36-79 A.D. British Villas & Mount Vesuvius

 

 

36 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

                     

37 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Tiberius is Roman Emperor until March, then Caligula becomes Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

March 16, Caesar Tiberius, aged 77, dies in his villa on the island of Capri, and Caligula, who has been staying at the villa while Tiberius is on his death bed, becomes Roman Emperor

 

38 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Caligula is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

  

39

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Caligula is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

        

40 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Caligula is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

           

41     

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius becomes Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China, Guangwu emperor – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

January 24, Caesar Caligula (12 - 41 A.D.) is assassinated, aged 28, as a result of a conspiracy of the Praetorian Guard, senators and courtiers, and the Praetorians declare Caligula's uncle, Claudius, as emperor

 

42 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor – The Han Dynasty is ruling in China, Guangwu is emperor – The Second Gonanda Dynasty rules over Kashmir (part of present day India), Meghavahana is its first king

 

43 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor – 

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The First London

Roman Emperor Claudius invades Britain and establishes Londonium beside the Thames river

The Roman army also takes the hillfort in Maiden Castle, Dorset from the Durotriges tribe (Castle Palaces and Stately Homes, Pg. 14),

“'Aulus Plautius’s troops,' writes Dio, 'met no immediate resistance – not the hordes that had confronted Caesar on Deal beach – but found themselves tackling an elusive enemy with a habit of melting away into swamps and woods…The Romans engaged with the British Charioteers over a two-day battle, in which, notes Dio, Vespasian fought with distinction (twenty-six years later this young officer became emperor).”

(Under Another Sky, pg. 15)

Claudius stays briefly in his newly founded city of Londonium, and then heads back home where he gets permission from the senate to hold a Triumph in Rome for his “conquering” of Britain—but in actual fact, it isn’t until 40 years later that the governor Agricola claims to have completed the conquest of the whole of the island...

“Suetonius’s biography describes Claudius’s Triumph: the emperor riding in a chariot while his wife, Messalina, followed in a covered carriage. Also in the parade were provincial governors, specially allowed permission to leave their posts for the occasion, and officers from the campaign, clad in purple bordered togas. There would likely, too, have been captives, advancing ahead of the emperor in his chariot as the procession snaked its route from Mars Field to the Capitoline Hill…”

(Under Another Sky, pg. 16)

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In China, “Ma marched into Vietnam with overwhelming force, his supplies followed by sea from Guangdong, and the revolt was all over by the end of A.D. 43” (China, A History, pg. 169)

 

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A Famine is Predicted

Sometime before 44 A.D., before King Herod died (not Herod the Great, he already died back in 4 A.D.), this event takes place...

“During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened in the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”

(Acts 11:27-30)

The famine will come in 46 A.D., and according to Josephus, the Jewish historian, Queen Helena of Adiabene also helped with the famine, importing wheat and figs from Egypt into Judea

 

44

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor – 

“It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.” But Peter was released from prison by an angel.

(Acts 12:1-19)

King Herod Agrippa I of Judea (grandson of Herod the Great) dies...

“Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God continued to increase and spread.”

(Acts 12:19-24)
 
Herod Agrippa’s death was fully recorded by Josephus in his book Antiquities, 19:8,
 

On the second day of a festival held in Caesarea in honor of Claudius, Agrippa donned a silver garment of “wonderful” texture and entered the amphitheater early in the morning, when the sun’s rays shone on his garment, the brilliant glare caused his flatterers to cry out that he was a god, Josephus added that “The king did not rebuke them nor reject their impious flattery.” Almost immediately a severe pain arose in his abdomen, and five days later he died in great agony

 

45

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

 

46

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Paul’s first missionary journey begins

According to Josephus, Queen Helena of Adiabene (a vassal kingdom of Parthia) makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in this year, it is at this time she probably moves to the city, Rabbinic literature refers to her saying that she donated a golden lamp to the Temple, as well as a golden plaque on which was engraved the biblical episode of the wayward wife (the sotah, Mishna Yoma 3:10), Josephus also writes that when she came, there was a famine in the city, so she bought grain and dried figs from Egypt and imported them into Jerusalem in large quantities (jwa.org [Jewish Woman’s Archive])

 

47

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

 

48

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Paul’s first missionary journey ends,

“From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch (Syrian Antioch), where they had been committed to the grace of God for all the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.”

