Middle East Empires Jews Have Contended With

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

As Israel's second king, David built a small empire. He conquered Jerusalem, which he made Israel's political and religious centre. He defeated the Philistines so thoroughly that they never seriously threatened the Israelites' security again, and he annexed the coastal region. David ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE. 

 Israel is not trying to create their old empire, only wanting to live in their ancient land that is today's Judea and Samaria that has been divided into areas A,B, and C with C under Israeli control and B for both Arab and Israeli control.                              

The Assyrian Empire of Semites was an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE.  It expanded rapidly in the 13th and 10th centuries BCE.  Lots of fighting during its existence occurred.  In 853 BCE, Shalmaneser  III attacked Ben -Hadad of Damascus and King Ahab-(876-853 BCE) 7th king after Solomon's death,  of Israel helped Damascus in the battle at Karkar.  Israel lost its territory in Transjordan and Galilee in 735 BCE to Tiglath-Pileser.  By 726 BCE, King Hosea (730-721 BCE) of Israel fought against Shalmaneser  V's siege of Samaria (northern part of Israel where 10 of the 12 tribes lived) and its capture in 721 BCE, led by Sargon.  Sargon  annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media, and replaced these with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.                                 

The Babylonian Empire was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar II from 604-656 BCE.  He had inherited the Assyrian Empire, then conquered Judah in 597 BCE and again 11 years later  in 586 BCE, exiling many Jews to Babylon.  Babylonian Jews could keep in contact with Judean Jews.  They supplied leaders such as Hillel.  Babylonian Jews were activists, in later during the Roman Occupation of Jerusalem and fought against the Roman emperor Trajan in a revolt, only ending in 116 by Commander Lucius Quietus.  Babylon remained an active Jewish center.  

                                               

The Persian Empire, made up of 127 provinces,  wants to live again in the hands of the Ayatollahs of Iran. The capital was Susa (Shushan). Cyrus of Persia had taken over the Babylonian Empire in 538 BCE. It existed from the 4th century BCE onward.   Jews, both in Mesopotamia and Judah,  found themselves under Persian rule for the next 200 years.  Cyrus encouraged the Jews to leave and return to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple  while Jerusalem was still a Persian province.  Being this huge land mass of Persia was unified politically, people could move from one area to the other easily.  

The area was then controlled by Parthia from 250 BCE onward, becoming a state by 225 CE.  under the Sassanid Dynasty, ruling over the ancient centers of intensive Jewish communities in Mesopotamia.                       

It appears that this ancient empire is being revitalized by the Ayatollas who have taken control of it today.  They are threatening the existence of Israel.   Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia marja' and the second and current supreme leader of Iran, in office since 1989.    He is the supreme ruler.   Khamenei officially succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini after Khomeini's death, being elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989, for the past 33 years.                    

The Ottoman Empire, founded by Turks in 1299,  was also home to many Jews.  The Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turkish Empire, was an empire that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I.  The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. This Islamic-run superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for more than 600 years.  They made the mistake of siding with the Germans in our first World War, and they lost, which meant that they lost their land, keeping only Turkey itself.  The Ottomans ruled Palestine from 1517 to 1917.  They had also taken Egypt, Yemen and Iraq in that same year.  

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the 12th and current president of Turkey, who has held the office since 28 August 2014. Since 9 July 2018, Erdoğan has served as the first president under the new executive system of government. The president is directly elected by eligible Turkish voters for a five-year term, renewable once.  He seems to have the goal of reviving the Ottoman Empire, and has been a rather erratic president.  Right now he's being more friendly, possibly because of the Abrahamic Accords of friendliness towards Israel.  He's been a hot and cold member of NATO,, too.  He's been running into the Persian Empire desire to also renew their ancient position in the world, and is in the middle of Eastern and Western controls.                                   

 The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, ruled by emperors   Jews lived in Rome from 139 BCE. 

From the accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a principate with Italy as the metropole of its provinces and the city of Rome as its sole capital.  

Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until  476 CE when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of the Western capital of Ravenna by the Germanic barbarians under Odoacer and the subsequent deposition of Romulus Augustulus. 

The adoption of Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire in 380 CE and the fall of the Western Roman Empire to Germanic kings conventionally marks the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. 

Because of these events, along with the gradual Hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire, historians distinguish the medieval Roman Empire that remained in the Eastern provinces as the Byzantine Empire.

Look for the deep red boot of Italy to get a grip on this map and see that the white area is the Mediterranean Sea.  

The Byzantine Empire founded on May 11, 330 CE was the medieval Roman Empire of the Eastern provinces. It's rule commenced in the 4th century CE.   It's capital was Constantinople  that ruled over a varying geographical area that up to the year 637, including  Palestine.  

It really was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century CE and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times.  Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from its earlier incarnation because it was centered on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Eastern Orthodox Christianity. 

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/David

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei#:~:text=Sayyid%20Ali%20Hosseini%20Khamenei%20(Persian,Iran%2C%20in%20office%20since%201989.

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/ottoman-empire#:~:text=The%20Ottoman%20Empire%20was%20one,for%20more%20than%20600%20years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Turkey#:~:text=Recep%20Tayyip%20Erdo%C4%9Fan%20is%20the,%2Dyear%20term%2C%20renewable%20once.