Seder Olam Revisited: C35- Talmud
- Albert Benhamou
- 2 days ago
- 30 min read
CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY
Generation 35: Hebrew years 4080-4200 (320-440 CE)
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Introduction
This 35th chronological generation
This 35th chronological generation falls in the cycle of 7 generations which started with the 7th generation of Lamech (see document C07), followed by the 14th generation of the Flood (see document C14), then the 21st generation of the Exodus which represented the first "return to Sion", the Promised Land (see document C21a), followed by the 28th Generation of Sion which witnessed the second return to the Promised Land (see document C28), after the Babylonian captivity. As detailed before, God intervened in His creation every 7 generations of mankind (see document C21a, year 1306 BCE).
Now this 35th generation represents both the punishment of God against the last great empire, Rome, and the return to the faith for the Jews: after the destruction of their physical nation by Rome, the Jewish nation became spiritual, only relying on their faith, while Rome had to abandon their pagan customs and adopt a monotheist religion, Christianity. Most of the Book of the Zohar was also consigned before the end of this generation and kept secret until it will be revealed some 1000 years later by a Jewish scholar in Spain.
Hebrew Year | CE | Event | Source |
4080 | 320 | The school of Pumbedita | Talmud of Babylon |
4080 | 320 | Oshaia and Bereshit Rabbah | |
4085 | 325 | Council of Nicaea | |
4086 | 326 | The first 4 churches in the Holy Land | |
4090 | 330 | Byzanteum | |
4091 | 331 | Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus | Eusebius, Life of Constantine, IV, 36 |
4093 | 333 | The pilgrim of Bordeaux | Itinerarium Burdigalense |
4110 | 350 | Tabula Peutingeriana | |
4110 | 350 | Rabbi Hamnuna, rotation of the Earth | Zohar IV, 10a |
4111 | 351 | Jewish revolt against Gallus | |
4119 | 359 | Hillel II, the Jewish calendar | |
4122 | 362 | Julien orders to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem | The works of Emperor Julian |
4123 | 363 | Galilee earthquake | |
4146 | 386 | John Chrysostom | |
4148 | 388 | Christians burn the synagogue of Callinicum (Syria) | Ambrose, letter XL to Theodosius |
4155 | 395 | Theodosius imposes Christianity as state religion; split of the empire | |
4160 | 400 | The Talmud of Jerusalem | |
4165 | 405 | The Vulgate | |
4170 | 410 | The sack of Rome by Alaric | |
4185 | 425 | End of the Sanhedrin | |
4211 | 451 | The Huns are repelled from the western empire | |
4231 | 471 | Assassination of the last nassi | Talmud, Sanhedrin, 97b |
Year 4080 – 320 CE – The school of Pumbedita
Rabba bar Nahmani was the head of the school of Pumbedita, in Babylonia, and one of the leading Amoraim of the third generation. It was a time when, after the completion of the Mishna in Judea with Judah the Prince (see document C33b, year 180 CE), the Jewish community of Babylonia set themselves to the task of compiling the commentaries that completed the original work: this became the Talmud of Babylon, or Talmud Babli in Hebrew. It took several generations of disciples to complete: they were called the Amoraim to distinguish from the Tanaim who compiled the Mishna. The main centers of Jewish life at the time were in the cities of Sura, Pumbedita (near modern-day Fallujah, Iraq) and Nehardea (near modern-day Ramadi, Iraq).
Babylonia, at the time, was under the Sassanid rulers, who replaced the Parthians, while Rome lost these eastern provinces and retreated to the borders of Syria-Palestina. The Sassanids offered religious freedom and one of their early leaders, Shapur, had befriended one of the Talmudist of Babylonia, the amora Samuel (who died in 257 CE). A subsequent leader, Shapur II, renewed similar friendly ties with another amora called Raba (not to be confused with Rabba bar Nahmani). It is said that Shapur II who reigned all his life, from the moment he was born in 309 until his death in 379, had a Jewish mother. Here is an anecdote about her.
Once, a certain man was sentenced by the court of Raba to receive corporal punishment because he had intercourse with a gentile woman. Raba had the man punished but he died.
The matter reached the ears of King Shapur [II] and he sought to punish Raba. Whereupon Ifra Hormuz, the mother of King Shapur said to her son: 'Do not interfere with the Jews because whatever they ask of their God, He grants them.' The king asked her, 'For example?' - 'They pray, and rain falls [she replied].' He retorted: 'This must have been because it is the season for rain; let them pray now, in the [summer] period of Tammuz for rain.' She sent a message to Raba: 'Concentrate now your mind and pray for rain.' He prayed but no rain fell. He then exclaimed: 'Master of the Universe, O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us; a work You did in their days, in the days of old.’ [Psalms 44,2]. But as for us we have not seen [it] with our eyes. Whereupon there followed such a heavy fall of rain that the gutters of Mahuza [the place where Raba lived] emptied their waters into the Tigris. (Talmud, Taanit, 24b)
Raba and Rabba bar Nahmani's nephew, Abaye, are numerously quoted in the Talmud. Abaye's family was said to be descended from the priestly House of Eli and thus were under the divine decree to live shorter lives than the other Levites (see document C23a, year 1072 BCE). His uncle Rabba ben Nahmani died at the age of 40, in year 320, but Abaya died older in year 339 at the age of 60 (Talmud, Yevamoth, 105a).
