Another forage into ancient history today.  On this date in 81 A.D., Domitian was confirmed as emperor of Rome.  I know of this emperor because he was cruel, harsh, and absolute.  He also was known for killing Christians as well as senators at the drop of a hat. For more info: http://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/the-second-persecution-under-domitian-a-d-81.html http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/titus_domitian.html http://www.biography.com/people/domitian-9276772#synopsis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitian  

For any of you who are familiar with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, this should be an interesting tidbit.  On this date in A.D. 70 (from the best information I can tell), the Romans destroyed the Tower of Antonia.  Some scholars believe that it was this tower that was Pontius Pilate’s Praetorium where Jesus stood to be accused […]

It’s been awhile since I featured anything from ancient history, and so please read on.  On this date in 338 B.C., the Battle of Chaeronea was fought (this is an approximate date).  More than a thousand Athenians reportedly died in the battle, and another two thousand were taken prisoner.  King Phillip II and Alexander the Great fought the battle and […]

On this date in 68 A.D., one of the most notorious Roman emperors committed suicide–Nero.  He is probably most known for fiddling while Rome burned and then blaming it on the Christians.  This started a horrendous persecution of these people.  What comes to my mind is Christians being thrown to wild beasts, being crucified, and being used as torches to […]

It was on this date in 235 A. D. (Or possibly it was March 19), that the last Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty was murdered.  He was commonly known as Alexander Severus, and his reign was from 222 until 235.  Maximinus was nominated as Emperor, and so he and his mother were assainated so that the throne would be […]

This goes way back in time today, and it shows that horrible things happened long ago as well.  On this date in 668, Constans II (Constantine the Bearded) was assassinated while bathing.  He had been named co-emperor of the Roman Empire in 641.  He wasn’t well-liked for a number of reasons, and his chamberlain (the person in charge of his […]

My vacation interrupted my “day in history posts,” but they are back!  On this day (or approximately on this date–give or take a day) in 356 B.C., the great Temple of Artemis was destroyed by arson.  The original temple was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, and its original site was at Ephesus (modern-day Turkey).  It was […]

First of all, there is some discrepancy concerning today’s date, but part of that is because we are talking about an event that happened in B.C. (I will continue to use B.C. and A.D. instead of the new-fangled B.C.E. and A.C.E.).  On this date (or on July 12) in 100 B.C., Julius Caesar was born.  His full name was Gaius […]