Podcast appearances and mentions of Julius Caesar

Latter half of the episode I get into the dilemmas in the world, what I see in my students in regards to these "dilemmas" and an existential discussion to wrap up the episode. This was fun... I also talk briefly about the "Crossing of the Rubicon" (Reminded from Lexicon), which both refers to a huge historical move made by Julius Caesar, as well as an idiom referring to "the point of no return." All words glossed in the show notes below! 1. Lemma (noun): A heading that indicates the topic of a particular section, subsection, or paragraph of a text. Etymology: From the Greek word “lemma” meaning “proposition”. Dilemma: A situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are equally undesirable. Etymology: Late 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘two premises', from Greek di- ‘twice' + lemma ‘premise'. Quandary: A state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation. Etymology: Mid 16th century: from Old French quanter ‘calculate, consider', from Latin quaerere ‘seek, ask'. Dichotomy: The division of something into two parts, especially when these are seen as opposites. Etymology: Late 16th century: from Greek dikhotomia, from di- ‘twice' + khotomia ‘a cutting in two'. Paradox: A statement or proposition that, despite sound reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Etymology: Late Middle English: from Old 2. Lexicon (noun): A dictionary or encyclopedia of words or terms in a particular field of knowledge. Etymology: From the Greek word “lexikon”, from “lexis” meaning “word”. Lexical – Relating to the words or vocabulary of a language. Etymology: From the Latin lexicālis, from lexis “word,” from legere “to say, read.” Lexicographer – A person who compiles dictionaries; a student or collector of words. Etymology: From the Late Latin lexicographus, from lexis “word,” from legere “to say, read.” Lexicology – The study of the structure and history of words. Etymology: From the Greek lexikon “word,” from lexis “word,” from legere “to say, read.” Lexeme – A unit of language which has a distinct meaning. Etymology: From the Latin lexēma, from lexis “word,” from legere “to say, read.” 3. Morphology (noun): The study of the forms of words, including inflections, derivations, and the formation of compounds. Etymology: From the Greek word “morphē”, meaning “shape” or “form”. Morph: A form or shape, especially that of an organic being Etymology: From the Greek morphē “form” Metamorphosis: A transformation, as by magic or sorcery Etymology: From the Greek meta “change” and morphē “form” Morphine: A narcotic drug obtained from opium Etymology: From the Greek morphē “form”, probably in reference to the form of the opium poppy Morphogen: A substance that initiates and regulates the development of certain form-determining structures Etymology: From the Greek morphē “form” and -gen “producing” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/liam-connerly/support