Raba is mentioned in one portion of the Talmud about the size of the Earth:
Raba said: The world is six thousand parasangs and the thickness of the heaven [rakia’] is one thousand parasangs; the first one [of these statements] is a tradition, while the other is [based on] reason. (Talmud, Pesachim, 94a)
The famous Jewish commentator Rashi, of Medieval times, assumed that this measurement was for the diameter of the Earth. But it must have referred to a circumference, which is a distance to walk, rather than a virtual diameter.
The parasang was a unit of distance used in Persia. It had the value of about 5.5 km. Other units widely used in the Talmud are the mil, which was a quarter of a parasang thus about 1375 m, and the cubit which was one 2000th of a mil, thus 0.69 m. But these values differ a bit depending on regions. For example, in Egypt the cubit was about half a meter. Yet, if we use the Persian measurement model, which was used by the Talmudists of Babylon, the world has a circumference of 6000 parasangs which is equivalent to about 6000 x 5.5 km = 33,000 km.
How does this number comply with science? The circumference of the Earth is known to be about 40,000 km, but at the Equator latitude. Pumbedita, which was located near today city of Fallujah in Iraq, is at the latitude of 33.35o, so the circumference of the Earth at this latitude is reduced by the factor of Cosinus (33.35o) = 0.8353. Thus, the circumference of the Earth at the latitude of Pumbedita is 40,000 km x 0.8353 = 33,400 km. This value is very close to the “tradition” that Raba mentioned, without having been able to confirm it by measurement ! In comparison, Jerusalem is located at a latitude of 31.8o, giving a circumference of 34,000 km, which is close enough too.
Some people believe that Rabba found out about the radius of the Earth from the work of Greek astronomer Ptolemy of Philadelphia (ca. 200 BCE). But this is not the case for two main reasons: (a) Ptolemy had his own method about this measurement, different from Rabba who referred to 6000 parasangs, and (b) the Talmud mentions that this knowledge was passed to Rabba by “tradition” whereas the second assertion is mentioned to be known by “reason” (meaning the human knowledge that the Mesopotamians and the Greeks had).
About Abaye's knowledge of Astronomy, here is a passage of the Talmud that shows he was also perfectly aware that a seasonal cycle was of 28 years:
Our Rabbis taught: He who sees the sun at its turning point [at the start of a new season, at every equinox or solstice], the moon in its power [at the Spring equinox, in month Nisan, the tides are the strongest on Earth due to the Moon], the planets in their orbits [according to a certain alignment], and the signs of the zodiac in their orderly progress [according to a slow movement now known as the precession of the equinoxes], should say: Blessed be He who has wrought the work of creation. And when [does this solar turning point happen]? — Abaye said: Every twenty-eight years when the cycle begins again and the Nisan [Spring] equinox falls in Saturn on the evening of Tuesday [the day when the Sun and the Moon were both created, thus initiating their combined effects to render a cycle], going into Wednesday. (Talmud, Berachoth, 59b)
This solar cycle, already known to the Sages of the Talmud, has only been discovered in 1843 by the German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe who noticed it too. This astronomical observation has been translated into the common calendar with the addition of leap years: a leap year occurs every 4 years and adds one day to the calendar on that year. As this extra day could fall on any day of a week of 7 days, the cycle comes back to the same day after 4 x 7 years, thus 28 years.
Another contemporary rabbi of this time was Rabbi Aha ben Jacob who dealt with mysteries and was also an exorciser. He commented on the opinion of the “Sages”, meaning the secular Jewish thinkers and the non-Jewish ones, about the Earth which was known to them to be of round shape. The question then evolved about whether the Earth was spinning, and the rest of the skies was immobile, or the contrary:
Our Rabbis taught: The Sages of Israel [the Jewish philosophers] maintain: The ‘galgal is stationary while the ‘mazzaloth’ [the stars] revolve; while the Sages of the nations of the world [the Greek and Roman philosophers] maintain: The ‘galgal’ revolves and the ‘mazzaloth’ are stationary. Rabbi observed: This disproves their view: we never find the Wain [Ursa Major] in the south or Scorpio in the north. To this Rabbi Aha ben Jacob demurred: Perhaps it is like the pivot of a millstone, or like the door socket? (Talmud, Pesachim, 94b)
Some modern readers read this passage of the Talmud as saying that the ancient Hebrews also believed that the Earth was immobile and that the heavens evolved around it. This assumption was caused by a misinterpretation of the word galgal (גלגל) which means ‘revolving’ so was thought to be the Earth. But nowhere in the Talmud is the Earth referred to as galgal. And the assumption is contradicted by the rest of the passage with the opinion of Rabbi Aha that the Earth spins around an axis, which can indeed be described as a millstone turning around a central pivot.
