Explore + Learn
History
Each period marks its claims as attested, approximate or debated, so the confident and the contested never look the same.
The Patriarchal Age
The Genesis narratives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, set among Middle Bronze Age migration between Mesopotamia, Canaan and Egypt.
Egypt & the Exodus
Slavery in Egypt, the departure narrative and the Sinai covenant, set against the Egyptian New Kingdom.
Settlement & Judges
Israel appears as village culture in the Canaanite highlands during the collapse of the Late Bronze Age world.
The United Monarchy
Saul, David and Solomon, and the establishment of Jerusalem as a political and cultic centre.
The Divided Kingdom
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, the writing prophets, and pressure from Assyria then Babylon.
Exile in Babylon
Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and the Judean elite deported; much of the Hebrew Bible takes shape in response.
The Second Temple Period
Return under Persia, Hellenistic rule, the Maccabean revolt, Roman annexation and the destruction of the temple.
The World of Jesus
Roman Judea and Galilee under client rulers and prefects: the political and religious setting of the gospels.
The Early Church
A Jewish movement spreading through the cities of the Roman east, producing letters and then gospels.