The Mi’kmaq tribe settled in what is now the Gaspé Peninsula and Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick) of Canada. Their development of script writing occurred around the end 0f 100 BC according to the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History. The people were primarily hunter-gatherers and the Atlantic provided them with an abundant supply of fish, shellfish, and sea mammals as additional food. Explorer John Cabot docked on the shores of eastern Canada in 1497 and traded with the local Mi’kmaq tribes.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
French and Scottish settlers arrived in Nova Scotia in the early part of the 17th century but the local Mi’kmaq population remained an important part of the Nova Scotia community. Chrétien Le Clercq, a Franciscan friar was sent as a missionary to Quebec, saw Mi’kmaq children carve glyphs on birchbark when he taught them the Lord’s Prayer. Whether it was an ancient form of writing or a system to help them memorize (as Le Clercq had suggested), the friar would later use the writing system with a figure to represent each line of the Lord’s Prayer. This writing system would later spread to other Indian tribes. It is still used by the Mi’kmaq people today.
References:
Picture By Christian Kauder – Christian Kauder, 1866, Buch, das gut, enhaltend den Katechismus, Betrachtung, Gesang. Die kaiserliche wie auch königliche Buchdruckerei hat es gedruckt in der kaiserlichen Stadt Wien in Oesterreich, page 73, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10458992 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/nova-scotia/
Cox, James H., and Daniel Heath Justice. The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature. Oxford University Press, 2014
The earliest remains found of humans that settled in the Americas came from a cave called On Your Knees located in Alaska. The DNA sample extracted from a human tooth in that cave proved that the genetic mutations were similar to the people from parts of northeast Asia and Japan. This indicated that people from Asia crossed over through the Bering Straight to the Americas. According to the Bible Timeline Poster with World History, the Haida and Kwakiutl Tribes that descended from these people began to thrive in Northwest America after 200 BC.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
The Haida people today live in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) on the Pacific coast of Canada, as well as Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. The Kwakiutl people, meanwhile, now live in the coastal areas between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia.
“Kwakiutl man kneeling on one knee”
Many of the migrant peoples continued southward to the Pacific coast of the United States. They continued on until they reached Central and South America; this explains why the living Haida people share a close genetic link to the Chumash people of California, the Yaghan people of Tierra Del Fuego in Chile, and the Cayapa (Chachi) people of Ecuador.
The people of Haida Gwaii hunted around the island for food and fished around the Hecate Strait. The Haida also harvested the abundant shellfish. This stability of food allowed them to establish settlements on the island as well as devote time for arts. They were also able to improve the design of their canoes which they cleverly used to navigate the Hecate Strait in search of food and to raid the mainland tribes.
The Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw) was another group of people that settled in the coastal areas of British Columbia. The men engaged in hunting while the women gathered additional food. But their main source of food was the bountiful sea where they fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted for marine mammals.
One of the greatest persons who lived at the same time as Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Achaemenid king Darius III was the founder of the Mauryan empire Chandragupta (340-297 BC). Chandragupta Maurya is recorded on the Bible Timeline with World History around 315 BC. He was known to Greek and Roman historians as Sandrocottus (or Androcottus). He ruled from 321 BC until his death in 297 BC. The Mauryan dynasty he founded in India and parts of modern Pakistan would last until 185 BC.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
Chandragupta was the illegitimate child of a Nanda prince Sarvathasiddhi and a maid from a lower caste. Other sources such as the Mudrarakshasa by Visakhadatta linked him directly to the Nanda dynasty, but a later Buddhist text linked him to the Kshatriya (warrior-ruler caste) tribe called Maurya. The Jain version of his origin offered a different explanation and linked him to a family of peacock-tamers of the Magadha kingdom.
“The Jain version of his origin offered a different explanation and linked him to a family of peacock-tamers of the Magadha kingdom.”
After the death of his father, Chandragupta was left to a cowherd but was later bought by Kautilya, the Brahman teacher, and politician who would help him build an empire. He was taken to Taxila (in modern-day Rawalpindi in Pakistan) and there he learned warfare under Kautilya. He probably met Alexander of Macedon in Taxila but would escape later and raise his own army on the advice of his mentor Kautilya.
