Agrippa goes after Passover in 44 to…

The Trung sisters’ poorly trained troops, unsupported by the peasantry, are overwhelmed in 43 by invading Chinese forces under General Ma Yuan.

Routed near present Hanoi, the sisters withdraw to Hat Mon (Son Tay), where General Ma decisively defeats them.

Disgraced, the Trung sisters drown themselves at the confluence of the Red and Day Rivers, and the Chinese regain control of the area.

Emperor Guangwu, not having the heart to depose both mother and son, had initially left Guo's son, Crown Prince Jiang, as crown prince.

Crown Prince Jiang, however, realizing that his position is precarious, has repeatedly offered to step down.

In 43, Emperor Guangwu agrees and created Liu Yang, the oldest son of Empress Yin, crown prince instead.

Former Crown Prince Jiang is created the Prince of Donghai.

He also changes Prince Yang's name to Zhuang.

Emperor Guangwu had in 49 once again commissioned Ma Yuan to go on an expedition—against the indigenous people of the Wulin prefecture (modern northwestern Hunan and eastern Guizhou), who had rebelled.

While Ma is on the expedition, however, a number of Ma's political enemies made false accusations against him.

Emperor Guangwu, believing these accusations, begins investigating Ma, who happens to die of illness while on the campaign.

With Ma dead and unable to defend himself, Emperor Guangwu strips Ma of his marquess title and denounces him posthumously.

(Ma's good reputation will not restored until his daughter later becomes empress to Emperor Guangwu's son Emperor Ming.)

Paul, supporting himself as a tentmaker, works in the early 40s with Christians from Antioch in the first organized Christian mission to Cyprus and south Galatia.

The author of the Acts arranges Paul's travels into three separate journeys.

The first journey [Acts 13-14], led initially by Barnabas, who had introduced Paul to the apostles after Paul's conversion, takes Paul from Antioch to Cyprus then southern Asia Minor (Anatolia), and back to Antioch.

Accompanying him are an assistant John Marcus, known as Mark, the son of Mary of Jerusalem (whose house was used as a gathering place by early Christians).

In Cyprus, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas the magician [Ac 13:8-12] who was criticizing their teachings.

From this point on, Paul is described as the leader of the group.

They sail to Perga in Pamphylia.

John Mark leaves them abruptly and returns to Jerusalem.

Paul and Barnabas go on to Pisidian Antioch.

On the Sabbath they go to the synagogue.

The leaders invite them to speak.

Paul reviews Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David.

He introduces Jesus as a descendant of David brought to Israel by God.

He says that his team came to town to bring the message of salvation.

He recounts the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

He quotes from the Septuagint to assert that Jesus was the promised Christos who brought them forgiveness for their sins.

Both the Jews and the 'God-fearing' Gentiles invited them talk more the next Sabbath.

At this time, almost the whole city gathers.

This upsets some influential Jews who speak against them.

Paul uses the occasion to announce a change in his mission which from then on would be to the Gentiles.

[Ac 13:13-48] Antioch serves as a major Christian center for Paul's evangelizing.

The Romans, on defeating Antiochus III in 188 BCE, had given Lycia to Rhodes for twenty years, taking it back in 168 BCE.

Lycia in these latter stages of the Roman republic had come to enjoy freedom as part of the Roman protectorate.

The Romanshad validated home rule officially in 168 BCE under the Lycian League.

This native government was an early federation with republican principles; these will later come to the attention of the framers of the United States Constitution, influencing their thoughts.

Despite home rule under republican principles, Lycia is not a sovereign state and had not been since its defeat by the Carians in the mid-fourth century BCE.

The Roman emperor Claudius dissolves the league in 43 BCE, and Lycia is incorporated into the Roman Empire with a provincial status.

Agrippa zealously pursues orthodox Jewish policies in Judaea, earning the friendship of the Jews and (according to Acts of the Apostles) vigorously repressing the new Jewish Christian sect.

Nonetheless, mindful of maintaining Roman friendship, has built a theater and amphitheater, baths, and porticoes in the city of Berytus, and has expressed similar magnanimity in Sebaste, Heliopolis and Caesarea.

He strikes coins in emulation of Rome.

The suspicions of Claudius have prevented him from finishing the fortifications with which he had begun to surround Jerusalem.

His friendship is courted by many of the neighboring kings and rulers, some of whom he houses in Tiberias, which also causes Claudius some displeasure.

The area of the Zollfied, a slightly ascending plain in present Carinthia, Austria, had been the cultural and political center of the Celtic kingdom of Raetis.

As the later Roman province of Noricum, when under the rule of Emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) the city of Virunum is established as the province's capital, replacing—or maybe identical with—ancient Noreia.

Claudius, who is not the first emperor to use freedmen to help with the day-to-day running of the Empire, is forced to increase their role as the powers of the Princeps become more centralized and the burden larger.

This is partly due to the ongoing hostility of the Senate but also due to his respect for the senators.

Claudius does not want freeborn magistrates to have to serve under him, as if they were not peers.

The secretariat is divided into bureaus, with each being placed under the leadership of one freedman.

Narcissus is the secretary of correspondence.

Pallas becomes the secretary of the treasury.

Callistus becomes secretary of justice.

There is a fourth bureau for miscellaneous issues, which is put under Polybius until his execution for treason.

The freedmen can also officially speak for the Emperor, as when Narcissus addresses the troops in Claudius' stead before the conquest of Britain.

Since these are important positions, the senators are aghast at their being placed in the hands of former slaves.

If freedmen have total control of money, letters, and law, it seems it would not be hard for them to manipulate the Emperor.

This is exactly the accusation put forth by the ancient sources.

However, these same sources admit that the freedmen were loyal to Claudius.

He is similarly appreciative of them and gives them due credit for policies where he has used their advice.

However, if they show treasonous inclinations, the Emperor does punish them with just force, as in the case of Polybius and Pallas' brother, Felix.

There is no evidence that the character of Claudius' policies and edicts changed with the rise and fall of the various freedmen, suggesting that he was firmly in control throughout.

Regardless of the extent of their political power, the freedmen do manage to amass wealth through their positions.

Pliny the Elder notes that several of them were richer than Crassus, the richest man of the Republican era.

The most far-reaching of Claudius’s expansions of imperial territory is the conquest of Britannia.

Claudius in 43 sends Aulus Plautius with four legions to Britain (Britannia) after an appeal from an ousted tribal ally.

Britain is an attractive target for Rome because of its material wealth—particularly mines and slaves.

It is also a haven for Gallic rebels and the like, and so could not be left alone much longer.

Aulus Plautius, aiming to subdue the intransigent tribal kingdoms, invades with an army of twenty thousand, crossing the English Channel to land at Rutupioae (present Richborough, Kent), an important natural harbor.

The Catuvellauni and Trinovantes warriors, surprised and defeated, retreat toward …

…the region of present London but suffer a second defeat near Durobrivae (present Rochester).