History of August: Who Is It Named After?

Augustus

Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF AUGUST hat’s in a name? The name of this month was not always August; previously, the Romans referred to it as Sextilis. Because the calendar then started in March, this was the sixth month. This was back in the days of Romulus in 753 B.C., when there were originally ten months (… Sept,…

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History of Caesar Augustus: What Did He Have To Do With Christmas?

augustus caesar

Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: CAESAR AUGUSTUS Podcast version   he Nativity story in the Gospel of St. Matthew was written by a Jew from the tribe of Levi. It features the Jewish King Herod and the Wise Men from the East. St. Luke was likely not Jewish but a gentile, who was introduced to us in…

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History of Christmas: Caesar Augustus

augustus caesar

Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: CAESAR AUGUSTUS Perhaps it is fitting that our last historical Nativity character in the History of Christmas series should be the first person mentioned in St. Luke‘s story of the first Christmas. But he was not Jewish, nor a shepherd, nor a Magi. Instead, he was 1500 miles away, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus,…

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History of Christmas: Caesar Augustus

Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF CAESAR AUGUSTUS Perhaps it is fitting that our last article on the History of Christmas should be about the first person mentioned in St. Luke’s story of the first Christmas. He was neither Palestinian, nor Jew, nor shepherd, nor wise man. He was in fact, 1500 miles away, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus.…

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History of King Herod: Why was he called Great?

Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF HEROD THE KING When the wise men asked Herod the King “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” their question was not really spoken in a vacuum, for even the Roman author Suetonius wrote, “There had spread all over the East an old and established belief that it was fated…

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