August 7

117:  The Roman Emperor Trajan passed away.  Trajan came to think of himself as another
Alexander the Great and moved east towards Babylonia with the intent of
extending the boundaries of the Roman Empire. 
One of Trajan’s firs…

August 4

70:
According to some, the date on the secular calendar when the Second Temple was
destroyed by the Romans.

367:
Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-August by his father
and associated to the throne aged eight. 
The…

July 30                                                                      …

July 17

1203:  The Knights of the Fourth Crusade capture
Constantinople forcing the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus to flee from
his capital into exile.  Unlike other
Crusades, the focus of the Fourth Crusade was the Byzantine Empire a…

July 10

48 BCE: In his
war with Pompey, Julius Caesar barely avoids defeat at the Battle of
Dyrrhachium.  A month later, after
regrouping his forces, Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus.  While neither of the Roman leaders were…

July 9

118:
Hadrian, Rome’s new emperor, made his entry into the Imperial City. Regardless
of how history remembers him, for Jews, Hadrian is the Emperor who helped to
start the Third Rebellion against Rome. In this case it was the lead by Bar
Kochba …

July 8

1099: In a
move reminiscent of Joshua at Jericho, during the First Crusade 15,000 starving
Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as the Muslim
defenders look on. This seemingly desperate move is part of the preparati…