Showing posts with label Roman emperors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roman emperors. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

On How To Become A President In Today's World

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

How would one take steps to become a Democratic President of a country like Syria when it is run by a former terrorist, or crazy but clever man backed to the hilt with other terrorist groups who are beneficiaries of his power?  Today's answer could be to get on social media like Facebook, You Tube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Tic Tok, WeChat, Telegram, Messenger, Snapchat and Douyin, or at least one of them.  You have to be known by a large group who are following you and agree with your platform.  

As a Jewish lady, I look back at our history for answers. Of course our own people had Kings Saul, selected by the prophet Samuel, then David who married Saul's daughter, Michal and his son, Solomon by another wife, Bathsheba,   and his son, etc. We wanted our own king because others had them and we didn't.  We had community leaders called judges that took care of our needs. These judges were not kings, but rather charismatic, temporary military and spiritual leaders raised up by God to deliver the tribes from oppressors.  Some commanded armies  and settled disputes, including Othniel, Ehud, Deborah (and Barak), Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. 

Then, Israel was divided when Solomon died when in the hands of his son,  Jeroboam (933-912 BCE) and along came the Romans, taking over.  

  Herod the Great (a Roman client king) and Roman Emperors like Augustus and Tiberius ruled over Judea, with Jewish Hasmonean rulers also holding power before the Romans.  They were horrible rulers from Rome, Italy, a foreign country who hadtaken over Judaea. 

                     

Herod the Great was born in 73 BCE and died in 4 BCE.  He was king ofJudea, which was all that was left of the 12 Tribes of Jacob.  Judea was the state that included Jerusalem. He was the son of an Idumean (Edom), Antipater by  Cypros, his Nabatean (Arabs of Edom) wife. He was in politics,a bad dude who had to run to Rome for help and while there, became thesenate's choice to be king of  Judea. 

He actually did some good for his family through commercial operations.He increased the wealth of his state by re-building the Temple in Jerusalem,built two cities of Sebasate and Caesarea.  

Herod the Great: is described in the Christian Bible as the coordinator of the Massacre of the Innocents(now considered by most as a legend continued by Matthew, maybe being he referred to Herod the Great instead.  He was replaced by his son who turned out to be horrid.  Most of the New Testament references are about his son Herod Antipas (such as the events leading to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 14), or his grandson Herod Agrippa (in Acts 12).   In fact, After Herod Agrippa I died in 44 AD, his kingdom of Judea became a Roman province, ruled by Roman procurators like Cuspius Fadus, ending the unified Herodian rule; his son, Herod Agrippa II, later ruled smaller territories but not the whole of Judea. 

According to Jewish history, primarily documented by Josephus, Herod the Great died a horrific death from a severe illness involving intense itching, convulsions, breathlessness, intestinal pain, and gangrene of the genitalia, with worms present, likely a combination of chronic kidney disease and Fournier's gangrene, possibly seen as divine judgment for his sins. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, who is  in our Jewish encyclopedia under Josephus,  lived from approximately A.D. 37 to around A.D. 100, born in Jerusalem and dying in Rome, serving as a key source for the Jewish Revolt and early Christian history. He was from a priestly family, too.   

(The Gospel of Matthew was likely written between A.D. 70 and 90, with many scholars pinpointing the late 80s or early 90s, after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, though some argue for an earlier date (late 50s/early 60s). This dating often relies on the !/nav>> !/nav>>scholarly view that Mark was written first, and Matthew used Mark as a source, along with its focus on Jewish law and a post-Temple context. )

Augustus: was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 31 BCE to 14 CE.He was not friendly with the Jews.  Herod continued to be king of Judaea which he later converted into a region governed by aprocurator residing at Caesarea. 

