Handout, September 10, 2003
RS-2B03: Women in the Biblical Tradition
A. Y. Reed
Basic Chronology of the “Biblical Period”
(all dates approximate)
2000-1700 BCE - Israel's Patriarchal period (i.e., the era described in stories about Abraham, Sarah, et al, in Genesis)
1300-1200 BCE - Exodus of Jews from Egypt, migration(s) to Canaan
1200-1050/1000 BCE - Period of the Judges
1000-587 BCE - Monarchic period in Israel
1030-1010
BCE – King Saul
1010-970 BCE – King David, ruling with Jerusalem as his capital
970-931 BCE – King Solomon; building of the Jerusalem Temple
931 BCE – With death of King Solomon, Northern Kingdom (Israel) secedes from Southern Kingdom (Judah)
722/721 BCE - Northern Kingdom (Israel) conquered by Assyrians, population dispersed (= “lost tribes of Israel”)
620 BCE – King Josiah (of Judah) and "Deuteronomic Reforms"
600-580 BCE - Judean Prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel
586 BCE - Southern Kingdom (Judah) and Jerusalem Temple destroyed by Babylonians;
beginning of Babylonian Exile
538 BCE – Cyrus the Persian conquers Babylon. The Persians allow Jews to return to their
land and grant them funds to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple; beginning of SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD
333-323 BCE – Conquests of Alexander the Great
305 BCE – Israel comes under Ptolemaic (Greek-Egyptian) rule
250 BCE – Torah first translated into Greek (= Septuagint [LXX])
200 BCE – Israel comes under Seleucidic (Greek-Syrian) rule
168-165 BCE – Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes
164 BCE – Rededication of the Second Temple
140-63 BCE – The Hasmonean Dynasty: Israel under native (but non-Davidic) rule
63 BCE – Roman general Pompey invades Jerusalem, Israel becomes Roman vassal state
40 BCE-39 BCE – The rule of King Herod and his sons
6 CE – Birth of JESUS OF NAZARETH
26-30 CE – Mission of John the Baptist
30 CE – Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth
35-36 CE – The Pharisee Saul of Tarsus joins the Jesus Movement, after a revelation on the
road to Damascus, and becomes the apostle PAUL, beginning his missionary
activities to gentiles
49-60 CE – PAULINE LETTERS written
60-65 CE – Death of PAUL
66-70 CE – Jewish Revolt against Rome
70 CE – Jerusalem and the Second Temple destroyed by Romans; end of SECOND
TEMPLE PERIOD
70-110 CE – Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and JOHN written
112-113 CE – Pliny, the Roman governor of Pontus-Bithynia writes to the emperor Trajan seeking advice regarding the persecution of Christians. The emperor tells Pliny that persecuting people on unproven charges is "contrary to the spirit of our times."
132-135 CE – Jewish messianic uprising led by “Bar Kokhba,” brutally squelched by the
Romans
200 CE – Compilation of the Mishnah, foundational document of Rabbinic Judaism
249-251 CE - First major persecution of Christians under emperor Decius
257-260 CE - Persecution resumes under emperor Valerian
303 CE - Persecution begins under Diocletian
312 CE - Battle of Milvian Bridge; the Roman general Constantine adopts Christ as his
patron and defeats his rival Maxentius to become sole ruler of Italy, Africa, and the entire western half of the empire.
313 CE - Edict of Milan. Constantine assures full restitution of all confiscated
Christian property and full rights for Christian worship in both halves of the
Roman Empire.
324 CE – Constantine defeats Licinius in a battle near Adrianople and becomes ruler
of the entire Roman Empire.
HEBREW BIBLE / TANAK Law (Torah)
Writings (Ketuvim) |
OLD TESTAMENT Genesis |
OLD TESTAMENT Genesis |
* Book names in italics are termed “deutero-canonical” by Catholics after the Council of Trent; this group of books (= Old Testament books not in the Jewish and Protestant biblical canons) are sometimes called “Apocrypha.”