1st century The 1st century was of great importance to the Doctor and his companion s . The First Doctor , Ian and Barbara made two separate trips to the century . ( TV : " The Romans ; " PROSE : " Romans Cutaway , " " Byzantium ! " , " The Last Days " ) Meanwhile , the Seventh ( AUDIO : " The Fires of Vulcan " ) and Tenth Doctor s ( TV : " The Fires of Pompeii " ) were both in Pompeii for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius , as was Jack Harkness , apparently more than once . ( TV : " The Doctor Dances " ) Long after Harkness ' trips to Pompeii , he became entombed for about two millennia , starting in this century . ( TV : " Exit Wounds " ) The First Century Universe War also occurred during this century . ( COMIC : " The Time Museum " ) Rome vs . Jesus Christ . The first century was dominated by the birth and life of Jesus Christ , the founder of the eponymous religion . The birth took place in a stable next to an inn in Nazareth , ( PROSE : " Byzantium ! " ) because the Doctor had taken the last room in the inn . ( TV : " Voyage of the Damned " ) Another account by the Eighth Doctor referred that the first Christmas happened in Bethlehem . ( AUDIO : " Relative Dimensions " ) This event was so monumental that many nations , particularly those of Europe and the Middle East , reoriented their calendars to consider the time before his birth as BC , and the time after his birth as AD , or " Anno Domini " . ( TV : " Earthshock " ) Towards the middle of the century , Christ was crucified , and , according to some , rose again from the dead . This miracle spawned many tales of his god hood , and was ultimately the fact at the core of Christianity . Increasingly , people — mostly former Jews in Judaea and Syria , the places where Jesus had principally lived — began to believe in his divinity . By the latter half of the century , the religion had spread throughout the lands of the Mediterranean , thanks to evangelism by his former disciples like Paul of Tarsus , Barnabas the priest , Mark of Jerusalem , Peter of Galilee , Matthew the tax official and Luke the physician . ( PROSE : " Byzantium ! " ) A countervaling force was that of the Roman Empire . In part because it was polytheistic and featured state - sponsored occultism , ( TV : " The Fires of Pompeii " ) the government of Rome tended to view Christians and Jews with suspicion . Under the leadership of Caesar s Augustus and Tiberius , Christianity was squelched , often by using Jewish leaders against their members who had converted to Christianity . ( PROSE : " Byzantium ! " ) Even by the time of the later Caesar , Nero , at least some Christians who were Roman citizens chose to keep their religion hidden . ( TV : " The Romans " ) The lure of a good volcano . The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the middle of the century was an event labelled by the Tenth Doctor as a fixed point in time — one of the immutable events that " had " to happen . ( TV : " The Fires of Pompeii " ) The Seventh Doctor and Mel ( AUDIO : " The Fires of Vulcan " ) and the Tenth Doctor and Donna ( TV : " The Fires of Pompeii " ) were in Pompeii at the time of the mountain ' s explosion — but their paths never crossed . The Seventh Doctor ' s TARDIS was buried by the volcano — this caused confusion for the Fifth Doctor when it was excavated in the 20th century by UNIT . ( AUDIO : " The Fires of Vulcan " ) Meanwhile , the Tenth Doctor discovered that he was directly responsible for the volcano ' s eruption . ( TV : " The Fires of Pompeii " ) Immortality tested . During this century , the Ninth Doctor ' s former companion , Jack Harkness , was buried underneath what would become Cardiff . He stayed underground , dying and returning to life , until he was eventually exhumed in the early 20th century . ( TV : " Exit Wounds " )