Posts Tagged ‘Rome’
History of August: Who Is It Named After?
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,…
Read MoreHistory of St. John the Baptist Day: Midsummer
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST DAY Podcast version he Feast of St. John the Baptist, or the Nativity of St John the Forerunner, sometimes called St. John the Baptist Day, is celebrated on June 24 in many places worldwide, though not much in the United States, as we’ll see below. The celebration of…
Read MoreHistory of June
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF JUNE June marks the year’s halfway point, the sixth of the twelve months in the Gregorian calendar we currently use in the West and the earlier Julian calendar, named for Julius Caesar, the namesake of July. Where do we get the name for June? What’s In A Name? Ovid, author of the…
Read MoreHistory of Mother’s Day: Ancient and Modern
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF MOTHER’S DAY he person who initially was most active in opposing the celebration of Mother’s Day is the very person who started this holiday in the U.S. How did that happen?
Read MoreHistory of Easter: The Players – Where are They Now?
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF EASTER: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLAYERS AFTERWARD Podcast version ou may be asking yourself, “Self,” you ask, “where are they now?” And well you might ask. What happened to our players AFTER the events in the Easter story?
Read MoreHistory of Easter: Why Bunnies and Eggs?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF EASTER: WHY BUNNIES AND EGGS? Podcast version he most joyous of Christian festivals and one of the first celebrated by Christians across the Roman Empire commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is set on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Why is Easter celebrated then,…
Read MoreHistory of Good Friday: the Crucifixion of Jesus
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF GOOD FRIDAY Podcast version or centuries, pilgrims have walked the Via Dolorosa, “the way of sorrow” in Jerusalem, following Jesus’s path on Good Friday. Starting at the judgment seat of Pilate at the Antonia Fortress in the eastern part of the city, immediately north of the Temple, the path follows fourteen “Stations…
Read MoreHistory of Herod Antipas: Why Jesus called him That Fox
Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF HEROD ANTIPAS Podcast version erod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great (whom we met in the Christmas story) and Malthake. After his father died in 4 B.C., he was made tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea in the Trans-Jordan area of Israel, which he ruled as a client state of the…
Read MoreHistory of Pontius Pilate: His Background Before Good Friday
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF PONTIUS PILATE Poscast version he Roman governor who presided over Jesus’s trial and ordered his crucifixion had a complex background. The name Pontius Pilate provides two valuable clues to his background and ancestry. The family name Pontius was that of a prominent clan among the Samnites, the hill cousins of the Latin Romans. They…
Read MoreHistory of Palm Sunday
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF PALM SUNDAY Podcast version oly Week, or Passion Week, starts this weekend with Palm Sunday. Why was this week so important that three of the gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) devote a full third of their contents to reporting this week, and the fourth gospel (John) dedicates its entire last half? Jerusalem, which had a normal…
Read MoreHistory of Easter: The Sanhedrin – Who Was This Council?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF THE SANHEDRIN Podcast version he Greek word Συνέδριον, sunedrion, means literally “sitting together” and is usually translated as “council.” The New Testament refers to it alternately as “the Great Law-Court,” “the Court of Seventy-One,” and “the rulers and elders and scribes.” It was the supreme theocratic court of the Jews. The Sanhedrin…
Read MoreHistory of Easter: Historical Climate
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORICAL CLIMATE OF EASTER Podcast s Passion Week begins this weekend, what was the historical climate of Easter Week almost 2,000 years ago surrounding the last week of the life of Jesus of Nazareth? All men die; Jesus was a man destined to die, not merely in the conventional sense but in a distinct…
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