diff --git a/src/software/amazon/ion/Timestamp.java b/src/software/amazon/ion/Timestamp.java
index bd036ae97e..ddacbb0a1f 100644
--- a/src/software/amazon/ion/Timestamp.java
+++ b/src/software/amazon/ion/Timestamp.java
@@ -83,6 +83,18 @@ public final class Timestamp
     private static final int NO_SECONDS = 0;
     private static final BigDecimal NO_FRACTIONAL_SECONDS = null;
 
+    // 0001-01-01T00:00:00.0Z in millis
+    private static final long MINIMUM_ALLOWED_TIMESTAMP_IN_MILLIS = -62135769600000L;
+
+    // 0001-01-01T00:00:00.0Z in millis
+    static final BigDecimal MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS = new BigDecimal(MINIMUM_ALLOWED_TIMESTAMP_IN_MILLIS);
+
+    // 9999-12-31T23:59:59.999999999999Z in millis
+    static final BigDecimal MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS = new BigDecimal("253402300799999.999999999");
+
+    // determined empirically as a safe scale
+    private static final int MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_MILLIS_SCALE = 100000;
+
     /**
      * Unknown local offset from UTC.
      */
@@ -265,9 +277,6 @@ private void apply_offset(int offset)
         }
     }
 
-    // 0001-01-01T00:00:00.0Z in millis
-    private static final long MINIMUM_ALLOWED_TIMESTAMP_IN_MILLIS = -62135769600000L;
-
     /**
      * This method uses deprecated methods from {@link java.util.Date}
      * instead of {@link Calendar} so that this code can be used (more easily)
@@ -690,6 +699,28 @@ private Timestamp(BigDecimal millis, Integer localOffset)
     {
         if (millis == null) throw new NullPointerException("millis is null");
 
+        // check bounds to avoid hanging when calling longValue() on decimals with large positive exponents,
+        // e.g. 1e10000000
+        if(millis.compareTo(MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS) < 0 ||
+            millis.compareTo(MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS) > 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("millis: " + millis + " is outside of valid the range: from "
+                + MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS
+                + " to "
+                + MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS
+                + " both inclusive");
+        }
+
+        // check scale size to avoid hanging on methods that need to inflate the fractional bigDecimal
+        // Examples: toString and toMillis
+        if(Math.abs(millis.scale()) >= MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_MILLIS_SCALE) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("millis: " + millis + " has a scale outside the valid range:"
+                + "from"
+                + -MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_MILLIS_SCALE
+                + "to"
+                + MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_MILLIS_SCALE
+                + "both inclusive");
+        }
+
         long ms = millis.longValue();
         set_fields_from_millis(ms);
 
diff --git a/test/software/amazon/ion/TimestampTest.java b/test/software/amazon/ion/TimestampTest.java
index ec55c0933a..d603b28315 100644
--- a/test/software/amazon/ion/TimestampTest.java
+++ b/test/software/amazon/ion/TimestampTest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 import static software.amazon.ion.Decimal.NEGATIVE_ZERO;
 import static software.amazon.ion.Decimal.negativeZero;
+import static software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS;
+import static software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS;
 import static software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.UNKNOWN_OFFSET;
 import static software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.UTC_OFFSET;
 import static software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.createFromUtcFields;
@@ -32,13 +34,8 @@
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.TimeZone;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import software.amazon.ion.Decimal;
-import software.amazon.ion.IonTimestamp;
-import software.amazon.ion.IonType;
-import software.amazon.ion.IonValue;
-import software.amazon.ion.NullValueException;
-import software.amazon.ion.Timestamp;
 import software.amazon.ion.Timestamp.Precision;
 
 /**
@@ -781,12 +778,53 @@ public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimal()
         assertEquals("2012-01-01T12:12:30.555123Z", ts.toZString());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    @Ignore // see https://github.com/amzn/ion-java/issues/160
+    public void testNewTimestampFromMinimumAllowedMillis()
+    {
+        Timestamp ts = Timestamp.forMillis(MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS, PST_OFFSET);
+        assertEquals("0001-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", ts.toZString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithMaximumAllowedMillis()
+    {
+        Timestamp ts = Timestamp.forMillis(MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS, PST_OFFSET);
+        checkFields(9999, 12, 31, 15, 59, 59, new BigDecimal("0.999999999999"), PST_OFFSET, SECOND, ts);
+        assertEquals("9999-12-31T15:59:59.999999999999-08:00", ts.toString());
+        assertEquals("9999-12-31T23:59:59.999999999999Z", ts.toZString());
+    }
 
-    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
-    @Test (expected = NullPointerException.class)
+    @Test(expected = NullPointerException.class)
     public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithNull()
     {
-        Timestamp ts = Timestamp.forMillis(null, PST_OFFSET);
+        Timestamp.forMillis(null, PST_OFFSET);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithMillisTooSmall()
+    {
+        // MIN - 1
+        Timestamp.forMillis(MINIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS.add(BigDecimal.ONE.negate()), PST_OFFSET);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithMillisTooBig()
+    {
+        // Max + 1
+        Timestamp.forMillis(MAXIMUM_ALLOWED_FRACTIONAL_MILLIS.add(BigDecimal.ONE), PST_OFFSET);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithScaleTooBigPositive()
+    {
+        Timestamp.forMillis(new BigDecimal("1e100000"), PST_OFFSET);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testNewTimestampFromBigDecimalWithScaleTooBigNegative()
+    {
+        Timestamp.forMillis(new BigDecimal("1e-100000"), PST_OFFSET);
     }
 
     /**