Maybe the Nativity doesn't look quite like we think it does
Herod had every right to be disturbed by their presence, as did the whole city of Jerusalem. This was not just three semi-anonymous guys on camels from some mysterious Eastern cult. The Suren were a well-known, prestigious noble family with significant power and responsibility. Read More …
We are told that the Magi’s journey was over “treacherous terrain” and lasted “months” when in reality it would have been over well-established trade routes (roads) and took about six weeks. Read More …
Missed the live interview? Listen to Episode 10683 of the Omegaman Podcast featuring an interview with God Save the King creator Tim Keyes discussing the House of Suren here.
Every year at Christmas time there are attempts to equate Joseph, Mary, and Jesus’ flight from Bethlehem to Egypt to the plight of illegal immigrants—claiming that they too would have been “undocumented” and therefore turned away at the border. While Read More …
Dura Europos was a Greek, then Parthian, then Roman city on the western bank of the Euphrates River approximately 310 miles northwest of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon on the Tigris. It was founded around 300 BCE by Seleucus I Read More …
With Alexander and Aristobulus out of the way, Antipater became Herod’s leading prospect as successor, and virtual co-ruler with his father. But despite the evident certitude of his position, it never occurred to Antipater, that as Herod’s oldest son and Read More …
In 29 BCE, Herod executed his beloved second wife Mariamne I for adultery, for which her sons Alexander III and Aristobulus IV would never forgive him. Still only children, Herod sent them to Rome for education. Upon their return to Read More …
Herod’s father, Antipater II, was assassinated by a political enemy, to which Herod responded in kind. His brother Phasael’s death is shrouded in mystery—did he commit suicide or was he murdered while in Parthian custody? During his career, Herod “executed” Read More …
It has been my theory for years that the route the Magi took followed the Euphrates Road (parallel to the river) northwest from the Parthian capital at Ctesiphon to the fortress city of Dura, and then turned west across the Read More …
Surena, also known as Rustaham Suren, was a Parthian general during the first century BCE. He is best known for defeating the Romans, under the command of triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE. According Read More …