The Apostolic Ministry began after the Jewish holiday of Pentecost. A bewildered crowd had gathered after they heard the apostles (as well as other believers who were with them) speak in other languages. They had thought that those present were only drunk. Peter addressed the crowd in his Pentecost sermon—which was also the first ever sermon given by a disciple—and preached to them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many of the people repented, were baptized and became believers in Christ.
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After Christ’s ascension, the new movement was commissioned to the apostles and was centered not in Galilee (as in Jesus’ time) but in Jerusalem. They were not alone, though, as Jesus’ mother and his four brothers were also among those who continued in the ministry after his death. The early Christians, headed by the apostles, remained essentially Jewish at the core. They continued to observe Jewish rituals, holidays, and other traditions.
The apostles performed their first miracles at the beginning of the Apostolic Ministry led by Peter and John. Both apostles healed the crippled beggar at the temple’s Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:1-10) while unnamed apostles performed miracles all over Jerusalem (Acts 5:12-16).
“A Western depiction of the Pentecost, painted by Jean II Restout, 1732.”
The number of the followers of early Christianity increased and with it came the inevitable rise of conflicts between believers as shown in Acts 6:1-7. Greek or Hellenist believers complained that the Hebrew widows were favored in the early church’s food distribution program. So the apostles decided to focus on the preaching the Word and delegate this responsibility instead to seven men who became the church’s first deacons. The seven men were:
Stephen
Philip the Evangelist
Prochorus
Nicanor
Timon
Parmenas
Nicolaus of Antioch
Early Church, First Persecutions
Peter and John both irritated the Sanhedrin after they healed the crippled beggar, preached about Jesus’ resurrection, and encouraged the people to repent. Both apostles were imprisoned but released when the Sanhedrin could not find any fault to charge against them (Acts 3 and 4).
Unnamed apostles also healed many in Jerusalem (Acts 5:12-16) and once again earned the jealousy of the Sadducees. The apostles were arrested and jailed, but they were set free by an angel and commanded to preach in the temple court at daybreak (5:17-21). They were arrested again and made to appear before the Sanhedrin, who became furious when Peter defended their faith. The council wanted the apostles to be executed immediately, but a wise Pharisee called Gamaliel persuaded them to let the apostles go (5:34-39). The apostles were flogged and reminded not to preach about Jesus again. To the council’s disappointment, the apostles returned to the temple courts and continued to preach about Jesus Christ.
One of the first victims of the persecution was Stephen, who was known to be “full of grace and power” and “did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). He was falsely accused of blasphemy after he fell victim to the envy of other Jews and was stoned by the crowd after his defense before the Sanhedrin. Meanwhile, Saul of Tarsus first appeared in this chapter as the person who gave the approval for Stephen’s death.
Samaria and Beyond
As the early church gained more followers, the persecution intensified. The apostles, as well as the other believers, were forced to leave Jerusalem. They sought refuge in Samaria (Acts 8) where they converted many to the Christian faith. What seemed a negative event at first became something positive as the Samaritans accepted the Word and received the Holy Spirit.
Philip, one of the deacons appointed by the apostles, traveled to Samaria to escape the persecution and continued to Gaza where he met the Ethiopian eunuch, one of the first Gentiles to be baptized. After the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip was transported by the Spirit of the Lord to Azotus and preached from there all the way up north to the coastal town of Caesarea Maritima (Acts 8:26-40).
Teotihuacan was one of the greatest Mesoamerican cities with a sizable population at its peak that rivaled contemporary cities such as ancient Rome and Luoyang of the Eastern Han. According to the Bible Timeline with World History, the population had reached about 40,000 before 25 AD. Teotihuacan was a city laid out in a neat grid pattern right in the heart of the Valley of Mexico. It also had a sophisticated plumbing sewage system that drained water into underground canals.
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Teotihuacan started as a rural settlement that gradually grew into a large urban center as the years passed. The people mostly lived in single-story apartment complexes. These were divided into compounds where small families of 20 individuals or large ones with up to 100 people lived. Farmers, artisans, and merchants were spread out within the city’s 20 sq km residential area.
“… the eruption of the Xitle volcano”
Immigrants from the cities of the Gulf of Mexico also flocked into Teotihuacan. This was evident by the difference in the ceramics recovered from the apartment complexes. As the city grew, more people chose to live in the rural areas outside Teotihuacan for farming or to domesticate animals. Which also supplied the needs of the people inside the city.
