Events, Verisoph

c. 701 BCE Prometheus brings fire and civilization to humankind 0 cit. In Greek myth the Titan Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to humans, and is punished for it. The figure of the culture-bringer who defies the gods recurs in many traditions. culture / religion ●●

c. 701 BCE January is named for Janus, god of doorways and beginnings 0 cit. The Romans named the first month for Janus, the two-faced god who looked to the past and the future. His role as god of gates suited the opening of the year. culture / religion ●●

c. 701 BCE March is named for Mars, the god of war 0 cit. March took its name from Mars, the war god, and once opened the Roman year and the season for military campaigns. Its old first place explains why September through December carry number-names for seventh to tenth. culture / religion ●●

c. 701 BCE June is named for Juno, queen of the gods 0 cit. June honors Juno, wife of Jupiter and protector of marriage and women, which is often tied to the month's link with weddings. May likewise honors the goddess Maia. culture / religion ●●

c. 700 BCE 'Ocean' comes from the Titan Oceanus 0 cit. The Greeks imagined a great river encircling the world, personified as the Titan Oceanus. His name became the word for the seas, 'ocean'. religion / science ●●●

c. 624 BCE Josiah's Reformation 0 cit. In the traditional chronology the book of the law is found in the Temple about 624 BC, in the reign of Josiah. The young king leads a sweeping religious reform in Judah. politics / religion ●●●

c. 606 BCE First Captivity and Daniel in Babylon 0 cit. In the traditional chronology Nebuchadnezzar first subdues Jerusalem in 606 BC and Daniel is among the captives taken to Babylon. From this point the tradition counts the seventy years of captivity. politics / religion ●●●

605 BCE Nebuchadnezzar II takes the throne of Babylon 0 cit. Nebuchadnezzar II becomes king and makes Babylon the wonder of the ancient world. He is the Nebuchadnezzar of the Book of Daniel and the builder of its greatest monuments. politics / religion ●●●

c. 601 BCE The Eleusinian Mysteries promise initiates a blessed afterlife legendary 0 cit. The secret rites at Eleusis honored Demeter and Persephone and drew initiates from across the Greek and Roman worlds for over a thousand years. They centered on the myth of Persephone's descent and return. religion / society ●●●

c. 601 BCE The Mesopotamian flood story parallels the biblical Noah 0 cit. The flood account in Genesis shares striking details with the older Mesopotamian versions, including a divine warning, a boat, and birds sent out to find land. Scholars widely note the parallel between the two traditions. culture / religion ●●●

c. 601 BCE The caduceus, Hermes's herald staff, appears in Greek art 0 cit. The caduceus, a staff with two entwined snakes topped by wings, is depicted as the attribute of Hermes (Roman Mercury), god of messengers, commerce, and boundaries, symbolizing negotiation and safe passage rather than medicine. culture / religion ●

c. 600 BCE The ziggurat Etemenanki and the Tower of Babel 0 cit. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilds Etemenanki, the great ziggurat of Marduk, a stepped temple-tower reaching to the sky. It is widely thought to lie behind the biblical story of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues. culture / religion ●●●

c. 600 BCE The Saros cycle predicts eclipses 0 cit. Babylonian astronomers discover the Saros, a period of about 18 years after which eclipses repeat, letting them predict eclipses in advance. Turning omen-reading into calculation was a decisive step from astrology toward astronomy. religion / science ●●●●

c. 594 BCE Ezekiel's vision of the divine chariot 0 cit. The biblical prophet Ezekiel describes a vision of a chariot (merkabah) bearing the divine throne, a passage later treated as the seed text for Jewish mystical speculation. Rabbinic tradition restricted its study to advanced initiates. culture / religion ●●●

c. 588 BCE Fall of Jerusalem and Destruction of the Temple 0 cit. In Ussher's chronology Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar and Solomon's Temple is burned in 588 BC, and Judah is carried into exile in Babylon. Modern reckonings place the destruction in 587 or 586 BC. politics / religion / war ●●●●

587 BCE Babylonian exile and the fall of the First Temple 0 cit. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captures Jerusalem, destroys the First Temple, and deports much of the population to Babylon. The exile is well attested and marks a turning point in Jewish history. Cut off from the Temple, the exiles deepen their focus on scripture and law. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 586 BCE Fall of the Kingdom of Judah 0 cit. Around 586 BC the Neo-Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple, and ended the Kingdom of Judah. Much of the population was exiled to Babylon. politics / religion / war ●●●●

