Geng Yan, the son of Geng Kuang,…

A large number of sects proliferate in Judea: orthodox sects, such as the Sadducees and the Pharisees, as well as dissident and sometimes persecuted sects such as the Essenes (whose ascetic practices will be illuminated by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-twentieth century.)

Saul, born at Tarsus in Anatolia, probably about the beginning of the first century CE and raised as a pious Jew, is a zealous opponent of Jesus’ followers until about 34, when he has a profound mystical experience that converts him to what will become known by the end of the first century as Christianity and impels him to change his name to Paul.

He follows this transforming experience—a vision of Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus—by missionary activity in Arabia, Syria, and his native Cilicia.

Knowledge of the new sect has by 37, at the end of Tiberius' reign, spread to the gentiles as a result of the preaching of Paul in Anatolia and in Greece.

At the same time, the movement continues to make progress among the Jews of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Syria and quickly reaches even Osroene and the Parthian towns of the Euphrates, where Jewish colonies are numerous.

The Roman authorities at first have difficulty in distinguishing the Christos believers from the orthodox Jews, but the religion of the former, on leaving its original milieu, will soon become differentiated.

Aretas IV, the Nabataean king whose daughter Antipas had repudiated, attacks the tetrarch’s realm, inflicting severe damage.

The Emperor's response to appeals from Antipas is to send Vitellius, who, still nursing his resentment, avails himself of every possible delay.

The Roman counteroffensive is abandoned upon the emperor's death in 37 CE.

Tiberius is dead within a year, and Agrippa's fortunes are reversed.

Caligula, becoming emperor in CE 37, will need to quell several riots and conspiracies in the eastern territories during his reign.

The cause of tensions in the east is complicated, involving the spread of Greek culture, Roman law and the rights of Jews.

Aiding Caligula in his actions is his good friend Agrippa, who, sprung from prison following Tiberius death, becomes governor of the territories of Batanaea and Trachonitis: the former realm of his uncle Philip the Tetrarch and of an adjoining region.

Tiberius dies in Misenum on March 16, CE 37.

His estate and the titles of the Principate are left to Caligula and Tiberius's own grandson, Gemellus, who are to serve as joint heirs.

Although Tiberius was seventy-seven and on his death bed, some ancient historians still conjecture that he was murdered.

Tacitus writes that the Praetorian Prefect, Macro, smothered Tiberius with a pillow to hasten Caligula's accession, much to the joy of the Roman people, while Suetonius writes that Caligula may have carried out the killing, though this is not recorded by any other ancient historian.

Both Philo, who wrote during Tiberius's reign, and Josephus record Tiberius as dying a natural death.

Tacitus records that upon the news of his death the crowd rejoiced, only to become suddenly silent upon hearing that he had recovered, and rejoiced again at the news that Caligula and Macro had smothered him.

This is not recorded by other ancient historians and is most likely apocryphal, but it can be taken as an indication of how the senatorial class felt towards the Emperor at the time of his death.

Backed by Macro, Caligula has Tiberius' will nullified with regards to Gemellus on grounds of insanity, but otherwise carries out Tiberius' wishes.

Were Tiberius to have died prior to CE 23, he might have been hailed as an exemplary ruler.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative characterization left by Roman historians, Tiberius has left the imperial treasury with nearly three billion sesterces upon his death.

Rather than embark on costly campaigns of conquest, he had chosen to strengthen the existing empire by building additional bases, using diplomacy as well as military threats, and generally refraining from getting drawn into petty squabbles between competing frontier tyrants.

The result is a stronger, more consolidated empire.

Of the authors whose texts have survived until the present day, only four describe the reign of Tiberius in considerable detail: Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio and Velleius Paterculus.

Fragmentary evidence also remains from Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Seneca the Elder.

Tiberius himself had written an autobiography which Suetonius describes as "brief and sketchy," but this book has been lost.

The level of unpopularity Tiberius had achieved by the time of his death with both the upper and lower classes is revealed by these facts: the Senate refused to vote him divine honors, and mobs filled the streets yelling "To the Tiber with Tiberius!

"—in reference to a method of disposal reserved for the corpses of criminals.

Instead the body of the emperor is cremated and his ashes are quietly laid in the Mausoleum of Augustus.

Tiberius' ashes will be scattered in CE 410 during the Sack of Rome.

Caligula accepts the powers of the Principate as conferred by the Senate and enters Rome on March 28 amid a crowd that hails him as "our baby" and "our star," among other nicknames.

Caligula is loved by many for being the beloved son of the popular Germanicus, and because he is not Tiberius.

After Caligula delivers Tiberius’ eulogy, he sails to Pandataria and the Pontine Islands and returns carrying in his own hands the ashes of his mother and brother Nero in urns.

