This article attempls to enlist the known events of the first millennium BCE.
Date | Events | Notes | Reference |
10th Century BCE |
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c. 990 BCE | Birth of King Solomon | Suleyman As is born in Jerusalem | |
c. 970 BCE | Ascension of King Solomon to the throne | Solomon becomes the king of the Israelites. | |
c. 940 BCE | Death of David | Daood, king of the ancient Israelites, died in Jerusalem | |
Solomon builds his temple | The First Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem is completed. | ||
c. 931 BCE | Death of King Solomon | ||
Split between Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and the Kingdom of Judah | The Golden Age of Israel ends, as a result the kingdom splits into two kingdoms: Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south led by Rehoboam. | ||
King Jeroboam of Israel | |||
Rehoboam becomes king in South | |||
c. 925 BCE | Sack of Jerusalem | Pharaoh Sheshonk I of the Third Intermediate Period invades Canaan following the Battle of Bitter Lakes. Possibly the same as Shishak, the first Pharaoh mentioned in the Torah who captured and pillaged Jerusalem. | |
c. 900 BCE | Pediiset's Statue mentions Canaan/Pelest | Last known Egyptian reference to Canaan/Palestine | |
9th Century BCE | |||
c. 874 BCE | Prophetic career of Elijah (Ilyaas) bagins | Elijah prophesied during the reign of king Ahab (874-853 BCE) and king Ahaziah (853-852 BCE) both rulers of the Northern kingdom and Jehoram (853-841 BCE) king of Judah. | |
King Ahab ascends on the throne | Elijah prophesied during the reign of king Ahab ruler of the Northern Kingdom | ||
c. 853 BCE | Battle of Qarqar | Jerusalem's forces were likely involved in an indecisive battle against Shalmaneser III of Neo-Assyria (Jehoshaphat King of Judah was allied with Ahab King of the Israel according to the Jewish Bible). | |
King Ahaziah ascends on the throne | Elijah prophesied during the reign of king Ahaziah ruler of the Northern Kingdom | ||
King Jehoram comes to power | Kingdom of Judah | ||
Elisha (alYsa'a) begins his prophetic career | Elisha prophesied during the reign of king Jehoram (853-841 BCE), king Jehu (841-814 BCE) and king Joash (835-796 BCE) rulers of the Northern kingdom. He succeeded the prophet Elijah. | ||
c. 850 BCE | Sacking of Jerusalem by Ethiopians | King Jehoram's house was looted, and all of his family except for his youngest son Jehoahaz were carried off. | |
c. 840 BCE | Mesha inscription | Description of Moabite victory over a son of King Omri of Israel. | |
c. 835 BCE | Joel begins his prophetic career | Joel, considered to be the first prophet, prophesied during the period of Joash (835-796 BCE) the boy king of Southern Kingdom of Judah. However, Jehoiada the priest functioned as the real ruler. Joel begins with the description of the locust. | |
c. 830 BCE | Hazael of Aram Damascus conquers most of Canaan | According to the Jewish Bible, Jehoash of Judah gave all of Jerusalem's treasures as a tribute, but Hazael proceeded to destroy “all the princes of the people” in the city. | |
8th Century BCE | |||
c. 790 BCE | |||
c. 786 BCE | Sack of Jerusalem | Jehoash of Israel sacks Jerusalem, destroys the walls and takes Amaziah of Judah prisoner. | |
c. 784 BCE | Jonah (Yunus) begins his prophetic career | He ministered right after the time of Elisha and just before the time of Amos and Hosea. At the time Jeroboam II was king of Israel's (872-753 BCE) Southern Kingdom of Judah. | |
c. 764 BCE | Amos begins his prophetic career | Hosea, he prophesied during the days of Uzziah (792-740 BCE) king of Judah and Jeroboam II (782-753 BCE) king of Israel. | |
c. 755 BCE | Hosea begins his prophetic career | Hosea began his ministry while Jeroboam II was still reigning in Israel. His ministry spanned the reigns of the last six kings of Israel from Zechariah (753-752 BCE) to Hoshea (732-722 BCE). Hosea, he prophesied during the days of Uzziah (792-740 BCE) king of Judah and Jeroboam II (782-753 BCE) king of Israel. He was contemporary to Amos Northern Kingdom and Isaiah and Micah of the Southern Kingdom. | |
c. 745 BCE | Isiah begins his prophetic career | Isaiah's ministry began near the end of Uzziah's reign (792-740 BCE) and continued through the reigns of Jotham (750-736 BCE), Ahaz (736-716 BCE), and Hezekiah (716-687 BCE) all kings of Judah the Southern Kingdom. This period covered approximately 25 years before the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom to about 40 years after it. Isaiah outlived Hezekiah by a few years. | |
c. 740 BCE | Micah begins his prophetic career | Micah prophesied in the days of Jotham (750-736 BCE), Ahaz (736-716 BCE) and Hezekiah (716-687 BCE), kings of Judah. He prophesied until 698 BCE and Hosea and Amo were his contemporaries. | |
c. 733 BCE | Siege of Gezer | Siege of Gezer, located some 20 miles (32 km) west of Jerusalem, is recorded on a stone relief at the Assyrian royal palace in Nimrud. | |
