| Province of Judaea | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of theRoman Empire | |||||||||
| 6 CE–135 CE | |||||||||
.svg) The Roman Empire under the reign ofHadrian (125 CE) with Judaea highlighted in red | |||||||||
| Capital | Caesarea Maritima | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| • Coordinates | 32°30′N34°54′E / 32.500°N 34.900°E /32.500; 34.900 | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Prefects before 41,Procurators after 44 CE | |||||||||
• 6–9 CE | Coponius | ||||||||
• 26–36 CE | Pontius Pilate | ||||||||
• 64–66 CE | Gessius Florus | ||||||||
• 117 CE | Lusius Quietus | ||||||||
• 130–132 CE | Tineius Rufus | ||||||||
| King of the Jews | |||||||||
• 41–44 CE | Agrippa I | ||||||||
• 48–93/100 | Agrippa II | ||||||||
| Legislature | Synedrion/Sanhedrin | ||||||||
| Historical era | Roman Principate | ||||||||
• Annexation to the Roman Empire | 6 CE | ||||||||
| c. 30/33 CE | |||||||||
• Crisis underCaligula | 37–41 CE | ||||||||
| 44 CE | |||||||||
| 70 CE | |||||||||
• Assigned a governor of praetorian rank and given the 10th Legion | c. 74 CE | ||||||||
• RenamedSyria Palaestina | 135 CE | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Israel Palestine Jordan (Peraea) Lebanon (NW Galilee) | ||||||||
| Form of Judaism: beforeAugust 70, it is referred to asSecond Temple Judaism, from which theTannaim andEarly Christianity emerged. | |||||||||
Judaea[1] was aRoman province from 6 to 135 CE, which at its height encompassed the regions ofJudea,Idumea, Peraea,Samaria, andGalilee, as well as parts of thecoastal plain of thesouthern Levant. At its height, it encompassed much of the core territories of the former Kingdom of Judaea, which had been ruled by theHasmonean andHerodian dynasties in previous decades. The nameJudaea (like the similarJudea) derives from theIron AgeKingdom of Judah, which was centered in the region of Judea.
Since theRoman Republic's conquest of Judaea in 63 BCE, which abolished the independent Hasmonean monarchy, Rome maintained a system ofsemi-autonomous vassalage in the region. After Hasmonean rulerAntigonus II Mattathias briefly regained the throne, he was overthrown byHerod, who was appointed King of the Jews by theRoman Senate and ruled Judaea until his death in 4 BCE. The province's formal incorporation into the Roman Empire was enacted byAugustus in 6 CE, following an appeal by the populace against the misrule of Herod's son,Herod Archelaus (r. 4 BCE – 6 CE). The administrative capital was relocated fromJerusalem to the coastal city ofCaesarea Maritima.
Over the six decades following the province's establishment, relations between the majority Jewish population and Roman authorities were marked by frequent crises. With the onset of direct rule,the official census instituted byPublius Sulpicius Quirinius, the governor ofRoman Syria, caused tensions and led to an uprising by Jewish rebelJudas of Galilee (6 CE). Other notable events in the region include thecrucifixion of Jesusc. 30–33 CE (which led to the emergence ofChristianity) and in 37 CE, EmperorCaligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in theSecond Temple. A brief respite came underAgrippa I (r. 41–44 CE), a popular ruler who temporarily restored Jewish self-governance under Roman auspices. However, after his death, Judaea—now encompassing Galilee and Peraea—reverted to direct Roman rule, and unrest gradually escalated. In the following years, prophetic figures sought to gain followers,Sicarii assassins targeted officials, and corrupt and brutal governors—most notablyGessius Florus (r. 64–66 CE)—further inflamed tensions.
In 66 CE, unrest in Caesarea, followed by clashes in Jerusalem, ignited theFirst Jewish–Roman War. The Romans, underVespasian and later his sonTitus, systematically crushed the rebellion, culminating in the razing of Jerusalem and thedestruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Jewish population recovered within a generation and, in 132 CE, launched theBar Kokhba revolt in response toHadrian's plans to constructAelia Capitolina, a non-Jewishcolony, on the ruins of Jerusalem. The rebels briefly established an independent Jewish state, but the Roman suppression of the revolt resulted in the widespread destruction and near-depopulation of the region of Judea. In that same year, Judea was officially merged with Galilee in an enlarged province namedSyria Palaestina.[2][3][4]
Judaea, an independent state under theHasmonean dynasty, was conquered by theRoman Republic in 63 BCE.[5][6] At the time, it was embroiled in a civil war betweenHyrcanus II andAristobulus II, sons of QueenSalome Alexandra, both vying for the throne.[7][8] Roman generalPompey intervened,besieging and capturing Jerusalem. In the aftermath, he appointed Hyrcanus II asethnarch andHigh Priest, but denied him the title of king.