Ryan presents the first of four excerpts from Josiah Osgood's Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic. Here, in chapter one, Josiah sets the stage for Rome's great collapse by describing the world that Julius Caesar grew up in, how Cato the Younger's upbringing put him at odds with Caesar, and the explosive events that escalated the tension between them.You can listen to Ryan's recent conversation with Josiah here. ✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Scripture Reading: John 19:16b-30 So they took Jesus, 17 and carrying his own cross he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” (called in Aramaic Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.” 20 Thus many of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem read this notice because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The king of the Jews,' but rather, ‘This man said, I am king of the Jews.'” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”23 Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, and the tunic remained. (Now the tunic was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece.) 24 So the soldiers said to one another, “Let's not tear it, but throw dice to see who will get it.” This took place to fulfill the scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they threw dice.” So the soldiers did these things.25 Now standing beside Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!” 27 He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time the disciple took her into his own home.28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time everything was completed, said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty!” 29 A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to his mouth. 30 When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.Main Themes[I am still working on the blog post.]Historical Context: Roman CrucifixionThe latter half of chapter 19 describes the crucifixion of Christ, one of the most significant events in human history even without taking into account its religious implications. If its theology is true, then its significance is certainly without rival. Yet, I fear the story—gory and mystical as it is—barely fazes us. It is part of our cultural DNA. It's too familiar, while yet remaining unexamined. In an attempt to bring some “newness” to the story, I will begin this session by reading an extended quotation from Tom Holland's (the historian, not Spider-Man) Dominion. Tom Holland is not a Christian, yet he realized, to quote the books byline, “how the Christian revolution remade the world.” He has the best description of crucifixion and its first century cultural significance I have encountered. Without further ado, here is Tom Holland in the preface to Dominion: No death was more excruciating, more contemptible, than crucifixion. To be hung naked, ‘long in agony, swelling with ugly weals on shoulders and chest', helpless to beat away the clamorous birds: such a fate, Roman intellectuals agreed, was the worst imaginable. This in turn was what rendered it so suitable a punishment for slaves. Lacking such a sanction, the entire order of the city might fall apart. Luxury and splendour such as Rome could boast were dependent, in the final reckoning, on keeping those who sustained it in their place. ‘After all, we have slaves drawn from every corner of the world in our households, practicing strange customs, and foreign cults, or none—and it is only by means of terror that we can hope to coerce such scum.'Nevertheless, while the salutary effect of crucifixion on those who might otherwise threaten the order of the state was taken for granted, Roman attitudes to the punishment were shot through with ambivalence. Naturally, if it were to serve as a deterrent it needed to be public. Nothing spoke more eloquently of a failed revolt than the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of corpse-hung crosses, whether lining a highway or else massed before a rebellious city, the hills all around it stripped bare of their trees. Even in peacetime, executioners would make a spectacle of their victims by suspending them in a variety of inventive ways: ‘one, perhaps, upside down, with his head towards the ground, another with a stake driven through his genitals, another attached by his arms to a yoke'. Yet in the exposure of the crucified to the public gaze there lurked a paradox. So foul was the carrion-reek of their disgrace that many felt tainted even by viewing a crucifixion. The Romans, for all that they had adopted the punishment as the ‘supreme penalty', refused to countenance the possibility that it might have originated with them. Only a people famed for their barbarousness and cruelty could ever have devised such a torture: the Persians, perhaps, or the Assyrians, or the Gauls. Everything about the practice of nailing a man to a cross—a ‘crux'—was repellent. ‘Why, the very word is harsh on our ears.' It was this disgust that crucifixion uniquely inspired which explained why, when slaves were condemned to death, they were executed in the meanest, wretchedest stretch of land beyond the city walls; and why, when Rome burst its ancient limits, only the planting of the world's most exotic and aromatic plants could serve to mask the taint. It was also why, despite the ubiquity of crucifixion across the Roman world, few cared to think much about it. Order, the order loved by the gods and upheld by magistrates vested with the full authority of the greatest power on earth, was what counted—not the elimination of such vermin as presumed to challenge it. Criminals broken on implements of torture: who were such filth to concern men of breeding and civility? Some deaths were so vile, so squalid, that it was best to draw a veil across them entirely.The surprise, then, is less that we should have so few detailed descriptions in ancient literature of what a crucifixion might actually involve, than that we should have any at all. The corpses of the crucified, once they had first provided pickings for hungry birds, tended to be flung into a common grave. In Italy, undertakers dressed in red, ringing bells as they went, would drag them there on hooks. Oblivion, like the loose earth scattered over their tortured bodies, would then entomb them. This was a part of their fate. Nevertheless, amid the general silence, there is one major exception which proves the rule. Four detailed accounts of the process by which a man might be sentenced to the cross, and then suffer his punishment, have survived from antiquity. Remarkably, they all describe the same execution: a crucifixion that took place some sixty or seventy years after the building of the first heated swimming pool in Rome. The location, though, was not the Esquiline, but another hill, outside the walls of Jerusalem: Golgotha, ‘which means the place of a skull'. The victim, a Jew by the name of Jesus, a wandering preacher from an obscure town named Nazareth, in a region north of Jerusalem named Galilee, had been convicted of a capital offence against Roman order. The four earliest accounts of his execution, written some decades after his death, specify what this meant in practice. The condemned man, after his sentencing, was handed over to soldiers to be flogged. Next, because he had claimed to be ‘the king of the Jews', his guards mocked him, and spat on him, and set a crown of thorns on his head. Only then, bruised and bloodied, was he led out on his final journey. Hauling his cross as he went, he stumbled his way through Jerusalem, a spectacle and an admonition to all who saw him, and onwards, along the road to Golgotha. There, nails were driven into his hands and feet, and he was crucified. After his death, a spear was jabbed into his side. There is no reason to doubt the essentials of this narrative. Even the most sceptical historians have tended to accept them. ‘The death of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross is an established fact, arguably the only established fact about him.' Certainly, his sufferings were nothing exceptional. Pain and humiliation, and the protracted horror of ‘the most wretched of deaths': these, over the course of Roman history, were the common lot of multitudes.Decidedly not the common lot of multitudes, however, was the fate of Jesus' corpse. Lowered from the cross, it was spared a common grave. Claimed by a wealthy admirer, it was prepared reverently for burial, laid in a tomb and left behind a heavy boulder. Such, at any rate, is the report of all four of the earliest narratives of Jesus' death—narratives that in Greek were called euangelia, ‘good news', and would come to be known in English as gospels. The accounts are not implausible. Certainly, we know from archaeological evidence that the corpse of a crucified man might indeed, on occasion, be granted dignified burial in the ossuaries beyond the walls of Jerusalem. Altogether more startling, though—not to say unprecedented—were the stories of what happened next. That women, going to the tomb, had found the entrance stone rolled away. That Jesus, over the course of the next forty days, had appeared to his followers, not as a ghost or a reanimated corpse, but resurrected into a new and glorious form. That he had ascended into heaven and was destined to come again. Time would see him hailed, not just as a man, but as a god. By enduring the most agonising fate imaginable, he had conquered death itself. ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…'The utter strangeness of all this, for the vast majority of people in the Roman world, did not lie in the notion that a mortal might become divine. The border between the heavenly and the earthly was widely held to be permeable. In Egypt, the oldest of monarchies, kings had been objects of worship for unfathomable aeons. In Greece, stories were told of a ‘hero god' by the name of Heracles, a muscle-bound monster-slayer who, after a lifetime of spectacular feats, had been swept up from the flames of his own pyre to join the immortals. Among the Romans, a similar tale was told of Romulus, the founder of their city. In the decades before the crucifixion of Jesus, the pace of such promotions into the ranks of the gods had begun to quicken. So vast had the scope of Roman power become that any man who succeeded in making himself its master was liable to seem less human than divine. The ascent into heaven of one of those, a warlord by the name of Julius Caesar, had been heralded by the blaze across the skies of a fiery-tailed star; that of a second, Caesar's adopted son, who had won for himself the name of Augustus, by a spirit seen rising—just as Heracles had done—from a funeral pyre. Even sceptics who scorned the possibility that a fellow mortal might truly become a god were happy to concede its civic value. ‘For the human spirit that believes itself to be of divine origin will thereby be emboldened in the undertaking of mighty deeds, more energetic in accomplishing them, and by its freedom from care rendered more successful in carrying them out.'Divinity, then, was for the very greatest of the great: for victors, and heroes, and kings. Its measure was the power to torture one's enemies, not to suffer it oneself: to nail them to the rocks of a mountain, or to turn them into spiders, or to blind and crucify them after conquering the world. That a man who had himself been crucified might be hailed as a god could not help but be seen by people everywhere across the Roman world as scandalous, obscene, grotesque. The ultimate offensiveness, though, was to one particular people: Jesus' own. The Jews, unlike their rulers, did not believe that a man might become a god; they believed that there was only the one almighty, eternal deity. Creator of the heavens and the earth, he was worshipped by them as the Most High God, the Lord of Hosts, the Master of all the Earth. Empires were his to order; mountains to melt like wax. That such a god, of all gods, might have had a son, and that this son, suffering the fate of a slave, might have been tortured to death on a cross, were claims as stupefying as they were, to most Jews, repellent. No more shocking a reversal of their most devoutly held assumptions could possibly have been imagined. Not merely blasphemy, it was madness.Even those who did come to acknowledge Jesus as ‘Christos', the Anointed One of the Lord God, might flinch at staring the manner of his death full in the face. ‘Christians', as they were called, were as wise to the connotations of crucifixion as anyone. ‘The mystery of the cross, which summons us to God, is something despised and dishonourable.' So wrote Justin, the foremost Christian apologist of his generation, a century and a half after the birth of Jesus. The torture of the Son of the Most High God was a horror simply too shocking to be portrayed in visual form. Scribes copying the gospels might on occasion draw above the Greek word for ‘cross' delicate pictograms that hinted at the crucified Christ, but otherwise it was left to sorcerers or satirists to illustrate his execution. Yet this, to many across the Roman world, was not as deep a paradox as perhaps it might have seemed. So profound were some mysteries that mortals had no choice but to keep them veiled. The naked radiance of the gods was far too dazzling for the human eye. No one, by contrast, had been blinded by the spectacle of the Son of the Most High God being tortured to death; but Christians, although accustomed to make the sign of the cross as a gesture of piety, and to contemplate with wide-eyed reverence the gospel accounts of their Saviour's sufferings, seem to have shrunk from seeing them represented in physical form.Only centuries after the death of Jesus—by which time, astonishingly, even the Caesars had been brought to acknowledge him as Christ—did his execution at last start to emerge as an acceptable theme for artists. By AD 400 the cross was ceasing to be viewed as something shameful. Banned as a punishment decades earlier by Constantine, the first Christian emperor, crucifixion had come to serve the Roman people as an emblem of triumph over sin and death. An artist, carving the scene out of ivory, might represent Jesus in the skimpy loincloth of an athlete, no less muscled than any of the ancient gods. Even as the western half of the empire began to slip away from the rule of the Caesars and fall to barbarian invaders, so in the eastern half, where Roman power endured, the Cross provided assurance to an embattled people that victory would ultimately be theirs. In Christ's agonies had been the index of his defeat of evil. This was why, triumphant even on the implement of his torture, he was never shown as suffering pain. His expression was one of serenity. It proclaimed him Lord of the Universe.Carrying His Cross to GolgothaJesus carries his cross out of Jerusalem to a place called Golgotha. Jews and Romans alike performed executions outside of a town. The Romans made a spectacle of it, in which soldiers would march the prisoner while crowds of spectators gathered to watch.John tells us that Jesus “carr[ied] his own cross.” The Roman custom was to have the prisoners carry their own patibulum—the transverse beam of the cross. This beam was later affixed over the upright stake (the palus, stipes, or staticulum). So, Jesus probably did not carry the entire cross as we normally see it depicted in paintings or movies. The Romans would often continue to scourge the prisoner. Given that Jesus had already been severely scourged, this may not have happened. If the lashings had continued, Jesus could have died before ever reaching the cross.The Synoptics tell us that someone else carried the cross:As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. (Luke 23:26)The texts can be easily harmonized. After the severe scourging Jesus received, he was probably unable to carry the cross the whole way to Golgotha. The Romans quickly conscripted Simon of Cyrene to finish the job. No point in ruining a perfectly sadistic execution. The inference that Jesus was extremely weak is not mere speculation. Crucifixions lasted days with the criminal hanging on the cross. All four Gospels attest to Jesus dying quickly after being lifted. This shows he was mortally wounded well before the actual crucifixion.Golgotha is probably at or near where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is today. As Britannica explains:Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called Holy Sepulchre, church built on the traditional site of Jesus' Crucifixion and burial. According to the Bible (John 19:41–42), his tomb was close to the place of the Crucifixion, and so the church was planned to enclose the site of both the cross and the tomb.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies in the northwest quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.This is not mere reliance on the tradition that accompanies that church, but on historical evidence. The same evidence weighs against the famous “Garden Tomb”—which some Protestants believe to be Jesus' burial site—from being the correct location.Golgotha was also called “The Place of the Skull.” This could be from the shape of the terrain or, more likely, from the executions carried out there. Why do we, in the English-speaking Christian tradition, call this place “calvary”? As study note 56 in the NET tells us,The Latin word for the Greek κρανίον (kranion) is calvaria. Thus the English word “Calvary” is a transliteration of the Latin rather than a NT place name (cf. Luke 23:33 in the KJV).They Crucified Him Along Two OthersWhat is central to the Christian faith? The crucifixion of Jesus. Christians put crosses on their churches, wear crosses on their necks, and sing hymns like “The Old Rugged Cross.” Yet, in how much detail does the Gospel of John describe the crucifixion? In one. short. sentence.There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. (John 19:18)The other Gospels hardly add much detail. Why? Because crucifixion was an unspeakably well-known horror at the time. It was the kind of event with which everyone in John's audience would have been familiar, and the kind of event no one wanted to think about—particularly in relation to someone beloved, much less their Lord!As explained by Tom Holland, crucifixions were intentionally horrific. They sent a public message. Executioners were given free reign to improvise and improve upon them. Sometimes the victim might be tied to the cross, other times they might be nailed to it. When nails were used, they were 5 to 7 inches long. They penetrated the wrist and sunk deep into the wood. The criminal would hang for hours or days. He (or sometimes she) would be unable to swat the flies off his wounds. He could not contain his bodily wastes. All while hanging from a cross anywhere from 6 to 10 feet in height.Jesus was crucified with two others. At first, this may seem surprising. They appear nowhere else in the story. However, this is not an unlikely situation. Crucifixions were a form of government propaganda. What better time to broadcast the message than during a popular festival drawing thousands of people from all over the empire.Jesus, King of the JewsPilate had a tablet made that displayed the charge against Jesus—“king of the Jews.” This would have been somewhat customary. During an execution, one of the soldiers might carry a tabula (tablet) declaring the charge and cause of execution. There is dark humor embedded in this scene. Pilate included the charge provided to him by the Jews themselves. He writes it in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. Remember that during this festival Jews from all over the empire and some Gentiles would travel to Jerusalem. Many of them may have been more fluent in Latin or Greek. So, Pilate advertises to all there: this is the king of the Jews being crucified.Think of how the situation would have been perceived by those not “in the know.” The king of the Jews is being crucified by the Romans during the most important Jewish festival of the year, while a crowd of Jews—particularly the Jewish religious elite—cheer on. This would be confusing at best and treacherous at worst. It would have looked like the Jewish religious elite were siding with the Romans against the Jewish claim of sovereignty.The chief priests protest. The tablet must be rewritten, they request. “Do not write, ‘The king of the Jews,' but rather, ‘This man said, I am king of the Jews.'” Pilate gets the last laugh. The Jewish leaders may have involved him in a situation with which he wanted no connection; they may have twisted his arm by threatening to accuse him of treason to Caesar; but they certainly cannot direct Pilate's execution of Jesus. “What I have written, I have written” he responds, taking his small revenge on them.There is a subtle theological point made by the message on the tablet. Remember Jesus' words in chapter 12:And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)The message, at least on its face, seems serious: “king of the Jews.” And it is written not only in Aramaic (the language of the Jews) but in the “universal” languages. Greek was still the lingua franca and Latin was a close second. They were the languages spoken all over the world, or that's what anyone in John's audience would have thought.The point is that the message of Jesus' kingship is displayed for all the world to see, not just the Jews. Of course, there are many more languages and the Gospel message is still making its way to the whole world today, but the symbolism is powerful. Jesus died so that “everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, emphasis added)They Took His Clothes—Psalm 22The soldiers proceed to take whatever few possessions Jesus had upon his arrest. Confiscating the goods of an executed prisoner was standard practice. The removal of clothing upon execution was also standard. The Romans executed prisoners naked. In the ancient world just as today, nakedness in the wrong settings can be cause of shame. For the Jews particularly, public nakedness would have especially shameful. Given that Jesus was crucified in a Jewish setting and during a Jewish festival, the Romans could have agreed to keep loincloths on the criminals.The Roman army's basic unit was a contubernium, eight men who shared a tent. Dispatching half a unit, i.e., four men, would have been common for a task such as crucifixion. (This was called a quaternion, a squad of four soldiers.) Hence the need to divide the garments among several soldiers. The NET translation says they “threw dice.” This is possible (that they used actual dice), but as translator's note 74 to the NET explains:Grk “but choose by lot” (probably by using marked pebbles or broken pieces of pottery). A modern equivalent, “throw dice,” was chosen here because of its association with gambling.What the text calls a tunic would be an unfamiliar garment to us. Translator's note 71 in the NET explains:Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, chitōn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic' was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.' On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.The main point John is making by describing how soldiers divided Jesus' clothes among them is a prophetic one. He reminds us how Psalm 22 is being fulfilled. I quote the entire psalm below (for the sake of legibility, I format it as if it were prose).For the music director, according to the tune “Morning Doe”; a psalm of David.My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 2 My God, I cry out during the day, but you do not answer, and during the night my prayers do not let up.3 You are holy; you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel. 4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted in you and you rescued them. 5 To you they cried out, and they were saved; in you they trusted and they were not disappointed.6 But I am a worm, not a man; people insult me and despise me. 7 All who see me taunt me; they mock me and shake their heads. 8 They say, “Commit yourself to the Lord! Let the Lord rescue him! Let the Lord deliver him, for he delights in him.”9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out from the womb and made me feel secure on my mother's breasts. 10 I have been dependent on you since birth; from the time I came out of my mother's womb you have been my God.11 Do not remain far away from me, for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. 12 Many bulls surround me; powerful bulls of Bashan hem me in. 13 They open their mouths to devour me like a roaring lion that rips its prey.14 My strength drains away like water; all my bones are dislocated. My heart is like wax; it melts away inside me. 15 The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums.You set me in the dust of death. 16 Yes, wild dogs surround me—a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion they pin my hands and feet.17 I can count all my bones; my enemies are gloating over me in triumph. 18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves; they are rolling dice [literally, “casting lots”] for my garments.19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away. You are my source of strength. Hurry and help me! 20 Deliver me from the sword. Save my life from the claws of the wild dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lion and from the horns of the wild oxen.You have answered me. 22 I will declare your name to my countrymen. In the middle of the assembly I will praise you. 23 You loyal followers of the Lord, praise him.All you descendants of Jacob, honor him. All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him. 24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering of the oppressed. He did not ignore him; when he cried out to him, he responded. 25 You are the reason I offer praise in the great assembly; I will fulfill my promises before the Lord's loyal followers. 26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled. Let those who seek his help praise the Lord. May you live forever!27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him. Let all the nations worship you. 28 For the Lord is king and rules over the nations.29 All the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives.30 A whole generation will serve him; they will tell the next generation about the Lord. 31 They will come and tell about his saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished.Look, Here is Your MotherWho is standing near Jesus as he is crucified? All the disciples except the “beloved disciple” have deserted him. The women are the ones who remain with him. This is not entirely surprising from a historical standpoint. Roman soldiers would probably have permitted women followers to remain with the convicted criminal. There would have been many bystanders anyways, and women—even if followers of the criminal—may not have been viewed as active revolutionaries. In the Ancient world, women were allowed more latitude in mourning, and women were executed far less often. (Less often—but not never. The female followers of Jesus were still putting themselves at risk by openly supporting a crucified revolutionary.)Only the Gospel of John mentions the presence of a male disciple at the cross. We have discussed the identity of the “beloved disciple” before. Christian tradition is that the beloved disciple is John himself (the author of this gospel). The fact that only John mentions his presence at the cross makes sense. The other gospel authors focus on the crucifixion itself. John adds a short description of a touching moment he had with Jesus and Jesus' mother.Caution, a short rant is incoming: Nowadays, there are different proposals as to the identity of the beloved disciple. But, frankly, nowadays we can't even agree on what is a woman, so scholarly disagreement on any given point is not as weighty as it once was. Moreover, biblical scholarship is staunchly opposed to tradition. Scholars seem to go out of their way to suggest non-traditional hypotheses, even if they are quite weak or nonsensical. At any rate, I will proceed as if the beloved disciple is John. I don't think the other proposals are even worth discussing, but may this short rant serve as a disclaimer that you should look into those if you are interest. Ok, rant over. Back to the text.Remember that Jesus began his ministry at the behest of his mother, although she did not understand what she was requesting.When the wine ran out, Jesus' mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” (John 2:3-4)In chapter 19, Jesus' mother is present at the end of his earthly ministry.Recall that Jesus is Mary's oldest son, or only son if you take the Catholic approach. Joseph is absent from the narrative, which means he is probably deceased. This further means that the responsibility of caring for Mary fell on Jesus' shoulders. We may have a difficult time understanding the legal position of women in ancient Jewish society, but I will attempt to provide a short explanation. They were “connected” to society through the men in their lives: as the daughter of a man, as the wife of a man, or as the mother of a man. A woman left with no man in her life, either as a father, husband, or son, was a woman that belonged to no household. And a woman without a household had no support group. She was most often destitute. (A younger woman might be expected to remarry or return to her father's household if he was still living. With Mary, those choices were clearly not available.)Consequently, the duty of a son, particularly the eldest, was to care for her aging parents, especially his mother. Moreover, from what we understand of Jewish custom, a dying man was allowed and encouraged to settle the legal status of the women for which he was responsible. A crucified man could make his testament even from the cross.In the ancient world, both Jew and Roman, friendship could create a bond almost as meaningful as kinship. There are several ancient stories in which a dying man asks his friend to become like a son to the decedent's mother. Consequently, the exchange between Jesus, Mary, and John would not have seem odd to an ancient audience.Lastly, we need to understand that adoptive ties would have been taken seriously. A man adopting a woman as his mother is not mere poetry, but an honorable and serious commitment to care for her for the rest of her life.It is with all that in mind that we need to read the conversation in verses 26 and 27. “'Woman, look, here is your son!' He then said to his disciple, ‘Look, here is your mother!'” This was a serious command in which Jesus discharged his last duty—caring for his mother. There is a poetic beauty in that fact that as Jesus was crucified, he went to the grave with no earthly possessions. He had nothing to write a will about, except to settle the legal status of his mother. His mother is all he had and he gave her away as well.One notable detail in this exchange is that Jesus entrusted his mother to his disciple, not to a sibling (whether full or half-sibling, if the Catholic approach is taken). At this point in the narrative, Jesus' ministry has cost him his family. He is now closer to his faith family than he is to his “real family.” This would become a model for many Christians to this very day, when families would disown their own fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and children because they placed their faith in Jesus Christ.I Am ThirstyEven on the cross, Jesus is working. He is careful with his words in order to “fulfill the scripture.” He exclaims, “I am thirsty.” On its face, this statement is a visible symbol of Jesus' mortality. The more biblically literate in John's audience, however, would recognize a reference to either Psalm 69 or Psalm 22. Psalm 22 was quoted above. Here I quote Psalm 69 in its entirety, again in the form of prose for easier legibility:For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”; by David.Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck. 2 I sink into the deep mire where there is no solid ground; I am in deep water, and the current overpowers me.3 I am exhausted from shouting for help. My throat is sore; my eyes grow tired from looking for my God.4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head. Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, outnumber me.They make me repay what I did not steal. 5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; my guilt is not hidden from you. 6 Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me, O Sovereign Lord of Heaven's Armies. Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me, O God of Israel.7 For I suffer humiliation for your sake and am thoroughly disgraced. 8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger; they act as if I were a foreigner. 9 Certainly zeal for your house consumes me; I endure the insults of those who insult you.10 I weep and refrain from eating food, which causes others to insult me. 11 I wear sackcloth and they ridicule me. 12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me; drunkards mock me in their songs.13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me. O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance. 14 Rescue me from the mud. Don't let me sink.Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep water. 15 Don't let the current overpower me. Don't let the deep swallow me up. Don't let the Pit devour me.16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good. Because of your great compassion, turn toward me. 17 Do not ignore your servant, for I am in trouble. Answer me right away.18 Come near me and redeem me. Because of my enemies, rescue me. 19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated, and disgraced; you can see all my enemies. 20 Their insults are painful and make me lose heart; I look for sympathy, but receive none, for comforters, but find none.21 They put bitter poison into my food, and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink. 22 May their dining table become a trap before them. May it be a snare for that group of friends.23 May their eyes be blinded. Make them shake violently. 24 Pour out your judgment on them. May your raging anger overtake them. 25 May their camp become desolate, their tents uninhabited. 26 For they harass the one whom you discipline; they spread the news about the suffering of those whom you punish.27 Hold them accountable for all their sins. Do not vindicate them. 28 May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living. Do not let their names be listed with the godly.29 I am oppressed and suffering. O God, deliver and protect me. 30 I will sing praises to God's name. I will magnify him as I give him thanks. 31 That will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hooves.32 The oppressed look on—let them rejoice. You who seek God, may you be encouraged. 33 For the Lord listens to the needy; he does not despise his captive people.34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, along with the seas and everything that swims in them. 35 For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, and his people will again live in them and possess Zion. 36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it, and those who are loyal to him will live in it.So is Jesus' thirst and vinegar drink a reference to Psalm 22 or Psalm 69? The Gospel of Matthew seems to connect Jesus' statement with Psalm 69. In the Greek, Matthew describes the drink as being mixed with cholēn, translated as gall or bile in English. This is the same Greek word used in the Septuagint translation of Psalm 69:21. Notice that Matthew probably based his gospel on the Gospel of Mark, which uses the word esmyrnismenon (myrrh), so using the word cholēn seems like a deliberate interpretation by Matthew. On the other hand, the Gospel of John (and the Gospel of Mark in verse 15:34) makes a reference to Psalm 22 just a few verses before. Interpreting the reference as connected to Psalm 22 shows more literary consistency with the rest of chapter 19. Of course, as your resident fence-sitter, I must also suggest that the reference could be to both psalms. Jewish understanding of prophecy fulfillment was much more fluid than our modern sensibilities would like.Most importantly, both Psalms place us in the context of the suffering servant, persecuted for his service to God. One psalm ends in hope for the oppressed. The other in judgment for the oppressors.Gave Up His SpiritAfter fulfilling scripture, Jesus exclaims “It is completed!” and gives up his spirit. Allow me to begin the discussion of verse 30 with its latter half.John has emphasized time and time again that Jesus is in control, not the Jews, not Pilate, not anyone else but himself. He goes to the cross willingly and deliberately. The second half of verse 30 is the culmination of that theme. Jesus does not simply die. He gives up his spirit. Even at the moment of death, he is in control. Jesus, being God himself, sacrifices himself willingly.The verb used by John to refer to Jesus' giving up of his spirit is paredōken. This is the same verb (although different voice) as the verb used twice in Isaiah 53:12 (paredothē). In Isaiah, the verb is used passively (he is “given up”), while in John the suffering servant is active (he “gives up” his spirit). Nonetheless, the reference is fairly clear, particularly when we consider than John has referenced Isaiah 53 before (John 12:38).Isaiah 53 is a key passage to understanding the death of Jesus. As I did before with Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, I quote Isaiah 53 here as if it were prose:Who would have believed what we just heard? When was the Lord's power revealed through him?2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him. 3 He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.4 But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. 5 He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.6 All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.8 He was led away after an unjust trial—but who even cared?Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded. 9 They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man's tomb because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord's purpose will be accomplished through him.11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins. 12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