The population of Teotihuacan would peak further to 200,000 when refugees from the neighboring Cuicuilco flocked to the city following the eruption of the Xitle volcano. However, the population would be greatly reduced during the decline of Teotihuacan in 650 AD.
References:
Yoffee, Norman, ed. The Cambridge World History. Volume 3: Early Cities in Comparative Perspective, 4000 BCE-1200 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015
Hansen, Valerie, and Kenneth Curtis. Voyages in World History, Volume 1. Wadsworth Publishing, 2008
The Maya civilization reached its height during the Classic Period starting in 250 AD, according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History. Hundreds of ceremonial centers were built in the lowlands of modern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, as well as some parts of Honduras and El Salvador. These ceremonial centers eventually evolved to become powerful kingdoms. At one point, their combined territories reached as much as 324,000 sq km. The kingdoms were never ruled by a single king or united under one government; instead, these independent kingdoms formed alliances and were sometimes at war with each other over resources.
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The Classic Period was marked by several Maya accomplishments including:
* the development of the 360-day Long Count Calendar and hieroglyphic writing system
* colorful (polychrome) and intricately designed ceramics
* the use of the corbelled arch in architecture
* the construction of magnificent palaces, pyramids, and ball courts
“Calakmul was one of the most important Classic period cities.”
During the Early and Late Classic Periods, the Maya rulers chose to document their accomplishments and their kingdoms’ histories by inscribing them on dated monuments (stelae). Such as temples, pottery, and other artifacts that were later recovered from their ceremonial sites. Between these two periods was the hiatus period. This was marked by a decrease in the creation of the dated monuments and frequent wars between Central Maya lowland tribes.
The Late Classic Period was a prosperous one for the Maya. It was marked by an increase in population as well as an improvement in Maya monuments, architectural elements, and ceramics. The number of cities and towns grew, but so did conflicts and competition between rulers over the limited resources. By the end of this period, the Maya society became frayed because of the disputes between kingdoms, warfare, and changes in their environment. The construction of temples and other magnificent structures dwindled at this point until the ceremonial centers were completely abandoned.
References:
Picture By User:PhilippN, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3000471
Cremin, Aedeen. The World Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2007
Qin Shi Huang was ancient China’s self-proclaimed First Emperor. Although the Han Dynasty, which came later, was China’s first dynasty to rule as a unified country. According to the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History, the Han Dynasty lasted between 202 BC and 220 AD.
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Qin Shi Huang, a man of extreme ambition, was credited as the one who had the Great of Wall of China linked together to protect his empire from the invading Xiongnu people from the north. He is best remembered today as the one whose tomb was protected by the Terracotta Army. The quest to unify various states drove him to ruthlessly kill. This included the crown prince of Yen, his mother’s lover Lao Ai, and his own chancellor Li Buwei, among others. Later in his reign, Qin Shi Huang burned books that were “not of Ch’in’s.” Anyone who talked about these books were executed.
He was succeeded by his son Hu-hai who, in his insecurity, had commanders and former noblemen killed for any hint of disloyalty to his rule. The purge for real or imagined infidelity to Hu-hai became so extreme that the army rebelled months later. It was followed by a break to independence by the noblemen from various states previously conquered by his father. Civil war-wracked the new empire. The chancellor capitalized on the unrest so he could install the emperor’s nephew. He had his son-in-law stormed the palace to kill Hu-hai. After much bargaining and failure to reach an agreement, the emperor killed himself. The Second Emperor’s nephew was proclaimed as Ch’in’s new ruler by the chancellor, but the distrustful new ruler would go on to kill the one who plotted to make him emperor.
The location of the Han Dynasty
This new emperor called Tzu Ying would reign only for a total of forty-six days until the palace was stormed by a Chu general called Hsiang Yu. He had Tzu Ying, as well as the whole court, killed. This was the end of the brief, glorious, and bloody reign of the Ch’in Dynasty and the once-united empire was fragmented again into various kingdoms which were at war with each other.
