Chapter VII: 1000 to 1 BCE

by Jesse Potter aka Elkin Vanaeon
On this ninth day of August in the year of our Lord and Lady 2005 CE

1000 to 800 BCE - Africa - Bantu ("the people") migration spreads through sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara Desert), over some 2,000 years. Bantu, a linguistically related group of about 60 million people living in equatorial and southern Africa, probably originated in West Africa, migrating downward gradually into southern Africa. Early in their history, the Bantu split into two major linguistic branches-the Eastern and Western Bantu. The Eastern Bantu migrated through present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique, down to South Africa. The Western Bantu moved into what are now Angola, Namibia, and northwestern Botswana. Today, among the Bantu language groups, the most widely spoken Bantu-derived language is Arab-influenced Swahili.

References:

The Iron Age South of the Sahara (Richard Hooker, Civilizations in Afrika, WSU)
Ethnologue: Languages of the World - Africa, 14th ed. (Barbara F. Grimes, ed., SIL [Summer Institute of Linguistics] International, Dallas, Texas, 2001.)

1000-750 BCE - Eurasia - Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age. The Scythian, Sauromatian, Sarmatian, Saka, and early Mongolian nomads inhabited the Eurasian steppes. The Proto-Celtic people of the Urnfield culture dominate much of Continental Europe, spreading out over northern Asia as far as the frontiers of China. Development of the deliberate smelting of iron is occurring in the Middle East and China at this time.

References:

Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes in the Early Iron Age by Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Vladimir A. Bashilov, and Leonid T. Yablonsky (Eds.)
Nomads and the Outside World by A.M. Khazanov, University of Wisconsin Press, 1994

1000 BCE - The earliest dating and religion of the Druids are dated to this period seen in the Languageof the Celts who where the first Indo-Eurasian and Sarmatian peoples who spread throughout Europe. The later dialects were spoken from:

The Continental Celtic found in the aubries in inscriptions and place-names in Gaulish (from the tribal name Galli or Gaul) and in Celtiberian (from Celtiberi, the name given to the Celtic tribes of Spain).
The Goidelic or Gaelic spoken in Ireland, which spread to the Isle of Man (Manx) and Scotland; Q-Celtic (Goidelic).
Brythonic (also called Brittonic or British) comprises Welsh, Cornish, and Breton; P-Celtic (Brythonic),

As well as the Teachings and religious influences affecting other Cultures:

Pre-Gaul, as early as 1000 BCE from Proto-Celtic Indo-Europeans who traveled through and later settled in the region name Gaul. The name Druid was derived from the Sanskrit for wood, which is "drus" (from the same linguistic root later used to derive the Gaelic darach or "oak").
Greece, 400 BCE - The people among Greek Society who were the "drous" meaning - to "know", or "wise" who's teachings were absorbed from the earlier Vedic-Sanskit culture. The Shamanic Proto Celtic Culture slowly evolved into the priesthood known later by the west Europeans as Druids who maintained the laws and customs of their people.
Carthagenians, 300 and 600 CE - who visited the west coasts of Ireland, and brought Egyptian Druze philosophies and religions including Gnosticism and Coptic beliefs that were absorbed into the Cultures of Britain, France, Ireland and Spain.

References:

The Sarmations by Sulimirski, Tadeusz, pub. Praeger, NY, 1970; 267 pg.
The Celts: The People Who Came Out of the Darkness by Herm, Gerhard and published by Barnes and Noble, N,Y,; 312 pg.
The Celtic World by Routledge Paul Kegan, Green Miranda J.; 839 pg

900 BCE - Peoples speaking Goidelic arrive in Britain and Ireland, one group the Romans call the Pretani and the Irish called them the Cruithin (Picts).

Reference:

The Picts and the Scots, Laing, L & J, Alan Sutton; 172 pgs.
Ethnologue data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th Edition, Linguistic Lineage for Gaelic, Irish
Maclennan, Malcolm, 18 62 - A pronouncing and etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language: Gaelic-English, English -Gaelic: Cromwell St. Quay, Scot. : Acair ; Aberdeen : Aberdeen University Press, 1979.: HBLL Hum. Ref. PB1591 .M29 1979
Macbain, Alexander, 1855-1907: An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language: Stirling, E. Mackay, 1911: HBLL 491.6203 M12e

900 BCE - Zoroastor, known as Zarathushtra the Prophet, begins his teachings in what is later called Iran that spreads throughout the Middle East, Persia, and India. The Patriarchal Zoroasturian empires flourished until the time of the worship of Mithras and later Alexander the Great.

References:

Mithras, the Secret God, M.J. Vermaseren, London, 1963
A history of Zoroastrianism by Mary Boyce, Published: Leiden : Brill, 1975-<1982 > LC Call No.: BL80.2.R4 Lieferung 2, Heft 2A, etc.; Alternative class.: BL1525
History of Zoroastrianism by Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla: Dhalla, Maneckji Nusservanji,;HAYDEN:1938

900 BCE - Italy - The Etruscans emigrate from Lydia after an 18-year famine to establish the first Etruscan towns in Italy. King Atys of Lydia, who ruled the country opposite the Greek islands of Chios and Samos, commanded many of his subjects to emigrate to Smyrna. Under the leadership of Atys', son of Tyrsanus, they loaded their belongings onto ships and journeyed to the Italian Peninsula where they built their towns on hillside terraces enclosed with massive timbered walls.

Reference - The Origins of the Etruscans, R.S.P. Beekes, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie vanWetenschappen, Amsterdam, 2003 ISBN 90-6984-369-2

800 BCE - The Chaldeans recorded the movements of the sky and document the beginnings of western astrology. The twenty-two "moon stations" in the monthly lunar cycle becomes recognized in Babylonia, India and China.

