February 5

517/519:
Alcimus Avitus, the Archbishop of Vienne in Gaul who in 576 on Easter
temporarily succeeded in calming a crowd angered when a recent convert to
Christianity was doused with oil. Four days later local Christians burned down
the syna…

January 31

314: Sylvester
I whose name is “the Israeli term for New Year’s night celebrations” began his
papacy

“The Israeli
term for New Year’s night celebrations, “Sylvester,” was the name of the
“Saint” and Roman Pope who reigned during the Counci…

January 3

106 BCE:
Birthdate of Marcus Tullius, the Roman statesman and orator.  From the Jewish point of view he was just one
more anti-Semitic intellectual.  “He
denounced Judaism as a ‘barbarous superstition.’” He defended a Roman officia…

January
1

630:  Prophet Muhammad sets out
toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.  At first Mohammed “had hoped to find is main
supporters among the Jewish tribes” of Arabia. 
This can be seen in his early adoption …

December 31

335: End of
the Papacy of Sylvester I “who convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from
living in Jerusalem.”

535:
Byzantine General Belisarius took the city of Syracuse which marks the
completion of the conquest of Sicily. In 536 he would…