Together they removed the Nanda Dynasty, who ruled the Magadha kingdom in northern India and reigned from its capital Paliputra starting in 322 BC. After Alexander’s death, his empire split apart, and his infantry general Seleucus I Nicator fought with other generals for control over Asia including the Indus Valley region. He tried to reconquer the region that Chandragupta claimed after Alexander’s death but was defeated by the Mauryan king in 305 BC. As part of their peace treaty, Chandragupta gave hundreds of war elephants to Seleucus. The Macedonian ruler also sent the explorer Megasthenes to the Mauryan court as an ambassador.
Chandragupta expanded his empire and at its height, its territory spanned from modern-day Afghanistan to the Vindhya mountain range in central India. Kautilya became Chandragupta’s prime minister during his reign and later wrote Arthrashastra (classic Indian text on running an empire).
Chandragupta expanded his empire and conquered the southern portion of India except for the kingdom of Kalinga on the coast of the Bay of Bengal and the Tamil regions. The kingdom of Kalinga would be annexed many years later by Chandragupta’s grandson Ashoka Vardhana.
He converted to Jainism later in life and led the life of an ascetic (monk) in the city of Shravanabelagola. He abdicated the throne for his son Bindusara and died in the same city after a self-imposed starvation.
References:
Kainiraka, Sanu. From Indus to Independence – A Trek Through Indian History: Vol I Prehistory to the Fall of the Mauryas. Vij Books India Pvt, 2016
Kautalya, and L. N. Rangarajan. The Arthashastra. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1992
Mookerji, Radhakumud. Chandragupta Maurya and His times. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1966
The Achaemenid Empire began in 550 BC but went through a period of long and slow decline over its 220-year history. The end of the Persian Government occurred around 330 BC according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History. Palace intrigue and revolts from other territories contributed to the deterioration, but the most potent yet unexpected threat to the Persian Empire was the rise of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great. A man of great ambitions, he inherited his father’s professional Macedonian army and was backed by Greek forces who resented the Persian invasion in their lands.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
The court of the last three Achaemenid kings was full of intrigue and violence according to Greek historian Diodorus. It was said that the Persian king Artaxerxes III was murdered by his own eunuch and military official Bagoas who replaced him with the king’s youngest son Arses (Artaxerxes IV). To ensure that only he would influence the king, Bagoas had Arses’ brothers killed as well. However, this act angered the new king. Bagoas had Arses and his whole family killed after he found that the new king was not as cooperative as he had hoped.
“Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories”
Bagoas then replaced Arses with the royal family’s distant relative Darius III whom he thought would be easier to control. He planned to get rid of the new king again when he found that Darius III would not submit to him, but the new Persian king was aware of his plans. The ill-fated Bagoas was forced to drink the poison he prepared for Darius.
The rise of Alexander and his forces proved too much for Darius III and the Persian army and their allies were first defeated in the Battle of Granicus in Anatolia. He was then forced to flee to Persia when he and his forces were defeated by Alexander at the Battle of Issus. Alexander turned south to the Persian territories of Phoenicia instead of pursuing Darius into Achaemenid heartland. Sidon, Aradus, and Byblos immediately surrendered when faced with a strong army. Tyre held out—with devastating consequences. The Phoenician city was besieged by Alexander’s forces and it resulted in a massacre of many of the city’s residents.
The city of Gaza also experienced the same fate as Tyre. This ended the Persian domination in the cities on the Asian coast of the Mediterranean. On the other hand, the Egyptians frequently rebelled against their Persian rulers in the past so it was not surprising that they welcomed the Macedonian king and his forces to get rid of the Persians. After he had established a Greco-Macedonian government in Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt, Alexander marched back to Asia and met Darius III in the battle for the last time. He defeated Darius in the Battle of Gaugamela near Arbela and the Persian king fled to Ecbatana to raise another army. He and Alexander were not fated to meet again as he would be killed by the Bactrian satrap Bessus, who proclaimed himself king after the murder of Darius.