References:

Evans, J., The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998).
Skeat, T.C., “The Egyptian Calendar under Augustus”, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 135 (2001), 153-156.
Neugebauer, O.E., A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, 3 vols. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York, 1975 [Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, nr. 1]).
Jacobsen, Th.S., Planetary Systems from the Ancient Greeks to Kepler (University of Washington Press, Washington, 1999).
Mann, A.T. 1989. Astrology and the Art of Healing. Allan & Unwin Paperbacks. Sydney

800 BCE - This is the "Second Period of Judaic religion" in which the original Pentateuch included several gods worshipped by the tribes of Israel, the "El" pantheon and what is later termed the god of the Tetragrameton. It is at this time that the Priests of the new god (whose name could not be spoken) turned away from goddess-worship to a patriarchal religion centered on the jealous god Yhwh, thus removing the Goddess Asherah (Astarte, Innana or Ishtar) from the Temple of Jerusalem. It is recorded that within her Sanctuary, a tree trunk with chopped off branches was erected in celebration of fertility rites. This trunk or Pole symbolized the god El (representative of Tammuz). Celebrations resulting from her worship in this period result in the later "Dances of Spring" (Maypole Dance) in northern Europe and the Syrian dances of "The Tree of Life", "The Wedding Dance", "Giving Birth", "Separation", "Descent to the Netherworld", "Battle", and Death and Resurrection."

References:

De Moor, The Rise of Yahwism; Roots of Israelite Monotheism, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 91 (Leuven: Peeters/University Press, 1990; second edition, 1997).
Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism; Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Oxford/New York: Oxford, 2001).
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD), ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking and P. W. van der Horst (Leiden/Boston/Köln: Brill, 1995).
R. Patai, "The Goddess Asherah," JNES 24 (1965), pp. 37-52.
J. Westenholz, "Goddesses of the Ancient Near East 3000- 1000 BC," in L. Goodison & C. Morris eds., Ancient Goddesses (London, 1998), pp. 63-82.
K. Szarzynska, "The Sumerian Goddess Inana-Kur," Orientalia Varsoviensia 1 (1987), pp. 7-14.Baskin, J., "The Separation of Women in Rabbinic Judaism," in Y. Y. Haddad and E. B. Findly, eds. Women, Religion, and Social Change. Albany: SUNY, 1985: 3-18.
Biale, R. Women and Jewish Law: An Exploration of Women's Issues in Halakhic Sources. New York: Schocken, 1984.
D. Kinsley, "Blood and Death Out of Place: Reflections on the Goddess Kali," in J. Hawley and D. Wulff eds., The Divine Consort (Berkeley, 1982), pp. 144-152.
F. Graf, "Women, War, and Warlike Divinities," in W. Eck et al eds., Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 55 (1984), pp. 245-254.

753 to 509 BCE - Rome - Romulus builds the walled settlement to which he later became King.

References:

Romulus By Plutarch Written 75 C.E. Translated by John Dryden
Hale C. "Plutarch on Romulus" Pegasus 28 (1985) :7-9 Abstract: On the Life of Romulus and Plutarch's use of various traditions on Romulus in developing material for his work.
Hemker, Julie (1985), "Rape and the founding of Rome", Helios 12, pp.41-47 [Noy photocopy 45]
Williams, G. (1994), "Representations of women in Roman literature", in Kleiner, D.E.E. & Matheson, S.B. (eds), I Claudia. Women in Ancient Rome (New Haven: Yale Univ. Art Gallery), esp. pp.126-131.

700 BCE - Scythians control the north and south shores of the Black Sea. The Greek trading communities are forced to pay tribute to continue their status to the Scythians. The Scythians who have pursued the Cimmerians push them all the way to Assyria.

References:

Early Nomads of the Eurasian Steppes by Prof. Dr. Markus Mode, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Orientalische Archäologie, D-06099 Halle-Saale, Germany
Cernenko, E. V., The Scythians from 700 to 300 BC, 1983, Oxford Publishing LTD.
Beard, Robert. A Chronology of Russian History. Web Site. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.

700 BCE - Jordanian City of Petra is carved out of sandstone by an unknown Aramaic culture, which would later be associated by some with the Nazoreans.

References:

“Capitals from ‘The Temple of the Winged Lions’, Petra”. American Schools of Oriental Research Bulletin 226 ( 1977): 47-51.
“Excavations at Petra (Jordan) 1973-83”. American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984): 247.
Joukowky, Martha Sharp. “The Brown University 1998 Excavations at the Petra Great Temple”. Annual Of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. 43 (1999): 195-222.
Lawlor, John Irving. The Nabataeans in Historical Perspective. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974.
Libbey, William & Franklin E. Hoskins. The Jordan Valley and Petra. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905.
Marsak, Leonard M. The Nature of Historical Inquiry. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970.
Marsh, Elias J. The Sands of Yesteryear Arabia Petraea. New Haven: The Connecticut Academy of Arts And Sciences, 1994.
McKenzie, Judith. The Architecture of Petra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
“Nabataean Faces from Petra”. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 42 (1998): 319-330.

680 BCE - Greece - The Greek goddess Artemis (Latin Diana; Etruscan - Artumes) begins to be worshipped as the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She is the twin of the god Apollo, having been born before him she is said to have helped deliver him. Over time, she is worshipped by both Greek and Roman as Artemis, Diana, and Jana. Though she has temples built for her, she is often found in the sacred groves where trees stand enduring of time, strong, and erect in age, with foliage neither shorn nor pierced by any suns. She is seen in her aspects of a Triple Goddess in being:

Maiden - Virgin Goddess who runs free without bounds and defends the chaste; as she often appears to protect chaste maidens when they are bathing.
Mother - Goddess of childbirth; invoked at the time of birthing; divine midwife as with Hera and Eileithyia.
Crone - Goddess of the Moon, protector of mothers and children; as with Hecate who is closely identified with both Artemis and Diana as well as with Persephone.

