March 3: In Babylonia – EZEKIEL prophesies against Pharaoh of Egypt of their slaughter by NEBUCHADNEZZAR's Babylonians (Ezekiel 32:1-16).
March 17: In Babylonia – EZEKIEL prophesies of the terrible slaughter of Egypt's armies by the Babylonians (Ezekiel 32:17-32).

Encyclopedia Britannica reports a further deportation by NEBUCHADNEZZAR in this year.
Josephus reports a conquest of northern Egypt by NEBUCHADNEZZAR and further deportation of Jews from there to Babylon (Ant.10.9:5-7).
This fulfils JEREMIAH's prophecy that none of those who fled to Egypt with JOHANAN would survive. (Jeremiah 42:19-22).

– In lieu of their Jerusalem temple, the Jews begin to gather at various meeting points on holidays, festivals, Sabbaths, and on market day mornings (Mondays and Thursdays), to hear their Holy Scriptures read aloud and explained. These gatherings ('edahs, congregations) develop even in Jerusalem. These neighbourhood meetings are the beginning of the institution of the synagogue.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

THALES brings Babylonian mathematical knowledge to Greece. He uses geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore.

Tishri: A Jubilee יובל year for Israel's release of slaves and return of all property to its original owners or their heirs, except the houses of laymen within walled cities. (Remember: in terms of Israel's Covenant, ownership of land cannot be sold, in perpetuity. Only its use can be sold: in effect a lease-system).

April 27: In Babylonia – EZEKIEL prophesies God's reward to NEBUCHADNEZZAR from Egypt for destroying Tyre. (Ezra 29:17).
April 28: In Babylonia – EZEKIEL sees his vision of the Messianic Temple.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR attacks Egypt again in his 37th year.

April 8: In India – Birth of Prince SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA, later known as Buddha (the enlightened one) and the founder of Buddhism.

Early October: NEBUCHADNEZZAR dies, his son EVIL-MERODACH (AWIL-MARDUK) rules.
In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbatical Year.

JEHOIACHIN is released from prison by EVIL-MERODACH (2 Kings 25:27).

CYRUS the Great becomes king of Persia under Median suzerainty.

Cyrus, a minor member of the Persian Achaemenid family, became king of Anshan in southern Iran. Twenty years later, after a series of spectacular victories in Media, Anatolia, and Asia Minor, he invaded the Babylonian empire and astonishingly, without fighting a single battle, was greeted by the population as a liberator. Cyrus was now the master of the largest empire the world had yet seen. At its fullest extent, it would control the whole of the eastern Mediterranean, from what is now Libya and Turkey in the west to Afghanistan in the east. For centuries to come, any ruler who aspired to world rule would try to replicate Cyrus's achievement. But he was not only a pivotal figure in the politics of the region: he also modeled a more benign form of empire.

of humiliating and deporting his new subjects, and tearing down their temples and desecrating the effigies of their gods as the Assyrians and Babylonians had done, Cyrus announced a wholly new policy, preserved in the Cyrus Cylinder, now in the British Museum. Cyrus, it claimed, had arrived in Babylonia as the harbinger of peace rather than of war; he had abolished the corvée, repatriated all the peoples who had been deported by Nebuchadnezzar, and promised to rebuild their national temples.

ZOROASTER (ZARATHUSTRA) begins his prophetic work in Persia.

In Babylon – In the first year of BELSHAZZAR, DANIEL sees a vision of the rule of empires over Palestine from his time onward (represented by 'four animals' followed by Israel's Messianic kingdom represented in a 'human' figure, Dan.7) .

In Babylon – In the third year of BELASHAZZAR (Daniel 8:1 ), DANIEL sees the 'Ram and Goat' vision of transition from the rule of the Persian empire to ALEXANDER's Macedonian/Greek empire and then its four Hellenistic Greek kingdoms, with its Greek Seleucid/Syrian oppression of Israel.

In Media – CYRUS II (The Great) of Persia defeats his overlord ASTYAGES of Media and founds the Persian Empire.
Zoroastrianism becomes the official religion of Persia.

CYRUS of Persia captures the capital of the Median empire (Ecbatana) south of the Caspian Sea.

CYRUS conquers the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia, which was ruled by king Croesus brother-in-law of the Median king Astyages, and occupies its capital Sardis.

October 7: In Babylon – DANIEL interprets the angelic writing on the wall to King BELSHAZZAR (son of Nabonidas), and that same night he is killed as the Medo-Persians of CYRUS (II) under GUBARU conquer Babylon (Dan.5:30) without any resistance from the Babylonian armies.

DANIEL would probably have been in possession of the scroll of Isaiah (as he was of that of Jeremiah; see Dan.9:2) which had prophesied the name of 'Cyrus' below, as God's liberator of Israel and the restorer of the Jerusalem Temple –

The existence of this prophecy of Isaiah in the hands of Daniel may explain why Daniel is immediately appointed to such a position of influence in the new administration, even though he had been part of the defeated empire's administration.

