KING HEROD THE GREAT AND HEROD ANTIPATROS

HEROD THE GREAT

HEROD ANTIPAS

HEROD ANTIPATROS KING HEROD

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At about this point Herod the Great was born as the 2d son of Antipater the Idumaean and Cypros, a Nabatean.

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” IS FABULATION, HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY

73 BCE

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Antipater the Idumaean sent his older son Phasael to Judaea to be governor of Jerusalem and his younger son Herod (who would come to be known as “Herod the Great”) to be governor of nearby Galilee.

Cleopatra was removed from power by Theodotas and Achillas.

48 BCE

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“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

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At about this point Lucius Munatius Plancus was directed by the Roman senate to found, at what would become the city of Lyon, a town called Lugdunum.

Antipater the Idumaean granted financial support to the murderers of Julius Caesar, an act which brought chaos, and then was poisoned. Herod the Great, with the support of the Roman Army, executed his father’s poisoner. When Antigonus attempted to seize the throne from his uncle Hyrcanus, Herod the Great defeated him (without, however, managing to capture and kill him) and then, to secure for himself a claim to the throne, took Hyrcanus’s teenage niece, Mariamne (known as Mariamne I), to wife. Inconveniently, he already had a wife, named Doris, and a three-year-old son, named Antipater III — and so he banished both of them.

(Over and above, or in between, pulling incestuous stunts like the above, Herod the Great would rebuild the Great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. You can’t quite make it out on the coin above, due to rusting, but what is being depicted on the obverse side is this famous temple from the time of Jesus.)

NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

43 BCE

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Herod the Great took the line, in presenting himself before Mark Antony and Octavian, that although his father had indeed helped Julius Caesar’s murderers, this had been done only under duress. Evidently they were sufficiently persuaded, or were willing to pretend that they were sufficiently persuaded, for they would appoint him tetrarch of Galilee. This would of course bring a potful of trouble, as many Jews still considered this Herodian family, recent converts and good friends of the Roman intrusives, despite the undeniable fact of the rebuilding of the holy temple in Jerusalem, to be what you might term fake Jews.

Yet more altercations involving our favorite pushy people, the Romans: 1st Philippi battle, fought to a draw between Antony and incidentally Octavian, versus M. Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus, and then the 2nd Philippi battle, fought by M. Antonius and Octavian Caesar versus M. Junius Brutus (C. Cassius Longinus having committed suicide) — restoring the Pax Romana. Death of M. Junius Brutus. (Dissension would soon break out between Octavian Caesar and Mark Antony, rupturing the Pax Romana.)

42 BCE

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Fulvia died. Presumably, therefore, by this time Octavian had written the six lines mentioning her that have been preserved for us by Martial, a little poem that presents us with four uses of the Latin verb futuo, to fuck. It is to be noted that one of these lines presents the verb as coming from the mouth of Fulvia, a woman — which must have made this little poem even more problematic:

Quod futuit Glaphyran Antonius, hanc mihi poenamFulvia constituit, se quoque uti futuam.

Fulviam ego ut futuam? quid si me Manius oretpedicem? faciam? non, puto, si sapiam.

“aut futue aut pugnemus” ait. quid quod mihi vitacarior est ipsa mentula? signa canant!

A LITERAL TRANSLATION, DEVOID OF ANY ATTEMPT AT POETRY: “BecauseAntony is fucking Glaphyra, Fulvia decrees the following penaltyfor me, that I should fuck her too. I fuck Fulvia? What if Maniusbegged me to bugger him? Should I do it? Not, I think, if I hadany sense. ‘Either fuck or fight,’ she says. What of the factthat my penis is dearer to me than life itself? Let the trumpetssound!”

40 BCE

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Antigonus attempted again the seize the throne, this time with the help of the Parthians. This time he was more successful and Herod the Great was forced to flee to Rome and ask the Romans to intercede with their legions. The Roman Senate appointed Herod as “King of the Jews.”