She is also identified as a Cthonic Goddess of:

Doorways and Gates; of entrances and departures; birth and death.
The Hunt (the giver of life or death) depicted carrying bow-and-arrow and wearing animal skins. She too rules the Gates of Death when she leads the 'Wild Hunt' as the Huntress.
Ancient Crossroads - where Shrines held the images of Hecate, Hermes and Diana stood at crossroads for worship and prayers of safe passage, found throughout the Roman Empire until crosses replaced them during the Christian era.

Her worship is said to have originated from the Isle of Aretias, which is now the Isle off of Gersun (Giresun, Turkey: Island of Giresun Adasi; Aretias Island). It is the only island of the Black Sea across from Scythia and is presently called the "Island of Giresun" it is 2km off the coast with a surface area of 35km. The Island is now a national park commemorated as the site sacred to the ancient Themiscyran Amazons and for the Hamza Stone (a large sphere of igneous rock carried from the Kaukasus Mountains). The Hamza Stone was the place of worship by the women of Artemis (Children of the Moon) and by the women of Kybele (Cybele), the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia. It still has the remains of the ancient temple where death and rebirth rituals, which involved the sacrificing of bulls and horses, were carried out as well as an ancient fortress and watchtower that predates the Ottoman Empire in Gersun.

References:

Theogony by Hesiod, pgs 411-422
Ann, Martha and Imel, Dorothy Myers 'Goddesses in World Mythology,' ABC-CLIO Incorporated, Santa Barbara, 1993.
Blundell, Sue and Williamson, Margaret. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. Routledge, London/NY. 1998.
Eisler, Riane 'The Chalice and the Blade,' Harper and Row, San Francisco,1987.
Farnell, Lewis Rochard 'The Cults of the Greek States,' Volumes One and Two, Claredon Press, Oxford, 1896.
Gimbutas, Dr. Marija 'Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe,' University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1982.
Grimassi, R. (2000) Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe, Llewellyn Publications, Minnesota, USA
Leeming, David. "Goddess; Myths of the Female Divine" Oxford: University Press, 1994.
Redmond, Layne 'When the Drummers Were Women,' Three Rivers Press, New York, 1997.
Rolle, Renate 'The World of the Scythians,' University of California Press, Berkeley, 1989.

621 BCE - Greece - The Athenian lawgiver Draco issues the Draconian code of Laws, which make nearly every offense punishable by death.

References:

The Athenian Court and the American Court System by Henry A. Rhodes.
12b. Grace, E. (1973) "Status distinctions in the Draconian law," Eirene 11, 5-30
12b. Humphreys, S. (1990) "A historical approach to Drakon's law on homicide," in Symposion, 17-45.
12b. Harrison, A. R. W. (1961) "Drakon's protos axon," CQ 11, 3-5.
12b. Gagarin, M. (1981) Drakon and early Athenian homicide law. New Haven.

612 BCE - Greece - Sapho (the Greek lyric poet of Lesbos), is born. She is famous for her poetry that explored female sexuality, female values, and love in ancient Greece. She is later inscribed in the "Palatine Anthology" among the muses around 200 BCE.

References:

If Not, Winter: fragments of Sappho, translated by Anne Carson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2002. (xiii, 397 p.) LC#: PA4408.E5 C37 2002; ISBN: 0375410678
Snyder, Jane McIntosh. The woman and the lyre: women writers in Classical Greece and Rome. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,1991. (xiii,199p.) LC#: PA3067 .S69 1991; ISBN: 0809317060
Sappho's lyre: archaic lyric and women poets of ancient Greece, translations, with introduction and notes by Diane J. Rayor; foreword by W.R. Johnson. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1991. (xxi, 207 p.: map) LC#: PA3622 .R39 1991; ISBN: 0520073355, 0520073363
The Sappho companion, edited and introduced by Margaret Reynolds. London: Chatto & Windus, 2000. (422 p.: ill.) LC#: PA4409 .S36 2000x; ISBN: 0701165863

605 to 586 BCE - Babylon - Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to Judah, and brought 10,000 wealthy Jews to captivity between 556 and 539 BCE.

References:

Aharoni, Yohanan, ed., 3^rd ed., MacMillan Bible Atlas, New York: MacMillan, 1993
Pritchard, James, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3^rd ed., (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969)
Dane Bienkowski, Piotr and Alan Millard, eds., Dictionary of the Ancient Near East, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000)

600 BCE to 1800 CE - The Sauromatian and Sarmatian tribes were peoples forced to live nomadic lifestyle due to a poor climactic conditions causing a deteriorating steppe ecology. This resulted in many different tribes contacting peoples of other civilizations and merging cultural concepts such as burial practices by the earthen burial mound people of the Kurgans and the use of specialized weaponry by the Scytho-Sarmatian people.

