The First Century

After Paul left Athens he went to Corinth. There he found success and met a number of people who became friends and followers of the way. Timothy and Silas eventually meet him in Corinth bringing troubling news of the Thessalonians. As a result, the three of them co-author a letter to the community there. Timothy and Silas deliver it so as to flesh out any details needed.  SHOWNOTES: Acts 18:1-11...

After Paul, Silas, and Timothy departed Philippi they went to Thessalonica. Though they had some success there, they were driven out by some agitators and made their way to Beroea beyond the control of Thessalonian authorities. Paul later made his way to Athens, while Silas and Timothy returned to Thessalonica to check on the community there.  SHOWNOTES: Acts 17:1-34; 1 Thess 1:1-10 Financial aid...

After a minor disagreement with Barnabas, Paul decided to go with Silas to visit some of the communities he had evangelized earlier in southern Galatia. There they met a disciple named Timothy who joined them. They all went to Troas where they met a Gentile follower named Luke. Together they travelled to Europe, going to Philippi where they met Lydia. But in that city both Paul and Silas were beat...

Jews in Rome were disturbing the peace, arguing about a slave, or so the Roman officials thought. Based on this, Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome. In Britannia, the rebel leader Caratacus is captured. He, his family, and many of the defeated insurrectionists are brought to Rome in a display of power and might. After a moving speech, Caratacus is granted mercy by Claudius and perhaps even Agrip...

After the Jerusalem Council, Peter, Paul and some others go to Antioch in Syria. There they have a different understanding of what the council decisions meant. A disagreement occurs and the Antioch Church sends Symeon Niger to Jerusalem for clarity. Paul and Barnabas part ways.     SHOWNOTES: Gal 2:11-14; Acts 15:13-33 The reconstruction of Acts 15 in this episode and the last one are based in par...

Paul decides to visit Jerusalem again, 14 years after his first visit, when he stayed for only 15 days. Gentiles were coming into the church. Some thought those Gentiles needed to become Jewish first, but Paul and others had a different idea. The matter needed to be addressed in Jerusalem by the apostles and elders, led by James, the brother of Jesus.  SHOWNOTES The family (siblings) of Jesus (Mat...

With Messalina out the picture, Claudius says he never wants to marry again. But that sentiment does not last long before he weds his niece, Agrippina the Younger. She brings her son Lucius to the marriage and begins to secure his future and eliminate potential competition.    SHOWNOTES: Legends about Messalina and her proclivities (Pliny, NH. 10.83) How Claudius chose his bride (Tacitus. Annals....

While Claudius is out of the city, Messalina goes too far and marries her latest paramour, the consul-designate Gaius Silius. Claudius' secretary Narcissus devises a clever plan to make the princeps aware and then Narcissus leads events which end in Messalina's downfall and execution. Not even her mother, her children, or the most prominent Vestal Virgin can save her.  SHOWNOTES: This episode is d...

While Messalina acquired power for herself and eliminated potential rivals, Claudius decided to celebrate the secular games, but on a revised schedule that would draw laughter from the crowds. During the games, Britannicus and Lucius Domitius (Agrippina's son who would become known as Nero) participated in an equestrian display that delighted the crowds but also drew Messalina's ire.  In the East,...

Messalina envies the spectacular gardens of Lucullus which have come into the possession of Asiaticus who had served as consul twice, once most recently in 46. To acquire these gardens, she arranges for the accusation and execution of Asiaticus. But he is not the only one to suffer consequences.    SHOWNOTES This episode is based on Tacitus, Annals, 11.1-3 For more on the Gardens of Lucullus, see...

The Romans increase their presence in Britannia with the founding of Londinium on the north side of a river. Claudius named Tiberius Alexander procurator of Judea, and he ensures potential problems are dealt with swiftly. This in turn leads to a slight shift in policy as the Sanhedrin attempts to manage the sect of the Nazorean. Paul and Barnabas are sent on mission from Antioch in Syria, and they...

The empress Messalina continued to carry on affairs without Claudius' knowledge and in violation of Roman law. She also thwarts Seneca's attempt to return from exile.  The prestigious city of Pergamum in Asia is evangelized by Nicolas of Antioch, the deacon, who attempts to live a celibate marriage but ultimately reverses course.    SHOWNOTES: Seneca, De Consolatione Ad Polybium On Messalina and M...