Eliza is under the weather, but we didn't want to leave you guys without an episode! So we're taking a break from the 13th Century and going back into the 1st... BC. This is a special release of our Patreon episode about Vercingetorix, King of the Gauls, who unified his people and fought to the bitter end against the conquest of Julius Caesar.Join our Angry Mob at the Economy+ tier at patreon.com/battleroyalepodcast, to access all our other Patreon episodes, including:- Ranking the Noble Houses of France (c.1000CE)- Ratatouille (film review)- Vercingetorix (full episode)- Robert Guiscard- Vikings (2015) - The Siege of Paris- Carcassonne, Cathars and Crusaders- Margaret the Black, Countess of FlandersTo get the latest updates on the podcast (including Eliza's recovery!), find us on:FacebookTwitterInstagramSupport the show⚜️CATEGORIESBen and Eliza each give a score out of 10 for the first 4 categories. The 5th is determined by maths! The result is a total score out of 100. Enchanté: The shallow, first-impressions round: How fabulous and iconic an image have they passed down to us? En Garde: (A.K.A. “Selfish Wins”) How well did they gain and increase their personal power, either through scheming, statesmanship or good old fashion battles? Voulez-Vous: (A.K.A. “Selfless Wins”) How much would we want to live under their regime? How well did they better the world around them through law reforms and cultural projects? Ouh-Là-Là: How pearl-clutchingly scandalous were the events of their life, both in their time and down through the ages? How mad, bad and dangerous were they to know? La Vie en Throne: How many years did they reign, and how many of their children survived them? Read how these points are awarded. View all scores.

Today we dig into the life of Julius Caesar and the final days of the Roman Republic. How was Caesar and what was Rome when he lived there? How did he transform himself from a random minor noble in a Republic full of fandom nobles, into one of the most powerful man in Rome and one of the most known historical figures of all time? Today's tale if full of alliances, betrayals, a very confusing Roman political system, and more as I try my best not to ruin the tale of the man who set Rome on the path to becoming an empire.  Hail Nimrod! Help Ean find Uncle Buck!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/703874246429031/permalink/2624879937661776/?mibextid=Nif5ozWet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camps go on sale for everyone Friday, January 20th, at Noon PT. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation: We're giving $14,533 to The Museum of Tolerance - the only museum of its kind in the world, and an additional $1,614  to the scholarship fund this month. Thank you, Space Lizards! The MOT is dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today. For more information, you can visit www.museumoftolerance.com.Get tour tickets at dancummins.tv Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hzDuCBaOWooMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard?  Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

By the third century AD, it was hard to imagine Rome being in worse condition. Historians literally refer to this period in Roman history as the Crisis of the Third Century. And it was brutal. Roman citizens couldn't believe what they were experiencing... it was incomprehensible to them that their fatherland had become so weakened. Inflation was running rampant. The Empire was stuck in a quagmire of foreign wars and had suffered some humiliating defeats. Rome experienced multiple bad pandemics, coupled with even worse government response. Foreign invaders were flooding across their borders on a daily basis. Trade broke down, causing shortages in many vital goods. And terrible social strife dominated people's daily lives. Ordinary Roman citizens were at each other's throats, and it was a time of disunity and outrage. One contemporary writer of the era named Cyprian described the situation as follows: “The World itself... testifies to its own declines by giving manifold concrete evidence of the process of decay... There is a decrease and deficiency in the field, of sailors on the sea, of soldiers in the barracks, of honesty in the marketplace, of justice in court, of concord in friendship, of skill in technique...” Cyprian wasn't just describing Rome's obvious decline. Rather, his summary is an indictment of Rome's inability to stop it's decline. Everyone in the imperial government knew what was happening in Rome. They simply lacked the ability to do anything about it. Historian Arnold Toynbee called this the “Challenge and Response” effect... and it's an interesting idea. The concept is that every society has to deal with certain challenges; if the challenges are too great, the society will not survive... i.e. the desert is too harsh, the tundra is too frozen, etc. But sometimes a society becomes so decadent, so prosperous, that it loses its ability to address challenges. It no longer has the social capital necessary— unity of purpose, the ability to compromise, the capacity to engage in rational debate. That is the position where Rome found itself in the 3rd century AD. And I believe the West is quickly heading in this direction. This is the subject of today's podcast. We start out talking about Rome's mortal enemy... and how, after more than a century, Rome emerged victorious as the lone superpower in the Mediterannean. Everything was great, and peace and prosperity reigned for more than 200 years. But over that time, the decadence set in. Wheras once Romans had valued hard work, freedom, and unity of purpose, their entire value system changed. People expected, then demanded, to be taken care of by the state. Corruption became commonplace.The bureaucracy multiplied. Social conflict soared. And eventually Rome lost the ability to meet its challenges. I make a lot of historical parallels to our modern world, including some specific examples of absurdities which occurred just in the last couple of days. But I also discuss why, in the end, these conditions actually create unique opportunity for creative, hard working, talented people. You can listen to the podcast here. Open Podcast Transcription [00:00:01.290] Today we're going to go back in time nearly 3000 years ago to the year 821 BC. To a city called Tyre, which is located in modern day Lebanon. Now, I want to give you an appreciation for just how old Tyre is, because if we go back to 821 BC, tire had already existed for nearly 2000 years prior to that. That's basically the the difference between us and Julius Caesar, right? So that's how old Tyre is.   [00:00:29.050] That even nearly 3000 years ago, it was already nearly 2000 years old. So that's an old, old city. And again, it still exists today. It's got a population of around 200,000 people. This is a real city today, located again on the Mediterranean and modern day Lebanon thousands of years ago.   [00:00:46.110]