So, what is the word galgal? It is used in the context of what the Greco-Roman world believed in these times, and more precisely since the Greek astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria stated that the stars (the mazzaloth) were attached to a “ceiling” called firmament, which is stationary hence its name as derived from “firm”. The Jewish Sages explained their mistake by stating that it is the galgal, and not the mazzaloth, which is stationary. The galgal is what is now known as the "celestial sphere" (not the Earth itself). The "celestial sphere" is an imaginary sphere centered on the center of the Earth with an imaginary radius (greater than the one of the Earth) and upon which the stars are observed. So, the celestial sphere uses a point of reference being the center of the Earth, which is nearly stationary, as opposed to any observation point of a human located on the surface of the Earth. As Rabbi Aha explained: like the door socket meaning the hinges of the door are the galgal while the edges of the door are the Earth surface or the stars which all rotate in comparison to the hinges.
This spinning concept is key to explain, for example, the parallax which is the difference of angle between the observation from the surface of the Earth to the real location of a celestial object (Sun, Moon, stars, etc.) compared to the position (imaginary fixed center) of the Earth. So, when the Sages explained that the galgal is stationary, they meant that the reference point centered on the Earth ought to be stationary for the purpose of observation of the celestial objects: this was notably important for them to fix the day to day Hebrew calendar and to determine the New Moon. And, similarly, in this observation, the stars would seem to be revolving. In contrast, the Greek and Roman astronomers believe the stars to be stationary. The Ptolemaic system was later also endorsed by Christianity and was finally contradicted at the time of Copernicus.
Year 4080 – 320 CE – Oshaia and Bereshit Rabbah
Around 320, in Roman Palestina, a Talmudist of the third generation by the name of Oshaia (also written Hoshaia or Oshaya) composed a Midrashic work on the first book of the Torah, Genesis (Bereshit in Hebrew): it was called Bereshit Rabbah (or Genesis Rabbah in English). This paved the way for other works of this "Midrashic" value, made of tales, parables and commentaries that helped understand the Biblical text, as opposed to "Halachic" works which focused on the laws and the implementation of divine commandments. This Midrashic approach was, and still is, extremely popular in the broad part of the Jewish world. In total, between the year 300 CE and the year 1000 CE, several works will be published as complement to the books of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and form today what is called the Midrash Rabbah.
Oshaia died in 350 CE and is buried in Peki'in, Galilee, Northern Israel.
Year 4085 – 325 CE – The Council of Nicaea
In 325, Constantine convened a meeting of the Christian bishops of the empire in the city of Nicaea (modern-day Iznik in Turkey). The goal was to define the perimeter of the Christian religion and clarify its difference compared to other faiths such as Arianism (who was a prominent Christian movement at the time) and Judaism. One main controversy among the various Christian movements was to decide the nature of Jesus in relation to God: the Council decided that God, His son Jesus and the Holy Spirit formed one single entity called God (this divine entity was called the Trinity), whereas Arianism considered that Jesus was a human messenger of God and not the deity itself.
In terms of art in Early Christianity, it also meant that Jesus was not represented in human forms, because his nature was divine, but rather in allegoric figure such as a lamb, a shepherd, a fish, a peacock, a deer and so on. Why a lamb? Because the sacrifice of Jesus was associated with the sacrifice of Isaac in the Biblical narrative: while the lamb was sacrificed instead of Isaac at the time of Abraham, Jesus was sacrificed to redeem humanity from the Original Sin.
But the debate about Jesus in human form was to be reopened during the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE.
Concerning the separation from the Jewish religion, the Council decided to set arbitrary new dates for the Christian religious festivals, breaking away from the traditional Jewish calendar. And to facilitate the adoption of Christianity throughout the Roman empire, these arbitrary dates were often picked according to existing pagan festivals so that the populations of the empire won't feel that there was much of a change in religion. For example, the date of Christmas was set to match the pagan festival of Sol Invictus (meaning Unconquered Sun). This festival used to mark the "victory" of the Sun over the period of darkness (winter) and set at the time of the Solstice of Winter on 21st December.
The main contention with the Hebrew calendar was the set of the date of Easter, because Jesus was assumed to have been judged and crucified at the beginning of the Passover Jewish festival. So, until then, the Christians had to rely on the Rabbinic statement about the start of the month of Nisan, to calculate the date for Passover on 15 Nisan. To remove this dependency on Jewish practice, the Council of Nicaea decided that the Rabbinic Court could no longer be relied upon about these calendar matters, and that they should instead observe the spring equinox by themselves to determine the correct date of the crucifixion of Jesus.
