(Feature Photo: Ancient Persepolis, Credit: Hansueli Krapf, Wikimedia Commons) 

 

585 B.C.

Jeremiah’s ministry ends in Judah and he finishes his book

 

570 B.C.

Pythagoras, the Ionian Greek philosopher and eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism (which includes the doctrine of reincarnation) is born; Pythagoras will later claim he is the reincarnation of a Trojan named Euphorbus, who was slain at Troy (The Druids, pg. 172)

 

562 B.C.

King Nebuchadnezzar II dies

 

559 B.C.

RULERS & ROYALTY: Cyrus the Great begins his rule in Persia

 

550 B.C.  

RULERS & ROYALTY: Darius I begins his reign

The word “Hindu” is found in an inscription during this time as a geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus, and did not refer to a religion—it wasn’t until 1830 during the British Colonialism of India that the term “Hinduism” was coined by Indians who wanted to distinguish themselves from the British (Wikipedia)

A bronze statue of a calvaryman is made in southern Italy, it was cast as two solid pieces – horse and rider – with smaller pieces (reins, spear and shield all now lost) (Collections of the British Museum pg. 30)

 

551 B.C.

Confucius is born in China around this year

 

540 B.C.

Heracleitus is born in Ephesus (now in modern-day Turkey); He will become the father of the Stoic philosophy, as he will set for the tenet that nature or the universe is controlled by the logos, the Word or reason 

 

539 B.C.

Cyrus the Great enters Babylon and conquers it without a fight and founds the Achaemenid Empire in Mesopotamia

Confucius turns 11 in China

Heracleitus turns 1 in Ephesus (modern-day Turkey)   

 

538 B.C.  

RULERS & ROYALTY: Daniel 9, Darius the Mede’s first year of ruling Babylon (most likely a subordinate of Cyrus the Great)

Cyrus the Great issues a decree from his palace at Ecbatana, during his first regnal year, the decree that the Jewish temple be rebuilt (recorded in Ezra 1:2, and on the Cyrus Cylinder in the British Museum), first Jewish return to Jerusalem

 

530 B.C.

RULERS & ROYALTY: Cyrus the Great of Persia ends his rule, Cambyses II begins his rule (Through the British Museum with the Bible pg. 54)

 

529 B.C.

Cyrus the Great dies and is buried in a tomb in Pasargadae, the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus, who ordered its construction, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, northeast of the modern city of Shiraz (Alexander the Great goes to his tomb in 324 B.C., a year before he also dies, and finds the tomb desecrated, which angered him because he wanted to be seen as the rightful heir to Cyrus’ throne – AG 146)

 

522 B.C.

RULERS & ROYALTY: Cambyses II, ruler of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, ends his rule, and Darius I begins his rule (Through the British Museum with the Bible pg. 54)

 

520 B.C.

Book of Zechariah written, Zechariah and Haggai’s ministries (520-480)

 

516   

Completion of Second Temple in Jerusalem