February 9

474: Zeno was
crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. “The feeling of Emperor Zeno
towards the Jews is illustrated by a remark made at the races of Antioch. After
a mob murdered many Jews, threw their corpses into the fire, and burne…

February 3

19(12th of
Adar, 3779): Dedication of the Temple built by King Herod the Great at
Jerusalem

1112: Ramon
Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes
of those two states.  According to archaeological e…

February 1682: 
Visigoth King Erwig pressed for the “utter extirpation of the pest of the
Jews,” and made it illegal to practice any Jewish rites in an area that
corresponds to much of modern-day Spain. This put further pressure on the Jews
to con…

January 24

41: At midday
today, Caligula, accompanied by Herod Agrippa, the last Jewish King of Judea, was
leaving \ through a covered walkway when one of the Praetorian tribunes
drew his sword and hit his shoulder with such force that he almost fille…

January 17

395: Emperor
Theodosius, I passed away in Milan.  During his reign he instituted
several laws that directly impacted his Jewish subject.  One “dealt with
the obligation of Jews and Samaritans to acts as shipmasters over goods bein…

 January 13

519 BCE: Darius had “a crown made for Zerubbabel out of
gold sent by Jews in Babylon.”

915: Birthdate of Al-Hakam II, the second Caliph of Cordoba
from 961 to 976 whose subjects included Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Enoch Ben Moses…

January 8

1169: A year after Maimonides who was
living in Egypt completed competed “The Book of the Lamp” or “Sefer
Ha-Ma’or” his Commentary to the Mishnah, General Shirkuh entered Cairo
with orders from Saladin to defend the city from the Crusaders.
…