At Brundisium a treaty was forged between the Triumvirs Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus: Octavian was to focus his operations in the West (Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, Transalpine Gaul, Narbonne), Antony in the East (Macedonia, Asia, Bithynia, Cilicia, Syria), and Lepidus in Africa (Tunisia, Algeria).

Mark Antony returned to Italy and got married with Octavian Caesar’s sister Octavia, this of course meaning that he was somehow being expected to set not Egypt but Cleopatra aside. However, six month after he left Alexandria and Cleopatra, she gave birth to fraternal twins, first Alexander Helios (“Sun”) and then Cleopatra Selene (“Moon”).

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It seemed like a good idea at the time in Rome, so Mark Antony and Octavian Caesar appointed their friend Herod the Great to be king of Judea.

At Tarentum a treaty was forged in which Antony and Octavian ceded the major islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea to Sextus Pompeius as a “protectorate.” Octavian Caesar took as his wife Scribonia, a relative of Sextus Pompeius, with whom he would have one daughter who would be called Julia.

Antony returned to Athens with his wife Octavia, Octavian’s sister. His legate Ventidius restored order in Syria and Asia Minor. Octavia gave birth to Antonia Major, grandmother of the emperor Nero.

THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

39 BCE

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The mandate of the 2d Triumvirate consisting of Octavian Caesar, Mark Antony, and Lepidus (although this 3d member was no longer around) was renewed by the Senate of Rome for an additional 5 years.

Romans legions subdued Judaea, and with the execution of Antigonus, the Hasmonean dynasty ended. Herod the Great, who had been named by the Roman Senate as King of the Jews, took up his duties as sole ruler in Judaea and assumed for himself the title basileus, beginning a Herodian Dynasty (he would rule there for 34 years).

Antony sent his wife Octavia back to Italy pregnant with their 2d child, and Cleopatra joined him in Antioch.

37 BCE

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(Presumably she had left their tiny twins Helios and Selene back home at the palace in Egypt.)

At the naval base of Naples Marcus Vispanius Agrippa was training a great new fleet.

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King Herod the Great began an attempt to restore the splendor of the Great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

This King of the Jews’s Samaritan wife, Malthace, gave birth to Herod Antipatros (who would be nicknamed “Antipas”).

20 BCE

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Judas, son of Hezekiah, Messiah claimant #1.

Simon of Peraea, Messiah claimant #2.

Athronges the shepherd, Messiah claimant #3.

By some estimates, Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem in Roman Palestine.

Herod the Great died and his son Herod Antipas (Herod Antipatros) became Tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea.

4 BCE

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September 11: According to THE BIRTH OF CHRIST RECALCULATED by Ernest L. Martin (a treatise which has been authored subsequent to the September 11, 2001 destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City by terrorists!), Jesus Christ’s date of birth must have been September 11th (in 3 BCE, that is, precisely 2003 years before). This author is basing this calculation in part upon an eclipse of the moon that is known to have occurred shortly before the death of Herod because it was reported by Flavius Josephus in ANTIQUITIES. However, the reason why it never so much as occurred to anybody before, that this lunar eclipse might have been momentous, and that September 11th might actually be Christmas Day, is that until the US was attacked on this day in this manner nobody had learned that this was a day of very special significance. The Moslem terrorists hadn’t so much brazenly assaulted the United States of America, you see, as they had impiously assaulted the entire Christian religion. –The complete, perfectly airtight legitimation story for a Crusade! –Destroy the infidel!

3 BCE

SKY EVENT

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The 1st Roman tax census of Iudaea, with the tax revolt of the Zealots: Judah of Gamala & Saddok the Pharisee [JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 18. 4, THE JEWISH WAR 2. 118].

Judas the Galilean, Messiah claimant #4.

