History Pages - Part 5
The Divided Monarchy - ca. 931 - 586 BC
All dates, particularly the earlier ones, are approximate
References to "ANET" are to the book "Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament" edited by James B. Pritchard
| Technological level in Middle East |
Mesopotamia | Rome | Mainland Greece |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Age II B& C | 900-612 BC Neo-Assyrian Period 612-538 BC Neo-Babylonian Period |
753-510 BC Royal Period (the seven kings of Rome) |
800-500 BC Archaic Period |
The Divided Monarchy
| Judah | Prophets | Israel | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|---|
| 931-913 Rehoboam | Ahijah Shemaiah a "man of God" |
931-910 Jeroboam I chose Shechem as his first capital, later moved to Tirzah | 935-914 BC Sheshonq I (Shishak) of Egypt, invaded Israel and carried off treasures from the Temple |
| 913-911 Abijah | |||
| 911-870 Asa | 910-909 Nadab (son of Jeroboam) | ||
| Jehu, son of Hanani | 909-886 Baasha (killed Nadab) | 900-800 BC Etruscans settled in Italy, introduced horse-drawn chariots 900-800 BC Carthage founded by Phoenicians 900-800 BC Chaldean invasion of Mesopotamia |
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| 886-885 Elah (son of Baasha) | |||
| 885 Zimri (killed Elah) reigned 7 days, committed suicide Omri chosen as king by some of the people |
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| 885-880(?) war between Tibni and Omri | |||
| 885-874 Omri (killed Tibni) 879 Omri moved the capital of Israel from Tirzah to his new city of Samaria |
880-842 BC Ben-hadad I of Damascus 883-859 BC Ashurnazipal II of Assyria 859-824 BC Shalmanezer III of Assyria Assyrians conquered most of Mesopotamia, developed the policy of deporting conquered peoples to other lands to prevent nationalistic revolts 853 BC Battle of Karkar in Syria - Shalmanezer recorded that at that battle "10,000 foot soldiers of Ahab the Israelite" along with soldiers from 11 other kings, fought against him. (ANET 278-79) Assyrians destroyed the city of Babylon, and made Nineveh their capital. They later thought that the god Marduk was angry with them for destroying his city, and rebuilt Babylon Mesha of Moab. The "Moabite Stone" with the claim that Mesha broke free of Israel during the reign of Ahab |
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| Elijah "sons of the prophets" Micaiah |
874-853 Ahab (son of Omri) killed in battle Jezebel as queen Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, married Jehoram, crown prince of Judah |
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| 870-848 Jehoshaphat | |||
| 853-851 Ahaziah (son of Ahab) accidental death |
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| 853(coregency)-841 Jehoram (Joram) married to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab |
"sons of the prophets" Elisha |
852-841 Joram (Jehoram) (another son of Ahab) killed by Jehu |
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| 841 Ahaziah (son of Jehoram and Athaliah) killed by Jehu |
841 BC Shalmanezer III of Assyria invaded Damascus and Israel, and exacted tribute from Jehu. The "Black Obelisk" of Shalmanezer (now in the British Museum) shows a king identified as Jehu, kneeling before Shalmanezer, and claims "the tribute of Jehu, son of Omri : I recieved from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king, . . . " (ANET 281) "son of Omri" - Shalmanezer was either not aware of the details of Jehu's accession, or was using the term to mean that Jehu was ruling the region that Omri used to dominate 842-806 BC Hazael of Damascus |
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| 841 Queen Athaliah (killed all the royal family except Jehosheba and Joash) | 841-814 Jehu (killed Joram & Ahaziah) | ||
| 835-796 Joash (Jehoash) (son of Ahaziah) assassinated | |||
| 814-798 Jehoahaz (son of Jehu) | 813 BC Foundation of Carthage as a Phoenician colony and center for trade in the Mediterranean 803 BC Adad-nirari III of Assyria invaded Syria (ANET 281-82) 800 BC Greece began to recover from the "Dark Ages". Foundation of "city-states" Foundation of Greek colonies around the Mediterranean |
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| 796-767 Amaziah ca. 792 taken prisoner by Jehoash of Israel 767 assassinated |
798-782 Jehoash (Joash) (son of Jehoahaz) | ||
| 792(regency)-740 Uzziah (Azariah) 750 became a leper |
Jonah Amos |
793(co regency)-753 Jeroboam II | 776BC to 393AD - Olympic Games |
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Isaiah Hosea Micah |
753 Zachariah (son of Jeroboam II) reigned 6 months | 753 BC (by tradition) Romulus founded Rome, introduced a calendar with 10 months in the year | |
| 752 Shallum (killed Zachariah) reigned 1 month | 750 First examples of inscriptions in Hellenic Greek alphabet 750-725 the Iliad put into writing 743-713 the Odyssey put into writing |
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| 752-742 Menahem (killed Shallum) | Assyrians began to adopt Aramaic as their language 750-650 Hoplite phalanx adopted by cities of southern Greece. Previously fighting was carried out by a relatively few warriors, often in single combat, using shield, sword and spear, with no armor. Hoplites had defensive armor and fought in close formation - a series of rows, called a phalanx. 750-550 First period of Hellenic colonization - Marseilles, Asia Minor, Black Sea 736-716 First Messinian war, in the Peloponnese of Greece 734 Chalcis of Euboea founded Naxus, the first Greek colony in Sicily 733 Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily established by Corinth 740-732 Rezin of Damascus 745-727 "Pul" (Tiglath-pileser III) of Assyria 727-722 BC Shalmanezer V of Assyria, invaded Israel |
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| 742-740 Pekahiah (son of Menahem) | |||
| 750 (co-regency)-732 Jotham | 752 (disputed claim to kingship)-732 Pekah (killed Pekahiah) | ||
| 735 (co-regency)-716 Ahaz | 732-722 Hoshea (killed Pekah) | ||
| 727 (co-regency)-698 Hezekiah 701 Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem. Hezekiah built a water-tunnel and withstood the siege |