Tiberias: was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14-37 CE. In 19 he expelled  the Jews from Rome on some trumped up thing  so 4,000  young Jews were sent to Sardinia to fight the brigands. Judaea was harshly administered under his rule, during which  the crucification of Jesus occurred according to history. Ancient sources suggested he likely died of natural causes (old age/illness) at Misenum in 37 AD, though conspiracy theories, particularly involving his heir Caligula, circulated, including whispers he was suffocated, but the official cause was likely old age and declining health. 

Caligula: Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also called Gaius and Caligula, was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Agrippina the Elder, members of the first ruling family of the Roman Empire.  For the early part of his reign, he is said to have been "good, generous, fair and community-spirited" but increasingly self-indulgent, cruel, sadistic, extravagant and sexually perverted thereafter, an insane, murderous tyrant who demanded and received worship as a living god, humiliated the Senate, and planned to make his horse a consul.

Claudius: After the death of Emperor Caligula and his family at the hands of the Praetorian Guard, the future Emperor Claudius was found quivering behind a set of curtains, fearing for his own life, and named emperor. Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate.  Despite his lack of experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator. He expanded the imperial bureaucracy to include freedmen, and helped restore the empire's finances after the excesses of Caligula's reign.

We find that most of these emperors became such through family connections, and Claudius turned out to be pretty good.  Many authors contend that he was murdered by his own wife, Agrippina the Younger. After his death at the age of 63, his grandnephew and legally adopted step-son, Nero, succeeded him as emperor.


Nero:Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his suicide in AD 68. Nero was born at Antium in AD 37, the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Nero was three when his father died. Nero formally entered public life as an adult in AD 51 while 13 years old. When he turned 16, Nero married Claudius' daughter (his step-sister), Claudia Octavia.  


The Great Fire of Rome began on the night of 18 to 19 July 64, probably in one of the merchant shops on the slope of the Aventine overlooking the Circus Maximus, or in the wooden outer seating of the Circus itself. Rome had always been vulnerable to fires, and this one was fanned to catastrophic proportions by the winds.  He was also crazy, fiddling while Rome burned.  Tacitus claims Nero seized Christians as scapegoats for the fire and had them burned alive, seemingly motivated not by public justice, but personal cruelty. Commentators say that:They found Nero's construction projects overly extravagant and claim that their cost left Italy "thoroughly exhausted by contributions of money" with "the provinces ruined". Modern historians note that the period was riddled with deflation and that Nero intended his spending on public-work and charities to ease economic troubles.

Emperor Nero died by suicide on June 9, 68 AD, after being declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate, abandoning his post, and fleeing Rome as his support collapsed, ultimately stabbing himself in the throat with help from a freedman to avoid capture and execution by beating. 

Well, no help here in becoming a President of a country today.  Only Trump

has the money (?) and the means (?) to take over Greenland today, which

no one is in agreement except his Republicans in the House and Senate

who have no free will.  He probably did use some social media.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Roman Imperial Laws, Protecting and Against Jewish Belief From 329-553 In Byzantine Empire

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                         Romans outlawed reading the Mishnah, the Oral Law

What they call Mishnah, on the other hand, we prohibit entirely, for it is not included among the Holy Books, nor was it handed down from above by the prophets, but it is an invention of men in their chatter, exclusively of earthly origin and having in it nothing of the divine. Let them read the holy words themselves, therefore, in unfolding these Holy Books for reading, but without hiding what is said in them, on the one hand, and without accepting extraneous and unwritten nonsense they themselves had contrived to the perdition of the more simple minded, on the other hand. In consequence of this permission granted by us, those who adopt the Greek language and the other languages shall not be subjected to any penalty at all, neither shall they be hindered by any person, nor shall those who are called among them Archipherekitae [office now of uncertain authority], or possibly Presbyters [elders] or Didascaloi [teachers], have the license to hinder them from this by any deceits or excommunications, unless they would wish to be chastened for these deeds by corporal punishments as well as by loss of property, and obey us-who desire and command deeds better and more pleasing to God-against their will.

