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400000 BC |
In 2010 a Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said teeth found in the cave are about 400,000 years old and resemble those of other remains of modern man, known scientifically as Homo sapiens, found in Israel. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half as old. The prehistoric Qesem cave was discovered in 2000, and excavations began in 2004. Links: Israel, Anthropology, HistoryBC 
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200000 BC |
In 2010 Israeli archeologists found shards of flint found scattered around a fire pit in a cave near Tel Aviv dating to this time. They said the shards might be the world's oldest known disposable knives. Links: Israel, Anthropology, HistoryBC
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10000 BC |
In 2008 archeologists in northern Israel found a female skeleton in a grave containing 50 tortoise shells, a leopard pelvis, a cow tail and part of an eagle wing and believed they were the remains of a witch doctor from the Natufian culture. Links: Israel, Medical, HistoryBC
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8000 BC |
Tel Sultan, an archaeological dig, indicated that Jericho was first settled about this time. Links: Israel, Palestine, HistoryBC
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6000 BC |
In 2010 Israeli archaeologists uncovered the remains of an 8,000-year-old prehistoric building as well as ancient flint tools in the modern city of Tel Aviv. Links: Israel, HistoryBC
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4500 BC 3500 BC |
The Galgal Refaim, or the "wheel of ghosts," first noticed by scholars in 1968, was built during this period. It consists of four circles, the outermost more than 500 feet across, made up of an estimated 42,000 tons of basalt stone, the remains of massive walls that experts believe once rose as much as high as 30 feet. The enormous feat of construction was carried out by a society about which little is known. Scholars tended to agree that a tomb in the center of the site was added a millennia or two after the circles were erected in the Chalcolithic period. In 2011 a scholar suggested that Galgal Refaim was an excarnation facility. Links: Israel, HistoryBC
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3800 BC 3700 BC |
In 2010 archeologists in Israel uncovered two fragments of a clay tablet with writing that resembled portions of the Code of Hammurabi of the 18th century BC. The fragments referred to issues of personal injury law relating to slaves and masters. Links: Israel, HistoryBC
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3000 BC 2800 BC |
The Burckle Crater, an undersea crater, formed during this period by a very large scale comet or meteorite impact event. It is located to the east of Madagascar and west of Western Australia in the southern Indian ocean and is estimated to be about 30 km (18 mi) in diameter. In 2006 the Holocene Impact Working Group believed that it was created when a comet impacted in the ocean, and that enormous megatsunamis created the dune formations which later allowed the crater to be pin-pointed. As not only the Bible, but other ancient writings from various cultures make reference to a 'great flood', it is hypothesized that these legends are associated with this event. Links: Israel, Earth, Bible, HistoryBC, Meteor
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1800 BC |
About this time Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, in a cave in Hebron. The area later became known to the Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque. Links: Israel, Palestine
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1700 BC |
Canaanites, before the Hebrew conquest, built a massive wall about this time when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave. Archeologists first discovered the 26-foot-high wall in 1909 and later believed it to have been part of a protected passage built from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders. Links: Israel, Palestine, HistoryBC
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1200 BC |
The Philistines arrived by sea from the area of modern-day Greece about this time. They went on to rule major ports at Ashkelon and Ashdod, now cities in Israel, and at Gaza, now part of the Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip. Links: Israel, Palestine, Greece, HistoryBC, Philistines
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1100 BC |
In 2010 Israeli archeologists found a trove of gold jewelry in a jug near Megiddo dating to about this time. The jewelry was said to have belonged to a Canaanite family. Links: Israel, Palestine, HistoryBC
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1020 BC 980 BC |
Radiocarbon dating on burnt olive pits found in the ancient city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, 19 miles (30km) southwest of Jerusalem, indicate it existed between during this period, before being violently destroyed. In 2012 archaeologists reported the discovery of shrines from the fortified city, providing the earliest evidence of a Biblical cult. Links: Israel, Palestine, Religion, HistoryBC
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1004 BC |
David became the king of Israel. He ruled from Hebron before moving his capital to Jerusalem. He began to build a centralized government based in Jerusalem and implemented forced labor, a census and a mechanism for collecting taxes. In 2000 Jonathan Kirsch authored "King David: The Real Life of the Man Who ruled Israel." According to the Bible the census under David was followed by a plague that left some 70,000 Israelites dead. Links: Israel, Palestine, Taxes, HistoryBC, Census
