400–449 Western Roman empire disintegrates under weak emperors. 395: western empire ruled from Rome eastern empire ruled from Constantinople. 392–395)-last emperor of a united Roman empire. 325) defines orthodox Christian doctrine. 313) becomes a Christian on his deathbed ( A.D. 330) issues Edict of Milan legalizing Christianity ( A.D. 312–337) reunites eastern and western Roman empires, with new capital (Constantinople) on site of Byzantium ( A.D. 300–349 Constantine the Great (rules A.D. 250–900) develop hieroglyphic writing, advances in art, architecture, science. Classic period of Mayan civilization ( A.D. 250–299 Increasing invasions of the Roman empire by Franks and Goths. Persian (Sassanid) empire re-established. Roman persecutions of Christians increase. Oldest Mayan temples in Central America (c. 150–199 Marcus Aurelius rules Rome ( A.D. 122–135) final Diaspora (dispersion) of Jews begins. 117–138) codifies Roman law, rebuilds Pantheon, establishes postal system, builds wall between England and Scotland. 98–116) Roman empire extends to Mesopotamia, Arabia, Balkans. Roman persecutions of Christians begin ( A.D. Jews revolt against Rome Jerusalem destroyed ( A.D. Missionary journeys of Paul the Apostle ( A.D. 54), succeeded by Nero (commits suicide, A.D. Buddhism introduced to China.ĥ0–99 Claudius poisoned ( A.D. Han dynasty in China founded by Emperor Kuang Wu Ti. 37), succeeded by Caligula (assassinated, A.D. After Augustus, Tiberius becomes emperor (dies, A.D. If you are poking around in it looking for history in every detail, you are completely missing the point.1–49 Birth of Jesus Christ (variously given from 4 B.C. It was not trying to be a modern-style historical documentary. Samuel was trying to relate a story, and tell some deeper truths about the authors' conception of God. Most likely if such a report were given, it either wouldn't have been split up at all, or it would have been split up by tribe (which would have required 12 numbers, not two). There was no such split then, and "Judah" was just one of the 12 tribes in the country. That's when the state split, with the 10 northern tribes continuing to call themselves "Israel" and the two southern ones calling themselves "Judah" (which was one of the two tribes' names). There was no such thing as "Judah" until the civil war after the death of Solomon in 930 (50 years later). The edit I made to the question (adding back in the bit about Judah) should be your first clue. As such, this portion of The Bible should not be taken as a literal history. Note that current thinking is that Samuel was written sometime around 630-540 BCE, which would have been 300 to 500 years after the events being described. So this Biblical passage would have you believe they almost had as many available in the same area 3000 ago as they could muster today. Ten thousand would be a better figure, but if they were few they were tenacious: they multiplied and proselytized with such remarkable success that by 800BC they constituted rather more than half the total population of the area - say 0.3m out of 0.5mįor a modern comparison, the state of Israel today has about only 1.5 million men considered "fit for military service". ![]() ![]() According to scripture the Israelites were numbered at something The collapse of the Egyptian Empire in 1200BC left PalestineĪnd Jordan defenceless: the Philistines seized the coast, the children of Israelĭesert. Here's what McEvedy and Jones' Atlas of World Population History has to say on this very subject: She admits this doesn't jibe well with biblical accounts. In particular, based on archeological evidence, perhaps 40,000 people in the 12th century (which gives them a lot of ground to cover to make a over a million warriors in the next 2 centuries). McNutt postulates a far lower population for the area. Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel, by Paula M. However, Israel is much more marginal agricultural territory than Mesopotamia. So that number doesn't seem completely out of line. The vast majority of that would have been in the areas of intensive farming, which at that time means Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and perhaps the Indus valley. According to the graph on the World Population wiki page, global population at 1000 BC was about 50 million.
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