Join LaTangela as she chats with singer, actor, world renowned entertainer Jacob Latimore in the hot seat and on the #TanLine One of the most iconic films of our culture is undergoing a remix and I have questions that need answers...  House Party – arriving exclusively in theaters on Fri, 1/13 – is a “remix” of the 1990 classic comedy starring Kid ‘n Play. In the new movie, aspiring club promoters and best buds Damon and Kevin are out of money and about to lose the roofs over their heads. They decide to host the party of the year at an exclusive mansion, which just happens to belong to LeBron James. What could possibly go wrong?  House Party is an outrageous comedy stacked with double-take cameos, timeless throwback tracks, and two friends worth cheering for.    Jacob Latimore is an actor and R&B recording artist who starred in Showtime's The Chi and hit films such as Ride Along (with Ice Cube & Kevin Hart) and the sci-fi thriller The Maze Runner.  Some may be surprised to learn that Tosin Cole is a British Shakespearean actor who began his career at the age of 17 in a stage production of Julius Caesar. He also appeared as X-wing pilot Lieutenant Bastian in the highest grossing film of all time, Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens. ******************************************** NEW MUSIC ALERT NEVER KNEW - LaTangela Fay NEW BOOK ALERT P.O.O.F. (Power Over Obstacles Forever) - LaTangela Fay Sherman ************************************************************************************ THE LATANGELA SHOW RADIO -  WEMX- Baton Rouge, La. Mon-Fri 10a.m.-3p.m.CST TV - WLFT - Baton Rouge, La. KGLA  - New Orleans, La. The Louisiana Film Channel YouTube - #LaTangelaFay Podcast - ALL digital platforms www.LaTangela.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode contains references to sexual assault and suicide.When you think of Ancient Rome, you don't often associate it with the idea of a Monarchy. But long before the likes of Julius Caesar, Augustus, or even Nero - Kings ruled over the land. Specifically - seven of them. But what happened to these Kings of Rome, and why aren't they immortalised in history the same way as their Emperor successors?In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan is joined by fellow Podcast hosts and authors Dr Peta Greenfield and Dr Fiona Radford, to take us through this mysterious part of Ancient History. Looking at the key figures and myths who defined this period of Ancient Rome - what really happened to the Kings of Rome?For more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing the ultimate bromance showdown! In the latest episode of Dad Bod History, Jake, Eric, and Jeff put some of history's most iconic bromances to the test. Watch as Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett go head-to-head with Cheech and Chong, Harry and Lloyd take on Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and Han Solo and Chewbacca battle Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Will Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman come out on top, or will they be defeated by the Wolfpack? Tune in to find out!#bromance #podcast #comedy #history #battlelinktr.ee/dadbodhistoryinstagram.com/dadbodhistorytwitter.com/dadbodhistoryfacebook.com/dadbodhistorytiktok.com/@dadbodhistoryhttps://www.motionartsmedia.net/free-video-templates/free-animated-subscribe-button Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roman Parallel - Marius (157-86 BC)Important PeopleDemetrius (337-283) - Neighbor and even, for a time, brother-in-law. Son of Antigonus I and father of Antigonus II, Demetrius rules in Greece, Macedon (for seven years), Asia Minor but was ultimately conquered by Seleucus and imprisoned until he died of his own drinking habit.Cassander (355-297) - Son of Antipater, who had served as regent of Macedon during Alexander's campaigns and later served as regent after the death of Perdiccas, he did not inherit the Macedonian throne from his father but had to fight Polyperchon for it. He conquers Greece as well and, most infamously, ends the charade of the successors serving as satraps to a regent by killing the young Alexander IV and his mother and grandmother, Olympias.Ptolemy I Soter (367-282) - The stable successor to Alexander who carves out Egypt (305 BC) for himself and founds a dynasty that rules Egypt from the prosperous port of Alexandria until Julius Caesar's arrival. Ptolemy also strategic in his dynastic alliances to stave off further wars.Cineas - Philosopher and orator, Cineas acts as a foil to Pyrrhus's reckless moving from hope to hope. In the midpoint of this life, he attempts to help Pyrrhus think through why he should be driven from conquest to conquest and provides reflection on Pyrrhus's accomplishments. Nevertheless, the philosopher accompanies him on all Pyrrhus's expeditions.Fabricius - Our first direct encounters with Roman virtue. While not given his own biography, Fabricius looms large in contrast to Pyrrhus's vices. Fabricius is stable, cautious, and dependable where Pyrrhus is reckless, overly optimistic, and flighty.Important PlacesEpirus - Pyrrhus's birthplace and kingdom by right, inheritance, and conquest.Macedon - Neighboring kingdom to Epirus. Pyrrhus manages to win it and lose it without a fight. Rome - The new power in the Western Mediterranean, having risen even more recently than Carthage, now threatens the entire Italian peninsula, including the Greek-speaking colonies in the south. Tarentum - The colony that asks Pyrrhus for help, and then quickly comes to regret asking. Beneventum - The battle in which the Romans manage, not exactly to beat Pyrrhus, but to convince him that Italy won't be worth the fight. Key Vices and VirtuesExcessive Appetite for Conquest (πλεονεξία) - Not a vice in the Aristotelian canon, but one important to historians like Thucydides, who saw it as the root of the Athenian downfall. This Life becomes a meditation on knowign one's political limits and serving in the capacity one has been placed. The philosopher Cineas provides some of this perspective for us without being too heavy-handed.Justice - Once again ignored by most of Alexander's successors, we do se key aspects of it lived up to by the Romans. It is called the virtue of kings in this life and one philosopher observes that the Roman Senate strikes him as “An Assembly of Kings.” When Justice and Power are joined, Plutarch sees not only a properous state nor even just a stable situation, but a good government promoting virtue in its people. This life sets us up so well to enter into the Roman story, because Plutarch wants to remind even the Romans of their past virtues and encourage them to live up to those old virtues in the height of their power.Support the show

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This week we wrap up the tale of Julius Caesar's Conquest of Gaul. First we will discuss his fun little jaunt over to Britannia, and then we will explore his clashes with the great Gallic leader Vercingetorix, culminating with Caesar's victory at Alesia, and his plans for returning home to Rome.   Follow the Naked Blue Men: @leftunreadpod @poorfidalgo @gluten_yung Email enquiries: leftunreadpod@gmail.com Theme music courtesy of Interesting Times Gang: itgang.bandcamp.com

It's been said that New Year's Day is the closest thing we have to a truly global holiday.  People of all different religions and ethnicities recognize it, but how did that come to be?  It's a complicated story involving competing lunar and solar calendars, Julius Caesar's scientific adviser, a 16th century pope, and a two-faced Roman god.  Mansplaining's New Year's resolution this year is to understand how the world coalesces around January 1st as the beginning of the year. (Recorded January 6, 2023.)

Download for Mobile | Podcast Preview | Full Timestamps We Know You're Listening On 1.5x Speed One Fear: Peeing Rocks The Slimy Physical FF Pixel Remaster Collection "Bayonetta is a middling, C-tier franchise" - Guy Who Hasn't Played Bayonetta You can watch us record the podcast live on twitch.tv/castlesuperbeast Fate/Samurai Remnant" announced to be developed by Koei Tecmo. The Type-Moon game will be releasing on PS4, PS5, Steam, and Switch Dokapon Kingdom: Connect rated for Switch in Germany Smash Bros.' Masahiro Sakurai now considers himself ‘semi-retired' According to the yearly Famitsu aspirations column Grasshopper Manufacture Suda51 revealed that the studio is in the process of developing a new game ATLUS: In 2023, starting with the releases of the Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden remasters, we're also preparing several unannounced titles. Danganronpa publisher Spike Chunsoft teased the announcement of at least one “unannounced large-scale title” coming soon in its New Years 2023 greeting Square: There's also another big announcement unrelated to Final Fantasy VII that I can't say anything about just yet. Square Enix's New Year's Letter Is Mostly About NFTs, Again Konami: Additionally, we're deeply and quietly progressing on new project(s) that we have yet to announce to you all Still-unannounced Silent Hill: The Short Message rated for PS5 Get your own (expensive) Bullet Yo-Yo like Guilty Gear gal Bridget FF Collection announced to rip you off    

Lessons learned from the genealogy in Matthew 1. Names get left out and names get added in. The significance of …

Calories: How to fuel a human https://pca.st/wxd7lvr5 Why Did The Roman Empire Collapse With Mary Beard | Empire Without Limit | Odyssey https://youtu.be/-j7vMwREKKg Today 42BC The Roman Senate deified Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was the first historical Roman to be officially deified. He was posthumously granted the title Divus Iulius (the divine/deified Julius) by decree ... Read more

You Are There-480215-The Assassination Of Julius Caesar

Subconscious Realms Episode 165 - Janus & Pope Benedict XVI - Troublemaker Jonah. Ladies & Gentlemen on this Episode of Subconscious Realms we welcome back Jonah! Brace yourself for a wild journey into many Realms...Among the Celtiberians, horned or antlered figures of the Cernunnos type include a "Janus-like" god from Candelario (Salamanca) with two faces and two small horns; a horned god from the hills of Ríotinto (Huelva); and a possible representation of the deity Vestius Aloniecus near his altars in Lourizán (Pontevedra). The horns are taken to represent "aggressive power, genetic vigor and fecundity. The Horned God goes by many names. Cernunnos, The Celtic God of fertility, Animals and the Underworld. Herne The Hunter, a spectre associated with Windsor Forest & Great Park, Berkshire, UK. Pan the Greek God of the Woodlands, Janus the Roman God of Good Beings. Tammuz and Damuzi, the Son, Lover and Consorts to Ishtar and Inanna. Osiris, the Egyptian Lord of the Underworld. Dionysus, the Greek God of Vegetation and the Vine. The Green Man, the Lord of Vegetation and the…Julius Caesar gave us the Julian calendar and made Janus the god of new years. Constantine converted to Christianity and gave us the Roman Catholic Church and Pope. Or did he convert. The janus symbolism can found all throughout with his statue in the Vatican and papal bull commemorative coins that can be considered tribute. The substitute sitting in the office which has a roman numeral value of 666.

Today's Topics: 1) Greg gives a history of the origins of New Year Resolutions from the ancient Babylonians through the time of Rome under Julius Caesar, to today 2) As Catholic men we should resolve to make prayer central to our daily activities; "Ora et Labora," "Pray and Labor," starting each activity in the name of God. Greg and Mark spoke about how each prays the daily rosary with their respective groups and how that has impacted their spiritual lives. Another resolution is to read the lives of the Saints daily to provide us examples of leading good Catholic lives 3) We must resolve to: go to the Sacrament of Confession on a regular basis; conduct a daily examination of conscience in the evening to help us discover what we have done well and what we need to improve on; make regular visits to the blessed sacrament where we can listen to what God is directing us to do 4) We should resolve to increase our fasting, sacrifice, and Mass attendance. By fasting, we learn to control our base instincts which when in control allows us to focus more clearly on Christ. In sacrificing we imitate Christ in an effort to become more like him and assist those in need. In regular Mass attendance, which we are required to do, we witness the greatest example of sacrifice that the world has ever known. In shifting gears to the Knights of Columbus Council level Brothers should resolve to invite men to join the Order, to become more active and in doing so evangelize themselves, their families, and their communities Theme: "Salve Regina" performed by Floriani. All rights reserved. Used with permission. For more information please visit Floriani.org

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Have you ever been curious about where the New Year's resolution tradition comes from? In this episode of Everyday Happiness, we discuss the history of the practice and how it often fails.    Transcript:   Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in about 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life.    I'm your host Katie Jefcoat, and today and tomorrow, I want to talk about New Year's resolutions and how they affect our happiness. But first, have you ever wondered where this tradition came from? As I was researching this episode, I was surprised that the origin of this practice goes back 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. Apparently, they made a form of New Year's resolution in March, a time for planting new seeds. They would promise the gods to fulfill debts, return objects, and reaffirm their loyalty to their king. It was believed that if they completed their resolutions, the gods would shine favorably on them in the new year…but bad luck was coming for them if they didn't.   The tradition was moved to January 1st by Julius Caesar, the famed king who changed the calendar. January was named for the two-faced god, Janus, whose power allowed him to see back to the previous year and ahead to the future. During that time, people sacrificed to the god while making promises of good conduct in the new year.   Later, the tradition was adopted into Christianity as a time to reflect on past mistakes and make resolutions to be better in the new year. Today, almost 45% of Americans now take part in this tradition…but are they successful? Unfortunately, not.   Research shows that only 9 to 12% of people actually keep their New Year's resolutions…even when 52% of people thought that they would be successful.   Tomorrow, we will dive into how our New Year's resolutions affect us and what we can do to achieve our goals.    Get Everyday Happiness delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: https://www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness   And, let's connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie  and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram   Links:  https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/   Inspired by this article in https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions  

New Year's Eve brings loud, boisterous celebrations, with fireworks, music, and lots of champagne. And when you join those celebrations, you're following a tradition that dates back at least 4,000 years — to ancient Babylon. But the Babylonians celebrated the start of the year at a different time — at the first new Moon after the spring equinox, in March. In fact, many cultures marked the turning of the year at about that same time. The equinox is a period of new life and new beginnings, so it seemed like a logical time to reset the calendar. Ancient Rome was among those cultures. But in 46 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the calendar. He set New Year's Day as January 1st. January honored the god Janus, who had two faces — one to look into the past, the other into the future. The people of Rome made sacrifices, held big parties, and exchanged gifts. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the date of New Year's drifted. In the late 1500s, thanks to another calendar reform, it began to return. January 1st was adopted in England and its American colonies in 1753, where it's remained ever since — setting up big celebrations for New Year's Eve. And the evening sky offers some decorations for tonight's festivities. The Moon is high in the sky during twilight, with Venus, the “evening star,” quite low in the southwest. The planets Jupiter and Saturn line up between them, with bright orange Mars in the east.  Script by Damond Benningfield Support McDonald Observatory

