(2nd C. B.C.E.)The Rise of Rome ca 220 - 146 B.C.E.

(1st C. C.E.) Ancient times to the Gallic Wars (58-51 B.C.E.) of Julius Caesar

Of 40 original books only books 1-5 and 11-20 have survived in complete form, fragments of others have been preserved.

Some speeches and letters provide materials about Syria in the period 57-43 B.C.E.

(1st C. B.C.E ) Alexander the Great and the Seleucids

Only an epitome of the 2nd or 3rd C. C.E. by Justin survives.

(1st C. B.C.E.) Founding of Rome to 9 B.C.E. 35 of 142 books survive. Books 41-45 include material related to Jewish history in 178 - 167 B.C.E.

(ca 64 B.C.E. - 21 C.E.)

(1st C. B.C.E.)

Contains geographic information about Syria and Palestine (Book XVI, II, 28-46)

Antiochus IV Epiphanes - 73 C.E.

Maccabean period (168-37 B.C.E.)

Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.E.)

Archaelaus (4 B.C.E. -6 C.E.)

Roman procurators (6 - 66 C.E.)

War with Rome (66-73 C.E.)

Jewish history from creation to 66 C.E.

There are serious differences in the portions of the account which overlaps with The Jewish War.

Autobiography of Josephus, apparently an appendix to The Jewish Antiquities.

Substantial portions survive. Covers the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero (14-68 C.E.)

Only small parts survive. Reigns of emperors from 69-96 C.E. Book V, 1-13 covers a short history of the Jews to the First Jewish War (66 - 70 C.E.)

Julius Caesar through Domitian (d. 96 C.E.)

Of 24 books in his Romaica books 6-7 and 11-17 are complete, and 1-5 and 8-9 are fragmentary. Some of the surviving parts include sections on Syria and Parthia.

A history of Alexander the Great

Some large fragments survive.

Lost.

Lost.

Roman history from the earliest times to 229 C.E.

An epitome of Historiae Philippicae, a 1st C. B.C.E. work of the Roman historian Trogus Pompeius

Ten books covering the period from the time of Christ to the victory of Constantine over Licinius.

A praise of Constantine as the God-chosen Emperor. The work may not have been written by Eusebius.

Thirty one volumes of Latin history from the accession of Nerva in 96 CE to the death of Valens in 378 CE. The first thirteen boooks, covering most of the period of the history, are lost. The surviving eighteen books deal with a twenty-five year period beginning with the sixteenth year of Constantius II, 353 CE.

A derogatory account of the lives of Justinian and Theodora.

A body of religious literature extending in oral and in written form from the twelfth to the second centure B.C.E. With the exception of some short sections, Ezra 4.8-6.18 and 7.12-26, Jeremiah 10.11, Daniel 2.4-7.28, the material is written in Hebrew.

The Hebrew Scriptures are divided into three major sections, The Law, Torah, the Prophets, Nebi’im, and the Writings, Ketubim.. An acronym is formed from the Hebrew names of the three sections to name the whole Tanakh.

The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are called The Law, ‘Torah’ in Hebrew means ‘law’, or ‘instruction’. These same books are often called the Penteuch, ‘five scrolls’ in Christian literature.

These five books form a literary whole which is itself an interweaving of four underlying sources. The sources are identified based upon their use of proper names, various linguistic conventions, variant accounts of the same events and differing primary interests of the sources. The sources are named for individual characteristics.

The J source, also called the Jahwist or the Yahwist source, is so-called because it is consistent in its use of the name Yahweh for God. German scholars write this word ‘Jahweh’ which gives rise to the term ‘J source’. Based upon the focus and interests of the Yahwist it is believed that this source wrote in the Davidic or Solomonic period, tenth century BCE, and may have been closely associated with the royal house.

The E or Elohist source is so named for its consistent use of the word Elohim for God in the period before Moses. The Elohist source is believed to be from the northern kingdom, Israel, and to have lived in the early to middle part of the eighth century BCE.

