Iudaea (
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
: יהודה,
Standard Yehuda TiberianTiberian Hebrew designates the canonical yet extinct pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and related documents. This traditional medieval pronunciation was committed to writing by Masoretic scholars based in the Jewish community of Tiberias in the period ca. 750-950 CE...
; ; ; sometimes spelled
Judaea in English) is the term used by historians to refer to the
Roman provinceIn Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula...
that extended over parts of the former regions of the
HasmoneanThe Hasmoneans were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel , an independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC...
and
HerodianThe Herodian Dynasty was a Jewish dynasty of Idumean descent, who ruled Iudaea Province between 37 BC - AD 92.- Origin :During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus 134-104 BCE, Judea conquered Edom and forced the Edomites to convert to Judaism.The Edomites were integrated into the Jewish...
kingdoms of Israel. It was named after
Herod ArchelausHerod Archelaus was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Edom from 4 BC to 6 AD. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace, the brother of Herod Antipas, and the half-brother of Herod Philip I....
's ethnarchy of Judea of which it was an expansion, the latter name deriving from the
Kingdom of JudahThe Kingdom of Judah existed at two periods in Jewish history. According to the Hebrew Bible, a kingdom emerged in Judah after the death of Saul, when the tribe of Judah elevated David, who came from the Tribe of Judah, to rule over it. After seven years David became king of a reunited Kingdom of...
of the 6th century BCE.
Rome's involvement in the area dated from 63 BCE, following the end of the
Third Mithridatic WarThe Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...
, when Rome made
SyriaSyria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War...
a province. After the defeat of
Mithridates VI of Pontus-Early reign:Mithradates VI was the son of Mithradates V , who died when he was a boy. During Eupator's minority, supreme power was exercised by his mother queen Laodice, whom he eventually deposed and committed to prison...
,
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
Pompeius MagnusGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey /'pɑmpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
(Pompey the Great) remained to secure the area. Subsequently, during the 1st century BCE, the
Herodian KingdomHerod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (born 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho, was a Roman client king of Israel. He is often confused...
was established as a
client kingdomClient state is one of several terms used to describe the subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs. It is the least specific of these terms and may be treated as a broad category which includes satellite state, puppet state, neo-colony, protectorate, vassal...
and then later in the first century CE parts became a
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
.
Iudaea Province was the stage of three major
rebellionRebellion is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government. Those who participate in rebellions are...
s (see
Jewish-Roman warsThe Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt...
), including the Great Jewish Revolt (
66Year 66 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* September 22—Emperor Nero creates the legion I Italica....
-
70Year 70 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* The building of the Colosseum starts .* Frontinus is praetor of Rome....
CE) the
Kitos WarThe Kitos War is the name given to the second of the Jewish-Roman wars. The name comes from the Mauretanian Roman general Lusius Quietus who suppressed a Jewish revolt in Mesopotamia and was sent to Iudaea to handle the revolt there as procurator under Trajan...
(
115-Roman Empire:* Trajan is cut off in southern Mesopotamia after his invasion of that region.* Trajan captures the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon.* Jews in Egypt and Cyrene ignite a revolt against the rule of the Roman Empire, which spreads to Cyprus, Judea, and the Roman province of Mesopotamia.*...
-
117-Roman Empire:* Trajan subdues a Jewish revolt , then falls seriously ill, leaving Hadrian in command of the east.* On his death bed, Trajan adopts Hadrian and designates him as his successor....
CE), and
Bar Kokhba's revoltThe Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire was the third major rebellion by the Jews of Iudaea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars....
(
132-Roman Empire:* The Temple of Olympian Zeus is completed using Cossutius' design.* The messianic, charismatic Jewish leader Simon bar Kokhba starts a war of liberation for Judea against the Romans, which is eventually crushed by emperor Hadrian...
-
135-Roman Empire:* The Bar Kokhba revolt ends and, with it, Judean independence. Simon bar Kokhba is killed after 13 December in Betar, the fortress in which he had taken refuge...