722 BC Fall of Samaria to Shalmaneser V and/or Sargon II, kings of Assyria
The Israelite people were taken into captivity in Assyria, and became "the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel" Various conquered peoples were moved into the area by the Assyrians. They became the "Samaritans" |
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| 722-705 BC Sargon II of Assyria, conquered the Hittites, the Chaldeans, and Samaria 705-681 BC Sennacherib of Assyria 721-710 BC Merodach-baladan king of Babylonia, split from the Assyrian empire. 710 BC Sargon regained control of Babylon. Merodach-baladan fled to Elam until 701 BC when he claimed Babylon again. 700 BC Sennacherib ousted Merodach-baladan, who fled to Elam once more, and died ca. 694 BC 701 BC Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah, laid siege to Jerusalem. Sennacherib's accounts of the campaign are given on the "Sennacherib Prism" (now in the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) and the "Taylor Prism" (now in the British Museum) 715-672 BC Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, added January and February to Romulus' 10-month calendar 700 BC Hesiod, Greek epic poet, wrote Theogony, on the Origins of the Gods, and Works and Days, and advice for the working man 690-664 BC Pharaoh Tirhakah of Egypt's 25th (Ethiopian) dynasty (defeated at Eltekeh by Sennacherib) |
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| 698-643 Manasseh 652-647 prisoner in Assyria |
681-669 BC Esarhaddon of Assyria (son of Sennacherib) 669-633 BC Asshurbanipal of Assyria (son of Esarhaddon) began to assemble a library in Nineveh of all the literature of Mesopotamia (30,000 tablets from this library have been uncovered) 652 BC Ashurbanipal took Manasseh as a prisoner to Assyria ca. 660 BC Jewish settlement in Elephantine (Egypt) 657 BC Byzantium (Constantinople) founded by sailors from Megara in Greece ca. 650 BC Zarathustra (Zoroaster) founded Zoroastrianism, a dualistic religion which inspired the Persians to a program of conquest. The Persians were an Indo-European people living to the north of the Persian Gulf, away from the main areas of political unrest and war. Within 100 years of Zoroaster's teaching, the Persians, under Cyrus, founded a great empire and set about trying to conquer the whole world for Zoroastrianism ca. 650 BC Celts in Central and Western Europe |
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| 643-641 Amon assassinated | Zephaniah Nahum Habakkuk Jeremiah |
640 BC Sparta (in Greece) developed a military system of society (to keep their slaves from revolting and overwhelming them). Sparta had a council of 2 Kings and 28 other leaders, called the Gerousia ("old men"). The 28 old men had to be at least 60 years old, were chosen by the public assembly and held office for the rest of their lives. There was also another group of executives, the five ephors, elected annually by public acclamation 632 BC Monarchy in Athens replaced by the Council of Areopagus, wealthy aristocrats, and an annual board of nine archons who were elected by the Council of Areopagus. 640-560 BC Solon of Athens, reformed the system of law |
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| 641-609 Josiah | 626 BC Scythians (semi-nomadic fighters from what is now Armenia) invaded Syria, Palestine and Assyria 626-605 BC Nabopolassar of Babylon 612 BC Fall of Nineveh & the Assyrian Empire to Nabopolassar. Nineveh burnt to the ground. The Assyrian army fought on for about another 2 years, then was defeated at Haran 624-545 BC Thales of Miletus, Greek philosopher, predicted solar eclipse of 585 BC |
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| 609 Jehoahaz reigned 3 months, taken as a prisoner to Egypt |
609 BC Pharaoh Neco marched north to engage Babylon at the battle of Carchemish. Josiah and Judah were in the way. Neco killed Josiah, took Jehoahaz captive to Egypt, where he died. Neco chose another of Josiah's sons, Eliakim, renamed him Jehoiakim, and made him puppet-king of Jerusalem | ||
| 609-598 Jehoiakim | 605-562 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon 605 BC Battle of Carchemish - Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Neco, invaded Judah 605 BC Hostages, including Daniel, taken from Jerusalem to Babylon 601 BC Nebuchadnezzar failed in an attack on Egypt. Jehoiakim stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar; Nebuchadnezzar prepared to retaliate 600 BC Sappho of Lesbos, Greek poetess ca. 600 BC The Mahabharrata, Hindu Epic religious poetry |
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| 598-597 Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, reigned 3 months, taken as a prisoner to Babylon |
597 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon invaded Judah again, took Jehoiachin and thousands of Jews, including Ezekiel, as prisoners to Babylon | ||
| 597-586 Zedekiah 586 taken as a prisoner to Babylon |
Daniel and then Ezekiel taken as hostages to Babylon Obadiah Jeremiah, survived the Fall of Jerusalem, and was probably taken to Egypt and eventually killed |
597 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon made Mattaniah, youngest son of Josiah, king of Judah, and changed his name to Zedekiah 588 BC Zedekiah refused to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, broke his oath of allegiance. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, besieged Jerusalem Prisoners deported from Judah to Babylon, 597 BC, 587 BC, & 582 BC 594 BC the Reforms of Solon - reorganization of Athenian society; implemented by Peisistratus (further reforms 508-502 BC) by Cleisthenes, leading to Athenian Democracy |
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| 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, took Zedekiah as a prisoner to Babylon. Fall of Jerusalem Babylonian captivity began |
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Main Sources : Smithsonian Timelines of Ancient History, The Timetables of History (Bernard Grun)
Go here for Map of the Divided Monarchy
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