October 29: CYRUS the Great enters Babylon, and 'DARIUS the Mede' (lesser horn of Daniel's 'Ram' vision), aged 62, becomes ruler of the province of Babylon (under CYRUS).
History knows him as GUBARU or GOBRYAS; darius is probably an old royal title. He appoints DANIEL to his three-man executive council and rules the province of Babylon and region beyond the River until c.524 BC (Daniel 5:31; 6:1-3).

In Babylon – The circular (drum-like) stele of Cyrus is made for propaganda purposes, written in Akkadian cuneiform script, and which reads –

(probably SHENAZZAR, the fourth son of JEHOIACHIN) receives the return of some of the Temple treasure and leads the Jewish Exiles home to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:8).

DANIEL receives the angel Gabriel's message of the period before God will answer his fasting-prayer for the full restoration, which he had based on the 70-year exile-prophecy of Jeremiah (Dan.9:2) –

So, the Darbyite evangelical Christian idea of a converted Israel ('144,000') evangelising the world before the expiry of this future-final-3½-years, still to come (the last 1260-days), is therefore in direct conflict with the Bible (Revelation 11:2,3; 12:6,12,14).

Jewish interpretation of these Seventy Weeks – that the 490-years is the period from the Babylonian destruction of Solomon's temple (The First Temple) to the Roman destruction of Herod's temple (The Second Temple), that is – from temple destruction —to— temple destruction – misses the whole point of the angel's message;
   and the alternative Jewish explanation sometimes offered, that these 490-years ended with the Maccabees in second century BCE/BC Palestine, is no less likely. (Daniel Commentary by Dr. Judah J. Slotki, 1970 Soncino Press).

The outcome of these 490-years is to be as was spoken by the messenger of God: "everlasting righteousness" of Israel and "anoint a most holy place" in Jerusalem!

return under ZERUBABBEL (nephew of SHESHBAZZAR) (42,360, Ezra 2:64).

Returnee Clans to Jerusalem and Judah

Yet the myth continues!

• JOSHUA is High Priest (son of JOSADEK and grandson of the grandson of HILKIAH). But the High Priest's guidance-stones in the sacred breast-piece have been lost (the Urim and Thummim, Ezra 2:63).

October 5: In Judaea/Judah – The returned Exiles set up an altar to God in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:6).
JOSHUA (JESHUA) is High Priest (Ezra 3:2).

In Judaea/Judah – The foundation of ZERUBBABEL's Temple ('Second Temple' in Jewish tradition) is laid with great celebration (Ezra 3:8-13).
DANIEL's final vision (Daniel 10:1-12:13) which gives detail of Israel's future suffering under Hellenistic rulers as a preview of Antichrist's rule.

December:Death of CYRUS in battle against the marauding Massagetae Scythians.
CAMBYSES his son (by Cassandane) begins to reign.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

CAMBYSES, son of CYRUS the Great, conquers Egypt.

July 16: A lunar eclipse in the reign of Persian king CAMBYSES.

July: The reign of CAMBYSES ends.
September: DARIUS I (the Great) becomes ruler of the Persian empire.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

February 15: The young prophet  ZECHARIAH sees the eight vision prophecy for Israel (Zechariah 1:7-6:8), and he crowns High Priest JOSHUA to symbolize the future combination of the political and religious leadership in one man, the future messiah, the 'Branch' (Zechariah 6:9-14).

December 7: ZECHARIAH prophesies regarding the fasting traditions (Zechariah 7:1).

In Judaea/Judah – ZERUBBABEL completes and dedicates the second Temple (or March 516 or 515?) (Ezra 6:14-22).
490 years of neglected Sabbath Years for the land (1 in 7) = 70 years Exile (586 BC – 70 years Exile = 516 BC)

Persian Emperor DARIUS invades northward into Scythia.
In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

In Rome – The foundation of the Roman republic by LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, in overthrowing Etruscan LUCIUS TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, 7th king of Rome, in enraged reaction to the rape and suicide of his relative and noblewoman LUCRETIA by the king's son (Sextus).
BRUTUS and Lucretia's widowed husband, LUCIUS TARQUINIUS COLLATINUS, are elected as the city's first consuls (chief officers). BRUTUS is reputed to have had the Romans swear an oath to never let any man again be king in Rome.

oath, as reported by Livy, reads –

Whether this actually happened or not, subsequent generations of Romans believe it had and it therefore affects the politics of this young republic in the centuries that follow.

In Athens, Greece – A democratic constitution is proclaimed.
(This democratic ideal becomes the seed which, many years later, affects the Macedonian empire's new cities administrative structure).
In Rome – The first consuls are appointed.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

November 19: A lunar eclipse in the 20th year of Persian king DARIUS.

Nabatean Arabs drive Edomites (descendants of Esau, son of Isaac, son of Abraham) out of their ancestral territory in southern Jordan into the deserted regions of southern Judea, as OBADIAH the prophet had prophesied the ending of their nationhood.
Achaemenid (Hakhâmanišiya) Persians transmit food plants, such as rice, peach, apricot, to western Asia.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

In Rome – With the city's security under threat from invading forces, the ordinary citizens (Plebeian) now lay down their weapons, refuse to fight, and take up a position on the Aventine Hill (one of the seven on which Rome was built) because of their lack of political rights in their city, which rights are held only by the Patricians (nobility).

striking Plebeians then elect their own magistrates ('tribunes of the people').

