January 15

588 BCE: 
On the secular calendar, Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem
under Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasts until July 18, 586 BCE 

69: Servius
Sulpicius Galba 6th emperor of Rome (68-69) was killed by Praeto…

January 14

83 BCE:
Birthdate of Marcus Antonius, who is better known as Mark Antony (often
pronounced Anthony).  Mark Antony is credited by some with recognizing
Herod as a Jewish leader and elevating him accordingly.  Later, he would
side w…

January 9

638: As a
result of the Sixth Council of Toledo that began today “King Chintilla decreed
that only Catholics were permitted to live in Visigothic Spain.”

681: Erwig,
the Visigoth King of what is now Spain convened the 12th Council of
Toledo…

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 2

438: Empress Eudocia, the wife of Byzantine Emperor Theodius II, who
spent the last years of her life in the Holy Land allowed the Jews to return to
Jerusalem and pray at the site of the Temple at the same time her husband was
“announcing le…

December 27

175 BCE (Tevet 3585): This day
marked the completion of the Septuagint
translation of the Bible into the Greek language. According to a letter from
Aristeas to Philocrates, 72 sages, (six from each Israelite tribe) were brought
to by Ptole…

December 25

0337(14th
of Tevet, 4098): Earliest possible date on which Christmas was reported to have
been celebrated on December 25th. 

496:
Baptism of Clovis I, the Frankish ruler who united all the tribes of Gaul
(France) under one ruler. Hi…