Liu Pang and the Dawn of the Han Dynasty
As the wars between kingdoms dragged on for five years, a man named Liu Pang rose to the position as a military policeman who was in charge of troops made up of convicts. Although he was from a peasant family, he reaped the benefits from the reforms made by the Ch’in Dynasty and joined Hsiang Yu in the rebellion. Hsiang Yu proclaimed himself the ruler of Chu, then awarded Liu Pang with a territory in return for his service. Then had the real Duke of Chu murdered to eliminate a possible competition.
Liu Pang seized the chance to “avenge” the death of the king. He captured territories one by one and gifted these to his loyal men. Then later, captured the now-unpopular Hsiang Yu. Liu Pang defeated Hsiang Yu in a battle, and the Chu general killed himself to avoid capture. Liu Pang proclaimed himself the new emperor after this success and decreed that the dynasty would be named Han. He changed his name from Liu Pang to Gao Zu and set up a new capital in the city of Chang’an.
This new China emerged weary from the successive wars. The people suffered during the short but brutal reign of the Ch’in Dynasty, as well as the inter-kingdom wars that followed. The new emperor Gao Zu figured that if he wanted a unified China, he needed to balance benevolence and freedom with strict authority. Some of the reforms he initiated included:
* The grant of amnesty for noble families who submitted to his authority.
* Tax and service exemptions for specified number of years for those who helped him gain the throne.
* Gave complete pardon to anyone who fought against him but did not curse him, but put to death anyone who cursed him.
After Gao Zu took care of internal threats to his newly-established kingdom, he now had the time to face the Xiongnu people. Which at that time, were the greatest threat to China. Considered as barbarians by the ancient Chinese people, the Xiongnu started their raids on China during the earlier Xia Dynasty and continued up to the Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu people were ruled by a powerful king (chanyu) named Mao-tun (also called Modu) who led an invasion of China during the reign of Emperor Gao Zu. The years of campaigns against China led to Emperor Gao Zu’s defeat by Mao-tun after the Batte of Baideng. The emperor was forced to pay an annual tribute to appease Mao-tun. He also sent noble ladies to marry Xiongnu leaders which started the policy of heqin (marriage alliance) to gain peace.
Gao Zu ruled only for seven years, and he was succeeded by his son Hui-ti after his death. But it was his first wife, the empress dowager Lu Zhi, who held the real power. She even to poisoned Gao Zu’s other wives and sons who threatened her son’s power. Hui-ti died at the age of twenty-three and Lu Zhi appointed various relatives to government positions—a policy that strengthened her hold on power. She also installed Hui-ti’s supposed eldest son as puppet emperor. He was put to death after he discovered that the empress dowager had his real mother killed. He was replaced by another “son” of Hui-ti, but his power was severely limited throughout his reign.
The relatives of Empress Lu Zhi were killed after her death and Wendi, Gao Zu’s son by another concubine, was proclaimed as emperor. He ruled for twenty generally peaceful and stable years with policies that allowed the people a greater degree of freedom. The Yuezhi, another group of nomadic people from the western border, started a series of raids in China, but they were repelled with the help of the Xiongnu people. The Yuezhi were driven westward into Bactria, and they left China in its new-found stability.
Emperor Wendi died and passed his throne to his heir Emperor Wudi, who reigned for fifty-three years. He was successful in pushing back the Xiongnu, who once again raided the borders of China. He also initiated economic and political reforms including the reintroduction of taxes and government control of trade, as well as the use of the civil service exams and reestablishment of a bureaucracy.
Opens Trade with West
It was also Emperor Wudi who sent an ambassador named Zhang Qian to the Western frontiers of his empire at around 139 BC. Zhang Qian was captured by the Xiongnu after he embarked on his quest but gave him a wife while he was a captive for ten years. He escaped when he had the chance and continued his travels west to Bactria and Parthia. He returned to China in 126 BC and reported what he saw during his travels which coincided with the rule of Indo-Greek king Menander I and Parthian king Mithridates I.
By 123 BC, Parthia was ruled by Mithridates II. Emperor Wudi sent envoys to visit the Central Asian empire. His envoys were received in a friendly manner and were sent back with gifts of “the eggs of great birds which live in the region” after their visit to the Parthian court. The establishment of a trade route (later known as the Silk Road) between the two empires followed and soon the Chinese traded their silk and lacquer for Parthian horses.
But this trade route was threatened by invading nomads and the Han’s longtime nemesis: the Xiongnu. Li Guang, Emperor Wudi’s general, was successful in defeating the Xiongnu troops in China’s western frontier which protected the Silk Road trade. But this victory came at a great expense to the Han treasury. The size of the empire would remain as it was during the reign of its next emperors.
