Sacred Atlas
The Timeline

Four millennia of scripture.

Traditional and critical dates side by side. Events, lives, and texts, arranged in one long corridor. Click through to the related reading.

  • 1800 BCE

    Abraham (traditional dates)

    Judaism

    Traditional dating of the patriarch's journey from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan.

  • 1500 BCE

    Early Rigvedic hymns

    Hinduism

    Oral composition of the earliest Vedic hymns in the Indus-Sarasvati region. The Vedas will not be committed to writing for another millennium.

  • 1300 BCE

    The Exodus (traditional date)

    Judaism

    Traditional dating of Moses leading Israel out of Egypt and receiving the Law at Sinai.

  • 957 BCE

    Solomon's Temple dedicated

    Judaism

    The First Temple is completed in Jerusalem. It will stand for roughly 370 years.

  • 586 BCE

    Destruction of the First Temple; Babylonian Exile

    Judaism

    Nebuchadnezzar's army razes Jerusalem and deports Judah's elite to Babylon. The exile lasts until 538 BCE and reshapes Jewish religious identity.

  • 563 BCE

    Birth of the Buddha (traditional)

    Buddhism

    Siddhartha Gautama is born into the Shakya clan in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal.

  • 550 BCE

    Laozi (traditional)

    Taoism

    Traditional date for the composition of the Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi.

  • 528 BCE

    The Buddha's Awakening

    Buddhism

    Siddhartha attains enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya and becomes the Buddha. Tradition places his first sermon at Sarnath soon after.

  • 516 BCE

    Second Temple dedicated

    Judaism

    Rebuilt after the return from exile under Zerubbabel. Will stand until 70 CE.

  • 250 BCE

    Dhammapada compiled

    Buddhism

    The Pali collection of the Buddha's sayings is compiled, probably during the reign of Ashoka.

  • 250 BCE

    Ashoka converts

    Buddhism

    The Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism after the horrors of the Kalinga war and disseminates it across the subcontinent through pillar edicts.

  • 200 BCE

    Bhagavad Gita composed

    Hinduism

    The Gita is woven into the larger Mahabharata epic sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

  • 4 BCE

    Birth of Jesus (traditional)

    Christianity

    Tradition places the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem during the late reign of Herod the Great.

  • 30 CE

    Crucifixion and resurrection

    Christianity

    Jesus is crucified under Pontius Pilate during Passover. Christian faith holds he rose on the third day.

  • 34 CE

    Conversion of Paul

    Christianity

    Saul of Tarsus, en route to arrest Christians in Damascus, is blinded by a vision of Christ and becomes the foremost missionary of the early church.

  • 70 CE

    Destruction of the Second Temple

    Judaism

    Roman forces under Titus destroy the Temple. The sacrificial system ends; rabbinic Judaism begins to take shape around Yavneh.

  • 80 CE

    Four Gospels in circulation

    Christianity

    Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are composed and begin to circulate across the Mediterranean churches.

  • 325 CE

    Council of Nicaea

    Christianity

    The first ecumenical council affirms the full divinity of Christ and issues the Nicene Creed.

  • 400 CE

    Augustine's Confessions

    Christianity

    The bishop of Hippo writes the first great spiritual autobiography in the West.

  • 451 CE

    Council of Chalcedon

    Christianity

    The fourth ecumenical council defines the two natures of Christ — fully divine, fully human, in one person.

  • 500 CE

    Babylonian Talmud completed

    Judaism

    The central rabbinic compendium of law and lore, developed over centuries in the Babylonian academies, reaches substantial completion.

  • 570 CE

    Birth of Muhammad

    Islam

    The Prophet is born in Mecca into the Quraysh clan.

  • 610 CE

    First Qur'anic revelation

    Islam

    In the cave of Hira outside Mecca, Muhammad receives the first words of the Qur'an: 'Iqra!' ('Read!').

  • 622 CE

    The Hijra

    Islam

    Muhammad and his followers migrate from Mecca to Medina. Year 1 of the Islamic calendar.

  • 632 CE

    Death of Muhammad; Qur'an completed

    Islam

    The Prophet dies in Medina. The Qur'anic revelation is considered complete.

  • 650 CE

    Uthmanic recension

    Islam

    Under Caliph Uthman, a standardised written text of the Qur'an is compiled and distributed; variant codices are destroyed.

  • 1054 CE

    The Great Schism

    Christianity

    Mutual excommunications between the patriarch of Constantinople and the legates of Rome formalise the break between Eastern and Western Christianity.

  • 1100 CE

    Al-Ghazali's Revival

    Islam

    Imam al-Ghazali completes the Ihya 'Ulum al-Din, synthesising Sunni orthodoxy with Sufi mysticism.

  • 1180 CE

    Maimonides' Mishneh Torah

    Judaism

    The great Andalusian philosopher-rabbi completes his comprehensive code of Jewish law in Egypt.

  • 1517 CE

    Luther's 95 Theses

    Christianity

    Martin Luther posts his theses in Wittenberg, inaugurating the Protestant Reformation.

  • 1611 CE

    King James Bible published

    Christianity

    The Authorised Version of the English Bible is published under the patronage of James I. It will shape English prose for four centuries.