Sacred Texts Timeline

This is a timeline which gives the history of sacred texts, as well as a few other relevant events. Of course, not all of the dates in this timeline are accurate; some are entirely conjectural. I have included a few dates, events and documents which are or may be entirely fictional. Links on this page are to resources at this site, not to external sites. I welcome feedback about any errors of fact in this timeline.

For space reasons, I have used the abbreviations listed at the end of this file.

date	Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Baha'i.	Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism.	Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto.	Other
5000 BCE +	4004 (Sunday 23 October) Bishop Usshers' (1581-1656) date for Biblical creation of the world based on O.T. Chronology. According to Ussher, Adam and Eve were driven from Paradise on Monday 10 November 4004 BC. Ussher was Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin [chr]. According to John Lightfoot (1602-1675), Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and a contemporary of Ussher, man was created on "October 23, 4004 B.C., at nine o'clock in the morning" [chr].	4,320,000,000 Creation of Universe by Brahma (Modern Hindu). The Rig-Veda has three hymns on the subject of Creation. See Rig-Veda 10:cxxix, Rig-Veda 10:cxxx, and Rig-Veda 10:cxc. [hin].		14,000,000,000 Big Bang. 14,000,000,000 -300,000 yrs. after the Big Bang, protons and electrons separate. 14,000,000,000 -? yrs. The universe cools unevenly 5,000,000,000: Sun forms. 3,000,000,000 Earth cools and begins. 70,000,000 Dinosaurs die out. 2,000,000 Australopithecines emerge in Southern Africa. 70,000 Ice age begins. 55,000 First inhabitants of . 15,000 . 10,000 Paleo-Indians enter . 9,500 Ice age ends, catastrophic worldwide sea level rise (100 meters?). Black Sea floods, thought to be origin of Ancient Near East Flood story. 9500 . 8500-6300 Domestication of sheep, cattle, pigs and goats. 6000+ Mother Goddess worshipped in Europe, Near East. [wic]. 5000 Beginning of agriculture in Near East. 4000 (trad.) Overthrow of Matriarchy [wic].
4000 BCE	3760 start of Jewish year count.	3201 Beginning of Kali Yuga, the current (and most evil) age [hin].	o.c. [cfu].	3100 o.c. [egy].
3000 BCE			2953-2838 Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi, produced first w.v. of [cfu]. 2300-1000 Period described in [cfu].	2494-2345 Pyramid Texts [egy].
2000 BCE	2000-1900 Abraham, b. in Ur, according to Bible lived to age of 175. 1500-1350 Moses, trad. founder of Judaism; the Exodus from Egypt. 1500 Zoroaster/Zarathustra, o.c. [zor]. 1491 (trad.) According to Bishop Ussher, the date of the Biblical flood. The Ark touched down on Mt. Ararat on 5 May 1491 BC (a Wednesday) [chr]. 1200 Origin of Judaism, o.c. of O.T., starting with (the first 5 books).	1750 Collapse of Indus Valley Civilization. 1500 Indo-Europeans invade India. Culture. [hin]. 1550-1450 o.c. , Sama-Veda and [hin].	1143 w.v. of by King Wen and Duke of Chou. [cfu]	1800 Enuma Elish, Bablyonian Creation Myth. [ane] 1792 Hammurabi ruler in Bablyon, auth. of Code of Hammurabi, earliest legal codex. 1760 Gilgamesh Epic.[ane] 1600 Orig. . (Book of Coming Forth by Day). 1500 (ca.) Volcanic destruction of Thera, thought to be the origin of . 1194 Fall of Troy (events described in ). 1100 (ca.) Rise of Mayan culture.
1000 BCE	990-922 King Solomon. 950 o.c. , .	1000 o.c. Atharva Veda [hin].	1000-500 [cfu].
