Biblical and Middle Eastern History Timeline

Timeline	Bible	Middle East
5004 – 3952 BCE	World created, according to interpretations of selected genealogies in the Bible, as per Ussher  (4004 BCE), Newton, Kepler, Bede and others
3500 -2500 BCE		“Cradles of Civilization”: Sumerian, Akkadian, and Egyptian Empires.  Sargon.  Mules and oxen draw solid wheeled carts, literature, records, trade, surgery.
2100 – 1700 BCE Egypt Bronze Age	Date range for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph	Egypt:  Osiris: god of the underworld; Horus (hawk): sky god.  Book of the Dead.  Value for the body as “holding” three lives/souls.  One version of creation starts with an ocean in darkness.  Hittites are renowned charioteers (with horses). Hammurabi’s Code
1750 – 1580 BCE Hyksos in Egypt		Hyksos leadership of Egypt.  Invaders? Skilled horsemen.  Limited records for 200 years.  “Asiatic” or “Semitic” names (most Semitic languages dead now)
1650 – 1500 BCE		Volcanic eruption of Thera (Santorini) Early Canaanite writing
1700- 1400 BCE		Minoan frescoes on island of Crete. Religious images include the bull, serpent, sun disk, tree.
1450 BCE		Megiddo (n Israel) an Egyptian garrison.  Egypt and Mitanni (NE) partnership against the Hittites (N)
1500 – 1200 BCE	Date range for Moses, 40 years in the desert, Joshua’s invasion and settlement of Canaan	Jericho fort guards place to ford River Jordan.  Ancient settlements, Rebuilt 17 times.  Abandoned 1400 – 1500 and 850 – 1325 BCE.  Ai abandoned around 2700 BCE.
1350 - 1330 BCE		Pharoah Akhenaten, monotheist, sun god (movement shifted back to polytheistic practices afterward) Pharoah Tutankhamen
1280 BCE Transition of powers		Egyptian (S) and Hittite (N) powers wane.  Peace pact between them because of growing Mittani (NW) power
1200 – 1000 BCE Iron Age		Iron Age begins and spreads technological advantages (unevenly) in chariots, ships, and weapons. Egyptians still rely on bronze, lose N garrisons to Mesopotamians with iron
1209 BCE	Earliest mention of Israel (as a people, not a nation) on Egyptian victory stele, with Canaan
1200 – 1150 BCE Sea Peoples invasions Eastern Mediterranean	Bible is silent on the Sea Peoples invasions. Book of Judges is presumed to reflect this period, though written later.	Whole cities and regions are destroyed, depopulated, and abandoned (Greece – Mid East), for a century or more.  Subsequent settlements poorer and smaller. Like Vikings – no evidence of empire building, just pillaging. Did they carry plague(s) that depopulated the region?
1000 -900 BCE	First kings: Saul, David, Solomon Israel and Judah united kingdom under D/S only.  Jerusalem made capital.  Solomon described with great wealth, hundreds of wives, Solomon’s Temple, worship of other gods	Camels may have been previously domesticated in Arabia and Central Asia, but were uncommon in Mid East until 1000 BCE. No external references to King Solomon.  Possible later reference to “House of David” on small Tel Dan ( N. Israel/Syria border) stele fragment.
925 BCE	Pharoah Shishak invades Israel.	Pharoah Sheshonq conquers many Northern Israelite cities.  Mentions N. Israel cities (Megiddo) etc but not  Jerusalem or southern cities.
900 – 722 BCE	Kingdom divided into Judah (S)and Israel (N).  Battles with the Syrians, Egyptians, Assyrians. Criticism of widespread polytheism.	Archeology reveals larger, sophisticated, walled cities in N (like Samaria and Megiddo) than in the S (like Jerusalem and Hebron).  N on trade routes and center of extensive wine and olive oil production. Evidence in N. of remote trade for high quality goods, such as ivory, and by artisans, such as architectural refinements and engineering, invoices, receipts in N.  S more remote and rural until after 722.
853 BCE Assyrians	King Ahab (N) dies in battle (according to both Bible and Assyrian stele	Egypt, Canaan, Israel and Syria band together against Assyrians and lose, pay tribute as vassal states
722 BCE	Assyrians crush Israelite rebellion (N) Residents are exiled, others flee south (to Judah).  Possibly earliest collections of Bible stories postdate this refugee movement which brings remote Jews together.  J documents:  (south) describe approachable, physical God, Yahweh. E documents: (north) describe remote God, Elohim.   Leviticus and other Priestly documents possibly written at this time or after Jews return from Babylonian exile (500s).	Massive Israelite refugee movement flees south from Assyrians to Jerusalem, bringing sophisticated technology with them.  Cities balloon in size, increase in number, defensive walls built with better skills than just previously.
700 BCE	Jerusalem palace 150 x 250 sq ft, Casemated wall like Samaria (n) had King Hezekiah mentioned by Assyrians	Southwest Palace in Ninevah is 1650 x 794 sq ft: 80 rooms, 2 miles of carved reliefs decorating walls Assyria captures fort of Lachich in 703 BCE
663 BCE		Assyrians (Ashurbanipal) conquer Egypt).  Biggest library in the ancient world in Ninevah: 24,000
600s BCE	First version of Deuteronomy  written during King Josiah’s reign, followed by revisions and Joshua,  I/II Samuel, I/II Kings, and Jeremiah presumed written, perhaps by same author/group .  King Josiah dies in battle with Egypt.	Temple in Sheba (Yemen) built
626 BCE		Ashurbanipal dies, others conquer Assyrians: Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Caucasians
600 – 800 BCE	Presumed assembly of disparate oral and written tales, laws, songs etc. into written Bible scrolls (not found).  Subsequently edited many times.	Neo-Babylonians poor record keepers
597 BCE Babylonian	Alliance of Judah, Egypt, Edom, Moab, Amon, Tyre and Sidon against Babylonians.  Crushed. Samaria holds out longest.	King Johoichan deported to sophisticated Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.  N: a big builder.  One temple: 1500 x 1800 ft.   900 chapels and temples in empire.  Banks, insurance, loans, jewelers’ guarantees, lawyers, contracts, debt prisons. Consistent astronomical records maintained for 350 years.
587 – 538 BCE	King Zedekiah refuses to pay tribute.  Crushed. Blinded.  “Babylonian exile” of Jews.  Not enslaved.  50 years. Parts of Ezra, Chronicles, Jeremiah, and early part of Daniel written, plus all of Tobit, Ezekiel, Lamentations, possibly Judith.	Coins become common for trade
538 BCE Persians	Leviticus and other P documents possibly written when Jews returned to Jerusalem and discovered differences in practices, or possibly written after 722 when Israelites migrate south and introduce new ideas	Nebuchadnezzar dies, Persians conquer Babylon, under Cyrus, messianic stories about him,  Tolerant ruler, didn’t destroy Babylon. Released Jews from exile, with Temple valuables.
444 BCE	Artaxeres installs Nehemiah as governor of Jerusalem, vassal state to Persia.  No evidence of war in Israel under Persian rule.  Book of Nehemiah written.  Content of Pentateuch (first five books) probably set by this time.	Judah is poor, deforested, poor construction techniques Greek Parthenon built, burned by Persians
419 BCE		Darius protects and preserves religious rights of Jews as far south as Aswan, Egypt
333 BCE Greeks	Bible silent on Greek period until Maccabean wars.  Samaria only independent town that could withstand Greeks (a while). Book of Esther probably written 300 – 400 BCE.	Alexander the Great.  Tolerant toward regional religions and practices but Greeks regarded circumcision as barbaric mutilation.  No Greek interest in Judah.  Greeks gave Jews in Alexandria, Egypt same rights as other citizens.  City became center of intellectual Judaism.
250 – 100 BCE	Hebrew no longer widely spoken.  Hebrew Bible translated into Greek (version called the Septuagint) at order of King Ptolemy. New books added, like late part of Daniel, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Macabees.

