Timelines
Four bands over the same span, from the late Bronze Age to the end of the first century. Each marker names the inscription, chronicle or excavated layer that dates it. Where a date rests on the text alone, it is given as a setting, not a year.
Empires over the land
Who collected the taxes, garrisoned the roads and deported populations.
Kings of Israel and Judah
Rulers whose names appear outside the Bible in stone or clay.
Prophets in their reigns
Where each prophetic book sits against the political record.
The New Testament period
Fixed points where a Roman record dates the narrative.
Empires over the land
c. 1250 BC
Egyptian New Kingdom
Canaan is administered from Egypt through vassal city-kings.
Dated by: Amarna letters; Merneptah Stele (1208 BC)
c. 1150 BC
Bronze Age collapse
Egyptian control lapses; new peoples settle the coast and the hills.
Dated by: Destruction layers across the Levant
853 BC
Assyria arrives
Ahab of Israel fields chariots against Shalmaneser III at Qarqar.
Dated by: Kurkh Monolith
722 BC
Samaria falls
The northern kingdom is deported by Assyria.
Dated by: Sargon II annals; Nimrud prism
701 BC
Sennacherib in Judah
Lachish taken, Jerusalem besieged but not captured.
Dated by: Lachish reliefs; Sennacherib Prism; Siloam inscription
612 BC
Nineveh falls
Babylon and Media end the Assyrian empire.
Dated by: Fall of Nineveh Chronicle
597 BC
Babylon takes Jerusalem
Jehoiachin deported with the first exile group.
Dated by: Babylonian Chronicle ABC 5; Jehoiachin ration tablets
587 BC
The temple burned
The city walls are broken and Judah ends as a kingdom.
Dated by: Burnt layer in the City of David; Lachish letters
539 BC
Persia takes Babylon
Cyrus permits displaced peoples to return and rebuild.
Dated by: Cyrus Cylinder; Nabonidus Chronicle
332 BC
Alexander in the Levant
Greek rule; Greek becomes the language of administration and trade.
Dated by: Coin issues; Wadi Daliyeh papyri
167 BC
Seleucid crisis
The temple is desecrated and the Maccabean revolt begins.
Dated by: Seleucid coinage; Akra fortress remains
63 BC
Rome annexes Judea
Pompey enters Jerusalem; client kings rule under Rome.
Dated by: Roman siege remains on the Temple Mount approaches
AD 70
Jerusalem destroyed
The second temple is burned in the Jewish revolt.
Dated by: Arch of Titus; Burnt House; Judaea Capta coins
Kings of Israel and Judah
c. 1000 BC
David
Named as a dynasty founder in a ninth-century Aramaic victory stele.
Dated by: Tel Dan Stele: 'House of David'
c. 960 BC
Solomon
No inscription names him; monumental gates at Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer date near this horizon.
Dated by: Six-chambered gates (dating disputed by stratigraphy)
925 BC
Shishak's campaign
An Egyptian raid through the land, listing captured towns.
Dated by: Bubastite Portal, Karnak
853 BC
Ahab
Fields 2,000 chariots against Assyria; his city of Samaria is excavated.
Dated by: Kurkh Monolith; Samaria ivories
841 BC
Jehu
Depicted bowing to Shalmaneser III.
Dated by: Black Obelisk
c. 840 BC
Mesha of Moab
A Moabite king records his revolt against Israel.
Dated by: Mesha Stele
732 BC
Ahaz
Named as a tribute payer to Tiglath-Pileser III.
Dated by: Assyrian tribute lists; bulla of Ahaz
701 BC
Hezekiah
Named by Sennacherib; his water tunnel and royal seals survive.
Dated by: Sennacherib Prism; Siloam inscription; LMLK seals
c. 640 BC
Josiah
Reform period; the Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls date to this horizon.
Dated by: Ketef Hinnom amulets
597 BC
Jehoiachin
Receives rations as a captive king in Babylon.
Dated by: Babylonian ration tablets
Prophets in their reigns
c. 760 BC
Amos and Hosea
Northern kingdom at its most prosperous, under Assyrian shadow.
Dated by: Samaria ostraca (tax receipts of the period)
c. 740 BC
Isaiah begins
From the year Uzziah died, through the Assyrian crisis.
Dated by: Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), copied c. 125 BC
627 BC
Jeremiah begins
Through the fall of Nineveh, Carchemish and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Dated by: Bullae of Baruch and Jerahmeel; Lachish letters
593 BC
Ezekiel in exile
Dated visions from the Chebar canal in Babylonia.
Dated by: Al-Yahudu tablets (Judean settlements in Babylonia)
539 BC
Daniel's setting closes
Court narratives spanning Babylon to Persia.
Dated by: Nabonidus Chronicle; Prayer of Nabonidus (4Q242)
520 BC
Haggai and Zechariah
Urging the rebuilding of the temple under Darius.
Dated by: Behistun inscription (Darius' accession)
The New Testament period
37 BC
Herod the Great
Client king; rebuilds the temple platform still standing today.
Dated by: Temple Mount ashlars; Herodium; Caesarea harbour
4 BC
Death of Herod
The outer limit for the nativity narratives.
Dated by: Josephus, Antiquities 17; Herodian coinage
AD 26-36
Pontius Pilate
Prefect of Judea, named in a dedication stone from Caesarea.
Dated by: Pilate Stone; Pilate prutot coins
AD 30-33
The crucifixion
Under Pilate and the high priest Caiaphas.
Dated by: Caiaphas ossuary; crucified heel bone from Giv'at ha-Mivtar
AD 49
Claudius expels Jews from Rome
Explains Aquila and Priscilla arriving in Corinth.
Dated by: Suetonius, Claudius 25
AD 51-52
Gallio in Corinth
The firmest date in Paul's life.
Dated by: Delphi (Gallio) inscription
AD 64
Fire at Rome
Persecution under Nero begins.
Dated by: Tacitus, Annals 15.44
AD 70
Fall of Jerusalem
Temple destroyed; the sacrificial system ends.
Dated by: Arch of Titus relief; Judaea Capta coinage
c. AD 90-125
Earliest gospel copies
The oldest surviving fragment of John.
Dated by: Rylands Papyrus P52
Span shown: 1300 BC to AD 120.