800 BCE	740 O.T. Book of .	800-700 [hin]. 800-400 Aranyakas, Brahmanas and [hin].		800 or 700 . 800:
700 BCE	700 Books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, . (O.T.) 628-551 600 Babylonian Exile [jud]	700 o.c. [hin]. 600 w.v. [hin]	650 o.c. Tao te Ching.	664-525 Rev.
600 BCE	520 Books of , . (O.T.)	599-527 (trad.) Mahavira, founder . 563-483 (b. April 8, 563 BCE). 540 w.v. [hin]. 540-468 (hist.) . 500 o.c. Angas [jai].	580-500 (trad.) . 551-479 . 520 (trad.) Tao-te Ching [tao].	610-570 .
500 BCE	w.v. Gensis, Exodus, Numbers. (O.T.)		480-390 (alt.) . 409 w.v. .
400 BCE	Books of Proverbs, Job (O.T.) 350 w.v. (O.T.). 330 Alexander destroys old . [zor]	300 w.v. , . [hin]	371-289 . [cfu] 369-286 . [tao] 350 (hist.) Tao-te Ching. [tao]. 340 . [tao]	360 Critias by Plato: contains story of Atlantis.
300 BCE	(O.T.) 285 , first Greek trans. of the O.T.	250 Abhidharma, part of the . [bud] 240 canonized by Asoka. [bud] 200 w.v. Atharva Veda. [hin]	250 w.v. . [tao] 213 . [cfu]
200 BCE	200-120 early Mishnah [jud]. 164 Book of Daniel (O.T.). 160 O.T. : , 1 Esdras, Enoch, others. 150 Early Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls).	150 Yoga Sutras of Patanajali. [hin]	commentaries, Rev. . [cfu]
100 BCE	5-7 (ca.) b. of Jesus, founder of .	. [hin] Ceylonese Tipitaka [bud].	86 Rev. , . [cfu]	47 First burning of the Library of Alexandria (by Romans). including works of , and possibly ancient manuscripts and .
1 CE	1-33 (trad.) Jesus. Events described in the first four N.T. books. 33 (trad.) either April 3, 30 CE or April 7, 33 CE: the Crucifixion. 30-96 . 50-63 (N.T.) , , , . 60-80 (N.T.) Acts of the Apostles. 68 Destruction of Qumran community. (Dead Sea Scrolls). 70 (N.T.) Gospel of Mark. 80 (N.T.) Gospel of Matthew. 80 (N.T.) Gospel of Luke. 90 (N.T.) Gospel of John. 81-96 o.c. .	Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra. [bud] 65 Entry of into China.	o.c. Kojiki, . [shi]
100 CE	o.c. Nag Hammadi Scriptures. 100 Synod of Jamnia, Can. of O.T. [chr] 150 N.T. . [chr] Mishna.[jud] o.c. Sepher ha Zohar [jud].	166 Buddhism formally established in China. , . [bud]	150 w.v. . . [cfu]
200 CE			Can. of Tao te Ching. [tao]	Mayan Classical Phase (to 900 CE), o.c. Popul Vuh.
300 CE	in Pahlavi. (to 14th Cent.) comp. of Midrash. 300-400 w.v. Nag Hammadi Scriptures in Coptic. 350 w.v. in Pahlavi. 350 Jewish Talmund and Gemara. 325 Council of Nicea, Can. of .	(to 13th Cent.) Puranas [hin].		365-408 Burning of Sibylline Books. 391 Second burning of library at Alexandria (by Christians).
400 CE	Babylonian Talmund [jud]. 401 . [chr] 404 Cod. of the .	w.v. Angas in Prakrit [jai]. 400-450 Cod. of the Abhidharma (Tripitaka) [bud].
500 CE.	550-950 . [zor] 570-632 .	538-552 .		550 Last temple to Isis (at Phiae) closes. (to 7th Cent.) o.c. .
600 C.E.	610 w.v. . [isl] 630 First . [isl] 644-656 Can. of . [isl]			(to 9th Cent.) o.c. Welsh . 642 Third (and final) destruction of Library of Alexandria (by Moslems).
700 C.E.		760 o.c of Bardo Thödol (Tibetean Book of the Dead). [tib]	712 w.v. Kojiki. [shi] 720 w.v. . [shi] 742 Can. of .
800 C.E.	Sepher Yetzirah [jud]. Can. of [isl]. [zor].	868 Diamond Sutra is first book printed in China [bud].		w.v.
900 C.E.	. [zor]	Agamas [hin]. 946 Start of Tibetan calendar, Kalachakra Tantra [tib].	927 Yengiski [shi].	950 (trad.) of Abdul Alhazred.
1000 C.E.	1054 Schism between East and West Church [chr].	1016-1100 Naropa [tib] 1039-1123 Milarepa [tib]
