User:Lemonbalm1990/sandbox/History of the Jews in Syria

Timeline of History and Context of the Jews in Greater Syria

This is a timeline of the history and context of the Jews in the region of Syria (al-Sham), comprising important historical context, religious symbolism, legal and territorial changes, and political events in the history of the Jews in ancient, historical, and contemporary Syria. The borders of the territory known as "Syria" or "Assyria" have fluctuated greatly since the name's first usage by Assyrians as an ethnonym in 2500 BCE. In the Levant, territory referred to as "Syria" has at times covered portions of contemporary Syria, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. For this reason, the timeline covers the following regions as is relevant to the history of Jews and Judaism:

1. Prehistoric Near East
2. Neolithic Levant and Mesopotamia
3. Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age Canaan
4. The territory of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the United Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judea, and the Kingdom of Israel
5. Assyria and the Kingdom of Aram-Damascus, the Babylonian and Persian province of Yehud, the Macedonian province of Coele-Syria, the Seleucid occupation of Judah, and the Roman Province of Syria Palestina
6. The Arab Caliphates and the Ottoman Sultanates of Greater Syria (al-Sham)
7. The French mandate of Syria and British Mandatory Palestine
8. Contemporary Syria

To read about the background of the following events, see History of the ancient Levant, Canaan, Ancient Canaanite religion, Origins of Judaism, Jewish History, and Syrian Jews.

A Note on Historical eras and the Torah
The history of Jewish presence in Syria dates to the beginnings of Judaism, and the specific geography of what is now modern-day Syria is first mentioned in the Torah in the book of Genesis. It is generally agreed upon by historians that, unlike later sections of the Torah, the time period in Genesis is allegorical and not a reference to one discrete historical era or singular historical figures.

Thus, the first reference to a specific location in Syria within the Torah cannot be dated. It occurs in Genesis, when the Jewish patriarch Abraham passes through Ḥalab (Aleppo) on his initial journey from Ur to Canaan. Abraham pastures his sheep on the mountain of Aleppo and distributes their milk (ḥalav) to the poor on its slopes. The connection between Abraham and Aleppo can be best understood as a testament to the importance of Canaanite culture to proto-Judaism, specifically Judaism's evolution out of and early coexistence with Ancient Canaanite religion, starting in the late Bronze Age.

Scope of the Timeline

Given the organic emergence of Israelite culture out of Canaanite culture, the beginning of this article can be considered a timeline of the direct cultural ancestors of the Jewish Israelite tribes. The timeline begins with the entry of humans into the Levant, and narrows to focus on the Ghassulian proto-Canaanites in the coastal Levant during the Chalcolithic era before transitioning to a discussion of the emergence of the proto-Israelite tribes out of the Canaanite culture.

As both secular archaeologists and Reconstructionist Jewish scholars have identified, Jewish cosmology and religion shows a clear imprint from cultures that predated or coexisted with the proto-Canaanites, such as the influence of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh on the Book of Genesis. For this reason, this timeline could begin with the Neolithic period in the Near East and the beginnings of agriculture in the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Due to the referential nature of Jewish cosmology and creation myth, which builds upon Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian creation stories, which in turn reference the cosmology and mythology of earlier cultures and peoples, this timeline begins at the true beginning of this period of human settlement in the region: c. 25,000 BCE at the waning of the Last Glacial Maximum, or ice age, when Homo sapiens began re-entering the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant from North Africa.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Paleolithic Era in Mesopotamia & the Levant

Year	Date	Event
c. 25,000 - 20,000 BCE		The Last Glacial Maximum, or ice age, begins to diminish. The modern-day Levant, Mediterranean, and Middle East, as well as many other areas of the earth at a similar latitude that were covered in ice, begin to become habitable again as the glaciers start to recede. Homo sapiens had previously spread out from Africa into the Levant and Mesopotamia, but were pushed southwards back onto the African continent by the icy temperatures beginning in c. 33,000 BCE. With the receding glaciers, humans begin to migrate back into the region again.
c. 18,000 BCE		After the Last Glacial Maximum, a new Epipaleolithic culture appears in Southern Palestine with the appearance of the Kebarian culture, of microlithic type that implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebarian culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog. Extending from 18,000–10,500 BCE, the Kebaran culture shows clear connections to the earlier microlithic cultures using the bow and arrow, and using grinding stones to harvest wild grains, that developed from the c. 24,000 – c. 17,000 BC Halfan culture of Egypt, that came from the still earlier Aterian tradition of the Sahara.
c. 12,500 BCE		Natufian culture develops out of Kebarian culture and extends throughout the Levant. Natufian people pioneer the first sedentary settlements in the region, and may have supported themselves from fishing and the harvest of wild grains plentiful in the region at that time. As of July 2018, the oldest remains of bread were discovered c. 12,400 BC at the archaeological site Shubayqa 1, once home of the Natufian hunter-gatherers, roughly 4,000 years before the advent of agriculture in the Levant.

10th millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
c. 9600 BCE		The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) culture develops out of the earlier local tradition of Natufian in Southern Palestine, dwelling in round houses. Tell es-Sultan, also known as Jericho, is settled by PPNA people. Thought to be the world's oldest continuously inhabited town, Jericho continues to exist as a city in what is now the Gaza Strip.
c. 8500 BCE		PPNA people build the first defensive site at Tell es-Sultan, guarding a valuable fresh water spring.
c. 7500 BCE		The Harifian culture evolves out of the Natufian culture in the Negev desert.

7th millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
c. 6800 BCE		Jericho is fortified by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) people.
c. 6500 BCE		The Ubaid period begins in Mesopotamia, bringing with it the movement towards urbanization in Mesopotamia. Agriculture and animal husbandry are widely practiced in sedentary communities during this period, particularly in Northern Mesopotamia, and intensive irrigated hydraulic agriculture began to be practiced in the South.
6400 BCE		The Yarmukian culture (Hebrew: הַתַּרְבּוּת הַיַּרְמוּכִית‎), Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) culture of the ancient Levant, develops out of the mixing of PPNB culture in the Amuq valley of Syria with Nomadic elements. The Yarmukian culture is one of the oldest in the Levant to make use of pottery.
6200 BCE		The 6200 BC climatic crisis occurs.

6th millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
c. 6000 BCE		Neolithic settlements appear all over Egypt. Studies based on morphological, genetic, and archaeological data have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent in the Near East returning during the Egyptian and North African Neolithic Revolution and bringing agriculture to the region (see Cradle of civilization). During this period, the Harifian culture fuses with elements from the PPNB to form what Juris Zarins calls the Syro-Arabian pastoral technocomplex (Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex), which sees the spread of the first Nomadic pastoralists in the Ancient Near East. The Pastoral Complex people extend southwards along the Red Sea coast and mix with the Arabian bifacial cultures, which become progressively more Neolithic and pastoral; and extend north and eastwards, to lay the foundations for the tent-dwelling Martu and Akkadian peoples of Mesopotamia.
c. 5300 BCE		The Sumerian city of Eridu is first established.

5th millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
c. 5000 BCE		Ur of the Chaldees is first settled in modern-day Iraq.
c. 4400 BCE		The Ghassulian culture develops out of the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex. Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul (Teleilat el-Ghassul, Tulaylat al-Ghassul), is located in the eastern Jordan Valley near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, in modern Jordan. The Ghassulian stage is characterized by small hamlet settlements of mixed farming peoples, who had immigrated from the north and settled in the southern Levant - today's Jordan, Israel and Palestine. People of the Beersheba Culture (a Ghassulian subculture) live in underground dwellings - a unique phenomenon in the archaeological history of the region - or in houses that were trapezoid-shaped and built of mud-brick. Those were often built partially underground (on top of collapsed underground dwellings) and were covered with remarkable polychrome wall paintings. The Ghassulians pioneer the Mediterranean agricultural system typical of the Canaanite region, which comprises intensive subsistence horticulture, extensive grain growing, commercial wine and olive cultivation and transhumance pastoralism. They live in small villages, mining and manufacturing copper.
4500 BCE		The Ghassulians migrate into the coastal Levant, beginning their transition into proto-Canaanite culture. Temples are built at En Gedi, Tel Megiddo, and En Esur. The Chalcolithic period begins in the Ancient Near East.

4th millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
c. 4000 BCE		A settlement at the site that will eventually become Jerusalem is first established by proto-Canaanite Ghassulian tribes.
c. 3900 BCE		The Kish civilization, corresponding to the early East Semitic era in Mesopotamia and the Levant, begins. The tradition encompasses the sites of Ebla and Mari in the Levant, Nagar in the north, and the proto-Akkadian sites of Abu Salabikh and Kish in central Mesopotamia which constituted the Uri region as it was known to the Sumerians. This period coincides with the split of Akkadian and Eblaite, both East Semitic languages, and the migration of Akkadian speakers from the Levant into Mesopotamia, causing the end of the Uruk period in 3100 BC.
3800 BCE		Indigenous Canaanite culture develops in situ from Proto-Canaanite Ghassulian culture in the coastal Levant, becoming distinctly Canaanite when Canaanite language, the founding branch of the Semitic languages, splits off from the Afro-Asiatic language family. Ancient Canaanite religion begins to develop, eventually syncretizing with the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian beliefs of their more powerful neighbors, and focusing on a polytheistic pantheon headed by gods El and Asherah.
3500 BCE		Ebla, which later becomes one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria, is established as a small settlement by the Kish Amorites.
3300 BCE		The Early Syrian period begins according to the archaeological history of the ancient Levant, corresponding with the rise to prominence of the First Kingdom of Ebla, which lasts until 2300 BCE.
3200 BCE		The Early Bronze Age begins in the Ancient Near East.

3rd millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
2300 BCE		Ebla is incorporated into the Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great and Naram-Sin of Akkad. Sumerian references to the Mar.tu ("tent dwellers", later Amurru, i.e. Amorite) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of the Sumerian king, Enshakushanna of Uruk, and one tablet credits the early Sumerian king Lugal-anne-mundu with holding sway in the region, although this tablet is considered less credible because it was produced centuries later (see Canaan).
2200 BCE		The 4.2 kiloyear event occurs, causing severe flooding and droughts, likely contributing to the eventual collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the aridifaction of Mesopotamia. It lasts until 2100 BC.
2154 BCE		The Akkadian Empire collapses. People arrive in the region who use Khirbet Kerak pottery, coming originally from the Zagros Mountains east of the Tigris in modern Iran. In addition, DNA analysis reveals that between 2500–1000 BC, populations from the Chalcolithic Zagros and Bronze Age Caucasus migrated to the Southern Levant. The first cities in the southern Levant arise during this period. The major sites were En Esur and Meggido. The Canaanites are in regular contact with the other peoples to their south such as Egypt, and to the north Asia Minor (Hurrians, Hattians, Hittites, Luwians) and Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria), a trend that continues through the Iron Age. The end of the period is marked by the abandonment of the cities and a return to lifestyles based on farming villages and semi-nomadic herding, although specialised craft production continued and trade routes remained open.
c. 2100 BCE		The suggested date for the beginning for the migration of the Amorite people away from Mesopotamia and towards the Levant. From the contextual information given about Abraham in the Book of Genesis, some Biblical archaeologists have theorized that Abraham's story may represent the influence of the expanding Amorite culture on the indigenous Israelite culture that was emerging in Canaan. Jonathan M. Golden presents the argument that, based on the parallel to the Amorite migration, the era of the Jewish Patriarchs may be speculatively dated as occurring at some point between c. 2100 BCE and c.1800 BCE. Ashkenazi Jewish novelist, painter, and Israeli–Palestinian conflict peace broker Marek Halter's novel of historical fiction, Sarah, also espouses an interpretation of Abraham as a cultural figure that can be seen to represent the influence of earlier Amorite transhumance culture on the Canaanites and proto-Israelites. The origination of Sarah, Abraham's wife, as a high-status woman in the city of Ur positions Sarah in the Book of Genesis as an allegorical representation of the Sumerian and Akkadian influence on the Canaanites and proto-Israelites, Sumer and Akkad being the dominant Mesopotamian powers of the era. The Sumerian and Akkadian influence in Judaism can also be clearly seen in the similarity between portions of the Book of Genesis and the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh.

