Events, Verisoph

c. 30 Crucifixion of Jesus 0 cit. Roman authorities execute Jesus of Nazareth outside Jerusalem around the year 30. His followers' belief in his resurrection founds Christianity, which grows into the world's largest religion. religion ●●●●●

c. 33 The Crucifixion and Resurrection 0 cit. The traditional dating places the crucifixion of Jesus at Jerusalem in AD 33, with AD 30 the main alternative, followed by the resurrection on the third day in the Gospel accounts. Ussher himself held to AD 33. religion ●●●●●

c. 33 Pentecost 0 cit. Fifty days after the resurrection, in the traditional reckoning of AD 33, the Holy Spirit descends on the disciples at Jerusalem. Acts presents this as the founding moment of the Christian church. religion ●●●●

c. 35 Conversion of Paul 0 cit. About AD 35 in the traditional reckoning Saul of Tarsus is converted on the road to Damascus. As the apostle Paul he becomes the leading missionary of the early church. religion ●●●

c. 45 to c. 58 Paul's Missionary Journeys 0 cit. Between about AD 45 and 58 Paul makes three missionary journeys from Antioch through Asia Minor and Greece, founding churches and writing many of the New Testament letters. exploration / religion ●●●

c. 50 The Council of Jerusalem 0 cit. About AD 50 the apostles and elders meet at Jerusalem to decide whether Gentile converts must keep the law of Moses. Acts 15 records their decision that they need not be circumcised. religion ●●

c. 60 to c. 62 Paul Imprisoned in Rome 0 cit. About AD 60 to 62 Paul is held under guard in Rome awaiting trial before Caesar, where Acts leaves him preaching freely. Several of his letters are traditionally assigned to this imprisonment. religion ●●

66 to 73 First Jewish-Roman War 0 cit. A Jewish revolt against Roman rule ends with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE. The war scatters the Jewish population and reshapes Judaism. religion / war ●●●

c. 67 Martyrdom of Peter and Paul 0 cit. Church tradition places the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul at Rome about AD 67, under the persecution of Nero. religion ●●●

c. 67 Buddhism reaches China 0 cit. Chinese tradition dates the official arrival of Buddhism to an embassy under Emperor Ming, followed by the founding of the White Horse Temple at Luoyang. Buddhism goes on to become one of China's three major teachings. religion ●●●●

c. 67 Arrival of Buddhism in China 0 cit. Buddhism reached China from India along the Silk Road during the first century CE. Tradition dates its official introduction to Emperor Ming of Han and the founding of the White Horse Temple. religion ●●●●●

70 Fall of Jerusalem 0 cit. In AD 70 the Roman army under Titus destroys Jerusalem and burns the Second Temple. Christian tradition read the event as the fulfillment of Jesus's prophecy in the Gospels. politics / religion / war ●●●●

c. 70 Academy at Yavneh and the rise of rabbinic Judaism 0 cit. Tradition holds that Yohanan ben Zakkai establishes an academy at Yavneh after the loss of the Temple. There the rabbis reorganize Judaism around Torah study, prayer, and law rather than sacrifice. religion ●●●●

September 70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Fall of Judea 0 cit. In 70 CE Roman legions under Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, ending the First Jewish-Roman War. The Judean commonwealth was crushed and its people scattered. politics / religion / war ●●●●

August 70 Destruction of the Second Temple 0 cit. Roman forces under Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. The date is mourned in Judaism as Tisha B'Av and marked a turning point toward rabbinic Judaism. religion / war ●●●●●

