Sources and Notes

NOTICE: This Timeline is undergoing some significant revisions.

• I've extended the range backwards to include current scientific estimates for some very ancient milestones in human and hominid pre-history. These are not dates in the conventional sense, and I have designated these BP (before present) to distinguish them from the more recent, historical events; which should, in principle, be dateable. To get an even broader perspective on the relative newness of human culture, consider that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old; that evidence for life on Earth goes back about 3.2 billion years; but that life on dry land goes back only about 500 million years (half a billion); and that the earliest mammals make only a dim impression on the fossil record until about 40 million years ago. Almost everything of interest about human culture has happened in the most recent one-quarter of one-tenth of one percent of the age of mammals. On that time scale all the historical dates in this timeline are late breaking news.

   

• The conventional Egyptian timelines that I've been consulting contain a range of dates for most of the dynastic periods. In this timeline, I am using the low (most recent) conventional dates I can find.

   

  Usually, these are the dates listed in David M. Rohl's book, Pharaohs and Kings, which he attributes to Kenneth Kitchen's Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (for Dynasties 21 to 26), Kitchen's low chronology in "The Basics of Egyptian Chronology in Relation to the Bronze Age," in High, Middle, or Low, P. Astrom, ed. (Gothenburg, 1987) (for Dynasties 11 to 20), and John Baines and Jaromir Malek's Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1980) (for Dynasties 1 to 10).

   

  I haven't been smart enough to spot the 60 year discrepancy that Rohl says exists near the start of the 11th Dynasty, so I am making no attempt to adjust for it. The process of resetting all the dates here to match Rohl's dates is currently in progress. I do not plan to take the additional step of adjusting the conventional Third Intermediate period dates as Rohl argues in his book, but I do plan to examine the consequences of making his suggested adjustment.

   

• A few dates which seem to be very firmly established will be marked with a light red background, as follows:

LIGHT RED BACKGROUND

 

• As time permits, I will be adding the non-conventional Egyptian dates discussed by David M. Rohl in his book (see below). To set these off from the accepted dates, they will be inclosed in a violet background, like this:

VIOLET BACKGROUND

 

• Any number of on-line sources have been found containing images of a few pharaohs. I am currently making an extensive search for images that include either the image of each pharaoh or his hieroglyphic name, or both. As time permits, I will add these to the list of pharaohs in each dynasty. The plan is to let each image here mark the link to the page where the original of that image can be viewed. Most of the images are not stored at this site, so IF an image does not appear on this page, then the original site is either not responding or has moved. When an image does appear, just click on the image to go to the site. This is fairly time consuming, so this process will take some time to complete. See Dynasties 0 and 1 below for examples of how the work is progressing.

   

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Chronological Uncertainties

 

A good timeline provides, necessarily, information about the timing of a limited number of points in time (coronation of a king, eclipse of the sun, etc.) and the relative timing and duration of certain extended events (length of a kingly reign, duration of a war, etc.). The duration data is usually more securely known than the date because it if often given in the primary documents.

Placing the events in order requires some luck and attention to a lot of detail, but that gives the next most secure piece of information, the relative dates.

 

Relative dates are very useful because if the data include non-overlapping reigns, for example, then their durations can be added to calculate longer time spans. If their durations are not known, longer spans can still be estimated using either an average reign length or an average generation length. Both produce somewhat uncertain numbers, and estimates based on either are necessarily uncertain as well. Still in a few reigns or generations, one would not expect to be off by more than a decade or so and that is often good enough to make the estimated date worth having. But it is not the sort of date one can use in making close calls that require accuracy of a year or so instead of a decade or so.

 

Events with absolute dates are the most precious items in a chronologists arsenal of logical weapons. They are rare and valuable treasures. Fortunately, it is thought, not a lot of absolute dates will be required if the relative dating is done carefully and accurately.

 

The last of the valuable weapons in a chronologists tool kit chronologists are synchronisms. These are also rare events (or should I say the evidence for such events is rare) which bring the timelines of different regions into direct contact with each other. In the past these seemed rare even in the face of the logic which suggested that the various empires were in more or less constant contact. As absolute and relative dates have been refined it looks as though there will be more evidence of synchronisms welling up from the data. Furthermore, some synchronisms have been, and others probably still are, hidden in the linguistic differences between the various regions. These might also be discovered with additional effort.

 

Interestingly, refinements in the chronologies improves the ability of chronologists to identify new synchronisms and that in turn allows them to refine their and our understanding of how different languages are used to express the names of known places and individuals. This means that linguistics (and all its sub-specialties that apply to the study of written language) can be used, in some sense, to verify or refute the chronologies that are being proposed. This is becoming quite an industry. More than ever before, the effective archaeologist or chronologist needs to be conversant in a dozen or more archaic languages in order to stay in the hunt.

 

Reigns of individual pharaohs and kings, or entire dynasties may overlap, but if the historical record that comes down to us doesn't provide that information then the chronologist is stuck having to guess or argue in favor of an overlap. Otherwise, the sum of his reign lengths is going to add up to more years than a properly constructed chronology can hold. Alternatively, in the absence of a convincing argument demonstrating the overlap, the chronology will overestimate the duration of certain periods. This can artificially extend the apparent duration of events in one region relative to another.

 

This coupled with linguistic difficulties can effectively obscure synchronisms that would, if recognized, have important historical implications. Serious attempts to define where the overlaps occur are not guaranteed success. A proposed chronology that seems to offer the best resolution to the various lines of conflicting information may be demonstrably wrong for some other reason which is not yet included in the available evidence.

 

Using synchronisms between contemporary events, and a carefully researched, and a fully documented and optimally accurate set of supporting dates, the professional chronologists attempt to create consistent and historically meaningful chronologies. There is little certainty in the construction and no assurance that tomorrow's evidence will not significantly upset it. Thus, it is by increments, using logic and guesswork, that the chronologies viewed here and elsewhere on the web must be understood. They are transitory at their best and misleadingly wrong at their worst.

 

To begin, there must be some evidence to reasonably pin down at least a few of the important dates. Between those most secure dates it is always necessary to "estimate" the intervening dates using one or more methods, each with its own level of inherent uncertainty. Ideally, this strategy ensures that the estimated dates are pinned down between the more secure dates and that their relative dates are retained within the intervening interval. It does not ensure total accuracy. It would be more useful if instead of dates, we used date ranges, but even estimating the error of a particular date is impossible. If the scientific errors could be calculated, they would probably be so wide that the dates would be meaningless.

 

To add to these complications, history comes to us in the form of parallel isolated chronologies for separate geographical areas. Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt are sometimes on the same timeline and sometimes on separate timelines. It is not always easy to tell which is which. Obviously, chronologies from Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Macedonia and Hatti are built up from records recovered from the cities in those empires. None of these chronologies stands in isolation. To make the most of all the available evidence, chronologists try to tie the various chronologies together in order to work out the absolute dating for all of them by combining the strengths of each. For this synchronisms must be found between two or more regions that can tie key events to a common moment.

 

To develop evidence of the synchronisms chronologists want and need, they require data in the form of carved reliefs, written documents, pictorial representations, etc. that can tie two or more individuals or events together at the same moment in time. Frequently, this requires additional analysis on the etymology of the various forms of people and place names that appear in different languages. It is entirely possible, for example, for Egyptian and Assyrian scribes to write contemporary accounts about a mutual war. In the absence of other documentation, it is possible to mistakenly believe that the two accounts are of two different wars because the names of all the people involved and all the places where they fought are likely to be different in the two languages. Sometimes the name differences are easier to analyze than at other times. So there is always some concern that the "current" chronology has some background level of missed synchronisms, phantom (duplicate) events, and misplaced persons or events.

 

A chronology should not be equated with history, nor should history be confused with the events themselves. History is an intellectual construct based on the available evidence and it is as dynamic as the evidence. New finds can overturn a well recognized history and any chronology derived from it. A chronology depends on the same evidence and on the current history of the times it tries to encompass. New evidence can always undermine it. Reexaminations of the evidence can force a re-write of the history and that will necessitate a revision of the chronology.

 

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Who's Chronology is this?

 

I am merely trying to follow and understand what others have done. This chronology is not original; it is merely the current version of my ongoing attempts to understand the events of the ancient Near East as portrayed by the popular writings of the modern academic authors. It does not provide a critical reevaluation or reexamination of the fundamental evidence nor does it attempt to re-verify the generally accepted chronology. It does attempt on some small level to evaluate the claims by David M. Rohl that a significant reevaluation and revision of the Chronology of the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt is now justified. His attempted revision shortens the TIP and brings prior pharaonic periods forward to more recent times.