Present day archeological information gathered from many of the earth-mound burial sites established that Women among the Sauromatian and Early Sarmatian (Early Nomadic) tribes were also Women Warriors and Warrior Priestesses, who were called "Oiorpata" ('Oior 'means 'man' and 'pata' means 'to kill'), which meant in Scythian "man-killers." In 680 BCE, these nomadic tribes later influence the directions of matrilineal attitudes of various races of India and Indonesia, such as the early matrilineal societies that inhabited India who worshipped Uma, "the Lady of the Mountains." Uma is still revered in these regions as Ambika, Annapurna, Bhairavi, Candi, Gauri, Durga, Jagadmatai means "Mother of the World", Kali, Kanyakumari, Kumari, Mahadevi, Parvati, Syama or Shiva's consort, she is usually represented at his side in Indian sculpture. The Worshippers of "Uma" are called the "Uma-soona", which means "Uma's Children." Within the histories of many civilizations are the references of the women warriors of Ulm dated from Alexander the Great to as late as the 18th century spanning over a thousand years.

References:

Hinnells & Sharpe, Hinduism, Oriel Press, Newcastle, 1972, p.118.
Bibliography on Gender in Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia (Cambodia/Angkor and Vietnam) compiled by Julie Shackford-Bradley December, 1996
Tantra and Sakta Art of Orissa by Thomas Eugene Donaldson. New Delhi, D.K. Printworld, 2002, 3 Vols., xxxxiii, 1398 p., maps, figs., coloured ills., ISBN 81-246-0196-8.
"Warrior Women of the Eurasian Steppes" Archaeology, January-February, pp. 44-48; about the Issyk Warrior Priestess in Archaeology, September-October 1997.
Warrior Women: An Archaeologists Search for History's Hidden Heroines by Jeannine Davis-Kimball, Ph.D. with Mona Behan, New York: Warner Books, 2002
Herodotus IV, 114
The Center for the Study of the Eurasian Nomads (CSEN)

600 BCE - Ireland - Gaelic (Goidelic) speaking Celts from Spain arrive in Ireland. The various Celtic Cultures have now extended to Ankara, Budapest, Belgrade, Verona, Milan, Geneva, Paris, Orleans, Tara, Spain, Britain, Scotland, Holland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia.

References:

Greene, David, The Irish Language (1966);
Jackson, Kenneth, The Gaelic Languages (1978) and Language and History in Early Britain (1953)
O'Rahilly, T. F., Irish Dialects: Past and Present (1972); Peake, Harold,
Spain, A History edited by Raymond Carr. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-19-820619-4.
The Language and Inscriptions of the Northern Picts, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1892)
Celtfc Scotland (Edinburgh, 1876) by W. F. Skene

600 BC - Greece -The Sanctuary of Athena is built in Delphi, Marmaria. The site was a Mycenaean village from 1500 to 1100 BCE and was originally dedicated to the worship of an Earth Goddess, the shrine was eventually occupied by Olympian deities, Athena. She is the daughter of Zues and known as Athena Ergane (patron of labor, arts, sciences, and the works of women), Athena Zosteria (warrior girded for battle) and Zeus Polieus (protector of the city).

References:

Greece (Blue Guide) 3rd edition by Stuart Rossiter, Published by Ernest Benn, London 1977
Archaeological Excavations in Central and Northern Greece by Dorothy and Nicholas Efstratiou Leekley, published by Noyes Press, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1980

600 BCE - Greece - The Temple of Hera was built in Olympia. Hera's main sanctuary was at Argos in the Peloponnesus, and in the town of Heraia, her other temples stood in Olympia, Mycene, Sparta, Paestum (temples I and II), Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora, and on the islands of Samos and Delos. She is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea and wife and sister of Zeus. Hera was mainly worshipped as a goddess of marriage and birth. It is said that each year Hera's virginity returns by bathing in the well Canathus. The children of Hera and Zeus are hephaestus (the smith-god), Hebe (the goddess of youth) and Ares (the god of war).

References:

Greece (Blue Guide) 3rd edition by Stuart Rossiter, Published by Ernest Benn, London 1977
Harris, H.A., Sport in Greece and Rome, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1972.

600 BCE - China - Birth of the Tao; Lao Tzu is attributed with the writing of the "Tao-Te Ching,:"

Tao-meaning the way of all life,
Te-meaning the fit use of life by men, and
Ching-meaning text or classic.

Lao Tzu was an honorific name meaning "Old Master." Lao-Tzu's refused to set his ideas down in writing, wanting his philosophy to remain a natural way to live life with goodness, serenity and respect without any rigid code of behavior. The eventual recorded writings of his wisdom is the "Tao-Te Ching." He believed instinct and conscience should govern a person's conduct and encouraged his followers to observe and believe that:

Human life, like everything else in the universe, is constantly influenced by outside forces.
"Simplicity" is the key to truth and freedom,
Understanding the laws of nature helps a person to develop intuition and personal strength, which when properly used allows oneself to lead life with love, without force.

References:

Lao Tzu and Taoism by Kaltenmark, M.. Translated by Roger Greaves. Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press, 1969.
Taoism : the parting of the way by Welch, H., Boston : Beacon Press, 1965.
Taoism and Chinese Religion by Maspero, H., Translated by Frank A. Kierman, Jr., Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
"Chronicle of Taoist Studies in the West 1950-1990" by Seidel, A., Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie 5 (1989-90) 223-347.

589 BCE - Nebuchadnezzar sent his entire army against Jerusalem and besieged it for about a year and a half, causing a great famine in the city. The Babylonians finally broke through Jerusalem's walls in 587 BCE. Jerusalem, the temple, the palace, and its walls were destroyed. The inhabitants of the city, as well as the people and troops who had changed their allegiance to the king of Babylon were taken captive in a third deportation.

References:

Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon by Wiseman, D.J. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Temple Beyond Time: The Story of the Site of Solomon's Temple by Mina C. Klein & H. Arthur Klein, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1970
Encyclopedia of World Biography edited by Suzanne Michele Bourgoin and Paula Kay Byers.

