Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [125]
347 Athenian philosopher Plato, a student of Socrates, opens his academy (it will continue for 876 years).
344 Aristotle, a follower of Plato, goes to Macedon to tutor Alexander, the son of Macedon’s King Philip.
336 King Philip of Macedon is assassinated and succeeded by his twenty-year-old son, Alexander. Known as Alexander the Great, he carries out his father’s plan of fighting the Persians. In 332, Alexander conquers Egypt and founds the city of Alexandria. By 331, Alexander conquers the Persians; extends his empire as far as India.
323 Alexander dies in Babylon at age thirty-two. One of his generals, Ptolemy, who is also a student of Aristotle, takes over Egypt.
305 Beginning of rule of Palestine by the Seleucids of Syria.
c. 255 The translation of the Septuagint, the Greek version of Hebrew scriptures, begins in Alexandria.
202 Roman armies conquer Carthage, marking the beginning of Rome’s rise to power in the Mediterranean.
167 The Jewish priest Mattathias defies Syria’s Antiochus, who has outlawed Judaism. He and his sons will lead a revolt. His third son, Judah, is known as Maccabeus—the Hammerer.
165 Judas Maccabeus retakes Jerusalem from the Syrians.
73 Spartacus, a Thracian slave, leads an army of fugitive slaves against Rome. He is defeated in 71.
64 Jerusalem falls to the Roman general Pompey. Pompey then conquers the rest of Palestine for Rome.
63 Pompey and Crassus are joined in a triumvirate ruling Rome by Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar’s daughter Julia is married to Pompey, solidifying the triumvirate. Caesar embarks on his conquests of Europe.
49 Caesar leads his troops across the Rubicon River to begin a civil war and defeats Pompey, becoming absolute ruler of Rome in 48. Caesar follows the defeated Pompey to Egypt, where Pompey is murdered. Caesar remains in Egypt to carry out a war on behalf of Egypt’s dethroned Queen Cleopatra.
46 After defeating opposing Roman armies, Caesar returns to Rome with Cleopatra as his mistress and is made dictator of Rome.
44 Julius Caesar is assassinated in the Roman Senate.
43 Roman senator Marc Antony joins with Julius Caesar’s greatnephew Octavius and Marcus Lepidus in a second triumvirate.
41 Marc Antony meets Cleopatra, now twenty-eight years old, and follows her to Egypt.
Hebrews 1-Lions O
DANIEL
They brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.
(6:16 KJV)
Many of us may recall a pair of tales of faith featuring a young Jewish boy named Daniel, stories that have been retold recently in William Bennett’s bestseller, The Book of Virtues. In one of these, three Jewish boys are saved by their faith in God from a deadly furnace. And in the second, Daniel himself escapes unharmed after being thrown into a lion’s den. Like most of the simplified childhood versions of Bible tales, these stories are both a lot more complicated. Perhaps you don’t recall that when Daniel emerged safely from the lion’s den, the men who threw him to the lions were then fed to the lions—along with their wives and children. Rough justice!
While the stories of Daniel and his compatriots are set during the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE, the book was written much later than that. Daniel is dated with some certainty to 165-164 BCE, making it the last book written to be accepted into the Hebrew canon. That acceptance came around 90 CE, and probably because of this late date, Daniel was placed in the “Writings,” or third section of the Hebrew scriptures, instead of with the Prophets. An account of a young man who clings to his faith despite extreme pressure and threats of death, Daniel was written to strengthen and comfort the Jews of Jerusalem who were suffering under the oppressive King Antiochus IV (175-164 BCE), one of the Seleucid kings who ruled the Jews.
The Seleucid Dynasty was named for one of Alexander the Great’s five generals, Seleucus I (312-281 BCE). After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, these five generals divvied up