450 BC to 410 BC; Revised Chronology of Global History

In this organic review of the past 3,000 years, each post represents a preliminary sketch of the time period, with the intention of fleshing it out into a fuller story of the era in the months and years ahead.

It was around 450 BC when Ezra folded the stories of Israel and Judah into the roots of what we know as the Torah today. It was the time of the 27th Dynasty in Egypt, and as Persia had conquered that nation, Persian Emperor Artaxerzes, like Darius and Xerxes before him, also became Pharaoh Artaxerxes.

Between 449 BC and 445 BC Middle Earth was abuzz with activty, as te Twelve Tables are promulgated to the people of Rome—the first public laws of the Roman Republic.

• 449 BC—Romans revolt against thedecemvirate. The decemvirs resign and the tribunate is re-established.
• 449 BC—Herodotus completes his History, which records the events concerning the Persian War. The next year, the Peace of Callias between the Delian League and Persia ended the Persian Wars, and Phidias finished a 9 meter high statue of Athena on the Acropolis.
• In 447 BC, Athens began construction of the Parthenon, at the initiative of Pericles, while in the Battle of Coronea, the Athenians were driven from Boeotia.
• In 445 BC, Pericles declared Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta, while Artaxerxes I issued Nehemiah permission to rebuild Jerusalem.

Circa 440 BC, Zhao Kao Wang became King of the Zhao Dynasty in China, while over in Greece Democritus proposed the existence of individual particles as the root of matter, and he named them atoms.

Sometime around 429 BC the pioneering Greek historian Herodotus died. Circa 413 BC, Tissaphernes, the Persian Satrap of Lydia and Caria, forms an alliance with Sparta.

490 BC to 450 BC; Open Source Review of 3,000 Years of Global History

Feel free to contribute events and interpretations from and for this time period in the Comments section below. Each post in this series is a preliminary sketch intended to be expanded in the months and years ahead.

Around 489 BC, Aristides the Just was made Archon of Athens, while Hypparchos is ostracized for his efforts to bring peace with Persia. In 487 BC the Athens election was opened up to direct voting by the citizenry, and by 486 BC much of Egypt was revolting against Persian rule.

King Fuchai of Wu oversees the beginning of construction of the Grand Canal of China, joining the Yangtze River with the Huai River, created to move supplies north for troops bordering Song and Lu.

In 485 BC Darius I died and was succeeded by his son Xerxes I. About five years later, Xerxes encourages the Carthaginians to attack the Greeks in Sicily. Under the Carthaginian military leader, Hamilcar, Carthage sends across a large army. Circa 464 BC, Regent King Artabanus of Persia is killed by his charge Artaxerxes I. By 460 BC, Egypt was in full revolt against Persia, starting a six year war. An Athenian force sent to attack Cyprus was diverted to support this revolt.

Around 459 BC, Ezra, the "redactor" of the Old Testament, leads many Jews from exile in Babylon back to the Promised Land in Jerusalem. He reads the newly revised scripture to the people for seven hours straight, and they wonder how he has magically woven the stories of northern Israel and southern Judah into the life and mission of one Chosen People.

The Delian League was founded in Greece about 478 BC with their official meeting place being the island of Delos; in 454 BC their treasury was moved to Athens. In 450 BC Perdiccas II succeeds Alexander I as King of Macedonia, and the teachings of Lao Tzu are spreading in China.

Also in 450 BC, Empedoclese published his On Nature and Purifications, and Greek historian Herodotus describes the Scythians of central Asia throwing hemp onto heated stones under canvas: 'as it burns, it smokes like incense and the smell of it makes them drunk'. Herodotus also claimed that "hemp garments are as fine as linen."

530 BC to 490 BC; A review of Global History

Here you will find an organic open source review of world history, Feel free to add events and interpretations for eas time period in the Comments section below, and I will expand each post as new research comes to Light.

The era around 500 BC represents Persia at the top of the world, with Darius proclaiming Aramaic to be the official language of the western half of the Empire.

Empires to come in Macedonia (Alexander I succeeds his father Amyntas I) and Rome (first consuls just now being elected) were still far off, and the foundations of Buddhism were being laid in in India with the birth and revelatory teachings of Siddartha Gautama. Cleisthenes was refining the practice of democracy in Athens, and in China Confucious had been appointed Governor of the Province of Chung-tu, near present day Beijing.