580 BCE - Heraion - Greek temple of Hera the Queen of Heaven on the island of Samos is built.

References:

Simon Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks (1999) Cambridge University Press
P. Slater, The Glory of Hera 2nd edition, Princeton (1992)
Marinatos, Nanno & Robin Hagg, editors. - GREEK SANCTUARIES. New Approaches. Routledge 1993, 245pp

570 to 560 BCE - Italy -The Temple of Apollo was built in Syracuse. Apollo was the son of the Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. He was the god of order, harmony, and civilization. He is associated with the cultivated arts of music and medicine.

References:

Blue Guide to Sicily: The Blue guides 2^nd Edition by Alta Macadam, Publisher E. Benn and Rand McNally, London and Chicago, 1981
The Ancient Greek Architect at Work by J.J. Coulton, (1977)
Aeschylus. Lattimore, Richmond, trans. Oresteia: The Libation Bearers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.
Wharton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1969.

561 BCE - Greece - The Athenian statesman Solon established the "Laws of Solon", which repealed Draconian Law except for homicide.

References:

Homer to Solon: The rise of the polis: The written sources. In Hansen (ed.). (l993).
The Athenian Court and the American Court System by Henry A. Rhodes.
Garland, Robert. Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion. Ithaca NY:Cornell University Press, 1992.

554 to 533 BCE - Greece - Records of Pythagoreans using the Pentagram as a sign of recognition (Iambl., Vita Pyth. XXXIII), calling the Pentagram "Hugieia," which is translated as "Health", "Quickening" (Youthful Vitality), and was usually given as a "Divine Blessing." Hugieia comes from the same Indo-European root as "quick", "viva," "vital," "bios", "zôê" and "azoth." It has been t associated with "vigor", "vigil" and the Latin words "vegetus" (lively, vigorous) and "vegeo" (to quicken), which come from the same Indo-European root as "Wicca" and "Witch."

By 1493-1541 CE, "Hugieia" was still associated with the Pentagram by the Pythagoreans who used it as their greeting or password of "Be Sound, Whole, or Blessed!" (Hugiaine!).

References:

Scholia in Aristoph., Nubes 609; Lucian, Pro lapsu 5; Schouten 15-28, LSJ s.v. hugieia
West, M. L., Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient. Oxford University Press, 1971. (ancient philosophy, especially Pythagorean)
Kingsley, P., Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition, Oxford University Press, 1995. (principal source)
Metaphysica, Volume VIII, of The Works of Aristotle, translated by W. D. Ross, Oxford, 1928

550 BCE - Italy - The Temples of Hera I and II were built in Paestum.

References:

J.J. Coulton, The Ancient Greek Architect at Work (1977).
"Ancient Greek Architecture." The Dictionary of Art. Volume 13. 1996 Edition
Becatti, Giovanni. The Art of Ancient Greece and Rome.New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1967.

550 to 540 BCE - Italy - Temple E, (Hera) was built in Selinus. The Temple of Juno Lacinia was built in Acragas. The Roman goddess Juno, who was personified at her Gate (known as the Janua Coeli or "Gate of Heaven") with two faces looking at the passage of the Gate of birth and opposite to the passage of the Gate of death. This Temple was also used to worship the Roman god Janus (from the Latin ianua), who is the masculine form of Diana, which would be Dianus or Ianus (Janus). He was the keeper of keys, the "protector" of gates and doorways and was responsible for opening and closing the gates of heaven every morning and evening. He also had the title Consivius or "sower", because of his role as the creator of agriculture.

References:

Parker, Bertha Morris. The Golden Book Encyclopedia, New York: Golden Press, 1959.
Richardson, Donald. Greek Mythology for Everyone: Legends of the Gods and Heroes. New York: Avened Books, 1989.
O’Neill, Cynthia-Editor et. al.. Goddesses Heroes and Shamans. United States: Scholastic, 1994.

Further References to Gate of Heaven - Hebrew

Abraham Cohen De Herrera: Gate of Heaven by Kenneth Krabenhoft
Barker, Margaret. The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem. London: SPCK, 1991.

540 BCE - Italy - The Temple of Diana was built on Janiculan hill in Rome.

Resources:

Downing, Christine. The Goddess, Mythological Images of the Feminine. New York: Crossroad,1981.
Flaum, Eric, with David Pandy. The Encyclopedia of Gods, Heroes, and legends of the Greeks and Romans. Philadelphia: Courage,1993.
Hallam, Elizabeth, ed. Gods and Goddesses: a Treasury of Deities and Tales from World Myhology. New York: Macmillan, 1996.
Henig, Martin, and King, Anthony, ed. Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1986.
Johnson, Buffie. Lady of the Beasts, Ancient Images of the Goddess and Her Sacred Animals. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981.
Livy, Titus. History of Rome - English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Ref - 1.32-48: Servius Tullius, division of the people into classes, dedication of temple of Diana, and the murder of Tullius by Tarquinius Superbus.
Nardo, Don. World History Series: Greek and Roman Mythology. San Diego: Lucent, 1998.
Schmidt, Joel. Larousse: Greek and Roman Mythology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965.
Switzer, Ellen, and Costas. Greek Myths: Gods, Heroes and Monsters. New York: Macmillan, 1988.
Usher, Kerry. Heroes, Gods, and Emperors from Roman Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick, 1983.

539 BCE - Persia becomes a world power under Cyrus the Great of Persia. The Persian religion of the time was Zoroastrianism and Mithra was it's new Prophet or God-mediator. Christianity owes many features to Iran (Persia as well as those inherited from Judaism). Among others are probably the belief in guardian angels, resurrection and in the heavenly journey of the soul."

