Timeline Babylonia
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ABZU: http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/ABZU_REGINDX_MESO.HTML
Catholic Enc.: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02179b.htm
History: http://www.theology.edu/lec22.htm
Math in Babylon: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Babylonian_and_Egyptian.html
Mesopotamia: www.costumesupercenter.com/mesopostamiaresource.html
3500BC Sumerians and Babylonians use
sexigesimal (base 60) number system according to historian Eric Temple
Bell.
(V.D.-H.K.p.27)
3500BC-2400BC The Tower of Babel was built during
this period by people of one language who inhabited the land of Shinar
in the kingdom of Nimrod.
(Econ, 4/26/08, p.108)
c2700BC The Sumerian King, Gilgamesh, ruled the city
of Uruk (Babylonia) which had grown to a population of over 50,000.
Gilgamesh was the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian
"Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the Babylonian "Epic of
Gilgamesh." In 1844 Westerners discovered an epic poem based on
Gilgamesh on stone fragments in Mosul, Iraq. 5 Sumerian versions were
later acknowledged. The 1st part of the poem was published in 1876. In
2004 Stephen Mitchell published “Gilgamesh: A New English Translation.”
Derek Hines authored “Gilgamesh.”
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.E4)
2400BC Dagan, a name that appears in early
Mesopotamia, and that enters into the composition of proper names in
Babylonia about this time. Dagan was later a name for head of the
Philistine pantheon.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.99, p.104)
2145BC Idin-Dagan, a king of Babylonia. and his son
Isme-Dagan.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.104)
2000BC-1600BC In Mesopotamia the Old Babylonian
period began after the collapse of Sumer, probably due to an increase
in the salt content of the soil that made farming difficult. Weakened
by poor crops and lack of surplus goods, the Sumerians were conquered
by the Amorites, situated in Babylon. The center of civility shifted
north. The Amorites preserved much of the Sumerian culture but
introduced their own Semitic language, an early ancestor to Hebrew,
into the region.
(eawc, p.2)
1900BC The “Epic of Gilgamesh” was redacted from
Sumerian sources and written in the Babylonian semetic.
(eawc, p.3)
1900BC-1500BC During this period a Semitic group of
nomads migrated from Sumer to Canaan and then on to Egypt. They were
led by a caravan trader, the Patriarch Abraham, who became the father
of the nation of Israel. Ishmael was a son of Abraham had by Hagar.
Isaac was a son of Abraham by Sarah. Hebrews trace their lineage
through Isaac, Arabs through Ishmael.
(eawc, p.3)(NW, 11/02, p.55)
1800BC By this time the Old Babylonians employed
advanced mathematical operations such as multiplication, division and
square roots. Their duodecimal system, based on 12 and 6 to measure
time, is still used today.
(eawc, p.3)
1792BC-1750BC Hammurabi, king of Babylon, established
a code of laws during this period that became known as the Code of
Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a basalt column, later found at Susa,
Iran. One of the laws was that if a married woman was caught lying with
another man, both should be bound and thrown into the river.
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)(Econ,
4/12/08, p.91)
1763BC Hammurabi, the Amorite King, conquered all of
Sumer. He wrote a “Code of Laws” that contained 282 rules including the
principles of “an eye for an eye” and “let the buyer beware.” It was
one of the first codes of law in world history, predated only by the
Laws of Lipit-Ishtar.
(eawc, p.3)
1750BC Hammurabi died but his empire lasted another
150 years when the Kassites, a non-semetic people, conquered most of
Mesopotamia with the help of light chariot warfare.
(eawc, p.3)
1600BC The Kassites, a non-semetic people, conquered
most of Mesopotamia with the help of light chariot warfare.
(eawc, p.3)
1595BC The Hittites captured Babylon and retreated.
They left the city open to Kassite domination which lasted about 300
years. They maintained the Sumerian/Babylonian culture without
innovations of their own.
(eawc, p.4)
1300BC A middle eastern empire of this time.
(MT, 3/96, p.3)
1225BC The Assyrian ruler, Tukulti-Ninurta, captured
Babylon and the region of southern Mesopotamia, but their control did
not last long.
(eawc, p.5)
1000BC Chaldeans traced their origins to about this
time in Babylon.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A12)
689BC Sennacherib of Assyria
destroyed Babylon, but his son rebuilt it.
(eawc, p.7)
650BC Babylon by this time was
again prosperous following its destruction in 689 by Sennacherib of
Assyria.
(eawc, p.7)
614BC The Babylonians
(particularly, the Chaldeans) with the help of the Medes, who occupied
what is today Iran, began a campaign to destroy the Assyrians.
(eawc, p.8)
612BC Ninevah (Mesopotamia) fell
to the Babylonians. The Chaldeans, a semetic people, then ruled the
entire region thereby issuing in the New Babylonian period that lasted
to 539BC.