Hiatus: The Short-Lived Xin Dynasty
Yuandi, the Han emperor who adhered to the Confucian concept of filial piety, died in 33 AD—but not before he appointed various family members to government positions. This was continued by his widow, the empress dowager Zhengjun, who installed various relatives from the Wang clan into important posts. One of the most important posts was given to her nephew, Wang Mang. The empress acted as a regent, first for her son, and then for two other emperors. However, they all died soon after they took the throne.
While the empress dowager groomed another baby (a distant relative of her husband) to succeed the throne, Wang Mang busied himself in convincing people that the successive deaths of the previous emperors were omens from heaven that the Han Dynasty’s reign was about to end. He proclaimed himself the new emperor and established a new dynasty called the Xin which would rule China for at least a decade and a half.
Wang Mang overturned some of the Han Dynasty’s reforms and reestablished the old feudal system which oppressed the peasants. He also angered the noble families when he claimed that the emperor owned all of China and even claimed some of their lands for himself. Drought, famine, and floods added to his woes and by 23 AD, he gave up entirely and fled from the Han capital of Chang’an.
Eastern Han Dynasty
The China that Wang Mang left was a mess and battles were fought by many claimants to the Han throne. A man named Liu Xiu (Emperor Guang Wudi) emerged victorious. He moved the capital from Chang’an to the eastern city of Luoyang when he ascended the throne. He reformed the government by appointing people other than family members to government positions and dividing territories by county. He went on to rule for thirty-two years, most of which were prosperous.
Guang Wudi was married to two women: first was with Guo Shentong from Hebei in the north and the second was with Yin Lihua from Henan in the south. He favored his second wife more than he did the first. He banished Guo Shentong from the palace when she complained about it. When the time came for him to award the throne to one of his sons, Guang Wudi gave it to his son by Yin Lihua, Mingdi.
To appease the clan of Guo Shentong, the clever Emperor Mingdi sent his general Ban Chao to the north to help them repel the Xiongnu invasion. He also helped secure the Tarim Basin region in the west and established Han control over the important Silk Road route. It was also Mingdi who sent envoys to India to learn more about Buddhism after he dreamed of seeing a radiant god in the sky who his advisers said was the spirit of Buddha. The men he sent to India brought back the Sutra in Forty-two Sections. Mingdi, after he read the Buddhist teachings, started to adhere to the Sutra along with his court. Buddhism soon became the religion of the elite and they adopted it side by side with Confucianism.
Rise of the Palace Eunuchs and the Decline of the Han Dynasty
China became stable and prosperous once again during the reign of Mingdi’s son, Emperor Zhangdi. The Eastern Dynasty had extended its reach as far as the Parthian border in the west and the Silk Road had been secured which added to the empire’s prosperity. Emperor Zhangdi died in 88 AD and left his 9-year old son Hedi as China’s new heir while the now-elderly general Ban Chao was named as regent. Ban Chao advised Hedi order the death of his mother’s relatives who, at that time, wanted to exploit the emperor’s youth so they could gain important positions in the government. The orders were carried out by Hedi’s trusted eunuchs. This would start the rise of a new kind of power in the royal palace.
Emperor Hedi died in his twenties and without an heir; a baby by one of his concubines would die young, too, which left the throne empty. A nephew of the late emperor was appointed as the new ruler, and powerful relatives rose once again to take advantage of the situation. A succession of young rulers followed, but almost all of them died young. China, at that time, was run by various family members.
Huandi, one of China’s teenage rulers (he was only fourteen when he was crowned as emperor), rose to power in 146 AD. He married Empress Dowager Liang Na. Unfortunately for Huandi, Empress Liang Na had a powerful and ambitious brother Liang Ji, who ran the government while the Han Dynasty was stuck with the problem of succession. He continued to rule Luoyang on Huandi’s behalf, and the young king became a sort of a puppet ruler who only trusted the powerful palace eunuchs.
The eunuchs, at first, were not as powerful as they were during the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty. More importantly, they were not able to have sons because of their status. They gradually accumulated land and wealth, and they were allowed to adopt sons—something that became common for eunuchs at that time. But during the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, these adopted sons were allowed to keep their inheritance when their fathers died. They slowly accumulated wealth and estates. It was only natural that these sons would marry and start their own powerful clans—something the Han Dynasty severely disliked as this could cause another conflict.