There were so many instances of another law coming up that I'll just list the devastating ones.  After Constantine, emperors continued to issue laws affecting the Jewish population, gradually restricting their rights and freedoms within the Byzantine Empire. Constantine had not stopped.

  • Constantine (306-337 CE): Forbade Jews from proselytizing and punished those who molested converts to Christianity.
  • Constantius II (337-361 CE): Outlawed intermarriage between Jews and Christians and prohibited Jews from owning or dealing in slaves.
  • Theodosius II (408-450 CE): Published the Theodosian Code in 439 CE which systematically curtailed Jewish rights. It barred Jews from building new synagogues, holding public office, and imposed burdensome civic obligations.
  • Justinian I (527-565 CE): Issued the Code of Justinian which further restricted Jewish rights, including denying them full citizenship, disqualifying them from holding public office, prohibiting them from testifying against Christians in court, and banning Hebrew prayer, according to Jewish Currents. 
  • These laws became entrenched in Europe and influenced the status of Jews for over a thousand years under the power of the Church. 

Resource:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/byzantine-empire#:~:text=The%20temporary
%20expulsion%20of%20the,Empire%20in%20the%20fourth%20century.
https://www.ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relation
ship/roman-laws



Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Council of Nicaea in 325 CE And What Happened to Jews Before

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

The First Jewish-Roman War, also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, was a major rebellion against the Roman Empire that took place from 66 to 73/74 CE in the province of Judea. The war resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple, significant population displacement, and the dissolution of the Jewish political entity. 

Vespasian and his son Titus led the Roman forces, while Jewish leaders like Eleazar ben Ya'ir (leading the Sicarii) and Josephus (a historian who initially fought against the Romans) played significant roles. 

Titus was the Roman Emperor during the burning of Jerusalem and it's Temple in 70 CE.  This happened during the 1st century CE.  Titus entered Jerusalem in April 70 CE, during the First Jewish-Roman War, to begin the siege of the city. He initiated the siege around Passover, positioning his troops and effectively trapping many Jewish pilgrims inside. The city and the Second Temple were ultimately destroyed by the Romans later that year, in September. 

  • Vespasian (69–79 ce)
                                                               
    The Arch of Titus in Rome showing the Jewish slaves forced to carry the loot from the Temple to Rome.
  • Titus (79–81 ce)
  • Domitian (81–96 ce)
  • Nerva (96–98 ce)

2nd century ce

  • Trajan (98–117 ce)                        
                                           Emperor Hadrian-36 years after Titus
  • Hadrian (117–138 ce)

The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE marked a turning point for Jewish history, leading to the Diaspora (dispersion) of Jews throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. 

  • T The   war resulted in widespread destruction, loss of life (estimates range from hun hundreds     of thousands to over a million), and the displacement of the Jewish p ppopulation  . The destruction of the Temple led to a shift in Jewish religious pr- practice, with    the rise of Rabbinic Judaism. 

There were already Jewish communities in Asia Minor (which includes present-day Turkey) before 70 CE. The destruction of the Temple likely led to an influx of Jewish refugees and migrants into these existing communities.                                                      

Nicaea was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, located in northwestern Anatolia (Turkey near Marmara.) It is now known as Iznik in Turkey. Nicaea is most famous for being the site of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, a significant event in Christian history.

Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt;   Arius was a Cyrenaic presbyter and ascetic. He has been regarded as the founder of Arianism, which holds that Jesus Christ was not coeternal with God the Father, but was rather created by God the Father. 

The major impetus for the calling of the Council of Nicaea arose in a theological dispute among the Christian clergy of Alexandria concerning the nature of Jesus, his origin, and relation to God the Father. Scholars propose dates between 318 and 322 for the beginning of the dispute. The precise origins of the controversy are unclear, but the principal actors were Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria and the presbyter Arius.