In 40 BCE,Antigonus II Mattathias, son of Aristobolus II, temporarily reclaimed the throne with Parthian support[9] but was overthrown in 37 BCE byHerod, whom theRoman Senate had appointed "King of the Jews."[10] Herodruled Judaea as aclient kingdom of Rome until his death in 4 BCE.[11] Widely despised and resented by the public, he maintained close relations with the Romans.[10] During this period, the remaining Hasmonean heirs were eliminated, and the grand port city ofCaesarea Maritima was constructed.[12]
Herod died in 4 BCE, and his kingdom was partitioned into atetrarchy and divided among three of his sons.[9]Archelaus served as ethnarch ofJudea (including Jerusalem),Samaria, andIdumaea, whileHerod Antipas governedGalilee and Peraea, andPhilip ruled overGaulanitis,Trachonitis andBatanaea.[13]Archelaus rule of Judea was gravely atrocious that he was dismissed in 6 CE by the firstRoman emperor,Augustus, after an appeal from his own subjects. Following his removal, Judaea was annexed as the Roman province of Judaea.[14][15][16] Herod Antipas continued to rule Galilee and Peraea until his dismisal by EmperorCaligula in 39 CE.
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Following the death ofHerod the Great, theHerodian Kingdom of Judea was divided into theHerodian Tetrarchy, jointly ruled by Herod's sons and sister:Herod Archelaus (who ruledJudea,Samaria andIdumea),Herod Philip (who ruledBatanea,Trachonitis as well asAuranitis),Herod Antipas (who ruledGalilee and Peraea) andSalome I (who briefly ruledJamnia).
A messianic revolt erupted in Judea in 4 BCE because of Archelaus's incompetence; the revolt was brutally crushed by theLegate ofSyria,Publius Quinctilius Varus, who occupiedJerusalem and crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels.[17][18]
Because of his failure to properly rule Judea, Archelaus was removed from his post by EmperorAugustus in 6 CE, while Judea, Samaria, and Idumea came under direct Roman administration.[19]
This event had significant and ever-lasting effects onJewish history, and thedevelopment of Christianity.[20]
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The Judean province did not initially includeGalilee,Gaulanitis (today's Golan), nor Peraea or theDecapolis. Its revenue was of little importance to the Roman treasury; however, it controlled the land and coastal sea routes to the "bread basket" ofEgypt and was a buffer against theParthian Empire. The capital was moved from Jerusalem toCaesarea Maritima.[21]
Augustus appointedPublius Sulpicius Quirinius to the post ofLegate ofSyria and he conducteda tax census of Syria and Judea in 6 CE, which triggered the revolt ofJudas of Galilee; the revolt was quickly crushed by Quirinius.[22]
Judea was not asenatorial province, nor animperial province, but instead was a "satellite of Syria"[23] governed by aprefect who was aknight of the Equestrian Order (as was that ofRoman Egypt), not a former consul orpraetor ofsenatorial rank. Quirinius appointedCoponius as first prefect of Judea.[24] The prefect inherited the Herodian military forces, consisting of one cavalry unit and five infantry cohorts.[25][a]
Still, Jews living in the province maintained some form of independence and could judge offenders by their own laws, including capital offenses, untilc. 28 CE.[26] Judea in the earlyRoman period was divided into five administrative districts with centers in Jerusalem,Gadara,Amathus,Jericho, andSepphoris.[27]
In 30–33 CE, Roman prefectPontius Pilate hadJesus of Nazarethcrucified on the charge ofsedition, an act that led to the birth ofChristianity.[28][29][30] In 36 CE another messianic revolt erupted nearMount Gerizim, under the lead of aSamaritan, and was quickly crushed by Pilate; the Samaritans complained against Pilate's brutality to the Legate of SyriaLucius Vitellius the Elder, who removed Pilate from his post and sent him to Rome to account, replacing him with an acting prefect calledMarcellus.[31]
In 37 CE, Emperor Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in theTemple in Jerusalem,[32] a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism.[33] TheLegate of Syria,Publius Petronius, fearing civil war if the order was carried out, delayed implementing it for nearly a year.[34] KingHerod Agrippa I finally convinced Caligula to reverse the order.[35] Caligula later issued a second order to have his statue erected in the Temple of Jerusalem, but he was murdered before the statue reached Jerusalem and his successorClaudius rescinded the order.[36] The "Crisis under Caligula" has been proposed as the first open break between Rome andJews.[37]
Between 41 and 44 AD, Judea regained its nominalautonomy, whenHerod Agrippa was madeKing of the Jews by the emperorClaudius, thus in a sense restoring the Herodian dynasty. Claudius had allowedprocurators, who served as personal agents to the Emperor and often as provincial tax and finance ministers, to be elevated to governing magistrates with full state authority to keep the peace. He may have elevated Judea's procurator to imperial governing status because the imperial legate of Syria was not sympathetic to the Judeans.[38]
Following Agrippa's death in 44, the province returned to direct Roman control, incorporating Agrippa's personal territories of Galilee and Peraea, under a row of procurators. Nevertheless, Agrippa's son,Agrippa II was designatedKing of the Jews in 48. He was the seventh and last of theHerodians.
