1st Millennium BCE Timeline

This article attempls to enlist the known events of the first millennium BCE. This article includes the events directly or indirectly relevant to the Abrahamic History and Archaeology.

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  2nd Millennium BCE

1st Millennium CE  

Date Events Notes Reference
10th Century BCE
c. 993 BCE Ascension of pharoah Amenemope as king of ancient Egypt Amenemope succeeds Psusennes I
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. 926 BCE Shoshenq I invades Canaan
c. 911 BCE Rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II
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 Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, prophesied during the days of Uzziah (792-740 BCE) king of Judah and Jeroboam II (788-747 BCE) king of Israel.
c. 750 BCE Rise of Archaic Greece, origins of the Greek alphabet (the first alphabet with vowels)
c. 753 BCE Founding of ancient Rome
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. 750 BCE Composition of the Book of Psalms The composition of the psalms is attributed to various authors writing between the ninth and fifth centuries BCE.
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. 727 BCE Kushite invasion of Egypt and establishment of the 25th dynasty of ancient Egypt
Death of Tiglath-Pileser III, secession of Babylonia from Assyria
c. 722 BCE Sargon II invades Israel; beginning of Assyrian captivity of the Israelites
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. 671 BCE Assyrian conquest of ancient Egypt King Esarhaddon of Assyria defeats the Kushite-Egyptian army of Pharaoh Taharqa and captures Memphis, along with a number of the royal family. He sets up a new Assyrian administration in Lower Egypt and withdraws.
c. 648 BCE Nahum begins his prophetic career The prophetic career of Nahum continued until 620 BCE, who is also said to have predicted the complete destruction of Nineveh. Book of Nahum is compiled, which is the seventh book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible.
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. 631 BCE Death of Ashurbanipal and beginning of decline of the Assyrian Empire Mark the end of the height of Assyrian authority
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. 612 BCE Conquest of Nineveh Babylonians mustered their army again and joined with Median king Cyaxares encamping against Nineveh. They laid siege to the city for three months and, in August, finally broke through the defenses and began plundering and burning the city.
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. 592 BCE Psamtik II sacks Napata The Egyptian army advanced to Pnubs (Kerma) and the capital city of Napata in a series of fierce battles, where they looted its temples and destroyed the royal Kushite statues.
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 Achaemenid conquest of Babylon under Cyrus the Great Troops of the Persian Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great decisively defeat those of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Battle of Opis.
c. 539 BCE Edict of Cyrus the Great The Edict of Cyrus refers to a proclamation by Cyrus the Great, the founding king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
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.
Origins of the Second Temple Judaism Redaction of the Hebrew Bible
c. 538 BCE Construction of the Second Jewish Temple begins 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
c. 509 BCE Rise of the Roman Republic Origins of the classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BCE)
c. 500 BCE Earliest approximate date of compilation of Book of Hosea Though its date is contested among scholars, the current trend is to date much of the book to postmonarchical times, authored particularly in Persian Yehud (circa 550-330 BCE).
c. 500 BCE Beginning of the classical Greece The period of the fifth century BCE in classical Greece is generally considered as beginning in 500 BCE and ending in 404 BCE, though this is debated.
5th Century BCE
c. 499 BCE Beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (commonly known as the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BCE and lasted until 449 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. 450 BCE Final Compilation of the Book of Psalms Although, the psalms were written from the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan to the post-exilic period and the book was probably compiled and edited into its final and present form during the post-exilic period in the mid-fifth century BCE.
c. 450 BCE Height of the Second Temple Judaism Development and canonization of the Jewish religion, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE
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. 431 BCE Beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars
c. 430 BCE Histories of Herodotus The Histories stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the fifth century BCE.
c. 400 BCE The Torah is canonized.
4th Century BCE
c. 387/390 BCE Gallic Sack of Roma In 390 BCE (traditional date), Gauls from the north of Italy sacked Rome.
c. 395 BCE Beginning of the Corinthian War The Corinthian War was a conflict in ancient Greece which pitted Sparta against a coalition of city-states comprising Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos, backed by the Achaemenid Empire.
c. 343 BCE Achaemenid conquest of ancient Egypt Establishment of the Thirty-first Dynasty (a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 343 BCE to 332 BCE) of anceint Egypt
c. 330 BCE Beginning of the Hellenistic period
c. 330 BCE Alexander conquers Persia marking the end of the Achaemenid-Persian Empire It is only with the protracted campaign of Alexander III that the Achaemenids and their empire found a sudden "end" which is conspicuously manifested in the death of the last Achaemenid king Darius III (336–330) in 330 BCE.
c. 333 BCE Alexander the Great conquers the land of Israel/Palestine The geographical teritory of todays Israel & Palesting was part of the Persian Empire at the times of Alexander.
Third Century BCE
c. 280–247 BCE Lighthouse of Alexandria The lighthouse of Alexandria was built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
c. 264 BCE Beginning of the Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of land and sea based wars between 264 and 146 BCE fought between Rome and Carthage.
c. 264 BCE First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BCE) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early third century BCE.
c. 241 BCE Conclusion of the First Punic War Resulting in a treaty, Carthage paying large reparations and Rome annexing Sicily as a Roman province.
c. 218 BCE Second Punic War begins
c. 201 BCE Consclusion of the Second Punic War Conclusion of the Second Punic War, resulting in the Carthaginian defeat
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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