2nd millenium BCE

Year	Date	Event
2000 BCE		The Middle Bronze Age begins. The Amorite kingdom of Amurru is founded in a region spanning present-day western and north-western Syria and northern Lebanon. Urbanism returned and the region was divided among small city-states, the most important of which seems to have been Hazor. Many aspects of Canaanite material culture now reflected a Mesopotamian influence, and the entire region became more tightly integrated into a vast international trading network.
1894 BCE		The city of Babylon is first founded by an Amorite chieftain named Sumu-abum as an independent city-state.
c. 1850 BCE		A possible date for when the Binding of Isaac takes place on a mountain in the land of Moriah, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. Biblical scholars have often interpreted the location of the mountain to be in Jerusalem, although this is disputed. See: Timeline of Jerusalem.
c. 1800 BCE		The Canaanite area appears divided between two confederacies, one centered upon Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, the second on the more northerly city of Kadesh on the Orontes River. A city called Rušalim is mentioned in the execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 19th century BCE). It is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem.
1792 BCE		The first Babylonian Empire is established by Hammurabi.
1750 BCE		Hammurabi's Babylonian Empire is conquered and displaced by the Hittites.
c. 1700		According to Manetho (via Josephus' Against Apion), the Hyksos, a Canaanite tribe, invade the region of Jerusalem. They continue to occupy Jerusalem until 1550 BCE (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
1650 BCE		The Hyksos invade the Nile Delta of Egypt, becoming the dominant power in the region.
c. 1550 - 1400 BCE		Jerusalem becomes a vassal to Egypt as the Egyptian New Kingdom defeats the Hyksos, reunites Egypt, and expands into the Levant under Ahmose I and Thutmose I.
1500 BCE		The Late Bronze Age begins.

2nd millenium BCE, the Israelite Judges and Kings

All dates in this timeline related to the period of the biblical judges are speculative and approximate, as there is not current consensus on dates for much of the Old Testament prior to the Books of Samuel. Dates regarding the biblical judges in this timeline are based on research by historians and biblical scholars J.P. Payne, Kenneth Kitchen, and the website Biblehub.

Year	Date	Event
c. 1397 - c. 1361 BCE		Possible duration of Canaanite proto-Israelite tribal leadership by the first recorded Shofet (Biblical Judge) Othniel.
c. 1385 - c. 1379 BCE		Possible dates of the Edomite oppression of Canaanite proto-Israelites.
c. 1361 - c. 1344 BCE		Possible duration of the Moabite oppression of Canaanite proto-Israelites.
c. 1344 - c. 1268 BCE		Possible duration of proto-Israelite tribal leadership by Ehud.
c. 1330 BCE		Correspondence in the Amarna letters between Abdi-Heba, Canaanite ruler of Jerusalem (then known as Urušalim), and Amenhotep III, suggests that the city was still a vassal to New Kingdom Egypt (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
c. 1300 BCE		The Iron Age I begins with the discovery of iron smelting and smithing techniques in Anatolia or the Caucasus and Balkans.
c. 1268 - c. 1250 BCE		Possible duration of the Canaanite oppression of the proto-Israelites.
c. 1250 - c. 1050 BCE		Scriptural period of the Israelite "occupation" of Canaan. "All during this period, the Hebrews rarely if ever organized into a single group. They were divided, rather, into separate tribes which administered themselves using tribal logic. There was no center of worship (as there would be in later years), and no central government." Archaeologists have extensively argued that the narratives of Israelite military conquest against the Canaanites that can be found in the Book of Joshua and Book of Judges are unlikely to be historically accurate, but rather comprise an allegorical description of the organic development of Israelite culture from Canaanite culture. It has been found that the culture of the earliest Israelite settlements was Canaanite: their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El, whose name can still be found in a Hebrew name of God, Elohim. The pottery style remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite (see Jewish history).
c. 1250 - c. 1214 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite tribal leadership by Barak, followed by Deborah. Dates are based on evidence from archaeology at HaZore'a (Hazor), which suggests that Deborah's success in battle took place in 1216 BCE.
c. 1214 - c. 1208 BCE		Possible duration of the Midianite oppression of Canaanite proto-Israelites.
c. 1208 - c. 1170 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite tribal leadership by Gideon.
1200 BCE		The Sea Peoples, a seafaring group of undocumented origins thought to originate from the northern mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, or Central Europe, begin attacking and raiding coastal cities in the Levant and Egyptian North Africa. At this time, Akkadian language is the lingua franca of the Ancient Near East.
1200 BCE		The Bronze Age Collapse begins in the Mediterranean. The 50 years between 1200 - 1150 BC see the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece, the Kassites in Babylonia, of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and the Levant, and the New Kingdom of Egypt; the destruction of Ugarit and the Amorite states in the Levant, the fragmentation of the Luwian states of western Anatolia, and a period of chaos in Canaan.
c. 1200 BCE		The Israelites formally separate from their Canaanite origins and emerge as a distinct confederation of Semitic-speaking tribes in the Canaanite hill-country and Eastern Galilee. Israelite religion diverges from the Ancient Canaanite religion with the development of Yahwism, the monolatristic worship of the Canaanite god Yahweh.
1180 BCE		The centralized Hittite state collapses.
1178 BCE		The Battle of Djahy takes place between Ramesses III and the Sea Peoples in Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the decline of New Kingdom of Egypt's power in the Levant during the Bronze Age collapse (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
c. 1170 - c. 1168 BCE		Possible duration of leadership of the Israelites by early King (Hebrew: Melech, מלך, lit. "counselor") Abimelech of Shechem. His name can best be interpreted as "my father is king," claiming the inherited right to rule.
c. 1168 - c. 1144 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite tribal leadership by Tola.
1150 BCE		Phoenician culture begins to rise to prominence in the coastal Levant as merchants, seafarers, explorers, and writers, formalizing the world's oldest verified alphabet or abjad of 22 consonant letters.
c. 1146 - c. 1125 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite tribal leadership by Jair. According to Judges 10:3–5, Jair had 30 sons and controlled 30 cities of tent encampments in Gilead, which came to be known as Havoth-Yair (Judges 10:4, 1 Chronicles 2:22). The word chawwoth or 'tent encampments' occurs only in this context (Numbers 32:41, Deuteronomy 3:14, Judges 10:4).
c. 1125 BCE		Philistine culture, from which modern Palestinians and Palestinian culture descend, begins to develop on the coastal plain and Shfela, from a syncretization of the culture of the indigenous Canaanites of the coastal Levant and the Aegean culture of the second or third generations of invading Sea Peoples.
c. 1125 - c. 1108 BCE		Possible duration of the Ammonite oppression of the Israelites.
c. 1108 - c. 1081 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite tribal leadership by, in chronological order, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon.
c. 1100 BCE		The future prophet Samuel is born in Ramathaim to Hannah and Elkanah, a Levite.
c. 1081 - c. 1062 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite leadership by the last Biblical judge, Samson. Representations of Samson are sometimes considered to be an Israelite version of the popular Near Eastern folk hero archetype also embodied by the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles.
c. 1075 - c. 1010 BCE		Possible duration of Philistine oppression of the Israelites.
c. 1062 - 1024 BCE		Possible duration of Israelite leadership by the Kohen Gadol (Jewish high priest) of Shiloh, Eli.
c. 1070 BCE		The Philistines defeat the Israelites at Eben-Ezer, place the land under Philistine control, and capture the Ark of the Covenant. After being visited by natural disasters, the Philistines return the Ark to the Israelites eight months later.
c. 1050 BCE - 1030 BC		Samuel rises to prominence as a renowned prophet (Navi, נָבִיא) and judge (Shofet, שְׁפּוֹט), and plays a central role in continuing the Israelite culture during the Philistine occupation.
c. 1024 BCE		Samuel gathers the Israelite army at Mizpah and leads an attack against the Philistines, which successfully returns the land to Hebrew control. Samuel is recognized as a moshiach and leader of Israel.
c. 1043 BCE		Samuel retires, anointing Saul as his successor and King (Hebrew: Melech, מלך, lit. "counselor") after divine revelation shows Samuel that both of his sons are unfit to rule. Saul becomes the first ruler of the United Kingdom of Israel.
c. 1040 BCE		Future King David is born to Jesse the Bethlehemite and Nitzevet, the great-great-granddaughter of Ruth and Boaz the Moabite.
c. 1042 BCE		Saul defeats the Ammonites.
c. 1041		Saul's war with the Philistines begins.
c. 1030 - c. 1025 BCE		David becomes reknowned for his musical ability.
c. 1028 BCE		Saul makes a blasphemous oath after winning a battle against the Philistines, and Samuel rejects Saul as King of Israel. Following the rejection by Samuel, Saul becomes tormented by a malevolent spirit sent from God. A servant suggests David come play the harp for Saul to soothe him due to David's famed musical ability, and David is called to Saul's court.
c. 1024 BCE		Samuel anoints David as future King of Israel.
c. 1024 BCE		Saul offers wealth and a wife to whoever can kill the giant Goliath, a tall-statured leader of the Philistines. David kills Goliath and is subsequently engaged to Saul's daughter Michal, pending David's dowry payment of 100 Philistine foreskins. David delivers 200, and they are married.
c. 1018 BCE		Saul sets David over the armies of Israel. David's popularity increases as he leads the Israelite warriors to multiple successes over the Philistines.
c. 1015 BCE		David enters into a close and possibly homoerotic friendship with Saul's son Jonathan.
c. 1014 - c. 1013 BCE		Saul becomes jealous and afraid of David's popularity and military prowess, and conspires to have David killed. Jonathan promises to protect David. Michal helps David escape through her bedroom window, and he goes into hiding. David then escapes to Hebron and marries Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Hagith, Abital, and Eglah.
c. 1012 BCE		Samuel dies at Ramah in Benjamin.
c. 1010 BCE		David defeats the Amalekites in battle. Meanwhile, Saul intentionally falls on his sword to avoid capture in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, during which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his rule is contested by Ish-bosheth, Saul's only surviving son, and David, who is Saul's son-in-law. David prevails and becomes King of the Tribe of Judah, ruling from Hebron.
c. 1008 BCE		According to the oral tradition of Sanaite Yemenite Jews, the first Jews settle in Yemen during this year, 42 years before the completion of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen.
c. 1003 BCE		The elders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel travel to Hebron to meet with David and inform him they wish to unite into one kingdom under his leadership. David becomes King of the tribes of Israel. The same year, David's armies invade Jerusalem and name it the City of David, taking it from the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe.