Cass found herself in a tough neighborhood this week, letting people go, it's never Bob, we will be super successful in 2 years, New Year's resolutions, examples of funny resolutions from countryliving.com, we share our New Year's resolutions (hint: we don't have them), we love pastaGoogle tells us that: Though medieval Christians attempted to replace January 1 with more religiously significant dates, Pope Gregory XIII created a revised calendar that officially established January 1 as New Year's Day in 1582. Google tells us that New Years took effect on January 1, 45 BC, by edict. The calendar became the predominant calendar in the Roman Empire and subsequently, most of the Western world for more than 1,600 years. The Roman calendar began the year on 1 January, and this remained the start of the year after the Julian reform. Google tells us: Why 12 months instead of 13? Why are there 12 months in the year? Julius Caesar's astronomers explained the need for 12 months in a year and the addition of a leap year to synchronize with the seasons. At the time, there were only ten months in the calendar, while there are just over 12 lunar cycles in a yearFidget ring mentioned: https://www.etsy.com/Shop/MywildflowerjewelryThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy

In this week we take a look at Ancient Gaul. From the early creation of gaul to the conquest of Julius Caesar. Learn all about Ancient Gaul, and how Gaul worked. This week on "Well That Aged Well".Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/well-that-aged-well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesus was born in obscurity and raised to glory in his death and resurrection, fulfilling the prophets' prophecies. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas. My weird statistical analytical mind this morning wanted to know how often this happens, this Christmas on Sunday thing. It feels like it's been a while, but we looked it up, I thought it's got to be every seven years, but it isn't. Because of leap year it happens irregularly and the next time it's going to happen is 11 years from now. So I'll be really old by then, so this is the last opportunity I have as a young man to preach on Christmas Sunday, so grateful to share it with you all. Today we celebrate the birth of our King, the King of Glory, Jesus Christ, into the humblest and most obscure of circumstances. Today we're going to peer into the darkness of a stable where animals were feeding, and standing and resting and lowing and mooing and bleating, and a tiny baby is born, weak, small, unknown, the seed of a formerly glorious lineage that had fallen for almost six centuries into total obscurity. This one born so low would be exalted to infinite glory by the hand of God, born to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My focus in this message today will be on the God ordained obscurity of his birth. God ordained obscurity. It was predicted in the prophets, it was worked by the hand of God, it was decreed, personally worked by almighty God for his purposes, and then the infinite glory to which He will rise and bring us with him, that's the message today. I. Like a Shoot Out of Dry Ground I want to begin with this phrase “like a shoot out of dry ground.” It comes from Isaiah's prophecy. Isaiah the prophet spoke these words of prophecy over seven centuries before they were fulfilled. Isaiah 53:1-3, "Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." The powerful image in that prophecy is that the Messiah, the savior of the world, will be completely physically, visibly, unimpressive. No majesty to attract our eye to him. Nothing in his appearance, he'll be underwhelming to the untrained eye, there'd be no radiant glory, no obvious display. We're going to speak more in detail about this marvelous prophecy later in the message, but let me zero in on this image that has captivated my mind. He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. This is a powerful agricultural metaphor, as so many are in the Bible, speaking of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, growing, which He did, from infancy to manhood. The text says He grew up before him. That is the Messiah, the Savior, Jesus Christ, grew up in the presence of almighty God, with God watching over his growth. But the growth was like, it says, a tender shoot, meaning apparently weak, frail, and impressive, and like a root out of dry ground. His culture, his people, his nation were fruitless, dry, sterile, like a desert. No power, no glory, no prospects, a dry and weary land with nothing alive, that's the image. But there is in the center of that desert, a tiny shoot, a little root with a small amount of activity of life, of power, but not apparently amounting to anything at all, that's the image. As I meditated on it my mind went to a part of American history, relatively recent, called the Dust Bowl. In the American Prairie in the 1930s during the Depression was a terrible era of drought and erosion and wind resulting in overpowering clouds of dust that destroyed all crops and drove a mass migration of poverty stricken farmers westward just to survive. John Steinbeck wrote a classic on this era in American history called Grapes of Wrath, and it powerfully depicts the desperation of farmers in this Midwestern Dust Bowl, seeing the Dust Bowl emerge, dust storms ravaging their crops and their hopes, nothing left but stunning poverty, desolation, emptiness and despair. Listen to some of Steinbeck's prose that skillfully captures this desperation. "The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones carried up straws and old leaves, even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the fields. The air and the sky darkened, and through them the sun shown redly, and there was a raw sting in the air. During a night the wind raced faster over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth, pointed in the direction of the wind. The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it, and the children ran out of their houses, came out of their houses. But they did not shout or even run about as they would've done after a rain. Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent, they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside the men, to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the men's face secretly, for the corn could go as long as something else remained. The children stood nearby drawing figures in the dust with their bare toes, and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women would break this time." That was the Dust Bowl tragedy, the destruction of a hundred million acres of farmland, crops devastated, hopes utterly crushed, buried in billowing clouds of dust. The powerful question Steinbeck raised is whether this time the dust storm, which destroyed the corn, would also break the spirits of the people and crush hopes. That's the image that I have here when it comes to Israel, like a root out of dry ground. So it was with Israel's messianic hopes, a kingdom of words and dreams only it seemed. A bygone era of power and glory; it'd been a long time, more than half a millennium. Ancient prophecies that seem to have absolutely no chance of coming true of a worldwide empire of righteousness in which all nations on earth would submit to the power of the Son of David, the Messiah, reigning on a throne of majesty in Jerusalem. But the house and lineage of David seemed nothing, it meant nothing, apparently. The tree had been felled a long time ago. The lineage of Jesse was a stump left in a dry fields, nothing stirring. So it was that holy night when Jesus was born, the son of God, born to be king of heaven and earth, but it did not appear to be so. II. The King of Glory Born in a Stable The king of glory was born in a stable, you‘ve heard the narrative, it's very famous. We read it every year, Luke 2:1-7, listen again, "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." At the beginning and then at the end of this short passage, we have two individuals in stark contrast with one another, you have Caesar Augustus, and then you have Jesus Christ. The narrative begins with the most powerful man then on earth, Caesar Augustus. He was the first Roman Emperor and reigned from 27 BC until his death in the AD 14. He was considered one of the greatest leaders in world history. He established the pattern of the Roman Empire under the Caesars for centuries to come. He had been born Gaius Octavius. He was a great nephew of Julius Caesar, who was assassinated in 44 BC. Julius Caesar had named him his legal son and heir. He won total control over the Roman Empire by the year 31 BC. Four years later in 27 BC the Roman Senate voted him the title Augustus, meaning “majestic one”. For them it implied deity. Luke writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit did not mean so, but he used the title by which he was well known, Caesar Augustus. By the time Jesus was born, scholars tell us, in 4 BC, Caesar Augustus was at the absolute height of his power. He ruled over a vast realm of 1.7 million square miles, 45 million people, about 20% of the world's population was under his domain at that time. He was so wealthy, personally wealthy, that during an economic crisis for Asia Minor, he paid that entire region's tax bill out of his own coffers. He lived in purple, surrounded by marble columns, dining on whatever food he wanted, the finest of meats, the best of wines anytime. The world trembled at his slightest command. It was he who ordered that the census be taken of the entire Roman world, causing minor migrations of people, as for example, Joseph and Mary going to Bethlehem. Jesus, on the other hand, entered the world at the other end of the spectrum. Though he was King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He was born into poverty, the son, so it was supposed, of an obscure Jewish carpenter in a conquered backwater of the empire. The actual circumstances of his birth are famous for their poignant aspects, they are humble and poverty stricken in the extreme. Forced temporarily to migrate from their home village of Nazareth, they had to travel to Bethlehem to register. The reason they went to Bethlehem was that Joseph, we are told, was of the house and lineage of David, the ancient king of Israel. But however glorious was the lineage of David back in the heyday, that line had fallen into total obscurity by this time. The birth of Jesus, the son of David, was in total obscurity, and in far more distress than would've happened if he had been born in Nazareth with his mother Mary at least surrounded by family and some friends that could help with the birth. Instead of that they were desperately seeking a place to stay, a place where the baby could be born, because her time had come and she was in the agonies of childbirth. Of course, very famously, Joseph could not find any lodging in the inn, there were too many people there in the tiny town of Bethlehem. So Mary gave birth to Jesus surrounded, it would seem, by animals. She laid him in a manger, a feeding trough for livestock. Instead of a royal birth in which he was wrapped in purple, He was wrapped instead in simple swaddling cloths of the lowest sort. What a stark contrast to the life of Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man on earth. The humble origins of Christ's birth were essential to God's plan. God wanted his only begotten son to be born into this level of poverty and humility. It's not an accident, it was ordained by God. Honestly there is no glory, there is no wealth, there is no power on earth that remotely compares with the kingdom Christ left to come here. Let's be honest, God is not impressed with Caesar Augustus. He's not impressed with his wealth or his power or his purple. No matter how powerful rulers like Caesar Augustus are, God is not impressed, and God willed that Christ should humble himself to identify with us in our poverty and weakness, for we are poor and we are weak, and apart from Christ we are wicked. He wanted this humility and obscurity and poverty for Christ. "The humble origins of Christ's birth were essential to God's plan. God wanted his only begotten son to be born into this level of poverty and humility. It's not an accident, it was ordained by God." 2nd Corinthians 8:9 describes this journey, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich." Or again, Philippians 2:6-7, "Jesus being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness." We see the intentional strategic poverty of Jesus, that was his mission. Jesus was born into extremely low circumstances, very few babies in the world are laid in mangers after they're born. I've not done any actual research on this, but I would have to think it would be highly unusual to put a newborn baby in a feeding trough. I think about the standards of cleanliness all over the world where babies are born. The OB-GYN wards here seem pretty clean to me. I don't think they have any mangers there, in either little Duke or big Duke Hospital. That's it, there's a level of cleanliness and protection for newborn babies around the world vastly higher than that which Jesus, the son of God, received that night. Shortly after his birth, Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt with the baby Jesus to escape the murderous King Herod. Jesus went from a temporary migrant from Nazareth the Bethlehem, to literally a refugee fleeing to Egypt to save his life. When the family returned it was to Nazareth, to an obscure and poverty stricken area of Palestine, where Joseph was a manual laborer, he was a carpenter, and Jesus would be too before he was presented to Israel and began his public ministry, a manual laborer. Jesus's poverty would continue throughout his life. He told one of the people who wanted to follow him wherever He went, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, the son of man has no place to lay his head. I have nowhere to sleep tonight. Don't expect any kind of earthly power or prosperity if you follow me." Now Jesus' disciples one day were walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath and were picking heads of grain and rubbing them in their hands and eating them. We are told that this is the way that poor people were provided for in Israel back then. This was basically welfare for poor people in Palestine in that day. Jesus's followers had to do that. Jesus's own financial needs were met in part by some women, we're told in Luke 8, that contributed to him out of their private means. But the clearest display of Jesus' poverty would be at the end of his life. When He was arrested, condemned, and crucified, all of his worldly belongings were gambled for in fulfillment of prophecy. John 19, "When the soldiers crucified Jesus they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another, 'let's decide by lot who will get it.'" This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled, which said, ‘They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.’” That is what the soldiers did. Jesus entered the world penniless and left the world penniless, without a single possession on earth. All of his actual possessions were fair game for the fulfillment of prophecy. His poverty at that moment was infinitely greater than the material, for He was stripped of all glory and all favor in the presence of almighty God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God, and once God transferred our guilt and our sin onto Christ the substitute, the Savior, He then poured out his wrath on him, justly and rightly, and broke fellowship with him in his role as Son of man Savior. In Mark 15:34 Jesus, "Cried out in loud voice 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" To be forsaken by God is the ultimate poverty. And all of that to make us rich. Brother and sister in Christ, let me tell you something, you are infinitely rich, you're richer than you can possibly imagine. Part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help you know how rich is your inheritance together with all the saints. You're richer than you think you are. Rich in forgiveness, all of your sins, past, present, and future 100% paid for, forgiven by almighty God. Rich in love, for the Father and the Son have lavished all their love on us and will continue to lavish that love for all eternity, and the Holy Spirit pours out his love into our hearts, that we would know that we are adopted and beloved. Our wealth is just beginning, for we have an infinite inheritance of glory waiting for us in the next world. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you and I'll come back, and you will be with me and see my glory, and you will have heavenly possessions yourself, that can never be taken from you, can never perish, spoil or fade." So Jesus became poor so that all of us who believe in Christ might be forever rich. III. The Humble Origins of Christ’s Kingdom Predicted This whole downward journey that I've been describing here, from glory into poverty and then back up to glory, is essential to our salvation. The humble origins of Christ's lineage, the humble origins of his kingdom were specifically predicted by God and orchestrated by God. Isaiah 53, as we've already seen, "Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not." Now we need to understand this is written in the seventh century BC by Isaiah the prophet when the lineage of David was still in power, when Hezekiah was a powerful successful king. So this was the prediction of the laying low of the house and lineage of David. The Messiah, the son of David, would have no majesty that would attract anyone, nothing in his appearance, this was predicted before there were even indications that it would happen. And like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground, Isaiah had said it earlier in his prophecies, with the idea of Israel becoming a tree that was felled leaving a stump in the ground seemingly lifeless with no future. Remember the great calling of Isaiah to his prophetic ministry, "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seat in the throne, high and exalted." He sees the glory of God, and a voice comes out, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" "Here am I, send me," says Isaiah. What's the mission? "Go tell them, 'Be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing but never perceiving. Make this people's heart callous, make their ears dull and close their eyes." How would you like to be a prophet and be told right up front, "They will not listen to you." Isaiah said, "For how long, oh Lord? How long do I have to do that difficult ministry?" And he answered, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted, and the fields ruined and ravaged. Until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken." That's the Dust Bowl, that's emptiness, desert. "And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste, layer upon layer of devastation by the judgment of God. But as a terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land." Here's this image of a dry desert and a stump, how does that look to you? It looks like nothing. But then in Isaiah 11 it says this, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From its roots a branch will bear fruit." There's life in that stump in the middle of that desert, a shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and of an understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. That is Christ rising like a shoot from a stump in the middle of a desert. Ezekiel said the same thing in his prophecy, about the destruction of the monarchy of Judah because of the wickedness and sins of the kingdom of Judah, including their kings. The kingly line of David being reduced to total obscurity, the prophet Ezekiel ministered during the days of the exile to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, reduced the kingly lineage of David to the lowest level of poverty. There were still descendants of David, there are still sons of David physically alive. God made sure of that, there would always be a son of David, the lineage would not die out. But they had absolutely no power, no glory, no majesty, they were stripped. The image that Ezekiel gives in Ezekiel 17 is of a low spreading vine, a vine crawling on the ground looking for water. Ezekiel 17:5-6, "He took some of the seed of your land and put it in fertile soil, he planted it like a willow by abundant water and it sprouted and became a low spreading vine." Picture kudzu I guess, I don't know, something low and insignificant and weak. Ezekiel 17:12-14, a couple verses later, very clear, because it's a complex parable in Ezekiel 17, but then he says, let me spell it out for you, "The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king in her nobles, bringing them back with him to Babylon. Then he took a member of the royal family," [that’s the house in lineage of David] "and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty." Only by getting along with the Gentile overlords would they even have a future. It was the same thing in Ezekiel 19:12-14, "It was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel, and it was stripped of its fruit," that's the Dust Bowl image, shriveling, dry, no fruit. "Its strong branches withered and fire consumed them. Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land." That image, it's a desert and there's just nothing going on. "Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit, no strong branches left on it fit for a ruler's scepter." He's talking about the house and lineage of David, there's no one strong enough to be a king. This is a prophetic image, I think, of the Jewish nation as a whole, but especially the kingly line of David, and it's because of their great wickedness and sin. It's not an accident, it's because they're idolatrous, it's because they sacrificed their own sons in the fire to Moloch. Descended from David, they took some of David's descendants and burned them to Moloch. God judged them with the Exile, stripped them of glory and kingly power. A shoot growing out of dry ground, seemingly with no future at all, a mighty glorious tree that is then leveled until there's nothing left but a stump in the land. Then a straggly vine crawling on the ground searching for water, finding enough to survive, but not enough to be anything other than a straggly low, weak vine, a leafy vine, humbled, obscure, weak, powerless, nothing mighty enough for a scepter like a shoot out of dry ground. So Joseph of Nazareth was born a son of David, but He's totally obscure. If you look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, it covers 42 generations, and they're broken into three groups of 14. The first two groups, the first 28, are relatively well known and written about in the histories of Israel, in the Kings and Chronicles, we know about them. But the last 14, we never heard of them. Who are these people? They're all sons of David, they're in the lineage, but they're completely obscure, they're weak. Where do they live? Do they live in Palestine? Live in Babylon, live in Assyria? Where do they live? We don't know, but they're in the lineage, and they're obscure, we've never heard of them. [Trivia question, what was Joseph's father's name? It is knowable. It's Jacob. Tell me about Jacob of Nazareth. I don't even know if he was in Nazareth, I don't know anything about Jacob except that he was Joseph's father. Obscure, weak, and lowly.] Joseph himself, interestingly, was called a son of David by the angel Gabriel. Remember how he was engaged to Mary, to be married to Mary, and found out that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. He resolved to divorce her quietly, because he was a righteous man. But an angel spoke to him in a dream, Matthew 1:20-21, "The Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Listen Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins." Did you hear that? Joseph is called a son of David. Well, what was he? He was a carpenter in an obscure town in northern Galilee, a despised backwater of Jewish life, a conquered people in a land dominated by Gentiles, especially by the mighty Romans under Caesar Augustus, with no end in sight. Another half millennium of Roman power in that region. IV. From Humble Obscurity to Infinite Glory But from humble obscurity we rise to infinite glory, the future is unspeakably glorious. Listen again to Isaiah 11, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from its roots of branch will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness. he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They'll neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples, the nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious." [Isaiah 11:1-10]. That's the shoot from the stump of Jesse, the king of the kingdom of heaven, the spirit of the Lord rests on him to build a worldwide kingdom of peace and justice and righteousness, and the earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. It will include Gentiles, for the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the nations. They are going to rally to him, they're going to come, a multitude from every nation on earth, from every tribe and language, and people and nation will rally to the banner of the root of Jesse. They will worship and obey him, and his place of rest will be glorious. The new Jerusalem will shine, will be illuminated, will radiate with the glory of God and of the lamb, forever. Ezekiel 17 finished that same way, if you know what to look for, it's glorious. Ezekiel's vision was of the house of David being leveled like a low crawling vine looking for water, but not forever. Ezekiel 21:27 speaks of the desolation, "A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin, it will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs, to him I will give it.” Ezekiel 17:22-24 is equally majestic. This is what the sovereign Lord says,"I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and I will plant it. I will break off a tender sprig from its top most chute and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain, on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it, they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and I make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have spoken and I will do it." That's awesome, I'm going to take this tiny little shoot and I'm going to plant it on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and this tender sprig will grow to be a mighty cedar. But it's a strange cedar because it bears fruit. You guys know anything about cedars? They're coniferous, like pine cones. Have you ever eaten a pine cone, or a pine needle? It's nasty. So what is this fruit on the cedar? The cedar is the immensity and height and size, but it's fruitful, and the branches are shaped for birds of all kind to nest in. It's a picture of Christ and of his kingdom that God is going to establish that will reach to the ends of the earth. To me it reminds me very much of the parable of the mustard seed. Mark 4, "'What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?' asked Jesus. 'It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground, yet when planted it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.'" Friends, do you not understand how powerful the interconnections are in the Bible? You think Jesus didn't know about Ezekiel 17? He knew about Ezekiel 17. All of the birds of the air can nest in its shady branches and eat fruit from it, and that's a picture of the Gentiles from every tribe, language, people and nation coming to Christ, coming to the kingdom. It's beautiful, and it's fulfilled in Christ atoning death and the spread of the gospel. The prediction in Ezekiel 17 is God takes the tall tree and levels it, and makes the low tree grow tall. He has the power to do that. Let me ask you a question. Let's say there are different censuses taken of the entire world. Now two simple questions, have you ever heard of Jesus Christ, or have you ever heard of Caesar Augustus? Who do you think would win? Let me ask another question, of those who have heard of Caesar Augustus, how many have heard because of Luke 2:1-7? So you got to take them off the table, you have to ask a different question, how many have heard of Caesar Augustus but have never heard of Jesus? I think there's like 5,000 of those people. They're all scholars in universities, I guess. I don't know, but they've heard of Jesus. My goodness, Jesus is much more famous than Caesar Augustus. God has the power to take the lofty tree and make it low, level it, and He has the power to take the low tree and make it fill the earth with glory, and that's what He did through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus was made low, died, so that fruit might come. John 12:24, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground or dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit." Christ was never weaker and more obscure than when He died, but from his death has become infinite fruit, infinite glory, spreading to the ends of the earth and to the ends of time. VI. Applications Applications for Christmas. Meditate on this, meditate on this rise from obscurity to glory. Meditate on how God worked it. Meditate on the fact that God wills that that obscurity is temporary. He doesn't want obscurity anymore, just so you know. Our job is that Jesus would not be obscure. We are witnesses, we are messengers to take the name of Jesus to those who have never heard of him before. God wills it through the power of the Holy Spirit, that all peoples will hear of Jesus. That this gospel will be preached, and the whole world is a testimony to all nations that He would not be obscure. Meditate on that. Understand that Christ gave up all that infinite wealth and power and glory and honor so that we might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9, meditate on that. The willingness to become low so that he might take us with him to glory, meditate on that. Ponder the cost of your salvation. This is a time of celebration, but realize the reason He took on that body was so that that body could be shattered on the cross, so that that blood that flowed through his veins could be poured out as an atoning sacrifice. Ponder the cost of your salvation through that, and ponder the riches of your eternal inheritance. Read Revelation 21 and 22, see where we're heading. Look at that glorious place of rest that Christ is working for you. And then finally, enjoy your Christmas celebration with one another. "Understand that Christ gave up all that infinite wealth and power and glory and honor so that we might become rich." Close with me in prayer. Lord, we thank you for the depth of your word. We thank you for themes that perhaps we didn't even know were there, in Ezekiel and Isaiah. Lord, we in general have been aware of this rise from obscurity to glory, but Lord, we didn't realize how much you directly predicted and orchestrated it so that we would know how glorious is Christ. Help us to meditate much on him, to feed our souls on the gospel. Help us, oh Lord, to be willing to proclaim the message of Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins so that any who hear and repent and believe would find forgiveness, and help us to celebrate with one another in ways that bring you glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.