 

This revision, in his view, radically effects the synchronisms that can be detected between the biblical accounts of the Israelites and Hebrews on the one hand and the pharaohs of Egypt and other powerful empires in the region. It should be remembered that this is all subject to change as I continue to study the evidence and revise my own views of the evidence.

 

I have learned, too, that it is seldom obvious what is "generally accepted" by the community of experts in this field. There is only one truly well accepted date that has wide-ranging significance for constructing chronologies of this region. That is the sack of Thebes in 664 or 671 BCE. All older dates "sit on top" of this one. It is a rather long stretch to extrapolate from this relatively modern date to the third millennium BCE. And the further a date is from this one, the more chances there are for intervening errors to accumulate.

 

¹⁴Carbon dating, dendrochronology and reports of unique astronomical sightings (eclipses, for example) can provide some fixed-time reference points with calculable error limits. Such dates can in turn be used to begin the assault on estimating some of the other uncertainties. I have not yet found any analysis of the type I envision. Though as the evidence accumulates someone is bound to take up that challenge, eventually.

 

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From Relative to Absolute Dates

 

Professional archaeologists are trained to deal with ancient cultures without committing to a specific set of dates. They seek first to establish relative times based on identifiable layers in the cross-sections they excavate through the sites studied. (Astronomers use red-shifts the same way and for the same reason. Absolute dates are too hard to come by.) The relative chronologies can be analyzed, revised and corrected without committing to a specific dating scheme. There will be time to worry about pinning down the exact dates later after more evidence is available.

 

In developing a trans-regional chronology it is essential to discover synchronisms between the sub-regions. Evidence of correspondence between two kings, evidence of a meeting or a battle between two kings, evidence that the daughter of one king married another king are all examples of synchronisms. They serve to tie a point on one relative chronology to a specific point on another relative chronology. The more tightly one chronology is tied to another via mutual synchronisms, the more closely the intervening dates can be correlated to each other. This may allow unrecognized synchronisms to become more apparent.

 

The Hebrew Bible is potentially an invaluable source of many synchronisms between Canaan and its nearest mighty neighbors; provided that it can be demonstrated to have a considerable basis in fact. I am not convinced, however I am willing to use dates that rely on biblical synchronisms provided there is at least some independent source to back it up to some degree. Such uses have to be studied on a book-by-book and almost on a chapter by chapter basis. The problem with the Bible is that it has been around too long and subjected to too much revision. In the literal sense, archives buried and lost for 3,000 are more valuable to a chronologist because their provenance and provenience are easier to establish. Relative chronologies that rely on biblical stories without independent corroboration have to be considered very preliminary.

 

Because of their professional concern for establishing reliable relative dates, calendar dates are probably more interesting to amateurs than to professionals. Professional archaeologists, egyptologists, etc. understand that the relative dates are closer to their field data. It is the piece of the puzzle for which they are personally and professionally responsible. Relative dating is difficult enough. Absolute dates are always nice to have, but they can be overturned by new data coming from an unexpected source. The relative dates based on good field archaeology are more difficult to refute and provide a more secure legacy for an active career.

 

¹⁴Carbon dating has helped identify the absolute dates in some cases, but it has its own problems; lack of dateable samples, sample contamination, non-linearity in the changing ¹⁴Carbon background, statistical uncertainties inherent to the method itself, among others. The biggest problems with C-14 testing include:

• it is destructive (the same sample never gets analyzed twice);

• no one knows exactly what effects fires, bacterial/animal contamination, soil leaching, and miscellaneous unknown processes have on each sample;

• it is never "good" to much better than plus/minus 25 years (that is more than just few pharaohs during certain periods of Egyptian history); and

• its errors accumulate and get larger the older the sample gets.

   

Dendrochronology, potentially, offers much more precision, to within a year or two, however it has statistical and correlational problems^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8} of its own and it is not always possible to find a piece of wood that fits into a known dendrochronological sequence. Even with the wood in hand and a sequence within which to place it, there is often still some difficulty in determining where it belongs in that sequence. The atmospheric record based on the California bristlecone pine tree-ring record is a notable exception. There the record is complete and relatively clear for almost 8,500 years.

 

Climate changes reflected in the bristlecone dendrochronological record have, for example, been correlated to volcanic eruptions, such as the eruption of Thera, in the Mediterranean Ocean south of Greece, now dated to 1627 BCE, plus or minus one year, based on the correlations between the historically dated eruptions and the bristlecone pine tree-ring record in California (unfortunately, the on-line archive at Nature does not seem to contain a copy of the original article by V. C. LaMarche and Katherine Hirsckboeck, "Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions," Nature 307 (12 January, 1984), 121-126).

 

There is still some discussion and disagreement even about this date, however. For another alternative explanation also see Michael G. L. Baillie's abstract for his paper presented at the conference on Natural Catastrophes during Bronze Age Civilisations held in 1997.

 

BTW: the Cornel University site linked to the beginning of the previous paragraph has links that will take you anywhere you want to go in the world of dendrochronoly on the web. It is a wonderful site which provides a good inside look at what goes on at the forefront of research in this area today.

To add even more confusion to the situation, it appears now that some Christian biblical research groups have already adopted this new dating with open arms. I personally like this date based on the type of study that was done. But there is no reason to enshrine it, yet. Correlations with other events in the region will have to be discovered through careful field research not delivered by prophecy.

 

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Anyone with specialized knowledge that supplements or corrects this timeline is welcome to e-mail suggested corrections and additions. Since even the consensus timeline inevitably evolves, both with time and additional field work by professional archaeologists, this one, which is hardly professional or original, is, like every other timeline, merely provisional. Which is to say it works well enough as a baseline reference for my purposes. For others, it may not work as well. All are welcome to consult it, provided everyone understands that it may contain significant errors or unwarranted speculation and may be revised at any time without notice.

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This is a collection of the dated events which I've encountered during my research on intertestamental Palestine. To begin the chronology I relied on a few general sources to give the Timeline a broad sweep and to give me some perspective on the relative timing of the events I was reading about. I have since added individual dates encountered casually during reading from a wide variety of on-line and off-line sources. The diversity of sources has resulted in a divergence of dates in many instances. For the moment I am not trying to rationalize the chronology into a single unified whole. (But see the notes above about using Clayton's and Rohl's pharaonic dates.)

 

This Timeline and the included historical information are indebted to numerous sources. Some of them are listed below.

• The original internet source was the on-line version of the touring Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Check out the on-line version at either the Sunsite - Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit or the UNC - Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit.

For a critique of the touring exhibition by a well respected scroll scholar whose opinion is independent of the Library of Congress, the participating museums, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the current International Team of Editors, see Norman Golb's Letter, dated January 14, 1994, to Ms. Melissa Leventon, Curator of the Exhibit, and Mr. Harry S. Parker III, Director of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the third stop on the Exhibit's United States tour. The letter was reprinted in The Aspin Institute Quarterly, v6#2 (Spring 1994) pp 79-98.]

 

• For population information the main on-line reference site is:

The Historical Estimates of World Population

 

• On-line sources for dendrochronology research and results, in addition to those mentioned above, include:

The University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Tree Rings and Volcanoes by Nigel Bruce and Jim Hunt.
Tree Ring and C-14 Dating
Search the Bibliography of Dendrochronology at the University of Arizona

 

• Some useful hardcopy sources (most published in paperback) include:

Peter A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, The Reign by Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (Thames and Hudson, London and New York 1994, reprinted 1998).

Josephus, "The Jewish War", G. A. Williamson (trans.), and E. Mary Smallwood (revised with new introduction, notes and appendixes) (Penguin, London 1981).

Geza Vermes, "The Dead Sea Scrolls in English", Revised and Extended Fourth Edition (Penguin, London 1995).

Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran (Touchstone, New York 1996).

"An Illustrated Atlas of the Bible" - Terrain Maps, Photographs, City Plans, Diagrams, Time Chart of Bible History, Gazetteer, Harry Thomas Frank (ed.), Roger S. Boraass (consultant for rev. ed.) (Maplewood, NJ: Broadman Press, 1990).

Frank Moore Cross, "The Ancient Library of Qumran", 3rd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995).

