August 20

430: The Vandals, a
Germanic tribe, established a kingdom in North Africa.  The Jews lived there peacefully and
flourished until the Almohad conquest in the 11th century.

636: Arab forces defeat
the Byzantine Christians at the Battle o…

August 18

1201:
Founding of Riga, capital of modern-day Latvia. The first Jews appeared in Riga
three centuries later and despite Czars, Nazis and Commissars continue to live
in the city to this day.

1227:
Genghis Khan dies.  According to Arthur…

August 13

236:
The body of Hippolytus, the author of Contra Judaeous, which blamed the harsh
conditions of the Jews on their rejection of Jesus was buried in a cemetery on
the Via Tiburtina

339:
The Roman Emperor “issued a decree forbidding intermarr…

August 12

30 BCE: Cleopatra committed suicide.  According to Josephus, the Egyptian tried to
convince her lover and co-ruler, Marc Antony, to give her control over lands to
the east including Syria and Palestine. 
Herod was so afraid of her …

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 3

8
C.E.: Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus.
As the stepson of Augustus, Tiberius would become Caesar four years after this
victory.  Tiberius did appoint Pontius
Pilate as the procurator of Judea.&nbsp…

July 24

1148:  Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus
during the Second Crusade. The Second Crusade gained nothing for the
Christians.  The failure of the crusade
may help explain “the long period of persecution that included French cler…