September 12

490 BCE: According to German scholar Philipp August Böckh, the
Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. The Persians were led
by Darius I, the ruler under whom the Second Temple was built.  It would not be surpri…

September
9

337:
Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans I succeeded their father
Constantine I as co-emperors dividing the Roman Empire between the three
Augusti. Constantine was responsible for making Christianity the state religion
of the Roma…

September 3

175(BCE): Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Greek King of the Channukah story
began his reign today.

141 BCE (18th of Elul, 3619): The fight begun by Matthias and
Judah came to a successful conclusion when Simon was elected High Priest and
was …

September
1

September is an auspicious month in terms of Jewish
History.  Like most things in the world of Jews, it is a
mixed bag– a combination of the bitter and the sweet. 

Today we mark the anniversary of the start…

August 24

410:
The Visigoths under Alaric begin to pillage Rome for three days. According to
tradition, the treasures of the Temples taken by the Romans in 70 now fell into
his hands.  The Visigoths would move and
by the start of the 8th century …

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…