Timeline of Middle Eastern History - Classical Antiquity

Classical Antiquity

• 606 BCE-586 BCE: The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar burns the Solomon's Temple.
• Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and created the Persian Empire (6th century BCE)
• 537 BCE: Cyrus allows the Israelites to return from the Babylonian captivity and rebuild the Temple.
• 515 BCE: The Second Temple is built.
• Sparta and Athens fought the Peloponnesian War
• Alexander the Great conquered Persia (330s BCE)
• Hellenic Greek culture spread through the Mediterranean
• The Roman Republic rose and fell
• Beginning of Christianity (1st century CE) and Islam (7th century CE)
• Jewish-Roman Wars and Jewish diaspora. In 135, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Iudaea Province into Syria Palaestina.
• The Olympic Games observed until 393
• The Library of Alexandria, largest library in the world, burned
• Rise and fall of the Roman Empire