Herod Archelaus was deposed by Augustus Caesar of Rome; Samaria, Judea and Idumea were annexed as the province of Iudaea under direct Roman administration, with its capitol at Caesarea.1

6 CE

1. Roman Emperor Gaius Augustus Octavianus Caesar (43 BCE-14 CE) conducted a joint Judaism and Samaritan hearing.

The Samaritans accused Archelaus (4 B.C - 6 CE) Tetrarch of Judaea and Sumeria, the son of King Herod (40-4 BCE) of cruelty toward the people. Both groups who seldom joined forces demanded the abolition of the monarchy. It is noteworthy that the Zealot sect of Galilee is extremely nationalistic in their beliefs. Caesar Augustus as a result banished Archelaus (4 BCE - 6 CE) the son of Herod (40-4 BCE) to Vienna, a city in Gaul (France) and his property is transferred to Caesar’s treasury. The Essene Judaism sect member Simon had predicted Archelaus fall from power. The Essene is known to be schooled as scribes, seers and prophets. Coponius (6-9 CE) is appointed Roman Prefect of Judaea in Palaestina that is now added to the Province of Syria. Cyrenius a Roman senator is appointed judge of Syria. Judaea effectively became a part of a Roman Province rather than a territory of Syria. During his reign a Galilean named Judas of Gama a Sophist (Zealot teacher, rabbi, or philosophic teacher) incited a revolt against the Roman census being conducted by Quirinius Governor of Syria. Sadduc a Pharisee joined the Judas Zealot movement. Judas and Zaddok (scholar of the school of Shammai) of the Pharisee Judaism sect inflamed the anger of the people against Rome. Joezer the high priest, son of Boethus calmed the popular feelings and prevented revolution during the Coponius reign. At this time the Pharisees Judaism sect do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they see fit but this will shortly change. The Sadducees Judaism sect at this time is not liked by the multitude. The Essenes Judaism sect is excluded from the common court of the temple, are addicted to virtue and righteousness. These Essenes sect share everything in common. The Judaism Zealot Sects or followers of Judas the Galilean have an inviolable attachment to Judaism liberty and they say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. The Zealots do not fear death.

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The taxing of Caesar Augustus reported in LUKE 2:1sq., which specified that this was “the first census while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” This dovetails nicely with Josephus’s account:

Now Quirinius...arrived in Syria with a small contingent, sincehe had been sent out by [Augustus] Caesar to govern the people& assess their wealth. Coponius, a cavalry officer, was sentalong with him with full authority to govern the Jews. SinceJudea had been annexed to Syria, Quirinius also came to assessthem [the Judeans] as well and to sell off Archelaus’ estate.

— JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 18.1-2

The year Josephus specified for this taxation, 6 CE, causes problems because it is a decade after the death of Herod the Great, thus disallowing the accuracy of the account of Jesus’s birth given in MATTHEW. In that year occurred also the rebellion of Judas of Galilee mentioned in ACTS 5:37. This is the event that led to the formation of the rebel movement which Josephus styled “the 4th philosophy” (for details see JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 18.1-23).2 Again LUKE has its chronology and details confused, for it specifically identifies Judas’s revolt as “after” Theudas, when really it had been about a generation earlier. Moreover, Josephus does not support LUKE’s claim that Judas the Galilean “also perished,” if by this it meant “was executed” like Theudas. LUKE may have confused Judas with his sons James (Ya’akov) and Simon (Shim’on), who were executed by the procurator Tiberius Alexander circa 48 CE. Josephus described the latter event in the following manner:

And in addition, James & Simon the sons of Judah the Galilean,who as I pointed out in a previous book had led the people torevolt against the Romans when Quirinius came to assess theproperty of the Jews, were now brought up and crucified by orderof [the Roman procurator Tiberius] Alexander.

— JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 20.102

2.Josephus the historian assigns Judas of Gama (Galilee) a Sophist and Zaddok the Pharisee as being the real founders of the Zealot sect. The Zealot sect inaugurated the eschatological reign of the Kingdom of Heaven for God’s elected people here and now. The Zealots aligned with most of the philosophies of the Pharisees but they are messianic and a revolutionary movement. The Jerusalem Zealots wanted to democratize the high priesthood and are not interested in the messianic expectations. The Galilean Zealots however wanted real far-reaching social change.