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Note 1: BCE (Before the Common Era) is equivalent to, but used here in preference to, BC (Before Christ). CE (Common Era) is equivalent to, but is used here in preference to, AD (Anno Domini - Year of our Lord). These abbreviations appear to be used interchangeably in many publications. These abbreviations, as used here, always follow the year or range of years. If not included, BCE should be assumed unless the context makes CE the obvious choice.

 

Note 2: I've assembled this for my own benefit. I use it like a notepad for questions, comments, and speculations about historical events; many of which need further clarification. All are welcome to look over my shoulder (and make suggestions), but anyone using this timeline should understand that parts of it will always be in transition from one level of understanding on my part to another. This is not likely to become a well unified Timeline any time soon.

 

I've relied on expert sources for the backbone, but I've also included surmises which may upon further study turn out to be wrong. The real benefit of such a timeline for me, or any student, comes from assembling and studying it. While this one is available for anyone to consult, the highest purpose it could serve would be to stimulate others to do the same for themselves.

 

The benefits of working through the details are enormous and eventually lead to a much better appreciation of the nature, scope, duration, complexity, and significance of the critical events that shaped the lives, governance, conflicts, economies, and religions of the people of intertestamental Palestine, in particular, and in the Middle East, more generally.

 

Note 3: If you have a comment, question or suggestion about any part of this timeline, please send me your e-mail. When you do, please "copy and paste" the appropriate section into your e-mail along with your message so that I can find the section(s) to which you refer with more certainty.