(Acts 14:26-28)

 

50

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Council at Jerusalem of the apostles and believers:

“Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made the brothers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to who they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.’ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: ‘Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith.”

(Acts 15:1-9)

 

Paul begins his second missionary journey (Acts 15:40)

 

51

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Emperor Claudius erects a Triumphal Arch in Rome to commemorate having received the surrender of eleven British kings

A woman named Lydia is living in Philippi, selling purple cloth; On one particular Sabbath, she goes down to the river to a place of prayer; There she hears Paul the apostle teaching and after listening, invites him, Silas and Timothy over to her house; Afterwards, her whole family is baptized (Acts 16:13-15)

While Paul, Silas and Timothy are in Philippi, they are met by a slave girl on their way to prayer, she...

“...had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ She kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.”

(Acts 16:16-18)

 

52

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Paul’s second missionary journey ends

Parthian king Vologases I invades Armenia (ancient.eu)

 

53

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Paul’s third missionary journey begins

 

54

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero becomes Roman Emperor –

October 13, Claudius dies and Nero becomes Roman Emperor 

 

55

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Claudius is Roman Emperor –

Paul writes his second letter to the church in Corinth; In it, he says...

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God, was reconciling THE WORLD to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”

(2 Cor. 5:16-19)

Queen Helena of Adiabene’s (vassal kingdom of Parthia) son, Izates, dies and she returns to Adiabene to see her elder son Monobazus crowned king, she dies shortly thereafter and the bodies of both her and her son are then transferred to Jerusalem and buried in the royal sepulcher she had built while in the city (jwa.org) 

 

57

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

The Silla (pronounced "Shilla") Kingdom in Korea is founded (traditional date); It is located on the southern and central parts of the Korean peninsula by Bak Hyeokgeose of the Park family; This is also the beginning of the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea (Silla, Goguryeo and Baekje) (worldhistory.org)

Paul writes a letter to the Romans (traditional date for the book of Romans in the Bible, Archaeological Study Bible, pg. 1833), it is thought he is writing this letter while in Corinth; His third missionary journey ends

 

58

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

Roman-Parthian War begins under Emperor Nero (ancient.eu)

 

60

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

Paul writes his letters to the Philippians and the Ephesians while imprisoned in Rome under emperor Nero between 60 and 62; Tradition has it that Paul and Thecla found a church in Tarraco (modern-day city of Tarragona in Catalonia, Spain) in this year; Tarraco is the center of the Imperial cult in the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Boudicca sacks the Roman city of Londonium (modern-day city of London, England) in the 60s

The Romans build a formal bath and temple complex in Aquae Sulis (modern-day city of Bath, England) during the 60s

The Roman Villa at Fishbourne in England is built in all its “imperial glamour” and “Mediterranean splendor,”

“It [the villa] is anomalous in the history of Roman Britain because, unlike so many of the other great villa complexes of the province, most of which flourished in the fourth century, it is so early: it was begun barely twenty years after conquest on the site of what was probably a military depot or supply base dating from the time of the invasion.” The remains of this villa were discovered in 1960 when a workman cutting a water-main trench across a field happened upon a mass of ancient building material, the following summer and until 1968, the site was excavated."

(Under Another Sky, Pg. 16 - 17)

At some point during Caesar Nero's reign, he hears of a conspiracy against him involving Plauzio Laterani of the rich Laterani family, and has him and his family executed (The Lateranis had occupied the site of the modern day Lateran Basilica on the shady Caelian Hill in Rome, Italy for centuries); Nero takes possession of the mansion on the site, and it later becomes a military barracks (The Secret Archives of the Vatican, pg. 36, Annals of Tacitusrome.us)  

 

61

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

Luke, a doctor by profession and one of Paul the Apostle's traveling companions, begins writing his book while waiting in Rome for the conclusion of Paul’s trial

“When Josephus came to Rome from Jerusalem for his brief visit in the early 60s, he found the city at the height of its opulence.” (Rome and Jerusalem, Pg. 35)

 

62

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

February 5, A large earthquake shakes the area around the Bay of Naples--a tremor, no doubt, coming from the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, which will erupt in 79 A.D.; During this earthquake, many buildings and temples fall in the Roman city of Pompeii; The only temple that is fully rebuilt before the eruption in 79, is the temple of Isis, an Egyptian goddess that is depicted with cow horns on her head with a solar disk in between them (Wikipedia)

Paul’s fourth missionary journey begins; His letter to the Philippians is circulating; In it he writes...