586 BCE Babylonian Conquest of Judah 0 cit. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE, destroyed the First Temple and exiled much of Judah's elite. The event ended the independent kingdom of Judah. religion / war ●●●●

586 BCE to 538 BCE The Babylonian Exile 0 cit. After the fall of Jerusalem, a large part of Judah's population lived in exile in Babylon. The period shaped Jewish religious identity and the editing of scripture. religion / society ●●●

586 BCE Babylon destroys Jerusalem and carries off the Jews 0 cit. Nebuchadnezzar's army destroys Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple and deports the Judean elite to Babylon. The Babylonian captivity reshaped Judaism, produced much of the Hebrew Bible in its current form, and gave the word Babylon its lasting weight for exile and worldly power. religion / war ●●●●

c. 575 BCE The Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens legendary 0 cit. Babylon is adorned with the blue-glazed Ishtar Gate, dedicated to the goddess of love and war, and, by tradition, the Hanging Gardens counted among the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city becomes the archetype of imperial splendor. culture / religion ●●●

c. 571 BCE Laozi and the origins of Daoism 0 cit. Tradition credits Laozi with the Daodejing, the foundational text of Daoism, which teaches harmony with the Dao and effortless action. His historical identity and dates are uncertain. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 551 BCE Laozi and the Daodejing 0 cit. Tradition attributes the Daodejing to the sage Laozi, placed in the sixth century BC, though scholars date the text's compilation centuries later. The short work becomes the foundational text of Daoism. culture / religion ●●●●

551 BCE Confucius and the Confucian tradition 0 cit. Confucius, born around 551 BCE, taught a system of ethics centered on virtue, ritual propriety, family duty, and good government. His ideas, collected by disciples in the Analects, became a cornerstone of Chinese thought for over two millennia. culture / religion / society ●●●●●

c. 550 BCE Zoroastrianism becomes the faith of the Persian Empire 0 cit. Under Cyrus and Darius the Achaemenid Persian empire, the largest the world had yet seen, holds Zoroastrian belief. For the first time the religion of the one wise lord governed a superpower straddling three continents. politics / religion ●●●

c. 549 BCE Nowruz: the spring festival that outlived the empire 0 cit. The Zoroastrian new year Nowruz, held at the spring equinox to mark the renewal of the world, is still celebrated by hundreds of millions of people from Iran to Central Asia. One of the world's oldest festivals of rebirth is still alive. culture / religion ●●●

539 BCE Cyrus the Persian takes Babylon and frees the Jews 0 cit. Cyrus the Great captures Babylon almost without a fight, ending the Neo-Babylonian empire. His decree, recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder, lets the exiled Jews return home and rebuild the Temple, a turning point for Judaism and an early charter of a ruler's tolerance. religion / war ●●●●

c. 538 BCE Fall of Babylon 0 cit. In the traditional chronology Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians in 538 BC, the night of Belshazzar's feast in the book of Daniel. Persian rule opens the way for the exiles' return. politics / religion / war ●●●

538 BCE to 516 BCE The Persian Return and Second Temple 0 cit. After Cyrus the Great of Persia allowed exiles to return, Jews rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, completed around 516 BCE. This began the Second Temple period. politics / religion ●●●

c. 538 BCE The Jews meet Zoroastrianism in the Persian age 0 cit. After Cyrus frees the Jews from Babylon, Jewish thought during the Persian period takes on ideas with strong Zoroastrian parallels: a cosmic evil power (Satan), armies of angels and demons, a heaven and a hell, the resurrection of the dead, and a final judgment. Many scholars see here the hidden root of later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic belief. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 536 BCE The Return under Cyrus 0 cit. In Ussher's chronology Cyrus decrees the return of the Jewish exiles in 536 BC, ending the seventy years of captivity. Under Zerubbabel the first company returns to Jerusalem and begins rebuilding the altar. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 534 BCE Greek drama and the City Dionysia 0 cit. Athens held drama contests at the festival of Dionysus, where tragedy and comedy took form. Playwrights like Aeschylus and Sophocles laid the foundation of Western theatre. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 531 BCE Pythagoras and a theorem older than his name 0 cit. Pythagoras led a secretive brotherhood that treated numbers and ratios as the hidden order of the world, tying mathematics to music and the cosmos. The theorem that bears his name was known to Babylonian and Indian scribes long before him, and no writing by Pythagoras survives, so the attribution is traditional rather than proven. What his followers may have added was the idea of proving it in general. religion / science ●●●