CE), after which Hadrian changed the name of the province to
Syria Palaestina and
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
to
Aelia CapitolinaAelia Capitolina was a city built by the emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, which was in ruins since 70 AD, leaning in part to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136.-Politics:...
in an attempt to erase the historical ties of the Jewish people to the region.
The Herodian client kingdom
The first intervention of Rome in the region dates from 63 BCE, following the end of the
Third Mithridatic WarThe Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...
, when Rome made a province of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
. After the defeat of
Mithridates VI of Pontus-Early reign:Mithradates VI was the son of Mithradates V , who died when he was a boy. During Eupator's minority, supreme power was exercised by his mother queen Laodice, whom he eventually deposed and committed to prison...
,
PompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey /'pɑmpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
(Pompey the Great) remained there to secure the area.
The region at the time was not a peaceful place. Queen
Salome AlexandraSalome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem , was the only Jewish regnant queen, with the exception of her own husband's mother whom he had prevented from ruling as his dying father had wished, and of the much earlier usurper Athaliah...
had recently died and her sons,
Hyrcanus IIHyrcanus II, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea in the 1st century BCE.-Accession:Hyrcanus was the eldest son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome...
and
Aristobulus IIAristobulus II was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea, 66 BC to 63 BC, from the Hasmonean Dynasty.-Family:Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea and...
, divided against each other in a civil war. In 63 BCE, Aristobulus was besieged in
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
by his brother's armies. He sent an envoy to
Marcus Aemilius ScaurusMarcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman politician of the 1st century BC and son of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and Caecilia Metella Dalmatica.Scaurus lost his father very young, but his education was insured by several family friends...
, Pompey's representative in the area. Aristobulus offered a massive bribe to be rescued, which Pompey promptly accepted. Afterwards, Aristobulus accused Scaurus of extortion. Since Scaurus was Pompey's brother in law and protégée, the general retaliated by putting Hyrcanus in charge of the kingdom as Prince and
High PriestKohen Gadol or Kohen ha-Gadol is the title of High Priest of early Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
.
When Pompey was defeated by
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar , , was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, Hyrcanus was succeeded by his
courtierA courtier is a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles...
Antipater the IdumaeanAntipater II the Idumaean was the founder of the Herodian Dynasty and father of Herod the Great. Other members of the family with the name Antipater were his father Antipater I, Governor of Idumaea, and grandson Antipater III....
, also known as Antipas, as the first Roman Procurator. In 57-55 BCE,
Aulus GabiniusAulus Gabinius, Roman statesman and general, and supporter of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, was a prominent figure in the later days of the Roman Republic....
, proconsul of Syria, split the former
HasmoneanThe Hasmoneans were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel , an independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC...
Kingdom of Israel into five districts of
SanhedrinThe Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Land of Israel.The Talmud states:GEMARA. Whence is this derived? — R...
/Synedrion (councils of law).
Both Caesar and Antipater were killed in 44 BCE, and the
IdumeanEdom is a name given to Esau in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the nation descending from him. The nation's name in Assyrian was Udumi; in Syriac, ܐܕܘܡ; in Greek, Ἰδουμαία ; in Latin, Idumæa or Idumea....
Herod the GreatHerod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (born 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho, was a Roman client king of Israel. He is often confused...
, Antipater's son, was designated "
King of the JewsKing of the Jews may refer to:History:Ruler of historic Jewish kingdoms and client states:* Kingdom of Israel * Kingdom of Judah * Hasmonean dynasty * Herodian Dynasty Others:...
" by the
Roman SenateThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government...
in 40 BCE. He didn't gain military control until 37 BCE. During his reign the last representatives of the
MaccabeesThe Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who liberated Judea from the rule of the Seleucid empire...
were eliminated, and the great port of Caesarea Maritima was built. He died in 4 BCE, and his kingdom was divided among his sons, who became
tetrarchTetrarch can refer to:* one of the four co-emperors of the Roman Empire under the Tetrarchy.* minor provincial rulers of a territory divided in four parts:...
s ("rulers of a quarter part"). One of these quarters was
Judea corresponding to the region of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. Herod's son
Herod ArchelausHerod Archelaus was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Edom from 4 BC to 6 AD. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace, the brother of Herod Antipas, and the half-brother of Herod Philip I....
