Ancient Israel and Judah refers to the Iron Age societies of the southern Levant that appear in the Hebrew Bible and in inscriptions from neighboring powers. The earliest known mention of Israel outside the Bible is on an Egyptian stele of the pharaoh Merneptah. Later there were two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, centered on Jerusalem. The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in the late eighth century BCE, and Judah survived as a vassal state until Babylon conquered it, destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem, and deported part of its elite. Their religion, history and writings shaped Judaism and, through it, Christianity and Islam, but scholars debate how much of the biblical account is historical.
Before and after
- from c. 1,292 BCE to 1,189 BCENineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 1,274 BCEConstruction of Abu Simbel
- from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
- from 13th century BCE to 6th century BCEAncient Israel and Judah
- from 13th century BCE to 4th century BCEMagadha
- 13th century BCEAncient Celts
- c. 1,201 BCEThe Olmec civilisation emerges at San Lorenzo
- from c. 1,200 BCE to 1,150 BCEBronze Age collapse
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from 31st century BCE to 14th century BCEConstruction of Stonehenge
- c. 2,560 BCEConstruction of Great Pyramid of Giza
- 600 BCEFounding of Milan
- 80 CEThe Colosseum is inaugurated
- from 285 CE to 1453Byzantine Empire
- 25 March 421 CEFounding of Venice
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.