1st millenium BCE, the Israelite Monarchies

Year	Date	Event
c. 1000 BCE		David moves the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and begins planning to build the First Temple.
c. 998 BCE		David defeats the Philistines.
c. 993 BCE		David commits adultery with Bathsheba, then wife of Uriah the Hittite. They have one son, who dies in early childhood.
c. 990 BCE		David and Bathsheba marry after David contrives for Uriah to die in battle, and their son Solomon is born in Jerusalem. Solomon is raised in Jerusalem, primarily by Nathan the Prophet.
c. 950 BCE		David's general Joab ben Seruya conquers the city of Zobah (in modern-day Syria) and builds a temple whose site and stones, in Syrian Jewish tradition, continue on to serve as the foundation for the Central Synagogue of Aleppo, which continues to stand in modern times.
970 BCE		David dies of old age. Solomon succeedes David's reign, becoming the second King of the United Kingdom of Israel.
966 BCE		Solomon's laborers finish building the First Temple on Mount Moriah. The Ark is placed in the temple.
946 BCE		The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon, giving him gifts and affirming his reputation of reknowned wisdom.
c. 939 - c. 931 BCE		Solomon breaks the Torah mandates of endogamy and monotheism by marrying as many as 700 non-Jewish wives and worshipping and building shrines to their Moabite and Ammonite gods. According to The Jewish Encyclopedia, "Solomon's wisdom and power were not sufficient to prevent the rebellion of several of his border cities. Damascus under Rezon secured its independence from Solomon – and Jeroboam, a superintendent of works, his ambition stirred by the words of the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29-40), fled to Egypt. Thus before the death of Solomon, the apparently unified kingdom of David began to disintegrate. With Damascus independent – and Jeroboam (a powerful man of Ephraim, the most prominent of the Ten Tribes), awaiting his opportunity – the future of Solomon's kingdom became dubious."
c. 930 BCE		Rehoboam becomes the third King of Israel after Solomon, his father, dies of old age. Angered by Solomon's idolatry and exogamy, the ten northernmost of the Twelve tribes of Israel split from the House of David under Jeroboam of the Tribe of Ephraim, creating the Northern Kingdom (also called the Kingdom of Israel) in Samaria. The Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Benjamin remain loyal to the House of David and unite to form the Kingdom of Judah, which remains in place until 587 BCE.
931 – 913 BC		Rehoboam becomes the first King of Judah after the schism between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the remaining ten tribes of Israel. Rehoboam begins to initiate a war against the new Kingdom of Israel with an army of 180,000 soldiers. However, he is advised against fighting his fellow tribesmen despite the schism, and returns to Jerusalem. The Book of Kings reports that the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout Rehoboam's 17-year reign. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak, King of Egypt, carries out the Egyptian Sack of Jerusalem and many surrounding cities. According to Joshua, son of Nadav, Rehoboam builds fifteen fortified cities, indicating that the attack was not unexpected (2 Chronicles 11:6). Shishak marches with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and troops who come with him from Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Kushites. Shishak's armies capture all of the fortified towns leading to Jerusalem between Gezer and Gibeon. When they lay siege to Jerusalem, Rehoboam gives Shishak all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute. The Egyptian campaign cuts off Israelite trade with South Arabia via Elath and the Negev that had been established during Solomon's reign. Judah becomes a vassal state to Egypt.
c. 913 - 911 BC		Abijah of Judah, son of Rehoboam, becomes the second King of Judah after his father dies of old age. Abijah begins his three-year reign with a strenuous but unsuccessful effort to bring back the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel, under King Jeroboam of Israel, to allegiance with the Kingdom of Judah — a path which his father had chosen not to follow (2 Chronicles 11:4) — with the purpose of winning the 10 tribes back into the Davidic kingdom. Jeroboam surrounds Abijah's army, engaging in the Battle of Mount Zemaraim. There Abijah rallies his troops with a phrase which has since become famous: "God Himself is with us for a Captain." Abijah goes on to capture the Israelite cities of Jeshanah, Ephron (et-Taiyibeh) and Bethel, but dies shortly afterwards.
c. 911 – 870 BCE		Asa of Judah, son of Abijah, becomes third King of Judah. During his reign Asa is zealous in maintaining the traditional worship of G-d and suppressing idol worship. After concluding a battle with Zerah of Ethiopia in the 10th year of his reign, there is peace in Judah for the next 26 years (2 Chronicles 16:1). In the 36th year of his reign, Asa is confronted by King Baasha of Israel. Asa forms an alliance with Ben-Hadad I, king of Aram Damascus, and using a monetary bribe convinces Ben-Hadad I to break his peace treaty with Baasha and invade the Northern Kingdom (2 Chronicles 16:2–6). Asa dies greatly honored by the people of Judah.
c. 870 – 849 BC		Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, becomes the fourth King of Judah at age 35. He is said to "walk in the ways" of his ancestor, King David, spending the first years of his reign fortifying the Kingdom of Judah against the Kingdom of Israel. Jehoshaphat's zeal in suppressing the idolatrous worship of the "high places" is commended in 2 Chronicles 17:6. In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sends out priests and Levites over the land to instruct the people in the Law, an activity which was commanded for a Sabbatical year in Deuteronomy 31:10–13. Later reforms in Judah instituted by Jehoshaphat appear to have included further religious reforms (2 Chronicles 19:3), appointment of judges throughout the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 19:5–7) and a form of "court of appeal" in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 19:8–11). Ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions, according to 2 Chronicles 19:11, were by royal command kept distinct. The author of the Books of Chronicles generally praises his reign, stating that the kingdom enjoyed a great measure of peace and prosperity, the blessing of God resting on the people "in their basket and their store."
853 BCE		The Battle of Qarqar, in which Israelite forces were likely involved in an indecisive battle against Shalmaneser III of Neo-Assyria (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
c. 849 – 842 BCE		Jehoram of Judah becomes the fifth King of Israel at age 32, succeeding his father Jehoshaphat. As part of an alliance with the Kingdom of Israel created by Jehoshaphat, Jehoram marries Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab of Israel. Despite this alliance with the stronger northern kingdom, Jehoram's rule of Judah is shaky. Edom, then ruled by a viceroy of the king of Judah, revolts, and when Jehoram marched against this people, his army fled before the Edomites, and he was forced to acknowledge their independence. During Jehoram's reign a raid by Philistines, Arabs and Ethiopians loot the king's house, and carry off all of his family except for his youngest son Ahaziah. During this time the king received a letter of warning from the prophet Elijah. After this, Jehoram suffers a painful inflammation of the abdomen, and dies two years later.
842 - 841 BCE		Ahaziah of Judah becomes the seventh King of Judah at age 22, and reigns for one year before being assassinated by Jehu during a state visit to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jehu assassinates Ahaziah in Yahweh's name because, under the influence of his mother Athaliah, Ahaziah introduced forms of worship that offended the Yahwistic party. Jehu then has Athaliah's entire extended family in Samaria put to death, ending the Omri dynasty in the Kingdom of Israel.
841 - 835 BCE		Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel and wife of King Jehoram of Judah, becomes queen regent of Judah after her son, King Ahaziah of Judah is killed. Upon hearing the news of Ahaziah's death, Athaliah seizes the rulership of Judah and orders the execution of all possible claimants to the throne, including the remnant of her Omri dynasty.
836–796 BC		Jehoash of Judah becomes the eighth king of Judah at eight years old, as the sole surviving son of Ahaziah following the massacre of the royal family by his grandmother Athaliah. Jehoash was spared from the rampages of Athaliah by his paternal aunt, Jehosheba, who was married to the high priest, Jehoiada. After hiding Jehoash in the Temple for seven years, Jehoiada has Jehoash crowned and anointed king in a coup d'état against Athaliah, who had usurped the Throne of David. Athaliah is killed during the coup. In 830 BCE, Hazael of Aram-Damascus conquers most of Canaan. According to the Bible, Jehoash of Judah gives Hazael all of Jerusalem's treasures as a tribute, but Hazael proceeds to destroy "all the princes of the people" in the city. Jehoash survives and continues on to rule for 60 more years. With Jehoash's successful rule, the covenant was regarded as having been renewed between Hashem and Judah. The Tyrian cult of Baal, which was introduced under Jehoram and strengthened under Athaliah, was suppressed. Mattan, the priest of Baal, is killed as altars to Baal are destroyed. For the first time in Judah's history, the Temple in Jerusalem and its priesthood achieved national importance. Jehoash's reign ends when he is assassinated by Edomites.
796 - 797 BCE		Amaziah of Judah becomes the ninth King of Judah, taking the throne at the age of 25 after the assassination of his father, and completing the final 24 years of his reign as co-regent with this son Uzziah. Amaziah is the first Jewish King to employ a mercenary army, of 100,000 Israelite soldiers, who he raises in an attempt to reconquer Edom, which had rebelled during the reign of Jehoram his great-grandfather. Amaziah's forces decisively win (2 Chronicles 25:14–16). Amaziah's defeat of Edom inflates his pride, and he challenges Jehoash of Israel, grandson of Jehu, King of Israel, to a duel and loses. In his resentment, Amaziah rushes into a disastrous battle against the Kingdom of Israel at Beth-shemesh, and a humiliating defeat overtakes his army and the land. In 786 BCE Amaziah is captured by Jehoash; 400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem are broken down; the city, Temple, and palace are looted; and hostages are carried to Samaria. Amaziah's defeat was followed by a plot which took his life. Amaziah was slain by an assassin at Lachish, to which he had fled, and his body was brought to Jerusalem, where it was buried in the royal sepulcher (2 Kings 14:19–20; 2 Chronicles 25:27–28).
c. 783 – 742 BCE		Uzziah becomes the 10th King of Judah at age 16 and rules for 52 years. The first 24 years of his reign are as co-regent with his father, Amaziah. His reign is regarded as "the most prosperous excepting that of Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon." In the earlier part of his reign, under the influence of a prophet named Zechariah, he was faithful to G-d, and "did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord" (2 Kings 15:3; 2 Chronicles 26:4–5). In Jerusalem, Uzziah makes machines designed for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. Uzziah conquers the Philistines and the Arabians, and received tribute from the Ammonites. He refortifies the country, reorganizes and reequips the army, and personally engages in agricultural pursuits. He was a vigorous and able ruler, and "his name spread abroad, even to the entrance of Egypt" (2 Chronicles 26:8–14). Towards the end of his reign, Uzziah was struck with leprosy for disobeying G-d (2 Kings 15:5, 2 Chronicles 26:19–21) by burning incense in the temple.
c. 750 - 735 BCE		Jotham becomes 11th King of Judah, inheriting a strong government, well officered and administered. He is recorded as having built the High or Upper Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, identified by Matthew Poole as the New Gate mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10. "He built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers." 2 Kings 15 mentions that Jotham fought wars against Rezin, king of the Arameans, and Pekah, king of Israel (15:37). He also defeated the Ammonites, who paid him an immense annual tribute. But the increasing corruption of the northern kingdom began to permeate Judah. Jotham was a contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah, from whose advice he benefited.