, ruled Judea so badly that he was dismissed in 6 CE by the
Roman emperorThe Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin titles such as imperator , augustus, caesar and princeps were all associated with it...
AugustusGaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.
[These are the contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian after 45 BC...]
, after an appeal from his own population. Another,
Herod AntipasHerod Antipas was a first century AD ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch...
, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BCE to 39 CE, being then dismissed by
CaligulaGaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his cognomen Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41...
.
Iudaea
In 6 CE Judea became part of a larger Roman province, called
Iudaea, which was formed by combining
JudeaJudea or Judæa is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank Judea or Judæa (Hebrew: יהודה,
Standard Yəhuda
Tiberian , "praised, celebrated"; Greek: Ιουδαία, Ioudaía; ) is the...
proper with
SamariaSamaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
and Idumea. Even though
Iudaea is simply derived from the Latin for
Judea, many historians use it to distinguish the Roman province from the previous territory and history. Iudaea province did not include
GalileeGalilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country...
, Gaulanitis (the Golan), nor
PeraeaPerea , a portion of the kingdom of Herod the Great occupying the eastern side of the Jordan River valley, from about one third the way down from the Sea of Galilee to about one third the way down the eastern shore of the Dead Sea; it did not extend too far inland...
or the
DecapolisThe Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status...
. The capital was at Caesarea, not
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
which had been the capital for King David, King Hezekiah, King Josiah, the
MaccabeesThe Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who liberated Judea from the rule of the Seleucid empire...
and
Herod the GreatHerod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (born 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho, was a Roman client king of Israel. He is often confused...
.
QuiriniusPublius Sulpicius Quirinius was a Roman aristocrat. His governorship of Syria is one of the chronological anchors for the birth of Jesus.-Life:...
became
LegateA legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
(Governor) of Syria and conducted the first
Roman tax census of IudaeaThe "Census of Quirinius" refers to the enrollment of the Roman Provinces of Syria and Iudaea for tax purposes taken in AD 6/7 during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, when Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was appointed governor of Syria, after the banishment of Herod Archelaus and the imposition...
, which was opposed by the Zealots. Since Iudaea was not a
SenatorialA senatorial province was a Roman province where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint the governor . These provinces were away from the Empire's borders and free from the likelihood of rebellion, and so had few if any legions stationed in them...
or
Imperial provinceAn imperial province was a Roman province where the Emperor had the sole right to appoint the governor . These provinces were often the strategically located border provinces....
in its own right, but a sub-province of Syria, it was governed by a
knight of the equestrian orderThe Roman equestrian order constituted the lower of the two aristocratic classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the Senatorial Order...
, not a former
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
or
praetorPraetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, either before it was mustered or more typically in the field, or an elected magistrate assigned duties that varied depending on the historical period. The...
of
senatorialThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government...
rank; even though its revenue was of little importance to the Roman treasury, it controlled the land and coastal sea routes to the bread basket
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and was a border province against
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasts, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
because of the Jewish connections to
BabyloniaBabylonia was a civilization in Lower Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of the territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad...
.
Pontius PilatePontius Pilate was the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea from AD 26–36. Typically referenced as the fifth Procurator of Judea, he is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized his crucifixion.Pilate appears in all four canonical Christian Gospels...
was one of these
prefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
s, from 26 to 36 CE.
CaiaphasYosef Bar Kayafa , also known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest between AD 18 and 37. In the Mishnah, Parah 3:5 refers to him as Ha-Koph , a play on his name for opposing Mishnat Ha-Hasidim...
was one of the appointed
High PriestKohen Gadol or Kohen ha-Gadol is the title of High Priest of early Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
s of
Herod's TempleHerod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE...
, being appointed by the Prefect
Valerius GratusValerius Gratus was Roman Prefect or procurator of Judea under Tiberius, AD 15 - 26. He succeeded Annius Rufus and was replaced by Pontius Pilate....
in 18. Both were deposed by the Syrian Legate
Lucius VitelliusLucius Vitellius Veteris was the youngest of four sons of quaestor Publius Vitellius and the only one that did not die through politics. Under Emperor Tiberius, he was Consul in 34 and Governor of Syria in 35. He deposed Pontius Pilate in 36 after complains from the people in Samaria...
in 36 CE.