530 BCE - The Saka Peoples, appear northeast of Iran as mounted nomads. Cyrus failed to subdue (and was killed) by the Massagetae beyond the Oxus in 530 BC." The Kalachakra initiation is never performed in the Northeast Sector of a community.

525 BCE - Italy - Temple of Athena was built in Paestum.

525 to 332 BCE - Egypt - Late Dynastic Perod: Dynasties XXVII-XXXI:

In 525 BCE, The Persian king Cambyses II invades Egypt.
490 BCE, The Greeks defeat the Persians at Marathon,
486 BCE the Egyptians revolt.
343 BCE, Nectanebo II is the last Egyptian pharaoh.

Egypt does not see another Egyptian as ruler until 1952 CE.

509 to 31 BCE - Rome - Tarquinius Superbus is overthrown and the Republic of Rome is changed to a Republican system of government, designed to prevent a tyrant ever ruling Rome again. Executive power was entrusted to two annually elected officials (consuls); their advisory council, the Senate, which was an ex-officio body of magistrates, provided the necessary elements of experience and continuity.

500 to 200 BCE - Nigeria - The Ancient Nok culture thrives in forests of central Nigeria till 200CE. Claimed by the Yoruba peoples as ancestors, the Nok are revered for their art and terra cottas.

500 BCE - Tibet - Primitive Bon was introduced with the mass migration of Iranians from Sogdhiana, bringing polytheistic Mithraism, Aramaic alphabet of Aramaiti, the Iranian Earth Goddess." Early Shamanistic Bon in Tibet is recorded before the later Yunglung Bon of Mani which is introduced much later. "Herodotus adds that the Argippaie, north of the Scythians were virtuous, vegetarian peacemakers who have no warfare or weapons."

500 BCE - Greece - The Temple of Zeus was built in Olympia, the Temple of Apollo was built in Corinth, and the Temple of Aphaia was built in Aegina.

500 BCE - Ireland - The Danu Celtic tribes from central and western parts of mainland Europe (Iron-culture farmers and warriors) arrive in Ireland. They become the people of the Tuatha de Danann who have no fear of dying in battle and eventually become the dominant people of Ireland.

500 BCE - India - Buddha; The word Buddha ("One who is awake", is a title given to Siddharta Gautama, in northern India. Siddartha Gautama was the son of the Rajah (ruler) of the Sakya tribe of Kapilavastu, Nepal. When about 35 years old he left the luxuries of his father's court, his beautiful wife, and all earthly ambitions for the life of an ascetic. He saw contemplation as the way to self-enlightenment. He tried the traditional means of contemplation and asceticism, for six years, to discover the reason of man's "clinging to life." He taught the principles of his teaching, gaining many disciples and followers for the next 40 years, till he died at the age of about 80 in Kusinagara, Oudh. According to tradition, he sat under a bodhi tree through the night until a glimpse of the morning star provoked a "supreme awakening." Of the Four Truths of Buddha's teaching, the last affirms the path leading to deliverance from suffering. To reach Nirvana to "the blowing out" of the fires of all desires, and the absorption of the self into the infinite.

450 BCE - Torah (Mosaic Law) is compiled from E, J, P and D sources in Babylon

440 to 430 BCE - Greece - The Temple of Poseidon was built in Sunium.

430 BCE - Greece and Italy - Piraeus is struck by a deadly epidemic, which does not affect the Peloponnese, but the Spartans kill everyone lest they catch the disease. It later rages in the settlement of Rome and by 429 BCE the Plague kills at least one-third the population of Athens. The historian Thucydides later wrote, "The people indulged in drunkenness, gluttony, and licentiousness as citizens lost fear of the gods and respect for law. As for the first time they judged it to be just the same whether they worshipped them (the gods) or not, as they saw all alike perishing; and as for the latter, no one expected to live to be brought to trial for his offenses."

It is during this time period that Hippocrates the Great is quoted as being the first physician to state that no disease is entirely miraculous or adventitious in origin and that disease is not sent as punishment by the gods. He uses dissection and vivisection of animals to study anatomy and physiology. Hippocrates adds to medical terminology such words as chronic, crisis, convalescence, exacerbate, paroxysm, relapse, and resolution (fever expresses the struggle of the body to cure itself).

420 to 410 BCE - Greece - The Temple of Apollo was built in Bassae.

420 BCE - Greece - The Temple of Athena was built in Athens.

400 BCE - Jerusalem - A Jar handle with the seal impression of a pentagram (Jerusalem) is dated to the 4th Century BCE. The Hebrew letters YRSLM were found inscribed on the City Gates of Jerusalem, the Seal of Jerusalem, and is referenced to the Pentagram with Star of Jesse, the Shield and Star of David, and the Star of Solomon.

390 BCE - Rome - The Gauls defeat the Romans at the Battle of the Allia and Rome is besieged until only the Capitol is unconquered. They demand a ransom to leave the Romans alone. Brennus, leader of the Gauls demands his weight in gold and when the Romans complain he throws his sword on the scales to be weighed as well with the cry "VAE VICTUS" - (Woe to the Vanquished). After the sack of Rome by the Gauls, Rome must deal with unrest and revolt by former enemies and allies, including the Etruria, the Aequi, the Volsci, the Latins, and the Hernici.

370 to 340 BCE - Greece - Areta of Cyrena was the daughter of Aristippus who had founded the Cyrenaic School of philosophy. She was elected to succeed her father as head of his school, where for thirty-five years she taught the natural sciences, moral philosophy and ethics in Attica. The epitaph on her tomb dubbed her "the splendor of Greece" with "the beauty of Helen, the virtue of Thirma, the pen of Aristippus, the soul of Socrates, and the tongue of Homer."