Alexander used the opportunity to present himself as the legitimate king and heir of the vast Persian empire by “avenging” the death of Darius. He had Darius’ body sent back to Persepolis in a funeral fit for his status as the former king of Persia and had him buried properly. Alexander then proclaimed himself ruler of the Persian empire and ended the 220-year Persian rule in parts of western and central Asia, as well as North Africa.
Much of what is known about Phoenicia under Persia come from the Greek historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus. According to Herodotus, Phoenicia formed a part of Persia’s Fifth Satrapy, which included Cyprus, Palestine, and Syria. This event is listed on the Bible Timeline Poster with World History at 483 BC. It was the Eber-Nari district in the book Ezra (5:3), and this portion of the Near East was inherited by the Persians from the Neo-Babylonian empire.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
Phoenicia was Persia’s ally and vassal during the reign of the Cyrus the Great. It seemed that Cyrus saw a campaign in the Levant was unnecessary. It was too far from his capital of Susa and he was busy with wars against Persia’s neighbors during the first years of his reign. He did not send Persian troops nor governors into the area but the citizens of the Fifth Satrapy needed to pay tribute to him. According to the Bible, Cyrus’ most important act was to set the Jews free from Babylonian captivity and allow them to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
Phoenicia and Persia both benefited from this alliance. This friendly relationship between the two continued to the reign of Cambyses. Persia did not have a navy at that time, so Phoenicia provided the ships the Empire needed. Cambyses conquered Egypt with the help of the Phoenician ships and planned to attack Carthage, but the Phoenicians refused to help Cambyses with this campaign as Carthage was a Phoenician colony. Cambyses was not willing to continue without the help of the Phoenician navy so he ended this conquest.
Wars between Persia and Greece were frequent during the reign of later Persian kings, but the Persians could always count on the Phoenician navy to help them. Xerxes I launched an attack against the Greek army. In the Battle of Salamis, the Phoenicians engineered a floating bridge across the Hellespont (Dardanelles) so the whole Persian army could march to mainland Greece.
“A naval action during the siege of Tyre in South Lebanon (350 BC). “
The Battle of Salamis did not go well for the Persians, and the Phoenicians were blamed by Xerxes for the defeat. He beheaded some Phoenician captains, so the rest abandoned him and sailed back to their own land. For the next 15 years, they did not take part in any Persian campaigns. However, in 465 BC the Phoenicians once again supported the Persians against the Greeks. They continued to support Persia until the empire’s decline.
In 366 BC, the Persian Empire was on the verge of decline when Phoenicia rebelled along with the Anatolian provinces/satrapies by refusing to pay tribute. Egypt also seized the chance to rebel against Persian rule, but both rebellions failed. In 351 BC, the Phoenicians once again declared their independence from Persia, this was led by Tennes, the king of Sidon. Many Persians who lived in Sidon and Tyre were either killed or driven off from the Phoenician cities. This angered Artaxerxes III (Ochus), and he raised his army to attack Phoenicia.
The Phoenician king stopped the rebellion when he saw the powerful Persian army, and he was killed later by Artaxerxes for leading the revolt. The Phoenicians were disappointed with the result of the rebellion, but they continued with their trade and domination in the Mediterranean.
References:
Rawlinson, George, and Tom Griffith. Herodotus: Histories. Ware, Hertfordshire, England: Wordsworth Editions, 1996
Rawlinson, George. History of Phoenicia. London: Longmans, Green, 1889
Diodorus, and C. H. Oldfather. The Library of History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004
Jigoulov, Vadim S. The Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia: Being a Phoenician, Negotiating Empires. London: Equinox Pub., 2010
Picture By Andre Castaigne – http://www.alexanderstomb.com/main/imageslibrary/alexander/index.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=649243
Few kings and their sons could boast of making their kingdoms the most influential in the ancient world. This was an achievement for Philip II and his son Alexander the Great of Macedonia. According to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History, this lasted between 301 and 146 BC. Alexander was one of the most extraordinary conquerors in his own right. It was his father who nurtured his ambition and set the stage for his conquest including some parts of North Africa and Asia.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
Before Philip became king of Macedonia, the kingdom bordered Greece city-states. The Macedonians were considered as ‘barbarians’ by the Greeks. Philip was held as a hostage in Thebes during the reign of his brother Alexander II. Because of this, he learned Greek military techniques. Alexander II was succeeded by another brother called Perdiccas III but was killed in a battle against the Illyrians. Philip was then brought back to Macedonia to claim the throne.
