722 B.C. The a.s.syrians conquer Palestine.

586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar conquers Palestine.

The Babylonian captivity.

537 B.C. Cyrus, King of the Persians, allows the Jews to return to Palestine.

167-130 B.C. Last period of Jewish independence under the Maccabees.

63 B.C. Pompeius makes Palestine part of the Roman Empire.

40 B.C. Herod King of the Jews.

70 A.D. The Emperor t.i.tus destroys Jerusalem.

MESOPOTAMIA

4000 B.C. The Sumerians take possession of the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

2200 B.C. Hammurapi, King of Babylon, gives his people a famous code of law.

1900 B.C. Beginning of the a.s.syrian State, with Nineveh as its capital.

950-650 B.C. a.s.syria becomes the master of western Asia.

700 B.C. Sargon, the ruler of the a.s.syrians, conquers Palestine, Egypt and Arabia.

640 B.C. The Medes revolt against the a.s.syrian rule.

530 B.C. The Scythians attack a.s.syria.

There are revolutions all over the Kingdom.

608 B.C. Nineveh is destroyed. a.s.syria disappears from the map.

608-538 B.C. The Chaldeans reestablish the Babylonian Kingdom.

604-561 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem, takes Phoenicia and makes Babylon the center of civilization.

538 B.C. Mesopotamia becomes a Persian province.

330 B.C. Alexander the Great conquers Mesopotamia.

THE PHOENICIANS

1500-1200 B.C. The city of Sklon is the chief Phoenician center of trade.

1100-950 B.C. Tyre becomes the commercial center of Phoenicia.

1000-600 B.C. Development of the Phoenician colonial Empire.

850 B.C. Carthage is founded.

586-573 B.C. Siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar.

The city is captured and destroyed.

538 B.C. Phoenicia becomes a Persian province.

60 B.C. Phoenicia becomes part of the Roman Empire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Persian altar]

THE PERSIANS

At an unknown date the Indo-European people began their march into Europe and into India.

The year 1000 B.C. is usually given for Zarathustra, the great teacher of the Persians, who gave an excellent moral law.

650-B.C. The Indo-European Medes found a state along the eastern boundaries of Babylonia.

550-330 B.C. The Kingdom of the Persians.

Beginning of the struggle between Indo-Europeans and Semites.

525-8.C. Cambyses, King of the Persians, takes Egypt.

520-485 B.C. Rule of Darius, King of the Persians, who conquers Babylon and attacks Greece.

485-465 B.C. Rule of King Xerxes, who tries to establish himself in eastern Europe but fails.

330 B.C. The Greek, Alexander the Great, conquers all of western Asia and Egypt and Persia becomes a Greek Province.

The ancient world which was dominated by Semitic peoples lasted almost forty centuries. In the fourth century before the birth of Christ it died of old age.

Western Asia and Egypt had been the teachers of the Indo-Europeans who had occupied Europe at an unknown date.

In the fourth century before Christ, the Indo-European pupils had so far surpa.s.sed their teachers that they could begin their conquest of the world.

The famous expedition of Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. made an end to the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia and established the supremacy of Greek (that is European) culture.