Circa 493 BC, Athenian people elect Themistocles as archon, the chief judicial and civilian executive officer in Athens. He favours resistance against the Persians.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holy Days from Josephus

There are two threads on this blog currently; the fictionalized autobiography of Nerva Josephus, and the organic open source review of the past 3,000 years of world history, with an emphasis on the Mediterranean (Middle Earth) royal family. And so we continue with Josephus...

December 25th; Celebration of the Light

It doesn't bother me that my this historically pagan celebration has been re-invented as the birthday of my father. My understanding was that dad was born on January 6th but some say January 7th; in any case Jeshua Aristobulus personified Living Light so December 25th is an excellent choice as a date for this wonderful remembrance event and symbolic festivities. I don't appreciate the fringe that wants the cross to represent everything, so those celebrating birth and life are fellow travelers.

Rashnu and Sraosha will not always be waiting, for a New Kingdom will arise that cleanses as it heals. The Eye of Horus will not always be crying, for the Great Grandson of the King inspires and unifies and Lights up the Path.

Peace 2 All

580 BC to 530 BC; Transition from Egypt to Persia

In this organic review of the past 3,000 years of global history, each post is a preliminary sketch intended to be fleshed out by future expansion and edits, and augmented by wonderful contributions from you dear reader.

One may characterize this era as a period where the Middle Earth royal family moved back eastward toward some Mesopotamian origins, and ruled the world from a new head quarters in Persia. After the Exodus, Egypt had lost a strong portion of leadership; Palestine and later Rome would be the major beneficiaries of the northern migration of the Hebrew people.

Circa 572 BC King Zhou Jian Wang of the Zhou Dynasty passes away in China, and within two years Pharaoh Amasis II of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty in Egypt would succeed Apries Wahibre Haaibre, Fourth King of the 26th dynasty, who was also known as Waphres Hophra. Apries inherited the throne from his father, pharaoh Psamtik II, in February 589 BC.

Circa 562 BC—Amel-Marduk succeeds Nebuchadnezzar II as king of Babylon. A few years later around 559 BC King Cambyses I of Anshan dies and is succeeded by his son Cyrus II the Great.

In 550 BC, halfway through the century two momentous events would occur:

Cyrus the Great establishes the Persian Empire

Siddartha Gautama Buddha founded Buddhsim in northeastern India

By 546 BC Cyrus had captured major Greek cities, providing ports and access to the Mediterranean for his growing Persian Empire. In 540 BC King Amyntas I of Macedon is crowned. What began as a small vassal or client state of King Darius Hyspastes of Persia (Darius I), would a couple of centuries later grow to become the strongest power in the world under Alexander the Great, whose territories would include most of the Persian Empire and new lands to the west.

630 BC to 580 BC: A Fresh Look at Global History

Please consider each post in this organic review of 3,000 years of world history as a preliminary piece, to be expanded by you the reader in the Comments section below and by myself through updates and responses to Comments. The period from about 600 BC forward is much better documented than earlier eras, so dates of events can become more accurate.

Circa 627 BC—Death of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria; he is succeeded by Assur-etel-ilani.

The prophet Jeremiah is reported to have ministered and taught from around 626 BC until about 587 BC; if this is accurate, he may have been a "Joseph" to five Kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoichin and Zedekiah. Each of these rulers was likely known by other names to other peoples, and we will try to expand this post to include some of that information in coming months.

Around 619 BC King Zhou Xiang Wang of China passed away, and the next year Zho Qing Wang became King of the Zhou Dynasty. By 600 BC a highly civilized society had emerged in India.

680 BC to 630 BC: Organic Review of Global History

Circa 676 BC King Zhou Hui Wang becomes leader of Zhou Dynasty of China. During the 670s Esarhaddon of Assyria was rebuilding Babylon as his base, preparing for his eventual attack on Egypt, where he capture the city of Memphis and several members of the royal family. In 669 BC Ashurbanipal succeeds his father Esarhaddon as King of the Assyrian Empire. King Ashurbanipal created one of the most advanced, systematically organized libraries ever known to man, certainly among the finest that had ever been built up to that time and for awhile afterwards the Nineveh library shown as a beacon of learning.

The conquering and plundering of Thebes in 664 BC by Ashurbanipal of Assyria is perceived as retribution for the regional revolution led by King Taharqa of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, possibly the last fully Black African ruler to be King of the World. The Sun Kings had returned from exile around 700 BC to found the 25th Dynasty, but this time the exile would become a fracture among the Children of God.

