Christianity spread across the Roman Empire through persecution, cultural adaptation, and the transformation of pagan beliefs ...

Papyri from the Roman Empire provide authentic insight into how Christians in antiquity imagined Joseph and Mary's ...

Was there really a Roman census at the time of Jesus' birth, or is this detail in the Gospel of Luke historically inaccurate?

Protected by Rome and allowed to continue their religion, everything was fine until rebellion in Judaea led to a major change in the practice of their faith. By the beginning of the first century AD, ...

Eli Abt visits the British Museum's Nero exhibition to shed light on the background to Tisha b'Av Become a member Support our work ...

A short life and brutal death was enough to ensure that Jesus’ message of hope and everlasting life would spread across Judaea, across the Empire and ultimately, across the world. One of the farthest ...

When the Roman Empire decided to change the architect of the Roman province of Judea, a historic rebellion was fought by the Jewish residing in that area. Three wars were fought between the Jewish and ...

If the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, two millennia ago, only wanted a complete set of data about the population in Judea, ...

The three Herods mentioned in the Holy Scripture were all notorious for their cruelty. The first was Herod of Ascalon, aka ...

Find today’s readings here. I have recently begun reading Mary Beard’s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, which covers a period of about a thousand years, from Rome’s founding until about A.D. 212 when ...