c. 528 BCE The Buddha's enlightenment 0 cit. Buddhist tradition holds that Siddhartha Gautama attains enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree, becoming the Buddha. His subsequent teaching of the dharma founds Buddhism; the traditional date is around 528 BC, though scholars propose later dates. religion ●●●●●

c. 527 BCE Mahavira and the founding of Jainism 0 cit. Jain tradition holds that Mahavira, the twenty-fourth tirthankara, attains liberation in 527 BC after decades of teaching nonviolence and asceticism. He organizes the Jain community of monks, nuns, and lay followers that continues today. religion ●●●●●

c. 517 BCE Return from exile and the Second Temple 0 cit. After Persia conquers Babylon, Cyrus the Great allows exiled Jews to return to Judah, where they rebuild the Temple, completed around 516 BC. The restored community rebuilds Jewish life around the Second Temple. This begins the Second Temple period, which lasts nearly six centuries. politics / religion ●●●

c. 515 BCE The Second Temple Completed 0 cit. The rebuilt Temple is finished about 515 BC in the traditional chronology, in the sixth year of Darius, urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. religion ●●●

c. 510 BCE Jupiter presides over the Roman state religion 0 cit. Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the sky and thunder god, was the chief god of Rome, honored in the great temple on the Capitoline Hill. He guarded oaths, law, and the Roman state. politics / religion ●●●

c. 501 BCE Dionysus dies and is reborn in Greek mystery myth 0 cit. Greek myth told of Dionysus, in his form as Zagreus, being torn apart and then reborn, a theme central to Orphic mystery cults. The story linked him to wine, ecstasy, and renewal. culture / religion ●●

c. 501 BCE Orpheus journeys into the underworld to reclaim the dead 0 cit. The Greek hero Orpheus travels to the land of the dead to bring back his wife Eurydice, only to lose her by looking back. The story became a model for the underworld quest in later art and music. culture / religion ●●

c. 501 BCE Athens is named for the goddess Athena 0 cit. The city of Athens took its name from Athena, its patron goddess of wisdom and craft, who in myth won the city by giving the olive tree. Her great temple, the Parthenon, still crowns the Acropolis. culture / religion ●●

c. 501 BCE Pythagoreans study the pentagram as a symbol of health 0 cit. The Pythagorean school in southern Italy uses the five-pointed star, formed by the diagonals of a regular pentagon, as a symbol of health and as a mathematical illustration of the golden ratio. Ancient sources describe it as a recognition sign among Pythagoreans, though direct primary evidence is thin and much comes from later commentators. religion / science ●●

c. 500 BCE Confucius teaches in Lu 0 cit. Confucius gathers disciples and teaches an ethic of humaneness, ritual propriety, and good government. His teachings, collected in the Analects, become the moral foundation of Chinese civilization. culture / religion ●●●●●

c. 500 BCE Hundred Schools of Thought 0 cit. During the late Zhou, competing philosophies flourished, including Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism. This intellectual ferment shaped Chinese philosophy and statecraft. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 500 BCE 'Panic' comes from the god Pan 0 cit. The Greeks blamed sudden, causeless terror, especially in lonely places, on the goat-god Pan, and called it 'panic'. A modern word for fear is the shadow of a woodland god. culture / religion ●●●

c. 500 BCE 'Volcano' comes from the god Vulcan 0 cit. Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and the forge, was said to work beneath the earth; his name gives us 'volcano'. A term of modern geology is a Roman smith-god. religion / science ●●●

c. 500 BCE The Magi and the word 'magic' 0 cit. The Magi were the Zoroastrian priestly caste; their name gives us the word 'magic', and the wise men who visit the infant Jesus in the Gospel are Magi from the east. A Persian priesthood is woven into the Christian Nativity and the English language alike. culture / religion ●●●

c. 499 BCE The Saoshyant: the world-savior to come 0 cit. Zoroastrianism looked for a Saoshyant, a future savior who would defeat evil, raise the dead, and renew the world in a final judgment. The pattern of a coming redeemer and an end-time victory echoes through later messianic and apocalyptic religion. culture / religion ●●●

c. 496 BCE 'Cereal' comes from the goddess Ceres 0 cit. Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain and the harvest, gives her name to 'cereal'. Every breakfast box carries the name of an ancient corn-goddess. economy / religion ●●●