“Alexander the Great. 3rd century BC statue”
To secure his reign and strengthen his military, Philip chose not to fight the Athenians and gave them the city of Amphipolis as part of a treaty. The Illyrians and Paeonians were threats to Macedonia early in his reign, but he defeated both when he was confident that his army was strong enough to invade his northwestern neighbors. Their use of a long spear called sarissa made the Macedonian forces one of the most formidable of that time. He then set his sights on Thessaly, conquered the city of Larissa, and acquired the defeated troops to boost the Macedonian forces.
He was now confident enough to attack Athens after these spectacular victories. He started by taking back Amphipolis. Because of this, Philip had access to the rich silver and gold mines of Mount Pangaeus and added its riches to the Macedonian treasury. He stopped short of Thermopylae because a strong alliance among the Athenian, Spartan, and Achaean barred him from entering the pass.
Philip was also a master of making alliances through marriage. He created an alliance with the Illyrians on the western coast by marrying the Illyrian princess Audata, as well as Olympias of Epirus. He also married Phila of Elimeia, Meda of Odessos, Nicesipolis of Thessaly, and Cleopatra Eurydice, who was a Macedonian noblewoman. The mother of Philip III Arrhidaeus was a minor wife or concubine named Philinna of Larissa.
Philip would later capture the city of Olynthus which raised concerns among the Greeks. He was smart enough not to push for war but made peace with the Greeks and became part of the Delphic Amphictyony (council). His wealth bought him friends and allies from the Greek side, but this tactic also made him enemies who were concerned with the dangers he posed to Athenian domination.
Philip’s victory over the Greeks in Chaeronea earned him several peace treaties with the rulers of the city-states. His son Alexander helped him earn this victory, and Philip became the leader (hegemon) of the League of Corinth, also known as the Hellenic League. He set his sights on the Achaemenid empire as he was advised years earlier by the Athenian orator Isocrates. Philip was assassinated by his own bodyguard Pausanias of Orestis. His son Alexander III rose to fulfill his father’s ambition of conquering Asia.
Alexander’s Asian Conquest
It seemed that Philip himself blessed Alexander when he said that his son should “look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee”(Plutarch) after taming the warhorse Bucephalus. Alexander inherited a disciplined and professional military from his father, who made the soldiers serve full time rather than allow them to work as farmers when they were not at war. He also had the support of the Greeks who were resentful of the repeated attacks made by the Persian army on their homeland. They contributed their troops to Alexander’s to form one formidable force.
He crossed from Europe to Anatolia in 334 BC where he won the Battle of Granicus against the satraps and allied Greek mercenaries of Darius III. Darius himself commanded a large army when he and Alexander met in the Battle of Issus in Cilicia. But Darius was soundly defeated and was forced to flee to Persia. Alexander then chose to march to the most vulnerable territories of the Achaemenid Empire: Palestine, Phoenicia, and Egypt.
The Phoenician cities of Sidon, Byblos, and Aradus surrendered without bloodshed to Alexander’s army. But the rulers of Tyre defied him, so Alexander besieged the city until it fell in 332 BC. Most of its citizens were killed while the women and children were sold into slavery. Gaza would suffer the same fate while the conquest of Egypt was easy enough for the Macedonian ruler because of the Egyptian’s resentment against their Persian rulers. He founded the coastal city of Alexandria which went on to become one of the greatest cities of the Mediterranean.
After securing Palestine, Phoenicia, and Egypt, Alexander, and his troops marched back to face Darius one more time in the Battle of Gaugamela near Arbela (modern Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan). Darius was defeated, and he fled to Ecbatana where he tried to raise an army to fight Alexander once again but was murdered by the Bactrian satrap Bessus. Alexander “avenged” the death of the Persian king and ordered the execution of Bessus, but he was also motivated to execute Bessus so it would look like he was the rightful heir to the Persian throne.