And in the first place, it seemed very unworthy for us to keep this most sacred feast following the custom of the Jews, a people who have soiled their hands in a most terrible outrage, and have thus polluted their souls, and are now deservedly blind. Since we have cast aside their way of calculating the date of the festival, we can ensure that future generations can celebrate this observance at the more accurate time which we have kept from the first day of the passion until the present time. (Emperor Constantine, following the Council of Nicaea; to read it, click here)
And this council set the date for Easter on a Sunday, because the crucifixion was assumed to have taken place on a Friday and thus the Resurrection, on the third day, was on Sunday. So, the date of Easter now rarely falls on a same day than the Jewish Passover. Also, an official text as above, declaring the Jews to be responsible for the death of Jesus, as understated by a people who have soiled their hands in a most terrible outrage, and who are now deservedly blind, created the context of the official hatred of the Jews in the Christian world. And, as Constantine, the Roman emperor, allowed Christianity as an official religion of the empire, the empire could not politically be held responsible for any participation in the death of Jesus! So, it was a necessity to blame the Jews as a scapegoat. The Council of Nicaea really marked the turning point of anti-Jewish resentment within the Roman empire which was to become Christian over the next decades.
Year 4086 – 326 CE – The first churches of the Holy Land
Following Constantine’s acceptance of the Christian religion in the empire, his old mother Helena toured the Roman Palestina province to trace the places where Jesus stepped foot. She did so in 326 CE, accompanied by Macarius, the Bishop of Jerusalem. She decreed the construction of the four first official churches in the “Holy Land”:
the Anastasia in Jerusalem (its name means Resurrection in Greek, the church being dedicated to the resurrection rather than the crucifixion), which was later rebuilt as the Saint Sepulcher,
the Nativity in Bethlehem, built above the cave where Jesus was born,
the Church of the Eleona on the Mount of Olives (the ruins of this church were discovered in the 20th century where the convent of Pater Noster is today located),
the Church of Abraham in Alon Mamre, Hebron (the church was dedicated to the early Christian cult of the Biblical patriarch Abraham).
To build the Anastasia church, they had to destroy the Roman temple dedicated to Aphrodite which was built at the time of Hadrian some 200 years previously (see document C33a, year 131 CE). In the rubble of the destruction, Helena was credited by Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, of having found the relics of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
The Eleona was dedicated to the ascension of Jesus, 40 days after the resurrection. As the ascension was stated in the scriptures of having taken place on the mount of the Olives, the church was called Eleona, which means olive in Greek. But the name Eleona was also a hint at the name of the benefactor, Queen Helena. This church was destroyed by the Persians or the Arabs in the 8th century and its location was lost over the centuries that followed until it was discovered by chance towards the end of the 19th century when construction works started for the building of a convent for Carmelite nuns and a church for the Pater Noster.
As of the church in Hebron, it was chosen so because early Christians decided that this was the place where Abraham met the three angels who came to announce the coming birth of Isaac, as three magii also came for the birth of Jesus. Eusebius of Caesarea mentioned:
The oak of Abraham [which is also Mamre, was pointed out up to the time of Constantine, emperor of Rome] and his tomb are seen there [a church has been constructed there by us]. The terebinth where angels were entertained by Abraham is openly revered by the people (in the vicinity as a religious place). (Eusebius of Caesaria, Onomasticon, entry for Arbo' as Kiriat-Arba)
Abraham was considered an important figure by the early Church, until the time of the Crusades. Many of his actions were considered as pre-figurations of what was to come with Jesus.
After Helena's visit to Jerusalem in 326, the city started to gain in importance compared to Caesaria, which was the official capital of Roman Palestine. More and more Christian pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem over the following years and Caesaria declined into a mere passage city. The land was considered Terra Sancta, “the Holy Land”.
The commerce of products issued from the Holy Land started to develop: olive oil, wine, etc. even relics. To transport the wine, new recipients called amphoras (a container with two handles, thus the Greek prefix amphi, and pointed bottom) were made. The commerce of wine was so good that even the Nabataeans (in the Southern part of the land) started to settle down at the edge of the desert and grow vineyards. And, to facilitate their dealings, they also converted to Christianity.
Helena died in 327 or 330 and was later canonized as Saint Helena.
Year 4090 – 330 CE – Byzantium
In 330, Constantine moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, an old but small Greek city, which had been rebuilt during the reign of Septimius Severus. Constantine liked the location of the city, at the entrance of the Bosphorus, linking Europe and Asia. After his death in 367, the city was renamed Constantinople in his honor and remained so-called even after the fall of the Byzantium empire in 1453 and its conquest by the Muslims. The city was only renamed Istanbul after the establishment of modern-day Turkey in 1923.
Year 4091 – 331 CE – Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus
An official religion also deserved an official “code”. In 331, Constantine ordered to compile fifty copies of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, in Greek language and to send them to each bishopric city across the empire: this compilation was to form the single unique canon of the Christian religion. The project was led by Eusebius, bishop of Caesaria.
