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 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…