History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel

1st-century BCE – 2nd-century CE

64 BCE Rome conquers Judea and Jerusalem 40–37 Antigonus the Hasmonean rules as King of Judea 37 Herod the Great made ruler of Judea 19 Herod's Temple completed 4 BCE Tetrarchy of Judea formed 6 CE Iudaea province formed 20 Tiberias founded 66–73 First Jewish–Roman War 67 Gamla and Jotapata fall 70 Second Temple destroyed, Council of Jamnia founded 73 Massada falls 115–117 Kitos War 130 Temple of Jupiter built upon Temple Mount 132 Judea merged into Syria Palaestina 132–136 Bar-Kochba revolt, Ten Martyrs executed c. 200 Mishnah completed

Byzantine period

351–352 Jewish revolt against Gallus, Jewish communities and academies in disarray 358 Hillel II institutes Hebrew calendar 361–363 Rebuilding of Temple attempted under Julian 425 Gamliel VI, last Prince of the Sanhedrin, dies 429 Jewish Patriarchate abolished by Theodosius II 438 Eudocia allows Jewish prayer on Temple Mount 450 Redaction of Jerusalem Talmud 614–617 Jews gain autonomy in Jerusalem under Persian rule 625 Liturgical poet Yanai flourishes

Islamic period

638 Umar allows Jews back into Jerusalem 691–705 Islamization of the Temple Mount 720 Jews permanently excluded from ascending Temple Mount c. 750 Palestinian Gaonate based in Tiberias c. 850 Seat of the Gaonate transferred to Jerusalem 875 Mourners of Zion reside in Jerusalem 921 Controversy erupts regarding calendrical calculations of Aaron ben Meïr 960 Masorete Aaron ben Asher dies in Tiberias 1071 Gaonate exiled to Tyre

12th to 14th-century

1191 Jews of Ascalon arrive in Jerusalem 1198 Maghreb Jews arrive in Jerusalem 1204 Maimonides buried in Tiberias 1209-1211 Immigration of 300 French and English rabbis 1217 Judah al-Harizi bemoans state of the Temple Mount 1260 Yechiel of Paris establishes talmudical academy in Acre 1266 Jews banned from entering the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron 1267 Nachmanides arrives in Jerusalem, Ramban synagogue established 1286 Meir of Rothenburg incarcerated after attempting to emigrate to Mamluk Palestine 1355 Physician and geographer Ishtori Haparchi dies in Bet She'an

15th-century

1428 Jews attempt to purchase Tomb of David, Pope prevents ships carrying Jews to Mamluk Palestine 1434 Elijah of Ferrara settles in Jerusalem 1441 Famine forces Jerusalem Jews to send emissary to Europe 1455 Failed large scale immigration attempt from Sicily 1474 Great Synagogue of Jerusalem demolished by Arab mob 1488 Obadiah ben Abraham begins revival of Jerusalem 1507 Joseph Saragossi dies in Safed

The Jewish people have long maintained both physical and religious ties with the land of Israel. Although they had first arrived centuries earlier, and the Jewish Bible claims that a Jewish monarchy existed starting in the 10th century BCE, the first appearance of the name "Israel" in the secular (non-Biblical) historic record is the Egyptian Merneptah Stele, circa 1200 BCE. During the Biblical period, two kingdoms occupied the highland zone, the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (circa 722 BCE), and the Kingdom of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (586 BCE). Upon the defeat of the Babylonian Empire by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (538 BCE), the Jewish elite returned to Jerusalem, and the Second Temple was built.

In 332 BCE the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered Israel, starting a long religious struggle that split the Jewish population into traditional (orthodox) and Hellenized components.

In 165 BCE, after the religion-driven Maccabean Revolt, the independent orthodox Hasmonean Kingdom was established. In 64 BCE the Romans conquered Israel, turning it into a Roman province. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the area of ancient Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars of 66–136 CE, during which the Romans expelled most of the Jews from the area and replaced it with the Roman province of Palaestina, beginning the Jewish Diaspora. After this time, Jews became a minority in most regions, except Galilee, and the area became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century, though the percentages of Christians and Jews are unknown, the former perhaps coming to predominate in urban areas, the latter remaining in rural areas Jewish settlements declined from over 160 to 50 by the time of the Muslim conquest. Michael Avi-Yonah calculated that Jews constituted 10–15% of Palestine's population by the time of the Persian invasion of 614, while Moshe Gil claims that Jews constituted the majority of the population until the 7th century Muslim conquest (638 CE).

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