Can overlap with Ancient Egypt (Book of Genesis and Exodus), Ancient Babylon (Ezra, Daniel, Esther), Ancient Greece (parts of the Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha), and Ancient Rome (the entire New Testament), but is usually centered around the area of Ancient Israel — Jerusalem, especially. Home to staff-wielding doom-croaking prophets, Philistines, miracles, and loads of people in big robes who sit tableau-like around tables or rocks, looking awe-filled and reverent.
There are many biblical events disputed with regards to date or accuracy. The Israelite Exodus has been traditionally dated to 1400 BC (give or take a few centuries, as there is no other record for the Exodus other than the Bible beyond some really specious readings of the expulsion of the Hyksos, and thus many scholars now doubt it really happened), and the rest of the Old Testament from 1000 BC to 500 BC. The New Testament had the death of Jesus dated around 30 AD. Keep in mind that very few dates are accurate due to the various calendar systems used.
Keep in mind that The Bible covers such a broad span of time that this Trope is much more useful as a determiner of location and setting rather than actual time period; Moses was about as ancient a figure to Jesus as Jesus is to us.
If Time Travelers go back to this period, they will probably have Adventures in the Bible.
Popular tropes from this time period are:
- As the Good Book Says...
- The Chosen One
- A Day in the Limelight: Usually an expansion of a background character's fates, or Elsewhere Fic about an Original Character meeting a canon character and having his life changed as a result.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: While the two empires more often than not provide villains of these stories, it is much rarer for them to not make a case for the glory that was Rome, or the splendor of Egypt.
- The Final Temptation
- Moses in the Bulrushes
- Sword & Sandal
Works that are set in this time period include:
- Ben-Hur
- The Bible: In The Beginning...
- Exodus: Gods and Kings
- From the Manger to the Cross
- The Gospel According to St. Matthew
- The Gospel of John
- The Greatest Story Ever Told
- History of the World Part I (in places)
- Jesus aka The Jesus Film
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Joseph
- King David
- The King of Kings (1927)
- King of Kings (1961)
- The Last Temptation of Christ
- Monty Python's Life of Brian
- Moses
- The Nativity Story
- Noah
- The Passion of the Christ
- Paul, Apostle of Christ
- Peter And Paul
- The Prodigal
- Risen
- The Robe
- Samson and Delilah
- Sodom and Gomorrah
- Son of God
- The Story Of Jacob And Joseph
- The Ten Commandments
- The Visual Bible: Matthew
- The Dudley Moore comedy Wholly Moses!
- Year One
- The Young Messiah
- Ben-Hur
- The Bible
- The Cartoon History of the Universe (the first couple of volumes)
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
- The Last Temptation of Christ
- The Letters From Nicodemus
- Many Waters
- The Red Tent
- Quo Vadis
- The Winds of Zarr
- The Troy Saga
- Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Children of Eden
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- The You Testament
- Civilization from V onwards tends to use this aesthetic to represent the "ancient era", as opposed to the Inventing the Wheel motif present in previous games.
- The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible
- Joseph: King of Dreams
- Judas and Jesus
- The Prince of Egypt
- VeggieTales (in some episodes)