Huandi resented his brother-in-law so much that he ordered his most trusted eunuchs to kill Liang Ji, but he had killed himself before the eunuchs could get to him. His entire clan was also wiped out, and Huandi became the sole ruler of a China that was currently on the edge of collapse.
The merchant class and powerful government officials rose in power during the reign of the Han Dynasty’s child emperors. The government’s policy of merit system produced some of China’s brightest yet most ambitious men who confiscated the land of those who were unable to pay their taxes but allowed them to farm the lands the debtors previously owned. The newly-rich merchants who benefited from the Silk Road trade also became wealthy landowners. This seemed to throw China back into the old feudal system the peasants so hated.
Those problems were made worse by the fact that Huandi’s twelve-year-old son, Lingdi, inherited the throne. The eunuchs had accumulated so much power that his mother, Empress Dowager Dou, was worried. She planned to order the killing of the most powerful eunuchs. She who was imprisoned when the news of this plan reached them. They also tricked Lingdi into believing that his mother hatched a plot against him and that they were the only ones he could trust. Lingdi trusted them and had his mother banished. This was only the beginning of China’s woes. Diseases, flooding, pestilence, and failed military campaigns would rip China apart. By 184 AD, the rage of the people exploded which resulted in the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
As the fight against the Yellow Turban rebels raged on, Lingdi died without naming an heir. So the eunuchs and the palace general agreed on appointing Shaodi, Lingdi’s fifteen-year-old son, as the new emperor. But both parties were distrustful of each other, and the eunuchs, as well as the generals, fought for dominance which only resulted in a massacre in the palace. A general called Tung Cho took advantage of the situation and killed Shaodi who he had replaced with a younger brother called Xiandi. Tung Cho was killed by a general named Cao Cao (the grandson of a favored eunuch) who promptly had the new emperor marry his daughter to cement an alliance. Together they recaptured the Han throne, but by then, it was too late. The Yellow Turban rebellion dragged on, and China had broken down into several factions. They were led by different generals who were unwilling to let the Han Dynasty dominate once again.
Xiandi would later abdicate the throne for Cao Cao’s son in 220 AD. This heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. The collapse of this would result in the Three Kingdoms Period. This divided China into the kingdoms of Wu, Shu, and Wei.
References:
Picture By User:Historian of the arab people – Self Made, copied map from page 63 of the book Mapping History: World History, by Dr. Ian Barnes. ISBN 978-1-84573-323-0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5096078
Hung, Hing Ming. The Road to the Throne: How Liu Bang Founded China’s Han Dynasty. New York: Algora Publishing, 2011
Bauer, S. Wise. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007
After Alexander the Great’s death, his empire was promptly divided between various somatophylakes (bodyguards), generals, members of the Macedonia nobility, and his other friends. Among them was Antigonus I Monophtlamus, Alexander’s general, who seized Asia Minor after the scramble to gain control of the territories he left behind. Following an attempt to reunite the empire, he was defeated by an alliance between Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus I Nicator and Antigonus was killed in the Battle of Ipsus. (Macedonia is recorded on the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History during the 2nd century BC.
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Antigonus’ son Demetrius and his grandson Antigonus I Gonatas fled to Macedonia after this defeat. There they established the Antigonid Dynasty. Demetrius was given the title Poliocretes (which means City Sacker) because of his reputation for attacking heavily defended cities. He was defeated by Ptolemy I of Egypt at Gaza, but he took his revenge when he devastated Ptolemy’s fleet at Salamis and liberated Athens from Ptolemy’s ally, Demetrius of Phalerum.
Demetrius extended his campaigns into Greece but failed after he was chased by Agathocles, Lysimachus’ son, into Cilicia. He surrendered to Seleucus I Nicator in Syria and there he died in captivity while his son Antigonus II Gonatas was forced to fight hard against other claimants for the throne of Macedonia. He briefly lost control of Macedonia to his rivals but retook it after an invasion of the Gauls when he cooperated with the Aetolians. He was known as a brilliant politician and Macedonia briefly achieved stability during his reign.
