January
11

66(28th
of Tevet, 3826): The Sanhedrin elected Joseph ben Gorion and the High Priest
Anan as the administrative heads of the government of Judea replacing King
Agrippa

314:
Militades, who was the Pope when Constantine and Licinius issued t…

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
29

584 BCE
(10 Tevet 3175): The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar,
began his siege of Jerusalem leading to the destruction of the first Temple.
This day is commemorated as one of the “minor” fasts, lasting from
sunrise to sunset.  Of cours…

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 24

1166: King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine gave
birth King John of England, the brother of Richard the Lionheart whom he
followed to the throne in 1199 and who was such a rapacious monarch that the
English nobles banne…

December 21

69: The
Senate acknowledged Vespasian as emperor. This marked the end of the so-called
The Year of the Four Emperors during which four individuals – Galba, Otho,
Vitellius and Vespasian – held the position of imperial leadership. &nbs…