For the Old Testament, this was to be derived from the Septuagint. In Jewish Tradition, the original translation of the Septuagint has been lost, because the Christian Fathers, when they were tasked to write down an official Christian Bible (with both Old and New Testaments), were faced with multiple variations of the texts. In addition, they turned some of the original Greek translation of the Septuagint into a changed wording in Greek that would be more appropriate to Christian readers. The role of this official Christian Bible was to educate, as stated by Constantine himself to Eusebius:
It happens, through the favoring providence of God our Savior, that great numbers have united themselves to the most holy church in the city which is called by my name. It seems, therefore, highly requisite, since that city is rapidly advancing in prosperity in all other respects, that the number of churches should also be increased. Do you, therefore, receive with all readiness my determination on this behalf.
I have thought it expedient to instruct your Prudence to order fifty copies of the sacred Scriptures, the provision and use of which you know to be most needful for the instruction of the Church, to be written on prepared parchment in a legible manner, and in a convenient, portable form, by professional transcribers thoroughly practiced in their art.
The catholicus of the diocese has also received instructions by letter from our Clemency to be careful to furnish all things necessary for the preparation of such copies; and it will be for you to take special care that they be completed with as little delay as possible. (Eusebius, Vita Constantini “Life of Constantine”, IV, 36; to read the full text online, click here)
The two oldest copies of the Christian Bible date from the 4th century. One is known as Codex Vaticanus because it has been held at the library of the Vatican since the 14th century or earlier, and the other is known as Codex Sinaiticus because it was discovered in the Monastery of Mount Sinai in the 19th century and was purchased by the British Library later on (this codex has been posted online by the British Library; to view it, click here).
However, it is not certain that these two copies were among the 50 original ones ordered by Constantine because they are not identical texts. Surprisingly, the differences are more noticeable in the New Testament parts (to read more about the differences between the two codices, click here).
Year 4093 – 333 CE – The pilgrim of Bordeaux
It may be in the context of this project of the official compilation of a Christian Bible that a pilgrim travelled from Bordeaux, France, to the Holy Land. History has not kept his name but the notes he took of his itinerary have remained and are known as Itinerarium Burdigalense. This text is most probably the earliest account of a Christian traveler to the Holy Land. Many will follow. The style is very brief, and the author was just noting distances and main references of the Bible about the mentioned places. The account also mentioned that the tomb of David was in Bethlehem, his birthplace, as opposed to Jewish tradition which follows the Hebrew Torah that states he was buried in the “City of David” (the original city of Jerusalem):
Not far from thence [Bethlehem] is the tomb of Ezekiel, Asaph, Job, Jesse, David, and Solomon, whose names are inscribed in Hebrew letters upon the wall as you go down into the vault itself. (Itinerarium Burdigalense, for the full text, click here)
About Year 4110 – 350 CE – The Tabula Peutingeriana
A map of roads across the Roman empire was first published in the 15th century CE. However, it was based on a 6.75 meters long manuscript of the map from much older times, a time when Byzantium was just founded, and when the Roman empire had not split yet. Thus, it was dated around 350 CE. This timeframe also matches the efforts of Constantine and his successors to unify the new empire under one religion, one codex, and why not, one geographical map of their dominions.
This famous map also covers the Roman Palestine, former Judea province, with main cities and Roman distances between them. On the extract below, from left to right, we can see the following locations:
Mons Syna: Mount Sinai.
Haela (modern-day Eilat): this is the ancient outpost in the gulf of Aqaba, where the X Legion Fretensis settled after they moved out of Jerusalem; it is known that this legion moved there around 300 CE (see document C34, year 300 CE), so the map cannot be considered earlier than that year.
Addranam: probably an outpost in the valley of the Arava, north from modern day Eilat and Aqaba; two roads start from there, one along the Jordanian side passing though Petris (Petra), the other along the Negev desert following the spices road of the Nabataeans.
The road on the Jordanian side splits at the south of the Dead Sea, one arm reaching Philadelphia (modern-day Amman), the other joining the previous Negev road and reaching Herusalem (Jerusalem) also called Aelia Capitolina.
We can also see Herichonte (Jericho), Scytopolis (former Biblical Beth-Shean, now capital of Palestina Secunda, former capital of the Decapolis), Tyberias.
From Tyberias to the Sea, we see Tyro (Tyre), Ptolomaide (Acre), Thora (Dora, modern-day Dor), Cesaria (Caesarea, administrative capital of Palestina Prima), Appolloniade (ruins of Appolonia in Israel, also known by its earlier name Arsuf), Joppe (Jaffa), Ascalone (Ashkelon).
In the road between Jerusalem and Caesarea, we notice the city of Neapolis (modern-day Nablus, former Biblical Sichem)
What is important to note in this map is the relative importance of the city of Jerusalem, named both Herusalem and Helya Capitolina. Before the time of this map, the city was just a military 'colony' where the X Legion had been stationed, then changed into a 'polis'. The major cities of the Byzantine empire in the region were Caesarea and Scythopolis (Beth-shean). But obviously, since Christianity became authorized in the empire, Jerusalem gained back its fame and name, which had been lost during the time of the Roman empire.
