DATES

AT JERUSALEM

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

3000-2000 B.C.E.

Jerusalem is founded by the Canaanites.

Around 2500 B.C.E., the Great Pyramid at Giza is built, at the height of the Egyptian Old Kingdom.

1000 B.C.E.

King David captures Jerusalem from a people called the Jebusites and makes it the capital of the Israelites.

960 B.C.E.

King Solomon, realizes his father's (King David's) plan and builds a magnificent place of worship, the First Temple, to house the Ark of the Covenant. King Solomon, who also expands the city, constructs a system of reservoirs and aqueducts.

The Chavin, the earliest highly developed culture in pre-Columbian Peru, rises c. 900 B.C.E., near the time that Sparta is founded.

586 B.C.E.

The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem, including Solomon's Temple, and take many Jews as captives.

Confucius, founder of the major Chinese philosophy and religion, Confucianism, is born in 551 B.C.E.

538 B.C.E.

The King of Persia, Cyrus the Great, conquers Babylonia and allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Upon their return, the Jews begin plans to rebuild their place of worship.

515 B.C.E.

The Second Temple is completed on the original Temple Mount.

The Roman Republic is founded in 509 B.C.E., replacing the kingship with a republican government. In 500 B.C.E., Siddhartha, otherwise known as the Buddha, founds the philosophy and religion of Buddhism.

332 B.C.E.

Alexander the Great of Macedonia conquers Persia and takes control of Jerusalem. Alexander and the kings who succeed him permit Jews to follow their religion.

168-164 B.C.E.

King Antiochus IV prohibits the study of Judaism and the practice of Jewish religious rites. He rededicates the Second Temple to the Greek god Zeus. The Jews, led by the warrior Judah Maccabee, overthrow Antiochus, recapture the Temple, and establish self-rule for almost a century.

Around 100 B.C.E., the "Silk Road" begins to carry goods between China and Europe.