During the height of Macedonian power under Philip II and Alexander the Great, Macedonia wielded great control of a vast empire made up of different kingdoms and city-states. This was a great contrast during the time of the Antigonids when they ruled only the people of Macedonia with a few Thracians, Illyrians, and other minorities that made up its kingdom. Meanwhile, the Illyrians and Dardanians who frequently raided the kingdom from the north continued to be a source of problems for the Macedonians.
“Kingdom of Macedon under Philip V.”
Demetrius II Aetolicus succeeded Demetrius the Fair (who briefly reigned as king before he was killed by his own wife) and saved Macedonia by defeating Alexander II of Epirus. He fought and defeated both the Greek Aetolian League and Achaean League during his reign, as well as fought the invasion of the Dardanians from the north. Demetrius died in battle and left his son Philip V as heir.
As Philip was still a child when his father died, the Macedonian nobility turned to his half-cousin Antigonus III Doson as a temporary ruler. He fought against and defeated the Dardanian tribes as well as the forces of Thessaly. He was considered a good leader with superior diplomatic and military skills but his reign was cut short when he died while fighting the Illyrians.
Philip V was 17-years old when he became king after the death of Antigonus III Doson, but he was successful in finally defeating the Dardanians. He became an ally of the Carthaginian general Hannibal and invaded Illyria (a Roman client state) during the Second Punic War. There was no decisive victory for both sides, and the war ended with the Treaty of Phoenice. Philip also went to war against Rhodes and Egypt but was defeated by an alliance between Rhodes and Pergamum. These conquests alarmed Rome and caused the Second Macedonian War which resulted in Philip’s defeat at Cynoscephalus in Thessaly. A younger son named Perseus became king of Macedonia after Philip had his elder son executed because of a conspiracy. Perseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty after he was defeated in the Battle of Pydna against Roman troops. He was taken as a captive to Rome and this defeat signaled the end of the Macedonian dominance in the region. Macedonia would lose its independence, and it became a Roman province soon after.
References:
Picture By Marsyas – Création personnelle avec Adobe Illustrator (données basées sur R. Ginouvès et al., La Macédoine, Paris, 1992)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1535743
Rossos, Andrew. Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2008.
The Americas were gradually settled by the migrating eastern Siberian peoples thousands of years ago via the Bering Land Bridge. Some of them moved on to parts of what is now the United States and Canada while others moved on to the countries of Central and South America in search of a more hospitable environment. Some groups stayed behind in Alaska and populated the coast while others went further inland into the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada. The Alaskan natives established their home in Unalakleet around 200 BC according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History.
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“To survive the harsh sub-arctic environment, they made clothes out of the skin of marine and land mammals, as well as birds.”
One of the groups of people that stayed and thrived on the coast of Alaska (particularly Norton Sound) was the group of Yup’ik people called Unaligmiut (Unalirmiut) of Unalakleet. The remnants of their settlements date back to the ancient times and the first inhabitants of Unalakleet survived as hunter-gatherers and fishermen. They had seasonal camps and villages in the area but these first Alaskans sometimes traveled to follow the migration of fish (especially salmon), sea mammals, as well as animals on land.
To survive the harsh sub-arctic environment, they made clothes out of the skin of marine and land mammals, as well as birds. The clothes were waterproof and provided optimum warmth so they could withstand the cold. The descendants of the first Unaligmiuts still live in Unalakleet and other coastal areas of Alaska.
“Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. The second branch called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.”
Genesis 2:8-14 (NLT)
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Moses, the writer of Genesis, painted a lovely and inviting picture of the Garden of Eden that for many Christians, it remains as the ideal of paradise: lush, well-watered, abundant in food, and free from sin. It was Adam and Eve’s first home until they were driven out as a result of their disobedience. Since then, the Garden of Eden faded into obscurity until it became nothing more than just an allegory or an idealized place. It was overshadowed by many other Biblical locations—yet, the mystery lingers.
So where can we find the Garden of Eden? Or perhaps, is it even possible to know its general location?
The clues can be found in the Bible itself and the rivers mentioned in Genesis 2:10-14 are the keys to finding the famed garden that was Adam and Eve’s first home. Two of the most prominent, Euphrates and Tigris, retained their original names even after thousands of years had passed. These two rivers still run through a land once known as Mesopotamia, which corresponds to parts of present day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Satellite photos also show dry waterways on the plain north of the present-day Kuwait, which means that apart from the Tigris and Euphrates, the plain was once watered by other rivers that were perhaps Pishon and Gihon.
