Years Covered: 44-66 AD

We chart Jospehus' formative years, which track the steady decline of relations between Rome and Judea, as Rome plunges into debt and civil war, and Judea into anarchy and rule by organized crime. It all culminates in an attack on Masada, and refusal to sacrifice to the health of the Roman Emperor.

Cast of Characters

• Herod Agrippa IIx
• Herod of Chalcis x
• Berenice
• Drusilla
• Queen Helene of Adiabene x
• Izates II x
• Ananias of Adiabene (merchant)
• Elazar of Galilee
• Alexander Lysimachus
• Tiberius Julius Alexander
• Jonathan the High Priest x
• Hanania ben Nadvai x
• Flavius Josephus
• Banus
• Zechariah ben Avkolas
• Kamtza
• Menahem son of Judah
• Salome
• Aristobulus of Chalcis
• James the Just x
• Paul of Tarsus x
• Alytrios
• Princess Symacho

• Emperor Claudius x
• Gaius Marsus
• Cuspius Fadus
• Ventidius Cumanus
• Marcus Antonius Felix
• Porcius Festus
• Lucceius Albinus
• Gessius Florus
• Cestius Gallus
• Nero
• Poppaea Sabina
• Agrippina the Younger x
• Pallas
• Otho
• Sporus

Sources:

War of the Jews - Josephus

Antiquities of the Jews - Josephus

The Book of Acts

The Lives of the Ceasars - Seutonius

The Annals - Tacitus

Talmud Bavli Gittin 55b–56a

Talmud Bavli Sukkah 2b

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Years Covered: 33-44

We continue to followHerod Agrippa—the politically nimble, debt-ridden, charm-wielding, luck-chasing Jewish prince of the early Roman Empire. A family quarrel propels Agrippa into a world of high-stakes intrigue stretching from Tyre to Alexandria, and from the courts of Roman governors to the inner circle of the Julio-Claudians themselves.

Meanwhile, the messiah claimant Jesus of Nazareth is dead, but that's not the end of the story. We also meet Philo of Alexandria, the Jew who tries to bridge the gap between Jewish and Greek thought.

Cast of Charaters

The Jews:

Herodians

-Herod Agrippa I x

-Herod Antipas x

-Herodias x

-Aristobulus

-Cypros

-Berenice

-Herod Agrippa II

-Drusilla

Pharisees and Sadducees

-Caiaphas

-Gamliel the Elder

-Simon bar Hillel

Jewish Christians

-Stephen x

-Simon Peter

-Saul/Paul of Tarsus

-Ananais

Jewish Diaspora

-Alexander Lysimacus

-Philo of Alexandria

-Anilai and Asinai x

The Romans

-Emperor Tiberius x

-Emperor Caligula x

-Emperor Claudius

-Tiberius Gemellus x

-Julia Drusilla x

-Aulus Avilius Flaccus

-Lucius Pomponius Flaccus x

-Lucius Vitellius

-Publius Petronius

-Gaius Vibius Marsus

-Marcellus

-Pontius Pilate

-Thallus

The Greek

-Apion

Sources:

Antiquities of the Jews - Josephus

The War of the Jews - Josephus

On the Embassy to Gaius - Philo of Alexandria

Against Flaccus - Philo of Alexandria

The Book of Acts

The Twelve Caesars - Seutonius

The Annals - Tacitus

The Talmud

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Years Covered: 1bc - 33

Oscar Wilde once said that 'anyone who never lived beyond their means suffered from a lack of imagination'. Herod Agrippa has imagination in spades. Lucky for him, his grandfather's purges are over, but now his friends in Rome are going to start dying. Back in Judea, it's one messiah claimant after another as Judah the Galilean and Jesus of Nazareth enter, and exit, our stage.

Cast of Characters

The Jews:

Herod Agrippa

Herod Archelaus x

Herod Antipas

Hillel x

Shammai x

Caisphas the High Priest

Judas the Galilean x

Jesus of Nazareth x

John the Baptist x

Cypros, wife of Herod Agrippa

Berenice, wife of Herod Antipas

Herodias, Herod Agrippa's sister

Barabbas

Judas Iscariot

Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth

The Romans:

Augustus x

Livia x

Julia, daughter of Augustus

Tiberius

Sejanus x

Publius Quirinius x

Gaius Caesar x

Lucius Caesar x

Agrippa Postumus x

Agrippina The Elder x

Germanicus x

Claudius

Livilla x

Nero Julius Caesar x

Drusus Caesar X

Gaius Caesar (Caligula)

Apicata

Antonia Minor

Aelia Paetina

Marcus Anoninus Pallas

Pontius Pilate

Others:

Glaphyra, widow of Alexander, wife of Herod Archelaus x

Sources:

Antiquities of the Jews - Josephus

War of the Jews - Josephus

Annals - Tacitus

Gospel of Mark

Gospel of Luke

Gospel of Matthew

Tractate Sanhedrin 41a - The Talmud

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.