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Or, all this confusion may be merely semantics. Quirinius was in fact in the area during the reign of Herod, engaged in the war against the Homanadenses. During that period he would have set up a seat of government and as a consul he would have outranked Saturninus. In 6 CE Quirinius was sent to Syria as legate along with Coponius who would be the first prefect of Judea and a predecessor of Pontius Pilatus. The registration and census of 6 CE is too late to be connected with the birth of Jesus. Additionally, the registration of 6 CE did not include the Galilee. This has long been a stumbling block in the determination of the date of Jesus’ birth and many scholars merely assumed that Luke had made a mistake. In 1912, however, the discovery by W. M. Ramsey of a fragmentary inscription at Antioch of Pisidia arguably established Quirinius was in Syria on a previous occasion. His role was more military to lead a campaign against the Homanadenses, a tribe in the Taurus Mountains. This is confirmed by Tacitus. This means that Quirinius would have established a seat of government in Syria, including Palestine, from the years 10 to 7 BCE. In this position he would have been responsible for the census mentioned by Luke. This census of 7 BCE would therefore have been the “first” census taken when Cyrenius was governor (Luke 2:2) and the historically documented census of 6/7 CE was really the second. There is further evidence of this first census of 7 BCE in the writings of Tertullian who records the census “taken in Judea by Sentius Saturninus.” C. Sentius Saturninus was Legate of Syria from 9 to 6 BCE. Another inscription, the Lapis Tiburtinus, was found in 1764 near Tivoli (Tibur). Composed after 14 CE, the inscription names an unknown personage who was legate of Syria twice. The man is described as having been victorious in war. There is considerable dissension among scholars as to whether the unnamed person is Quirinius.

PVBLIVS SVLPICIVS PVBLII FILIVS QVIRINIVS CONSVL (...) PRAETORPROCONSVL CRETAM ET CYRENEAS PROVINCIAM OPTINVIT LEGATVS PROPRAETORE DIVI AVGVSTI SYRIAM ET PHOENICIAM OPTINENS BELLVM GESSISCVM GENTE HOMONADENSIVM QVAE INTERFECERAT AMYNTAM REGEM QVA REDACTAIN POTESTAM IMPERATORIS CAESARIS AVGVSTI POPVLIQVE ROMANI SENATVSDIS IMMORTALIBVS SVPPLICATIONES BINAS OB RES PROSPERE AB EO GESTASET IPSI ORNAMENTA TRIVMPHALIA DECEVIT PRO CONSVL ASIAM PROVINCIAMOPTINVIT LEGATVS PRO PRAETORE DIVI AVGVSTI ITERVM SYRIAM ETPHOENICEN OPTENVIT

(Roughly, Publius Sulpicius son of Publius Quiriniusthe Consul... made Praetor/Proconsul of the Cretan andCyreneas province. Made Praetor/Legate Syria andPhoenecia by the Divine Augustus to wage war against theHomonadenses who had cut off the King of Amyntas fromLoyal service to Caesar for which Augustus and theSenate and People of Rome gave him a triumph. The DivineAugustus made him Consul for the Province of Asia andPraetor/Legate for Syria and Phoenicia.)

Quirinius obtained his triumph for his victory on the Homonadians [Homonadenses]. Legate in Syria in 751 [3 BCE] and 759 AUC [6 BCE]. He was Consul in 742 AUC [11 BCE].) This would make it appear that LUKE confuses the date of the Triumph of Quirinius with the date of the Census of Quirinius.

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It was at about this point in time that Herod Antipas’s new capital, Tiberias, was being completed.

18 CE

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The Emperor Tiberius semi-retired, to the Campania.

John the Baptist was wandering and preaching. Jesus began his public ministry. John baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.