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1000 BC 900 BC |
Archeologists in 2005 reported that 2 lines of an alphabet had been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C. The stone was found in July, on the final day of a five-week dig at Tel Zayit, about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv. Links: Israel, Language, HistoryBC
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1000 BC 975 BC |
In 2008 Israeli archeologists found a Hebrew inscription in proto-Canaanite script on a pottery fragment at a site believed to the biblical city of Sha’arayim (Two Gates). The city was located on a hill above the Valley of Elah, where the bible says David slew Goliath. Links: Israel, Language, HistoryBC, Archeology
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1000 BC |
A clay tablet, described as an Akkadian-language letter, dating to about this time was placed on display in 2011 in Jerusalem. The letter was from the Canaanite King Abdi-Heba to the king of Egypt. It was found in excavations of a site from the First Temple period. Links: Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Akkad, Language
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830 BC |
The Philistine city of Gath was razed. It appears to have been the work of the Aramean king Hazael, an incident mentioned in the Book of Kings. Links: Israel, Palestine, HistoryBC, Philistines
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721 BC |
About this time as the northern Israelite kingdom failed, Hebron remained the capital of the southern Israelite kingdom of Judah. Links: Israel, Palestine
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700 BC |
King Hezekiah, about this time, constructed a 1,750-foot tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem. Archeologists in 2003 dated plant fragments in the tunnel's plaster to this time +/- 100 years. In 1880 a tablet known as the Siloam inscription was found in the tunnel. It had been installed to celebrate the moment the two construction teams met underground. The tablet was taken by the Holy Land's Ottoman rulers to Istanbul. It was later placed in the collection of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. In 2007 Jerusalem's mayor asked the Turkish government to return the tablet. Links: Israel, HistoryBC
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604 BC |
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded and put the Philistines' cities to the sword. There is no remnant of them after that. Links: Babylon, Israel, Palestine, HistoryBC, Philistines
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586 BC |
The Jewish Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, was later said to date to about this time. The first Jews who arrived were said to have brought a stone from the ancient temple of Jerusalem that was destroyed by the Babylonians. Links: Israel, Jews, Tunisia, HistoryBC
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300 BC 68 BC |
The Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran, Jordan, date to this period. The scrolls are usually identified with the Jewish-monkish cult, the Essenes, know for their pathological aversion to stool. In 2004 Chicago Prof. Norman Golb authored “Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In 2009 Israeli scholar Rachel Elior theorized that the Essenes, did not exist. She suggested they were really the renegade sons of Zadok, a priestly caste banished from the Temple of Jerusalem by intriguing Greek rulers in 2nd century BC. When they left, they took the source of their wisdom - their scrolls - with them. Links: Israel, Jordan, Bible, HistoryBC
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300 BC 68 BC |
The Dead Sea Scrolls dating to this period were discovered by Bedouin at the caves of Qumran in Jordan in 1947. The scrolls predated the Christian gospels, but contained many similarities. They also contained some differences from the traditional (Masoretic) text of the Hebrew Bible. In 1955 Edmund Wilson published "The Scrolls from the Dead Sea." In 1998 Hershel Shank published "The Mystery and meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls." From 1978-1998 over 6,000 books were written about the scrolls. The discovery date was later contested as were many of the historic circumstances surrounding the scrolls [see Jordan 1947]. Links: Israel, Jordan, Bible, HistoryBC
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190 BC 180 BC |
The “Wisdom of Sirach” was written about this time in Hebrew. Its apocalyptic tone reflects the shock of the Jewish religious establishment at the encounter with Hellenic culture. Links: Israel, Greece, Writer, Jews, Books, Religion
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30 Apr 30 |
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified [see 33AD]. Christ died on hill of Golgotha, Jerusalem. His path along the Via Dolorosa was later disputed as to whether he was tried by Pontius Pilate at the palace of Herod or at the Roman fortress of Antonia. His death was at an abandoned quarry, the site of today’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1998 Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar published "The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus." The group had published an earlier work "The Five Gospels," in which the sayings of Jesus were examined. In 1999 Thomas Cahill authored "Desire of the Everlasting Hills," a book about Jesus and his effect on the world. In 2010 Paul Johnson authored “Jesus: A Biography From a Believer.” Also in 2010 Philip Pullman authored “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ,” in which he proposes that Jesus and Christ were twin brothers. Links: Romans, Israel, Palestine, Biography, Bible