Jerusalem was plagued by famine between 44 and 48.[39] According toJosephus,Helena of Adiabene[40]"...went down to the city Jerusalem, her son conducting her on her journey a great way. Now her coming was of very great advantage to the people of Jerusalem; for whereas a famine did oppress them at that time, and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food withal, queen Helena sent some of her servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo of dried figs. And as soon as they were come back, and had brought those provisions, which was done very quickly, she distributed food to those that were in want of it, and left a most excellent memorial behind her of this benefaction, which she bestowed on our whole nation. And when her sonIzates was informed of this famine, he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jerusalem.[41]
In 66 CE, tensions in Judaea escalated into an open revolt following clashes between Jews and Greeks in Caesarea.[42] These were followed by the Roman procurator Florus' seizure of Temple funds in Jerusalem and his subsequent massacres of its population.[43] A Temple captain halted sacrifices for the emperor, and the Roman garrison in the city was massacred. In response,Cestius Gallus, the Roman governor of Syria, led a 30,000-strong army into Judaea and besieged Jerusalem.[44][44] However, after withdrawing from the city for unclear reasons,[45][44] his forces suffered adevastating ambush at theBethoron Pass.[46][45][47]
After Gallus' defeat, aprovisional government was formed in Jerusalem,[48] appointing military commanders across the country.[49] Soon Emperor Nero taskedVespasian with suppressing the revolt,[50][51] and in 67 CE, he launched a campaign in Galilee, besieging and destroying rebel strongholds such asYodfat,Tarichaea, andGamla.[52] Meanwhile, Jerusalem became overcrowded with refugees and rebels.[53] Inside the city, internal Jewish factions clashed asZealots seized power, overthrew the moderate government, and invited theIdumeans, who massacred opposition leaders and consolidated their control.[54] By 68 CE, Vespasian had secured Galilee and parts of Judea, aiming to isolate Jerusalem. However, Nero's suicide in 68 CE plunged Rome into civil war (the "Year of the Four Emperors").[55][56] In 69 CE, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor and left for Rome,[57][58] entrusting command to his sonTitus, who prepared to crush the remaining Jewish resistance.[58]
In 70 CE, the Roman army under Titus laid afive-month siege to Jerusalem.[59] Titus's forces comprised legions, along with detachments (vexillationes) from two other legions, twenty infantry cohorts, eight mounted alae, and thousands of troops provided by client kings,[59] totaling around 50,000 soldiers.[60] Jerusalem population had swollen withPassover pilgrims and refugees, while three-way factional strife among Jewish groups further weakened its defense. As supplies dwindled, the inhabitants suffered from starvation and disease. The Romans breached the city walls one by one, and, in the summer, stormed theTemple Mount, destroying the Second Temple.[61] The following month, the Romans completed their conquest of Jerusalem, slaughtering, enslaving, or executing many of its inhabitants and reducing the city to ruins.[62][63][64]
In the years that followed, Roman forces launched a final campaign against isolated rebel-held fortresses, which concluded with thefall of Masada in 73/74 CE.[65][66]
The Jewish defeat in the First Jewish–Roman War left a lasting impact on Judaea. Jerusalem, the spiritual and national center of the Jewish people, was destroyed,[67] and large numbers of Jews were killed through war, famine, disease, and massacres, while many others were captured or displaced.[68] Nevertheless, communal life gradually recovered,[69][70] and Jews continued to make up a relative majority of the population.[71]
In the aftermath, the province underwent administrative reorganization. A senatorial-rank legate was appointed as governor, andLegio X Fretensis, which had taken part in the conquest of Jerusalem, was permanently stationed in the city's ruins.[66] To strengthen Roman control, the regions of Judea and Idumaea were designated a military zone under legionary officers,[72] and veterans as well as other Roman citizens settled in the province.[73]
