Four millennia of scripture.

Oral composition of the earliest Vedic hymns in the Indus-Sarasvati region. The Vedas will not be committed to writing for another millennium.

The First Temple is completed in Jerusalem. It will stand for roughly 370 years.

Nebuchadnezzar's army razes Jerusalem and deports Judah's elite to Babylon. The exile lasts until 538 BCE and reshapes Jewish religious identity.

Siddhartha Gautama is born into the Shakya clan in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal.

Siddhartha attains enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya and becomes the Buddha. Tradition places his first sermon at Sarnath soon after.

Ezra the Scribe publicly reads the Torah, re-establishing Jewish law in Jerusalem after the return from exile.

The Mauryan emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism after the horrors of the Kalinga war and disseminates it across the subcontinent through pillar edicts.

The Gita is woven into the larger Mahabharata epic sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem and rededicates the Temple, establishing the festival of Hanukkah.

Tradition places the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem during the late reign of Herod the Great.

Saul of Tarsus, en route to arrest Christians in Damascus, is blinded by a vision of Christ and becomes the foremost missionary of the early church.

The Apostle Paul is executed in Rome under Emperor Nero, ending his missionary work.

The Gospel of Mark is written, likely in Rome, shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple.

Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are composed and begin to circulate across the Mediterranean churches.

The Gospel of John is composed, presenting a high Christology distinct from the Synoptics.

Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina, banning Jewish residence.

Constantine and Licinius issue the Edict of Milan, granting religious tolerance to Christians in the Roman Empire.

The council expands the Nicene Creed to affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

The Jerusalem Talmud is completed in the Land of Israel, recording legal and narrative traditions.

The central rabbinic compendium of law and lore, developed over centuries in the Babylonian academies, reaches substantial completion.

The Prophet is born in Mecca into the Quraysh clan.

Muhammad receives the first revelation of the Quran in the Cave of Hira near Mecca.

The Muslims achieve a decisive victory against the Quraysh of Mecca at the Battle of Badr.

The Prophet dies in Medina. The Qur'anic revelation is considered complete.

The martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali solidifies the split between Sunni and Shia Islam.

Mutual excommunications between the patriarch of Constantinople and the legates of Rome formalise the break between Eastern and Western Christianity.

Imam al-Ghazali completes the Ihya 'Ulum al-Din, synthesising Sunni orthodoxy with Sufi mysticism.

Thomas Aquinas dies, leaving behind the Summa Theologica, a cornerstone of Scholastic theology.

Martin Luther posts his theses in Wittenberg, inaugurating the Protestant Reformation.

The Catholic Church convenes the Council of Trent to address Protestant challenges and initiate internal reform.

Joseph Smith organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York.

Ancient Jewish manuscripts are discovered in Qumran, providing insight into Second Temple Judaism.

Ayatollah Khomeini leads the Iranian Revolution, establishing an Islamic Republic.