Pontius Pilate was sent from Rome to be their governor of Judaea.

John the Baptist, Messiah claimant #5, was arrested/killed by Herod Antipas [LUKE 3: 19-20, Josephus].

Jesus’s ministry, foundation years of Christianity, {But after John was handed over to the authorities, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good word of God and saying, “The time has come & the kingdom of God is approaching. Repent & trust in the good word.”}-MARK 1: 14-15 (Gaus) MATTHEW 4: 12, 17, LUKE 4: 14-15, cf. JOHN 4: 1-3, 43-46a; {& he goes up the mountain & calls the ones he wanted to him, & they went to him. And he settled on twelve <whom he also named Apostles (SV) > of them to be with him, and to be sent out by him to spread the word, and to have authority to throw out demons. And he gave Simon the name “Rock” <Aramaic: Kephas; Greek: Petros> [“Peter”] <a fisherman from Bathesda; 1st Pope?; surname: Aramaic: bar-Yonah: Johnson [MATTHEW 16: 17, JOHN 1: 42]; also called Satan! [MARK 8: 33 MATTHEW 16: 23]> and he gave James the son of Zebedee & his brother John <more fishermen, was John the disciple Jesus loved? writer of Gospel of John? only eyewitness recorder?, John the Elder? > the name of Boanerges <Aramaic: b’nai-Rogez?: angry sons?> which means “the Thunder Brothers”; plus Andrew <a Greek name, brother of Peter>, Philip <Greek name, from Bathesda>, Bartholomew <Aramaic: bar Ptolemaios?>, Matthew <a Tax Collector! [MATTHEW 10: 3], Gospel of Matthew?>, Thomas <Gospel of Thomas?, Gnostic?>, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus <Theodotus?>, Simon the Canaanite <a Canaanite? from Cana? a Zealot? (Greek is vague) >, and Judas Iscariot <a devil! [JOHN 6: 70]>, who betrayed him.} -MARK 3: 13-19 (Gaus/Unvarnished NT) MATTHEW 10: 1-4, LUKE 6: 12-16.

26 CE

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At roughly this point in time, Yehoshua bar Yusef, Messiah claimant #6, having succeeded in living a life of compassion and nonviolence, was being remanded back and forth between the Romans under Pontius Pilate and the Jews under Herod Antipas in Jerusalem. After some torture, it seems, at the dump Golgotha outside Jerusalem, he was executed in the usual exemplary manner.

27 CE

Following the death of Jesus Christ there was a periodof readjustment that lasted for approximately onemillion years.

–Kurt Vonnegut, THE SIRENS OF TITAN

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That is, according to MARK 15: 34, Jesus, a Jewish religious leader, was executed on Friday, Nisan 14th, March 30th, 27 CE. –And at three o’clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani,” which translates to “My God, my God, why did you [desert? sacrifice?] me?” The Last Supper would have been on that Thursday evening. (Bear in mind that April 7, 30 CE and April 3, 33 CE also were Fri/14/Nisan dates that would correspond to MARK 15: 34.)

Jesus would be regarded as having said, “Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (MATTHEW 16:28). This would seem to imply that the Second Coming would occur within the lifetime of his contemporaries, and indeed the Apostles would expect Jesus to return before the passing of their generation.

MILLENNIALISM

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Famous Last Words:“What school is more profitably instructive than the death-bed of the righteous, impressing the understanding with a convincing evidence, that they have not followed cunningly devised fables, but solid substantial truth.”

— A COLLECTION OF MEMORIALS CONCERNING DIVERS DECEASED MINISTERS, Philadelphia, 1787

“The death bed scenes & observations even of the best & wisest afford but a sorry picture of our humanity. Some men endeavor to live a constrained life — to subject their whole lives to their will as he who said he might give a sign if he were conscious after his head was cut off — but he gave no sign Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.”