As proof of devotion to his family, Caligula arranges the most distinguished soldiers available to carry the urns of his mother and two brothers in two biers at noon in Rome, when the streets are at their busiest, to the Mausoleum of Augustus.

A bronze medal on display in the British Museum shows Agrippina’s ashes being brought back to Rome by Caligula.

Caligula's first acts are said to be generous in spirit, though many are political in nature.

To gain support, he grants bonuses to those in the military including the Praetorian Guard, city troops and the army outside Italy.

He helps those who had been harmed by the Imperial tax system, banishes certain sexual deviants, and puts on lavish spectacles for the public, such as gladiator battles.

He appoints an annual day each year in Rome, for people to offer funeral sacrifices to honor their late relatives.

As a dedication to Agrippina, Caligula sets aside the Circus Games to honor the memory of his late mother.

On the day that the Circus Games occur, Caligula has a statue made of Agrippina’s image to be paraded in a covered carriage at the Games.

After the Circus Games, Caligula declares that treason trials are a thing of the past and recalls those who had been sent into exile.

He orders written evidence of the court cases from Tiberius’ treason trials to be brought to the Forum to be burnt, first being the cases of Agrippina and her two sons.

It was said by Suetonius that over one hundred and sixty thousand animals were sacrificed during three months of public rejoicing to usher in the new reign.

Philo describes the first seven months of Caligula's reign as completely blissful.

Caligula will not only spend Tiberius' fortune of 2,700,000,000 sesterces but has also begun the chain of events that are to bring about the downfall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in CE 68.

Recognizing his paternal uncle Claudius, the surviving nephew of Tiberius, to be of some use, Caligula had appointed him him his co-consul in 37 in order to emphasize the memory of Caligula's deceased father Germanicus.

Despite this, Caligula had relentlessly tormented his uncle: playing practical jokes, charging him enormous sums of money, humiliating him before the Senate, and the like.

In his will, Tiberius had left his powers jointly to Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus; Caligula had made Gemellus his adopted son, but in late 37 BCE orders Gemellus killed for allegedly plotting against him while he was ill±an act that outrages Caligula's and Gemellus's mutual grandmother Antonia Minor.

She is said to have committed suicide, although Suetonius hints that Caligula actually poisoned her.

He has his father-in-law, the eminent senator Marcus Junius Silanus ,executed as well, for unclear reasons.

Suetonius claims he plotted against Caligula while Philo and other sources claim the emperor was simply annoyed by him.

The reign of Emperor Guangwu over the unified empire is marked by thriftiness, efficiency, and laxity of laws.

For example, in 38, his official Liang Tong submits a petition to restore the criminal laws of late Western Han Dynasty—which were far more severe.

After discussion with other officials, Emperor Guangwu tables Liang's suggestion; however, it is he who begins to order that servants in the inner palace must be eunuchs.

Caligula does not trust the prefect of Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus.

Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius, had conspired against Caligula's mother and has connections with Egyptian separatists.

Caligula in CE 38 sends Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus.

According to Philo, the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews.

Flaccus tries to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues.

The result is riots in the city.

Caligula responds by removing Flaccus from his position; he eventually executes him.

Caligula had pledged cooperation with the Senate, but had soon begun to rule in an autocratic manner.

After an illness in October 37, Caligula’s mental health had quickly deteriorated, at least according to Senatorial propaganda.

Caligula now focuses his attention on political and public reform.

He publishes the accounts of public funds, which had not been made public during the reign of Tiberius.

He aids those who lost property in fires, abolishes certain taxes, and awards prizes to the public at gymnastic events.

He allows new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders.

Perhaps most significantly, he restores the practice of democratic elections.

Cassius Dio said that this act "though delighting the rabble, grieved the sensible, who stopped to reflect, that if the offices should fall once more into the hands of the many ... many disasters would result".

(Cassius Dio, Roman History LIX.9.7.)

During the same year, Caligula is criticized for executing people without full trials and for forcing his treatment of his pricipal supporter, Macro, who has meanwhile been confident of rapid promotion for past services.

However, Caligula, mindful of the potential threat Macro poses, soon has him arrested and stripped of his office in the year 38.

Macro and his wife Eunia both commit suicide soon after.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and his sister Aemilia Lepida, the children of consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, are both married to siblings of the emperor (Aemilia was married Caligula's elder brother Drusus Caesar; Lepidus is married to Caligula's younger and favorite sister Julia Drusilla).

He is also great-grandson of Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (consul of 50 BCE and brother of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus).

Some areas of his lineage are unclear.

However, through his mother Julia the Younger, Lepidus is the great grandson of Emperor Augustus Caesar.

Drusilla had been married to Lucius Cassius Longinus since 33 but Caligula had forced his brother-in-law to divorce Drusilla so that she could marry Lepidus in 37.