24. The birth of Jesus – Partakers Christmas Bible Thought Merry Christmas to you and to your family and friends where ever you are in this world! This is Christ's Mass. Christmas is about God sending ‘his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.' ‘The Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.' (1 John 4:9, 14). Christmas is about incarnation. We will look further at what that word means after some readings from the Bible. 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (Luke 2:1-7) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14) That Jesus was a human male is not really disputable with much archaeological and historical evidence about Him. There is more evidence for Jesus than there is for Julius Caesar. The birth of Jesus is extraordinary at every level. Come and listen to find our more! Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file Click on the appropriate link below to subscribe or share

Get the full text, PDF, audiobook, infographic and animated book summary on StoryShots: https://www.getstoryshots.comStoryShots Book Summary and Analysis of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale CarnegieLife gets busy. Has How to Win Friends and Influence People been on your reading list? Learn the key insights now.We're scratching the surface here. If you don't already have Dale Carnegie's popular book on self-help, personal development & psychology order it here or get the audiobook for free on Amazon to learn the juicy details.Disclaimer: This is an unofficial summary and analysis.About Dale CarnegieDale Carnegie was active in debating clubs while at State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. After graduating, he worked as a sales agent in Nebraska and an actor in New York City, but his genuine passion was for public speaking. He started teaching public speaking at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). The influence of these talks meant he ended up lecturing to packed rooms. Based on this success, Carnegie decided to create his own public speaking school. Public speaking courses based on his teaching methods are still influential today. Warren Buffett has a diploma from Dale Carnegie's public speaking course hanging in his office. Buffett is only one in a long list of successful people who give the author partial credit for their success.IntroductionHow to Win Friends and Influence People was published in 1936 and became an instant bestseller. Dale Carnegie was already a famous public speaking coach and author of five other books. Out of his 11 books, this one has proven to be his most popular. It sold over five million copies throughout the author's lifetime and over ten million more since then.Carnegie researched the lives of greats from Julius Caesar to Thomas Edison. He also interviewed influential individuals like Franklin D. Roosevelt and Clark Gable. Based on these findings, he created a book that has become one of the best-selling books of all time. The book is based on a 14-week course he gave on human relations and public speaking. StoryShot #1: Learn to Handle PeopleIf you master these three techniques, you can handle most people:“If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive” – It is basic human nature to reject criticism and justify your actions. But you need to become less defensive if you want to be successful.“The big secret of dealing with people” – It is challenging to make people feel important. If you can do it, you will hold the key to dealing with people. Every person knows something you don't. So, seek to learn that thing in every interaction. You will make the other person feel important if you do this. “He who can do this has the whole world with him. He who cannot, walks a...