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 1:3-6)

 

63 

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

Luke begins writing the book of Acts; His first introduction to the book reads...

"In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God."

(Acts 1:1-3) 

Roman-Parthian War ends

 

64

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

The Great Fire of Rome breaks out in the time of Emperor Nero, “for which the government, seeking a scapegoat, blamed the Christians,” (Rome and Jerusalem pg. 39)

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Bravo?

An earthquake (not as big as the 62 A.D. earthquake) shakes the area around the Bay of Naples; The Roman historian Suetonius records that...

Caesar Nero was performing in a theater

...during the quake, but didn't stop singing until his song was done; Tacitus, in his Annales, writes that the theater collapsed shortly after being evacuated  

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65

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

April 12, Seneca the Younger (stoic philosopher, dramatist, and statesman) dies in Rome, Italy

Paul begins to write his book called Hebrews (between 60-70 A.D.)

 

66

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

 

67

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor –

Paul’s fourth missionary journey ends

Linus becomes the second bishop of Rome after Peter (According to the early church historian Irenaus; This transition is not mentioned in the Bible)

 

68

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Nero is Roman Emperor until June when Galba becomes Roman Emperor –

June 9, Caesar Nero (37 - 68 A.D.) commits suicide at age 30, after he is declared a public enemy by the senate; Galba becomes Roman Emperor

 

69

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Galba is Roman Emperor until January 15 when two more Caesars are declared and assassinated until Vespasian becomes Roman Emperor 

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Who wants to be Caesar?

 

January 15, Caesar Galba is assassinated and Otho becomes Roman Emperor

April 16, Caesar Otho is assassinated and Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor

December 20, Caesar Vitellius is assassinated and Vespasian becomes Roman Emperor   

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The Roman historian Tacitus is completing his histories, and in it, he says that at this time in 69 AD, "the Druidic historians of Gaul have kept the knowledge of how the Cisalpine Gauls, led by Brennos, had, in c. 390-387 B.C., defeated the Roman army and sacked Rome, capturing the city but with the notable exception of the Capitoline Hill. Three hundred years after this event, the Druids of Gaul appear to be lamenting that their ancestors had not finished off the job instead of accepting payment of a tribute and withdrawing to leave the Romans to rebuild their city and create the empire which is now swallowing their civilization." (The Druids, pg. 199)

 

70

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

The Jerusalem Temple (second one that had been built on the Temple Mount) is destroyed by the Roman general Titus

Construction starts on the Colosseum in Rome

Luke finishes the book of Acts 

 

71

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

City of York (Roman name: Eburacum) in England is founded by Cerialis and the Ninth Legion when they construct a military fortress there (most of the Roman fortress is underneath York Minster, and excavations in the Minster’s undercroft have revealed some of the original walls)

 

72

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

 

73

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

 

74

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

 

75

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor

Fishbourne Villa near Chichester, West Sussex, England, is built as a palace for King Cogidubnus of the Regnenses tribe (archaeologists have determined that the villa had four wings arranged around a central courtyard, with a large reception chamber in the west wing, as many as 100 rooms had mosaic floors, of which 20 survive, including a beautiful one representing the Roman love god Cupid riding a dolphin (Castles, Palaces, and Stately Homes, pg. 14, 20)

 

76

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor – Pope Linus dies and, Anacletus (also known as Cletus) becomes the first Greek pope/bishop of Rome, he is also the third pope (b. 25 A.D)

The Roman Baths in Bath, England, are mentioned for the first time in records, although it is believed that the baths had been standing for some time before this (the town is called Aquae Sulis)

 

77

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor – Anacletus is the 3rd pope/bishop of Rome 

 

76

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor – Anacletus is the 3rd pope/bishop of Rome 

 

79

RULERS & ROYALTY: Caesar Vespasian is Roman Emperor until he dies in June and Titus becomes Roman Emperor – Anacletus is the 3rd pope/bishop of Rome 

June 23, Caesar Vespasian dies (b. 9 A.D.), aged 69, and Titus becomes Roman Emperor

August 24-25, Mount Vesuvius erupts and the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum are buried under ash (Photo: The interior of a building in Pompeii that has been excavated) 

June 23, Caesar Vespasian dies (b. 9 A.D.), aged 69, and Titus becomes Roman Emperor