21. B. C. 590 to 500. Events in this century begin to crowd thick upon each other. The Greeks rapidly advanced; the Romans succeeded, amid constant wars, in securely establishing their state in Italy, marching from conquest to conquest, not without heavy reverses at times, from which they soon recovered.
598—Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem for the first time.
594—Solon was made archon at Athens, with almost unlimited power to change the existing institutions, and he introduced many very useful reforms.
588—Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews carried into captivity to Babylon, where they remained seventy years. Soon after, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyre, after a siege of many years, but he found himself in possession of the walls only, for the inhabitants had built another city on an island near by, but inaccessible to the conqueror, and left him a barren conquest.
560—The most memorable event that followed was the union of Media and Persia under the military prowess of Cyrus. He first employed the forces of the Medo-Persian kingdom in Asia Minor, conquering Lydia and the rest of that region, 549—and dethroning Crœsus. Babylon and Egypt had both entered into an alliance with Crœsus against Cyrus, but before they could send Crœsus effectual aid Cyrus had triumphed. He then turned his arms against Babylon 538—which he took by stratagem after a long siege. Egypt was afterward obliged to become tributary to the universal conqueror.
534—Cyrus, who had before been the Persian general of the united armies under the Median king, Cyaxares, who was his maternal uncle, succeeded to the kingdom, and soon after sent the Jews home to their native land. During this period the Greeks swarmed on the eastern part of the Mediterranean sea and carried on nearly all its commerce, the Tyrians being mainly confined to the trade with India, Arabia and the various parts of the Persian empire.
529—Occurred the death of Cyrus, full of years and glory. History has described him as the most amiable of all the great conquerors. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses, who, to punish the revolt of the Egyptians 525—invaded that country and made it a Persian province.
522—Cambyses died and was succeeded by a Persian nobleman, Darius Hystaspes, the line of Cyrus being extinct. He finally broke the power of the priesthood in his dominions, which perished at once in Egypt and Babylon, where they had so long reigned supreme over the minds of men.
515—The second temple was dedicated at Jerusalem.