September 10

134
CE: The great Talmudic sage, Rabbi Akiva, was taken captive by the Romans, and
executed five days later in Caesarea, Israel. Rabbi Akiva had been a
40-year-old shepherd who could not even read the Aleph-Bet. One day, he came across
a …

 September 3

175(BCE): Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek King of the Channukah story
began his reign today.

141 BCE (18th of Elul, 3619): The fight begun by Matthias and
Judah came to a successful conclusion when Simon was elected High Priest an…

September 2

44 BCE: Cicero delivers the
first of his fourteen Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will
make 14 of them over the next several months. From a Jewish perspective it
might be proper to say “a pox on both of your houses.”&nbs…

August 19

43 BCE:
Octavian. later known as Augustus compels the senate to elect him Consul. As
the first Emperor of Rome (in fact, if not in name) Augustus would follow the
policies of “moderation and accommodation” towards Judea begun by his uncle,
J…

August 17

986: During the days of
the First Bulgarian Empire, the army of Emperor Samuil of Bulgaria and his
brother defeat the Byzantines led by Basil II. 
The Bulgarian Empire had provided a haven for Jews escaping from the Byzantine
Army so th…

August 16

1027:  The King of Georgia, Giorgi I, passed away.
Jews were among the subjects of this monarch who ruled over a country situated
in the Caucuses, on the eastern edge of the Black Sea.  Leonti Mroveli, an eleventh century
chronicle…

August 14

508: Maurice, the Emperor of the Byzantine Emperor
who in 592 would punish “the entire Jewish community of Antioch after a Jew
violated one his laws” began his reign today.

1084: Yusuf al-Mu’tamin, King of Zaragoza defeated
Sancho Ramirez, …