(NG, Aug., 1974, S.W. Matthews, p.174)
609BC-593BC Pharaoh Necho II ruled
Egypt. The biblical king Josiah was slain on Har (Mt.) Megiddo (root of
Armageddon) in the 7th cent. when he was betrayed by Pharaoh Necho whom
he had come to stop from going to war on the side of the Assyrians
against the Babylonians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.180)(WSJ, 4/17/97, p.A20)
612BC Ninevah (Mesopotamia) fell
to the Babylonians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, S.W. Matthews, p.174)
609BC The biblical king Josiah of
Judah was slain on Har (Mt.) Megiddo (root of Armageddon) about this
time when he was betrayed by Pharaoh Necho, whom he had approached to
stop from going to war on the side of the Assyrians against the
Babylonians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.180)(WSJ, 4/17/97,
p.A20)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
606BC In Cairo, Egypt, the Ben
Ezra Synagogue was established.
(WSJ, 3/15/00, p.A1)
605BC-562BC Nebuchadnezzar II ruled in Babylon. He
undertook some monumental building projects that included the Hanging
Gardens. The New Babylonian Revival used glazed bricks for building
thereby creating a colorful city. The king was fond of spinach.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.B5)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.B3)
595BC-589BC Psammetichus II
(Psamtik II), son of Nacho II, ruled in Egypt as a 26th Dynasty king.
Psamtik II built the temple of Hibis in the al-Khargah oasis, 310 miles
south of Cairo. It was built to worship Amun and contained statues of
Amun's wife, Mut.
(SFC, 7/16/99,
p.D3)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
586BC Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
ruler of Mesopotamia, destroyed Jerusalem and recorded his deeds at the
Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) cliff face between Beirut and Byblos. He
destroyed the first Temple, built by Solomon and took the Jewish people
into captivity.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)(Econ,
12/20/03, p.26)
586BC Ezekial, in exile at
Babylon, described Tyre as it was before Nebuchadnezzar's attack in the
Bible: (Ezekial 27:1-25). This time is known as the "Babylonian
Captivity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(eawc, p.8)
585BC-572BC Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon began his 13 year siege of Tyre.
(NG, Aug., 1974, S.W. Matthews, p.157)
570BC Oct, General Amasis (Ahmose
II) defeated King Apries a 2nd time and took control of a united Egypt.
Apries sought refuge abroad and later turned up at the court of
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
567BC Apries, former ruler of
Egypt, marched on Egypt at the head of a Babylonian army, but once
again, Amasis defeated him, this time capturing the former king.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
539BC Babylon, under Chaldean rule
since 612BC, fell to the Persians. Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon
after the New Babylonian leader, Belshazaar, failed to read “the
handwriting on the wall.” The Persian Empire under Cyrus lasted to
331BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Cyrus returned
some of the exiled Jews to Palestine, while other Jews preferred to
stay and establish a 2nd Jewish center, the first being in Jerusalem.
(NG, Aug., 1974, S.W. Matthews, p.174)(eawc, p.8,9)
486BC Darius, ruler of Persia,
died. His preparations for a 3rd expedition against Greece were delayed
by an insurrection in Egypt. He was succeeded by his son Xerxes (35),
governor of Babylonia.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
486BC-465BC Xerxes the Great, king
of Persia, ruled Egypt as the 3rd king of the 27th Dynasty. His rule
extended from India to the lands below the Caspian and Black seas, to
the east coast of the Mediterranean including Egypt and Thrace.
Persia’s great cities Sardis, Ninevah, Babylon, and Susa were joined by
the Royal Road. East of Susa was Persopolis, a vast religious monument.
To the north of Persia were the Scythians.
(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(eawc,
p.11)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
465BC-424BC Artaxerxes, son of
Xerxes I, ruled Persia in the Achaemenis dynasty and Egypt as the 4th
king of the 27th Dynasty. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah remember him
warmly because he authorized their revival of Judaism. Esther, a
Jewish woman living in Babylon, was chosen for her beauty to be his new
queen. She later discovered a plot by the king’s vizier to slaughter
all Jews. She informed the king and saved her people. This is
remembered in the Jewish holiday of Purim.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)(WSJ, 4/10/09,
p.W13)(http://tinyurl.com/d2gayf)
350BC Babylonian tables of
astronomical numbers regularly use zero.
(V.D.-H.K.p.28)
323BC Jun 10, Alexander died In
Persia at Babylon at the age of 32. His general, Ptolemy, took
possession of Egypt. Apelles was a painter in Alexander's court. He had
been commissioned by Alexander to paint a portrait of Campaspe,
Alexander's concubine. Apelles fell in love with Campaspe and Alexander
granted her to him in marriage. In 1984 Curtius Quintas Rufus authored
"the History of Alexander." In 1991 Peter Green authored "Alexander of
Macedon, A Historical Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.62)(BS, 5/3/98, p.12E)(WSJ, 2/11/00,
p.W6)(ON, 1/01, p.11)(WBO)
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.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud)
776 Al-Jahiz (d.868), Muslim
theologian and scholar, was born in Basra about this time. He is
credited with writing nearly two hundred works, although fewer than one
hundred survive today. His most famous work is Al-Hayawan” (The Book of
animals), which merges discussions of zoology with philosophy.
(Econ, 2/7/09,
p.72)(www.enotes.com/classical-medieval-criticism/al-jahiz)
1271 The Polos were called back to
Acre where the new Pope assigned two friars, Fra Nicolo da Vicenza and
Fra Guielmo da Tripoli, to accompany them to visit the grand khan. They
reached Armenia and heard that the soldan of Babylonia, named
Bundokdari, had invaded Armenian territory. The friars feared for their
lives and returned home.
(TMPV, P.12)
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