6 Emperor Ngai is succeeded by a two year-old: Emperor Ruzi. The widow of Emperor Yuan, who ruled from 48 to 32, dominates the royal palace. She makes her nephew, Wang Mang, regent for Emperor Ruzi. Wang Mang is a Confucianist, and many Confucianists look to him to bring to the throne moral purpose.
9 Wang Mang stages a coup and becomes emperor.
14 Augustus dies. His adopted son, and son-in-law, Tiberius, becomes emperor.
23 A rebel army invades and burns China's great capital, Chang'an. Rebel soldiers find Wang Mang in his throne-room reciting from his collection of Confucian writings, and Wang Mang is silenced by a soldier cutting off his head.
25 Since 150 BCE, Jews called Essenes have denounced the Jewish majority as apostate and temple worship in Jerusalem as polluted. They describe the majority of Jews as the "sons of darkness" and themselves as "the sons of light." They live in communes, share, and look forward to Armageddon – God's day of judgment.
28 Like the Essenes, John the Baptist has seen perversity in Jewish society and has envisioned the coming of an Armageddon that will bring a new Israel under God. But rather than stay separated from others as have the Essenes, John joined various others who traveled about Galilee preaching. John made verbal attacks on the Judah's king (who is subservient to the Romans), Herod Antipas – the son of Herod the Great. John around this time, give or take a year or two, is imprisoned and executed.
30 A young man whose name in Greek is Jesus has created a following of his own, while recognizing there is none greater than his former leader, John the Baptist. This year, give or take a year or two, he goes to Jerusalem for Passover and there creates a disturbance. He is executed – by stoning if convicted of blasphemy and by crucifixion for some other offense.
37 Followers of Jesus keep his movement alive. Among these followers, John the Baptist has been relegated to second standing. The followers continued to worship at Jerusalem's temple, "the House of the Lord." They call themselves the "The Poor" or "The Saints." They look forward to Jesus returning and bringing a New Order. Some among them draw attention to themselves by arguing with other Jews. Some are expelled from the city, and one of them, Stephen, is executed.
37 Tiberius dies. Gaius Caesar, nicknamed Caligula, age 25, begins his reign as Roman Emperor, intent on doing well for the Romans and the empire.
39 Millions have died in China as rival factions have vied for power. The most successful of the rival factions is led by a Han prince, Liu Xiu. He has surrounded himself with educated men and is popular among his troops. His army has not looted when capturing towns, and this has helped him win hearts and minds. He captures the ruined capital, Chang'an. He proclaims himself emperor, restoring the Han dynasty – to be known as the Later Han, or East Han, dynasty.
40 Japanese have expanded against native people, reaching the Kanto plain, where Tokyo would one day be.
41 Caligula has created fear around him. The fearful conspire and assassinate him. Jews, who had been threatened by his decrees, are saved. Rome's senate is timid. Rather than assert its power, rule by emperors and accident of birth continues.
43 The Roman Emperor Claudius sends troops to conquer Britain.
49 Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus is one of many Jews spreading news to fellow Jews in cities across the empire – news of the coming of Armageddon. Some non-Jews have been attracted to the unique institution of their Jewish neighbors, the synagogue, and some of them have joined the followers of Jesus. The question arises whether these non-Jews should be required to follow Jewish laws, such as circumcision. Paul and others favor compromise. Followers of Jesus against compromise claim that matters of faith should not be based on compromise.
57 Liu Xiu of the Han dynasty is succeeded by his son, Emperor Ming, who is to reign for eighteen years while China's economy continues to recover from war and chaos. Blending has been taking place in schools of thought, and Emperor Ming associates himself with Taoism and theological Confucianism and declares himself a prophet.
64 Rome, a city crowded with people and wooden dwellings, is swept by a great fire. Christians, seen dancing with joy, perhaps believing that Armageddon has arrived, are suspected of having set the blaze.