1st millenium BCE, under the Neo-Assyrians

Year	Date	Event
734 - 732 BCE		Tiglath-Pileser III of the Neo-Assyrian Empire wages a war of invasion against the Kingdoms of Damascus, Aram, and Israel.
c. 734 - 716 BCE		Ahaz succeeds his father Jotham's rulership, becoming the 12th King of Judah. Immediately upon beginning his rule, Ahaz meets with a coalition formed by the Northern Kingdom (Israel), under Pekah; and Damascus, under Rezin. Pekah and Rezin wanted Ahaz to join them in fighting the Assyrians, who were arming a force against the Northern Kingdom under Tiglath-Pileser III. Isaiah counsels Ahaz to trust in G-d rather than foreign allies, and tells Ahaz to ask for a sign to confirm that this is a true prophecy (Kings 7:11). Ahaz refuses, saying he will not test G-d (7:12). Isaiah replies that Ahaz will have a sign whether he asks for it or not, and the sign will be the birth of a child, and the child's mother will call the baby Immanuel, meaning "G-d is with us" (7:13–14). To protect himself Ahaz calls in the aid of the Assyrians. Tiglath-Pileser sacks Damascus and annexes Aram, deports the population of Aram, and executes Rezin. Tiglath-Pileser then attacks Israel and takes Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria. As a result of Assyria's invasion, the threat of the kingdoms of Israel and Damascus towards towards Judah ends. But in return, Tiglath-Pileser III demands that Judah become a vassal state to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III subsequently conquers most of the Levant. At around this time, the Siege of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem, is recorded on a stone relief at the Assyrian royal palace in Nimrud.
729 - 697 BCE		Hezekiah reigns as co-regent of Judah with Ahaz from 729 to 716. Beginning in 716, Hezekiah becomes sole regent and thirteenth King of Judah. Hezekiah's reign witnesses the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Sargon's Assyrians in c. 722 BCE, and the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BCE. During his reign Hezekiah enacts sweeping religious reforms, including a strict mandate for the sole worship of Yahweh and a prohibition on venerating other deities within the Temple of Jerusalem. Hezekiah purifies and repairs the Temple, removes the idols, and reforms the priesthood. He destroys the high places (or bamot) and the "bronze serpent" (or Nehushtan), recorded as being made by Moses, which had become objects of idolatrous worship. Isaiah and Micah prophesy during his reign. Knowing that Jerusalem would eventually be subject to siege, Hezekiah had been preparing for some time by fortifying the walls of the capital, building towers, and constructing a tunnel to bring fresh water to the city from a spring outside its walls. He makes at least two major preparations that would help Jerusalem to resist conquest: the construction of the Siloam Tunnel, and construction of the Broad Wall.
c. 722 BCE		The Assyrian empire under Sargon conquers and absorbs the territory of the Kingdom of Israel.
c. 650 BCE		One of the earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writings of the word "Jerusalem" is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states: "I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem," or as other scholars suggest: "Yahweh is the God of the whole earth. The mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem" (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
c. 697–c. 642 BCE		Manasseh of Judah becomes co-regent with Hezekiah in 697 BCE at age 12. In 687 BCE, Manasseh becomes sole regent and fourteenth King of Judah. Manasseh was the first king of Judah who was not contemporary with the northern kingdom of Israel, which had been destroyed by the Assyrians in c. 720 BC, with much of its population deported. He re-instituted polytheistic worship and reversed the religious changes made by his father Hezekiah. Manasseh is mentioned in Jeremiah 15:4, where the prophet Jeremiah predicts "four forms of destruction" for the people of Judah because of these revisions to Hezekiah's legacy. When Manasseh's reign begins, Sennacherib was king of Assyria, reigning until 681 BCE. Manasseh is mentioned in Assyrian records as a contemporary and loyal vassal of Sennacherib's son and successor, Esarhaddon. Assyrian records list Manasseh among twenty-two kings required to provide materials for Esarhaddon's building projects. Esarhaddon died in 669 BC and was succeeded by his son, Ashurbanipal, who also names Manasseh as one of a number of vassals who assisted his campaign against Egypt. The Assyrian records are consistent with archaeological evidence of demographic trends and settlement patterns suggesting a period of stability in Judah during Manasseh's reign. Despite the criticisms of his religious policies in the biblical texts, archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman credit Manasseh with reviving Judah's rural economy, arguing that a possible Assyrian grant of most favoured nation status stimulated the creation of an export market. They argue that changes to the economic structure of the countryside would have required the cooperation of the 'countryside aristocracy,' with restoration of worship at the high places a quid pro quo for this.
642 - 640 BCE		Amon of Judah becomes the 15th King of Judah at age 22. He is most remembered for his idolatrous practices during his short two-year reign, which lead to a revolt against him and eventually to his assassination. He is best known with his father Manasseh as "the wicked kings."
640 - 609 BCE		Josiah succeeds the throne at eight years old after his father, Amon, is assassinated. During his reign Josiah institutes major religious reforms, and is credited by most biblical scholars with having established or compiled important Hebrew scriptures during the "Deuteronomic reform," which probably occurred during his rule.

1st millenium BCE, under the Neo-Babylonians

Year	Date	Event
c. 627 BCE *		Ashurbanipal, king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, dies. The Babylonian king Nabopolassar leads a successful revolt, founding the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
609 BCE *		The Neo-Babylonians continue to rise against the Neo-Assyrians. Egypt, concerned about the new threat of the Neo-Babylonians, moves armies northward to support Assyria in 608/609, passing through Judah. Pharaoh Necho II begins his first campaign against Babylon, in support of the Assyrians. He moves his forces along the coastal route Via Maris towards Syria and prepares to cross the ridge of hills which shuts in the Jezreel Valley to the south. Josiah and the Judean army then attempt to block Necho's path at Megiddo, but during the fierce battle Josiah is killed and the Judeans capitulate. The Egyptians meet the No-Assyrians and go on to fight the Neo-Babylonians together at Harran. After his father Josiah's death, Jehoahaz of Judah becomes the 17th King of Judah. He rules for three months before being deposed by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II and taken into captivity in Egypt (2 Kings 23:31–34).
609 - 598 BCE *		Jehoiakim becomes the 18th and antepenultimate King of Judah. Jehoiakim was appointed king by Necho II, King of Egypt, in 609 BCE, after Necho's return from the battle in Haran, three months after he had killed King Josiah at Megiddo. Jehoiakim ruled originally as a vassal of the Egyptians, paying a heavy tribute. To raise the money he "taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments." During Jehoiakim's reign, Jerusalem is sacked by the Babylonians and the First Temple is destroyed.
605 BCE *	10 Tevet	After defeating the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II begins the Babylonian Siege of Jerusalem. During the siege, Jehoiakim changes allegiances to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. He pays tribute from the treasury in Jerusalem, some temple artifacts, and hands over some of the royal family and nobility as hostages. In the Book of Daniel, Daniel is described as being one of the hostages. The beginning of the siege is still commemorated as the Jewish fast day 10 Tevet.
606 BCE *	9 Av	Nebuchadnezzar's army destroys the First Temple, also known as Solomon's Temple. This destruction is still commemorated as the Jewish fast day Tisha b'Av.
598 – 597 BCE *	December 9 to March 16	Jehoakim's reign ends when he is killed by raiders (2 Kings 24:6), and his son Jeconiah becomes the 19th and penultimate King of Jerusalem. Jeconiah reigns for three months and is then dethroned by Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of the Babylonians. Jeconiah is taken into captivity in Babylon along with his household of 3,000 Jews.
597 - 586 BCE *		Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah, is installed by Nebuchadnezzar as the 20th and final King of Judah. Against the advice of his advisors Zedekiah revolts against Babylon, and enters into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar responds by invading Judah (2 Kings 25:1) and beginning a siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BCE. During this siege, which lasts about thirty months, "every worst woe befell the city, which drank the cup of God's fury to the dregs." At the end of Zedekiah's eleven-year reign, The Kingdom of Judah is conquered by Nebuchadnezzar II and the Babylonian army. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, making their way out of the city, but are captured on the plains of Jericho, and were taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons put to death, Zedekiah's own eyes are put out, and he is carried captive to Babylon in chains, where he remained a prisoner until he died. In addition to King Zedekiah, the middle- and upper-class Jews are deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II, leaving behind only "few vinehands and shepherds," the poorest class of Jews, to serve as the agricultural workforce for the invading Babylonians.
586 BCE *		After the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan is sent to destroy it, and the city is looted and destroyed by the Babylonian army. The Kingdom of Judah is renamed Yehud Medinata, meaning "province of Judah" in Akkadian.

1st millenium BCE, under the Persians

Year	Date	Event
539 BCE *		Jerusalem becomes part of the Eber-Nari satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire after King Cyrus the Great conquers the Neo-Babylonian Empire by defeating Nabonidus at the Battle of Opis.
538 BCE *		As part of assuming control of the Babylonian provinces, Cyrus the Great issues the Edict of Cyrus allowing the exiled Jews in Babylon to return to Judah, now named Yehud, or "Yehud Medinta" in Aramaic. Sheshbazzar, a community leader of the Babylonian Jews, leads a group of 1,000 Jews back to Judah in the same year.
c. 520 BCE *		While most Jews continue to remain behind in Babylon, twelve years later 50,000 more Jews return to Yehud under Zerubbabel, a descendent of David, who then becomes the first governor of Yehud. With the return of the Babylonian exiles, Yehud Medinata operates as a self-governing administrative province with Jewish governorship, even releasing Yehud coinage, under the imperial rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Yehud endures as an autonomous Jewish vassal state under the Persians for 200 more years, until the conquest of Jerusalem by Alexander the Great. The return of the Babylonian Jews increases the schism with the Samaritans, who had remained in the region during the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations.
516 BCE *		The Second Temple is built during the 6th year of Darius the Great's rule (see Timeline of Jerusalem).
458 BCE *		The third wave of Babylonian Jewish returnees is led to Judea by Ezra the Scribe.
445 BCE *		The fourth and final wave of Babylonian returnees to Judea begins, led by Nehemiah.
444 BCE *		Once in Yehud, Nehemiah is appointed the governor of Judah, and defies the opposition on all sides—Samaritans, Ammonites, Arabs and Philistines—to rebuild the Old City walls within 52 days, from the Sheep Gate in the North, the Hananeel Tower at the Northwest corner, the Fish Gate in the West, the Furnaces Tower at the Temple Mount's Southwest corner, the Dung Gate in the South, the East Gate and the gate beneath the Golden Gate in the East.
c. 427 BCE		The final migration of Jewish exilees back to Judah from Babylon concludes. The remaining Jews in Babylon continue on to become the contemporary Jewish communities of Iraq, Kurdistan, and Iran, maintaining a relatively uninterrupted presence until (depending on the region) the mid-to-late 20th century.
410 BCE		The Great Assembly or Synod, a group of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, is established in Jerusalem.
365/364-362 and c. 347 BCE		Judea participates in Egyptian-inspired and Sidonian-led revolts against the Achaemenids, and coins minted in Jerusalem are reflecting the short-lived autonomy. Achaemenid general Bagoas is possibly the same as 'Bagoses' form Josephus' Antiquities, who defiles the Temple and imposes taxes on sacrifices performed there (see Timeline of Jerusalem).

1st millenium BCE, under the Hellenizers

Year	Date	Event
332 BCE		Jerusalem capitulates to Alexander the Great during his six-year Macedonian conquest of the empire of Darius III of Persia. Alexander's armies take Jerusalem while traveling to Egypt after the Siege of Tyre, initiating the following timeline of Jerusalem under the Hellenistic conquests.
323 BCE		Jerusalem comes under the rule of Laomedon of Mytilene, who is given control of the province of Syria following Alexander's death and the resulting Partition of Babylon between rival Macedonian generals the Diadochi.
320 BCE		General Nicanor, dispatched by Macedonian general, satrap of Egypt, and founder of the Ptolemaic Kingdom Ptolemy I Soter, takes control of Syria (including Jerusalem).
315 BCE		The Antigonid dynasty gains control of Jerusalem after Ptolemy I Soter withdraws from Syria (including Jerusalem) and Antigonus I Monophthalmus invades Syria (including Jerusalem) during the Third War of the Diadochi.
312 BCE		Jerusalem is re-captured by Ptolemy I Soter after he defeats Antigonus' son Demetrius I at the Battle of Gaza. Immediately after, Seleucus I Nicator travels to Babylon where he founds the Seleucid Empire.
311 BCE		The Antigonid dynasty regains control of Jerusalem after Ptolemy withdraws from Syria again following a minor defeat by Antigonus I Monophthalmus, and a peace treaty is concluded.
302 BCE		Ptolemy invades Syria for a third time, but evacuates again shortly thereafter, following false news of a win for Antigonus against Lysimachus.
301 BCE		The Battle of Ipsus takes place between the Diadochi. The winners Seleucus I Nicator and Lysimachus carve up the Antigonid Empire between them, with Southern Syria (including Jerusalem) intended to become part of the Seleucid Empire.
301 BCE		Coele-Syria (Southern Syria, including Jerusalem) is recaptured by Ptolemy I Soter after Antigonus I Monophthalmus is killed at the Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus does not attempt to retake Jerusalem, but Ptolemy's preemptive move leads to the Syrian Wars, which begin in 274 BC between the successors of Seleucus I Nicator and Ptolemy I Soter.
219–217 BCE		The northern portion of Coele-Syria is given to the Seleucid Empire in 219 via the betrayal of Governor Theodotus of Aetolia, who had held the province on behalf of Ptolemy IV Philopator. The Seleucids advance on Egypt, but are defeated at the Battle of Raphia (Rafah) in 217.
200 BCE		Jerusalem falls under the control of the Seleucid Empire following the Battle of Panium (part of the Fifth Syrian War) in which Antiochus III the Great defeated the Ptolemies.
175 BCE		Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeds his father and becomes King of the Seleucid Empire. He accelerates Seleucid efforts to eradicate the Jewish religion by forcing the Jewish High Priest Onias III to step down in favor of his brother Jason, a Hellenizer. Antiochus outlaws Sabbath and circumcision, sacks Jerusalem, and erects an altar to Zeus in the temple after stripping it of its treasure.
172 BCE		King Antiochus IV replaces Jason as high priest with Menelaus, also a Hellenizer.
167 BCE		The Maccabean revolt is sparked when a Seleucid Greek government representative under King Antiochus IV asks Kohen Mattathias ben Johanan, Matityahu in Hebrew, to offer sacrifice to the Greek gods. Matityahu refuses, kills a Jew who had stepped forward to do so, and attacks the government official that made the order. This incites the guerilla Battle of Wadi Haramia.
164 BC	25 Kislev	The Maccabees capture Jerusalem following the Battle of Beth Zur, and rededicate the Temple. This significant military success is still commemorated as the 8-day Jewish festival of Hanukah. The Hasmoneans take control of part of Jerusalem, while the Seleucids retain control of the Acra in the city and most surrounding areas.
160 BCE		The Seleucids retake control of the whole of Jerusalem after Judah Maccabee, a son of Matityahu, is killed at the Battle of Elasa, marking the end of the Maccabean revolt.
144 - 145 BCE		Alexander Balas is overthrown at the Battle of Antioch (the capital of the empire) by Demetrius II Nicator in alliance with Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt. The following year, Mithradates I of Parthia captured Seleucia (the previous capital of the Seleucid Empire), significantly weakening the power of Demetrius II Nicator throughout the remaining empire.