He acquired Bactria and Sogdiana when he claimed the Persian empire, and he sent expeditions to India to expand his empire. The northwestern frontiers of Pakistan and India would be the limit of Alexander’s Asian empire after he won several important battles there. He came back to Babylon and stayed there until his death in 323 BC at the age of 32. Even after his death, Alexander of Macedon would be remembered as one of the greatest generals in history.
Partition of Alexander’s Empire
After Alexander’s death in Babylon, a war broke out among his successors including his family, friends, and generals. The Wars of the Diadochi included Alexander’s somatophylakes or bodyguards, various Macedonian satraps, Macedonian royalties close to Alexander, and non-Macedonian generals. Macedonia was ruled by the Antipatrid dynasty after the Wars of the Diadochi, but it was wrested from their hands by the founder of the Antigonid dynasty Antigonus I Monophthalmus. This dynasty ruled Macedonia until they lost the Battle of Pydna to the Romans.
The city states of Greece were Rome’s nearest neighbors. Greece’s loss against the Romans can be found on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History at 282 BC. The Greeks established colonies in the southern tip of Italy, the historically called ‘Magna Graecia.’ Which included the cities of Neopolis, Syracuse, Tarentum, Sybaris, and Croton. These cities were near the coast and the profits reaped from the trade that went through these harbors made the cities of Magna Graecia wealthy and powerful.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
“These cities were near the coast and the profits reaped from the trade that went through these harbors made the cities of Magna Graecia wealthy and powerful.”
Unfortunately, the cities’ position on the coast also made them vulnerable to attacks from clashing powers such as Rome, Carthage, and Greece. One of those was the coastal city of Tarentum (Taras). It that was caught up in a quarrel between a Samnite tribe and the Greek city of Thurii. The Greek city asked Rome for naval assistance. For Tarentum, that was an act of provocation, so they asked Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, to help them.
Pyrrhus arrived to help Tarentum and was initially victorious against the Roman forces. It was during this war that the term ‘Pyrrhic victory’ was first used. Pyrrhus suffered huge losses even though he won the war. He left Italy to help the Greeks in Sicily but was defeated when he returned to Rome. Tarentum and other Greek colonies were besieged by Roman forces soon after. They were also caught between the Roman armies and the Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal during the Second Punic War. Hannibal captured the city, but the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus retook it years later.
The Ptolemies, who originally came from Macedonia, were some of the most intriguing families in history. Their reign lasted from 323 BC to 30 BC according to the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History. The first Ptolemy came to power after the death of Alexander the Great in Babylonia. His generals, including Ptolemy, divided the empire between each other. He became the sole ruler of Egypt after the death of Alexander’s general Perdiccas.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
This was not the first time Egypt was under foreign rule, but all the previous foreign rulers were challenged and successfully driven out of the land. To boost his claim on the Egyptian throne, Ptolemy asserted that his father was Ptolemy (Alexander the Great’s father) as his mother was pregnant by the time she was given in marriage to Lagus. This meant that he was Alexander’s brother and that he came from Macedonian royalty. Ptolemy also took advantage of the native Egyptian’s belief that kings were also gods. He claimed that he descended from Zeus, Heracles, and Dionysius.
“A bust depicting Ptolemy II”
The Ptolemies followed Egyptian royal tradition and married their own siblings which started when Ptolemy II married his sister Arsinoe II. This marriage had two goals: to ensure her loyalty to the king and control her possessions she inherited from the dead King Lysimachus. This tradition continued until the reign of the last Ptolemaic ruler. The Ptolemies also married other women, so the court ran out of intrigue.
Alexandria became the new capital of Egypt during the rule of the Ptolemies. It was a city of great wealth, and it rivaled other Hellenistic capitals of the ancient world in splendor. It contained the remains of Alexander the Great. And the construction of the lighthouse of Alexandria on the island of Pharos made the city one of the major trading ports of the Mediterranean.