The rivalry between Julius Caesar and Cato the Younger is one of the most intense in political history. Both were high-ranking figures of great gifts, but their personal feud was a powerful factor in the downfall of the Roman Republic. Joining us in this episode to tell us more about Cato and Caesar's contrasting characters and the dramatic historical events they lived through is the award-winning author and Professor of Classics at Georgetown University, Josiah Osgood. Osgood takes us back to the year 46BC. Here we see Caesar at his peerless best on the battlefield and then, shortly afterwards, we analyse Cato's shocking and defiant response. The characters and stories that feature in this episode of Travels Through Time form part of Osgood's latest book. Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic is out now. Show notes Scene One: April 6, 46 BC, the Battle of Thapsus, North Africa. Scene Two: April 10, 46 BC, Utica, North Africa: Cato's suicide. Scene Three: September, 46 BC, Rome, Caesar's Egyptian triumph. Memento: The sign that was paraded through the streets of Rome during Caesar's Asia Minor Triumph with the words ‘Veni, vidi, vici'. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Josiah Osgood Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token' from the album ‘This Is Us' By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ Or on Facebook See where 46BC fits on our Timeline

Episode 191 – Jesus’ Birth – The Dividing Line of History Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script Notes: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, New International Version ******** VK: Hi! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time event librarian. He straightens up the books on the book shelves when one falls over. Today on Anchored by Truth we’re going to begin finishing up our current series where we have focused on the life and historicity of Jesus. And we’re going to hear the next-to-last installment of our seven part, epic Christmas poem The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion. When we left off last time a group of small koala bears that lives in a valley in the arctic north was trying to save the life of a bear who had gotten lost. This bear had journeyed to the arctic not knowing that a group of koalas already lived in the far north near a Golden Tree that had saved a group of their ancestors. To find the lost southern bear the village bears had enlisted the aid of a great ice eagle. Unfortunately, by the time the village bears found the lost bear the southern bear had died? So, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a happy Christmas for the Golden Tree villagers, does it RD? RD: No. It does not. As our last installment of The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion ended two of the villages’ teenage bears, Koest and Kopaul, had flown with Gabriel, the great ice eagle. They had gone looking for the bear because earlier in the story Koest and Kopaul had saved the life of Roleb, another bear from the south. Roleb and his friend had made the journey to the north because their own village was in desperate trouble. Their fellow villagers in the south were in danger of losing their faith in their Creator, the Great White Bear. These southern bears knew that many generations ago a group of bears had travelled north but their legends had said that ancestral group had died. The southern bears had no idea the first group that travelled to the north – while they didn’t find the Great White Bear – they had found the Golden Tree. Now the question is whether salvation is still available? VK: So, it’s time to find out what happens to Roleb and his travelling companion in this Christmas epic poem: The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion. ---- The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion – Part 6 VK: Wow. So, now the village bears have met the great Frost Lion – the One who actually created the bears and the ice eagles. But Roleb’s friend is still dead. And we still don’t know what Roleb’s fate is going to be. Is it just too late for the Frost Lion to do anything to help Roleb and his friend? Seems there are still a lot of unanswered questions. RD: Well, hopefully we’ll get the answers to all these questions next week since next week is part 7 and there’s only seven parts to this part of the Golden Tree saga. But part of what listeners should be listening for is why did the Frost Lion choose to appear at this time in the village bears’ history. After all, they had lived near the Golden Tree for many generations? What was it about this situation that made the Frost Lion arrive in the village? Maybe we’ll hear something about that next time too. VK: And that’s a great lesson for why listeners should grab some friends and family and encourage them to tune in. It would be a good starting point for a discussion in a family setting, or a church youth group, or a home-school study project. The story can help kids learn about poetry as a form of literature, and also see how their imagination can be an important tool in getting immersed in the Bible. RD: Right. Classically some of the greatest poetry ever written like Milton’s Paradise Lost was written under the inspiration of the Bible. We’ve lost some of that awareness but I firmly believe it can be reclaimed by again striving to honor the Lord in everything we do. VK: So, what’s on tap for today as we are right on Christmas’ doorstep? RD: I thought as our closeout topic for this series on Jesus it would be fitting to talk about the reason for the season: Christ’s birth. It’s been celebrated on December 25th for centuries, but unfortunately today even that fact has become a source of either criticism or else an outright attack on the historicity of Jesus. For instance, some critics will claim that the celebration of Christmas was an adaptation of the Roman festival of Saturnalia and that as such it casts doubt on the historicity of Jesus. VK: And it is true that the Roman celebration of the Roman god Saturn did occur around the same time on the Julian calendar. The celebration originally started on December 17th but it was eventually expanded so that it lasted until December 23rd. And there are certainly elements of the Roman celebration of Saturnalia that correspond to how we celebrate Christmas. Saturnalia included parties, giving gifts, and plenty of food and drink. Though, it did differ markedly in certain ways. A lot of the time Saturnalia probably resembled Mardi Gras more than Christmas. RD: And that’s because the Roman god, Saturn, was the god of abundance and plenty but he was also thought of as the god of dissipation and dissolution. And it’s also fair to say that some elements of the Christian celebration of Christmas were influenced by Saturnalia. In the fourth century AD, Pope Julius I (337–352) decided that Christ’s birthday should be celebrated on 25 December, around the same time as the Saturnalia celebrations. Some commentators have speculated that part of the reason why he chose this date may have been because he was trying to create a Christian alternative to Saturnalia. Another possibility may have been that in 274 AD, the Roman emperor Aurelian had declared 25 December the birthdate of Sol Invictus and Julius I may have thought that he could attract more converts to Christianity by allowing them to continue to celebrate on the same day. So it’s fair to say that the way in which we celebrate Christmas was probably influenced by Saturnalia, but that is quite a different thing from saying that just because the Roman god Saturn was mythological or fictional that Jesus was also. That would be the classic example of a non sequitur. VK: Non Sequitur: a conclusion that does not necessarily follow. In other words it’s a logical fallacy to conclude that just because the god Saturn was a myth that Jesus must be a myth also just because there are some common elements in the way the two different figures were or are celebrated. RD: Exactly. VK: But, of course, that does raise the question of whether Pope Julius picked December 25th just because that was a time when there were already pagan celebrations going on, or whether there were other reasons for selecting that day? RD: And that is a great question. VK: I’m so glad you agree. So… RD: We need to start out by saying that the Bible does not tell us exactly when Jesus was born. As one scholar put it, “the early Christians were not so much concerned with the date of Christ’s birth, as the fact of his birth.” And for those people who would like to take an in-depth look at when Jesus was born, there’s a great little book called Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ by Harold W. Hoehner. Much of what we’re going to talk about now comes from his book. The first question we need to address is not the day Jesus was born but the year. VK: I think most people generally think that Jesus was born in 1 AD. Doesn’t AD stand for anno domini meaning the “year of the Lord?” RD: Yes, it does. And that was the original intent when a Scythian monk named Dionysius originally prepared a calendar for use by the Western church at the direction of Pope John I in 525 AD. Before that time the Alexandrian system of dating was being used but it used as it base the reign of Diocletian who was a persecutor of the early church. Dionysius did not want the reference date for the church to be based on a persecutor. So Dionysius used the Julian system, which had been established by Julius Caesar, for the organization of the year which ran from January 1st to December 31st. And the year 1 AD was set on January 1st of 754 A.U.C. – anno urbis conditae – from the founding of the city of Rome. At the time Jesus was thought to have been born on December 25th of the prior year. Remember that there is no “zero” year. The calendar goes straight from 1 BC (before Christ) to 1 AD. VK: But… RD: But subsequent scholarship has determined that Dionysius didn’t get the translation between the AUC system and the system based on Christ’s birth year right. As our scripture today from Matthew noted, King Herod was still alive when Jesus was born. At the time it was thought that Herod died in 754 AUC but we now know that the latest date for Herod’s death was 750 AUC. VK: So that would mean Jesus was actually born 4 or 5 years earlier than previously thought. So he was born in 4 or 5 BC, not December 25th of 1 BC. Interesting. RD: Yes. But it’s worth noting that scholars are not even agreed on that. VK: Because…? RD: Because we have two scriptures that serve as the outer boundaries for Jesus’ birth. According to Matthew Jesus could not have been born later than Herod’s death, but according to Luke Jesus was born after a census that had been taken by a Roman official named Quirinius. In Greek Quirinius would have been Kyrenius. Luke says that this was “This was the first census that took place while a Quirinius was governor of Syria.” One of the issues was there aren’t any clear records about when this census took place. Josephus does not mention a census that took place during Herod’s reign but he does mention one that took place in 6 or 7 AD. So scholars are not unified on the date that this previous census might have taken place. This is one of the more puzzling questions that still linger about the birth of Jesus. VK: So, does Dr. Hoehner discuss this question in his book? RD: He does and there is actually a wealth of discussion available from many sources on this first census of Quirinius. Here are a few things we know for certain. The Romans were well known to take censuses throughout their empire to establish what we might call the basis for taxation and it was common for them to take them about every 14 years. Second, the text from Luke that says that Quirinius was the governor of Syria does not actually use the normal word, legatus, that is translated as “governor.” It uses a more generalized term for being in charge or leading. Third, we know that Quirinius was in the mid-East from 12 B.C. to 2 B.C. successively suppressing rebellions taking place in modern day Turkey. Apparently, Quirinius was well known as a successful military leader. VK: So, it would make sense that he was given charge of an important task of taking a census even if was done as an extra duty. Also, it would make sense that Augustus would want a census taken in that part of the empire because Herod had fallen out of favor with Augustus around 7 or 8 BC and by then it was known that his health was failing and that his sons were quarrelling over who would succeed him. Herod changed his will 3 times in the year before his death, each time naming a different son. Augustus knew about the changes and the quarrels because Herod had to get Augustus’ permission before making the changes. RD: Or executing one of his sons which Herod also did – again with Augustus’ knowledge and consent. VK: So that helps show that Herod was the kind of a king who would order the murder of all boys, 2 years old and under, in and around Bethlehem to get rid of a child the Magi had described the “king of the Jews.” So, it looks very much like Quirinius might have been in charge of a census sometime in the latter part of Herod’s reign around 5 BC. Herod died in 4 BC. But, what about the specific day? Did Pope Julius just pick that day because it roughly corresponded with Saturnalia? RD: We can’t be entirely sure why Pope Julius picked December 25th but the traditional date for Jesus’ birth had been around for at least 100 or 150 years before he set it officially within the church calendar. At a minimum an early church father named Hippolytus of Rome (ca 165-235 AD) had proposed that date. It is thought that Hippolytus might have had some greater insight about Jesus because he was associated with one of the early disciples of the Apostle John. There’s not a lot of information in scripture itself to pin down the date, but the tradition of a midwinter date for his birth does date back to the very earliest of the church fathers. Also, it’s fair to note that December 25th is the traditional day of celebration in the Western church but the Eastern church has traditionally used January 6th as the birthday and arrival of the Magi. VK: But some people object to the December date because a part of Luke that we didn’t listen to today says the shepherds were keeping watch on their flocks which were out in the fields at night. It is generally known that the shepherds brought their sheep into enclosures from about November through March. So the thinking is that if the sheep were out in the field it couldn’t have been December. RD: And that’s a reasonable observation but it’s not conclusive. First, it might have been a mild winter so there would have been less reason to keep the sheep enclosed. Second, the sheep were apparently in and around Bethlehem as opposed to being out in their spring and summer feeding grounds in the wilderness so this makes it far more likely the birth was in the winter. The shepherds had to be close enough to be able to get to family who were lodged in the stable in Bethlehem fairly quickly. Third, there are Jewish texts that say that the sheep that were going to be used for the Passover celebration were to be out in the field for at least 30 days before the celebration. Passover could have been as early as February so this would again reinforce a midwinter date as early as late December or early January. VK: The bottom line is that - again – when you look at the details of history and the gospel accounts it dispels completely the notion that even if there are superficial resemblances between the Christian celebration of Christmas and some pagan winter festivals that somehow diminishes the historicity of Jesus as a person. Or his birth in Bethlehem on a night over 2,000 years ago. Sounds like a great time for a prayer. Today since we’re so close to Christmas let’s listen to a prayer about that special day. ---- Prayer for Christmas VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” Also, we’d to remind listeners that copies of the first part of the the Golden Tree saga, The Golden Tree: Komari’s Quest, is available from our website. If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!” (Bible Quotes from the New International Version) The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, New International Version

