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The city of Rome is founded.

 
 

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, is born in India.

 
 

Athenians condemn Socrates to death in Greece.

 
 

Qin Dynasty unifies China.

 
 

Jesus is born in Judea.

 
 

The Second Persian Empire (Sassanid Empire) is founded.

 
 

The Western Roman Empire ends.

 
 

The Empire of Ghana is established in Africa.

 
 

Japan's Feudal period begins.

 
 

Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztecs, is founded in Mexico.

 
 

The United States declares independence.

 
 

Israelites create a kingdom. First Temple built in in Jerusalem in 962.

 
 

Babylonians destroy the First Temple and Jews begin the Babylonian Exile; Exile ends and Jews begin construction of the Second Temple in 538.

 
 

Rome begin to dominate the eastern Mediteranean. The Jewish Kingdom of Judea becomes a Roman province in 6 CE.

 
 

Romans destroy the Second Temple when the Jews attempt to regain independence.

 
 

The second Jewish revolt ends; Judea is renamed Palestine by the Roman Emperor.

 
 

Muhammad begins preaching. Caliph Umar starts the Arab conquests in 634; the Dome of the Rock built in Jerusalem in 691.

 
 

The Abbasid dynasty founded - from this point on, multiple Muslim kingdoms exist.

 
 

Pope Urban II calls for a crusade to recapture the "Holy Land" from Muslims, who had conquered the area in the mid-600s.

 
 

The Ottoman Empire is founded.

 
 

The Ottoman Empire gains control of the three holiest cities of Islam: Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.

 
1 of 3 pages
  • Introduction

    The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern conflict. To understand it, we need to understand ancient history. Both sides of the conflict have deep connections to the same small geographic area. This lesson explores these ancient connections.


    Click the forward arrow to the right to go to the next page.

  • This lesson is divided into two sections. Each section consists of four topics. You can skip between topics by clicking the navigation bar to the left. You can move between pages within a topic by clicking the forward and back arrows inside the text box.


    The top of each text box tells you which page you are on and how many pages you have left in the topic. This page, for example, says “2 of 3 pages.” You are on page 2 out of a total of 3 pages in the introduction. You have one page left. Click the forward arrow to go to the final page or click the back arrow to review the information on the first page.

  • Some pages have short paragraphs; others have images. Sometimes, there is an option to learn more about something mentioned on the page. You can click the “Learn More” option at the bottom of the page to expand the information. At the end of each topic (except this introduction) are three multiple choice questions that will let you know whether or not you mastered the information.

    Above each page is an interactive timeline. Put your cursor over a date on the timeline to see a major event that occurred in that year. Try it now. Dates below the timeline connect to major events in this lesson. Dates above the timeline connect to other major events in world history. You can use the timeline throughout the lesson to help orient yourself and keep track of when events occurred in relation to other events.

    There is a “Learn More” option on this page. Click it to learn about how we number years. After you read it, click the forward arrow to begin the first section.

    LEARN MORE Numbering Years: BCE and CE
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    The international system system for numbering years was developed by Christian monks in the Middle Ages. They decided that the year 1 should be the year that Jesus was born. They labeled years after Jesus was born AD, which stood for a Latin phrase meaning “in the year of the Lord.” They labeled years before Jesus was born BC, which stood for “Before Christ.” In other words, 300 BC was 300 years before the year when these monks thought Jesus was born. 300 AD counted 300 years forward from the year when these monks thought Jesus was born.


    Interestingly, scholars and Christian thinkers are almost positive that Jesus was born earlier than the monks thought. They have access to more information than the medieval monks did. For example, we now know that King Herod died in 4 BC. Since the Christian Bible states that King Herod was alive when Jesus was born, this has become one of the most commonly accepted dates for Jesus' birth by scholars and Christian thinkers. Even though there is general agreement that the monks made a mistake when they calculated the year that Jesus was born, we continue to use the same basic numbering system they created. This system has been used for centuries and it would be very difficult and confusing to renumber all the dates in history books, government documents, business contracts, and everywhere else dates appear.


    Though the numbering of years is the same, the labels have changed. Today, most historians and scholars use the label BCE instead of BC and CE instead of AD. This is because BC and AD reflect the religious belief that Jesus is God (Lord) and the Messiah (Christ). Most historians and scholars feel that the dating system should use neutral, non-religious labels that people of all faiths can use comfortably. BCE and CE are abbreviations for “Before the Common Era” and “Common Era.”

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