66 Poverty and hunger in Jerusalem are accompanied by a rebellion. Jewish rebels burn the homes of Jewish aristocrats and kill those aristocrats they can get their hands on, and with whatever weapons they can find they attack outnumbered Roman soldiers. A war has begun that is to last for seven years.
67 Christians have been executed for what has been deemed criminal activity. Among the Christians who vanish from history are the apostles Paul and Peter.
68 Emperor Nero seeks to punish the disloyal. A poor politician, he has created enemies among men who command troops. As an army closes in, Nero commits suicide. Rule averts to military men, and rule by members of the family of Augustus (the Julio-Claudians) ends.
69 The first general to have made himself emperor, Servius Galba, has made many enemies and is cut down by a soldier on horseback.
70 The Gospel of Mark has been written within the last ten years, according to scholars, maybe in Syria. It has been described as the "first attempt to tell the story of the life and the death of Jesus." Its a story of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death and resurrection.
73 The war in Judea ends with Roman soldiers overrunning Masada. The Essenes disappear. Some Jews are taken away as slaves. Rome abolishes Judea as a homeland of the Jews. Christians see the demise of Jews as God's punishment, and Jews put into their synagogue liturgy an anathema against Christians.
79 Mount Vesuvius erupts, covering Pompeii and other towns. Pompeiians are flash-heated to death without time to suffocate. Some Christians see the eruption as God's vengeance against recent persecutions. Some Romans believe that the gods have begun the doomsday that they have long been expecting.
80 Another fire sweeps Rome, for three days and nights.
81 An epidemic of disease has been spreading among the Romans, and the popular emperor, Titus, dies of fever.
90 The Gospel of Matthew has been written within the last ten years, according to some but not all scholars. The gospel's author doesn't claim to have been an eyewitness to events. It incorporates much of the Gospel of Mark. It keeps Christianity attached to Judaism, with Jesus as its miracle working Messiah. It describes Jesus as having descended from Abraham and King David and of a virgin birth.
90 Sometime around now, give or take many years, the Gospel of Luke is written. Forty-one percent of it has commonality with the Gospel of Mark. Like the Gospel of Mark and unlike the Gospel of Matthew, the intended audience is Greek-speakers, and Christianity is described as an international religion, not an exclusively Jewish sect.
95 The Christian bishop in Rome, Clement, supports his authority among other Christian communities by linking God with Rome. In his first letter to Christians in Corinth, he has described a hierarchy of authority that begins with God, goes to Jesus, then to the apostles, and finally to bishops such as he, and he adds that God has granted to Rome "the authority of empire," glory and honor.
97 With China's prosperity has come another attempt at expansion westward. An army of 60,000 has conquered its way to the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. The commander wishes to send an envoy to make contact with the Romans, but the Parthians fear an alliance between Rome and China and a loss of their role as middlemen in trade between the two, and Parthians discourage the Chinese commander with tales of danger.
100 At Teotihuacan (in Central Mexico) the last pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, is completed.
100 The Gospel of John was written sometime between the years 90 to 100 according to some but not all scholars. It tells the story of Jesus with symbolic language that differs from the three other recognized gospels. And it differs on points in Jesus' life. The gospel's language has been described as "intentionally antagonistic at times toward Jewish tradition and toward Jewish sensitivities." (The Gospel of John, Frontline)
100 The Japanese have pushed into northeastern Honshu. They have driven back those called Ainu, and a little mixing between Japanese and Ainu may have been occurring, accounting perhaps, in years to come, for the greater hairiness of the Japanese compared to the Chinese. Kushans have migrated from Bactria into northwestern India. At some unknown date around these times, a Kushan named Kanishka has established an empire. He is a Buddhist. Buddhism has been changing from a way of life to a religion. The Buddha, Siddartha Gautama, has been elevated from a teacher to a god, said to be the latest of a series of his incarnations.
1st Century BCE (100 to 1) | 2nd Century of the Common Era (100 to 200 CE)
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