332 BCE Alexander the Great (336-323 BCE) invades. A regional process of Hellenization begins all over the eastern Mediterranean. Alexander's generals eventually become his successors; the Ptolemy's rule Egypt and Palestine and the Seleucids rule Anatolia, Syria and Persia. 331 BCE Darius III (336-331 BCE), king of the Persians and Medes was defeated by Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedonia. (1 Macc 1). 331 - 200 BCE Alexander the Great conquered the "known" world. Following the death of Alexander, Palestine became part of the empire of the Greeks in Egypt, the Ptolemies. Hellenized cities where built along the coast at Gaza, Ascalon, Joppa, Dor, and Acco (renamed Ptolemais), ie all along the entire coast of Philistia. This provided a buffer zone between Egypt and the Seleucid empire which had already annexed Phoenicia.   It also left the inland parts of Palestine (including a very small Judaea around Jerusalem and Jericho) essentially land locked. Interestingly, even at its smallest extent, Judaea still included Qumran. Inland cites were built or rebuilt, such as that at Scythiopolis (formerly Beth Shean), Samaria was Hellenized as Sebaste, and Rabbath-Ammon (Amman) was refounded as Philadelphia, which remained a free city state. Greeks, Macedonians and Hellenized Phoenicians took up permanent residence throughout Palestine. 323 BCE Alexander the Great dies. c. 323 - 30 BCE   Manetho The following, and all that appears of this work above concerning Manetho, is extracted from the volume of the Loeb Classical Library edition of Manetho (1940, reprinted 1980), translated by W. G. Waddell. This book draws on most of the available sources of ancient writers who quoted Manetho. It should be remembered that even these are sometimes only known through intermediary translations. Where more than one source attributed to the same author are available, they frequently disagree.   Thus we cannot always be sure what Eusebius or Africanus, say, originally wrote about Manetho's work. The names of the pharaohs used in this chronology and attributed to Manetho are Waddell's English translations from his quoted sources, except where I have added my own transliteration (rarely) taken from the Greek or Latin text printed on the facing page to more precisely match the written form of the name. Where various sources give divergent names or name-forms, I have tried to include all of them after Waddell's.   Manetho wrote in Greek during the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Very little is known about him with certainty. Even his Aegyptiaca, or the History of Egypt, is only known from secondary sources. An Epitome of his History of Egypt was made at an early date, shortly after the history was written, but probably not by Manetho himself. It took he form of lists of Dynasties with notes of outstanding kings or important events.   This suggests that Manetho's works were popular and widely read from the earliest possible date. The remains of this Epitome are preserved primarily by the early Christian chronographers Eusebius (326 CE) and Sextus Julius Africanus. Africanus (221 CE) seems to ave transmitted the more accurate version of the two.   Other known works attributed to Manetho include the following: The Sacred Book, on Egyptian Religion, An Epitome of Physical Doctrines, On Festivals, possibly part of The Sacred Book, On Ancient Ritual and Religion, possibly part of The Sacred Book, On the Making of Kyphi, an incense, possibly part of The Sacred Book, The Criticisms of Herodotus, probably not a separate work, Book of Sothis or The Sothic Cycle (transmitted to us only through Syncellus), considered spurious and almost certainly not by Manetho, it may nevertheless include important transmission of some of the information contained in Manetho's work, Kings of Thebes (in Egypt), considered doubtful, The Old Chronicle, a corrupted version of the History.   Aegyptiaca and its Epitome are known only from fragmentary, often only in paraphrase, and frequently distorted, quotations chiefly by Josephus and by the Christian chronogrophers Africanus and Eusebius, with isolated passages quoted by Plutarch, Theophilus, Aelian, Porphyrius, Diogenes Laertius, Theodoretus, Lydus, Malalas, the Scholia to Plato, and the Etymologicum Magnum. His religious writings are known mainly through references in Plutarch's On Isis and Osiris.   There are only three things about the man himself that seem to be known with high probability: He was an Egyptian who wrote in Greek; He was a priest at Heliopolis, and; He was active in introducing the cult of Serapis. His name is unique as a proper name, if that is what it was. Perhaps it was his title rather than his name. A certain priest under the 19th Dynasty is described as "First Priest of the Truth of Thoth" and "Truth of Thoth" is how his name is sometimes interpreted.   As to when he wrote, Syncellus (George the Monk, c. 800 CE) includes the information that he "lived later than Berossos", and that he was "almost contemporary with Berossos, or a little later." Berossos was a priest of Marduk in Babylon who lived under and wrote for Antiochus I (280 - 261 BCE), and dedicated his Chaldaica to him after he became sole monarch (281 or 280 BCE).   He is usually associated with the district of Sebennytus (now Samannud), the seat of the 30th Dynasty, in the Delta, although the style "Manetho of Mendes", a town about 17 miles distant from Sebennytus, is also known. Though this may be a later confusion with Ptolemy of Mendes, an Egytpian priest, probably from about the time of Augustus, who also wrote an Egyptian chronology in three books. Manetho is said to have styled himself in a letter to Ptolemy II Philadelphus as "high-priest and scribe of the sacred shrines of Egypt, born at Sebennytus and dwelling at Heliopolis."   As a priest Manetho had complete access to any number of records no longer available today. There is no way to know today exactly what records he consulted, there are some records that come down to the modern era with which he was certainly familiar and which must have been consulted in writing his History. From these we gain some insight into the quality of the versions of his work to which we have access.   These include: The first two sources cover the tradition of Upper Egypt. The next two reflect the tradition of Lower Egypt. The Royal List of Abydos, lists 76 kings in order from Menes to Sethos I, but Dynasties 13 to 17 are missing. A mutilated copy of this list also appears in the Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos (now in the British Museum). The Royal List of Karnak (now in the Louvre) originally included a list of 61 kings from Menes to Tutmosis III of Dynasty 18. It includes many names from the 2nd Intermediate period, Dynasties 13 to 17. The Royal List of Sakkara (found in a tomb at Sakkara, and now in the Cairo Museum) originally included the cartouches of 58 (now only 47 remain), including Ramesses II. It begins with Miebis, the sixth king of Dynasty 1. It omits Dynasties 13 to 17. The Turin Royal Canon is clearly the most important of the available sources available today. It is written on the verso of a document containing accounting records from the time of Ramesses II on the recto (approximate date of 1200 BCE). When complete it contained the names of over 300 kings with their reign lengths in years, months and days. Like Manetho it begins with dynasties of gods followed by the dynasties of mortal kings. The arrangement is much like the Epitome of Manetho. The Palermo Stone is a more ancient source, taking the record back to before the 5th Dynasty. It was originally a large slab of black diorite seven feet long by 2 feet high. It is now broken. The middle section is still preserved and resides in the Museum of Palermo. Smaller fragments have been identified of this or a similar monumental stone have been identified in the Cairo Museum and at University College, London.   He is quoted so extensively by these later writers that most of the document seems (however distorted) to have come down to us.   Back   Ptolemaic Dynasty Upon the death of Alexander, the Ptolemies take over the rule of Egypt, for nearly three hundred years, through the reign of Cleopatra VII. Ptolemy I (323-284 BCE) of Egypt. This period in Egypt is confused and confusing. Even today, there is some controversy over the order and precedence of the various members of this dynasty. Ptolemy I Ptolemy I Soter I (323-285) Ptolemy II Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282-246) Ptolemy III Ptolemy III Euergeter I (246-222) Ptolemy IV Ptolemy IV Philopator (222-205) Ptolemy V Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205-180) Ptolemy VI Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-164 & 163-145) Ptolemy VII Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (145) Ptolemy VIII Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (170-163 & 145-116) Ptolemy IX Cleopatra III & Ptolemy IX Soter II (116-107 & 88-80) Ptolemy X Cleopatra III & Ptolemy X Alexander I (107-88) Cleopatra Berenice (81-80) Ptolemy XI Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80) Ptolemy XII Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (80-58 & 55-51) Cleopatra VII  Berenice IV (58-55) Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIII (51-47) Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XIV (47-44) Ptolemy XV Cleopatra VII & Ptolemy XV Cesarion (44-30) 312 BCE Founding of the Seleucid (Syrian) Empire by the Macedonians. The Ptolemies take control of Palestine. Seleucus I (312-280 BCE) of Syria, founder of the Seleucid Empire.   