c. 483 BCE First Buddhist Council 0 cit. Tradition holds that shortly after the Buddha's death, five hundred senior monks gather at Rajagriha to recite and fix his teachings and the monastic rules. The council begins the preservation of the Buddhist canon. religion ●●●●

c. 478 BCE Esther Becomes Queen 0 cit. The traditional chronology places Esther's rise as queen of Persia about 478 BC, at the court of Shushan. The book of Esther records the deliverance of the Jews from Haman's plot, remembered at Purim. politics / religion ●●

c. 457 BCE Ezra Goes to Jerusalem 0 cit. In the traditional chronology Ezra the scribe leads a second return to Jerusalem in 457 BC, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, to restore the law and order the community. religion ●●●

c. 451 BCE Babylon divides the sky into the twelve signs of the zodiac 0 cit. Babylonian astronomers divide the ecliptic into twelve equal signs, creating the zodiac still used in horoscopes today. Their astrology passed to the Greeks and, through them, into Western culture, where the Chaldeans became a byword for astrologers. religion / science ●●●●

c. 451 BCE Ezra and the shaping of the Torah 0 cit. Tradition credits the scribe Ezra with reestablishing the Torah as the law of the restored Jewish community and reading it publicly in Jerusalem. Many scholars see this era as key to the Torah reaching something like its final form. Study and public reading of scripture grow central to Jewish life. culture / religion ●●

c. 445 BCE Nehemiah Rebuilds the Walls 0 cit. In the traditional chronology Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem in 445 BC, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and rebuilds the city walls in fifty-two days despite opposition. politics / religion ●●●

c. 441 BCE The interpretatio graeca reads other pantheons through Greek eyes 0 cit. Greek writers such as Herodotus identified Egyptian and other foreign gods with Greek ones, equating Amun with Zeus and Thoth with Hermes. This habit of matching gods shaped ancient understanding of religion. culture / religion ●●

c. 410 BCE The world's first personal horoscope 0 cit. A Babylonian scribe casts the earliest known horoscope for an individual, recording the positions of the planets at a child's birth to read its fate. Astrology turns from the fate of kingdoms to the fate of persons, the form it still takes today. religion / science ●●●●

c. 401 BCE Samhain shapes Halloween and All Saints' customs 0 cit. The Celtic festival of Samhain marked the end of harvest and a night when the dead drew near, celebrated at the start of November. Its themes fed into the folk customs of Halloween. culture / religion ●●●

c. 401 BCE Beltane and May Day keep the old spring fire festival 0 cit. The Celtic festival of Beltane greeted summer with bonfires and cattle rites at the start of May. Its customs survive in May Day celebrations with maypoles and flowers. culture / religion ●●

c. 400 BCE The 19-year cycle fixes the calendar 0 cit. Babylonian astronomers regularize a 19-year cycle in which 7 leap months keep the lunar calendar in step with the solar year. The same cycle, later named for the Greek Meton, still sets the date of the Jewish calendar and of Easter. religion / science ●●●

c. 397 BCE Malachi and the Close of the Old Testament 0 cit. The traditional chronology places Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, about 397 BC. With him the Old Testament canon closes and the tradition counts four centuries of prophetic silence. religion ●●●

c. 372 BCE Mencius develops Confucian thought 0 cit. Mencius argued that human nature is fundamentally good and that rulers must govern benevolently or lose the Mandate of Heaven. He became the most influential Confucian after Confucius himself. culture / religion ●●●

c. 332 BCE Alexander is hailed as son of Zeus-Ammon 0 cit. At the oasis of Siwa, Alexander the Great was greeted as the son of Ammon, whom the Greeks equated with Zeus. The blended god Zeus-Ammon shows how conquest spread the mixing of pantheons. politics / religion ●●

c. 301 BCE Rome adopts and identifies with the Greek pantheon 0 cit. As Rome absorbed Greek culture, it matched its own gods to the Olympians, so Jupiter answered to Zeus and Venus to Aphrodite. Greek myths were retold with Roman names and became the standard classical mythology. culture / religion ●●●

c. 301 BCE Greek and Roman gods are treated as the same deities 0 cit. Zeus and Jupiter, Aphrodite and Venus, Hermes and Mercury came to be seen as one and the same gods under two names. This merging gave the classical world a shared mythology across languages. culture / religion ●●●

c. 301 BCE Serapis is created to unite Greek and Egyptian worship 0 cit. The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt promoted Serapis, a god blending Osiris and the Apis bull with Greek gods like Zeus and Hades. He was meant to bind Greek and Egyptian subjects in a common cult. politics / religion ●●