c. 720 BCE | Kingdom of Israel conquered by Neo-Assyrian Empire | Local population deported, becoming the ten lost tribes, and the region is repopulated from other provinces of the Assyrian Empire. | |
c. 715 BCE | King Hezekiah of Judah | ||
c. 712 BCE | Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem | Jerusalem pays further tribute to the Neo-Assyrian Empire after the Neo-Assyrian King Sennacherib laid siege to the city. | |
7th Century BCE | |||
c. 648 BCE | Nahum begins his prophetic career | Nahum prophesied until 620 BCE, predicted the complete destruction of Nineveh. History shows that Nineveh was conquered in 612 BCE. Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk were his contemporaries. | |
c. 634 BCE | Zephaniah begins his prophetic career | Zephaniah ministered during the days of Josiah (640-608 BCE) king of Judah until 625 BCE. He prophesied against Assyria and Nineveh. Nahum and Jeremiah ware his contemporaries. | |
c. 625 BCE | Jeremiah begins his prophetic career | Portions of Jeremiah writing may be dated with some precision to the 4th year of king Jehoiakim (608-597 BCE), he ministered in Jerusalem and Egypt after Judah's downfall. He was a contemporary to Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Daniel, and Ezekiel. | |
c. 625 BCE | Habakkuk begins his prophetic career | Habakkuk's prophecy came to pass in 605 BCE when Nebuchadnezzar deported thousands of Jerusalem's citizens to Babylon. | |
c. 609 BCE | Battle of Megiddo | The region becomes part of the Empire of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. | |
c. 605 BCE | Battle of Carchemish | The region of the Kingdom of Judah returns to Babylonian control after the Battle of Carchemish in which Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon defeated the army of Necho II of Egypt. | |
6th Century BCE | |||
c. 597 BCE | Babylonians capture Jerusalem | Babylonians capture Jerusalem following a siege, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king. And exile prominent Jews (including Ezekiel) to Babylonia. | |
c. 587 BCE | Destruction of Solomon's Temple and the sack of Jerusalem | Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians, ending the Kingdom of Judah. The conquerors destroy the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem and exile some of the land's inhabitants. | |
c. 539 BCE | Jews allowed to return to Jerusalem | After Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire a year earlier, he declared that the Israelites are allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. | |
c. 538 BCE | Construction of Second Temple | Construction of the temple begins, after Cyrus authorizes. | |
c. 520 BCE | Judean Prophet Haggai | ||
c. 516 BCE | Construction of Second Temple is completed | Construction was completed during the reign of Darius the Great | |
5th Century BCE | |||
c. 459 BCE | Ezra returns to Jerusalem | The Jewish priest Ezra assembles and leads a band of approximately 5,000 Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem. | |
c. 445 BCE | Nehemiah Returns to Jerusalem | The Jewish cup-bearer to Artaxerxes I at Susa, is given permission by Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem as governor of Judea, in order to rebuild parts of it. | |
c. 400 BCE | The Torah is canonized. | ||
3rd Century BCE | |||
c. 333 BCE | Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel | ||
2nd Century BCE | |||
c. 198 BCE | Battle of Panium | Fought between Seleucid forces led by Antiochus III and Ptolemaic forces led by Scopas of Aetolia. The Seleucids win the battle which allows Antiochus III to obtain entire possession of the region of Syria Palaestina and Coele-Syria from King Ptolemy V of Egypt. | |
c. 167 BCE | Maccabean (Hasmonean) Revolt (c. 167-160 BCE) | Revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, led by Judah Maccabee, it lasted till 160 BCE and resulting in victory and installation of the Hanukkah holiday. | |
c. 160 BCE | Hasmonean (Maccabean) Rule | Independent rule of the Hasmoneans until 63 BCE. | |
1st Century BCE | |||
c. 63 BCE | Seige of Jerusalem | Pompey the Great lay siege to and entered the Temple, Judea became a client kingdom of Rome. | |
c. 40 BCE | Herod becomes king | Herod the Great, appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate. | |
c. 27 BCE | Sebastia | King Herod rebuilds Samaria and calls it "Sebastia". | |
c. 23 BCE | Herod builds Herodium | King Herod builds a palace and fortress called Herodium, about 7.5 miles (12 km) south of Jerusalem. | |
c. 19 BCE | Herod's expansion of Temple Mount | King Herod the Great further extends the Temple Mount's natural plateau and rebuilds the temple. | |
c. 5 BCE | Birth of Jesus | Birth of Isa As in Bethlehem | |
c. 4 BCE | Census of Quirinius | Joseph and Mary Journey to Bethlehem | |
c. 4 BCE | Death of Herod | Herod the great dies in Jericho | |
< 2nd Millennium BCE | 1st Millennium CE > |
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