—Thoreau’s JOURNAL, March 12, 1853

399 BCE Socrates drinking the hemlock “Crito, I owe a cock to Æsclepius.”

27 CE Jesus being crucified “It is finished.” [John 19:30]

1415 John Huss being burned at the stake “O, holy simplicity!”

May 30, 1431 Joan of Arc being burned at the stake “Hold the cross high so I may see it through the flames.”

May 4, 1534 Father John Houghton as he was being disemboweled “And what wilt thou do with my heart, O Christ?”

July 6, 1535 Sir Thomas More being beheaded “The King’s good servant, but God’s First.”

1536 Anne Boleyn being beheaded “Oh God, have pity on my soul.”

February 18, 1546 Martin Luther found on his chamber table “We are beggars: this is true.”

July 16, 1546 Anne Askew being burned at the stake “There he misseth, and speaketh without the book”

... other famous last words ...

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DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

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Per ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 9, the conversion of Paul of Tarsus, a Roman citizen and tentmaker and secret agent of the Jerusalem temple.

From this year until 40CE, Herod Agrippa I would be king over the territories formerly ruled by Philip and Lysanias, to which the tetrarchy of Antipas would be added and then Judaea and Samaria. He would so strengthen the walls of Jerusalem that the Roman emperor became alarmed and ordered him “to leave off the building of those walls presently.” As described in Acts 12:1-3, he would imprison Peter and behead James.

Marullus would be the Roman Prefect of Iudaea (Samaria, Judaea, and Idumea).

Stephen of Jerusalem, a Hellenistic Judaeo-Messianic sect leader, angered the Orthodox Judah community by claiming that many of the old biblical traditions were obsolete. He advocated the New Sect break from traditional Temple worship. He accused the Judah religious leaders of being a stubborn people, with pagan hearts and pagan ears always resisting the Holy Spirit. He was executed (36-37) by stoning. Where such a death was by stoning it most likely had authorized by the High Priest, who would have been Jonathan (36-37).

37 CE

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When they stoned him to death, it is said Saul of Tarsus (10-67) alias Paul witnessed the event with self-proclaimed approval. That day a bitter persecution started against the Judaeo-Messianic disciples. Everyone except the apostles fled to the country districts of Judaea and Samaria. Because of the persecution of Stephen some escaped as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. (Then a Sadducee, Theophilus of the house of Annas, became the High Priest of Jerusalem, until 41 CE.)

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The emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus (better known to us as “Caligula”) revived treason trials, proclaimed himself a living God and commanded that he be worshiped in Jerusalem as the King of the Jews.

The worshipful Caligula King of the Jews banished Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Peresa, to Lyons in Gaul on charges of secret alliance with Parthians and for requesting the title of King (Herodias would be joining him there in his exile).

Presumably what this guy was after was a defocusing of the Judaic prophecy according to which a Messiah would come out of the House of David. Deeming the Jews to be insufficiently respectful of his divinity, he ordered that statues of himself as Zeus incarnate be placed in Jerusalem’s Temple, and ordered Petronius, new governor of Syria, to take two legions (some 12,000 legionnaires) into Judaea to enforce that edict.

During the winter he made a trip to the Rhine, and to Gaul.

Tiberius Claudius Drusus (later to become the emperor Claudius) got married with 14-year-old Valeria

39 CE

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Messalina (he would later execute her).

Messalina bore Claudius a daughter (Octavia).

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During this year and the following one, there would be anti-Jewish riots in Antioch.

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Caligula added the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas (Galilee) to that of King Herod Agrippa I.

The army of the Syrian Governor Petronius was camped at Ptolemais on the Mediterranean seacoast due west of Galilee. Petronius was under orders of Caesar Germanicus (Caligula) (39-41) to establish his statue in the Jerusalem Temple. Many tens of thousands of Jews, unarmed with their women and children, approached the Roman army pleading that their Temple in Jerusalem not be profaned and promising their loyalty to Rome. Petronius withdrew his troops to Antioch — and the timely assassination of the Emperor Caligula in 41 would save him from being forced to commit suicide.