The third source is D or Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is an independent work within the Torah. It is believed to have originated in the period of its discovery in 621 BCE. It is associated with the legal reformation of King Josiah.

The P or Priestly source is identified by its particular interest in cultic and ritual institutions and regulations. All of Leviticus and portions of the remaining four books of the Torah belong to the Priestly tradition. It is the P source that is the mostly source of the legal reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Book of Joshua continues the story of the Torah. While the Torah is sometimes called the Pentateuch, ‘five scrolls’, the Torah together with Jochua is often called the Hexateuch, ‘six scrolls’. The book describes the conquest of Canaan by all of Israel under the leadership of Joshua (Chapters 1-11), the apportionment of the land (Chapters 13-22), the farewell address of Joshua (Chapter 23) abd the assembly at Shechem and Joshua’s death (Chapter 24). The book of Joshua was probably originally a part of the Torah and was separated after the Priestly source was incorporated and the Deuteronomic revision completed. The Samaratan version of the Torah does not include Joshua. It is most likely that the separation occured in the context of Ezra’s reorganization in the mid fifth century BCE.

The Book of Judges is principally stories of heroes whose exploits fit in the period between the invasion of Canaan and the establishment of the monarchy. The beginning of the book describes two invasions of Canaan, one by the southern tribes and one by the Joseph tribes (Chapters 1:1-2:5). This is followed by a series of stories about individual judges, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. Short notes are also included for other judges. The final part of the book contains two narratives which seem intended to establish the unstable conditions which proved the need for a monarchy. The stories of the heroes probably circulated in oral form for some time, however, the book as a literary composition with sevral revisions probably dates from the period of the mid seventh through the mid sixth centuries BCE.

The two books of Samuel were originally a single book in Hebrew. These books were probably joined with an originally single Book of Kings in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew Scriptures were written on scrolls and organized for a convenient scroll size. The Septuagint was written as codeces and organized into units of convenient size for a codex. Thus the two books of Samuel and Kings were combined into a single codex, called Book of the Kingdoms, Basileiwn, and subdivided into four parts, Basileiwn a, Basileion b, Basileiwn g and Basileiwn d. When Jerome translated The Hebrew Scriptures into Latin he used the term Regum, ‘kings’ for each of the four parts. The Jewish canon since Jerome has called these books Melakim, ‘kings’.

The Books of Samuel continue relating the course of events from Judges. It is focused on the story of the rise of the monarchy in Judah and Israel and the reign of the first two kings, Saul and David. I Samuel ends with the death of Saul and II Samuel begins with the reign of David and ends late in the reign of David. The events surrounding the death of David are carried over to the beginning of I Kings.

Like Samuel the Books of Kings were originally one book in the Hebrew Scriptures and were divided into two books when the Kings was combined with Samuel in the Septuagint.

Kings contains the story of Solomon (1 Kings 1-11), the story of both kingdoms, Israel and Judah to the fall of Israel in 721 BCE (1 Kings 12 - 2 Kings 17) and the story of the kingdom of Judah until King Jehoiachin was pardoned by Evil-Merodach of Babylon in 561 BCE.

The author of Kings names three sources used, The Book of the Acts of Solomon, The Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah and Thye Book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. None of these works remain. It is most likely that the material has been edited by several hands. In the final version it is a work of a deuteronomic historian most likely in the mid sixth century, that is more or less contemporary with the last events mentioned in the text.

Isaiah was a man of Jerusalem who was active as a prophet from 746 BCE to at least 701 BCE. The Book of Isaiah chapters 1-35 is a set of oracles of this prophet regarding the political and military events of his time.

This segment is an independent section which was probably from a set of legends about Isaiah. The material in this section is the same as that of 2 Kings 18:13 - 20:21. This section describes the co-ordinated revolts of the Judean King Hezekiah and the Babylonian King Merodach-baladan against the Assyrians on the occasion of the death of the Assyrian King Sargon II in 705 BCE through the seige of Jerusalem by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 BCE.

