Fortified cities complete with temples and palaces developed in Canaan by about 3000 BC. Bronze became the primary metal for making tools and weapons. Egypt's power extended over the Canaanite city-states. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to Mount Sinai and then to the edge of the promised land. Joshua led Israel in the conquest of Canaan.
1200-586 BC: Israelite Period
The Philistines arrived in Canaan and dominated the lowlands using iron technology and chariots. Philistine dominance propelled the Israelite tribes to seek unification under a king. Samuel anointed Saul and David, Israel's first two kings. Its third king, Solomon, was the last to rule israel as a united kingdom. by 930 BC the united kingdom became the divided kingdom. The Babylonian Empire began a series of deportations that took Judeans from the promised land to Babylon (605 BC). The siege and destruction of Jerusalem and its temple followed in 586 BC.
Daniel and Ezekiel spoke to God's people exiled to Babylon while a small remnant of Jews remained in the land; all awaited an Israelite return to the promised land that was to occur seventy years after their exile began.
538-332 BC: Persian Period
Persia displaced Babylon as thee empire that controlled the known world. A Jewish woman by the name of Esther became queen of Persia and the temple and walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt.
332-167 BC: Early Hellenistic Period
Alexander the Great displaced Persia and established an empire that stretched from Macedonia to India. In the wake of his conquest, Greek became the language of international commerce, and Greek culture flowed throughout the known world. Upon his death in 323 BC, Alexander's generals and their families took the reins of power. The darkest days were associated with the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, whose plan of radical Hellenization sought to eradicate the worship practices that made the Jewish people unique.
167-31 BC: Late Hellenistic Period
Jewish revolutionaries fought back against the radical Hellenization of Antiochus IV, reestablished Jewish political autonomy, cleansed the temple, and liberated the Jews so that they could practice their religion without penalty. Jewish kings again ruled Israel and expanded the state's land holdings. The destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim created enmity between Jews and Samaritans that lingered into the time of Jesus.
31 BC-AD 324: Roman Period
The Roman senate had appointed Herod the Great as king of Judea in 40 BC. This began his storied political and building career that overlapped with the birth of Jesus. The early part of this era was the time of Jesus's ministry on earth, the expansion of the Christian church recorded in the book of Acts, and the letters of the New Testament. The Jewish people revolted twice against Rome. The First Jewish Revolt (AD 66-73) ended with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by Titus (AD 70) and the fall of Masada (AD 73). The Second Jewish Revolt (AD 132-35) resulted in widespread destruction and renaming. Jerusalem was now called Aelia Capitolina and Judea was renamed Palestina.
AD 324-640: Byzantine Period
With the conversion of the roman emperor Constantine (AD 306 - 37), Christianity enjoyed a season of growth under the toleration championed by the Edict of Milan (AD 313). Constantine's mother, Helena, began a vigorous campaign of building churches on locations in Israel associated with the life of Jesus. There was frequent destruction and rebuilding of Christian compounds during this era, much of related to the Samaritan uprising (AD 529) and the Persian invasion (AD 614).
AD 640-1099: Early Arab (Islamic) Period
Byzantine rule, weakened by Persian invasion, collapsed quickly in the face of Arabian invaders who captured the city of Jerusalem in AD 638. Respectful of both Judaism and Christianity, these Muslim rulers protected and enhanced Jerusalem with new architecture that celebrated the city's relationship to Islam. The Dome of the Rock was built in AD 691, and the El-Aqsa Mosque in AD 715. The exception to tolerance was the ruler, Caliph Hakim, who unleashed a persecution against Christians and their churches. During his rule, the tomb of Jesus and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed (AD 1009).
AD 1099-1291: Crusader Period
At the close of the early Arab period, Christians faced increasing restrictions as they sought to visit their holy sites. This led Pope Urban II to call for military action designed to remove those restrictions. During the course of five Crusades in which many Muslim and Jewish citizens were attacked and killed, access was restored for European pilgrims and churches were rebuilt or founded.
AD 1250-1517: Mameluke Period
In the middle part of the thirteenth century, a class of slave soldiers known as Mamelukes (Arabic or "slaves") rose to power in Egypt and Syria.
AD 1517-1918: Ottoman Period
Early in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Turks dominated the region. At this time Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66) established the system of walls and gates in Jerusalem known today as the modern Old City wall.
AD 1918-Present: Modern Period
In 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan called for the formation of a joint Jewish-Arab state. This state formed in 1948, but with territorial concessions to Jordan. The newly formed state of Israel was immediately beset by attacks from without and within, leading to the Israeli War of Independence (or Arab-Israeli War). At the close of this war, the independent Jewish state was confirmed, but it continued to face unrest in the years that followed. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel seized from Jordan the Old City of Jerusalem and much of the modern Sinai and militarily occupied areas of the Golan Heights and the West Bank.
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