1st millenium BCE, under the Hasmoneans

Year	Date	Event
c. 140 BCE		The Acra is captured and later destroyed by Simon Thassi.
139 BCE		Demetrius II Nicator is taken prisoner for nine years by the rapidly expanding Parthian Empire after defeat of the Seleucids in Persia. Simon Thassi travels to Rome, where the Roman Republic formally acknowledges the Hasmonean Kingdom. However, the region remains a province of the Seleucid empire and Simon Thassi is required to provide troops to Antiochus VII Sidetes.
134 BCE		Sadducee John Hyrcanus becomes leader after his father Simon Thassi is murdered. He takes a Greek regnal name in acceptance of the Hellenistic culture of his Seleucid suzerains. Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes recaptures Jerusalem. John Hyrcanus opens King David's sepulchre and removes three thousand talents which he pays as tribute to spare the city (according to Josephus). John Hyrcanus remains as governor, becoming a vassal to the Seleucids.
116 BCE		A civil war between Seleucid half-brothers Antiochus VIII Grypus and Antiochus IX Cyzicenus results in a breakup of the kingdom and the independence of certain principalities, including Judea.
110 BCE		John Hyrcanus carries out the first military conquests of the independent Hasmonean kingdom, raising a mercenary army to capture Madaba and Schechem, significantly increasing the regional influence of Jerusalem.
c. 87 BCE		According to Josephus, following a six-year civil war involving Seleucid king Demetrius III Eucaerus, Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus crucifies 800 Jewish rebels in Jerusalem.
73 - 64 BCE		The Roman Republic extends its influence into the region in the Third Mithridatic War. During the war, Armenian King Tigranes the Great takes control of Syria and prepares to invade Judea and Jerusalem, but has to retreat following an invasion of Armenia by Lucullus. However, this period is believed to have resulted in the first settlement of Armenians in Jerusalem.

1st millenium BCE, under the Romans

Year	Date	Event
64 BCE		Roman Syria is annexed as a Roman province by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great.
63 BCE		The Roman Republic under Pompey the Great besieges and takes Jerusalem. Pompey enters the temple but leaves its treasure behind. Hyrcanus II is appointed High Priest and Antipater the Idumaean is appointed governor.
57–55 BCE		Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of Syria, splits the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts of legal and religious councils known as sanhedrin based at Jerusalem, Sepphoris (Galilee), Jericho, Amathus (Perea) and Gadara.
54 BCE		Crassus loots the temple, confiscating all its gold, after failing to receive the required tribute (according to Josephus).
45 BCE		Antipater the Idumaean is appointed Procurator of Judaea by Julius Caesar, after Caesar is appointed dictator of the Roman Republic following Caesar's Civil War.
43 BCE		Antipater the Idumaean is killed by poison, and is succeeded by his sons Phasael and Herod.
40 BCE		Antigonus, son of Hasmonean Aristobulus II and nephew of Hyrcanus II, offers money to the Parthian army to help him recapture the Hasmonean realm from the Romans. Jerusalem is captured by Barzapharnes, Pacorus I of Parthia and Roman deserter Quintus Labienus. Antigonus is placed as King of Judea. Hyracanus is mutilated, Phasael commits suicide, and Herod escapes to Rome.
40–37 BCE		The Roman Senate appoints Herod "King of the Jews" and provides him with an army. Following Roman General Publius Ventidius Bassus' defeat of the Parthians in Northern Syria, Herod and Roman General Gaius Sosius take Judea from Antigonus II Mattathias in the siege of Jerusalem (37 BC).
37–35 BCE		Herod the Great builds the Antonia Fortress, named after Mark Anthony, on the site of the earlier Hasmonean Baris.
19 BCE		Herod expands the Temple Mount, whose retaining walls include the Western Wall, and rebuilds the Temple (Herod's Temple).

1st millenium CE, under the Romans

Year	Date	Event
6 CE		End of Herodian governorate in Jerusalem. • Herod Archelaus is deposed as the ethnarch of the Tetrarchy of Judea. The Herodian Dynasty is replaced in the newly created Iudaea province by Roman prefects and after 44 by procurators, beginning with Coponius (Herodians continued to rule elsewhere and Agrippa I and Agrippa II later served as Kings). • Senator Quirinius is appointed Legate of the Roman province of Syria (to which Judea had been "added" according to Josephus though Ben-Sasson claims it was a "satellite of Syria" and not "legally part of Syria") and carries out a tax census of both Syria and Judea known as the Census of Quirinius. • Both events spark the failed revolt of Judas the Galilean and the founding of the Zealot movement, according to Josephus. Jerusalem loses its place as the administrative capital to Caesarea Palaestina. • Around this time 10,000 Jews are recorded as living in Damascus, governed by an ethnarch.
49 CE		Paul the Apostle converts many of the Jews of Damascus to Christianity. This irritates the Jewish ethnarch to such a degree that he attempts to arrest Paul; the latter's friends only save his life by lowering him in a basket out of a window built into the wall of the city (see: History of Jews in Syria, Second Temple period).
66–73 CE		The First Jewish–Roman War, sometimes called the The Great Jewish Revolt (Hebrew: המרד הגדול,‎ ha-Mered Ha-Gadol), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled Judea, resulting in the destruction of Jewish towns, the displacement of its people and the appropriation of land for Roman military use, besides the destruction of the Temple and polity in Jerusalem.
66 CE		Cestius Gallus, legate of Syria, brings the Syrian army, based on Legio XII Fulminata and reinforced by auxiliary troops, to restore order in Judaea and quell the revolt. The legion is ambushed and destroyed by Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon, a result that shocked the Roman leadership.
70 CE	4 August (Tisha b'Av) or 30 August	Roman legions under Titus retake and destroy much of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. Soldiers carry spoils from the Temple back to Rome, including the Menorah. According to an inscription on the Colosseum, in 79 CE Emperor Vespasian built the Colosseum with war spoils possibly from the Second Temple.
165 CE		The Romans capture Dura-Europos, Syria, and greatly enlarge it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia. Evidence of a Jewish presence can be found dating to before 244 CE, when the Dura-Europos synagogue is completed.
c. 200 CE		Septimius Severus divides the province of Syria Proper into Syria Coele and Syria Phoenice, with Antioch and Tyre as their respective provincial capitals. From the later 2nd century, the Roman Senate includes several notable Syrians, including Claudius Pompeianus and Avidius Cassius.
212 CE		Caracalla bestows citizenship on all the residents of the Roman Empire, including the Jews. This granted Jews legal equality to all other citizens, and formed the foundation of their legal status in Byzantium following the founding of Constantinople in 330. Jews enjoy the right to practice their faith under the rule of the Byzantines, as long as they paid the Fiscus Judaicus. Byzantine law recognizes synagogues as places of worship, which could not be arbitrarily disturbed, Jewish courts had the force of law in civil cases, and Jews could not be forced to violate Shabbat and their festivals (see History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire).
235–284 CE		The Crisis of the Third Century takes place; the Roman Empire nearly collapses under the combined pressures of barbarian invasions and migrations into the Roman territory, civil wars, peasant rebellions, political instability (with multiple usurpers competing for power), Roman reliance on (and growing influence of) barbarian mercenaries known as foederati and commanders nominally working for Rome (but increasingly independent), plague, debasement of currency, and economic depression. Syria was of crucial strategic importance during the Crisis of the Third Century.
244 CE		Marcus Iulius Philippus, more commonly known as Philip the Arab, becomes the 33rd emperor of Rome upon its millennial celebration. Philippus is a native Syrian from Philippopolis (modern day Shahba) in the province of Arabia Petraea.
244 CE		The last phase of construction on the historic Dura-Europos synagogue in Dura-Europos, Syria, is completed, as dated by an inscription in Aramaic on its stone.
c. 253 CE		Roman Syria is invaded by the Persians after a Roman field army is destroyed in the Battle of Barbalissos by the King of Persia Shapur I, leaving the Euphrates river unguarded. The region is pillaged by the Persians.
c. 257 CE		Dura-Europos is captured by the Sasanian Empire after a siege in 256–57 AD. The population is deported and the city is abandoned, disappearing beneath sand and mud until it is rediscovered by British archaeologists in 1935.
c. 260 CE		A similar event to the Battle of Barbalissos occurs when Shapur I again defeats a Roman field army and captures the Roman emperor, Valerian, alive at the Battle of Edessa. Again Roman Syria suffers as cities are captured, sacked and pillaged.
268 - 273 CE		By 268, the Roman empire splits into three competing states: the Gallic Empire (including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia and, briefly, Hispania); the Palmyrene Empire (including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus); and, between them, the Italian-centered independent Roman Empire proper. Later, Aurelian (270–275) reunites the empire. The crisis ends with the ascension of Diocletian and his implementation of reforms in 284 (see History of the Byzantine Empire).
c. 285 CE		The emperor Diocletian partitions the Roman Empire's administration into eastern and western halves.

1st millenium CE, under the Byzantines

See History of the Byzantine Empire and History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire for more information.

