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NT Historical Background

 

1. 332 BC. Jerusalem capitulates to Alexander the Great without a battle.
2. 323 BC. Alexander dies.
3. 323 BC. Alexanders generals (Διάδοχοι) divide his empire. 
• Seleucus takes Syria
  
• Ptolemy takes Egypt
  
• Palestine becomes a political football
  
4. c. 250 BC. Scholars make the LXX translation. (c = circa, about).
   
5. 175 to 164 BC. Reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
• 167 BC. The Abomination of Desolation
• 167-160 BC. The Maccabean Revolt.
• 165 BC. The Temple rededication (start of Hanukkah).
6. 140-37 BC. The Hasmonean (Maccabean) Dynasty.
   
• 110-63 BC. Independent kingdom. The last independent Jewish state until after WWII.
7. 63 BC. Pompey takes Jerusalem & makes Judea a client kingdom of Rome.
   
8. 37-4 BC. Herod the Great
9. c. 20 BC - c. 50 AD. Philo of Alexandria
   
10. c. 4 BC - c. 30 AD. Dates of Christ
11. c 46 - c 90 AD. Writing of the New Testament books.
12. 66 - 73 AD. The first Jewish Revolt against Rome.
13. 132-136 AD. The Bar Kokhba Revolt. Rome founds a new city, Aelia Capitolina, on the ruins of Jerusalem & plans to build a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. Half a million Jews died, and many others were sold into slavery. Afterward, Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem.
    

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