40 CE

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January 24: The Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus (Caligula) was assassinated at the age of 19.

The new emperor was Tiberius Claudius Drusus, who would rule under the name Claudius.

He banished Seneca the Younger to Corsica on a charge of adultery with the princess Julia Livilla, the Emperor’s niece.

41 CE

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From this year into 44 CE, Claudius would be adding Judaea and Samaria to the kingdom of Herod Agrippa I.

From this year into 48 CE, Herod of Chalcis, the brother of Herod Agrippa I, would be the king of Chalcis.

Messalina bore Claudius a son, named Tiberius Claudius Britannicus.

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According to ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12: 1-3, King Herod Agrippa I ordered the execution of James, the brother of John.

A large crowd assembled at Jerusalem for the feast of unleavened bread turned on the guards for what they described as not merely an obscene gesture, an insult, but also a blasphemy against God. They began stoning the guards so Ventidius Cumanus, a future Governor (48-52), ordered his 600-man Palestine auxiliary force to prevent a general revolt. Panic seized the crowd and many were trodden underfoot and crushed. Twenty to thirty thousand were killed during this Passover.

44 CE

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There was a Roman victory parade at Camulodunum (Colchester), and a triumph at Rome.

August 7: Having reigned for seven years, King Herod Agrippa I, Messiah claimant #8, died at the age of 53 at Cæsarea during a public festival. When his people, having heard him speak, cried out “It is the voice of a god and not of a man,” he got so perturbed that “an angel of the Lord struck him.” He is described in Acts 12:21-23 as “eaten up by worms,” so he must have been already ill at the time of this stroke or whatever it was. Josephus assures us that an owl had omened the event. After his death, his daughters Mariamne, age 10, and Drusilla, age 6, would be forced into prostitution by Jews from the towns of Cæsarea and Sebaste. C. Cuspius Fadus (44-46) would be appointed Procurator over Samaria, Judaea, and Idumea and would be ordered by Claudius to chastise these two towns.

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Ancient messiah claimants: 1. Judas, son of Hezekiah (4 BCE)

2. Simon of Peraea (4 BCE) 3. Athronges the shepherd (4 BCE)4. Judas the Galilean (6 CE)

5. John the Baptist (circa 26/27 CE) 6. Jesus of Nazareth (circa 28 CE), Jesus Christ7. The Samaritan prophet (36 CE) 8. King Herod Agrippa (44 CE) 9. Theudas (45 CE) 10. The Egyptian prophet (52-58 CE)11. An anonymous prophet (59 CE) 12. Menahem, the son of Judas the Galilean (66 CE) 13. John of Gischala (67-70 CE) 14. Vespasian (67 CE) 15. Simon bar Giora (69-70 CE) 16. Jonathan the weaver (73 CE) 17. Lukuas (115 CE) 18. Simon ben Kosiba (132-135)

C. Cuspius Fadus, the Roman procurator over Samaria, Judaea, and Idumea during this period, had a prophet (magician) named Theudas, Messiah claimant #9, beheaded for rebellion, for persuading a great number of people to follow him to the Jordan River where he would divide the waters. Fadus’s troops also killed any number of the people in this crowd. [JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 20. 97-98, ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5: 36]. (The chronology offered in LUKE is fuzzy, since it has Gamaliel I, well before the procuratorship of Fadus, remind the Sanhedrin of Theudas’s revolt “sometime ago.”)

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Herod Agrippa II was king of Judea, ruling from Chalcis 48-52 CE, and from Iturea 52-93 CE.

