Nadene Goldfoot
Babylon-Shinar-Kasdim (Chaldees) Cradle of humanity-scene of man's 1st revolt against G-d. Abraham was born here in Ur, Jews had remained here, created Babylonian Talmud, produced works of literary merit (Ezekiel, Daniel, Tobit), became main center of rabbinic studies at beginning of the 3rd century CE. They were affected by 70 CE of fall of Jerusalem. Academies were founded here, spiritual center for all Jewry. Persecutions in 5th century led to the Jewish revolt under Mar Zutra II when Talmud was finished. Jewish position was difficult until Arab conquest in 7th century. The ancient city was the capital of the Babylonian empire. It was considered to be a center of commerce, art and learning and is estimated to have been the largest early city in the world being perhaps the first to reach a population above 200,000. While many Judeans returned to Jerusalem when the Babylonians allowed it after 539 BC, many others stayed and built up a vibrant Jewish community that lasted two millennia.
Assyria was an aggressive kingdom in the 20th century BCE and expanded during the 13th and 10th centuries. Sennacherib was their important general who left attacking the northern 10 tribes of Israel in 721BCE. He ravaged Jerusalem in 700, later forced to leave because a plague hit his army and they returned home. Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by Babylon. By 70 CE? Assyria, also at times called the Assyrian Empire, was a Mesopotamian kingdom and empire of the Ancient Near East that existed as a state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BCE until its collapse. By 150 BCE, Assyria was largely under the control of the Parthian Empire. The Parthians seem to have exercised only loose control over Assyria, and between the mid 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE a number of Neo-Assyrian states arose; these included the ancient capital of Assur itself, Adiabene with its capital of Arbela (modern Irbil), Beth Nuhadra with its capital of Nohadra (modern Dohuk), Osroene, with its capitals of Edessa and Amid (modern Sanliurfa and Diyarbakir), Hatra, and "ܒܝܬܓܪܡܝ" (Beth Garmai) with its capital at Arrapha (modern Kirkuk). Assyrian Adiabenian rulers converted to Judaism from Ancient Mesopotamian religion in the 1st century. After 115 CE, there are no historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene, and the populace remained followers of Mesopotamian religion or Christianity. (Could it be that some of the Jewish royalty got this far east at the fall of Jerusalem? )
Aram-Ancient Syria: The coastline was settled by Phoenicians, constantly in friction with Israel and Judah until 8th century when overrun by the Assyrians. Syria overrun by Greeks. The Greek presence in Syria began in the 7th century BCE (600s) and became more prominent during the Hellenistic period and when the Seleucid Empire was centered there.
Roman Greece: Ancient Greece was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BCE to the end of classical antiquity, that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories—unified only once, for 13 years, under Alexander the Great's empire (336-323 BCE) It was in the end of the Hellenistic period (323–146 BCE), during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East from the death of Alexander until the Roman conquest. By 70 CE was -Roman Greece which is usually counted from the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC to the establishment of Byzantium by Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire in AD 330.
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, Northern Africa, and Western Asia ruled by emperors. From the accession of Caesar Augustus to the military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a principate with Italy as metropole of the provinces and the city of Rome as sole capital (27 BCE – CE 286). Jerusalem was destroyed by fire as well as the Temple by the Roman occupiers. The Romans built their own Roman temple on the site of the Jewish Temple.. When Moslems entered, they in turn built their Mosque of Omar over the Roman temple.
Persia-Iran: King Cyrus of Persia in 538 BCE conquered the Babylonian Empire. Then all Jews in Mesopotamia and in Israel and Judea were under Persian rule. Cyrus is thought to have been Queen Esther 's son as she was married to King Ahasueros of Persia. From 4th century BCE onward, Jews lived in Persia in considerable numbers. The future was full of more persecutions.
India-Ophir: Hebrews go back with India to the time of Solomon.(I Kings 9:26-8) Jews didn't enter again till the 6th century CE. A place where Solomon got gold for the Temple: 420 talents which was brought to Solomon. It was Hiram of Tyre who sent a fleet of ships with his servants, shipmen who knew the sea with Solomon's servants that went to Ophir for the gold. By 70 CE they probably had forgotten about Solomon and his seeking gold.
North America was not yet discovered by anyone other than the native inhabitants. The ancestors of living Native Americans arrived in what is now the United States at least 15,000 years ago, possibly much earlier, from Asia via Beringia. A vast variety of peoples, societies and cultures subsequently developed. The Oshara Tradition people lived from 5500 BCE to 600 CE. They were part of the Southwestern Archaic Tradition centered in north-central New Mexico, the San Juan Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, southern Colorado, and southeastern Utah. The Pueblo people came after them.
There are 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the U.S., including 229 in Alaska. These “nations within a nation” are the only tribes that have a formal nation-to-nation relationship with the U.S. and its federal agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
South America was not yet discovered either. The earliest generally accepted archaeological evidence for human habitation in South America dates to 14,000 years ago, the Monte Verde site in Southern Chile. The descendants of these first inhabitants would become the indigenous populations of South America.Explorer. Christopher Columbus sets foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. Thinking it an island, he christened it Isla Santa and claimed it for Spain. Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451.
Portrait of the boy, Eutyches, a Roman
The succeeding emperor, Nero, was a connoisseur and patron of the arts. He also extended the frontiers of the empire, but antagonized the upper class and failed to hold the loyalty of the Roman legions. Amid rebellion and civil war, the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an inglorious end with Nero’s suicide in 68 CE., 2 years before Jerusalem was burned down.
Africa: Rome's first province in northern Africa was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BCE, following its elimination of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus in the Third Punic War. Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus (Old Africa), was governed by a proconsul. It is possible that the name "Africa" comes from the Berber word "afer", "ifri" or "Aourigha" (whose name would have been pronounced Afarika) that designated a tribe. Some Jews did resettle in northern Africa after 70 CE.
Europe: Jews entered after 70 CE when Jews were taken as slaves to Rome. Alexander the Great brought the mass of the Jewish people into the European orbit. Jews were in Greece in 2nd century BCE. Jews were in Rome as early as as 139 BCE. From 57 BCE, Eretz Yisrael was under roman control. Jews were scattered throughout the empire from political intercourse, trade, war and captivity. They were in Spain from time after destruction of 1st temple in 586 BCE , and of 1st century CE and Gaul, a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, and parts of Northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, particularly the west bank of the Rhine. before 70 CE. By the 4th century they were in the Rhineland (Germany's area).Warfare took place between the Romans and various Germanic tribes between 113 BCE and 596 CE. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings and later Germanic invasions in the Roman Empire that started in the late 2nd century BCE. The series of conflicts was one of many factors which led to the ultimate downfall of the Western Roman Empire.
As for France, individual Jews lived there before 70 CE, and that organized Jewish communities existed there during the period of the Roman Empire, being traders. Their position deteriorated with the triumph of Christianity as the Catholic Church Councils reinforced rules against Jews.
Finding much anti-Semitism in Europe, even affecting what clothing they were allowed to wear...One of the earliest illustrations of such a hat perched atop the head of a Jew is found in the early 14th-century Codex Manesse. In the image, we see the figure of Süßkind von Trimberg, a Jewish poet and troubadour, wearing just such a hat. In this medieval German poetry anthology, Süßkind is credited as the author of six of the poems inscribed in its pages. He happens to be the first German-Jewish poet whom we know by his full name.
Reference:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_South_America#:~:text=The%20earliest%20generally%20accepted%20archaeological,indigenous%20populations%20of%20South%20America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Syria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_warfare_between_the_Romans_and_Germanic_tribes
