahwist priests move
against worshippers of other gods. The priests
claim that a scroll has been found in a secret
archive within Solomon's temple, a scroll
signed by Moses. The scroll is used as a
weapon against rival worship. An official
intolerance rises that had not been the policy
of kings David, Solomon, Jeroboam, Ahab and
others. The practices of rival worship are
forbidden: witchcraft, sorcery, using omens,
worshiping images of gods in wood or stone,
orgiastic fertility festivals, human
sacrifices and temple rituals involving
prostitution and homosexuality. Homosexuality
is labeled an abomination.
-623
Middle East: A Chaldean army drives north from
around Sumer and expels the Assyrians from
Babylon.
-612
Middle East: The Medes and Chaldeans overrun
Assyria's capital, Nineveh. Its walls are
broken by siege engines that Assyria
introduced centuries before. Assyrian
communities, more than two thousand years old,
are obliterated.
-600
Middle East: Media (cap. Ecbatana) conquered
by Persia around –525, New Babylonian Empire,
Jews in Babylonian captivity, Psamtik frees
Egypt from foreign rule and Egypt becomes a
sea power
Greece: Tyranny of Corinth, Reform of Dracon,
Law code of Solon
Europe: Etruscan league of twelve cities
Asia: Eastern Chao (cap. Lo-yang), Spring and
Autumn period
Americas: Olmec ceremonial center at La Venta
So Asia: Republics evolve along the Himalyas
Africa: Egyptian culture survises in the Kush
kingdom(cap. Meroe) in the Sudan
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-598
Middle East: The Chaldeans overrun Jerusalem
and Judah, while driving the Egyptians back to
Egypt.
-593
Middle East: An Egyptian army sacks the Nubian
city of Napata, along the upper Nile. Nubians
push into Meroe.
-587
Middle East: Jerusalem rebels against Chaldean
rule. The Chaldeans burn the city and tear
down its walls and Solomon's temple. They
round up about forty thousand from Judah as
captives, including political leaders and high
priests, and take them to their capital,
Babylon.
-547
Middle East: A Persian, Cyrus II, is expanding
his empire and overthrows King Croesus of
Lydia, in Asia Minor. He mentors Anaximander,
who rejects his ideas and develops a more
complex theory about nature and change.
-539
Middle East: Cyrus conquers Babylon. There the
captive high priests of Yahweh worship are
liberated and see Cyrus as an agent of Yahweh.
They expect Cyrus to inflict Yahweh's
vengeance upon the wicked Babylonians. But
Cyrus fails to punish Babylon. He honors
Babylon's gods and disappoints the priests.
-517
Middle East: Darius extends Persian rule
through the Kyber Pass to the Indus River. The
Persians still rule in Egypt, Asia Minor and
everywhere in between, including Jerusalem.
-500
Middle East: Persia (cap. Persepolis) first
major Indo-European power, Greek campaigns
Greece: Reform of Cleisthenes, Persian Wars,
Athenian Empire, Classical Age, Peloponesian
Wars
Europe: Roman Republic evolves, treaty between
Rome and Carthage, Scythian tribes in Russia,
Celtic La Tene culture in Europe
Asia: Age of philosophers, Division of China
into separate states, Chao King still uses
celestial title but local rulers fail to pay
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homage
Americas: La Venta destroyed by violence, Peru
Moche culture
So Asia: Northwest India part of Persian
Empire (Gandhara, cap.Taxila), King Bimbisara
of Magadha dominates the Ganges area
Africa: Kush kingdom conquers Nubia (Nok
culture).
-499
Middle East: In Asia Minor, Greeks begin a
rebellion against Persian rule.
-490
Middle East: To punish mainland Greeks for
their support of the rebellion in Asia Minor,
Darius the Great of Persia sends a fleet
across the Aegean Sea and lands soldiers near
Marathon, twenty-six miles north of Athens. A
runner covers the distance to announce the
arrival of the Persians. A coalition of citystates defeats the Persians at Marathon, and
the Persians withdraw. In Athens, the god Pan
is said to have given the Greeks their
victory, to win back from the Athenians their
devotion, which he had seen as diminishing.
-486
Middle East: Darius the Great dies at around
the age of seventy-two.
-480
Middle East: Xerxes, son of Darius, marches an
army through Thrace and into mainland Greece.
The Persians are trying to extend their empire
too far.
-479
Middle East: Near Athens, the Athenian navy
and its allies destroy the Persian fleet. With
much of the Persian army dependent on ships
for supplies, it is forced to march back to
Asia Minor.
-460
Middle East: The navy of Athens is still
taking war to the Persians, and, asserting
leadership, Athens is turning its alliance
with other Greek cities into an empire.
-458
Middle East: The Persians are allowing Yahwist
priests to return from Babylon to Judah and
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urging the priests to maintain order in
accordance with their teachings -- a common
practice by the Persians regarding subject
peoples. The Persians do not allow the Jews a
king, which is okay with the high-priests. In
Jerusalem, the high-priest Ezra arrives with
1,800 others and finds assimilations. He
begins to organize Judaic law along lines of
identity with Yahweh worship. Men are soon to
be asked to expel from their homes their
foreign wives. Judaic law is to be based on an
assembled five books purportedly written by
Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy. Intolerance toward other faiths
is encouraged.
-400
Middle East: Zoroastrianism is the faith of
many Persians. The Zoroastrians believe in a
struggle between their god, Mazda, and the
devil. They believe that the birth of their
founder, the prophet Zarathustra, was the
beginning of a final epoch that is to end in
an Armageddon and triumph of good over evil.
Perhaps Persian officials or merchants in
Judah are passing Zoroastrian notions to the
Jews, who at this time had respect for
Persians and the late Cyrus II, who had freed
the Jewish captives in Babylon.