1100 C.E.		1150 Kuo-an Shih yuan's Ten Pictures of the Ox. [bud]	1175-1120 compilation of by Chu Hsi.	1179-1241 Snorri Sturlson (auth. , ).
1200 C.E.	1270-1300 w.v. of Sepher ha Zohar by Moses de Leon.	1222-1282 Nichiren [bud]. 1236 [bud].		1220 .
1300 C.E.	1306-21 by Dante. 1397-1468 Johannes Gutenberg. patron saint of etexts.			o.c. . 1300-1325 w.v. White Book of Rhydderch (). 1375-1425 Author of Red Book of Hergest ().
1400 C.E.	1456 First p.v. Vulgate by Gutenberg. 1463 first Latin translation of . 1483-1546 chr. reformer.	1440-1518 Kabir, Isl. Mystic. 1469-1538 Guru Nanak, founder of .		1486 : textbook for witch-hunters.
1500 C.E.	1517 M. Luther's 95 Theses. 1522 Translated into German by M. Luther. 1525 Translated into Englsh by W. Tyndale (1494-1536). 1534 p.v. entire in German by M. Luther. 1535 p.v. in English by Miles Coverdale (1488-1569). 1546 O.T. Can. by Catholic Church. 1560 [chr].	1539 (5th) [skh].		1503-1566 . 1554-1558 w.v. Popul Vuh. 1527-1608. Calls of Enoch, by J. Dee.
1600 C.E.	1618-9 Synod of Dordrecht. [chr] 1629 O.T. removed from Protestant Bible. 1674 Westminster Shorter Catechism. 1677 by J. Milton. 1678 by J. Bunyan.	Janam Sakhis [skh]. Final version of [skh]		1614 Rosicrucian Fama Fraternitatis.
1700 C.E	1789 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. 1793 Thomas Paine's .	[bud]. 1708 death of last .		1750 Walam Olum.
1800 C.E	1805-1849 Joseph Smith, founder . 1817-1892 Baha'u'llah, (Mirza Husayn-'Ali), founder , auth. Kitab-i-Iqan. [bhi] 1819-1850 the (Mirza 'Ali-Muhammad) [bhi]. 1823 tr. Joseph Smith. 1859 Darwins' . 1871 Darwins' . 1891 .	1879-1910 Publication of the by Max Müller, 50 volumes of English translations of primary texts of Eastern religions. [hin][bud][zor][cfu][isl]	1882 Kojiki trans. into English by R.H. Chamberlain.[shi] 1896 The trans. into English by W.G. Ashton.[shi]	1802-1884 Elias Lönnrot (auth. ). 1812-1820 English trans. of Walam Olum. 1835-1849 , national epic of Finland, by Lönnrot. 1880 . 1882 . by Donnelly. 1885 p.v. Walam Olum (Brinton). 1888 by H.P. Blatavsky. 1890-1922 by Frazer. 1899 Aradia, Gospel of the Witches, by C. Leland. [wic]
1900 CE.	1909 Darwins' . 1934 Declaration of Barmen by K. Barth condems Hitler [chr]. 1945 Discovery of Nag Hammadi Scriptures. 1947-56 Discovery of Qumran (Dead sea) scrolls. 1992 Dead Sea Scrolls published on microfiche.			1921 by M. Murray. [wic] 1922 Last year books unambigiously entered public domain in U.S., per the 'Digital Millenium' Copyright Act of 1998. 1933 God of the Witches by M. Murray. [wic] 1948 The White Goddess by R. Graves. [wic] 1949-61 Gardnerian [wic]. 1968 Principia Discordia. 1985 TAZ by Hakim Bey. 80s and early 90s: . 3/9/1999 After three years of research, goes live.
2000 CE.	???	???	???	???

Key to Abbreviations

auth. = author.

b. = born

ca. = circa

Can. = Canonicalization

Cent.= century.

Cod. = Codification

comp. = composition.

d. = died

hist.= accepted historical date

o.c= date of original (typically, although not necessarily oral) composition.

Orig. = original

O.T. = Old Testament.

p.v. = printed version

Rev. = Revised.

trad. = traditional date

trans. = translation

w.v. = written version

[bhi] Baha'i

[bud] Buddhism

[tib] Tibetan Buddhism

[chr] Christianity

[cfu] Confucianism

[hin] Hinduism

[isl] Islam

[jai] Jainism

[jud] Judaism

[shi] Shinto

[skh] Sikhism

[tao] Taoism

[wic] Wicca

[zor] Zoroastrianism

[egy] Egypt

[ane] Ancient Near East