 Arius' teachings are known partially from a few pieces of his writings which survive, but principally from his opponents, primarily Alexander and Athanasius of Alexandria. Arius criticized Alexander's teachings on Christology; 

Nicaea (modern-day Ä°znik), located in Bithynia (northwestern Turkey), was a significant city in the Roman Empire. It hosted the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, a major event in the history of the Christian Church. While there's no specific mention of a large Jewish community in Nicaea at that time, it's reasonable to assume that Jews, like other populations, would have been present in the area. 

The Roman Empire under the reign of Hadrian (125 CE) with Judaea highlighted in red from 6-135 CE

It's important to note that the destruction of Jerusalem did not result in a complete and immediate exodus of all Jews from the land. Many Jews remained in Judea, and the region continued to have a Jewish population throughout the Roman, Byzantine, and subsequent periods. 

What happened was that Hadrian, known for his extensive building programs, visited Judaea around 129-130 CE. He decided to rebuild Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after the First Jewish-Roman War of 70 CE, as a Roman colony dedicated to Jupiter. This city was named Aelia Capitolina. 

Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; 

Alexander taught that Jesus as God the Son was eternally generated from the Father, while 

Arius and his followers asserted that the Father alone was eternal, and that the Son was created or begotten by the Father, and thus had a defined point of origin and was subordinate to the Father.

Arius accused Alexander of following the teachings of Sabellius, who taught that the Father, Son, and Holy  spirit were one person, rather than the view held throughout the east that they were distinct. 

Alexander called a local council of bishops from Egypt and Libya, which sided with Alexander's view. 

Arius refused to subscribe to the council's decision, and he and several followers were excommunicated and exiled from Alexandria by Alexander. Arius then traveled to churches around the Roman east and wrote to bishops to gain support of his view. Among Arius' supporters were Eusebius of Nicomedia and Eusebius of Caesarea, and they advocated for his view and his restoration to the church in Alexandria. Alexander also circulated letters defending his own position.

The Council of Nicaea, held in 325 CE, was a gathering of Christian bishops convened by Emperor Constantine to address the Arian controversy and other issues within the early Church. The primary goal was to unify the Church by resolving theological disputes, particularly those surrounding the nature of Jesus Christ and his relationship to God the Father. The council resulted in the condemnation of Arianism, the formulation of the Nicene Creed, and the establishment of precedents for future ecumenical councils. 

The Christian feast of Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, as Christians believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus occurred at the time of those observances. As early as Pope Sixtus I in the 2nd century, some Christians had set Easter to a Sunday in the lunar month of Nisan. To determine which lunar month was to be designated as Nisan, Christians relied on the Jewish community. By the late 3rd century some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with what they took to be the disorderly state of the Jewish calendar. They argued that contemporary Jews were identifying the wrong lunar month as the month of Nisan, choosing a month whose 14th day fell before the spring equinox. 

From Hadrian (117 to 138).to Constantine Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I, was Roman emperor from (306 to 337 CE/AD. )  were 38 different Emperors.  

                              Emperor  Constantine

At Nicea the Roman Empire was then under the authority of the first 'Christian' emperor, Constantine. He was as yet unbaptized but had the enlightened attitude that the type of Christianity that he had witnessed in his native Britain could be tolerated throughout the Empire. Even before Romans and Christianity arrived there, Britain had never persecuted anyone for religious beliefs. Constantine learned about Christianity from his mother a British princess, Helena, daughter of King Coel Coedhebawg .

Later, Britain banished Jews from their country for 365 years.  The Nicaea meetings following developed into anti-Semitism.  Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and not allowed to return for 366 years, until 1656. This expulsion was ordered by King Edward I. They were formally readmitted under Oliver Cromwell. 

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Jerusalem-70

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arius

https://colosseum.info/arch-of-titus/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea

https://www.jpost.com/blogs/truth-beyond-price/how-anti-semitism-was-exacerbated-at-the

-council-of-nicea-500930

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War#:~:text=The%20First%20Jewish%E2%80%93Roman%20War,dissolution%20of%20the%20Jewish%20polity.