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 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 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... »