Back   300 BCE 280 BCE Antiochus I (280-261 BCE) of Syria. 264 - 146 BCE Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. 246 BCE Seleucus II (246-226 BCE) of Syria. 223 BCE Antiochus III (The Great: 223-187 BCE) of Syria. 218 BCE Hannibal campaigns in Italy. 203 BCE Ptolemy V (203-181 BCE) of Egypt.   Back   200 BCE  World Population estimates = 150 - 231 million. Could the bloodiness of Alexander's conquests account for a suggested drop in the world population between 400 BCE and 200 BCE, or is there some other well known explanation for this effect? 198 BCE Judaea ceases to be a province of Egypt and becomes a province of the Seleucid Empire ruled by the Greek-Syrian successors of Alexander the Great. Signs of Hebrews succumbing to the Greek cultural influence (Hellenization) appear. The Book of Ecclesiasticus, by Jesus ben Sira, dates to about this time. He was a sage of Jerusalem who railed against the 'ungodly men' who have 'forsaken the Law of the Most High God'. 197 BCE 390 years after the beginning of the Babylonian exile. The earliest year according to the Damascus Document of the birth of the Righteous Teacher.   In the epoch of wrath, three hundred and ninety years after he gave them into the power of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, he visited them and caused a root of planting to sprout from Israel and from Aaron to possess His land and to grow rich with the good things of His land. And they came to understand their iniquity and to know that they were guilty men; but they were like blind men or like those who grope for the way twenty years.   And God recognized their works, that they sought Him with a whole heart and so raised up for them a Righteous Teacher to make them tread in the way of His heart and to instruct the last generations that which He would do in the last generation against the congregation of the false. (CD 1.5-12)    Though F. M. Cross warns us not take the scriptural number "390" (Ezek 4.5) seriously, it is not totally out of the question that it is meant to be a real number. If He visited them, and then let them wander for 20 years, while the Righteous Teacher grew and matured, then 177 BCE would be the earliest year in which he could begin teaching.    If Cross is correct that 390 cannot be read arithmetically, then we are forced to fall back to looking for 20 years periods of error and "groping". He suggests the approximately 20 period from the 160s to the 140s BCE when the Hasidim supported the Maccabees.  Cross' chronological interpretation is to assume that the break of the Hasidim either with Jonathan late is his career or with Simon early in his career, marks the end of the 20 years of groping. Simon became High Priest in 143/142 BCE. 190 BCE Battle of Magnesia. 187 BCE Seleucus IV (187-175 BCE) of Syria. Beginning of Hellenistic infiltration; resisted by the Zadokite High Priest Onias III. 181 BCE Ptolemy VI (181-146 BCE) of Egypt. 175BCE Seleucus IV deposed by his brother Antiochus IV (Epiphanes: 175-163 BCE), who seizes the throne to become king of Syria. Seleucus' nine year old son, Demetrius, is sent as a hostage to Rome. Onias III deposed as high priest in favor of his Hellenophile brother, Jesus, who changed his name to the Greek form, Jason (175-172 BCE). Hellenization was most popular among the Judaean elite. Jason sets out to transform Jerusalem into a Hellenistic city. 172 BCE Jason expelled from office in favor of Menelaus (172-162 BCE), who was also a Hellenizing high priest. Onias IV, son of Onias III, is prevented by Menelaus from taking his hereditary position as high priest. c. 171 BCE Antiochus IV takes the title Epiphanes, "God made manifest". 171 BCE Onias III murdered by Menelaus. With the death of Onias and the deposition of Jason, his usurping brother, the Zadokite family, from which the incumbents of the high priest's office traditionally came, lost their centuries old monopoly. Forced Hellenization begins.   Back   170 BCE 169 BCE Epiphanes allies himself with the Hellenizing movement in Jerusalem. He then makes an excursion into Egypt (the Delta region, at least) and he enjoys successful plundering there. On his return to Jerusalem Epiphanes invades the sanctuary and loots the Temple of its treasures.   Onias IV, the hereditary high priest, flees to Ptolemy. In contravention of biblical law, which authorizes only one sanctuary and only in Jerusalem, Onias plans and eventually builds a small town like Jerusalem, Leontopolis, and in it a Sanctuary like the one in the Temple in Jerusalem.   If Onias' party formed the basis for the Hasidaeans who appear later, then this copy of the temple must eventually have been recognized as a mistake. If the Hasidim were the beginnings of the sectarian group that is supposed to have occupied Qumran, then we have to explain how the bones of sacrificial animals came be buried at Qumran.   Cross attributes to Strugnell the idea that the Qumran sect lived their lives on a pattern of the camps in the wilderness, where sacrifice outside the Temple was permissible, under the auspices of a Zadokite priest. That would explain why there was no remote resemblance to the Temple at Qumran like there had been at Leontopolis. Other copies of the Temple have been reported and it is possible that several groups were eventually convinced to leave their fake temples and join the camps in the wilderness movement, if there was one.    I like the idea that Onias III was the original inspiration for the Teacher of Righteousness. Though he did not lead anyone into the desert, original writings of such a sect would have provided a place of honor for the last Zadokite High Priest. That would seem to leave Jesus, renamed Jason, as the Wicked Priest. The parallel to the later Jason Maccabaeus must have had a galvanizing effect on such a sect as he removes the last vestiges of hope for a return of the Zadokite high priests to the Temple. The Wicked priest could thus be a composite based on the coincidence of identical names for two hated priests.    Jason Maccabaeus enemy, but probably not a second candidate for the Teacher of Righteousness, was Alcimus. The Hasidim supported him at one time, and technically he was the last Zadokite high priest, but he turned on them and killed many. Another good candidate for the Teacher of Righteousness is some unnamed student or descendent of Onias III.  168 BCE Epiphanes stopped by the Romans in his second campaign against Egypt.  167 BCE Sacrifices are suspended in the Temple for 3-1/2 years. Persecution of those Hebrews who opposed unification with the Seleucid Empire on the basis of Greek culture and religion. Official abolition of Judaic religion and practice under threat of death. Epiphanes' Mysian commander, Apollonius, tortures and kills many in Jerusalem. The Temple is transformed into a sanctuary of Olympian Zeus.   On December 6, Epiphanes erects a "horrible abomination" upon the altar in the Temple. (In the original Hebrew this is a contemptuous pun on the title "lord of Heaven" given to Zeus Olympios to whom an image or an altar was apparently erected.) The opposition to the Hellenizers is finally galvanized into action by this final "abomination of desolation".   Apollonius built the massive walls and towers that became the Citadel overlooking the Temple and its courts on Mt Zion. The Syrian garrison, together with dissidents, occupied the Citadel for 26 years (until 141 BCE) and served as a continuing threat to the Temple, the City of Jerusalem, and the citizens of Jerusalem. (1 Macc; Dan 11:36-39) 166 BCE Rising of the Maccabees (166-160 BCE) supported by the traditional, anti-Hellenistic, parties. Originally lead by Mattathias, son of Hasmon (Simeon), or Asamonaeus (hence the term "Hasmonaean" for their dynasty), a priest from Modein (20 miles NW of Jerusalem), who with his five sons start a revolt, tear down the pagan altars, and reinstate circumcision. They are initially supported by the traditional, anti-Hellenistic, groups, in particular, by the company of the Pious, the Hasidaeans or Hasidim.   After Mattathias death, his son Judas (nicknamed "Maccabaeus" meaning "the hammer") takes over as leader of the rebel army and defeats Antiochus' generals, Apollonius and Seron. Apollonius was killed and Judas claimed his sword. Seron was also defeated and he and his army were driven out of Judaea and took refuge in the land of the Philistines (the coastal cities of southern Palestine, especially Jamnia which was an important base for Seleucid power).   F. M Cross makes a fairly good case for the Hasidim as the Essenes whom it is claimed occupied Qumran. Their later initial support of Alcimus, despite the presence of his Hellenizing Syrian supporters, is a strong suggestion of their dedication to the reinstallation of the Zadokite High Priests. This seems more than a little fanatical given Alcimus willingness to let 60 of the Hasidim be executed by his own supporters.   