48 CE

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According to Josephus’s JEWISH ANTIQUITIES 20. 9. 1, “Being therefore this kind of person [a heartless Sadducee], Ananus [Ananus son of Ananus or Anas son of Ananus: the High Priest of Jerusalem], thinking that he had a favorable opportunity because [Porcius] Festus [Procurator of Judea 59-62 CE] had died and Albinus was still on his way, called a meeting [sanhedrin] of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah, James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned.” James the Just had been a Nazirite and drank no wine or intoxicating liquor and ate no animal food; no razor came near his head, he did not smear himself with oil and took no bath. He alone was permitted to enter the Holy Place, for his garments were not of wool but of linen. James was thrown from the parapet of the Jerusalem Temple and clubbed to death with a fuller’s club, which amounted to murder since neither the High Priest nor the Sanhedrin has the authority to execute, that authority being at the time reserved to the Procurator of Judea. For this act King Herod Agrippa II would take the high priesthood from Ananus, awarding it to Jesus son of Damneus. Albinus the Procurator of Judaea shut his eyes to the seditious activities of Jews against Jews provided they offer bribes. He released from jail all those who could afford ransom. Albinus at first acted firmly against the Zealot Sicarii sect. Since Albinus cooperated with the high priest, Ananus, the Sicarii sect attacked Ananus’s circle in order to pressure Albinus to release Sicarii prisoners. Large numbers of rebels were released into the country. Tyranny reigned everywhere as numerous gangs terrorized the country. Even the various High Priests and anti high priests would be seen physically fighting in the streets.

Also according to Josephus, a Jesus son of Ananias the Sadducee, a peasant, who had for seven years and five months been proclaiming “a voice against Jerusalem” and had previously been arrested and beaten by the Jewish authorities and then released, was in this year stoned to death for speaking prophecy.

CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

62 CE

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The Galileans attacked Sepphoris and Tiberias venting hatred upon the cities, setting fire to the houses and looted everything. Tiberias was friendly to King Herod Agrippa II.

Eleazar, son Ananias the high priest, holding the position of captain persuaded the officials of the Temple to accept no gift or sacrifice from foreigners. This effective blocked any sacrifices offered for Rome and the Emperor. The Pharisees and leading citizens of Jerusalem feared they face an irreparable disaster as a result of this position. All experts agreed that their ancestors had accepted offerings from aliens. The Temple leaders and Zealots would not change the new religious law. The Pharisees sent Saul, Antipas, and Costobar all members of the royal family to beg the Romans to come to Jerusalem before the revolution gets out of hand. Florus is delighted that a pending war is kindling and ordered more troops into the city. Seven days of mutual slaughter resulted. The Sicarii infiltrated the Upper City. The house of Ananias the High Priest and the palaces of King Herod Agrippa II and Bernice were burnt. The public archives were also burnt so that the moneylenders were prevented from the recovery of debts. The High Priest Ananias along with his brother Eezekiah were killed. Menahem and Absalom died on the same day.

A prophet, Messiah claimant #12.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others,such as extensive quotations and reproductions of

66 CE

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images, this “read-only” computer file contains a greatdeal of special work product of Austin Meredith,copyright 2014. Access to these interim materials willeventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup someof the costs of preparation. My hypercontext buttoninvention which, instead of creating a hypertext leapthrough hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems—allows for an utter alteration of the context withinwhich one is experiencing a specific content alreadybeing viewed, is claimed as proprietary to AustinMeredith — and therefore freely available for use byall. Limited permission to copy such files, or anymaterial from such files, must be obtained in advancein writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo”Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Pleasecontact the project at <Kouroo@kouroo.info>.

Prepared: January 7, 2014

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over untiltomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.”

– Remark by character “Garin Stevens”in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

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ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by ahuman. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested thatwe pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of theshoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What thesechronological lists are: they are research reports compiled byARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term theKouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such arequest for information we merely push a button.

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Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obviousdeficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored inthe contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then weneed to punch that button again and recompile the chronology —but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary“writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of thisoriginating contexture improve, and as the programming improves,and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whateverhas been needed in the creation of this facility, the entireoperation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminishedneed to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expectto achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring roboticresearch librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge.Place requests with <Kouroo@kouroo.info>. Arrgh.