Middle East - Anthony Ham [46]
AD 66–70 The Jews in Jerusalem and surrounding areas revolt against oppressive Roman rule. The uprising is brutally put down, the Jewish temple destroyed and, within four years, over 100,000 Jews are killed. Many more go into exile.
267–71 Queen Zenobia seizes power in Palmyra, defeats the Roman legion sent to dethrone her, briefly occupies Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and declares herself independent of Rome. Rome is not amused.
331 Emperor Constantine declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and moves his capital to Constantinople (previously known as Byzantium). This event marks the birth of the Byzantine Empire.
527–65 Emperor Justinian reigns over the Byzantine Empire during what is widely considered to be its golden age. Its realm extends through the Mediterranean including coastal North Africa and most of the Middle East.
570 The Prophet Mohammed is born in Mecca (present-day Saudi Arabia). In his humble origins, there is little to suggest that he will become the 25th and most revered prophet of the world’s second-largest religion.
622 When his message from Allah, imparted to Mohammed by the Archangel Gabriel, is rejected by powerful Meccans, the Prophet flees to Medina. In the Islamic calendar, this flight is known as the Hejira and marks Year Zero.
632 After returning to Mecca in triumph at the head of Islam’s first army in 630, the Prophet Mohammed dies in Mecca, his work done. The squabble over succession proves no impediment to his followers who carry the new religion across the world.
642 Islam’s battle for succession reaches its critical moment with the death of Hussein, the son of Ali. Ever since this date, the Muslim world has been divided into strains – Sunni and Shiite.
646 Barely a decade after the death of Mohammed, Syria, Palestine and Egypt have all been conquered by the followers of Islam. Modern Israel aside, they have been predominantly Muslim ever since.
656 In the east, Islam takes hold in Iraq, Persia and Afghanistan, defeating the ruling Sassanids and building on the astonishing expansion of Islam, which had been born just a few decades before.
660 Mu’awiyah moves the capital of the Muslim world from Arabia to Damascus, shifting Islam’s balance of power from the desert to the city. The Umayyad caliphate rules over an empire that encompasses almost the entire Middle East.
711 The armies of Islam cross from North Africa into Europe and the Iberian Peninsula is soon under their control. Al-Andalus, as the Muslim civilisation in southern Iberia was known, becomes a beacon for tolerance and the arts.
750 The first Arab dynasty, the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus, falls amid accusations of impiety and power shifts to Baghdad, the base for the Abbasids.
786–809 Haroun ar-Rashid rules the Abbasid world from his political and pleasure capital of Baghdad. This was the Abbasid heyday and provides the setting for many a tale told by Sheherezade in The Thousand and One Nights.
969 The Shiite general Jawhar lays the foundations for a new palace city, Al-Qahira (Cairo). Two years later, a new university and mosque complex, al-Azhar, is founded.
1038–1194 The Seljuks, the former Turkish guards of the Abbasids, seize power, effectively ruling the Abbasid Empire. In addition to Turkey, they take Afghanistan, Persia and much of Central Asia.
1097 In response to a cry for help from the besieged Byzantines in Constantinople, the Christian Crusaders sweep down across the Middle East. Their mission? To liberate the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
1099 After a frightening campaign and a withering siege, the Crusaders enter Jerusalem, massacre everyone in sight regardless of their religion and claim the city for Christianity. The Dome of the Rock is turned into a church.
1171 The Kurdish-born general Salah ad-Din al-Ayyub (aka Saladin) seizes power from the Fatimid Shiite caliph in Egypt, restores Sunni rule and establishes the Ayyubid dynasty.
1187 Saladin retakes Jerusalem from the Crusaders and forever after becomes a hero