c. 301 BCE Hellenistic culture blends the gods of many peoples 0 cit. After Alexander, Greek, Egyptian, and Near Eastern religions mixed freely, producing blended gods and shared mystery cults. This wide syncretism prepared the ground for religions that crossed old borders. culture / religion ●●

c. 280 BCE 'Museum' and 'music' come from the Muses 0 cit. The Mouseion of Alexandria was a shrine to the Muses, the goddesses of the arts, and gave us 'museum'; from the same goddesses comes 'music'. Two words for high culture are named for minor deities. culture / religion ●●●

c. 277 BCE The Septuagint Begun legendary 0 cit. According to tradition the Hebrew scriptures begin to be translated into Greek at Alexandria about 277 BC, under Ptolemy Philadelphus. This Septuagint became the Bible of Greek-speaking Jews and later of the early church. culture / religion ●●

c. 269 BCE 'Money' comes from the goddess Juno Moneta 0 cit. Rome mints its coins at the temple of Juno Moneta, and her title Moneta gives us both 'money' and 'mint'. The most everyday word in finance is the name of a Roman goddess. economy / religion ●●●●

c. 268 BCE Reign of Ashoka the Great 0 cit. Ashoka expanded the Maurya Empire to its greatest extent and later promoted Buddhism across Asia. His edicts on pillars and rocks spread ideas of moral governance. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 262 BCE to c. 261 BCE Kalinga War 0 cit. no story The Mauryan emperor Ashoka conquers Kalinga at enormous human cost. Remorse over the slaughter leads him to embrace Buddhism and promote its spread across Asia. religion / war ●●●

c. 260 BCE Ashoka embraces Buddhism 0 cit. After the bloody conquest of Kalinga, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka turns to Buddhism and promotes it through edicts and missionaries. His patronage transforms Buddhism from a regional sect into a pan-Asian religion. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 205 BCE Rome imports the goddess Cybele as Magna Mater 0 cit. During the war with Hannibal, Rome brought the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele to the city as the Great Mother on the advice of an oracle. Her ecstatic cult and priests became a striking foreign presence in Roman religion. religion / war ●●

c. 201 BCE The planets are named for the Roman gods 0 cit. The five planets visible to the naked eye carry the Latin names of Roman gods, a practice inherited from Greek and Babylonian astronomy. These names remain the standard ones used in science today. religion / science ●●●

c. 201 BCE Mercury the planet takes the name of the swift messenger god 0 cit. The fastest-moving planet was named for Mercury, the quick messenger god of the Romans, matching the Greek Hermes. Its swift motion across the sky suited the god of speed. religion / science ●●

c. 201 BCE Venus the planet bears the name of the goddess of love 0 cit. The brightest planet was named for Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty, corresponding to the Greek Aphrodite. Earlier Mesopotamian astronomers had already linked the same planet to Ishtar. religion / science ●●

c. 201 BCE Mars the planet is named for the god of war 0 cit. The reddish planet took the name of Mars, the Roman war god, its color suggesting blood and battle. The link gives us the adjective martial for things related to war. religion / science ●●

c. 201 BCE Jupiter the planet honors the king of the gods 0 cit. The largest planet was named for Jupiter, chief of the Roman gods, fitting its size and brightness. The god's Greek name Zeus survives in the planet's adjective, Jovian. religion / science ●●

c. 201 BCE Saturn the planet carries the name of the old god of time and harvest 0 cit. The slowest of the visible planets was named for Saturn, an ancient Roman god of agriculture and time. The same god gives his name to the weekday Saturday. religion / science ●●

c. 200 BCE to c. 200 The Bhagavad Gita is composed 0 cit. The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna's discourse to Arjuna within the Mahabharata, is composed sometime in the centuries around the turn of the era. It becomes one of Hinduism's most beloved and influential scriptures. culture / religion ●●●●

168 BCE Antiochus Desecrates the Temple 0 cit. In 168 BC by the traditional reckoning Antiochus Epiphanes profanes the Temple in Jerusalem, setting up a pagan altar and forbidding Jewish worship. The books of Maccabees call this the abomination of desolation. politics / religion ●●●

168 BCE to 161 BCE Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Temple 0 cit. Jews led by the Maccabees revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV, who had banned Jewish practice and defiled the Temple. Their victory restores Jewish worship and independence under the Hasmonean dynasty. The rededication of the Temple is remembered in the festival of Hanukkah. politics / religion / war ●●