The section of the Book of Isaiah from chapter 40 to chapter 55 is an independent work. Often the unknown author of this work is referred to as Deuero-Isaiah, ‘second Isaiah’. The context of this section is about 160 years later than Isaiah. Israel is in captivity in Babylon, Jerusalem and Judah have been destroyed, Cyrus, the Persian King, is already known as a conqueror but he has not yet taken Babylon. The date is probably between Cyrus’ war with Croesus of Lydia in 546 BCE and his capture of Babylon in 538 BCE. Deutero-Isaiah focuses on the hope for the deliverance of Israel from the captivity in Babylon.

Isaiah 55-66 is an independent set of works from yet a later period in history. The community has returned to Judea and Jerusalem has been rebuilt. The subject of this section is less lofty than that of Deutero-Isaiah and is concerned largely with the miserable conditions of life in Jerusalem and the details of quarrels within the life of the community. Bad leaders are mentioned, syncretistic tendencies in worship are condemned, and arguments against rebuilding the temple are raised. Different parts of Trito-Isaiah seem to date from different periods, the earliest from the period just after the return from Babylon late in the sixth century and the latest may be as recent as Hellenistic.

There are four periods of activity which can be identified for Jeremiah. (1) under King Josiah of Judah from 627 BCE to the Deuteronomic reform in 621 BCE. Jeremiah decries the mixture of religious traditions and approves Josiah’s reforms.
(2) under King Jehoiakim from 608-604 BCE. He disapproves of the despotic rule of Jehoiakim and of the temple priesthood. Jeremiah is punished and shunned. In 604 Jeremiah prophesies destruction at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who had defeated Egypt in 605.
(3) under King Zedekiah to the fall of Jerusalem from 597-587 BCE. In 597 Jerusalem was beseiged and leaders were transported to Babylon. Jeremiah advises submission to Babylon. He is jailed for treason and released by the Babylonians upon the fall of the city.
(4) after the destruction of Jerusalem until Jeremiah’s death in Egypt. Jeremiah was forced by opponents to flee to Egypt where he continued to rail against idolatry until his death.

Most likely a priest of the temple in Jerusalem, Ezekiel was deported with others to Babylon in 597. There are two periods represented in the book.
(1) From 593-587 Ezeliel preaches repentance in the face of doom. (Chapters 1-24)
(2) Following the deportation to 571 Ezekiel is a comfortor and seeks renewal in order to begin restoration.

Organized by length, longest to shortest

The menace of the Assyrians about to overrun the northern kingdom is the menacing contest of the book.

The context is a period of prosperity prior to the Assyrian threat.

The Edomites against whom the message of the book is directed apparantly took part in the sack of Jerusalem in 587 BCE.

The exaggerations of the size of the city of Nineveh suggest that the book was written when the city, destroyed in 612 BCE, was only a vague memory. The book, like Ruth, is directed against the kind of exclusiveness found in Ezra and Nehemiah.,

The book recounts several events beginning before the destruction of Samaria in 721 BCE. The end of the book seems to come from the context of the exile.

Celebrates the destruction of Nineveh.

After the fall of Nineveh and prior to the first Judean war with Babylon.

Focuses on the failure to rebuild the temple. The temple was completed in 516 BCE.

Dates itself in the second year of Darius.

A diverse set of passages seem to come from the context of the period following the end of the Maccabean war.

The context is Jerusalem after the completion of the temple rebuilding and before the construction of the city wall.

Some view the book as more likely written later, perhaps in the Maccabean period.

There are stories set in the Babylonian and Persian periods in daniel but the immediate context seems to be the time of the successors to Alexander III and Antiochus IV Epiphanes in particular. See especially 7:8.

