Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The First Century
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The First Century
The First Century episodes
- Episode Six: The Death of Lucius and Gaius, Octavian's grandsons, and revolts in Judea
After Augustus' two most prominent and promising grandsons died within a span of less than two years, another succession quandary is created. And Judea sees revolts against Roman rule.
15 min - Episode Five: The Death of Herod the Great
When Herod the Great died, his will needed to be ratified by Augustus, which led to political intrigue.
15 min - 13 min
- Episode Three: Octavian Declared Augustus
After the civil wars, Octavian was declared Augustus by the Roman Senate, and a period of stability followed. Herod the Great rules in Judea.
14 min - Episode Two: The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Antipater and the Aftermath
Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE followed by Antipater the following year. Each would have a profound impact on first century.
12 min - Episode One: A Scorching Summer in Samaria
Pilate puts down a religious movement at Mount Gerizim before we step back and see how Rome came to rule this region.
SHOWNOTES
Josephus, Ant. 18.55-59; War 2:175-203.
Roman nobility had three ranks: curials, equestrians, and senators. To be an equestrian required free birth, certain moral standards and most importantly, wealth equating to at least 400,000 sesterces. (Pliny NH 33.32).
Pilate’s time in Judea was punctuated by his ‘venality, thefts, assaults, abusive behavior, and his frequent murder of untried prisoners’ (Philo, Embassy to Gaius, 38.302).
Antipater (114 – 43 BCE) was from Idumea, a region just south of Judea. Its name is derived from Edom, the Iron Age name of that land, as Judea is derived from Judah, the Iron Age name of that land.
Antipater’s son Herod, (72 – 4 BCE) was made provincial governor of Galilee, and was eventually known as Herod the Great, the founder of the Herodian dynasty.
12 min
About The First Century
From the publisher's feed
Enter the World That Gave Birth to Christianity
This is the First Century, a podcast devoted to stories from that influential period of history, including Rome, Judea, Christianity, and more. Your host is Dr. Brian Schmisek. Get ready to go back in time and enter a world before computers, the stagecoach, the printing press, or even stirrups for horses were invented. We are about to enter…The First Century.
*****
The podcast tells the story of the world in which Christianity emerged—a world shaped by cultures, language, political power, intrigue, religious traditions, theological insight, and the people who lived through one of history’s most transformative periods.
The narrative draws on classical sources, ancient primary texts, and biblical scholarship, blending, translating, paraphrasing, and consolidating material from authors including Josephus, Suetonius, Tacitus, Philo, Seneca, Cassius Dio, Pliny the Younger, Pliny the Elder, the New Testament, Eusebius, and many other ancient sources (see show notes of each episode for details). Where the historical record leaves gaps, the podcast occasionally incorporates legendary traditions or carefully constructed narrative scenes to help bring the ancient world to life.
We reconstruct the ancient world as a living, unfolding story. We hear Augustus, Tiberius, Jesus, Paul, Herod, Pilate, Caligula, Messalina, Agrippina, Peter, and others emerge within the same ongoing chronological narrative. Lives intersect, their worlds intertwine, and the development of Christianity becomes part of a much larger story, all rooted in scholarship and the ancient sources.
The result is history as an ongoing story of persons, peoples, power, faith, conflict, and ultimately the search for meaning.
Share your comments and thoughts under each episode.
Best of The First Century
Ranked by our users in the last 21 days