Back   165 BCE   165 BCE Epiphanes sets out to levy tribute from Persia to pay for his wars against Judaea (he failed). At the same time he left Lysias in charge of the Empire and his son, Antiochus. He also ordered him to send an army against Judaea with orders to wipe out the Hebrew race and to efface their memory from the land. He intended to resettle the land with foreigners and redistribute the land by lot. Lysias sent Ptolemy, Nicanor and Gorgias at the head of the armies of Syria. 164 BCE Truce with Syria. Cleansing, rededication and repair of the Temple in Jerusalem. Daily sacrifices resume in the Temple on December 14, 164 BCE after Judas initiates an attack to drive the Syrian garrison out of the Upper City and into the Citadel. Judas "Maccabaeus" assumes responsibility as high priest (164-161 BCE) even as Menelaus continues to hold the official title from the king of Syria. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 BCE) of Syria dies as early as November or December in Persia shortly after hearing that the Temple in Jerusalem is recaptured by Judas. (Dan 7:25; 12:7, 8:14, 9:27) 163 BCE Antiochus V (163-162 BCE), the nine year old son of Epiphanes, king of Syria. 163 BCE Judaeans living in Galilee and Gilead are attacked and Judas sends armies to rescue them. Joseph and Asariah, whom Judas left in charge during his absence, attack Jamnia and are defeated by Gorgias' army. After Judas returned from his rescue mission to Gilead, he attacked Idumaea and Philistia, plundered their cities, and then returned to Jerusalem. 162 BCE Antiochus V of Syria is executed by his twenty-five year old cousin, Demetrius I (162-150 BCE), who fled his captivity in Rome to claim his rightful place as king of Syria. Judas attacks the Syrian garrison in the Citadel in Jerusalem. Menelaus is executed by the Syrians. Alcimus (162-159 BCE) is appointed high priest by the king of Syria.   This splits the ranks of the Hasidim within the Maccabaean movement. As an Aaronic priest, most of the Hasidim trusted Alcimus until he accepted this appointment. Alcimus Syrian supporters' kill 60 of the Hasidim who trusted his peaceful words. Judas and his brothers did not trust Alcimus from the beginning since he came with Bacchides and a large Syrian army to enforce his appointment as high priest. 161 BCE Judas allies himself with Rome. The treaty brings the Judaeans no practical help against Syria, however. The Syrian army now under Nicanor attacks in order to protect the garrison and Alcimus.   Back   160 BCE 160 BCE Nicanor dies in battle and his army is defeated. Bacchides takes command of the Syrian army. Judas "Maccabaeus" dies in battle about one month after Nicanor. His brother Eleazar died in 162 BCE in an earlier battle and another brother, John, dies a few days after Judas in a Syrian plot. That leaves only two remaining Hasmonaean brothers, Jonathan and Simon.   Jonathan (160-142 BCE) inherits Judas' position as leader of the rebels and eventually receives from the king of Syria the title High Priest (152-143/2 BCE) and then governor of Judaea (145-142 BCE). Jonathan is from a priestly family but not of the Zadokites, the traditional holders of the position of the high priestly title. c. 160? BCE Temple of Onias IV built. 159 BCE Alcimus, the last Hellenizing High Priest, dies of a stroke. No High Priest is appointed for 6 or 7 years until Jonathan is appointed by Alexander Balas, usurper of the Seleucid throne, in 152. 153 BCE The Syrian throne of Demetrius I (162-153 BCE) usurped by Alexander Balas (nominal king of Syria 153-145 BCE), alleged to be a son of Antiochus IV. Jonathan's support of Alexander over Demetrius earned him some favors from Alexander during the struggle and after they were successful.   Back   150 BCE 150/49 BCE Alexander Balas confirms Jonathan as high priest. An important step toward Judaean independence. Also, marks a furtherance of the split between the conservatives, like the Hasidim, who still looked to the Zadokites for their high priests, and the Maccabees. Both sides were still united in their antipathy to the Hellenizing influence of the Seleucid Empire, however. mid-second century BCE Qumran was rebuilt and expanded (including general repairs and strengthening of the walls, including the addition of the ramp of undressed stones buttressing the outer wall of the first two levels of the tower). There seems to be general disagreement about whether or not this type of structure was "typical" of the fortified structures of the period.   The term "country forts" has been proposed, but as far as I can tell there is no consensus about who built such forts, why they were built where they are, or even if they were forts or simply strong houses built in remote locations. Conceivably, the structures styled country forts could have been built on may different plans and some, like Qumran according to de Vaux, may have used the shell of much older structures to save some of the effort required to build from scratch. 146 BCE The revolt of the Achaean League. This marks the end of Greek independence. This episode is inserted by the Author of 1 Maccabees into his narrative at an earlier date primarily to show the Greeks, whom he regards as the enemies of God, suffering a defeat at the hands of the Romans at a time when Rome is making friendly overtures to Judas. In fact, by the time this occurred, Judas had already been dead for fourteen years. 146 BCE Ptolemy VII (146-116 BCE) of Egypt. 145 BCE Alexander Balas (nominal king of Syria 150-145 BCE) dies, leaving his son Antiochus VI (145-138 BCE) raised to the throne as king of Syria by Tryphon, his father's general. (One timeline listed Demetrius II (145-139 BCE), but this almost has to be a reference to Tryphon who was raising and leading Antiochus VI.   A Demetrius is also mentioned in 1 Macc. as confirming Simon's position as high priest ten years after Demetrius I's death, though this could be misleading if the times were altered for expositional purposes by the author.) Jonathan named governor of Judaea (145-142 BCE). Jonathan's younger brother, Simon, is made a military governor of part of Palestine. Additional important steps toward Judaean independence. c.143 BCE Treaty with Rome renewed by Jonathan, necessitated by the death of the ruler, Judas, who made it. Jonathan is arrested by Tryphon. 142 BCE Jonathan (161-142 BCE) is executed in prison. Jonathan's brother Simon (142-134 BCE) becomes high priest. ?141 BCE Syrian garrison expelled from the Citadel; Judaea effectively independent.   Back   140 BCE 140 BCE In the third year of his rule, Simon calls an assembly of 'the priests and people and heads of the nation and the elders of the country' to confirm his and his family's right to serve as high priest 'until a faithful prophet arise' to decide the priestly question, between the Hasmonaeans and the Zadokites, presumably. Simon is thereby appointed ethnarch, his position as high priest is confirmed by the whole Jewish assembly, and both of his titles are confirmed as hereditary, marking the beginning of the Maccabaean, or Hasmonaean, dynasty.   The decree was engraved in bronze and mounted on a stelae on Mount Zion. Annexation of Joppa and Jamnia. For the next 64 years the Hasmonaean successors annexed, one by one, all the Hellenistic towns of Palestine, and conquered Idumaea in the south and Samaria and Ituraea in the north. 138 BCE Antiochus VI (145-138 BCE) of Syria dies. Antiochus VII (Sidates: 138-129 BCE) king of Syria after defeating Tryphon's attempt to usurp the throne. 134 BCE Simon with two of his sons, Judas and Mattathias, is killed on a visit to the fortress, Doq, being constructed above Jericho for Simon by Ptolemy, son of Abudos and son-in-law of Simon. Ptolemy dispatched troops to Gezer to kill Simon's other son, John Hyrcanus, but he survives.   John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BCE) becomes high priest and ethnarch. Annexation of coastal cities, Samaritis, and Idumaea. Hyrcanus is opposed by the Pharisees. The embarrassing part of this fiasco is that Simon and his sons attended a banquet held in their honor by Ptolemy, and they were drunk when Ptolemy's men murdered Simon. The two sons were spared only briefly, then executed, too. 129 BCE Antiochus VII (138-129 BCE) of Syria dies. 116 BCE Ptolemy VIII (116-81 BCE) of Egypt. 104 BCE John Hyrcanus I (135/4-104 BCE) high priest and ethnarch of Judaea dies. Aristobulus I (104-103 BCE) becomes high priest and king for about one year. Annexation of Galilee. 103 BCE Aristobulus I (104-103 BCE) dies. His brother Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE) high priest and king. He marries his brother's widow, Alexandra Salome, as required by Judaic law. Annexation of remaining coastal cities, the Greek cities east of Jordan, and Peraea. Alexander is resisted by the Pharisees.   Back   100 BCE 82 BCE Sulla (82-79 BCE) Dictator of Rome. 81 BCE Ptolemy IX (81-80 BCE) of Egypt. 76 BCE Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE) dies. Jannaeus' widow Alexandra Salome (76-67 BCE) queen. His son, Hyrcanus II (I: 76-67 BCE), becomes high priest. 73 BCE Birth of Herod the Great (73-4 BCE).   Back   70 BCE 68 BCE Antiochus XIII (68-67 BCE) of Syria. 67 BCE Hyrcanus II high priest and king (67 BCE, three months). Antipater is his minister. Hyrcanus II is deposed by his brother Aristobulus II (67-63 BCE) who becomes both king and high priest. 66 BCE Pompey takes over command from Lucullus and campaigns (66-63 BCE) in Asia. 66 - 63 BCE Pompey's campaigns in East. Annexation of Syria as a province.   Back