What made it one of the greatest cities in the ancient world was its Mouseion (Museum) which also contained the Great Library of Alexandria, the center for scientific research and scholarship in the Mediterranean. It also helped that Alexandria was a center for agricultural and precious commodities of trade, so it became a hub for the exchange of ideas and cultures. But its culture remained Greco-Macedonian.
The Ptolemies owned much of the land, and they divided the lands between the temple, soldiers, and other people in service of the king. The land was controlled by the government which strictly kept track of the revenues reaped from the agriculture. The Egyptians were given freedom by the Ptolemies to worship their own gods, and they even built temples to honor native Egyptian gods.
Ptolemaic Egypt was in a slow decline by the time of the rise of the Roman Empire. Conflicts within their own family threatened their rule over Egypt. This situation was made worse by the violent tendencies of the Alexandrian mob. Some of those lynched by the mob were Agathocles and his family because of the murder of Arsinoe III. As well as Ptolemy XI for the murder of his wife, Berenice. The Alexandrian mob was so powerful that even the Ptolemies were afraid of it.
As internal conflicts slowly destroyed Ptolemaic Egypt, it did not help that the government was weakened by corrupt local officials and military. The native Egyptians resented the advantages of the Greeks and Macedonians who ruled over them. There was widespread famine and inflation, so revolts led by native Egyptians were common during the rule of the Ptolemies.
Rome played a large part in Egyptian politics during its decline. It reached its peak during the conflict between the last Ptolemaic rulers: Cleopatra VII and her brothers. It did not help that by 167 BC Macedonia lost its independence to Rome. This was followed by Pergamon when its king died without an heir. The Seleucid empire of Asia was also on the verge of collapse. Large chunks of its land were added to Rome as provinces. Ptolemaic Egypt soon lost the territories of Cyrenaica and Cyprus and the Ptolemies were replaced by the Romans starting with Octavian (Augustus).
References:
Picture By Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011), CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16921071
Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
The road to kingship over Egypt was not easy for Ptolemy. However, he successfully established his authority in 305 BC. This started the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which lasted until 204 BC according to the Biblical Timeline with World History. Despite this, his family ruled Egypt for almost 300 years with the famous Cleopatra VII as the last queen of Egypt in 30 BC. All of them were Macedonians, and all male rulers used the name Ptolemy (with variations such as Philadelphos, Eurgetes, etc.) while the female rulers used either Arsinoe, Berenice, or Cleopatra as their names.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
Alexander the Great in Babylon threw his large empire into chaos when he died without an heir. Although he had an unborn child by his wife Roxana, his empire, which spanned from Greece to the borders of India, were divided among his trusted generals (diadochi): Seleucus I over Asia, Cassander over Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus over Trace and Asia Minor, and Ptolemy I over Egypt.
Before Ptolemy ruled Egypt, Alexander first appointed the unpopular Cleomenes of Naucratis as governor of Egypt. Perdiccas, upon Alexander’s death, stood as regent for Philip III (Alexander’s half-brother who had mild learning difficulties). Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy as governor over Egypt instead. When Perdiccas sent Alexander’s remains from Babylon to Macedonia, Ptolemy prevented its return. He then diverted Alexander’s remains to Egypt as a way to legitimize his rule. This made Perdiccas angry, and he raised an army to invade Egypt. He was was unsuccessful in this quest after he was killed by his own officers.
“Antony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema”
It was the practice of the Ptolemaic dynasty to marry within their own family as it was the tradition of the native Egyptian pharaohs. It started with Ptolemy II (Philadelphos) who married his sister Arsinoe II. This practice continued until Cleopatra VII’s reign. The Macedonian rulers used the Egyptian religion and culture to legitimize their rule over the territory. They allowed the native Egyptians freedom to worship their own gods and styled themselves as gods after the Egyptian practice. Their queens were even proclaimed as goddesses after their death.
What made the Ptolemaic dynasty unique was that they allowed women to rule either alone or as coregent with their husbands. They also gave lands to Greek and Macedonian veterans so they could settle in Egypt. Many of them married native Egyptians, but they set themselves apart by using the Greek language, laws, and culture. The Ptolemies even refused to learn the Egyptian language which made them unpopular with the people.