“Map showing the rivers in the Middle East known in English as the Tigris and Euphrates.”
But the Pishon and Gihon rivers are more problematic as the names completely disappeared from history. For example, Gihon was described as a river that “flowed around the entire land of Cush” and this is where it gets confusing. The place name “Cush” is associated with the land of Kush in Ethiopia, which is almost geographically impossible since the African nation is nowhere near Mesopotamia. Another ancient city which seemed like a probable candidate for the “land of Cush” is the Mesopotamian city of Kish. It was situated right in the middle of both the Euphrates and Tigris, which made sense if it was, indeed, the Cush in the book of Genesis. Other candidates were the Hindu Kush for the “land of Cush” (according to some Arab scholars), as well as the Nile for the Gihon river (according to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus).
Another mysterious river is the Pishon, described as a river that “flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there.” According to Flavius Josephus in his book The Antiquities of the Jews, “Phison, which denotes a multitude, running into India, makes its exit into the sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges.” Josephus, however, did not present other evidence to back his claims.
Another possible location of the Pishon was presented in recent years by Missouri State University archaeologist Juris Zarins and Boston University geologist Farouk El-Baz. They claimed that the fossilized river that ran through the Arabia peninsula into modern Kuwait and emptied to the Persian Gulf was the location of the Pishon. For them, the key Biblical phrase they used to find the Pishon river was “Havilah, where gold is found” and there is only one place in Arabia where gold can be mined: the Mahd adh Dhahab in the Hejaz area. The dried riverbed (possible Pishon river) once flowed northeast of the Madh adh Dahb, which in Arabic means the Cradle of Gold and a likely candidate for the land of Havilah.
References:
Picture By No machine-readable author provided. Kmusser assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=323268
Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
“Has the Garden of Eden Been Located at Last?” Has the Garden of Eden Been Located at Last? Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.ldolphin.org/eden/.
Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Antiquities of the Jews. London: Routledge.
The calendar of Romulus was the first one developed by the Romans. It was later “improved” by the Roman king Numa Pompilius. A reformation of the Calendar was then started around 79 BC according to the Bible Timeline Poster with World History. The first one, the calendar of Romulus, only had 304 days divided into ten months and the year started on the first day of March. It was the Roman king Numa who introduced February and January (in that order) between December and March so instead of 304 days, the calendar now had 354 or 355 days. They later decided to move February to its current position.
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But this calendar stilled lacked some days, so an Intercalary month called Mercedonius, was added to make up for it. They tried but this new calendar was messy and the total number of days in a year varied; they sometimes had a couple of years with days that went up to 378 within an eight-year period so the Romans dropped the seven days to yield the more accurate 365.375 days.
The Romans faced issues with this calendar. Its complicated format involved much guesswork and the pontiffs who were in charge of it were sometimes bribed to manipulate the months to shorten or lengthen the term of some government officials. Leap years were also eliminated because they were considered unlucky.
The Julian Calendar
To remedy this dilemma, Julius Caesar, decided to reform the earlier lunar calendars and based it entirely on the time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. He was assisted by Greek astronomer Sosigenes who, at that time, lived in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. This improvement was initiated by Caesar in 45 BC which he aptly called the “last year of confusion” because it had a total of 445 days. 1 January 46 heralded the start of a new and reformed calendar year. Julius Caesar also changed the name of the seventh month after him, hence the month of July.
The new year had a total of 365 1/4 or 365.25 days with one leap year every four years to keep it from falling behind. Not to be outdone, Augustus named the eighth month after himself and added one day in August (subtracting from February) because he did not want Julius Caesar’s month of July to have more days than his own. To adjust the number of days, he decided to reduce September and November to 30 days and added another day to October and December to turn them into a total of 31 days.
An error of one day still occurred every 128 years even after all the reforms; the Julian calendar also became confusing as the years passed and as new holidays were added (especially Easter). The Julian calendar would remain to be in use for thousands of years until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 AD.
The First Punic War resulted in a massive loss to the Carthaginian side. They were forced to hand over several Mediterranean Sea territories over to Rome, including the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Lampedusa, and Ustica among others. These events led to the conquest of Spain starting in 236 BC according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History.