H E L L E N I S T I C   P  E  R I O D

63 BCE Pompey's siege of Jerusalem. Aristobulus II taken prisoner by Pompey after the fall of Jerusalem. Judaea becomes a Roman province. Hyrcanus II (II: 63-40 BCE) reinstated as high priest and ethnarch. Antipater (father of Herod the Great) is still his chief minister and increasingly powerful. Aristobulus II and sons taken to Rome. Cities on coast and east of Jordan detached from Judaea. Between father and son the Dynasty of Antipater and Herod eventually supplants the Hasmonaeans. 62 BCE Return of Pompey to Rome with Hebrew prisoners.   Back   60 BCE 58 BCE Caesar's Gallic Wars (58-51 BCE). 57 - 55 BCE Unsuccessful attempts to reinstate Aristobulus and sons. Gabinius governor of Syria. 55 BCE Judaean help to Gabinius in Egypt. Temple treasure seized by Crassus. Antipater appointed governor of Palestine. 55 - 53 BCE Crassus governor of Syria 53 - 51 BCE Cassius governor of Syria.   Back   50 BCE 50 BCE Cleopatra VII (51-30 BCE) of Egypt. 49 - 45 BCE Civil war between Caesar and Pompeians. 49 BCE Death of Aristobulus II and elder son. 48 BCE Death of Pompey at Pharsalus. 48/7 BCE Judaean help to Caesar in Egypt. 47 BCE Caesar in Judaea. Hyrcanus II's position confirmed. Power and honors given to Antipater. Joppa restored. Rebuilding of walls of Jerusalem authorized. Herod in Galilee. 47 - 46 BCE Sextus Caesar in Syria. 46 BCE Herod in Syria. 44 BCE Murder of Caesar in Rome. 43 - 42 BCE Civil war between Caesarians and 'liberators'. Cassius (the 'liberator') in Syria. 43 BCE Mt Etna erupts. Cassius demands money. 42 BCE Battle of Philippi. Death of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.   Back   40 BCE 40 BCE Parthian invasion of Syria and Palestine. Antigonus II, son of Aristobulus II, occupied the throne and was high priest (43-37 BCE) with Parthian support. Death of Phasel. In Rome, Herod appointed king. Herod begins his campaigns for possession of Palestine. 40 - 31 BCE Qumran was damaged either by an earthquake (31 BCE, known to have occurred in Palestine from the works of Josephus) or an attack (possibly as early as 40 BCE during the Parthian invasion). Originally, thought by de Vaux to have been abandoned after this event. This now appears to be unlikely. The consensus has shifted toward more or less continuous occupation with continuity in both pottery and life style of the inhabitants. Therefore, it become more probable that the same people simply moved back in immediately, or shortly, after the event.    Continuous occupation scenarios appeal to me because I am still playing with the idea that Qumran acted as a point of entry for goods arriving by boat from south and east of the Dead Sea. That might have necessitated some official presence on a more or less continuous basis. Consistent with this and suggested by others, is that it might also have provided a holding area for people who were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. Some think the graves at the site contain the ill and infirm who were not allowed to continue to Jerusalem and had no way to return.    The fortified nature of the buildings may have been inadequate for a frontier fortress like those at Masada or Machaerus. It was, however, quite adequate for a small lightly armed staff to keep the peace, guard the boats, and monitor the goods and people seeking to gain access to Jerusalem by boat from beyond the Dead Sea. 40 - 4 BCE Nominal reign of Herod the Great. Early reports suggested that no coins from this period were found at Qumran leading to speculation that it was abandoned during this entire period. During the early years of Herod's nominal reign, Antigonus II (40-37 BCE) controlled Jerusalem and parts of Palestine. 39 - 38 BCE Roman campaigns against Parthia. East under Mark Antony's control; Antony dominated by Cleopatra. 37 BCE Herod (37-4 BCE) captures Jerusalem with Sosius and assumes the throne. Herod's marriage to Mariamme I. Antigonus II deposed and, possibly, executed. He may not have been executed until 18 BCE. End of the Hasmonaean dynasty and the beginning of the Herodian Dynasty. 36 BCE Murder of high priest, Mariamme's brother. Parthians defeat Antony. c. 35 BCE Coastal cities, including Joppa, given to Cleopatra by Anthony. 32 BCE War between Herod and Malchus of Nabataea. 31 BCE Execution of Hyrcanus II. Defeat of Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian (Augustus) in a naval battle at Actium.   Back   30 BCE 30 BCE Herod's position confirmed by Octavian. Coastal cities and Greek cities east of Jordan restored. Egypt annexed to Roman as a province. c. 30 BCE Malchus of Nabataea succeeded by Obodas. Roman Emperors  Augustus (30 BCE - 14 CE) Tiberius (14-37) Gaius Caligula (37-41) Claudius (41-54) Nero (54-69) Vespasian (69-79) Titus (79-81) Domitian (81-96) Nerva (96-98) Trajan (98-117) Hadrian (117-138) Antoninus Pius (138-161) Marcus Aurelius (161-180) Septimus Severus (193-211)  Geta, Caracalla (209-217) Diocletian (284-305)  29 BCE Murder of Mariamme I. 27/6 BCE Octavian is given the name 'Augustus' and becomes emperor of Rome (27 BCE - 14 CE). Sebaste founded by Herod (named for Sebastos, ie Augustus). 23 BCE Auranitis, Trachonitis and Batanaea added to Herod's kingdom. c. 23 BCE Herod married to Mariamme II. 23 BCE Rebuilding of the Temple begins.   Back   20 BCE 20 BCE Paneas, Ulatha and Gaulanitis added to Herod's kingdom. 18 BCE Work begins on Herod's Temple. 16 BCE Herod's first visit to Rome. 12 BCE Herod's second visit to Rome. Trial of Alexander and Aristobulus (both sons of Herod the Great by Mariamme I). Border trouble with Nabataea.   Back   10 BCE c. 7 BCE Execution of Alexander and Aristobulus. c. 6 BCE The Gospels of Matthew and Luke date the birth of Jesus of Nazareth to the last years of Herod's reign (ca. 12 - 4 BCE). 5 BCE Episode with the golden eagle on the Temple gate. 4 BCE Execution of Antipater III (son of Herod the Great by Doris). Death of Herod the Great (March). Civil war. Division of the kingdom, by Augustus during his adjudication of Herod's will, between Philip (Tetrarch of Batanaea, Trachonitis, Auranitis and some parts of Zenodorus' domain near Paneas - with a revenue of 100 talents: 4 BCE - 34 CE), Herod Antipas (Tetrarch of Peraea and Galilee - with a revenue of 200 talents: 4 BCE - 39 CE), and Archelaus (Ethnarch of Idumaea, Judaea and Samaritis - with a revenue of 400 talents: 4 BCE - 6 CE). 4 BCE In de Vaux's original timeline, Qumran was reoccupied by Jewish sectarians around this time. Now it appears that it may never have been entirely abandoned. In either event, it was continuously occupied from about this time by Judaeans of some sort, or sorts, until its capture by the Roman army close to 70 CE, after which it was occupied by Roman forces until the turn of the century. c.1 BCE World Population estimates = 170 - 400 million.   Back     Beginning of the Common Era 6 CE Deposition of Archelaus from the Ethnarchy by Augustus for his misgovernment of Judaeans and Samaritans alike. Annexation of Judaea, which included Judaea, Idumaea and Samaria (plus Qumran), as a province. The province was ruled by various Roman governors (6-41 CE). Among these was Pontius Pilate (27-37 CE). 6 CE Coponius Roman Prefect (6 -c.9) of Judaea. c. 6 CE Augustus appointed Annas (Ananus I) ben Seth High Priest (6 -15) of Jerusalem Temple ("House of Annas" produced 8 High Priests of Judaea). c. 9 - c. 12 CE Ambivius Roman Prefect of Judaea.   Back   10 CE c. 10 CE Death of Salome. c. 12 CE Rufus Roman Prefect (c. 12 - 15) of Judaea. 14 CE Accession of Tiberius (14 - 37). 15 CE Gratus: Roman Prefect (15 - 26) of Judaea. 16 CE Eleazar, son of Annas (6-15), appointed High Priest (16 -17) of Jerusalem Temple. 18 CE Joseph Caiaphas (18 - 36), son-in-law of Annas (6 -15), appointed High Priest of Jerusalem Temple by Prefect Valerius Gratus, deposed by Syrian Legate Vitellius. Archelaus dies, 12 years after being deposed from the Ethnarchy. c. 19 CE Herod Antipas moved Galilaean capital from Sepphoris to his new Tiberius.   Back   20 CE 26 CE Pontius Pilate governor (26 - 36) of Samaria, Judaea, and Idumaea. c. 29 CE John the Baptist, in the "15th year of Tiberius" [Lk3:1-2], who is identified equivocally as a "Nazirite"? [Lk1:15], was arrested and killed by Herod Antipas [Lk3:19-20].   Back   30 CE c. 30 CE Shammai the Elder founded Bet Shammai Torah school. 30 or 33 or 36 CE Crucifixion of Christ. Possible Friday 14 Nisan crucifixion dates: April 7, 30 CE, April 3, 33 CE, March 30, 36 CE. Friday 15 Nisan is another popular date. c. 34 CE Death of Philip. 36 CE Marcellus Roman Prefect (36 - 37) of Judaea. 36 CE Agrippa I (36 - 37) in Rome. Jonathan appointed Jerusalem High Priest (36 - 37) by Syrian Legate Vitellius. c. 37 CE Conversion of Saul of Tarsus ("Paul"); a Roman citizen. 37 Marullus: Roman Prefect (37 - c. 41) of Judaea. A Governor not mentioned by Josephus. 37 CE Accession of Gaius ("Caligula": b. 12; 37 - 41) Emperor of Rome. 37 CE Birth of Josephus (?). Appointment of Herod Agrippa I king (37 - 41) (of Philip and Lysanias' tetrarchies). In 40, Herod Antipas' Galilee and Peraea tetrarchies were added to Agrippa I. 38 CE Greek - Jewish riots in Alexandria. 39 CE Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee exiled to the Pyrenees. This event is not mentioned in any of the biblical accounts of the time. 39 - 40 CE Greek-Jewish riots in Antioch. Jewish protest at Ptolemais.   Back   40 CE  40 CE Gaius' attack on the Temple. c. 40 CE Septuagint: 4 Maccabees written in Greek in Alexandria. Paul went to Jerusalem (1st trip?) to meet Peter and James. 40 - 41 CE Agrippa I in Rome. 41 CE Province of Judaea disbanded and made into Agrippa I's kingdom (41-44 CE). Accession of Claudius (b. 10 BCE; 41 - 54) Emperor or Rome. 41 CE By this time both Galilee and Judaea had been transferred to King Agrippa, reuniting Palestine for the first time since 6 CE under a single non-Roman monarch (even though he was a puppet king of Rome). 44 CE Province of Judaea reconstituted after the death of Agrippa I, with Galilee and Peraea included. James, the brother of John, executed by the sword by Agrippa I. C. Cuspius Fadus: Roman Procurator (44 - 46 CE) of Judaea (including Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea). Theudas beheaded for parting the Jordan (as the Red Sea was parted in Exodus).   Back   45 CE c. 45 CE Jacob and Simon, sons of Judah of Gamala, crucified. Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (b.30 BCE), Jewish philosopher and hellenizer, tried to unify Greek and Hebrew philosophy. 46/47 CE Paul's first journey. Council at Jerusalem. ?46 - 48 CE Tiberius Julius Alexander Roman Procurator of Judaea, an apostate Jew. 47 CE Ananias ben Nedebaeus appointed Jerusalem High Priest (47 - 59) by Herod of Chalcis. c. 47-48 CE Paul on Cyprus with Barnabas. 48 CE Ventidius Cumanas Roman Procurator (48 - 52) Judaea (Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea). Agrippa II, King of Judaea (48 - 93), ruled first from Chalcis (48-52) and then from Iturea (52-93). 48 - 49? CE Council of Apostles & Elders, the 1st Christian Council, also an incident at Antioch where Paul publicly condemned Peter. c. 49 - 50 CE Paul in Corinth (center of his mission to the Gentiles).   Back   50 CE 50 CE Passover riot in Jerusalem leaves 20-30,000 killed. 52 CE M. Antonius Felix, a Greek Freedman, Roman Procurator (52-c. 60) of Judaea. Arrest and imprisonment of St. Paul. M. Antonius Felix: massacred an "Egyptian Prophet" and c. 30,000 unarmed participants during an Exodus reenactment in 55 CE and in c. 58 CE he crushed a Jewish revolt in Caesarea. 