350 BCE - France - The Later Greek Historian Timaeus makes earliest known reference to Druids in France at this time.

331 BCE - Egypt - Alexander is declared the Son of God at oracle of Amun in Siwa, Egypt. Slightly significant to Essenes because of their connection to Amun, or Aumen (Essenes on Carmel are called the children of Aumen, or Beni-Amin in Mandaen writings.)

332 BCE to 30 CE - Macedonia and Egypt - The Macedonian Ptolmic Period.

In 332 BCE, the Macedonian empire expanded into Egypt with the arrival of Alexander the Great, where the Egyptians welcomed him after all the difficulties of the Persian occupations. He ordered the restoration of temples sacked previously by the Persians in 343 BCE. He began the construction of the city of Alexandria on the West Side of the Delta.
323 BCE, Alexander the Great dies in Babylon, control of Egypt falls into the hands of Philip Arrhidaeus (half-brother and son of Alexander IV).
305 BCE, Ptolemy I (Macedonian general) becomes the first Ptolemaic ruler.
300 BCE, Alexandria begins to flourish. The city is renowned for the Great Library and the lighthouse. Ptolemaic ruler-ship was stable and many temples were constructed in Upper Egypt.
Cleopatra VII, daughter of Ptolemy XII, begins her reign. She becomes mistress of Julius Caesar, who is married, and bears him a child who doesn't survive. The Roman senate is outraged and when Caesar is assassinated, Egypt is left unprotected. Cleopatra then joins Mark Antony in war against Octavian, Caesar's heir.
31 BCE, the remaining fleets of Cleopatra and Mark Antony retreat home to Egypt after losing the sea battle of Actium, She commits suicide upon hearing of Antony's death in 30 BCE, which ends the reign of the Ptolmaic Dynasty.

276 BCE - Gaul - Galatia had been settled by the Celts - "The name Galatians was given to the Celtic people due to their originally having settled in Gaul before their migration to Asia Minor." The Celts in Gaul and the British Isles lived in grass huts and bred cattle while preserving the Old Religion. They celebrated the Old Religion with wild processions on horseback, song, chants and feasts. Ritual bonfires (need-fires) are lit on the mountaintops. The existence of the Galatians is asserted by Diogenes Laertius who quoted, "The Celtic race, which embrace the Gaul's, old Britons, the Picts, Scots, the Welsh, Irish and numerous emigrants in all the large cities of Great Britain and the United States, appear in history several hundred years before Christ, as the wave of the vast Aryan migration from Asia. [ff. keltoivor Kevltai, Celtae, Galavtai, Galatae or Galati, Galli, Gael. Some derive it from Celt, a cover, shelter; others from celu (Lat. celo) to conceal. Herodotus first mentions them, as dwelling in the extreme northwest of Europe... The Galatians in Asia Minor, to whom Paul addressed his epistle, were a branch of the Celtic race.

It was within this time-period that the Druid priesthood met in a place called 'Drunemeton' and created the Council of 300, who sat as judges among the Galatian Celts! (Nemeton means sacred place)

250 BCE - Mithra became the favorite deity and Mithraism spread into Armenia and later into Asia Minor after the division of the empire of Alexander. From 250-100 BCE the Mithraic system of ritual and doctrine took the form which it afterward retained. ....In theory, ritual, and practice Mithraism was syncretistic and where it could not supplant other religious doctrines, it assimilated or adopted them"

225 BCE - Classical writers portray the Celts as a dramatic looking people, quite different in appearance than any of the Mediterranean people:

Lucretius - "This race of men from the plains were all the harder, for hard land had borne them; built of stronger and firmer bones, and endowed with mighty sinew, they were a race undaunted by heat and cold, plague, [and] strange new foodstuffs."
Ammianus Marcellinus - "Almost all the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarreling and of overbearing insolence."
Diodorus Siculus - "Physically the Gauls are terrifying in appearance, with deep sounding and very harsh voices. The Gallic women are not only equal to their husbands in stature but rival them in strength as well."
Dio Cassius - "Queen Boudicca of the Iceni is huge of frame and terrifying of aspect with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright read hair fell to her knees."

200 BCE - Cybele, (Phrygian fertility goddess), was being worshipped on what was to later be known as Vatican hill, she was associated with her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus). He was the god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually.

200 BCE - The yecer ha-ra', translated as the 'evil impulse', is adopted by the Jewish clergy as the reason for man's fall or desire for what was considered dark impulses, which God had implanted in the unconscious heart of each individual, at his birth or conception. Later Christians changed the yecer to become the corrupting influence known as 'concupiscence', which each human being inherited at birth and was transmitted through sexual intercourse. This was accompanied by the 'libid'', which infected man and was only released through baptism and other forms of purification.

200 to 120 BCE - The Gundestrup cauldron is created at this time. It is 70 cm in diameter and beaten out of 10 kg of silver, constructed from 13 heavily decorated rectangular panels and a plain bowl containing a 14th circular one. It was dismantled around 30 CE and left in a bog near what is now the hamlet of Gundestrup in Northern Jutland, where it gradually became overgrown and covered with peat. It remained there until its discovery by peat cutters in 1891. There are eight external panels and five interior panels, one of which depicts Cernunnos sitting cross-legged wearing antlers with seven tines and surrounded by animals. The relief shows the same characteristics as the stone mask of Pashupati, the Lord of the Animals dated to 2000 BCE and found in found in Mohenjo Daro (the NorthWest of modern India on the River Indus).