The capital city of the province of Asia seemed ripe for evangelization. Apollos, an Alexandrian Jewish convert to Christianity, educated in an allegorical way of reading sacred texts, took the lead.    SHOWNOTES Destruction of the earlier Temple of Artemis on the day Alexander the Great was born (Plutarch, Life of Alexander, 3.3) On the construction of the Temple by Chersiphon, assisted by Artemi...

Shortly after Fadus was appointed procurator of Judea, Claudius sent a new governor of Syria, Cassius Longinus. Together they faced a tense situation in Jerusalem calling for Roman legions. Theudas the magician arose about that time too, but he was beheaded and his movement crushed. The prophesied famine also struck Jerusalem. Christians there had been well-resourced by those from Antioch. Other r...

Barnabas and Paul continue their work in Antioch. The Jerusalem church faces a persecution by Herod Agrippa who executes James the apostle. Seeing how well received that action was, he then arrested Simon Peter and intended to execute him as well, but he escaped.  Herod Agrippa hosted games in honor of Claudius and the Judean king was lauded profusely before succumbing to aches and dying a week la...

Agrippina returned from Ephesus with her second husband Passienus and her young son. She encouraged her husband to name her as his sole heir, which he did, only to die shortly thereafter. The 28-year-old second time imperial widow was now one of the wealthiest women in Rome.  In this short episode we'll also attempt to untangle some of the complicated relations among the imperial family. This char...

The church in Antioch continued to experience significant growth, attracting Gentiles as well as Jews. Those Christians in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to check on things in Antioch, and he secured Paul from Tarsus to help him with the mission there. Christians were offering assistance to those in need as a way of expressing their belief that Jesus had been sent by God. Material wealth counted for litt...

Messalina continued to use her power to surreptitiously attack potential rivals, secure alliances, and manipulate her husband. She also succeeds in eliminating her own stepfather after he spurned her advances.    King Herod Agrippa chooses a new high priest and deals mercifully with a critic. SHOWNOTES Elimination of Julia Livia and the public mourning of Pomponia Graecina (Tacitus, Annals, 13.43;...

Herod Agrippa deftly managed a potential crisis by lobbying the Roman governor of Syria, Petronius to defend the rights of Jews so recently made clear by imperial decree. Claudius deifies Livia, years after her death and also allowed the return of exiled Gaius Calpurnius Piso, who uses his newfound freedom to seduce the wife of a friend.  Roman senators stationed in the east as governors hatch a p...

To assist in the administration of the empire, Claudius empowered three freedmen: Pallas, Narcissus, and Callistus. In an attempt to calm the nerves of gardners who are haunted by Caligula's ghost, Julia Livilla and Agrippina exhume his body to give him a proper funeral.   Julia Livilla is taken as a threat by Messalina, who has her exiled and killed. Seneca is also accused but he is merely exiled...

The new emperor Claudius began by repaying his friends and supporters, chief among them, Herod Agrippa, who was named King of Judea. At Herod Agrippa's urging, Claudius reaffirmed the Roman policy of religious tolerance, especially as it applied to the Jews.   Cassius, the governor of Asia, whose execution had been ordered by Caligula, escaped with his life due to the death of the princeps.  Julia...

Gaius' cruelty finally caught up with him and he was the first of many emperors to be assassinated. His wife and daughter were also killed. In what later seemed like an accident of history, soldiers proclaimed the drooling and stuttering Claudius, who was hiding behind a curtain, to be the next princeps. The assassins were themselves put to death since it did not seem like a good idea to praise an...

After 'victories' in Germania and Britannia, Gaius returned to Rome on Aug 31, 40 CE to celebrate a double triumph. Gaius orders Lepidus executed and then banished his own two sisters to the island of Pontus, where Agrippina becomes a proficient swimmer. Herod Agrippa returns to Rome and hosts Gaius at a fabulous dinner. Gaius is so impressed he grants Herod Agrippa a special wish. Agrippa only as...

After being in Arabia for three years, Paul returned to Damascus, where he was arrested. After a daring escape with the help of some friends, he made his way to Jerusalem where he stayed for fifteen days. While there, he met Peter, John, and James, the brother of the Lord. From them, he learned details about what Jesus did and said. He also learned many other sayings and statements that encapsulat...

Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, aka, Caligula, son of Agrippina and Germanicus, decided to go to Germany to attack barbarians as his father had done, and for which he was given the name, Germanicus. Caligula determined that the Roman general of the upper Rhine was too popular and not to be trusted so he executed him and replaced him with Galba. But attacking barbarians was more challenging than it...