About Year 4110 – 350 CE – Rabbi Hamnuna and the Rotation of the Earth
The controversy about the Christian versus Hebrew calendar led some Jewish scholars to look more into these issues. The head of the rabbinical academy of Sura in Babylonia, Rabbi Hamnuna the Elder, explained the following in a book that has been lost. But some extracts have fortunately been recorded in the Zohar:
In the Book of Rabbi Hamnuna the Elder it is explained further that all the inhabited world is circular like a ball, so that some are above and some are below, and the strange appearances of certain races are due to the nature of the air, but they live as long as other men. Further, there is a part of the world where it is light when in another part it is dark, so that some have night while others have day. Also, there is a place where it is always day and where there is no night save for a very short time. All this account which is found in the books of the Ancients and in the Book of Adam is confirmed by Scripture, which says: "I will give thanks unto You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderful are Your works." [Psalms 139:14 and other passages from the same Psalm 139] (The Zohar IV, 10a)
Without having travelled the seas, it was known to the Rabbis of these times that the Earth was round in shape, that it rotated around an axis which caused day and night in different parts of the world. Also, that there are farthest parts of the Earth where days last longer and where the sun barely sets (as it is the case towards the Poles in the local summertime).
About Year 4111 – 351 CE – Jewish revolt against Gallus
Emperor Constantius II, son of Constantine, pursued the policy of his father to promote Christian religion. This resulted in more pressing Christian proselytism in Judea which caused the Jews to rebel against religious persecutions. While he waged war in the east against the Sassanid Empire, he appointed his cousin Gallus to rule over Judea. A rebellion soon broke out, and the Jews obtained some initial success. But Gallus sent his army commanded by General Ursicinus in 351 who finally crushed the revolt and destroyed many cities such as Tiberias, Sepphoris, and Diospolis (previously called Lydda and modern-day Lod). However, some scholars consider that the destruction of these cities was caused a few years later by the massive earthquake which shook the Galilee region and the rest of the Holy Land in 363.
After his campaign, Ursicinus ordered several thousand Jews to be executed, among which the leader of the revolt who was called Patricius (meaning Patrick) by the Greeks and Christians but was referred as Rabbi Apotoriki in the Talmud (Baba Metzia 5a).
Year 4119 – 359 CE – Hillel II sets the Jewish Calendar
Due to the rise of Christian persecutions against Jews, and defiance against the Jewish authority of the Sanhedrin, it was no longer possible for Jews to rely exclusivity on visual observations in Jerusalem to determine the time of their festivals. Importantly the date of Passover had become a cause of disagreement with the Christians since the Council of Nicaea. So, the nassi Hillel II decided to set a Jewish Calendar based on lunisolar computations, a decision that proved important to Jewish communities in the entire Diaspora. His principles of calendar computation are the same ones being used in modern-day State of Israel to determine the dates for Passover on the 15th of the month of Nisan.
Year 4122 – 362 CE – Julian orders to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem
The emperor Julian, although being from the family of Emperor Constantine, his uncle, diverted from Christian influence and wanted to restore the Roman pagan cults. He oppressed the Christians, who called him Julian the Apostate. Paradoxically, he was lenient towards the Jews who he considered the victims of Roman policies thus far, so they called him Julian the Hellene (because he was keen about Greek philosophy, but also because Hellene was epithet with the word Pagan in these times). In a letter to their community, led by Hillel II, he announced that he will order to rebuild Jerusalem and its Temple, before setting off for his campaign in Persia:
In times past, by far the most burdensome thing in the yoke of your slavery has been the fact that you were subjected to unauthorized ordinances and had to contribute an untold amount of money to the accounts of the treasury. Of these, I used to see many instances with my own eyes, and I have learned of more [of them], by finding the records which are preserved against you. Moreover, when a tax was about to be levied on you again, I prevented it and compelled the impiety of such obloquy to cease here; and I threw into the fire the records against you that were stored in my desks; so that it is no longer possible for anyone to aim at you such a reproach of impiety. […]
And since I wish that you should prosper yet more, I have admonished my brother Iulus (1), your most venerable patriarch, that the levy [apostole] which is said to exist among you should be prohibited (2), and that no one is any longer to have the power to oppress the masses of your people by such exactions; so that everywhere, during my reign, you may have security of mind, and in the enjoyment of peace may offer more fervid prayers for my reign to the Most High God, the Creator, who has deigned to crown me with his own immaculate right hand. […]
This you ought to do, in order that, when I have successfully concluded the war with Persia, I may rebuild by my own efforts the sacred city of Jerusalem, which for so many years you have longed to see inhabited, and may bring settlers there (3), and, together with you, may glorify the Most High God therein. (Julian, The works of the Emperor Julian, edit. And trans. By Wilmer Cave Wright, 1923, volume 3, p. 179, Letter 51 “to the community of the Jews”, written from Antioch in late 362 CE or early 363 CE)
Notes from the above text:
It was Hillel II, who was then about 70 years old and who died two years later.
Levy paid by the Diaspora Jews in support for the Christian authority in Judea.