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33 Apr 3 |
Christ was crucified (according to astronomers Humphreys and Waddington). The date is highly debated. See April 30, 30AD. Links: Romans, Israel, Palestine, Religion
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66 70 |
The Jews during this period laid in supplies and prepared to hide during their revolt against the Romans. In 2006 archeologists in northern Israel reported the discovery of chambers, linked by short tunnels, that would have served as a concealed subterranean home. Links: Romans, Israel, Jews
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70 |
Josephus recorded that Vespasian and his son Titus plundered 50 tons of gold and silver during the 70AD Roman conquest of Jerusalem. Links: Romans, Israel, Palestine, Jews
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71 |
Vespasian and his son Titus paraded the treasure plundered from Jerusalem in triumph through the streets of Rome. They used the 50 tons of gold and silver to help finance the building of the Colosseum. Links: Italy, Romans, Israel, Jews
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326 330 |
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was built by the Roman emperor Constantine. The church was rebuilt under Justinian (527-565). Links: Byzantium, Romans, Israel, Palestine
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335 Oct 21 |
Constantinople emperor (Constantine the Great) enacted rules against Jews. Links: Byzantium, Israel
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335 |
Byzantine Emperor Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on the hill of Golgotha, where his mother claimed to have found the remains of the True Cross. It was raised by the Persians in 614, reconstructed and again destroyed by Caliph Hakim of Egypt in 1009. It was rebuilt by the Crusaders. Links: Byzantium, Israel, Palestine
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500 |
The second component of the Talmud, the Gemara, was compiled about this time in Babylon (later Iraq). It is a discussion of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh. The first component, the Mishnah, the first written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law, dated to around 200. Links: Babylon, Israel, Jews, Books, Religion
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560 |
Emperor Justinian about this time returned the treasure of Jerusalem, plundered by the Romans in 70AD, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Links: Byzantium, Israel, Palestine, Jews
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624 628 |
Several Jewish clans in the Arabian peninsula joined forces with an Arab tribe, the Quraysh, to make war on a renegade Qurayshi named Mohammad, who claimed he was a prophet of God. Links: Israel, Jews, Saudi Arabia, Arab, Islam
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632 661 |
The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in history up until that time. Links: Azerbaijan, Qatar, UAR, Armenia, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Cyprus, Libya, Iran, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Afghan, Tunisia, Islam
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638 |
Arabs conquered the city of Hebron. They allowed the Jews to build a synagogue near Abraham’s burial site. Links: Israel, Palestine
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691 |
Muslims built the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem. It contained inscriptions that later were held as the 1st evidence of the Koran. Links: Israel, Palestine, Architect, Islam
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700 900 |
The Hadith, the main guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran, were evaluated and gathered into large collections mostly during the reign of Umar ibn AbdulAziz during the 8th and 9th centuries. Links: Azerbaijan, Qatar, UAR, Armenia, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Cyprus, Libya, Iran, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Afghan, Tunisia, Islam
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930 |
The Aleppo Codex was written on parchment in the Holy Land town of Tiberias by the scribe Shlomo Ben Boya'a about this time. Its completion marked the end of a centuries-long process that created final text of the Hebrew Bible. Links: Israel, Bible
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1009 |
In Jerusalem the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was burned by Muslims under Caliph Hakim of Egypt. Links: Byzantium, Egypt, Israel, Palestine
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1080 |
The Knights of St. John (the Hospitallers) were founded in Jerusalem about this time to care for the sick. Links: Israel, Crusades
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1099 |
The Aleppo Codex, owned by Jewish community in Jerusalem, was seized by Crusaders who sacked the city. It was then ransomed and made its way to Cairo, Egypt. Links: Egypt, Israel, Bible
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1130 |
The Knights of St. John (the Hospitallers) became a military order some 60 years after having been founded in Jerusalem to care for the sick. Links: Israel, Crusades