The marriage lasts until Drusilla's death from fever in June 38; they have no children.

Because of this marriage, Lepidus had become a close friend to Caligula and his family.

After the death of Gemellus in 37, Lepidus was publicly marked by Caligula as his heir.

In late 38, when the governor of Egypt Aulus Avilius Flaccus is arrested, Lepidus successfully persuades Caligula to exile Flaccus to Andros rather than Gyarus.

Caligula hates the fact that he is the grandson of Agrippa, and slanders Augustus by repeating a falsehood that his mother was actually the result of an incestuous relationship between Augustus and his daughter Julia the Elder.

Around this time, the erudite Claudius, who suffers from a paralytic condition that had perhaps disqualified him as a target of Tiberius’ purges, makes his second cousin Valeria Messalina his third wife.

Messalina, whose family is eminent and connected by ties of marriage and blood ties to the Julio-Claudian dynasty, was probably born and raised in Rome.

Little is known about her life prior to her marriage to Claudius.

Messalina was very wealthy, an influential figure and a regular at Caligula's court.

Claudius, who is becoming influential and popular,probably marries Messalina to strengthen ties within the imperial family.

Upon marrying Claudius, Messalina becomes a stepmother to Claudia Antonia, Claudius's daughter through his second marriage to Aelia Paetina.

According to Cassius Dio, a financial crisis emerged in CE 39; Suetonius places the beginning of this crisis in 38.

According to Suetonius, in the first year of Caligula's reign he had squandered the twenty seven hundred million sesterces that Tiberius had amassed.

His nephew Nero Caesar, the future emperor, will express both envy and admiration for the fact that Gaius had run through the vast wealth Tiberius had left him in so short a time.

The Trung sisters, soon to become famous as rebel leaders against Chinese and eventually regarded as national heroines of Vietnam, had been born into a military family in a rural Vietnamese village.

Their father was a prefect of Mê Linh, a rural district (huyện) of present Hanoi; therefore the sisters had grown up in a house well-versed in the martial arts.

They have also witnessed the cruel treatment of the Viets by their Chinese overlords.

The Trưng sisters have spent much time studying the art of warfare, as well as learning fighting skills.

When a neighboring prefect came to visit Mê Linh, he had brought with him his son, Thi Sách, who met and fell in love with Trưng Trắc during the visit, and they were soon married.

With Chinese rule over the region of resent northern Vietnam growing extremely exacting, and the policy of forcible assimilation into the Chinese mold, Thi Sách had taken a stand against the Chinese, conspiring with other nobles to throw off the yoke of the Han dynasty, whose bureaucratic rule threatens indigenous Vietnamese feudalism.

The response of the local Chinese official was to execute him as a warning to all those who contemplate rebellion.

His death spurs his wife to take up his cause and the flames of insurrection spread.

After successfully repelling a small Chinese unit from their village in CE 39, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị had assembled a large army.

Within months, they have taken back many (about 65) citadels from the Chinese, and have liberated Nam Việt.

They become queens of the country, and manage to resist subsequent Chinese attacks on Nam Việt for over two years.

Paul's conversion can be dated to 31-36 by his reference to it in one of his letters.

His conversion (or metanoia) according to the Acts of the Apostles took place on the road to Damascus, where he claimed to have experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus, after which he was temporarily blinded. [Acts 9:1-31] [22:1-22] [26:9-24]

Luke, the author of Acts of the Apostles, likely learned of his conversion from Paul, from the church in Jerusalem, or from the church in Antioch.

In the opening verses of Romans 1, Paul provides a litany of his own apostolic claim and his post-conversion convictions about the risen Christ.

Paul's writings give some insight into his thinking regarding his relationship with Judaism.

He is strongly critical both theologically and empirically of claims of moral or lineal superiority [2:16-26] of Jews while conversely strongly sustaining the notion of a special place for the Children of Israel.

There are ongoing debates among biblical scholars as to whether Paul understood himself as commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles at the moment of his conversion.

After his conversion, Paul goes to Damascus, where Acts states he was healed of his blindness and baptized by Ananias of Damascus.

Paul says that it was in Damascus that he barely escaped death [2Cor. 11:32].

Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus. [Gal. 1:17] Paul's trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and some suppose he actually traveled to Mount Sinai for meditations in the desert.

He describes in Galatians how three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem.

There he met James and stayed with Simon Peter for fifteen days. [Gal. 1:13-24].

Paul asserts that he received the Gospel not from any person, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. [Gal. 1:11-12]

Paul claims almost total independence from the Jerusalem community and yet appears eager to bring material support to Jerusalem from the various budding Gentile churches that he has planted.

In his writings, Paul persistently uses the persecutions he claims to have endured, in terms of physical beatings and verbal assaults, to claim proximity and union with Jesus and as a validation of his teaching.