Jewish Timelines and Survival

There are nearly five and a half billion people on this earth, of whom only about fifteen million—less than one third of one percent—are classified as Jews. Statistically, they should hardly be heard of, like the Ainu tucked away in a comer of: Asia, bystanders of history. But the Jews are heard of totally out of proportion to their small numbers. The Jewish contribution to the world’s list of great names in religion, science, literature, music, finance, and philosophy is staggering.

During their 4,000 year existence empires such as the Greek, Roman and Ottoman have appeared and vanished. To each the Jews made substantial contributions and by each they suffered problems ranging from additional taxation, expulsion and pogroms. Concepts such as prayer, redemption, universal education and charity were understood and used hundreds of years before the rest of the world was ready to accept them.

The Jewish people have long maintained both physical and religious ties with the land of Israel. Although they had first arrived centuries earlier, and the Jewish Bible claims that a Jewish monarchy existed starting in the 10th century BCE. The first appearance of the name "Israel" is in the secular (non-Biblical) historic record is the Egyptian Merneptah Stele, circa 1200 BCE. During the Biblical period, two kingdoms occupied the highland zone, the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (circa 722 BCE), and the runt Kingdom of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (586 BCE). The defeat of the Babylonian Empire by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (538 BCE), saw some returneing to Jerusalem and the Second Temple built.

In 332 BCE the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered Israel, starting a long religious struggle that split the Jewish population into traditional (orthodox) and Hellenized components.

In 165 BCE after the religion-driven Maccabean Revolt, the independent orthodox Hasmonean Kingdom was established. In 64 BCE the Romans conquered Israel, turning it into a Roman province. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the area of ancient Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars of 66-136 CE, during which the Romans expelled most of the Jews from the area and replaced it with the Roman province of Palestine so adding to the Jewish Diaspora where the Jews formed minorities. The area became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century, though the percentages of Christians and Jews are unknown, the former probably predominating in urban areas and the latter in rural areas[1]. Jewish settlements declined from over 160 to 50 by the time of the Muslim conquest. Michael Avi-Yonah calculated that Jews constituted 10–15% of Palestine's population on the Persian invasion of 614,[2] while Moshe Gil claims that Jews constituted the majority of the population until the 7th century Muslim conquest (638 CE).[3]

In 1099 the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and nearby coastal areas, losing and recapturing it for almost 200 years until their last stand in Acre in 1291. In 1517 the Ottoman Empire conquered it, ruling it until the British conquered it in 1917. The British Mandate ended in 1948, when the Jewish State of Israel was created.

JEWISH TIMELINES AND SURVIVAL

JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN DATES

(from ‘The Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People’ by Max I Dimont)

Jews began dating events not with a king or a divinity but with the creation of man.
In Judaism mankind, not a god or an individual, is the center of destiny.

For practical purposes the Jews have adopted a common calendar with Western civilization. The Christian designation of BC (‘Before Christ’) is replaced with BCE. (Before the Common Era) and AD (Anno Domini ‘the year of our Lord’) by CE. (Common Era).
So, for instance, instead of saying that the Modern state of Israel was founded in 1948 AD., or that David was crowned king of ancient Israel in 1000 BC,
the Jews say the former was in 1948 CE and the latter in 1000 BCE.

Year 1 in Jewish chronology is the creation of Adam and Eve which, according to tradition, took place 3,760 years before the birth of Jesus,
the event used by Western civilization as Year 1.

To find the Jewish date for an event occurring either before or after the birth of Jesus, just subtract or add the year in which the event took place from or to 3,760. Thus 1000 BC would be the Jewish year of 2760 (3,760 minus 1,000), and 1000 AD would be the Jewish year of 4760 (3,760 plus 1,000)
.

Dates given in Jewish history may vary slightly as scholars disagree on the exact dates they occurred. These variations in no way affect the validity of the event itself.

MANY JEWISH TIMESCALES ARE AVAILABLE.
Which is of most use depends on what you are looking for.
The list below is to help you in your search

DIAGRAMS/CHARTS

Timeline of Jewish History and Heritage Odeya

The Unbroken Chain of Jewish Tradition - A Visual Overview of the History of the Jewish People This has four timescales. Go to ‘The Unbroken Chain of Jewish Tradition’ for information on each timeline.

Click here for more charts

GENERAL

A List of Jewish Expulsions for 2,000 years Zionism-Israel

Holocaust Denial Key Dates United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Antisemitism

Anti-Semitism and Persecution of Jews 3rd cent BCE-2005 zionism-israel.com
Jewish Persecution - A History of Anti-Semitism 250CE to 1945 - - Simple to Remember

Timeline of antisemitism in the 21st century Wikipedia

HOLOCAUST