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The Treaty of Lutatius specified that Carthage would need to pay a heavy ransom so their prisoners of war could be freed by Rome. Plus a heavy compensation of 3,200 talent of silver (2,200 was paid in ten installments and 1,000 paid immediately). The First Punic War ended Carthage’s domination of the profitable Mediterranean trade and pushed them to seek a new place to reestablish their control.
This humiliation deeply affected one of Carthage’s greatest generals, Hamilcar Barca. He decided to make up for this loss by sailing west into Iberia into what is now the Mediterranean coast of Spain. A new colony was to be established in Spain, and it would serve as a new power base for Carthage. More importantly, Hamilcar planned Iberia to be the new base for Carthage’s future revenge against Rome. He took with him his whole family, but before they set sail, Hamilcar offered sacrifices to the Phoenician god Melqart. Then he made his young son, Hannibal, “swear that he would never become a friend to the Romans.” Hannibal agreed and Hamilcar, along with his family and some settlers, sailed to Spain.
“Iberian Peninsula”
They reached Spain in 236 BC and set up a base in Gadir (present day Cadiz) as the center of Carthage’s new colony. According to Greek historian Polybius, Hamilcar spent nine years colonizing the eastern coast of Spain. The young Hannibal would grow up far from his homeland. His father colonized Spain using a combination of force and diplomacy while spies were sent to the Italian Alps in the north to look for a vulnerable place where they could invade. Hamilcar drowned in the Jucar River during an escape from the Celtic stronghold of Helike.
Hamilcar was succeeded by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, as governor of Iberia. He was killed in 221 BC by one of the slaves of a Celtic king for revenge. His brother-in-law, Hannibal Barca, ruled the colony after his death and plotted his vengeance against Rome.
According to Jewish historian Josephus, the Judean king of Idumean descent, Herod the Great (74/73 BC-4 BC) decided to build a magnificent temple of God in the 18th year of his reign (listed as 20 BC on the Biblical Timeline). He proposed an expansion of the original second temple (one built under the leadership of Zerubbabel) first built during the time of the Achaemenids and continued during the time of the Macedonians. Herod spoke to the people of Jerusalem about this idea, but they were not enthusiastic at first because they feared that Herod might tear it down again. After he had reassured them that he would not tear it down, the people agreed to this magnificent building project.
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As much as ten thousand workmen were chosen to help build the temple, according to Josephus, and it was one of the biggest construction projects at the time. It was located on the northern portion of Mount Moriah and dominated the Kidron and Tyropoeon Valleys. The retaining walls were made of large cut stone blocks that were skillfully put together so well that they can still be visited today. However, the inner courts and temple themselves were destroyed many years ago. The inner portion of the walls were enclosed with porticoes or cloisters.
“Model of Herod’s Temple”
It had the same dimensions as that of Solomon’s temple which measured 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 40 cubits high. The courts were divided into four: one for priests, one for Jewish males, one for women, and the last one for Gentiles. Four storage chambers were built at each corner of the women’s courtyard: the Chamber of Lepers, Chamber of Wood, Chamber of the Nazarites, and the Chamber of Oils.
Herod enlarged the length of the temple area, but not its width and according to Josephus and the Mishnah, had several gates that led to the outer court. It had an inner court which led to the sanctuary where the altar was located and where non-Jews were forbidden to enter. The enclosure had nine gates: four on the northern wall, four on the southern wall, one on the eastern wall, and none on the western portion. Two were reserved for women (one on the north and one on the southern end) while six were reserved only for men. Next to the women’s courtyard was the Gate of Nicanor, the largest gate leading to the temple, which measured 50 cubits high and 40 cubits wide.
The temple itself towered up to 15 stories high and divided into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place contained the altar of incense, the seven-branched golden candlestick, and the table of the shewbread. It led to an inner sanctuary called the Holy of Holies, which the Jews considered as the dwelling place of God. The Ark of Covenant was located inside, and divided from the Holy Place by a curtain or veil. The magnificent decorations of the temple were covered in with silver, gold, and bronze.
According to John 2:20, it took forty-six years for the temple to be completed, but it was only completed during the procuratorship of Albius. Which means it took more than eighty years to complete the temple. It was destroyed by fire less than a decade later by the Romans when Jerusalem was besieged by Titus.
References:
Picture By Berthold Werner – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5333254
“JewishEncyclopedia.com.” TEMPLE OF HEROD –. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016
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