53 - 63 CE Parthian War with Rome. 54 CE Claudius poisoned by his wife Agrippina. Accession of Nero (b. 37; 54-68) Emperor of Rome, last of the Julio-Claudian line.   Back   55 CE c. 57 CE Paul makes his last visit to Jerusalem. c. 58 CE Paul is imprisoned in Caesarea. "Quarrel in Caesarea referred to Nero" - could this be Paul? 59 CE Nero killed his mother Agrippina. 58/9 - 62 CE Porcius Festus Roman Procurator. Trial of St. Paul and appeal to Nero (because as a Roman citizen he was entitled to such an appeal).   Back   60 CE c. 60 CE Paul sent to Rome and imprisoned. 60 CE Porcius Festus, Roman Procurator (60 - 62). c. 62 CE Paul martyred for treason in Rome? Nero killed his wife Octavia, and married Poppaea Sabina. 62 CE Lucceius Albinus, Roman Procurator (62 - 64) of Judaea. "Being a heartless Sadducee, Ananus {II} thinking that he had a favorable opportunity, because Festus had died and Albinus was still on his way, called a meeting [literally, "sanhedrin"] of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah, James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned." [JA 20.9.1, Marginal Jew, p.57] 64 CE Fire of Rome (July 18). Nero blamed the Christians. Gessius Florus Roman Procurator (64 - 66) of Judaea (Samaria, Judaea, Idumaea), a Greek from Asia Minor. He raided the Temple setting off the Jewish rebellion of 66-73. The first persecution of the Christians began in Rome. The Romans generally made little or no distinction between Christians and Jews, considering them ethnically, culturally, and religiously, one and the same people. Thanks to Paul's efforts this had already begun to change, but at the time and to a Roman, the differences might not yet have been discernable.   Back   65 CE 66 CE Nero entered the Olympic Games and won. Nero freed Greece from Roman administration. Nero also ordered the suicide of his courtier Petronius. Roman Legate of Syria Cestius Gallus forced to retreat from Judaea. 66 - 74 CE The First Revolt of the Palestinian Jews against Rome. 66 - 69 CE Tiberius Julius Alexander prefect of Syria. 66 CE Cestius Gallus in Jerusalem at Passover. Riots in Caesarea. Riots in Alexandria. Anti-Semitic uprisings in cities of Syria. 66 CE, May Outbreak of war. Florus' attack on Jerusalem. Masada captured by Sacarii. 66 CE, September Roman troops driven out of Jerusalem. 66 CE, November Defeat of Cestius at Beth-horon. Appointment of Josephus and five other regional commanders. 67 CE Arrival of Roman General Vespasianus (Vespasian) and Titus. Anti-Semitic riots in Antioch. Peter, first Pope?, first bishop of Antioch?, martyred (crucified?) in Rome? Pope Linus (67 - 78). 67 CE, July Capture of Jotapata. Vespasian conquers most of Galilee. 67 CE, October Capture of Gamala. In Jerusalem, arrival of John of Gischala; his alliance with the Zealots; deposition of high priest; faction fighting. 68 CE Nero dethroned and on June 9 committed suicide. Accession of Galba, Roman Emperor (June 68 - January 69, assassinated).   Sometime between 68 and 70 CE Qumran is captured by Roman forces, either shortly before or shortly after the fall of Jerusalem. Other fortresses known to have been captured after the fall of Jerusalem include Herodium, Machaerus, and Masada making it somewhat more likely that Qumran fell as part of the general offensive against the Jews in the Judaean Wilderness after the fall of the capital rather than before.   (It is also possible that Qumran was taken and occupied before the offensive on Jerusalem. It is too small to justify diverting the entire army, but its occupiers may have been enough of an annoyance to justify installing a small garrison in order to monitor the army's flank.)   If Qumran was taken after the fall of Jerusalem, the Tenth Roman Legion moved directly on Jerusalem after capturing Jericho and the area south of Jericho as far as the tip of the Dead Sea. 68 CE Subjugation of most of Judaea, Idumaea and Peraea. Romans inactive from c. July. Simon, son of Gioras, in control of parts of Judaea and Idumaea. In Jerusalem, reinforcements summoned from Idumaea; alliance between John and Zealots ended. 69 CE Simon admitted into Jerusalem; fighting between him, John of Gischala and Zealots. 69 CE, January Murder of Galba. Otho, Roman Emperor (January 69 - April 69, assassinated). 69 CE, Spring Roman recovery of territory lost to Simon. 69 CE, April Death of Otho. Vitellius, Roman Emperor (April 69 - December 69, assassinated). 69 CE, July Vespasian (69-79 CE) proclaimed Emperor of Rome. 69 CE Autumn Titus left in command by Vespasian, who moved to Egypt. 69 CE, December Death of Vitellius and Flavian victory. By appointment of the Roman Senate, Vespasian (b. 9) proclaimed Roman Emperor (December 69 - June 23, 79) while still in Egypt. (Founder of the Flavian Dynasty (69-96), built the Colosseum, quelled Roman & Jerusalem revolts.)   Back   70 CE 70 CE - Overview The year 70 CE, as Hershel Shanks puts it, has served as an impenetrable wall to the study of early Judaism and Christianity. With the destruction of Jerusalem, and all that entails, almost all documentary evidence of intertestamental Judaism was also destroyed. We have some, but in fact very little, information about only four Jewish sects from the period immediately preceding the destruction of the City (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Christians). What little we know about the differences among them comes only from later writers.    The earliest post-destruction Jewish writings (the Mishnah) date from 200 CE. Among Christian documents, only Paul's letters and, possibly, the gospel of Mark were written before the destruction. Everything else was later. Even the books of Josephus, which were written shortly after the destruction, introduce the additional complicating factor that they were written for a Roman audience who were not interested in the sectarian questions that interest most of us today.    In other words, there is no documentary evidence about sectarian Judaism from the intertestamental period that has not been filtered through the biases of later generations; until we come to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here for the first time we encounter writings that may come from one or more sects that were not previously part of the "known" cast of conventionally recognized groups. Not surprisingly, most modern scholars have tried to fit these writings onto one of the known groups (Essenes, dissident Saducees, or the Hassidim, for example). They are missing a terrific opportunity to break open the doors to understanding this period by not at least considering other possibilities.    More than half of the texts discovered at Qumran were unknown to modern biblical and Jewish scholars prior to their discovery at Qumran. Scholars seem not to have noticed what this implies about the state of intertestamental Judaism prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. It suggests the possibility, if not the likelihood, that among the thousands of books destroyed there were likely to be more thousands of books that we still know nothing about. The diversity of Judaism during that period has still not been fully appreciated, but that does not mean it was not a fact of life at the time.    If anything, this brings into even sharper focus that apparent intention of the early Christians to remain Jews, in the fullest sense of that word, for decades after Jesus' death. The differences of opinion between James, called the Brother of Jesus, and Paul seem now to have been dominated by this specific dividing line. Paul wanted to include non-Jews, and to allow modifications to Jewish laws to accommodate them (no circumcision required, for example), while James and his followers still considered themselves Jews, intended for their sect to remain Jewish, and expected their members to all be Jews.   One can predict, on the basis that Paul's faction won, that Christian writings have also been purged of this earlier tradition. It also explains why the "Church in Jerusalem" seems to have died out without a whimper. James and Mary and most of the unknown members of that church were literally cut out of the history of Christianity by later Church fathers who purged the Christian literature as surely as the Roman destruction of Jerusalem purged much of the Jewish literature. 70 CE Return of Vespasian to Rome. Sack of Jerusalem by Roman Armies occupying Judaea. End of the Second Temple Period. 70 CE, Spring Siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army begins. 70 CE, May Two outer northern walls of Jerusalem captured by the Roman besieging army. Circumvallation built. 70 CE, July Antonia fortress in Jerusalem recaptured by Titus, eldest son of Vespasian. 70 CE, August Titus conquers Jerusalem and the Temple stormed and burnt. All Jews are banned from the city. 70 CE, September Upper City captured and burnt. 70/1 CE, Winter Fire in Antioch. 71 CE, Spring Titus visits Jerusalem. 71 CE, Summer Triumph of Vespasian and Titus. 71 CE, Autumn? Capture of the fortress at Herodium. 72 CE Capture of the fortress at Machaerus. Battle of Jardes forest. 72 - 73 CE Trouble in Alexandria and Egypt; Temple of Onias closed. 73 CE, May The fortress at Masada, after a long siege by the Roman army, falls. Its defenders, mostly or exclusively Zealots, commit mass suicide the night before the fortress is captured. Only a hand full of survivors are captured alive. This marks the end of the First Revolt of the Jews against Rome.   Back   75 CE 79 CE Pope Anacletus (79 - 91, "blameless?") 79 CE, June Titus (b. 39), eldest son of Vespasian, Roman Emperor (June 23, 79 - September 13, 81). 79 CE, August Pliny the Elder (b. 23) dies during the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, which buries Pompeii and Herculaneum. 81 CE, September Domitianus (b. 51), Roman Emperor (September 13, 81 - September 18, 96), Vespasianus' youngest son. c. 90 - 91 CE Rabbis assembled at Jamnia (Yavneh) for the "Council of Jamnia" to formulate the biblical canon. between 90 - 96 BCE The Book of Revelation makes its first appearance. 91 CE Pope Clement I (91 - 101); wrote to Corinth in 95. 94 CE "Jewish Antiquities" by Josephus, written in Aramaic, translated into Greek. 96 CE Nerva (b. 35?), Roman Emperor (September 18, 96 - January 25, 98). Nerva instituted law reform; adopted Trajan and named him his successor. 98 CE Trajanus (Trajan, b. 53?), Roman Emperor (January 25, 98 - August 8, 117), Nerva's chosen successor. The Roman Empire reached its maximum extent under Trajan. Under his reign are the following accomplishments; Roman Arch Aqueduct at Segovia, Spain; annexations of Dacia (Romania 106-1453), Arabia (106-c630), Armenia (114-162), Mesopotamia (114-115).   An extensive revolt occurred (115-117) when Procurator Lucius Quietus provoked Kitos War in Jerusalem. Revolt spread to Libya, Cyrenaica, Egypt, Cyprus, Mesopotamia. That ended the Roman eastward expansion.   Back   100 CE c. 100 CE Josephus (37? - c. 100), Jewish general, turncoat, historian, hellenist, dies in Rome. Among his extant works are included JW=Jewish War (71); AA=Against Apion (c. 90); JA=Jewish Antiquities (94). Masoretes at Tiberias compiling Masora (MT), standard Scriptures of Judaism. 116 - 117 CE Jewish uprisings in Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia. 132 - 135 CE Bar Kochba Revolt. Jerusalem razed and Aelia Capitolina built on the site.   Back   200 CE World Population estimates = 190 - 256 million. In Sepphoris at about this time, Judah ha-Nasi compiled the Mishnah.   Back

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