Archive for August, 2010

Athena Review : Sites and Museums in Roman Gaul: Arles

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Arles (Arelate) was the first Roman town to be built in Gaul after the 49 BC defeat of Pompey’s forces at Marseille (Massilia) by Caesar during the Civil War. Caesar had also constructed his fleet there. A colony for veterans of the Sixth Legion was founded in 46 BC as Colonia Julia Paterna Arelate Sextanorum [...]

The Maccabaean Revolt

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Antiochus IV, ruling his empire including Jerusalem from Syria, wrongly assumed that the worship of Yahweh among the Jews could be transformed into the worship of the universal god, Zeus, as easily as such transformations had been made in his dominions farther east — where Jews worshiped Yahweh under the name of Zeus Sabazions. He [...]

The Book of Ecclesiastes

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

The author of the Old Testament’s Book of Ecclesiastes called himself “the preacher.” And he claimed to be a “son of David,” an expression used commonly to describe oneself as a Jew rather than as an actual son of David. But some in modern times would believe that Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, despite it [...]