The books of Chronicles together with Ezra and Nehemiah form a continuous historical composition covering events in the history of Israel and Judah from Adam to Nehemiah in the mid-fifth century BCE. In the Latin Bible Ezra and Nehemiah are called 1 and 2 Ezra. This work covers much of the same material as Samuel and Kings, but from a somewhat different perspective. Chronicles with Ezra and Nehemiah focus upon the theocracy of the Davidic monarchy, the Jerusalem temple and its organization, and the post-exilic cultic community. Thus history before David is limited to little more than geneologies and the history of the northern kingdom of Israel is ignored after the division of the monarchy.

‘Targum’ is the Aramaic word which means ‘translation’. Targums are translation of books of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic. Only the Targum to the Pentateuch is a straightforward translation. Others vary somewhat on occasion from the Hebrew text. Sometimes the variance from a literal translation gives clues about the situation at the time of the translation. There are Targums to every book of the Hebrew Bible except Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Septuagint is a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This translation was done in the third and second centuries B.C.E. to meet the needs of the Greek speaking Jewish community of Egypt. Tradition holds that there were six translators from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, a total of seventy-two. This work acquired its name from the Latin septuaginta, ‘seventy’. Greek speaking Christians used the Septuagint as their scripture.

The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Latin by Jerome in the fourth century C.E.

‘Peshitta’ is the Syriac word which means ‘simple’. It is the name given to the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Syriac. The Hebrew text seems to underlie the Peshitta although some influence of the Septuagint can be seen.

The Mishna is a codification of Jewish practices based upon interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures by Jewish scholars of the late first and the second centuries CE. The Mishnah relates the interpretations or Torah by two distinct sets of Jewish scholars. One set of names represents scholars who lived between the end of the first Jewish war with Rome in 70 CE and the beginning of the second in 132 CE. The other set of names represents authorities who flourished between the end of the second war in 135 CE and the end of the second century CE.

The Mishnah is divided into six major sections:
(1) agricultural rules;
(2) laws governing appointed seasons such as Sabbaths and festivals;
(3) laws on the transfer of women and property;
(4) criminal and civil laws;
(5) laws on the conduct of the cult and the Temple;
(6) laws on the preservation of cultic purity both in the Temple and the domicile.

The six major sections of the Mishnah are further divided into a total of sixty-two tractates.

The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah. There are two Talmuds. The Talmud of the Land of Israel, also called the Palestinian Talmud, was compossed in Palestine and completed about 400 CE. The Babylonian Talmud was written in Babylon and completed by about 600 CE. Neither Talmud is a complete commentary on the Mishnah. The Palestinian Talmud deals with thirty-nine tractates and the Babylonian with thirty-seven tractates of the total of sixty-two.

An interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Midrash is a collection of interpretations arranged in the order of the biblical books, chapters and verses.

‘Apocrypha’ is a term used principally by Protestant Christian scholars. It refers to boods which are found in the Septuagint although not in the Hebrew Scriptures. Because the canon of the Old Testament adopted by the Roman Catholic Church is based upon the Vulgate, Jerome’s translation of the Septuagint, these books are included in versions of the Old Testament authorized by the Roman Catholic Church. The canon of the Old Testament adopted by Protestant churches is based upon the Hebrew Scriptures and thus these books are typically not included in Protestent versions of the Old Testament but may be included in a separate section called The Apocrypha.

This book is called 3 Ezra in the Latin Bible where Ezra and Nehemiah are called 1 and 2 Ezra. The LXX calles the book EsdraV a. The book was originally written in Greek and is greatly a translation of material from 2 Chronicles 35.1-36.23, Ezra and Nehemiah 7.38-8.12. It dates from about the middle of the 2nd century BCE.

Written in the second half of the second century BCE, the first book of Maccabees is a detailed account of the history of Judah from the accession of Antiochus IV in 175 B.C.E. to the death of Simon in 134 B.C.E. Thus the book describes the history of the Maccabean revolt. Chapters 14-16 may be a later appendix. This book was probably originally written in Hebrew but only a Greek translation survives.

