Dawn to Christ in 800 Words
First Hole:
4500 BC: Civilization Begins
Civilization began in approximately 5000 BC. About that time, we find developed civilizations in Egypt, Susa (modern day Iran) and Kish (modern day Iraq). Scholars debate the year civilization began, but 4500 works for our purposes. If you hear a date before 4500, you’re dealing with cave drawings, the invention of the wheel, the beginning of agriculture, the discovery of bronze. Stuff like that. Such things might be entertaining to know, but for purposes of developing a Catholic historical sense, they won’t help much.
Second Hole:
1200 BC: Moses and the Exodus
Needless to say, we’ve made a big jump, over 3000 years. Not a heckuva lot happened during the first 3000 years of civilization that interests the Catholic, and those major things that do are easily summarized: Abraham received the covenant from God (about 1800 BC), had one son (Isaac), who had two sons, Esau and Jacob (a/k/a “Israel”). Jacob had twelve sons, one of whom (Joseph) was sold into slavery in Egypt, thus beginning the Jewish captivity there, which started in approximately 1650 BC and lasted until approximately 1200 BC, the time of Moses. Based on the life of Moses, we know that the Ten Commandments were handed down shortly before 1200 BC. Moses died a little later, and then the Jews entered and conquered Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. The Israelites were then ruled by the war-like judges (Gideon, Samson, and others).
Third Hole:
1000 BC: David, King of Israel
The Israelites distrusted monarchy. Yet they needed unification, so they eventually agreed to accept a king: Saul. He was succeeded by Israel’s greatest King, David, who ruled from 1010 BC to 974 BC. Under David, Israel’s realm reached its greatest power, though historians disagree about how great it was. His wise son, Solomon, ruled the longest of Israel’s kings, from 974 to 937, at which time his son Rehoboam took the throne. He was the last king of the old kingdom. Under his watch, the kingdom split into two: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Israel was crushed by the premier world power of the time, the Assyrians, in 721, and many of its people were carted off to Assyria and replaced with foreigners (Samaritans). The Jewish bloodline—and Jewish religious practices—became watered down, much to Judah’s disgust, who eventually started referring to all northerners as “Samaritans,” which became synonymous with “scum,” at least until Jesus’ ecumenical efforts.
Fourth Hole:
587 BC: The Babylonian Captivity
After Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, Judah held on, but eventually fell to Assyria’s successor as the premier power in the Middle East, Babylonia. This ended the old Israel that started with the Exodus. Many of the Jews were dispersed across the known world (known as the first “diaspora), while many others were taken to Babylonia for about 50 years, until released by Babylonia’s conqueror, the Persians, in 538 BC.
(Warning: Lots of names and dates ahead)
This is probably a decent time to mention the time frame of all those Old Testament prophets you hear about, since this is the era of Jeremiah, who lamented Judah’s errant ways and the wrath that would surely come. Whenever you hear a reference to an important Old Testament prophet, you can be reasonably certain you’re dealing with the years 900 BC to 500 BC, which encompasses the era of the four major prophets (Isaiah, late 700s BC; Jeremiah, late 600s BC; Ezekiel, 500s BC; Daniel, of Lions den fame, 500s BC), Elijah and Elisha (800s BC), and the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi (late 500s BC).
It’s worth noting, incidentally, that this era (the sixth century BC) experienced a worldwide spiritual awakening. In addition to three of the four major Jewish prophets, this era also brought the world Zoroaster (c. 660-583 BC), the Mahavira (599-527 BC), the Buddha (c. 563-483 BC), Lao-tze (c. 604-517 BC), Confucius (551-478 BC), and Pythagoras (570-500 BC). No one can explain it, but something was in the air.
Fifth Hole
4 BC: The Birth of Christ
With Jesus’ birth, we enter what some call the “common era,” but what most people still refer to as Anno Domini (AD). Although there is no consensus, everyone agrees that Jesus wasn’t born in Year 1, but the inventor of the Anno Domini, Dionysus Exiguus, came awfully close. Most historians peg Jesus’ birth somewhere from 8 BC to 4 BC. He started his public ministry in 28 AD and died in 30 AD.
During his years, the Roman Empire ruled the known world. Its lands or subservient allies ringed the entire Mediterranean. It ruled Spain, France, most of Germany, the Balkans, Asia Minor, and the southern coast of the Mediterranean. It would have no serious challenge to its power for over 200 years, at which time a renewed Persian Empire rose on the Eastern borders and the German and Slavic tribes gained enough strength to become a threat.
Bookmark it: del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList