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Period: 250 to
Ancient History
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Sep 15, 600
Buddhism
The Buddha preached his first sermon to five companions who had accompanied him on his wan- derings. That first sermon became a landmark in the history of the world’s religions. In it, he laid out the four main ideas that he had come to understand in his enlightenment. The first noble truth life is filled with sorrow and suffering. The second noble truth the cause of all suffering is people’s selfish desire for the temporary pleasures of this world. The third noble truth the way to end all suffe -
Sep 15, 600
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
After conquering Israel, the Assyrians rapidly lose power to a rising Babylonian empire. The great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar ran the Egyptians out of Syria and ancient Palestine, and he twice attacked Jerusalem. The city finally fell in 586 B.C. Solomon’s temple was destroyed in the Babylonian victory. Many of the people that survived were exiled to Babylon. During the exile in Babylon, the Bible describes how the prophet Ezekiel urged his people to keep their religion alive. -
Sep 15, 750
Hinduism
Hinduism is a collection of religious beliefs that developed slowly over a long period of time. Some aspects of the religion can be traced back to ancient times. In a Hindu marriage today, for example, the bride and groom marry in front of the sacred fire as they did many centuries ago. The faithful Hindu's recite daily verses from the Vedas. Hinduism unlike religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam cannot be traced back to one founder with a single set of ideas. -
Sep 15, 1110
Phoeicians
The Phoenicians were the most powerful traders to have traded along the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians were mainly known as the Lebanon. They were never united into a country instead they established many city states along the Mediterranean sea.The first cities in Phoenicia, such as Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon, were important trading centers. The Phoenicians were amazing shipbuilders and seafarers. They were the first Mediterranean people to venture beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. -
Jan 1, 1200
Exodus out of Egypt
The Jews call the period when they fled from Egypt between 1300-1200 B.C. the Exodus out of Egypt. The one who led them out of Egypt was of course Moses. -
Sep 14, 1300
Moses
It is told at the birth of Moses the people of Egypt were threatened by the growing number of the Hebrews, and so the pharoah ordered all male born babies to be killed. Moses' mother hid her baby along the reeds of the Nile river. There an Egyptian princess found him and adopted him. Though he was raised in luxury he did not forget his Hebrew birth. He led the Jews out of Egypt when God commanded him to do so. -
Abraham the father of Israel
Abraham was a sheperd who lived in URr, in Mesopotamia. In the Torah it tells of God choosing Abraham to be father of all Hebrews. And so in the book of Genesis it tells of how god chose Abraham to move all his people to Canaan. So around 1800 B.C. Abraham and his family moved to Canaan. Then around 1650 B.C. the descendents of Abraham moved to Egypt -
Hittie Empire
The Hitties were a group of Indo-Europeans. They occupied the Anatolia, also called Asia Minor. Anatolia is a huge peninsula in modern day Turkey that juts out into the black and mediterranean seas. In the 1650 B.C. the seperate Hitties city-states merge and become an empire. The Hittie empire went on to dominate SouthWest Asia for 450 years. The Hitties went on to occupy the Babylon, the chief city in the Tigres and Euprhates village and struggled with Egypt for control over Northern Syria. -
Minoans
A powerful seafaring people, the Minoans dominated trade in the eastern Mediterranean from about 2000 to 1400 B.C. They lived on Crete, a large island on the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The Minoans produced some of the best pottery of the time. They traded that pottery, along with swords, figurines, and vessels of precious metals, over a large area. Along with their goods, Minoans also spread their art and culture. These included a unique architecture, burial customs, and religious ritual. -
Monotheism
Belief in a single God is called Monotheism. The word is combined by Mono meaning one, and Theism meaning god worshipper. The Hebrews believed in one God and that God was called Yahweh. -
King Saul the first king
From 1020 B.C. through 922 B.C. the Hebrews were united by three great kings. King Saul the first of the three great kings was chosen mainly because of the success because he drove out the Philistines from the central hills of ancient Palestines. Saul is displayed in the bible as a tragic man who was given bouts of jealousy. After his death his son the second of the three great kings became the ruler of Israel. -
King David, the second king
After the death of his father King Saul, David became the successor and became the second of the three great kings. King David was extremely popular, united the tribes, made Jerusalem as the capital and founded a dynasty. -
King Solomon the last king
In the year of about 962 B.C. King Solomon became the third and last king of the three "able kings." Solomon was the strongest out of the three Hebrew kings. He built a kingdom with the help of his friend, Hiram the king of the Phoneician city of Tyre. Solomon also beautified the capital city of Jerusalem. The crowning achievement of his extensive building program in Jerusalem was a great temple, which he built to glorify God. The temple was also to be a permanent home of the Covenant from Moses -
The divided kingdom of Israel and Judah
Solomon's building projects required high taxes and it badly strained the kingdom's finaces. Also the men were required to work at the temple every one out of three monrhs. Since the expense and the labor force were so high the kingdom went chaotic. As a result after the death of king Solomon the Jews of the northern part of the kingdom revolted. By 922 B.C. the kindom was diveded by two and the top part became known as Israel and the bottom half became knwn as Judah. -
Jainism
Mahavira believed that everything in the universe has a soul and so should not be harmed or damaged. The Jainism monks carry the doctorine of nonvioence to its logical conclusion. In keeping with this nonviolence, followers of Jainism looked for occupations that would not harm any creature. So they have a tradition of working in trade and commerce. Because of their business activities, Jains today make up one of the wealthiest communities in India.