Year	Date	Event
324 - 330 CE		Constantine I transfers the main capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, later known as Constantinople ("City of Constantine") and Nova Roma ("New Rome").
c. 330 - 350 CE		Following the reforms of Diocletian, Syria Coele becomes part of the Diocese of the East. The province of Euphratensis is created out of the territory of Syria Coele in c. 341 along the western bank of the Euphrates and the former Kingdom of Commagene, with Hierapolis as its capital.
379 - 395 CE		Under Theodosius I, Christianity becomes the Empire's official state religion and others such as Roman polytheism are proscribed and banned. The legal standing of the Jews of the Byzantine Empire is unique during the entire history of the Empire; they did not belong to the Christian Eastern Orthodox faith, which was the state religion, nor were they—in most circumstances—grouped together with heretics and pagans. They were placed in a legal position somewhere between the two worlds. The place along the spectrum of social freedom in which Byzantine Jews found themselves varied somewhat—though far from drastically—with time, and depended largely on three factors: the theological desire of the state to maintain the Jews as a living testament to the victory of Christianity, the desire of the state to strengthen its control, and the ability of centralized rule from Constantinople to enforce its legislation. Under the Theodosian Code, ownership of Christian slaves by Jews was not prohibited, although their purchase was. Thus, one who gained possession of a slave by means such as inheritance would remain his or her owner. Purchase of slaves was usually penalized by compelled sale at the original purchase price. Slave ownership produces another example of the threefold balancing act of Legislation dealing with the Jewish minority of Byzantium: ownership of Christian slaves undermined the "living testament" theology, but was a pragmatic requirement of the time, and the prohibition thereof could not be entirely enforced, since freedom may not necessarily have been a desirable option for a slave who was well-treated by his master. The third important restriction on Judaism—in addition to the limitations on public service and slave ownership—was that the Jewish religion, though allowed to survive, was not allowed to thrive. Theologically, the victory of Christianity could be successfully asserted by maintaining a small contingent of Jews within the empire, although allowing them to become too sizable a minority would threaten the theological monopoly of Orthodox Christianity within the Empire. One important ramification of this policy was the prohibition on the construction of new synagogues within the Empire, though the repair of old synagogues was permitted. This prohibition was difficult to enforce, as archaeological evidence in Israel indicates that illegal synagogue construction continued throughout the sixth century. The synagogue did continue to be respected as an inviolable place of worship until the reign of Justinian. Beginning at this time, most legislation regarding the Jews—even laws which expanded the rights which they were afforded—were "prefaced by unambiguous expressions of hatred and contempt for Judaism" (see History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire).
c. 390		Nearly all of the territory of present-day Israel and Palestine comes under Byzantine suzerainty. The area is divided into the following provinces: Palestina Prima, Palestina Secunda and Palestina Tertia. These provinces were part of the Diocese of the East.
c. 400 CE		A synagogue is recorded as having been built by the Jews in Aleppo.
c. 415 CE		Syria Coele is further subdivided into Syria I (or Syria Prima), with the capital remaining at Antioch, and Syria II (Syria Secunda) or Syria Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the Orontes.
404 CE		Jews are excluded from certain governmental posts in the Byzantine Empire.
418 CE		Byzantine Jews are barred from the civil service, and from all military positions.
425 CE		Byzantine Jews are excluded from all remaining public offices, both civilian and military—a prohibition which Justinian I reiterates. Such restrictions compromised the theological arguments for restricting the Jewish religion; although they empowered the Christian citizens of the empire at the expense of its Jews, all laws dealing with the Jews implicitly recognized the continued existence and legality of the Jewish religion.
438 CE		Theodosius reaffirms the prohibition on Jews holding public office because it had been poorly enforced.
527 CE		A decree which renews the prohibition on Jews holding public office begins by observing that "heedless of the laws' command [they have] infiltrated public offices." The one exception given is the office of decurion, a tax collector who was required to pay all deficits in revenue from his own pocket.
527 - 565 CE		The Civil Code of Justinian tightens the regulations on the ownership of Christian slaves by non-Christians. It abolished compensation for illegal purchases of Christian slaves, and added a 30 lb gold fine for this offense. Jews owning Christian slaves during the time of Justinian could be punished by execution. During this period, Justinian bans all non-Christian places of worship in northern Africa, in legislation that groups Jews with pagans and heretics. This legislation was hardly enforced, but set a precedent for the violability of synagogues and the blurring of the difference between Jews and other non-Christians.
528 CE		Justinian I carves out the small coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces. The region remains one of the most important provinces of the Byzantine Empire.
537 BCE		Justinian, whose legal code includes 33 laws relating to the Jews, initially maintains the ability of Jews to hold the office of tax collection, but abolishes it in 537. Sharf explains that the purpose of this was so that the Jews "never enjoy the fruits of office, but only suffer its pains and penalties." Jews are also forbidden from giving testimony concerning Christians in a court of law—a restriction already present in the Theodosian code—although Justinian eases this restriction in 537 to allow them to testify in cases between Christian individuals and the state. This privilege is not enjoyed by any other non-Christian group. Questions of internal Jewish discourse—which could, under the Theodosian Code, be arbitrated only by Jewish courts—could, under the Justinian Code, be officiated by the state, a power which Justinian did not shy away from utilizing.
545 CE		Justinian legislates that the right of existence of any synagogue on land belonging to an ecclesiastical institution be nullified. He also becomes the first emperor to order that existing synagogues be converted into churches.
553 CE		Justinian requires that the public reading of the Pentateuch proceed in vernacular, rather than Hebrew, and forbids altogether the reading of the Mishna. Ironically, what little enforcement Justinian's restrictions on Jewish religious life did enjoy contributed to a notable growth in Jewish culture and liturgy. For instance, the banning of the reading of Mishna prompted Jewish scholars to write the piyutim, important works of poetry which refer strongly to the Mishna. Because these were not banned by the Civil Code, they afforded Jews the ability to circumvent it. Accordingly, this form of religious expression flourished under Justinian.
c. 555 CE		Jews are still living in Damascus, as the rabbi Rafram bar Pappa goes to pray in the synagogue of Jobar.
570 - 640 CE		Lifespan of Eleazar ben Killir, a Byzantine Jew from a Greek-speaking area, writes his famous piyyutim, which are still in use in the most Machzorim and became the teacher of all paytanim who came after him. Samuel Krauss writes in his famous work on Byzantine Jewry that Constantinople at the time of the Byzantine Empire was "the center of the Jewish, Samaritan and Karaite scholarship."
602 - 628 CE		During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 many Jews side against the Byzantine Empire in the Jewish revolt against Heraclius, which successfully assists the invading Persian Sassanids in conquering all of Roman Egypt and Syria. In reaction to this, anti-Jewish measures are enacted throughout the Byzantine realm and as far away as Merovingian France. Beginning in 609 CE the province of Theodorias is occupied by the Sasanians, then reconquered by the emperor Heraclius in 628, but lost again to the advancing Muslims after the Battle of Yarmouk and the fall of Antioch.
610 - 641 CE		Under Emperor Heraclius, the Byzantine Empire's military and administration are restructured and adopt Greek for official use instead of Latin.
614 CE		During the conflicts between the Byzantines and the Persians, Damascus frequently suffers heavily. When Syria is conquered by the Persians in 614, the Jews of Damascus join with the Jews of Palestine to take vengeance on the Byzantine Christians, especially those of Tyre.

1st millenium CE, under the Arabs

See History of Jews in Syria for more information.