Often overshadowed by his more successful peers (anyone heard of Julius Caesar?), Crassus' rise and fall from power is that of legend. A Roman General, Statesman, and once called the 'Richest Man In Rome', Crassus' power and influence is undisputed. But how did Crassus come to obtain such power, and just how far can the mighty actually fall?In this episode, Tristan is joined by Sir Peter Stothard to talk us through the rise and fall of this often overlooked figure. From his involvement in quelling the Spartacus rebellion, to his untimely death on the battle field, what is there to learn about this pillar of Roman society - and just how did his head end up as a theatre prop?For more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to deciding who is humanity's most dangerous leaders, there is quite a number of contestants One of the most dangerous leaders was a man by the name of Gaius, Julius Caesar - who was the third emperor of Rome. And though you my have heard of his name, you have probably heard of him more…

Historical Context of the Nativity - God's covenant with Israel o The Promised Land was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Jews would be Yahweh's people, and Yahweh would be their God. o However, Israel was disobedient, and worshipped other gods, and did many other wicked things besides, so God then handed Judah and Israel over to their enemies. - Babylonian Captivity o The Assyrians captured the northern kingdom of Judah in 721 BC; the Babylonians conquered Israel in 597 BC; both of these events came to pass just as God had sent the prophets to forewarn and promise the people. o With these two successive conquests, of Judah and Israel, many Jews were killed, or carried into foreign lands, or fled, or else were ruled over in their ancestral homeland by foreigners. o The Babylonians and Assyrians both were conquered and subsumed by the Achaemenid Persian empire. - Hellenization o With Alexander the Great's defeat of the Persians, his empire took possession of Judea. o After the death of Alexander, four of his generals divided the empire, and the part containing what had formerly been Israel was ruled by the Seleucids starting in 281 BC. o The Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, ruling from 175-164 BC, persecuted the Jews, desecrating the temple in Jerusalem, and forcing the high priest and other devout Jews to eat pork, which they were forbidden to do. o This led to what was known as the Maccabean revolt in 167-160 BC, in which the Jews led by a certain warrior group called the Maccabees drove the Seleucids out, and established nominal Jewish self-government in the region again from about 110-63 BC. o A characteristic of this government, called the Hasmonean dynasty, was a reduction in the influence of both Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism. - Roman Conquest o The Hasmoneans were conquered by the Roman general Pompeius in 63 BC, thus ending, until modern times, meaningful Jewish self-rule. o As a client kingdom of the Roman empire, particularly under Herod the Great after the Roman Senate declared him “King of the Jews” in 37 BC, Judea was effectively under Roman rule. - Herod the Great o As a vassal of the Roman empire, Herod got his position because of his father's close relationship with the Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar. o To give you an idea of how ruthless he was, his mother-in-law was a part of the Hasmonean dynasty, and plotted at one point to restore the former dynasty to power by installing Aristobulus III, a member of her family, as the high priest, then sending him off to meet with Mark Antony, who was then in the midst of fighting a civil war with Octavian over who would be the Roman emperor after the assassination of Julius Caesar. § Herod was just so sure Aristobulus III would replace him as King of the Jews if he met with Antony that he arranged for the assassination of Aristobulus. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/support

In this episode, we are joined again by Alex Bostic to conclude our "Fall of Rome" series while it's technically still fall. This time around, we'll talk about the civil wars between Sulla and Gaius Marius and between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. We'll discuss how the use of extra-legal means to restore the rule of law just ends up undermining it anyway, and consider some ways that the American constitution learned from Roman history.After that, it's back to Captain Kangaroo Court, where we'll ask hard hitting questions like "Is being a mean person a good excuse?" and "What is the value of time spent waiting for instant macaroni to thicken?"Finally, we'll let you know our plans for what we're calling "season two" of the podcast, which will be starting up sometime around February.We wish you all a good end to 2022, and we'll see you in the new year!Fall of Rome: the civil wars that ended the Republic (1:55)Captain Kangaroo Court (38:10)Season two announcement (51:00)

This week we pick up the story of Gaius Julius Caesar where we left off like… ten months ago. In Episode 50: Julius Caesar Goes on Holiday, we discussed the rise of one of Rome's greatest generals and politicians, and the shoddy pretext for his invasion of the vast Western European region known to posterity as Gaul. This time, almost one year later, I'm returning to the story to discuss the Caesar's Book, Comentarii de Bello Gallico, A brief description of Gaul, and the commencement of the actual Wars themselves. A third installment will follow this one IMMEDIATELY, not a year later, and will conclude Caesar's conquest and return to Rome. Join the Circ'd Dudes, Olé! mailing list on Twitter: @leftunreadpod (and instagram) @poorfidalgo @gluten_yung Email enquiries: leftunreadpod@gmail.com Theme music courtesy of Interesting Times Gang: itgang.bandcamp.com

If the Parthian Empire is known at all, it's by students of Roman history who see it pop up from time to time, before disappearing once again. Marcus Licinius Crassus, a member of the first triumvirate– consisting of himself, Pompey, and  Julius Caesar– died in battle against the Parthians. At the moment of his assasination, Caesar was preparing for a campaign against Parthia; and  Mark Anthony, of the second triumvirate, was defeated by the Parthians when he attempted to realize Caesar's dream. The Emperor Trajan some 150 years later finally achieved victories against Parthia, making his way as far as the shore of the Persian Gulf. But who were the Parthians, on their own terms, not just as antagonists of the Romans? Where did they come from? How did they come to power? What was the extent of their Empire? And how were they integrated with the world around them, apart from their seemingly continual warfare with the ever-growing Roman Empire? With me to answer these questions is Nicholas Overtoom, Assistant Professor of History at Washington State University, and author of Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East. For Further Investigation Think of this as the second in a series of conversations on the powers and principalities that occupied the territory of Iran. The first of these was with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, about the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Some time in the next six months we'll get to the Sassanids, who overthrew the Parthians. For more on the importance of nomads, see my conversation with Pamela Crossley in Episode 185; her book on the importance of nomadic thought and culture for all of Eurasia is Hammer and Anvil: Nomad Rulers at the Forge of the Modern World.

Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in history. As a wily seductress who charmed both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, she's been the subject of numerous stage and screen portrayals. Francine Prose says she's also greatly misunderstood. The award-winning novelist, essayist and critic has written about various real-life figures, from Anne Frank to Ethel Rosenberg. In her latest book, Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth, Prose challenges common misperceptions about the queen of Egypt and how she's often represented in popular culture.

Family Theater was a dramatic anthology radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947, to September 11, 1957. The show was produced by Family Theater Productions, a film and radio studio extension of the Family Rosary Crusade founded by the Holy Cross Priest, Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, to promote family prayer. The motto of these Holy Cross Family Ministries is, "The family that prays together, stays together." The program had no commercial sponsor, yet Father Peyton, CSC arranged for many of Hollywood's stars in film and radio at the time to appear. In its ten-year run, well-known actors, and actresses, including James Stewart, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Raymond Burr, Jane Wyatt, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, William Shatner, and Chuck Connors, appeared as announcers, narrators, or stars. A total of 540 episodes were produced. The program featured not only religious stories but half-hour adaptations of literary works such as A Tale of Two Cities, Moby-Dick and Don Quixote Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/ Podcast Service I Recommend https://redcircleinc.grsm.io/entertainmentradio7148 Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today's politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio

Presented by 3CHi. Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Mother of All Bombs, Kyushu University, Julius Caesar, Vlad the Impaler, Story of Dinah, The Alaskan Avenger, and more!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/twistedhistory

Thousands of years ago, the Egyptian princess Scota gave birth to a child who invented the Gaelic language and led his family on a journey through the desert for 440 years. Their descendants would move to Greece and then Spain, before becoming the first humans to finally conquer Ireland from a race of elves called the Tuatha Dé Danann. Meanwhile in Britain, 33 wicked Greek princess each married the Devil and gave birth to 33 terrible giants. Two exiled Trojan princes, Brutus and Corineus, would slaughter these giants and divide the island into two kingdoms called Britain and Cornwall, ruling for thousands of years until the arrival of Julius Caesar. Join Gladio Free Europe this to find out why medieval people believed these stories just as strongly as Americans believe that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree. In this episode, Liam and Russian dig into the phenomenon of legendary ancestors: mythical and often supernatural heroes and villains once thought to be the ancestors of entire kingdoms. We recount a few of the most interesting and far-fetched of these stories and explore what this reveals about how medieval people understood their place in the world. Although nobody talks about figures like Scota and Brutus today, their medieval legends played a huge role in the formation of early modern identities and even have unpleasant echoes in nationalism today. Last, we go over why all of us are more likely to be descended from kings and heroes and mythical snake-women than we might think. Further Listening: E04 Barbarians, E13 Migration and Memory, E36 The Franks --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gladiofreeeurope/support

Do Christians have good historical reasons to put our faith in the resurrection of Jesus? Can we really know what happened 2,000 years ago? No one doubts the works of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar or the history written about them, so what makes the historicity of Jesus so special? And what do non-Christian scholars say about the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus? If anyone knows the answers to these questions, it's New Testament scholar Dr. Michael Licona! His seminal work, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, has been praised by many as the most thorough and useful tool to those looking for an in-depth study of the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Mike currently serves as Associate Professor in Theology at Houston Christian University and president of Risen Jesus, Inc. In this special midweek episode of 'I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,' he sits down with Frank to discuss the following topics as they relate to Jesus and the resurrection: problems with postmodernist history the uncertainty of historical knowledge what is a historical fact? the tools and rules of historical research how our worldview affects how we study history objections to the resurrection of Jesus the intersecting philosophies of science, history, and theology This is a fascinating and in-depth discussion, and you'll definitely learn something new! To view the entire VIDEO PODCAST, be sure to join our CrossExamined private community. It's the perfect place to jump into great discussions with like-minded Christians (including Frank) while providing financial support for our ministry. Mike's seminal work: https://a.co/d/iPv6CN6 Mike at Houston Christian University: http://bit.ly/3OPAKdT Mike's website: https://www.risenjesus.com/ If you would like to submit a question to be answered on the show, please email your question to Hello@Crossexamined.org. Subscribe on Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/CrossExamined_Podcast Rate and review! Thanks!!! Subscribe on Google Play: https://cutt.ly/0E2eua9 Subscribe on Spotify: http://bit.ly/CrossExaminedOfficial_Podcast Subscribe on Stitcher: http://bit.ly/CE_Podcast_Stitcher  

Every early year's homeschool is laser-focused on teaching their student to read. We are following curriculums. We are reading to them all the time. But we don't yet see the reading fluency we hope. In today's episode, we talk about reading fluency strategies that you can use immediately to drive reading speed and accuracy. Challenges What is Reading Fluency? Repeated Reading Assisted Reading (Choral Reading) Echo Reading Chunking Use of Poems and Songs Use of Plays Touring The World Resource Guides Check out our country resource guides to help you with your around the world journey: https://gumroad.com/homeschooltogether Consider Leaving Us A Review If you have a quick moment please consider leaving a review on iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homeschool-together-podcast/id1526685583 Show Notes Tim Rasinski - http://www.timrasinski.com/ Science of Reading Podcast (w/ Tim Rasinski) - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s1-04-the-importance-of-fluency-instruction-tim-rasinski/id1483513974?i=1000457953504 Effective Fluency (w/ Tim Rasinski) - https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/melissa-and-lori/ep-62-effective-fluency-ovS0YafIznb/ Fluency Strategies - https://www.pittsburg.k12.ca.us/cms/lib/CA01902661/Centricity/Domain/2496/Fluency%20Strategies.pdf The Megabook of Fluency - https://amzn.to/3XOsoaq Increasing Fluency with High Frequency Word Phrases Grade 2 - https://amzn.to/3Vxo4L4 DockTok - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cozWCKJ7Jn0 Damian Lewis as Antony in Julius Caesar - https://youtu.be/q89MLuLSJgk Book of the Week Great Illustrated Classics - Journey to the Center of the Earth - https://amzn.to/3UuadnB Connect with us Website: http://www.homeschool-together.com/ Store: https://gumroad.com/homeschooltogether Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/homeschooltogether Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/homeschooltogetherpodcast/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/homeschooltogetherpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/hs_together The Gameschool Co-Op: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameschoolcoop/ Email: homeschooltogetherpodcast@gmail.com

Craig walks us further down our Shakespeare path, discussing the real life histories of two of time's (and ol' Bill's) most iconic figures, Julius Caesar and Macbeth.

On this Motivational Monday (probably the last one of the year) Mr. Palumbo talks about an influential man who died over two thousand years ago. No it's not who you think. The man is Julius Caesar. Why do people still talk about and study this Roman general today? Well sit back, press play and watch out for some Latin usage as Mr. Palumbo discusses the life and times of the man whose name became synonymous with Emperor.