Only when their office of Tribune is formally recognized by the Patricians does the conflict (known as the 'Conflict of Orders') end.
The Plebian voting 'Assembly of the Centuries' ('century'=military unit), dominated by the wealthy (50% of their electoral college vote), is also changed to 'Assembly of the Tribes' ('tribes'=regional districts) thereby increasing democracy as each vote now represents a district mixed of both rich and poor. (See: 451 BC).

This victory of the Plebeians results in the subsequent famous Roman logo on all military standards SPQR ('Senatus Populusque Romanus').

In Italy – The city of Rome joins the Latin League of other Latin communities to defend the Latium region from the invasion of central Italian hill tribes (the Volsci, Sabines, and Aequi).

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

April 25: A lunar eclipse in the 30th year of Persian king DARIUS.

November: The reign of Persian king DARIUS ends.
December: XERXES the Great (XERXES I/AHASUERUS/AHASHVEROSH/KS'AYARS'A in old Persian) of Persia begins to reign.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

XERXES outrages the Babylonians by melting down the golden statue of Bel (Marduk, Merodach), the hands of which the rightful king of Babylon had to clasp each New Year's Day. This sacrilege leads the Babylonians to now rebel and again 482 BC.

In Susa, Persia – XERXES gives a feast for all his high officials and military leaders.

Month 10: In Susa – ESTHER (HADASSAH), niece of Jewish Benjaminite MORDECAI, is installed as queen of Persian emperor XERXES.

Spring: XERXES sets out from Sardis with a fleet and an army of more than two million with at least 10,000 elite warriors named Persian Immortals (Herodotus).
XERXES is victorious during the initial battles.

Month 12, 14th 15th Adar (February-March): A planned empire-wide massacre of Jews (by HAMAN son of Hammedatha the Agagite) is prevented by Queen ESTHER obtaining their right to self-defence.
(This is celebrated today in the annual Jewish feast of Purim).

is the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC/BCE near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I.
The previous year the Persian invasion force, led by the Persian king in person, had scored victories at the battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium and conquered Thessaly, Boeotia, Euboea and Attica. However, at the ensuing Battle of Salamis, the Allied Greek navy had won an unlikely but decisive victory, preventing the conquest of the Peloponnesus.

then retreated with much of his army, leaving his general Mardonius to finish off the Greeks the following year. In the summer of 479 BC the Greeks assembled a huge (by ancient standards) army and marched out of the Peloponnesus. The Persians retreated to Boeotia and built a fortified camp near Plataea. The Greeks, however, refused to be drawn into the prime cavalry terrain around the Persian camp, resulting in a stalemate that lasted 11 days.

attempting a retreat after their supply lines were disrupted, the Greek battle line fragmented. Thinking the Greeks in full retreat, Mardonius ordered his forces to pursue them, but the Greeks (particularly the Spartans, Tegeans and Athenians) halted and gave battle, routing the lightly armed Persian infantry and killing Mardonius.

A large portion of the Persian army was trapped in its camp and slaughtered. The destruction of this army, and the remnants of the Persian navy allegedly on the same day at the Battle of Mycale, decisively ended their invasion of Greece.

Plataea and Mycale, the Greek allies took the offensive against the Persians, marking a new phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Although Plataea was in every sense a resounding victory, it did not seem to have been attributed the same significance (even at the time) as, for example, the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon or the Spartan defeat at Thermopylae.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

August: The reign of Persian king XERXES ends and that of ARTAXERXES begins.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

In Judaea/Judah – MALACHI prophesies during a famine caused by drought and locust plague (Malachi 3:10,11).

Pretanic (Ivernian)/Alban (Goidel)/Ynys Prydain (Brython)/Britannia (Roman)/Great Britain – CUNEDDA the Burner captures the royal crown at Carlisle in the centre of England.

In the seventh-year of Artaxerxes of Persia: In Judea/Judah – EZRA (עֶזְרָא) the priest arrives in Jerusalem with a company of about 5,000 Jewish returnees.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.

In Rome – Another Plebeian secession (see 494 BC) leads to the appointment of the Decemvirate (commission of ten men), which eventually results in the adoption of the bronze engraved Laws of the Twelve Tables, and raises the number of Plebeian Tribunes to ten.
(The Twelve Tables are the first Roman attempt to make a legal code and remained also the only attempt for near one thousand years, until the legislation of Justinian).

July 16: A new moon begins the next month of the lunar calender.

In Palestine – A Jewish Sabbath Year for the land.
Celtic/Gallic culture spreads across Europe.

Athens, Greece – PERICLES commissions the construction of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. The work is supervised by Pheidas; and the architect is Ictinus. The building is completed by 432 BC/BCE, lying East-West with eight columns at each end.