Timeline of the History of the Holy Land 
(compiled by Jonathan Lipnick)


The Stone Age (1,500,000 – 5,800 BCE)

·         Tel Ubeidiya earliest remains of Homo Erectus migrating outside Africa

·         Neolithic Age (11,000-4800 BCE)

• Major shift to agriculture, permanent settlement, larger groups, accumulation of property
  

The Copper Age "Chalcolithic" (5800- 3300 BCE)

·         Ghassulian culture – nomadic pastoral, network of chiefdoms

·         Beginnings of trade routes: Via Maris, Hill Route, King’s Highway

The Bronze Age (3200 - 1200 BCE)

·          Beginning of writing, complex government, religious administration in: 

• Egypt (Pharaonic dynasties) 
  
• Mesopotamia (Ebla, Sumer, Akkad)
  

·          Beginning of urbanization throughout the Levant

·         Age of Patriarchs (1800-1600 BCE)

·         Exodus from Egypt (1275-1250 BCE); Israelite conquest Canaan (1250-1200)

The Iron Age/First Temple Period (1200 – 586 BCE)

·         United Monarchy: Saul (1025-1005 BCE), David (1005-965 BCE), Solomon (965-928 BCE)

·         Divided Monarchy (928-586 BCE): Israel (north) & Judah (south)

·         Assyrian Sargon II conquers northern kingdom (721)

·         Assyrian Sennacherib destroys most of southern kingdom, Jerusalem spared (701)

·         Babylonian 2nd siege of Jerusalem, 2nd deportation Babylonia (587-6 BCE)

The Persian Period/Second  Temple Period, Part I (538-332 BCE)

·         Cyrus II permits Jews to return to Judah (538 BCE); only some return

·         Second Temple built (520-515 BCE)

·         Return of exiles under Nehemiah (450-440) and later Ezra the scribe

The Hellenistic Period/Second Temple Period, Part II (332-63 BCE)

·         Alexander the Great conquers Palestine (333/332 BCE)

·         Ptolemies rule (3rd century) as part of southern Levant (Egypt)

·         Seleucids rule (201-198 BCE) as part of northern Levant (Syria)

·         Maccabean Revolt (167-164 BCE)

·         Hasmonean Dynasty reigns (161-63 BCE)                                               

The Roman Period (63 BCE – 324 CE)

·         Pompey captures Jerusalem for Hyrcanus (63 BCE)

·         Herod the Great reigns as client king (37-4 BCE)

·         Jesus of Nazareth: birth (4 BCE), ministry in Galilee (27-30 CE), crucifixion in Jerusalem (30 CE)

·         Jewish War against Rome (66-70 CE)

·         Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple (70 CE)

·         Bar Kochba Revolt (132-5 CE)

·         Judah I (the Prince) edits Mishnah (170-217)

·         Constantine I (306-337) legalizes Christianity (313 CE)

The Byzantine Period (324 – 640 CE)

·         Constantine becomes sole Roman emperor (324), visit of Helena to holy land (325)

·         Redaction of Jerusalem Talmud in Tiberias (4th century); aggadah and piyyut (5th – 7th centuries)

·         Julian tries to rebuild Temple and fails (360-3)

·         Persian (Sassanid) capture of Jerusalem (614 CE)

The Early Arab Period (640 – 1099 CE)

·         Muhammad (570-632); Hijra: Mecca to Medina (622)

·         Patriarch Sophronius surrenders Jerusalem to Umar (637)

·         Umayyad dynasty of caliphs (661-750)

·         Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd al-Malik (691)

·         Abbasid dynasty of caliphs (750-974) - but they last until 1258

·         Masoretes develop text of Bible (700-900) in Tiberias

·         Fatamid dynasty of caliphs (975-1171) – Shi’ite

·         El Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroys Holy Sepulchre (1009)

·         The Great Schism (1054)

·         Warfare between Fatamids and Seljuks; Seljuks capture Jerusalem (1071)

·         Pope Urban II calls 1st Crusade capture Palestine from Seljuk Turks (1095)

The Crusader Period (1099-1291 CE)

·         First Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1187)

·         Reconstructed Church of Holy Sepulchre consecrated (1149)

·         Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan at Battle of Horns of Hattin (July 4, 1187)

·         Second Kingdom of Jerusalem (1187-1291)

·         Treaty btw Frederick II and Al-Kamil restores J’m to Crusaders, not Temple Mt (1229)

The Mamluk Period (1291-1517 CE)

·         Baybars becomes sultan (1260) – destroys the coastal cities from Tyre - Gaza

·         Land returns to total Muslim rule, period of decline, religious fanaticism

·         Akko, Jaffa, Jerusalem in ruins; Gaza and Safed flourish, postal road Cairo – Damascus

·         Building boom under waqf status in Jerusalem, religious institutions, schools.

The Ottoman Period (1517-1918)

·         Suleiman the Magnificent, the son of Selim I rules (1520-66); rebuilds walls of Jerusalem (1536-40)

·         Kabbalah in Safed: Joseph Caro, Isaac Luria, Alkabetz (16th-17th century)

·         Daher el Omar (1730-1775) governor of Galilee, builds up Haifa, Safed, Acre, Tiberias

·         Palestine under Egyptian rule (1832-1840) by Muhammad Ali

·         Status Quo – CHS + Nativity (1852)

·         Crimean War (1853-6): Russia vs. France, England, Ottomans

·         Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917) sent to Baron Rothschild

·         Allenby conquers Jerusalem as Christmas gift to British people (Dec. 11, 1917)

·         Decisive victory of British in Battle of Megiddo (ends Sept 25, 1918) Turks loose Palestine

The British Mandate (1918-1948)

·         League of Nations: British (Palestine) and French Mandate (Syria) confirmed (1922)

·         Arab Riots of “Tarpat” (1929); Arab Riots (1936-9)

·         UN General Assembly votes for partition of Palestine (Nov 29, 1947)

·         British evacuate Palestine, Arabs invade, Jews declare independence (May 14, 1948)

The State of Israel (1948- present)

·         Jan 7, 1949 – War of Independence ends

·         Six Day War (June 1967): Gaza + Sinai  (Egypt); East Jerusalem + West Bank (Jordan); Golan (Syria)

·         Israeli peace treaty with Egypt (1979); with Jordan (1994)

·         Oslo Accords (1993); withdrawl from Gaza (2005)