Year	Date	Event
629 CE		The Conquest of Mecca is led by Muhammad and the Quraysh tribe.
632 CE		Muhammad dies, and the Rashidun Caliphate is founded.
634 - 655 CE		The Muslim conquests of the Levant begin, during which many Jews initially rise up against their Byzantine rulers. During this time Heraclius becomes the first Byzantine emperor to force the conversion of Jews to Christianity (see: History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire). By the 650s, the borders of the Rashidun caliphate have expanded to include, in addition to the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant to the Transcaucasus in the north; North Africa from Egypt to present-day Tunisia in the west; and the Iranian plateau to parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the east.
635 CE		Damascus falls into the hands of the Muslims from the Byzantines. The inhabitants voluntarily surrender and succeed in saving fifteen Christian churches.
656 - 661 CE		Dates of the First Fitna, or civil war, in the Rashidun Caliphate.
661 CE		The Rashidun Caliphate is overthrown and the Umayyad Caliphate is established in Damascus by Muawiyah I of the Umayyad dynasty, and lasts until 750 CE.
680 CE		Muawiyah I dies. Conflicts over succession result in a Second Civil War and power eventually falls into the hands of Marwan I from another branch of the Umayyad clan. The region of Syria remains the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, and Damascus their capital.
680 - 750 CE		The Umayyad caliphate continues to invade additional territories, adding the Transoxiana, Sindh, Maghreb and Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covers 11,100,000 km2 (4,300,000 sq mi), making it one of the largest empires in history in terms of area. The Umayyad Caliphate rules over a vast multiethnic and multicultural population. Christians, who still constitute a majority of the caliphate's population, and Jews are allowed to practice their own religion but had to pay a head tax (the jizya), for non-Muslims, also known as dhimmi, first established by the eighth Umayyad Caliph Umar II (r. 717 - 720 CE). Muslims pay a Muslim-only zakat tax, earmarked explicitly for various Islamic welfare programs. Under the Umayyads, prominent positions are held by Christians, some of whom belonged to families that had served in Byzantine governments. The employment of Christians was part of a broader policy of religious accommodation that was necessitated by the presence of large Christian populations in the conquered provinces, as in Syria. This policy also boosted Muawiya's popularity and solidified Syria as his power base. The Umayyad era is often considered the formative period in Islamic art (see: Umayyad Caliphate).
750 CE		The Umayyad dynasty is overthrown by a rebellion led by the Abbasids, who found the Abbasid Caliphate with first caliph As-Saffah. As-Saffah shifts the center of government east, to the city of Kufa in what is now modern-day Iraq. Survivors of the Umayyad dynasty establish themselves in Cordoba which, in the form of an emirate and then a caliphate, becomes a world centre of science, medicine, philosophy and invention, ushering in the period of the Golden Age of Islam.
750 - 1517 CE		The complete duration of the Abbasid period, which is marked by reliance on Persian bureaucrats (notably the Barmakid family) for governing the territories as well as an increasing inclusion of non-Arab Muslims in the ummah (national community). Persian customs are broadly adopted by the ruling elite, and they begin the patronage of artists and scholars. Baghdad becomes a center of science, culture, philosophy and invention in what is known as the Golden Age of Islam. Unlike their predecessors the Rashiduns and Umayyads, who practiced Shia Islam, the Abbasid dynasty supports the teachings of Sunni Islam. In general, life for Jews under the Abbasid Caliphate was fruitful and contained opportunities for social advancement. While some periods of restriction occurred, it was common that laws imposed against dhimmis during one caliph's rule are either discarded or not practiced during future caliphs' reigns. Crucially, the united Muslim empire allowed Jews to reconstruct links between their dispersed communities throughout the Middle East. The Talmudic institute in Baghdad helped spread the Rabbinic tradition to Europe, and the Jewish community in Baghdad went on to establish ten rabbinical schools and twenty-three synagogues. Baghdad not only contained the tombs of Muslim saints and martyrs, but also the tomb of the Hebrew prophet Joshua, whose corpse had been brought to Iraq during the first migration of the Jews out of the Levant. Characteristic of the Abbasid Caliphate was also the process of Arabization. While the Abbasids originally gain power by exploiting the social inequalities against non-Arabs in the Umayyad Empire, during Abbasid rule the empire rapidly Arabized, particularly in the Fertile Crescent region as had begun under Umayyad rule. As knowledge was shared in the Arabic language throughout the empire, many people from different nationalities and religions began to speak Arabic in their everyday lives, including Jews. Resources from other languages began to be translated into Arabic, and a unique Islamic identity began to form that fused previous cultures with Arab culture, creating a level of civilization and knowledge that was considered a marvel in Europe at the time.
762 CE		The second Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur founds the city of Baghdad, now the capital city of modern-day Iraq. Under Al-Mansur it was common for Jews and Christians to influence the overall culture in the Caliphate, specifically in Baghdad, specifically by participating in scholarly work. Christians even influence Islamic funeral service traditions. Al-Mansur did, however, institute laws that forbid dhimmi from participating in public office. However, he also did not follow his own law very closely, bringing dhimmi back to the Caliphate's treasury due to the needed expertise of dhimmi in the area of finance.
833 - 842 CE		Rule of the 8th Abbasid Caliph Al-Mu'tasim, who begins the practice of recruiting Turkic slave-soldiers (ghīlman) from the Samanids into a private army, which positions Al-Mu'tasim to take up the reins of the Caliphate from his older brother, the 7th Abbasid Caliph. Al-Mu'tasim abolishes the old jund system created by Umar II and diverts the salaries of the original Arab military descendants to the Turkic slave-soldiers. The Turkic soldiers transform the style of warfare, as they were known as capable horse archers trained from childhood to ride. The Islamic military is now drafted from the ethnic groups of the faraway borderlands, and were completely separate from the rest of society. Some could not speak Arabic properly. This leads to the eventual decline of the Abbasid Caliphate, starting with the Anarchy at Samarra.
847 - 861 CE		Rule of the 10th Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil. Under Al-Mutawakkil, strict restrictions on what dhimmis can wear in public are imposed, often yellow garments that distinguish them from Muslims. Other restrictions al-Mutawakkil imposes include re-instating limits or bans on the role of the dhimmis in government, seizing dhimmi housing and making it harder for dhimmis to become educated. However again, soon after his reign, many of the laws concerning dhimmis participating in government were completely unobserved or at least less strictly observed. Al-Mutawakkil is murdered by the Turkish guard at the command of his son Al-Muntasir, in 861 CE.
861 - 870 CE		The period of internal strife and puppet Caliphs known as the Anarchy at Samarra.
868 - 905 CE		The Ṭūlūnids (Arabic: الطولونيون‎), a mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin, become the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They remain independent from 868, when they break away from the central authority of the Abbasid dynasty that ruled the Islamic Caliphate, until 905, when the Abbasids restored the Tulunid domains to their control.
c. 900 CE		The Sefer Yosippon is written in Byzantine south Italy by the Greek-speaking Jewish community there. Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi, a Romaniote Jew from Achrida edits and expands the Sefer Josippon after its completion. This community of Byzantine Jews of southern Italy produces such prominent works like the Sefer Ahimaaz of Ahimaaz ben Paltiel, the Sefer Hachmoni of Shabbethai Donnolo, the Aggadath Bereshit and many piyyutim. The liturgical writings of these Romaniote Jews, especially the piyyut, are eminent for the development of the Ashkenazi Mahzor, as they found their way through Italy to Ashkenaz and are preserved to this day in the most ashkenazi mahzorim.
908 - 932 CE		Reign of the 18th Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir, who holds a similar stance as Al-Mutawakkil on barring dhimmi from public office. However, he had multiple Christian secretaries, indicating that dhimmi still had access to many of the most important figures within the Caliphate.
909 - 1171 CE		Dates of the Fatimid Caliphate, an Ismaili Shia caliphate that spanned a large area of North Africa, from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The Fatimid dynasty, of Arab origin, ruled simultaneously with and under the greater authority of the Abbasid Caliphate. Fatimid territories spanned the Mediterranean coast of Africa and ultimately made Egypt the center of the caliphate. At its height the caliphate included - in addition to Egypt - varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and the Hijaz.
963 CE		The city of Antioch is reconquered for the Byzantines by Nikephorus Phocas, along with other parts of the country, at that time under the Hamdanids, although still under the official suzerainty of the Abbasid caliphs and also claimed by the Fatimid caliphs.
969 CE		The Fatimids found what still stands as the modern city of Cairo, though the land was the site of ancient national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo.
970 CE		The Jewish community in Damascus, despite enduring numerous wars, continues to exist as evidenced in 970 when "Joseph ben Abitur of Cordoba, having lost all hope of becoming the chief rabbi of that city, went to Palestine in that year, and settled at Damascus."
c. 970 - 1084 CE		After Byzantine emperor John Kurkuas fails to conquer Syria up to Jerusalem, a Muslim "reconquest" of Syria is undertaken by the Fatimid Caliphate. This results in the ousting of the Byzantines from most parts of Greater Syria (Al-Sham). However, Antioch and other northern parts of Syria remain in the Byzantine empire. Other parts of Al-Sham are under the protection of the Byzantine emperors through their Hamdanid, Mirdasid, and Marwanid proxies until the Seljuk arrival, who after three decades of incursions, conquer Antioch in 1084.
1096 - 1099 CE		Dates of the First Crusade. Although most bands of Crusaders do not adopt an official policy of violence or forced conversion against the Jews, it assumes an explicitly anti-Jewish face in certain communities, such as in Byzantium. Because the Crusade was undertaken with the goal of "subjugating all non-believers to the faith," many crusaders compelled Jews to convert on pain of death, and there is a large number of recorded cases of mass suicides within Jewish communities—particularly among Jewish maidens—in order to avoid such conversions (see History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire).
c. 1100 CE		There are about 2,500 Jews in Constantinople; 2,000 Jews in Thebes; 500 Jews in Thessalonica; 400 Jews each in Halmyrus, Rhaedestus, Chios, and Rhodes; and about 300 Jews each in Corinth and Samos, and 200 Jews in Gallipoli. Antioch is captured for the Byzantines by the revived armies of the Comnenii. At the time the city is regarded by the Byzantines as part of Asia Minor and not of Syria (see History of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire).
1147 - 1150 CE		Dates of the Second Crusade. Fortunately for the Jews, Damascus resists siege by the Crusaders in 1147. Some time afterward a large number of Palestinian Jews seek refuge in Damascus from the enormous taxes imposed upon them by the Crusaders, thus increasing the community in Damascus (see History of Jews in Syria, Damascus).
1170 CE		Benjamin of Tudela visits Damascus, while it was in the hands of the Seljukian prince Nur ad-Din Zangi. He finds there 3,000 Rabbinite Jews and 200 Karaites. Jewish studies flourished in Damascus much more than in Palestine; according to Bacher it is possible that during the 12th century the seat of the Palestinian academy was transferred to Damascus. The principal rabbis of the city were Rabbi Ezra and his brother Sar Shalom, president of the tribunal; Yussef ִHamsi, R. Matsliaִh, R. Meïr, Yussef ibn Piat, R. Heman, the parnas, and R. Tsadok, physician (see History of Jews in Syria, Second Temple period). About the same time, Petaִhiah of Regensburg was in Damascus. He found "about 10,000 Jews, who have a prince. The head of their academy is Rabbi Ezra, who is full of the knowledge of the Law; for Rabbi Samuel, the head of the Academy of Babylon, ordained him." Petaִhiah then travels to Aleppo, where he stayed until 1180. Petaִhiah is recorded as calling the citadel the palace of King Nour-ed-din, and says that there are 1,500 Jews there (see History of Jews in Syria, Aleppo).
1173 CE		Benjamin of Tudela visits Aleppo, where he finds a Jewish community of 1,500 (or on another reading 5,000) with three noteworthy rabbis attending to their spiritual needs: Moses Alconstantini, Israel, and Seth.
1174 - 1193 CE		Saladin, a Sunni Kurd, founds the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt, and goes on to conquer Syria and rule as the first Sultan of Syria and Egypt. During his reign Saladin leads the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power Saladin's sultanate spans Egypt, Syria, the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the Hejaz (western Arabia), Yemen and parts of western North Africa. In 1174 Saladin launches his conquest of Syria, peacefully entering Damascus at the request of its governor. By mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of other Zengid lords, the official rulers of Syria's various regions. Soon after, he defeated the Zengid army at the Battle of the Horns of Hama and was thereafter proclaimed the "Sultan of Egypt and Syria" by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi. Saladin made further conquests in northern Syria and the Jazira, escaping two attempts on his life by Assassins, before returning to Egypt in 1177. By 1182, Saladin had completed the conquest of Muslim Syria after capturing Aleppo, but ultimately failed to take over the Zengid stronghold of Mosul.
1184 CE		Under Saladin's command, the Ayyubid army defeats the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin in 1187, and thereafter wrests control of Palestine—including Jerusalem—from the Crusaders, who had conquered the area 88 years earlier. Although the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem continues to exist until the late 13th century, its defeat at Hattin marks a turning point in its conflict with the Muslim powers of the region.
c. 1190 CE		A Damascene rabbi, Judah ben Josiah, is the Jewish Nagid (prince) in Egypt under Saladin. At a later period another Damascene, David ben Joshua, is also the Egyptian Jewish Nagid.
1195 CE		The leader of the Jews in Aleppo is Joseph ben Judah, who had migrated from the Maghreb by way of Egypt, where he was the friend of eminent Jewish philosopher Maimonides, author of the Guide for the Perplexed.
c. 1200 CE		Maimonides, in his letter to the rabbis of Lunel, speaks of Aleppo as being the only community in Syria where some Torah learning survived.
1210 CE		Samuel ben Samson, a French Rabbi, visits the Jewish community in Damascus. He speaks of the beautiful synagogue situated outside the city (Jobar) and said to have been constructed by Elisha.
c. 1230 CE		Yehudah al-Ḥarīzī visits and praises the Jewish community of Aleppo in his letters.
1260 CE		The Mongols conquer Aleppo and massacre the inhabitants, but many of the Jews take refuge in the synagogue and are saved.
1267 CE		Nahmanides visits Damascus and succeeds in leading a Jewish colony to Jerusalem (see History of the Jews in Syria, Damascus).
1289 CE		Jesse ben Hezekiah is recognized by Sultan Qalawun of Egypt as prince and exilarch of the Jews in Damascus. In conjunction with his 12 colleagues, he puts the anti-Maimonists under a ban.
1313 CE		Ishtori Haparchi (Estori Farִhi) mentions Damascene Jews journeying to Jerusalem in his letters.
1401 CE		The Jewish quarter of Aleppo is pillaged, with the rest of the city, by Tamerlane; and a Jewish saint dies there after a fast of seven months (see History of Jews in Syria, Aleppo).
1438 CE		Elijah of Ferrara comes to Jerusalem, and has a certain jurisdiction in rabbinical matters over Damascus as well. He speaks of a great plague which devastated Egypt, Syria, and Jerusalem; but he does not say how much the Jews of Damascus suffered.
1481 CE		Menaִhem ִHayyim of Volterra visits Damascus and finds 450 Jewish families, "all rich, honored, and merchants." The head of the community is R. Joseph, a physician (see History of Jews in Syria, Damascus).
1488 CE		Obadiah of Bertinoro speaks in one of his letters of the riches of the Jews in Damascus, of the beautiful houses and gardens.
1492 CE		The Jewish community of Damascus continues to exist under the sultans (Burjites and Mamelukes) of Egypt, who conquered Syria. In 1492 the Jewish refugees of Spain established themselves among their coreligionists in Damascus, constructing a synagogue which they called "Khata'ib."
1495 CE		An anonymous traveler lived with a certain Moses Makran, and related in letters that the Jews in Damascus dealt in dress-goods or engaged in some handicraft, and lent money to the Venetians at 24% interest.

1st millenium CE, under the Ottomans

See Ottoman Syria, Timelines of Ottoman Syria, and History of the Jews in Syria for more information.

