Biblically Compatible Archaeology and Geography

  by   Damien F. Mackey     “In the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem to the Sasanian–Jewish alliance, the city initially descended into chaos and disorder, although reconstruction began soon. On Khosrow’s orders, the Sasanian army located the  True Cross , which  Christians  believe was used to  crucify Jesus  in 30 or 33, and moved it to  Ctesiphon ” .   Wikipedia   A whole bunch of characters who seem to have biblical origins, and who appear in the ridiculously un-historical story of the supposed Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, re-emerge in the account of the so-called Sassanian assault upon Jerusalem (614 AD). Some of these characters I introduced early in my recent article:   The historical basis for that wonderful, nutty Heraclius   (1) The historical basis for that wonderful, nutty Heraclius   as follows:   His historical basis   Given that the presumed cont...

  by   Damien F. Mackey       “ Heraclius seems to have one foot in Davidic Israel, one in the old Roman Republic, and, whatever feet may be left, in the Christian era. What a mix of a man is this emperor Heraclius! What a conundrum! What a puzzle!”   Introduction   The supposed Byzantine emperor, Heraclius (610-641 AD), is a total historical mis-fit. And an hilarious one at that! In an exchange, today (5 th October, 2026), with other interested persons, I wrote:   …. My big problem with the larger-than-life Jay Smith, though, and with Patricia Crone, is that they greatly complicate matters, becoming almost unreadable, unlistenable, by trying to consider Mohammed in a murky conventional C7th AD context. Those Germans who have been radically revising what we have called AD history, and who have been removing the ‘Dark Ages’ – {many of whose conclusions I personally would not accept, I need to say} - have a much be...

  by Damien F. Mackey     Who, then, was this Nero?   Where does Nero fit into this list of kings?   And can Nero be the man-beast numbered 666 in John’s Revelation 13:18?     Introduction   The emperor Nero I have found extremely difficult to slot into an appropriate time frame in my revision of ancient history.   In this sense, Nero has been for me like - in the case of Assyrian history - the difficult Ashurnasirpal, or his presumed (but not actual) son-successor, Shalmaneser so-called III.   In earlier times I would simply have considered Nero as – just as the text books tell us – a Roman emperor who reigned in the era thereby assigned to him, after Claudius.   The conventional (or text book) succession of Roman rulers is given as follows:   1st century AD   (Julius Caesar) Augustus  (27 bce–14 ce) Tiberius  (14–37 ce) Caligula  (...