August 70 Roman destruction of the Second Temple 0 cit. Roman forces under Titus crush the Jewish revolt and burn the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The loss of the Temple ends sacrificial worship and forces a lasting reshaping of the religion around study, prayer, and law. Its destruction is still mourned on the fast of Tisha B'Av. religion / war ●●●

c. 90 Pascha: Easter grows out of the Jewish Passover 0 cit. The earliest Christians tied Jesus's death and resurrection to the Jewish Passover, Pesach, at which it happened. In most of the world's languages Easter is still called some form of Pascha, from Passover, which is the festival's true root and name, not the Babylonian Ishtar of popular myth. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 95 Revelation names Rome 'Mystery, Babylon the Great' 0 cit. The Book of Revelation casts the Roman Empire as 'Babylon the Great, mother of harlots', turning Babylon into the enduring symbol of worldly power and corruption. The image still drives religious and conspiratorial talk of a 'Mystery Babylon' today. culture / religion ●●●

c. 96 Revelation on Patmos 0 cit. Tradition places the visions of the book of Revelation about AD 96, received by John in exile on the island of Patmos in the reign of Domitian. With it the New Testament canon closes. religion ●●●

c. 98 Tacitus records the gods of the Germanic tribes 0 cit. In his Germania, the Roman historian Tacitus described Germanic worship and matched their gods to Roman ones such as Mercury and Mars. These early gods are ancestors of the later Norse deities. religion / society ●●

c. 98 The interpretatio romana matches foreign gods to Roman ones 0 cit. Romans routinely identified the gods of other peoples with their own, calling a Celtic or Germanic god by a Roman name they thought fit. Tacitus used this method to describe Germanic religion. culture / religion ●●●

98 Tacitus describes the gods of the Germans 0 cit. The Roman historian Tacitus writes Germania, the earliest account of Germanic religion, describing gods he equates with Mercury (Wodan), Hercules (Donar), and Mars (Tiwaz), and sacred groves without temples or idols. It is the first written window onto the faith that became Norse mythology. culture / religion ●●●

c. 100 to c. 900 Merkabah and Hekhalot mysticism 0 cit. An early current of Jewish mysticism centered on visionary ascents through heavenly palaces (hekhalot) toward the divine throne-chariot. Its texts describe angelic hierarchies, hymns, and techniques for the ascent of the soul. culture / religion ●●●

c. 100 The cult of Mithras spreads through the Roman army 0 cit. Mithraism, a mystery religion centered on the god Mithras slaying a bull, drew many Roman soldiers and met in underground temples. Its origins drew on the Persian deity Mithra reshaped in a Roman setting. religion / war ●●

c. 100 The seven-day week is named for the sun, moon, and planets 0 cit. The planetary week assigned each day to a heavenly body and its god, a system that spread through the Roman world. English kept some Roman names and swapped others for Germanic gods. religion / society ●●●

c. 100 Sunday and Monday are named for the sun and the moon 0 cit. Sunday keeps the Roman day of the sun and Monday the day of the moon, both once treated as divine. The names survived the shift to Christianity across northern Europe. religion / society ●●

c. 100 Saturday keeps the name of the Roman god Saturn 0 cit. Unlike the other weekdays in English, Saturday kept its Roman name, the day of Saturn, without a Germanic substitute. It preserves the old god directly in modern speech. religion / society ●●

c. 100 Hermes Trismegistus merges the Greek Hermes with Egyptian Thoth 0 cit. In the Hellenistic world the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian god of writing Thoth were fused into Hermes Trismegistus, a supposed sage of hidden wisdom. Texts attributed to him shaped later magic, alchemy, and the occult. culture / religion ●●

c. 100 The planetary seven-day week spreads through the Roman world 0 cit. The seven-day week with days named for the sun, moon, and five planets, rooted in Babylonian astrology and merged with the Jewish sabbath, takes hold across the Roman Empire. It is the direct ancestor of the modern week and the planetary names still carried by the days. culture / religion ●●●

c. 100 to c. 900 Merkabah and Heikhalot mysticism 0 cit. An early current of Jewish mysticism focused on visionary ascents through heavenly palaces, the heikhalot, toward the divine throne-chariot, the merkabah of Ezekiel's vision. Its texts describe angelic hierarchies and hymns, and rabbinic law restricted such study to a few advanced initiates. culture / religion ●●