Year	Date	Event
1516 CE	July	Ottoman Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria.
1517 CE		The Ottomans capture Jerusalem after Selim I defeats the last Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri at the Battle of Marj Dabiq the previous year. Selim proclaims himself Caliph of the Islamic world.
1535 - 1538 CE		Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I rebuilds the Walls of Jerusalem.
1537 CE		The anonymous author of the "Yiִhus ha-Abot" speaks of the beauties of Damascus; and of the synagogue at Jobar, "half of which was constructed by Elisha, half by Eleazar ben Arach."
1541 CE		Suleiman I seals off the Golden Gate of Jerusalem to prevent the Jewish Messiah's entrance.
1546 CE	14 January	A devastating earthquake shakes the Levant. The epicenter of the earthquake is in the Jordan River in a location between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Gaza and Damascus are heavily damaged.
1604 CE		The first Protectorate of missions is agreed under the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire, in which Ahmad I agrees that the subjects of Henry IV of France are free to visit the Holy Places of Jerusalem. French missionaries begin to travel to Jerusalem and other major Ottoman cities.
1610 CE		The first Arabic printing press in the Arab world is founded in Dayr-Qazahya by Maronite monks (see Timeline of Ottoman Syria).
1622 CE		Fakhr ad-Din al-Ma'ni, prince of Shouf in Mount Lebanon, defeats an army led by the Wali (governor) of Damascus Mustafa Pasha at the Battle of Anjar.
1624 CE		Occupied with threat from the Safavids of Iran, the Ottomans agree to make Fakhr ad-Din governor over a region extending from Aleppo to Arish. During his rule, Fakhr ad-Din initiates political and cultural relations with Europe.
1633 - 1635 CE		The Wali of Damascus Ahmed Pasha leads a campaign against Fakhr ad-Din from both land and sea, culminating in Fakhr ad-Din's murder in Damascus in 1635.
1663 CE		Sabbatai Zevi, founder of the Sabbateans, preaches in Jerusalem before traveling back to his native Smyrna, where he proclaims himself the Messiah.
1700 CE		Judah he-Hasid Segal ha-Levi leads 1,000 followers to settle in Jerusalem.
1759 CE	30 October	A devastating earthquake shakes Galilee. The epicenter of the earthquake is in the Jordan River in a location between the Sea of Galilee and the Hula Valley. The cities of Safed, Tiberias, Acre, and Sidon are heavily damaged.
1799 CE	3 - 5 March	Napoleon, first emperor of the French Empire, captures the city of Jaffa in the Siege of Jaffa, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
	20 March - 21 May	The Siege of Acre – An unsuccessful attempt by Napoleon to capture the city of Acre.
	8 April	Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Nazareth.
	11 April	Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Cana.
	26 April	The Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
1831 CE		Muhammad Ali of Egypt's French-trained forces occupy Syria.
1832 CE	10 May	The Egyptians, aided by Maronites, seize Acre from the Ottoman Empire after a 7-month siege.
		An Egyptian Army led by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt marches on Anatolia and defeats an Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Reshid Pasha at the Battle of Konya.
1833 CE		Western powers broker the Convention of Kutahya. The terms require Muhammad Ali to withdraw his troops from Anatolia and receive the territories of Syria, Crete, and Hijaz in exchange.
1834 - 35 CE		The Syrian Peasant revolts take place in the Sanjak of Jerusalem, Sidon Eyalet, and Aleppo Eyalet.
1837 CE	1 January	The Galilee earthquake of 1837 - a devastating earthquake shakes the Galilee region, killing thousands of people.
1839 CE		The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, backed by the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire, compels July Monarchy France to abandon Muhammad Ali in Egypt, and force him to return Syria and Arabia to the Ottoman Empire.
1839 - 1876 CE		Dates of the Tanzimāt (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات‎, lit. 'Reorganization'), a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that begins in response to the abandonment of Sultan Muhammad Ali of Egypt by France, and ends with the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. The reforms were primarily undertaken by Sultan Mahmud II, his son Abdulmejid I, and prominent, often European-educated bureaucrats. The Tanzimat era began not with a desire for radical transformation but with the purpose of modernization, desiring to consolidate the social and political foundations of the Ottoman Empire. It was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire and to secure its territorial integrity against internal nationalist movements and external aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire and attempted to slow the rise of ethnic nationalism in the Ottoman Empire. Most of the symbolic changes, such as dress reform and the institution of bureaucratic uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. The reforms sought to emancipate the empire's non-Muslim subjects or dhimmi and more thoroughly integrate non-Turks into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout the empire. In the midst of being forced to recognize the supremacy of Western power, the Ottoman elite intellectuals attempted to bring reconciliation between the West and the East within the framework of Islam. Many changes were made to improve civil liberties, but most Muslims saw them as foreign influence on the world of Islam. That perception complicated reformist efforts made by the state. During the Tanzimat period, the government's series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army, banking system reforms, the decriminalization of homosexuality, the replacement of religious law with secular law and guilds with modern factories.
1839 CE		The Edict of Gülhane, the first major reform in the Tanzimat reforms under the government of sultan Abdulmejid I, and a crucial event in the movement towards secularization, is made. The decree, named after the rosehouse (gülhane) on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace, abolishes tax farming. It also creates a bureaucratic system of taxation with salaried tax collectors. However, the most significant clause of the Gülhane decree is the one enforcing the rule of law for all subjects, including dhimmi, by guaranteeing the right to life and property for all. This put an end to the kul system, which allowed the ruler's servants to be executed or have their property confiscated at his desire. These reforms sought to establish legal and social equality for all Ottoman citizens. The reforms eliminated the millet system in the Ottoman Empire. The millet system created religiously based communities that operated autonomously, so people were organized into societies based on religion with varying degrees of institutional privilege. This clause terminated the privileges of these communities and constructed a society where all followed the same law.
1840 CE	15 July	The Austrian Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire sign the Convention of London with the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali. The signatories offer Muhammad Ali and his heirs permanent control over Egypt and the Acre Sanjak, provided that these territories remain part of the Ottoman Empire and that he agree within ten days to withdraw from the rest of Syria and return the Ottoman fleet which had defected to Alexandria to Sultan Abdülmecid I. Muhammad Ali is also asked to immediately withdraw his forces from Arabia, the Holy Cities, Crete, the Adana District, and all of the Ottoman Empire.
	23 October	The Ottoman Ministry of the Post is established in Constantinople (Istanbul).
		Sectarian clashes occur in Mount Lebanon between Druze and Christian Maronites, likely in response to the Tanzimat reforms instituted the previous year.
1847 CE		the Syrian Association is founded in Beirut. Slavery and the slave trade is abolished in the Ottoman empire (see Timelines of Ottoman Syria history).
1847 - 1855 CE		Establishment of the first Ottoman telegraph networks.
1850 CE	17 - 19 October	Over 5,000 Christians are massacred by Muslims in the Vilayet of Aleppo.
1856 CE	18 February	The Reform Edict of 1856 is made, and is intended to carry out the promises of the Tanzimat. The Edict is very specific about the status of non-Muslims, making it possible "to see it as the outcome of a period of religious restlessness that followed the Edict of 1839". Officially, part of the Tanzimat's goal was to make the state intolerant to forced conversion to Islam, also making the execution of apostates from Islam illegal.
1856 CE		Establishment of the Ottoman Central Bank (originally established as the Bank-ı Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane in 1863).
1860 CE		Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the first contemporary Jewish neighborhood in Palestine to be built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, is established. Clashes occur between Druze and Maronites in Mount Lebanon and Damascus.
1861 CE	9 June	European powers led by France intervene on the side of the Maronites and force the Ottomans to establish the Maronite-dominated Mutesarrifiyyet of Mount Lebanon.
1868 CE		The American University in Beirut is established under the name of the Syrian Protestant College. The Syrian Scientific Society is founded in Beirut (see Timelines of Ottoman Syria history).
1869 CE		The Nationality Law is passed, creating a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divisions.
1874 CE		Jerusalem Sanjak becomes a Mutesarrifiyyet, gaining a special administrative status.
1876 - 1878 CE	23 December - 14 February	Dates of the First Constitutional Era (Ottoman Turkish: مشروطيت‎; Turkish: Birinci Meşrutiyet Devri) of the Ottoman Empire was the period of constitutional monarchy from the promulgation of the Kanûn-ı Esâsî (meaning Basic Law or Fundamental Law in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the Young Ottomans, a group who were were dissatisfied by the Tanzimat and instead pushed for a constitutional government similar to that in Europe. The constitutional period started with the dethroning of Sultan Abdulaziz, with Abdul Hamid II taking his place as Sultan. The era ended with the suspension of the Ottoman Parliament and the constitution by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, with which he restored his own absolute monarchy.
1877 - 78 CE		The Russo-Turkish War causes increased taxation in Syria.
1882 - 1903 CE		The First Aliyah takes place, in which 25,000-35,000 Jews immigrate to Ottoman Syria.
1887 - 1888 CE		Ottoman Palestine is divided into Jerusalem Sanjak, Nablus Sanjak and Acre Sanjak.
1893 CE		A fire destroys the Great Mosque of Damascus.
1895 CE		Construction of railway line Beirut-Damascus and Damascus-Rayek.
1897 CE	29–31 August	The First Zionist Congress is held in Basel, Switzerland, in which the Basel Declaration was approved which determined that the Zionist movement ultimate aim is to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in the region of Palestine secured under public law.
1898 CE		German Kaiser Wilhelm visits Jerusalem to dedicate the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. He meets Theodore Herzl outside city walls.
1900 - 1908 CE		Hejaz Railway: construction of Railroad Damascus-Medina.
1901 CE		The Jewish National Fund is founded at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel with the aim of buying and developing land in the Galilee Palestine regions of Ottoman Syria for Jewish settlement.
1908 CE	1 September	The Hejaz Railway opens.
1909 CE	11 April	Tel Aviv is founded on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa.
	May	The Hauran Druze Rebellion erupts.
1914 CE		Ottomans fight on the side of the Central Powers in World War I.
1915 - 1917 CE		Famine in Syria resulting in up to 500,000 deaths due to severe shortage of supplies.
1915 CE	28 January – 3 February	The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign: First Suez Offensive - A battle between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire in which the Turks fail in their attempt to capture or destroy the Suez Canal and are forced to withdraw their forces. The canal is vital to the British war effort.
	March - October	The 1915 locust plague breaks out in Ottoman Syria.
1916 CE	16 May	Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, which defines their respective spheres of influence and control in Western Asia after the expected demise of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. It was largely a trade agreement with a large area set aside for indirect control through an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states.
	June	Grand Sharif Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca who shared with his fellow Arabs a strong dislike for his Ottoman overlords, enters into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans and soon thereafter commences what would become known as The Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.
1917 CE	9 January	The Battle of Rafa - British Empire forces defeat the Turks in Rafah and complete the re-conquest of the Sinai Peninsula.
	6 March	The First Battle of Gaza - the British fail to advance into Palestine after 17,000 Turkish troops block their advance.
	6 April	The Tel Aviv and Jaffa deportation - The Ottoman authorities deport the entire civilian population of Jaffa and Tel Aviv pursuant to the order from Ahmed Jamal Pasha, the military governor of Ottoman Syria during the First World War. Although the Muslim evacuees are allowed to return before long, the Jewish evacuees were not able to return until after the British conquest of Palestine.
	19 April	The Second Battle of Gaza. Ottoman troops repel the British attack on the Gaza-Beersheba line.
	6 July	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Ottomans, and incorporate the territory into the Kingdom of Hejaz, under the rule of Prince Faisal. The capture of Aqaba helps open supply lines from Lower Egypt to the Arab and British forces in the field further north in Transjordan and Palestine, and more importantly negated the possibility of a threat of an Ottoman offensive against the strategically important Suez Canal.
	31 October	The Battle of Beersheba - Australian and New Zealand cavalry troops capture Beersheba from the Ottomans.
	31 October - 7 November	Third Battle of Gaza - British forces capture Gaza and break the Ottoman defensive line in southern Palestine.
	2 November	The Balfour Declaration is published in which the British Government declares its support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
	15 November	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: British troops capture Tel Aviv and Jaffa.
	8 - 26 December	The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Jerusalem - The Ottomans are defeated by the British forces at the Battle of Jerusalem. The British Army's General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot, in a reference to the entrance of Caliph Umar in 637 CE.
1918 CE	4 April	The first edition of the Hebrew-language daily newspaper "Haaretz" is published, sponsored by the British military government in Palestine.
	June	First meeting between the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and the son of the Sharif of Mecca Hashemite Prince Faisal, who led the Arab forces in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which takes place in Faisal's headquarters in Aqaba in an attempt to establish favorable relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.
	14 July	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Abu Tellul.
	19 September - 1 October	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Megiddo.
	23 September	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: British occupation of Haifa is completed.
	1 October	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Arab and British troops occupy Damascus.
	3 October	The forces of the Arab revolt led by Prince Faysal enter Damascus. In 1920 Prince Faysal becomes the king of the Arab Kingdom of Syria for a short period.
	30 October	Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign officially ends with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros. Shortly thereafter the Ottoman Empire is dissolved, ending 400 years of rule in Syria.

21st century CE

See Syrian Civil War and History of the Jews in Syria for more information.

Year	Date	Event
2014 CE	May	The Jobar Synagogue is destroyed.

External links

• www.example.com