The native Egyptians were not influential during this period, and the country was plagued with rebellions against the Macedonian rulers. The Ptolemies also dealt with conflicts within their own family. This started between Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy VI and spilled over to mother and daughter who were both named Cleopatra. Finally, a civil war broke out between Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra II.
The Ptolemaic dynasty continued to rule Egypt until it became a Roman province in 30 BC. The last monarch from the Ptolemaic dynasty was Cleopatra VII, who died from a bite from an asp after Octavian (Augustus) defeated her and her lover, Mark Antony.
Darius III (Codomannus) readied his troops in Anatolia, Syria, and Phoenicia when he heard that the young Alexander of Macedon and his troops crossed already crossed Asia from Europe. Darius had the Phoenician fleet on standby and five thousand Macedonian mercenaries led by Memnon of Rhodes on land to defend his territories. Phoenicia made a brave stand and resisted invasion as best they could, but were overcome and became a Greco-Macedonian Monarch during 332 BC according to the Bible Timeline Chart with World History. The Macedonian troops led by Alexander and the Persian troops led by Memnon along with the satraps of Asia Minor met on the banks of the Granicus River. The Persian troops lost the Battle of Granicus and Alexander would later defeat the Persian army led by Darius in the Battle of Issus.
[This article continues after a message from the authors]
These Articles are Written by the Publishers of The Amazing Bible Timeline
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space. Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
The Macedonian troops led by Alexander and the Persian troops led by Memnon along with the satraps of Asia Minor met at the banks of the Granicus River. The Persian troops lost the Battle of Granicus and Alexander would later defeat the Persian army led by Darius in the Battle of Issus.
The breakdown of the Persian rule now left the coast of Phoenicia open to Alexander and the Macedonian army. Left without a choice, the Phoenicians surrendered to Alexander immediately and the cities of Marathus, Mariamme, Sigon, and Aradus were the first ones to open the city gates. The cities of Byblos and Sidon also welcomed Alexander without bloodshed. Their kings were away in the service of the Persian-Phoenician fleet, but the city of Tyre held out against the Macedonian and Greek forces.
“Detail of Alexander Mosaic, showing Battle of Issus”
The Siege of Tyre started in 332 BC after Alexander requested the envoys of the city to allow him to make a sacrifice to Heracles in a temple of Melkarth in New Tyre. The Tyrians refused and asked him to make the sacrifice in a temple in Old Tyre instead—a refusal which Alexander took as a sign of rebellion against his authority. The people of the city of Tyre tried to defend themselves against Alexander and his army. They sent the women, children, and other vulnerable people to Carthage for safety. The Tyrians also fanned Alexander’s anger after they killed his negotiators.
Following an initial victory on the side of the Tyrians, Alexander called on his allies (including those from Phoenician cities of Sidon, Byblos, and Aradus) to send him additional fleets. The outnumbered Tyrians were taken by surprise. However, they defended the city until Alexander’s combined Greek and Macedonian troops entered and killed many people. Several were also sold into slavery, but the king and his family were spared. It took Alexander and his army seven months until they successfully conquered Tyre. He then removed the Tyrian king from his throne and replaced him with a man named Ballonymos.
Alexander ruled Tyre after the war and the Phoenicians’ trade with other Mediterranean ports resumed. Phoenician soldiers and sailors served in Alexander’s army and navy, while Phoenician shipbuilders provided Alexander with the ships, he needed for various campaigns. Before his death, Alexander planned to conquer the Persian Gulf with the help of the Phoenician navy. The plan was discontinued when Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC.
References:
Picture By Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32224321
Diodorus, and C. H. Oldfather. The Library of History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004
Rawlinson, George. History of Phoenicia. London: Longmans, Green, 1889
 Tribe of Nova Scotia%3A%20http%3A%2F%2Famazingbibletimeline.com%2Fblog%2Fmiqmak-micmac-tribe-of-nova-scotia-hieroglyphic-writing-system-of-the%2F)