132 to 136 Bar Kokhba Revolt 0 cit. Simon bar Kokhba leads a final Jewish revolt against Rome that is crushed with enormous loss of life. Rome bans Jews from Jerusalem and renames the province Syria Palaestina. religion / war ●●●

135 Judea Renamed Syria Palaestina 0 cit. After the Bar Kokhba revolt, the emperor Hadrian barred Jews from Jerusalem and renamed the province Syria Palaestina. The period marks the deepening of the Jewish diaspora. politics / religion ●●●

c. 142 Way of the Celestial Masters founded 0 cit. Tradition holds that Laozi appeared to Zhang Daoling, who founded the Way of the Celestial Masters. It is the first organized Daoist religious community, ancestor of later Daoist churches. religion ●●●

c. 150 Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos codifies astrology 0 cit. The same Ptolemy who wrote the great astronomy textbook also writes the Tetrabiblos, the standard handbook of astrology for the next 1,500 years. Astronomy and astrology were one science, taught together, well into the modern age. religion / science ●●●●

184 to 205 Yellow Turban Rebellion 0 cit. A massive peasant revolt led by Taoist sect leaders shakes the Han dynasty. Suppressing it empowers regional warlords and begins the Han collapse. religion / society / war ●●●

c. 200 The Mishnah is compiled 0 cit. Judah ha-Nasi redacts the Mishnah, the first written compilation of Jewish oral law. It becomes the foundation of the Talmud and of all later rabbinic Judaism. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 200 to c. 600 Composition of the Sefer Yetzirah 0 cit. The Sefer Yetzirah, or Book of Formation, sets out a cosmology in which the world is created through the ten sefirot and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Its date is debated, with most scholars placing it between the second and sixth centuries. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 200 The Hermetica are written in Greco-Roman Egypt 0 cit. A body of Greek texts on magic, astrology, alchemy, and the divine mind is composed in Roman Egypt and attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the 'thrice-great' Hermes, a fusion of the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth. These Hermetica became the scripture of Western esotericism. religion / science ●●●●

c. 200 Judah ha-Nasi compiles the Mishnah 0 cit. Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi gathered the accumulated oral law into the Mishnah, a concise ordered code of rulings and debates in six divisions. Committing the Oral Torah to a fixed text preserved it after the loss of the Temple and gave rabbinic Judaism its legal backbone. culture / religion ●●●

224 The Sassanids restore Zoroastrian Persia 0 cit. The Sassanid empire makes Zoroastrianism the state church of Persia again and gathers its scriptures, the Avesta. For four more centuries the fire-temples of the wise lord burned across an empire that rivaled Rome. politics / religion ●●

c. 240 Mani begins preaching Manichaeism 0 cit. The prophet Mani proclaims a new universal religion built on a dualism of light and darkness, drawing on Christian, Zoroastrian, and Buddhist ideas. Manichaeism spreads from the Roman Empire to China before dying out centuries later. religion ●●●●

c. 274 Aurelian promotes Sol Invictus as a unifying sun god 0 cit. The emperor Aurelian raised the cult of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, as a state god drawing on eastern and Roman solar worship. The sun cult gathered several traditions into one imperial religion. politics / religion ●●

c. 300 The concept of the ten sefirot 0 cit. The sefirot are ten divine emanations or attributes through which the hidden God becomes active in creation. First named in the Sefer Yetzirah, they were later elaborated into the central map of Kabbalistic theology. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 300 The halo in Christian art descends from images of the sun gods 0 cit. The radiant halo used to mark holy figures grew out of the sun-rays shown around gods and emperors, such as Sol and Helios. Early Christian art adopted the device for Christ, saints, and angels. culture / religion ●●

c. 300 The Ptolemaic system becomes cosmic orthodoxy 0 cit. Ptolemy's Earth-centered cosmos, with the sun, moon, and planets on circles and epicycles around a fixed Earth, becomes the accepted picture of the universe for scholars and, later, the Church. To question it was to question the order of creation. religion / science ●●●