The 'Crisis under
CaligulaGaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his cognomen Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41...
' (37-41) has been proposed as the first open break between Rome and the Jews.
Between
41Year 41 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Consuls are the emperor Caligula and Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus....
and
44Year 44 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Consuls are Titus Statilius Taurus and Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus'...
CE, Iudaea regained its nominal autonomy, when
Herod AgrippaAgrippa I also called the Great , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Bible, "Herod "...
was made King of the Jews by the
emperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right...
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
. Following Agrippa's death, the province returned to direct Roman control for a short period. Iudaea was returned to Agrippa's son
Marcus Julius AgrippaAgrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice and Drusilla...
in
48Year 48 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Consuls are Aulus Vitellius and Lucius Vipstanus Publicola Messalla....
. He was the seventh and last of the
HerodiansThe Herodians were a sect or party mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — once in Galilee, and again in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus ....
. There was, however, an imperial procurator in the area, responsible for keeping peace and
taxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
raising. When Agrippa II died, about
100Year 100 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Bricks become the primary building material in the Roman Empire....
, the area returned to direct
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
control.
Iudaea was the stage of three major
rebellionRebellion is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government. Those who participate in rebellions are...
s against the Romans. They were (see
Jewish-Roman warsThe Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt...
for the full account):
- 66
Year 66 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* September 22—Emperor Nero creates the legion I Italica....
-70Year 70 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* The building of the Colosseum starts .* Frontinus is praetor of Rome....
CE - first rebellion, followed by the destruction of Herod's TempleHerod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE...
and the siege of Jerusalem (see Great Jewish Revolt, JosephusJosephus , also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu and, after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a first-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70...
)
- 115
-Roman Empire:* Trajan is cut off in southern Mesopotamia after his invasion of that region.* Trajan captures the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon.* Jews in Egypt and Cyrene ignite a revolt against the rule of the Roman Empire, which spreads to Cyprus, Judea, and the Roman province of Mesopotamia.*...
-117-Roman Empire:* Trajan subdues a Jewish revolt , then falls seriously ill, leaving Hadrian in command of the east.* On his death bed, Trajan adopts Hadrian and designates him as his successor....
CE - second rebellion, called Kitos WarThe Kitos War is the name given to the second of the Jewish-Roman wars. The name comes from the Mauretanian Roman general Lusius Quietus who suppressed a Jewish revolt in Mesopotamia and was sent to Iudaea to handle the revolt there as procurator under Trajan...
, due to excessive taxation
- 132
-Roman Empire:* The Temple of Olympian Zeus is completed using Cossutius' design.* The messianic, charismatic Jewish leader Simon bar Kokhba starts a war of liberation for Judea against the Romans, which is eventually crushed by emperor Hadrian...
-135-Roman Empire:* The Bar Kokhba revolt ends and, with it, Judean independence. Simon bar Kokhba is killed after 13 December in Betar, the fortress in which he had taken refuge...
CE - third rebellion, Bar Kokhba's revoltThe Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire was the third major rebellion by the Jews of Iudaea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars....
Following the suppression of Bar Kokhba's revolt, the emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province to
Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem became
Aelia CapitolinaAelia Capitolina was a city built by the emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, which was in ruins since 70 AD, leaning in part to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136.-Politics:...
in order to humiliate the
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish population by attempting to erase their historical ties to the region.
According to historian H.H. Ben-Sasson, under
DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from 20 November 284 to 1 May 305. Born to a Dalmatian family of low status, he rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the emperor Carus...
(284-305) the region was divided into
Palaestina Prima which was Judea, Samaria, Idumea, Peraea and the coastal plain with Caesarea as capital,
Palaestina Secunda which was Galilee, Decapolis, Golan with Beth-shean as capital, and
Palaestina Tertia which was the Negev with Petra as capital.
External links