The second book of Maccabees covers the period from 176 B.C.E. to shortly before the death of Judas in 160 B.C.E. This work focuses almost exclusively upon the accomplishments of Judas Maccabaeus. It is an epitome of a five volume work by Jason of Cyrene written ca. 90 - 80 B.C.E. This work was probably originally composed in Greek.

3 Maccabees has nothing at all to do with the Maccabeans. It describes the visit of Ptolemy V Philopator to Jerusalem after his victory over Antiochus III at Raphia in 217. He is punished by God with a stroke for his attempt to force his way into the holy of holies of the temple. Returning to Egypt his plans to avenge himself at the expense of the Jews of Alexandria is thwarted by divine intervention. Finally Ptolemy V becomes the benefactor of the Jews. The book is probably a festival legend explaining a festival celebrated by Egyptian Jews.

The Book of Tobit is a complex fictional account centering upon the figure of Tobit, one of the captives removed to Ninevah at the time of the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E.

The Book of Judith is a fictional account probably dating to the Hasmonean period, most likely around 150 B.C.E. In the tale Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyria sends his general Holofernes on a campaign to punish people in the west who had refused to aid him in his campaign against Arphaxed of Media. With the city of Bethulia under seige and the elders determined to surrender the pious and beautiful widow Judith offers to deliver the city. Holofernes gets drunk at a private dinner with Judith and she kills and beheads him. This heroic account of the killing of an evil man by a pious Jewish woman is a tale of the Maccabean period. Various parts of the story may be based upon the memory of unrelated historical events. Nebuchadnezzar (604-652 BCE) was a Babylonian monarch whose residence was not Nineveh, the Assyrian capitol, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar had campaigned in Syro-Palestine late in the seventh century B.C.E. It is possible that the figures of Holofernes and his colleague Bagoas are memories of Orophernes and Bagoas who were generals in the campaign of the Persian king Artaxerxes III Orchus (359-338) against Phoenicia and Egypt.

The Pseudepigrapha are books from the intertestamental period, that is, between the most recent of the Hebrew Scriptures, Daniel, and the New Testament writings, which were not included in the Septuagint. The word ‘pseudepigrapha’ means ‘false titles’ and is used because many ot the books are falsely ascribed to characters from the Hebrew Scriptures such as Abraham and Enoch. There is no fixed list of the Pseudepigrapha, the following is a list of the most well known.

James H. Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, 1976.

Vermès, Géza, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 1975.

A fixed body (canon) of religious literature deemed by Christians to have religious authority equal to that of the Old Testament. The canon of the New Testament was agreeded to in general by the end of the second century C.E.

The New Testament consists of books which fit into the following categories: The Gospels, The Acts of the Apostles, letters of various apostles but principally Paul, the Revelation of John

The gospels, "good news", are accounts of the ministry of Jesus.

The project of the collection for the church at Jerusalem implies the sequence 1 Corinthinas, 2 Corinthians, chs. 1-9, Romans over a period of about two years.

The Judaizing crisis suggests that Galatians immediately preceded Romans.

Written from Ephesus.

This letter dates to about 56 CE if it was written from a prison in Ephesus. If the imprisonment was in Rome then the date is 61-63 CE.

This letter may very well not be Pauline.

Based upon an analysis of the style and the vocabulary of this letter, the Pauline authorship is in question. The date is accurate only if the authorship is Pauline.

Doctrinal differences between this letter and other more firmly ascribed Pauline letters have led to the conclusion that there is little liklihood that this letter is Pauline

Hymn to Zeus and some fragments survive.

The first four of eight books survive in Greek. Three of the remaining four survive in Arabic translation.

Nine books on mathematics survive in Greek. An additional two survive in Arabic adaptations.