c. 300 Alchemists adopt the ouroboros as a symbol of the Great Work 0 cit. Greco-Egyptian alchemical manuscripts, including works attributed to Cleopatra the Alchemist, depict the ouroboros with the caption 'the One, the All' (hen to pan), using it to represent the unity of matter and the cyclical alchemical process. This use persisted through medieval and Renaissance alchemy into modern Jungian psychology, where Carl Jung took it up as an archetype of psychic wholeness. religion / science ●●

c. 3 September 301 Founding of San Marino legendary 0 cit. no story By tradition, the stonemason Marinus founds a monastic community on Mount Titano in 301 CE, the origin of the world's oldest surviving republic. politics / religion ●●

c. 301 Armenia becomes the first Christian state legendary 0 cit. By tradition, King Tiridates III converts and makes Christianity the religion of the Armenian kingdom after Gregory the Illuminator brings him to the faith. This is generally regarded as the first time a state adopted Christianity, more than a decade before Rome's Edict of Milan. The traditional date of 301 is debated, with some scholars favoring around 314, so it is treated as approximate. politics / religion ●●●

c. February 313 Edict of Milan 0 cit. Constantine and Licinius agree to tolerate Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, ending official persecution. Christianity moves from outlawed sect toward imperial religion, binding church and European power for over a millennium. politics / religion ●●●●

20 May 325 First Council of Nicaea 0 cit. Constantine convenes the first ecumenical council; it produces the Nicene Creed and the first church-wide definition of orthodox Christian doctrine, condemning Arianism. religion ●●●●

325 The Council of Nicaea fixes the date of Easter 0 cit. The Council of Nicaea sets Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, a lunar-solar reckoning that makes it a movable feast to this day. The date of the central Christian festival was fixed by astronomy, not scripture. religion / science ●●●●

c. 325 Lent becomes the forty-day fast 0 cit. In the fourth century the church formalizes Lent, a forty-day season of fasting and penance before Easter, echoing Jesus's forty days in the wilderness. The forbidding of eggs and rich food during Lent is one reason eggs became a feast food at Easter's end. culture / religion ●●●

11 May 330 Constantine refounds Byzantium as Constantinople 0 cit. Constantine the Great dedicated the old Greek town of Byzantium as his new capital, a Christian 'New Rome' guarding the straits between Europe and Asia. Its position on the Bosphorus, ringed by walls and water, would let the city outlast the western empire by nearly a thousand years. The choice tied the empire's future to Christianity and to the Greek east. politics / religion ●●●

c. 330 King Ezana converts Aksum to Christianity 0 cit. King Ezana adopted Christianity in the mid-fourth century, most likely through Frumentius, a Syrian brought to the court who later became the first bishop of Aksum. This made Aksum one of the earliest states anywhere to embrace the faith, close behind Armenia and around the same time as the Roman Empire. Ezana's later coins replaced the old crescent-and-disc symbols with the cross, marking the change in the state religion. politics / religion ●●●

c. 336 Saturnalia's midwinter customs feed into Christmas 0 cit. The Roman festival of Saturnalia brought feasting, gift-giving, and a loosening of rules in late December, and some of its spirit carried into Christmas. The church set the Nativity in the same season of older winter festivals. culture / religion ●●●

c. 336 Christmas is placed on December 25, the date of the sun's rebirth 0 cit. December 25 was celebrated as the birthday of the Unconquered Sun near the winter solstice, and Christian Rome fixed the birth of Christ on the same day. Scholars still debate how far the sun festival shaped the choice. culture / religion ●●●

c. 350 The great stelae of Aksum are raised 0 cit. Aksum's kings marked royal graves with towering carved granite obelisks, the largest single pieces of stone ever quarried and raised as monuments in the ancient world. The tallest that once stood reached over 30 metres before it fell and broke. One great stele looted by Italy in 1937 stood in Rome for decades and was finally returned to Ethiopia in 2005. culture / religion / technology ●●

