September 13

586
BCE (3 Tishrei 3338): On the civil calendar assassination of Gedaliah ben
Achikam. He had been appointed Governor of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar in an
attempt to revitalize the Jewish community. His assassin, Ishmael ben Natanya,
a descen…

September 16 

1380:
King Charles V of France died.  Charles
ruled during a very difficult time in French history – the 14th
century – that included the One Hundred Years War and the Black Death.  For French monarchs, guile and deception…

September 15

53: Birthdate of Trajan who was Roman emperor
from 98 until his death of 117. In the last decade of his rule, Trajan began a
campaign against the Parthians, a people living east of the Roman Empire.  Since this territory bordered Jud…

September
7

70: On the secular calendar the date on which a
Roman army under Titus occupied and plundered Jerusalem.

1191: The Crusader army led by King Richard the
Lionhearted defeated the army of Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf, north of Jaffa.
The …

September 6

3761
B.C.E.: The first day of the Hebrew Calendar. “The epoch of the modern
Hebrew calendar is Monday, October 7, 3761 BCE,
being the tabular date (same daylight period) in the proleptic Julian calendar
corresponding to 1 Tishri AM 1 (AM =…

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 28

388: Magnus
Maximus, an Hispanic usurper to the throne of the western Roman Empire passed
away. During his disputed reign Maximus issued an edict of which censured
Christians at Rome for burning down a Jewish synagogue which was condemned by…