Abbasid and Early Medieval Judaism

TIMELINE 7

Timeline 7 of 26

Abbasid and Early Medieval Judaism

750 to 1099

The Abbasid caliphs rule from Baghdad, where the Geonim guide the Jews of the world. Tiberias fixes the text of the Bible, and Jerusalem passes to the Fatimids of Cairo.

JEWISH LIFE IN THE LAND

c. 760 Anan ben David founds the Karaite movement in Babylonia.

c. 880 Karaite Jews, who reject the oral law, settle in Jerusalem.

c. 900 The Masoretes of Tiberias. They fix the vowel signs and the text of the Hebrew Bible.

c. 920 The Aleppo Codex of the Bible is written in Tiberias.

921 Aaron ben Meir of the Jerusalem academy clashes with Saadia Gaon of Babylonia over the calendar.

928 Saadia Gaon heads the academy of Sura. He translates the Bible into Arabic and writes the first great work of Jewish philosophy.

c. 950 The academy of the land of Israel moves from Tiberias to Jerusalem.

c. 1000 Jews gather on the Mount of Olives each Hoshana Rabbah to pray and proclaim the calendar.

c. 1050 Letters later found in the Cairo Geniza record Jewish life in the land.

1051 Daniel ben Azariah, of the house of David, heads the academy in Jerusalem.

1071 The academy leaves Jerusalem for Tyre after the Seljuk conquest.

RULERS OF THE LAND

750 The Abbasids take power. The capital moves from Damascus to Baghdad, and the land becomes a far province.

878 Ahmad ibn Tulun adds the land to his Egyptian dynasty.

935 The Ikhshidids rule the land from Egypt.

969 The Fatimids conquer the land. Rule passes to Cairo. Wars between the Fatimids and their rivals wear the land down.

c. 985 The geographer al-Muqaddasi of Jerusalem describes his home province.

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is destroyed. Caliph al-Hakim orders it torn down and persecutes Christians and Jews.

1033 An earthquake damages Jerusalem, Ramla and other towns.

1048 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is rebuilt with Byzantine help.

1071 Seljuk Turks invade the land.

1073 Seljuk Turks take Jerusalem. In 1077 they put down a revolt in the city with a massacre. The Jerusalem academy of the Jewish sages later moves to Tyre.

1095 Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade.

1098 The Fatimids retake Jerusalem a year before the Crusaders arrive.