Jerusalem was forbidden to Jews after the repression of Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE.
Year 4123 – 363 CE – Galilee earthquake
The works of the reconstruction of the Temple started but were soon abandoned due to a massive earthquake which was considered as a divine omen, reminding the old Jewish prophecy that the Third Temple will not be built until the time of the Messiah. This earthquake occurred in May 363 and is known as the “Galilee Earthquake”. Confirmation of this earthquake have been found in the excavations of Hippos-Sussita, a city built in the 2nd century BCE on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and destroyed by two subsequent earthquakes in 363 CE and 745 CE (to read about it, click here for an article of October 2014).
This earthquake destroyed the major city of Scythopolis (Biblical Beth-shean), which was capital of Palestina Secunda. As the city appears in the Tabula Peutingeriana map, it proves that this map was somehow made before the city's destruction of 363 CE.
As of Emperor Julian, he was mortally wounded in battle in June 363 during his campaign in Persia. His body was taken back to Tarsus and was later reburied in Constantinople where his tomb still stands today near Emperor Constantine and the rest of their family. Julian was the last non-Christian Roman emperor.
A cursing tablet has been discovered near the City of David, close to the Old City of Jerusalem, which contains a Greek inscription on lead metal from a semi-Christian-Pagan woman called Kyrilla against so-called people she called lennys. The tablet has been discovered alongside other artifacts inside a big mansion belonging to this Kyrilla. The mansion was destroyed at the time of the earthquake, so it seems contemporary to the reign of Julian. These lennys could have been the officers of Julian the Hellene who ordered to rebuild the Jewish Temple. Kyrilla's mansion may have been exposed to the works on the Temple Mount and part of it appropriated by those who officed on these works. A Christian woman may indeed have cursed Emperor Julian who was considered as apostate (for more information, see article of about October-November 2013 from Live Science).
Year 4146 – 386 CE – John Chrysostom
In its earliest days, at the time of Jesus and his brother James the Just, Jews exclusively composed the Christian world. Both being religious Jews, they had not cut off from Jewish traditions, and their disciples were Jews or converted Jews. Paul the Apostle was the first one to convert Pagans, and to remove all Jewishness from being Christian: circumcision, dietary laws, respect of the Shabbat, and so on, were no longer required to follow the new faith. Over time, the Roman empire turned Christian but there were still some pockets of Jewish communities attached to the early principles of Christianity: in their belief, Jesus was the Messiah according to the Jewish scriptures. The hardship endured by the Jews in these times were seen as the signs of messianic times.
One important Judeo-Christian community was in the city of Antioch, which had a large Jewish community from the times of the Greek conquest. But one of the Christian Fathers, called John Chrysostom (347-407), was determined to change the situation. He was a skilled preacher and wrote against the acceptance of Jews inside the new Christian community unless they would renounce to their Jewish faith. In truth, the situation of these Judeo-Christians was offering impossible dilemma since the Council of Nicaea decided to cut off all Jewish features from the Christian life. Festivals were no longer falling on the same date, for example for Passover and Easter. The writings of Chrysostom were considered as some of the first "antisemitic" publications, although the term didn't formally exist until the 19th century.
After the death of Julian in 379, the Roman empire went through some turmoil again, but it was reunified once more under the reign of Theodosius, who succeeded Julian and reigned until 395. He however had less and less control over the power of the religious Christian leaders. In one example, a mob incited by the bishop of Callinicum (north-western Mesopotamia, in today's Syria), attacked the Jews and burned down their synagogue in 388. Theodosius issued a decree that the bishop would rebuild it at his own expense. But the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, issued a protest to the emperor in which he barely hid some possible divine threat or curse upon the ruler:
Shall the Jews write this inscription on the front of their [rebuilt] synagogue: “The temple of impiety, erected from the plunder of Christians”? But, perhaps, the cause of discipline moves you, O Emperor. Which, then, is of greater importance, the show of discipline or the cause of religion? It is needful that judgment should yield to religion. Have you not heard, O Emperor, how, when Julian had commanded that the temple of Jerusalem should be restored, those who were clearing the rubbish were consumed by fire? Will you not beware lest this happen now again? For you ought not to have commanded what Julian commanded. But what is your motive? Is it because a public building of whatever kind has been burnt, or because it was a synagogue? (Ambrose, Letter XL, letter to Emperor Theodosius, to read it online, click here)
Theodosius finally cancelled his decree, and the synagogue was never rebuilt.
Year 4155 – 395 CE – Theodosius imposes Christianity and splits the Empire
A few months before his death in 395, Theodosius took two major decisions: first, he imposed Christianity as the only authorized religion of the Roman Empire, making all other religions illegal, and second, he decided to split the Empire between his two sons, Honorius in the west and Arcadius in the east. This divide between east and west has remained the same until today, as it caused the divide between the Eastern (Orthodox) churches and the Western (Roman) church.