The sacking of the Holy City Thebes was the final straw for the Chosen and the permanizing of the New Jerusalem in Palestine became paramount for Israel. Though Judah was also to rebuild in the North, the original south inhabitants of Ethiopia, Kush and Nubia retreated to Meroe and Napata, and eventually to Axum.

In 660 BC Psamtik I drove the Assyrians out of Egypt, but the days of the Nile being ruled by Nubian kings would be gone for millennia, if not forever.

By the 650s BC, Europe was experiencing a colder and wetter climate than had been the case for the previous century and a half, and human migration was southward from the Scandinavian and Germanic regions into Rome, Gaul and Spain. Circa 651 BC Zhou Xiang Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty in China, and about a year later Perdiccas Temenid founded the Macedonian kingdom with construction of the capital at Aegeae Vergina.

In 645 BC, the year of the death of Guan Zong, Prime Minister of the State of Qi, China, five meteors were seen and recorded as being viewed over what is now Shanqiu County, Henan Province, China. 643 BC is recorded as the year of the death of Manasseh of Judah, son of King Hezekiah.

730 BC to 680 BC; Organic Chronology of Global History

Each post in this series is intended to promote discussion and many posts will be expanded as further research is completed.

In Egypt, the 23rd and 24th dynasties led to rule from Nubia in the 25th Dynasty, when the Sun Kings re-took the throne after a period of exile in Ethiopia. Circa 728 BC, Piye invades Egypt, conquering Memphis, and receives the submission of the rulers of the Nile Delta. He founds the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt. In the year 719 BC, King Huan of Zhou of the Zhou Dynasty becomes ruler of China.

Hezekiah witnessed the forced resettlement of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Sargon's Assyriansin c 720 BC and was king of Judah during the invasion and siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib in 701 BC. The siege was lifted by a miraculous plague that afflicted Sennacherib's army. Even so, the Assyrians conquered much of Judah, and Hezekiah's people came to yearn for an ideal king who would restore the golden age of David.

Notably, Isaiah and Micah prophesied during his reign. Hezekiah enacted sweeping religious reforms, during which he removed non-Yahwistic elements from the Jerusalem temple. In 701 BC, King Hezekiah of Judah, backed by Egypt, revolts against King Sennacherib of Assyria. Sennacherib sacks many Palestinian cities, but fails in his attempt to take Jerusalem.

During 691 to 689 BC, Taharqa, a king of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, ascends the throne of Egypt (approximate date), and King Sennacherib of Assyria sacks Babylon.

Circa 687 BC, Hezekiah was succeeded by Manasseh as king of Judah. and 682 BC marked the death of King Zhuang of Zhou, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.

780 BC to 730 BC; World History Organic Review

Readers are invited to post global historical events for each time period in the comments section below. The 8th century BC is conventionally taken as the beginning of Classical Antiquity, with the first Olympiad set at 776 BC, and the epics of Homer dated to the period. In a modern understanding of chronology, this era marks the concurrent ending of the 19th Dynasty and the beginnings of the 20th and 21st Dynasties.

The 20th Dynasty featured 3 prominent Pharaohs of the 9 who reigned: Ramses III, Ramses IX, and Ramses XI. The 21st Dynasty overlapped the 20th and the longest reigning Pharaohs were Smendes, Psusennes I, Siamun and Psusennes II.

The so-called 22nd Dynasty actually covers rulers who were contemporaneous with and/or the exaft same human beings who historians have categorized as the 19th, 20th, 21st and 23rd Dynasties.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, 771 BC marked the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty in China as "western" barbarian tribes sack the capital Hao. King You of Zhou is killed. Crown Prince Ji Yijiu escapes and will reign as King Ping of Zhou.

Around 755 BC, Aeschylus the King of Athens died after a reign of 23 years and was succeeded by Alcmeon. Greece colonizes other regions of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Rome is founded in 753 BC, and the Etruscan civilizationexpands in Italy.

Iron Age India enters the later Vedic period. Vedic ritual is annotated in many priestly schools in Brahmana commentaries, and the earliest Upanishads mark the beginning of Vedanta philosophy.

Around 730 BC, Osorkon IV succeeds Sheshonq IV as king of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt, and Piye succeeds his father Kashta as King of the Nubian kingdom of Napata.