167 BCE to 164 BCE The Maccabean Revolt 0 cit. Jewish fighters led by the Maccabees rebelled against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV after he restricted Jewish practice. Their rededication of the Temple is commemorated as Hanukkah. religion / war ●●●

165 BCE The Maccabean Revolt and Rededication 0 cit. Judas Maccabeus and his brothers drive out the Seleucid forces and rededicate the Temple in 165 BC by the traditional reckoning. The feast of dedication, Hanukkah, commemorates the event. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 161 BCE to c. 70 The Pharisees and the doctrine of the Oral Torah 0 cit. The Pharisees taught that alongside the Written Torah of Moses ran an Oral Torah, an unwritten body of interpretation and law handed down through the sages. This claim, rejected by the rival Sadducees, became the foundation of the later rabbinic and legal tradition of Judaism. culture / religion ●●●

c. 150 BCE Hellenistic astrology fuses Babylon and Egypt 0 cit. In Greek-ruled Egypt, Babylonian planetary science, the zodiac, and Egyptian ideas combine into horoscopic astrology, complete with the twelve houses and the rising sign. This Hellenistic synthesis is the direct ancestor of all Western astrology. culture / religion ●●●●

c. 140 BCE The Hasmonean Kingdom 0 cit. The Hasmonean dynasty established an independent Jewish state in Judea that lasted until Roman intervention. It expanded Judean territory across much of the region. politics / religion ●●

136 BCE Confucianism becomes state ideology 0 cit. Under Emperor Wu, the Han court adopted Confucianism as the guiding philosophy of the state. Officials were increasingly chosen for their knowledge of Confucian classics. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 101 BCE The Celts honor Lugh, the Dagda, and Brigid 0 cit. Celtic peoples worshiped gods such as the skilled Lugh, the fatherly Dagda, and the goddess Brigid, known mostly from Irish texts and Roman accounts. Many local deities were tied to springs, rivers, and tribes. culture / religion ●●

c. 101 BCE The Nazca and their desert geoglyphs 0 cit. On the arid southern coast the Nazca culture etches enormous lines and figures into the desert floor, the Nazca Lines, and digs underground aqueducts called puquios to survive in a dry land. The exact purpose of the geoglyphs is still debated, with explanations ranging from ritual pathways to water and astronomical markers. culture / religion ●●

c. 100 BCE to c. 100 Emergence of Mahayana Buddhism 0 cit. New sutras and the bodhisattva ideal give rise to the Mahayana movement within Indian Buddhism. Mahayana becomes the dominant form of Buddhism in East Asia. religion ●●●

c. 51 BCE The cult of Isis reaches Rome and the wider empire 0 cit. The Egyptian goddess Isis gained a devoted following across the Roman Empire, with temples and mystery rites promising salvation. Her worship crossed classes and endured into late antiquity. culture / religion ●●

c. 29 BCE Pali Canon written down in Sri Lanka 0 cit. Sri Lankan monks commit the Buddhist scriptures to writing for the first time, according to Theravada tradition. The written Pali Canon anchors the Theravada school of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. culture / religion ●●●

c. 20 BCE Herod the Great Expands the Temple 0 cit. Herod the Great, a Roman client king, launched a major expansion of the Second Temple and its complex in Jerusalem. The Western Wall is a remnant of that platform. culture / religion ●●

c. 19 BCE Herod Rebuilds the Temple 0 cit. Herod the Great begins a grand rebuilding of the Temple about 19 BC. This enlarged Second Temple is the one known in the Gospels. politics / religion ●●

c. 4 BCE The Nativity 0 cit. Ussher dated the birth of Jesus to 4 BC, in Bethlehem of Judea, shortly before the death of Herod the Great. Ussher reckoned this as exactly 4000 years after the creation. religion ●●●●●

6 Judea Becomes a Roman Province 0 cit. Rome converted Judea into a directly administered province in 6 CE, governed by prefects and procurators. Tension between Roman rule and Jewish religious life grew over the following decades. politics / religion ●●

c. 16 Rome expels its astrologers, then obeys them 0 cit. Roman emperors repeatedly banish astrologers from the city while secretly keeping their own, so feared was the power to read a ruler's death in the stars. Astrology sat at the heart of Roman politics even as it was outlawed. politics / religion ●●

c. 27 Baptism of Jesus and Start of the Ministry 0 cit. By the traditional reckoning Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan about AD 27, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and begins his public ministry in Galilee. religion ●●●●