Middle East - Anthony Ham [45]
1800 BC According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jewish faith and prophet in both Christianity and Islam, is born in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia.
1750 BC The Babylonian kingdoms are first united under Hammurabi, who brings much of Mesopotamia within Babylonian power, creating the capital, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They would rule the Tigris-Euphrates region for over 500 years.
1600–609 BC The Assyrian Empire, with its renowned administrative prow-
ess and war-like conquests, rules from its capital at Nineveh (present-day Iraq) over a territory that reaches as far as Egypt. Its heyday is around 900 BC.
1500 BC The Phoenicians set out to conquer the waters of the Mediterranean from their base in Tyre and Sidon (modern-day Lebanon). Primarily a trading empire, they establish ports around the Mediterranean rim and rule the seas for 1200 years.
15th Century BC Hieroglyphic tablets make reference to a city called ‘Dimashqa’, which was conquered by the Egyptians. It’s the first written record of a city (perhaps the world’s oldest) that may date back to 3000 BC.
663 BC After a series of military and diplomatic confrontations, Ashurbanipal, King of the Assyrians, attacks Egypt, sacks Thebes and loots the Temple of Amun.
550–610 BC Cyrus the Great forms one of the ancient world’s most enlightened empires in Persia, known for its tolerance and the freedoms granted to subject peoples. He and his successor Cambyses conquer Greece and Egypt.
586 BC Babylonia’s King Nebuchadnezzar marches on Jerusalem, destroys the Jewish temple and carries the Jewish elite and many of their subjects into Mesopotamian exile.
536 BC Cyrus the Great overruns Babylon, frees the Jewish exiles and helps them to return home to Jerusalem, complete with funds to rebuild the temple.
525 BC The Persian king Cambyses conquers Egypt, rules as pharaoh then disappears with his army in the Saharan sands as he marches on Siwa.
334 BC A youthful Alexander the Great of Macedonia marches out of Greece and doesn’t stop until a vast empire stretching from Libya to India is within his grasp.
323 BC Alexander the Great dies aged just 33. His empire is carved up among his generals, forming three dynasties: the Antigonids (Greece and Asia Minor); the Ptolemaic dynasty (Egypt); and the Seleucids (everywhere else).
3rd Century BC The Nabataeans build their rock-hewn fortress of Petra and manage to hold out against the Romans until AD 106, partly through entrepreneurial guile, but also through military might and carefully negotiated
treaties when the need arisen.
188 BC The massed ranks of the Roman legionnaires conquer Asia Minor (Turkey), then continue south sweeping all before them. The Romans would rule the Middle East in some form for over six centuries.
146 BC The destruction of Carthage (in present-day Tunisia) by the Romans signals that more than a millennium of Phoenician/Punic dominance of the Mediterranean has finally come to an end.
64 BC Pompey the Great abolishes the Seleucid kingdom, annexes Syria and transforms it into a province of the Roman Empire. Rome sets its sights on Egypt.
31 BC The Romans defeat Cleopatra, bringing to an end the era of the pharaohs and drawing Egypt under their control. Unable to bear the ignominy of this historical landmark, Cleopatra commits suicide.
AD 0 Jesus of Nazareth, founder of the Christian faith, is born in Bethlehem (in the present-day Palestinian Territories), which was, at the time, fully incorporated into the Roman Empire.
AD 33 Jesus is crucified as a troublemaker by the Romans in Jerusalem. According to Christian tradition, he rises from the dead three days later, then ascends to heaven as his followers spread out across the world.
AD 39 The Roman emperor Caligula, not content with ruling much of the world, declares himself a deity, adding to the resentment already felt