168 – 164 BCE Seleucids	Seleucids despoil Temple in Jerusalem, put up other gods, ban circumcision. Maccabeean revolt.  Seleucids win but allow Judaism to be practiced again.  Hannukah story.  Maccabees fight for political independence.  Crushed.
142 – 129 BCE Syrians				Syrians grant them political autonomy under Jewish leader, John Hyrcanus.
129 – 63 BCE Hasmoneans				Jewish independent state, under Hasmonean dynasty
Romans 63 BCE +		Jesus’s dates not stated, but presumed between 7 BCE and 36 CE.		Julius Caesar dies 44 BCE.  Augustus d. 14 CE Pontius Pilate resigned 36 CE.  Nero d. 66 CE
30 – 70 CE		Presumed date range when Hebrew scrolls were  hidden in Dead Sea caves ( 100 copies of OT books, 300 other documents ) These are the earliest Bible documents found.
50 – 65 CE		Presumed dates of Paul’s letters in New Testament(about half scholars believe are written by him, others by other authors)
66 – 70 CE				Jewish Rebellion, Jerusalem destroyed by Romans, Jews and Christians scattered.
70 – 100 CE		Presumed writing of the Gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), Acts, and Revelation
135 CE				Another Jewish Rebellion, Jerusalem destroyed, Jews no longer allowed there.
200 – 400 CE		Presumed dates of previously unseen 50 + Coptic Christian gospels found in caves near Nag Hammadi, Egypt  (13 volumes, 1000 sheets).  Christianity becomes official religion of Roman Empire, Several Ecumenical Councils determine articles of faith (not explicit in Bible).
800 – 900 CE		Masoretic Translation of OT used for Protestant and Jewish Bibles.