175 to 164 BCE - Manalaus was made High Priest for the Jewish peoples. Through him Greek influence became strong among until a rebellion was brought against him in 167 - 165 BCE by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his 5 sons, also known as the Macabees, who rebelled. They recaptured and rededicated the temple. Hanakkuh commemorates this today

168 BCE - Rome - Battle of Pydna - The Roman General Lucius Aemilius Paulus defeats Macedonian King Perseus, macedonians are captured at Pydna and sold as slaves in Rome with females fetching fifty times the price of a male.

100 BCE - What were to be described as the Germaenic Tribes had advanced into the central and southern areas of present-day Germany. There were three major tribal groups:

The eastern Germanic peoples lived along the Oder and Vistula rivers;
The northern Germanic peoples inhabited the southern part of present-day Scandinavia;
The western Germanic peoples inhabited the extreme south of Jutland and the area between the North Sea and the Elbe, Rhine, and Main rivers.

100 BCE - Hiding of the Dead Sea Scrolls by the Essenes - The conservative fraternity of the Essenes lived deliberately isolated from temple Jewry in a settlement that had been rebuilt after an earthquake, it was situated at Chirbet Qumran a mountainous region on the Dead Sea. The "Essenes" traced their origin to a "Teacher of Righteousness" from the time of the Maccabees, centuries before Christ. The Essenes are remembered for the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which the community packed in jars and hid in nearby caves during a rebellion that had threatened them about 100 BCE. In I947 the scrolls were found by accident at the Wadi Qumran caves." Writers who wrote about this sect were:

Philo of Alexandria 25 BCE-50 CE, "Quod omnis probus liber Sit" Palestinian Syria, inhabited by a section of the numerous people of the Jews, is also fruitful in the production of virtues.
Flavius Josephus 37-97 CE, Jewish historian and general who gives details of this religious community in 77 CE, Flavius Josephus wrote he himself had lived among them for three years and quotes: "Among the Jews there are three schools of thought, whose adherents are called Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes respectively. The Essenes profess a severer discipline: They are Jews by birth and are particularly attached to each other... Scorning wedlock, they select other men's children while still pliable and teachable, and fashion them after their own pattern. Contemptuous of wealth their rule is that novices admitted to the sect must surrender their property to the order. When adherents arrive from elsewhere, all local resources are put at their disposal as if they were their own. In dress and personal appearance, they are like children in the care of a stern tutor. Neither garments nor shoes are changed till they are dropping to pieces or worn out with age. The priest says grace before meat... After breakfast he offers a second prayer ...[only] two things are left entirely to them - personal aid, and charity... They champion good faith and serve the cause of peace... They are wonderfully devoted to the works of ancient writers, choosing mostly books that can help soul and body .. . they ... conquer pain by sheer will power: death, if it comes with honor, they value more than life without end. Their spirit was tested to the utmost by the war with the Romans, who racked and twisted, burnt and broke them, subjecting them to every torture yet invented to make them blaspheme the Lawgiver or eat some forbidden food, but could not make them do either, or ever once fawn on their tormentors or shed a tear. It is indeed their unshakable conviction that bodies are corruptible and the material composing them impermanent, whereas souls remain immortal forever. Some of them claim to foretell the future ... rarely if ever do their predictions prove wrong...!

30 BCE to 450 CE - Rome and Egypt during the Roman Period - Egypt came under Roman influence and was ruled by a prefect for Octavian, later known as Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor in 27 BCE. The country was considered a "breadbasket" for centuries under a succession of emperors.

8 BCE - Greece - The initiatory institution in Greece at Eleusis taught both the Greater and Lesser Elusian Mysteries. The Mysteries of Demeter were celebrated every five years at Eleusis.

The Lesser Mysteries - The candidate underwent the symbolic journey in which the quest of Demeter for her lost daughter Persephone in Hades was reenacted with the would-be candidate in the role of Demeter.
The Greater Mysteries - brought about direct contact with the beings that inhabit the higher worlds. The higher grades of initiation were conducted individually rather than collectively as in the Lesser Mysteries. The seeking of the inner truth of the Eleusinian mysteries, was to experience the birth of the soul into matter - seen as death (figuratively, not literally). It was seen that only through participation in the mysteries would the initiate be utterly free and alive, carried to a timeless reality.

2 BCE - India - The Soma ritual is documented to the practice of using a hallucinogenic, the Soma deity still exists in present day Hindu religion. As the population spread and was variously subsumed by other cultures, they began to substitute other hallucinogenic plants, and the identity of Soma was lost for 2000 years.

2 BCE to 30 CE - Jerusalem - Jesus of Nazareth - the time of the prophetic birth of a young man who was later worshiped as the Christ, the "Son of God" or "The Messiah," after being tortured and put to death by the Romans at the request of the "Jewish Sanhedrin." He was revered for his supernatural abilities, "Enabled by God," to:

Control the weather; calm stormy seas,
Walk on water and defy gravity,
Prophesy and see the future,
Look into the heart of another to see their true nature; choose his disciples and sense innocence or guilt,
Cure disease and injury through the laying on of hands,
Love without condemnation; perfect love.

Upon his death the Christian cults and sects that developed later condemned and punished the Jewish peoples. The very Roman Empire that had put Jesus to death grew weak and in having lost power, chose the spiritual path of civilizing and conquering peoples and territories while still procuring lands and wealth. The monarchies (Constantine and later religious rulers) began governing over religious councils as time passed, which later developed into the Roman Catholic Church. Simply putting it, the 'God of Christianity' was patented and copyrighted and so was the Church. Beliefs in any other spiritual growth were discouraged and people not converting to Christianity were later persecuted and condemned. Anyone claiming the ability to heal or display possible supernatural abilities, especially during the "Dark Ages", was investigated, tortured, and put to death as heretics and witches!

Idaho Web Design Tools