27 February 380 Christianity becomes Rome's state religion 0 cit. Emperor Theodosius I issues the Edict of Thessalonica, making Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Other Christian sects and pagan cults lose imperial favor. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 380 Religion and ideology 0 cit. Organized belief as a structure of authority. Faith, doctrine, moral systems, and ideological programs command loyalty, legitimize rulers, and help define the boundaries of acceptable thought and conduct. pillar / religion ●●●●●

c. 380 'Pagan' becomes the name for the old religions 0 cit. As Christianity spreads, Christians borrow the Latin word paganus, a country-dweller or civilian, as a dismissive label for followers of the old gods. 'Pagan' was never a religion anyone chose to belong to; it was an outsider's name for everyone else. culture / religion ●●●

May 381 First Council of Constantinople 0 cit. The second ecumenical council expands the Nicene Creed, affirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The revised creed is still recited in most Christian churches. religion ●●●

391 The Serapeum of Alexandria is destroyed 0 cit. A Christian crowd destroys the Serapeum, the great temple of the god Serapis and one of the wonders of the ancient world. It became a symbol of the violent end of organized paganism in the Roman world. religion / war ●●●

392 Theodosius outlaws pagan worship 0 cit. The emperor Theodosius bans public and private pagan sacrifice and makes Christianity the sole religion of the Roman state. The old cults were driven underground after a thousand years of open worship. politics / religion ●●●●

399 Faxian's pilgrimage to India 0 cit. The monk Faxian traveled overland to India from 399 to seek Buddhist scriptures. His written account is a valuable record of Buddhist Asia. exploration / religion ●●●

c. 400 Jerusalem Talmud compiled 0 cit. Rabbis in the Galilee complete the Jerusalem Talmud, a commentary on the Mishnah. Though later overshadowed by the Babylonian Talmud, it preserves the legal tradition of the Land of Israel. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 Avesta compiled under the Sasanians 0 cit. Zoroastrian priests under the Sasanian dynasty collect and write down the Avesta, the scriptures of Zoroastrianism, after centuries of oral transmission. The canon anchors the faith that was then Persia's state religion. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Germanic god of war 0 cit. The Roman day of Mars became Tuesday, named for the Germanic war god Tiw or Tyr, a match of like gods. The Romance languages kept the Mars form, as in French mardi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Wednesday is named for Woden, the Germanic Odin 0 cit. The Roman day of Mercury became Wednesday, named for Woden, the Germanic form of Odin, seen as a like figure. French kept the Mercury form as mercredi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Thursday is named for Thor, the thunder god 0 cit. The Roman day of Jupiter became Thursday, named for the thunder god Thor, matched to the sky god Jove. French kept the Jupiter form as jeudi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 Friday is named for Frigg, the Germanic goddess 0 cit. The Roman day of Venus became Friday, named for the goddess Frigg or Freya, matched to the goddess of love. French kept the Venus form as vendredi. religion / society ●●

c. 400 The mother-and-child image passes from Isis to Christian art 0 cit. The widespread image of Isis nursing the infant Horus is often compared to later depictions of Mary and the Christ child. Art historians note the visual echo between the two devotional images. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 The Germanic gods name the days of the week 0 cit. Germanic peoples map the Roman planetary week onto their own gods: Tiw's day (Tuesday), Woden's day (Wednesday), Thunor's day (Thursday), and Frigg's day (Friday). Four days of the modern English week still carry the names of the Norse gods. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 400 Redaction of the Jerusalem Talmud 0 cit. Scholars in the Galilee produced the Jerusalem Talmud, a commentary and expansion on the Mishnah known as the Gemara. Left unfinished under Roman pressure, it remained shorter and less authoritative than its Babylonian counterpart. culture / religion ●●

c. 405 Mesrop Mashtots creates the Armenian alphabet 0 cit. The monk and scholar Mesrop Mashtots devises a distinct alphabet for the Armenian language, reportedly to make scripture and learning available in the vernacular. The script gives Armenians a durable written identity that outlasts every empire that later rules them. It remains in use, little changed, to this day. culture / religion / science ●●●

c. 405 to c. 500 Golden Age of Armenian letters 0 cit. With the new alphabet, the fifth century becomes a golden age of Armenian writing. Scholars translate the Bible and Greek and Syriac works into Armenian, and historians such as Movses Khorenatsi and Koryun set down the nation's early history. This literary foundation helps preserve Armenian culture through later centuries of foreign rule. culture / religion ●●