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1149 |
In Jerusalem the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, rebuilt by the Crusaders, was consecrated. Links: Israel, Palestine, Crusades
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1187 Oct 2 |
Sultan Saladin captured Jerusalem from Crusaders. Links: Egypt, Israel, Palestine
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1192 |
The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem established their headquarters in Acre. Links: Israel, Crusades
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1244 Jul 11 |
The Khwarezmian Turks attacked Jerusalem. By August 23 they completely razed it and left it in ruins useless to both Christians and Muslims. Links: Iran, Israel, Palestine, Crusades
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1244 Aug 23 |
Khwarezmian Turks expelled the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered. The Turks ruthlessly decimated the population, leaving only 2,000 people, Christians and Muslims, still living in the city. This attack triggered the Europeans to respond with the Seventh Crusade. Links: Iran, Israel, Palestine, Crusades
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1291 May 18 |
Sultan of Egypt and his son took the last Christian stronghold of Acre. Egyptian Mamelukes (Mamluks) occupied Akko (Acre). The crusaders were driven out of Palestine. Khalil, al-Ashraf Salah ad-Din, the Mamluk King, conquered Akko and put an end to the Crusader’s rule in the Holy Land. Links: Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Crusades
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1291 May 18 |
Acre, the last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to the hands of Al-Ashraf Khalil and his forces from Egypt and Syria after a siege of 43 days. It had been in the hands of the Franks for 100 years. Egyptian Mamelukes (Mamluks) occupied Akko (Acre). The crusaders were driven out of Palestine. Khalil, al-Ashraf Salah ad-Din, the Mamluk King, conquered Akko and put an end to the Crusader’s rule in the Holy Land. Links: Egypt, Israel, Palestine
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1525 |
Jacob Ben-Hayim published an overhaul of the Hebrew Bible, the Mikraot Gedolot, or Great Scriptures, in Venice. His version unified the religion's varying texts and commentaries under a single umbrella and remained the standard for generations. In 2012 Menachem Cohen completed an updated 21-volume set, with the final chapter set to be published in 2013. Links: Israel, Jews, Venice, Bible
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1750 |
Acre, a former stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, was re-built by the Ottoman Turks around this time, effectively preserving the earlier town, which had been destroyed in 1291 and hidden for centuries under rubble. Links: Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Palestine
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1757 |
The Greek Orthodox clergy wrested control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Ottoman rulers declared a status quo for the holy sties of the city and control of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was split primarily among the Latin, Greek and Armenian patriarchates of Jerusalem and secondarily among the churches of Egypt, Syria and Ethiopia. This arrangement was formalized in 1852. Links: Armenia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Greece, Religion
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1797 Oct 9 |
Elijahu ben Solomon Zalman (b.1720), the Great Gaon of Vilnius, died. He was one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities since the Middle Ages. Links: Lithuania, Israel, Jews
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1799 May 20 |
Napoleon Bonaparte ordered a withdrawal from his siege of St. Jean d'Acre in Egypt. Plague had run through his besieging French forces, forcing a retreat. Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March–May) was repulsed by the Turks. Links: Turkey, France, Egypt, Israel, Palestine
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1800 |
About this time an Arab nomadic tribe settled in the southern Israeli desert of Negev. The Al-Sayyid community that developed there grew with a high incidence of profound deafness due to a recessive gene. The village developed a sign language in response that came to be called the Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL). In 2007 Margalit Fox authored “Signs and Wonders,” which told the Al-Sayyid story as part of a history of linguistics and sign language in American and the world. Links: Israel, Arab, Language
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1840 Feb 5 |
In Damascus, Syria, Father Thomas, originally from Sardinia, and the superior of a Franciscan convent at Damascus, disappeared with his servant. 13 prominent Jews were falsely accused of the ritual murder of the Franciscan monk and his servant. The “Damascus Affair” inspired international protests. In 2004 Ronald Florence authored “Blood Libel: The Damascus Affair of 1840.” Links: Israel, Syria, Jews
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1847 |
George Bush, a professor of Hebrew at New York Univ., authored “The Valley of Vision,” in which he called on the US government to militarily wrench Palestine from the Turks and return it to the Jews. Links: Israel, Palestine, New York, Writer, Books
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