Year 4160 – 400 CE – Completion of the Talmud of Jerusalem
Efforts to compile the additional explanations to the Mishna were led by Jewish scholars (the so-called Amoraim) in both religious centers of Galilee and Babylonia. But religious pressure and persecutions were harder in the Land of Israel under the Roman-Christian authorities. So, the Jewish scholars were eager to complete their work at the soonest. They compiled their version of the Gemara (addition to the Mishna) around 400 CE in the city of Tiberias, where the Sanhedrin had moved from Sepphoris after the death of Judah ha-Nassi (the Prince) in 219 CE: the Mishna combined with the Gemara is called the Talmud of Jerusalem, in reference to the Jewish scholars. The so-called Talmud of Babylon was completed 100 years later and is more exhaustive for Jewish practice. Although the Talmud of Babylon became the official Talmud, the Talmud of Jerusalem nonetheless has interesting laws that are more pertinent to the life in the Land of Israel.
Year 4165 – 405 CE – The Vulgate
In 382, Jerome (Hieronymus) was given the task to translate the Old Testament into Latin and did so by basing his work on the Greek version known by Christian scholars at the time. He completed it in 384 but was expelled from Rome a year later and settled in Bethlehem, living in the cave of the Nativity of Jesus. There he improved his knowledge of Hebrew language and noticed the mistakes done by the Greek version of the Bible. He thus tasked himself to re-translate the entire Old Testament into Latin, but directly from the Hebrew Scripture, thus hoping to eliminate the mistakes caused by the Greek translation as they had been exposed in previous attempts to translate the Bible from the Greek (these early translations into Latin form what is called the Vetus Latina). Jerome completed his work in 405, and this translation formed the base of what became the official Latin version of the Bible, called the Vulgate. And it remained so for about 1000 years, until the King James version of the Bible in English was published.
Year 4185 – 425 CE – End of the Sanhedrin
Gamaliel VI was the Sanhedrin's last nassi. He came to office in 400 but was executed in 425 by orders of Theodosius II for erecting new synagogues contrary to the imperial decree. Then, with his death, the title of nassi became illegal which de facto meant the closure of the Sanhedrin institution. Further, an imperial decree of 426 diverted the patriarchs' tax (post excessum patriarchorum) into the imperial treasury so that the Jewish religious institution could not have any financial resource.
This ordeal was one of the main reasons why the religious schools of the Land of Israel had been eager to complete the so-called Talmud of Jerusalem at the soonest. The Talmud contains a prophecy of the time when this event actually happened:
R. Hanan b. Tahlifa sent [word] to R. Joseph: I once met a man who possessed a scroll written in Hebrew in Assyrian characters. I said to him: ‘Whence has this come to you?’ He replied, ‘I hired myself as a mercenary in the Roman army and found it amongst the Roman archives. In it is stated that four thousand, two hundred and thirty-one years after the creation, the world will be orphaned.' (Talmud, Sanhedrin, 97b)
The orphanage refers to the assassination of the last nassi and the end of the Sanhedrin institution. The year 4231 AM corresponds to 471 CE. The Sanhedrin was ended in 425 CE by the Roman empire which also collapsed 50 years later (a Jubilee cycle) in year 475 CE, maybe as a divine punishment!!
Practically, this discriminate act against the Jewish communities of the Roman empire meant that the Christian leadership wanted to terminate the Jewish religion. Yet, it continued to survive amid political and religious ordeals, but not in the historical homeland of the Jewish people, from which they were excluded first by Roman rulers then by Christian rulers.
The Barbarians
The last blows of the Christianized Roman empire against the central Jewish institution corresponded to the time when the empire was being attacked by many waves of Barbarians coming from Central Europe. They originated, for some of them, from the old tribes of Scythians and other people who moved from the Caucasus region into the European continent. Invasion after invasion, the Western Roman empire, which hosted the central Christian power in Rome, was losing ground until it collapsed.
The bell tolled with the sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth in 410. This sent a shockwave throughout the entire empire, although the capital of the Western Empire had been moved to Ravenna at the time, which was more defensible than Rome. But Rome had remained the seat of the papacy (the Pope is the bishop of Rome). So, the shock was more felt by the Christian world because the City of God (Rome) had fallen. One of the Christian Fathers, Augustine, who lived in Hippo (in modern-day Algeria) and converted to Christianity in 386, comforted his brethren by stating that God only had a heavenly city, which was in the heart and love of his followers, and that such heavenly city will ultimately prevail over the earthly ones.
The war against Alaric had the consequence to pull Roman armies out of Britain, to help fight the invasion of mainland Italy. But to no avail. So, the Roman rule over Britain ended about the time of the sack of Rome, in 410. The Visigoths then moved to Iberia and settled their kingdom there in the Spanish Peninsula.
Then the Huns, a people originated from Asia who had settled in Central Europe, went westward, burning and killing on their way. They salvaged these regions for many years, leaving no place completely safe except for the large cities. They were stopped by a Roman army in Gaul in 451 and retreated to their base in modern-day Hungary.
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Tishri 5786 - September 2025