415 Hypatia of Alexandria and the end of an age 0 cit. Hypatia taught mathematics and astronomy and edited commentaries on Apollonius and Diophantus, one of the few women of antiquity whose scholarly work is recorded. She was murdered by a mob amid the religious and political strife of a declining Alexandria. Her death is often used as a symbol for the fading of the classical mathematical tradition in the Mediterranean. politics / religion / science ●●

c. 420 The deicide charge and Augustine's doctrine of the Jewish witness 0 cit. Early Church writers accused the Jewish people as a whole of killing Christ, a charge known as deicide that fed centuries of hostility. Augustine of Hippo argued that Jews should not be killed but preserved in a subjected state as living witnesses to the truth of Christian scripture, citing the psalm verse slay them not. His witness doctrine both justified their subjugation and, in principle, restrained outright massacre. culture / religion / society ●●●

c. 426 Augustine Sets Out Just War Criteria 0 cit. In The City of God, completed around 426, Augustine of Hippo argued that war could be morally justified when waged by legitimate authority, for a just cause, and with right intention, rather than out of hatred or lust for power. His arguments, developed across several of his writings, became the foundation of the Christian just-war tradition. Later thinkers, including Thomas Aquinas, built directly on Augustine's criteria. religion / war ●●●

c. 427 Nalanda becomes a major center of learning 0 cit. Nalanda grew into a large Buddhist monastic university that drew students from across Asia to study logic, medicine, and scripture. It flourished for centuries before its decline in the twelfth century. religion / science ●●●

22 June 431 Council of Ephesus 0 cit. The third ecumenical council condemns Nestorius and affirms Mary's title Theotokos, bearer of God. The dispute drives the Church of the East into a lasting separate existence. religion ●●●

c. 432 Saint Patrick's mission and the Christianising of Ireland 0 cit. Later tradition dates the mission of Saint Patrick, a Romano-British cleric once enslaved in Ireland, to around 432. His own writings survive, but much of his life is legend added by later medieval writers. Over the fifth and sixth centuries Christianity spread across a Gaelic Ireland that lay beyond the old Roman frontier, blending with existing Celtic culture rather than arriving by conquest. culture / religion ●●

8 October 451 Council of Chalcedon 0 cit. The fourth ecumenical council defines Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human. Churches in Egypt, Syria, and Armenia reject the formula, creating the Oriental Orthodox split that endures today. religion ●●●●

451 Battle of Avarayr 0 cit. Armenian forces under Vardan Mamikonian fight the Sassanid Persian army, which is trying to force Armenians to abandon Christianity for Zoroastrianism. The Armenians lose the battle and Vardan is killed, but sustained resistance leads to the Nvarsak treaty of 484, which secures the right to practice Christianity. Avarayr becomes a lasting symbol of Armenian faith and identity. religion / war ●●

c. 452 Leo the Great turns back Attila legendary 0 cit. Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun near Mantua and, by tradition, persuaded him to withdraw from Italy. The episode became a symbol of the bishop of Rome acting where the Western emperors could not. politics / religion ●●●

c. 460 Buddhist cave temples of Yungang and Longmen 0 cit. Under the Northern Wei, artisans carved monumental Buddha images into cliff faces at Yungang and later Longmen. The grottoes mark the deep rooting of Buddhism in China. culture / religion ●●●●