RW Emerson: Heart vs. Mind in Religious Exploration

RW Emerson is justifiably famous for his pithy one liners, although they appear strewn like nuggets of gold in a field of dense pyrite, at least to modern readers.  Here are a few you may recognize but not have realized he was the author:

Hitch your wagon to a star.  To be great is to be misunderstood.   Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. All mankind love a lover.

And this last one, which I love from an author: Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.

He was a lecturer and writer of history, biography, and science, as well as a poet, but I want to focus on his religious and philosophical views today because the conflict he felt in religion is one that you may feel, too, pulled between heart and mind, intellect and emotion. By looking at some of his decisions, and considering the context of those actions, we can reflect on our individual and congregational values about the heart and mind of our faith. 

Unitarians sometimes forget that, although he was a Unitarian minister, in what amounted to a nine generation family business, Emerson quit the job after only 3 years.  Ostensibly it was over his discomfort in celebrating the Eucharist, but really, according to his journals and other writings, it reflected broader reasons that many of us have experienced, too, as we have church shopped through our lives, trying out different denominations, and various congregations within them.  After he left, he neither referred to himself as Reverend nor expected others to do so.   I think he’d be rather embarrassed to have a Unitarian church named after him, because he purposefully left the denomination, explaining that one’s relationship with the divine was better found outside any church than within.

Roman and Jewish Context of Early Christianity

When I taught 7^th grade years ago, I heard the tail end of an argument between two girls.  The penultimate line was, “Then what religion was Jesus?” To which the other girl hurled with confidence, “Jesus was Baptist.”  We laugh, knowing that Jesus was Jewish, but I think many of us are rather vague on the historical context that gave rise to the Jesus movement, especially if we read the Bible in a vacuum, or rely on those religious movies that appear, without fail, every Easter.  So this morning, I thought it would be useful to summarize the position of Judaism in the Roman Empire between 100 BCE and 135 CE, then focus on the religious conflicts within Judaism itself, and the implications for the early years of Christianity, when it segregated from its root religion of Judaism.

Our images of first century CE Jews as a small band of poor people limited to Palestine, dressed in striped blankets and wearing burnooses is misleading.  First of all, they didn’t wear that Arab headdress.  Second of all, during the first century BCE, Jewish populations thrived throughout the Roman Empire.  They were not some marginalized population crowded only into the eastern Mediterranean hinterlands.  For example, although Rome was obviously the political capital, Alexandria, Egypt was the cosmopolitan and intellectual city (maybe like the different perceptions of New York City and Washington DC for America, today).  In Alexandria, Jews accounted for about 40% of the city’s population (and it was supposedly one of the Ptolemy pharaohs who commissioned the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, a few centuries earlier).  Throughout the empire, Roman records calculated a Jewish contingent upwards of 10%, often in cities and in positions of business, educational, and political leadership. By contrast, do you know the percentage of Jews in the US today?  Less than 2%.  Furthermore, the Romans granted Jews favored status during that century.  They had full freedom to practice their religion, including not working on their Sabbath, not worshipping at Roman religious sites, and practicing circumcision.  Had the influential Greek population of the eastern empire been in power, they would likely have outlawed what they regarded as that barbaric act of self-mutilation.

Native Plants and Gardening

We live in South Central Alaska.
Among the edible wild plants on the property are plenty of edible berries:  blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, elderberries, cranberries.  Vitamin C is not a problem in the summers or for people who can the berries in the fall. Edible wild leaves for salads or cooked preparations (or medicine) include fiddlehead ferns (which must be cooked), fireweed, dandelion, and chickweed  (Do you remember Euell Gibbons?  He called the last a miracle plant because it is so good for so many things).  I've used spring time spruce tips in shortcake, viniagrette, and tea, based on information that Captain Cook had his men drink spruce tip tea to ward of scurvy during winter explorations.

Below is a list of native and purchased plants that this neophyte gardener and forager has nurtured and how they performed over the past few years.

Tiny House Furnishings



You can enlarge this photo by clicking on it 

Furnishing the cabin long distance, before it was built, and as design elements shifted, was intimidating to me, but the endeavor committed me to the site in a way that my husband's enthusiasm and my maniacal weed whacking of 8 foot grasses and devil's club never did.  The process enabled me to start seeing myself living there.  In terms of décor, I had three priorities:  a) shop once and that’s it, b) don’t crowd the little space, and c) make it inviting and functional. These priorities determined what we bought and how we used them.