Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

access by historical means.
    Everything else is a matter of faith.

Chronology
164 B.C.E .
The Maccabean Revolt
140
Founding of the Hasmonaean Dynasty
63
Pompey Magnus conquers Jerusalem
37
Herod the Great named King of the Jews
4
Herod the Great dies
4
Revolt of Judas the Galilean
4 B.C.E .–6 C.E .:
Jesus of Nazareth born
6 C.E .:
Judea officially becomes Roman province
10
Sepphoris becomes first royal seat of Herod Antipas
18
Joseph Caiaphas appointed High Priest
20
Tiberias becomes second royal seat of Herod Antipas
26
Pontius Pilate becomes governor (prefect) in Jerusalem
26–28
Launch of John the Baptist’s ministry
28–30
Launch of Jesus of Nazareth’s ministry
30–33
Death of Jesus of Nazareth
36
Revolt of the Samaritan
37
Conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Paul)
44
Revolt of Theudas
46
Revolt of Jacob and Simon, the sons of Judas the Galilean
48
Paul writes first epistle: 1 Thessalonians
56
Murder of the High Priest Jonathan
56
Paul writes final epistle: Romans
57
Revolt of the Egyptian
62
Death of James, the brother of Jesus
66
Death of Paul and the Apostle Peter in Rome
66
The Jewish Revolt
70
The Destruction of Jerusalem
70–71
The gospel of Mark written
73
Romans capture Masada
80–90
The epistle of James written
90–100
The gospels of Matthew and Luke written
94
Josephus writes the
Antiquities
100–120
The gospel of John written
132
Revolt of Simon son of Kochba
300
The
Pseudo-Clementines
compiled
313
Emperor Constantine issues Edict of Milan
325
The Council of Nicaea
398
The Council of Hippo Regius

PART I

    Arise! Arise!
    Put on your strength, O Zion!
    Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city;
    for the uncircumcised and the unclean
    shall never again enter you
.
    Shake off the dust from yourself, stand up
,
    O captive Jerusalem;
    release the bonds from your neck
,
    O captive daughter of Zion
.
    I SAIAH 52:1–2

Prologue
A Different Sort of Sacrifice
    The war with Rome begins not with a clang of swords but with the lick of a dagger
     drawn from an assassin’s cloak.
    Festival season in Jerusalem: a time when Jews from across the Mediterranean converge
     upon the holy city bearing fragrant offerings to God. There are in the ancient Jewish
     cult a host of annual observances and celebrations that can only be performed here,
     inside the Temple of Jerusalem, in the presence of the high priest, who hoards the
     most sacred feast days—Passover, Pentecost, the harvest festival of Sukkot—for himself,
     all the while pocketing a healthy fee, or
tithe
, as he would call it, for his trouble. And what trouble it is! On such days the city’s
     population can swell to more than a million people. It takes the full force of the
     porters and lower priests to squeeze the crush of pilgrims through the Hulda Gates
     at the Temple’s southern wall, to herd them along the dark and cavernous galleries
     beneath the Temple plaza and guide them up the double flight of stairs that lead to
     the public square and marketplace known as the Court of Gentiles.
    The Temple of Jerusalem is a roughly rectangular structure, some five hundred meters
     long and three hundred meters wide, balanced atop Mount Moriah, on the eastern edge
     of the holy city.Its outer walls are rimmed with covered porticos whose slab-topped roofs, held up
     by row after row of glittering white stone columns, protect the masses from the merciless
     sun. On the Temple’s southern flank sits the largest and most ornate of the porticoes,
     the Royal Portico—a tall, two-story, basilica-like assembly hall built in the customary
     Roman style. This is the administrative quarters of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious
     body and highest judicial court of the Jewish nation. It is also where a clatter of
     merchants and grubby money changers lie in wait as you make your way up the underground
     stairs and onto the spacious sunlit plaza.
    The money changers play a vital role in the Temple. For a fee, they will exchange
     your foul foreign coins for the Hebrew shekel, the only currency permitted by the
     Temple authorities. The money changers will also collect the half-shekel Temple tax
     that all adult males must pay to preserve the pomp and spectacle of all you see around
     you: the mountains of burning incense and the ceaseless sacrifices, the wine libations
     and the first-fruits offering, the Levite choir belting out psalms of praise and the
     accompanying orchestra thrumming lyres and banging cymbals. Someone must pay for these