494 Gelasius I and the doctrine of two powers 0 cit. In a letter to Emperor Anastasius I, Pope Gelasius I argued that the world is ruled by two powers, the sacred authority of priests and the royal power of kings. The text became a foundation for later claims of Church independence from the state. politics / religion ●●●

c. 500 The Babylonian Talmud is completed 0 cit. The academies of Babylonia complete the core redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, a vast record of legal debate and lore built on the Mishnah. It becomes the central text of Jewish law and study. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 500 Compilation of the Babylonian Talmud 0 cit. Jewish scholars in Babylon compiled the Babylonian Talmud around 500 CE, a central text of rabbinic law and tradition. Babylon remained a major center of Jewish learning for centuries. culture / religion ●●●

c. 500 The Kaaba and pre-Islamic Arabia 0 cit. Before Islam, Mecca is a trading town whose Kaaba shrine houses idols of many tribal gods; Muslims later call this era the jahiliyya, the age of ignorance. Pilgrimage and trade fairs draw Arabian tribes to the city. This is the world into which Muhammad is born around 570. culture / religion / society ●●

c. 500 to c. 600 Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud 0 cit. The academies of Babylonia produced the Talmud Bavli, a vast record of legal argument, story, and debate built on the Mishnah. Editors such as Ravina and Rav Ashi are credited with its main redaction, though final polishing by the later Savoraim ran into the following century. It became the central text of rabbinic study. culture / religion ●●●

c. 520 Bodhidharma and the origins of Chan 0 cit. Tradition credits the Indian monk Bodhidharma with bringing to China the meditation-centered teaching that becomes Chan Buddhism. Transmitted to Japan centuries later, the school is known there as Zen. religion ●●●

c. 529 Benedict founds Monte Cassino 0 cit. Benedict of Nursia establishes his monastery at Monte Cassino and writes his Rule for monastic life. The Rule becomes the template for Western monasticism for a thousand years. religion ●●●

529 Justinian closes the Academy of Athens 0 cit. The emperor Justinian shuts the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens, the last school of pagan philosophy descended from Plato. It is often taken as the symbolic end of ancient paganism. culture / religion ●●●

27 December 537 The Hagia Sophia rises over Constantinople 0 cit. Justinian rebuilt the great church of Holy Wisdom after the Nika fire, crowning it with a dome so wide and light it seemed to hang from heaven. On entering it he is said to have exclaimed that he had outdone Solomon. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in Christendom and the heart of Orthodox worship, later a mosque and now a monument. culture / religion / technology ●●●

c. 550 The island of saints and scholars 0 cit. From the sixth century a network of Irish monasteries such as Clonmacnoise, Glendalough and Iona became centres of learning and manuscript work. Irish monks like Columba and Columbanus carried Latin and Christian scholarship back into a post-Roman Europe, which gave Ireland its reputation as an island of saints and scholars. The claim that Irish monks singlehandedly saved Western civilisation is a popular framing that historians treat as an overstatement. culture / religion ●●

c. 552 Buddhism reaches Japan 0 cit. The king of Baekje in Korea sends Buddhist images and scriptures to the Japanese court, the traditional date of Buddhism's arrival in Japan. Some sources place the event in 538. The new religion soon wins imperial patronage. religion ●●●

c. 578 Founding of Kongo Gumi 0 cit. Prince Shotoku brings builders from Baekje to construct the Shitenno-ji temple, and the Kongo family firm they establish becomes the world's oldest documented company. It builds Buddhist temples in Japan for over 1,400 years. culture / economy / religion ●●●

c. 589 to c. 1038 The Geonim lead the Babylonian academies 0 cit. The Geonim, heads of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita, served as the leading legal authorities of the Jewish world for centuries. Through written responsa to distant communities they turned the Talmud into a living, applied system of law. religion / society ●●

3 September 590 Gregory the Great becomes pope 0 cit. Gregory I takes office and turns the papacy into a governing institution, administering Rome, negotiating with kings, and sending missionaries to England. His pontificate is widely seen as the moment the medieval papacy takes shape. politics / religion ●●●●

590 to 604 Gregory the Great and the papal state 0 cit. Pope Gregory I governed Rome and its lands as a de facto ruler, organizing defense, food supply and diplomacy as imperial authority faded in Italy. His pontificate expanded the practical and political reach of the papacy. politics / religion / society ●●●