Timeline of the Years Surrounding 70 AD
Prophecy & EschatologySome material taken from bible.ca
Legend:
Ant – Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews at SacredTexts
Wars – Josephus’ Wars of the Jews
Eus – Eusebius' Ecclesiastical Church History
Cass - Cassius Dio, Roman History mollerhaus tufts.edu
Seut - Suetonius
| year | date | event | source | caesar | bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 AD |  Earthquake in Rome | Tacitus | Nero | ||
| 51 AD | Earthquake in Judea, massive | Josephus | Nero | ||
| 59 AD | Oct ? | Nero has his mother murdered | Cass 61-16.3 | Nero | |
| 59 AD | Oct ? | During his mother's funeral, the sun suffered a total eclipse and the stars could be seen | Cass 61-16.3 | Nero | |
| 59 AD | Oct ? | As Nero's dinner is brought to him, lightning strikes it and consumes it in front of him | Cass 61-16.3 | Nero | |
| 61 AD | Earthquake in Colossae, Hieropolis, Laodicea, destroys all 3 cities, only Laodicea is rebuilt | Tacitus, Eusebius, Orosius | Nero | ||
| 61 AD | Earthquake in Crete | Tacitus, Philostratus | Nero | ||
| 61 AD | Earthquakes in Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos, in “all places the Jews had settled” | Philostratus | Nero | ||
| 62 AD | Apostle James is thrown from the temple pinnacle by High Priest Ananias, and beaten to death with clubs | Ant. 20. 19-203 | Nero | ||
| 62 AD | - | Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy. On a feast day honoring the guardian spirits of the city. | Seneca the Younger in Natural Questions | Nero | |
| 62 AD | Oct | Jesus ben Ananus runs through the city crying “Woe”, for 7 years | Wars 6.5.3, Eus 3.8.1 | Nero | |
| 62 AD | Oct 7 | Feast of Tabernacles | Nero | ||
| 63 AD | Nero | ||||
| 64 AD | Jul | Great Fire of Rome | Nero | ||
| 64 AD | Apostle Paul beheaded in Rome by Nero | Nero | |||
| 65 AD | Apr 3 | Light shines around the temple for a ½ hour | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apr 3 | Star appears as a Sword over Jerusalem, lasts a year | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apr 3 | Comet appears in the sky, lasts a year | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apr 9 | Passover | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apr 9 | East gate of Jerusalem opens by itself | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apr 9 | Virgin cow gives birth to a lamb in the temple | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | May 16 | Angelic armies are seen waging war in the heavens, and around cities | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Jun 2 | Pentecost | Nero | ||
| 65 AD | Jun 2 | Priests in the temple felt an earthquake and heard a multitude of voices saying “Let us remove hence!” | Wars 6.5.3 | Nero | |
| 65 AD | Apostle Thaddaeus crucified by Magi in Persia | Nero | |||
| 65 AD | Apostle John receives the book of Revelation | Rev 17:7-13 | Nero | ||
| 65 AD | Earthquakes in Laodicea and Campania (“during the reign of Nero”) | Tacitus, Philostratus, Seneca | Nero | ||
| 66 AD | Nero | ||||
| 67 AD | Feb 6 | Countdown of 3 1/2 years of Tribulation starts | Nero | ||
| 67 AD | Jewish high priesthood ceases, high priest is drawn by lots | Wars 4.3.8 | Nero | ||
| 68 AD | Jun 8 | Galba becomes Caesar | Wars 4.9.2 | Galba | |
| 68 AD | Jun 9 | Nero commits suicide | Wars 4.9.2 | Galba | |
| 68 AD | Earthquake in Rome | Seutonius | Galba | ||
| 69 AD | Jan 15 | Otho becomes Caesar | Wars 4.9.2 | Otho | |
| 69 AD | A comet was seen | Cass 65:8 | Otho | ||
| 69 AD | The moon eclipsed twice, 3 days apart (Wednesday, Saturday) | Cass 65:8 | Otho | ||
| 69 AD | People saw 2 suns at once, one weak/pale and one brilliant/powerful | Cass 65:8 | Otho | ||
| 69 AD | Huge footprints seen by soldiers at the capital, they said that the door of temple of Jupiter had opened by itself, some fainted | Cass 65:8 | Otho | ||
| 69 AD | Apr 17 | Caesar Otho murdered, Vitellias becomes Caesar | Wars 4.9.9 | Vitellius | |
| 69 AD | Moon is eclipsed, appears both blood-colored and black, and gave out other colors, days before Vitellius' death | Cass 65-11 | Vitellius | ||
| 69 AD | Dec 22 | Caesar Vitellius beheaded, Vespasian becomes Caesar, Titus’ army sent to Jerusalem | Wars 4.11.4, 4.11.5 | Vespasian | |
| 70 AD | Earthquake in Jerusalem, accompanied by a violent storm, rain, continuous lightnings and thunder, as if an indication of coming destruction | Wars 4.4.5 | Vespasian | ||
| 70 AD | Mar 7 | Titus' army arrives | Wars 5 | Vespasian | |
| 70 AD | Mar | Jesus ben Ananus killed by catapult stone | Wars 6.5.3 | Vespasian | |
| 70 AD | Aug 6 | Temple burnt to the ground | Wars 6.4 | Vespasian | |
| 70 AD | Aug 6 | Roman Day of Saturn | Cass 66-7.2 | Vespasian | |
| 70 AD | Apostle Matthias stoned and beheaded | Vespasian | |||
| 70 AD | Apostle Bartholomew flayed to death with a whip in Armenia | Vespasian | |||
| 70 AD | Apostle Andrew crucified in Patras, Achaea | Hippolytus | Vespasian | ||
| 71 AD | Vespasian | ||||
| 72 AD | Flavian Amphitheatre built with Jewish slave labor | Vespasian | |||
| 73 AD | Apr 15 | Fortress of Masada falls to the Roman armies, Jews commit group suicide to avoid imprisonment | Vespasian | ||
| 79 AD | Aug 20-24 | Mt. Vesuvius erupts and buries Pompeii and Herculaneum, the seats of sexual depravity in the Roman empire. The day after the feast of Vulcanalia. | Cass 66.22 | Titus | |
| 79 AD | Aug 25 | Mt. Vesuvius spews poisonous gas. | Cass 66.22 | Titus | |
| 80 AD | - | Fire in Rome burns down the temples of the pagan gods. | Cass 66.24 | Titus |