In 115 CE, widespread Jewish uprisings, known as theDiaspora Revolt, erupted almost simultaneously across several eastern provinces, includingCyprus, Egypt,Libya, andMesopotamia. Suppression of the revolt took about two years and led to the near-total destruction of Jewish communities in Cyprus, Egypt, and Libya.[74][75] Judaea's involvement remains disputed: no fully reliable source confirms its direct participation, and archaeologically it is difficult to distinguish any destruction dating to 117 CE from that of the Bar Kokhba revolt a decade and a half later. Rabbinic tradition, however, preserves a memory of the "Kitos War," placing it fifty-two years after the destruction of the Second Temple and sixteen years before the Bar Kokhba revolt, and associating it with restrictive decrees and a ban on teaching Greek.[76] LateSyriac sources also speak of unrest in Judaea, describing Roman defeats of Jews from Egypt and Libya there,[76] while an inscription fromSardinia refers to anexpeditio Judaeae amongTrajan's campaigns.[76] Hostilities may have been stoked by Roman cult acts in Jerusalem:Hippolytus reports that a legion under Trajan set up an idol calledKore, while an inscription records soldiers ofLegio III Cyrenaica dedicating an altar or statue toSerapis in the city during Trajan's final year.[77]
Following his role in suppressing Jewish unrest in the eastern provinces,Lusius Quietus (namesake of the Kitos War) briefly governed Judaea with consular authority.[78] After Hadrian succeeded Trajan in 117, Quietus was dismissed and replaced byMarcus Titius Lustricus Bruttianus.[79] Judaea's status was upgraded from a praetorian to a consular province, and a second permanent legion,Legio II Traiana Fortis, was stationed there before 120 CE.[76][80] The legion’s soldiers constructed a new road linkingCaparcotna, Sepphoris and Acre, turning Caparcotna into a northern base and securing the corridor between Judaea, Galilee, Egypt, and Syria.[81] To strengthen control, Rome settled veterans and other loyal colonists in Judaea, a policy that aimed to secure the province but intensified alienation from the Jewish population.[82]
In 132 CE, theBar Kokhba revolt—the final major Jewish revolt and last organized effort to regain national independence[83][84]—erupted in Judaea. It was primarily concentrated in Judea proper[b] and was led bySimon bar Kokhba. The revolt was directly precipitated by the establishment ofAelia Capitolina, a paganRoman colony, atop the ruins of Jerusalem,[86][87][88]—an act Goodman described as the "final solution for Jewish rebelliousness."[89] The manyhiding complexes built before the revolt show that the Jews had been preparing for conflict in advance.[88] With early victories over the Romans, Bar Kokhba secured control over a Jewish state andminted coins bearing symbols and slogans proclaiming Jewish independence, similar to those issued during the revolt.[90] However, Roman forces under Emperor Hadrian eventually crushed the revolt, resulting in widespread destruction and mass slaughter, which some historians describe asgenocidal.[91] The fall ofBetar and the death of Bar Kokhba in 135 marked the final collapse of the revolt.[92] Judea proper was heavily depopulated, with many Jews sold into slavery and transported to distant regions.[93]
While Hadrian's death in 137 eased some of the restrictions and persecution, the Jewish population in the region was severely reduced.[93] The remaining Jews were largely concentrated in the Galilee, theGolan, and coastal plain cities, with smaller communities along the fringes of Judea proper and a few other areas.[94]
After the revolt, Hadrian imposed laws targeting Jewish practices with the goal of dismantling Jewish nationalism.[83][95] The revolt also sealed the fate of the Jerusalem Temple, preventing its rebuilding for the foreseeable future.[96] Hadrian's punishment also included banning Jews from Jerusalem and its surrounding areas, and renaming the province from Judaea toSyria Palaestina.[83]
The creation of Syria Palaestina from the ruins of Judaea, the former of whichhad not been an officially used name until then, did not prevent the Jewish people from referring to the land in their writings as either "Yehudah" (Hebrew:יהודה)[97][98] or "The Land of Israel" (Hebrew:ארץ ישראל).[99]
Agriculture played a significant role in economic life in Judaea. Wheat, barley, olives and grapes were the main crops grown in Judaea's fields. Evidence for the cultivation of herbs, vegetables, and legumes comes fromRabbinic literature,Josephus' works, and theNew Testament. Writings from the late first and early second centuries indicate that Jewish farmers introduced rice to Judea during the early Roman period. The local crop was fine, large-kernel rice.[100][101]
During the Roman administration of Judaea, some governors commissioned the minting of coins for local use. Only six governors are known to have issued such coins, all minted in Jerusalem.[102] All issues minted wereprutot, smallbronze coins averaging 2-2.5 grams, similar to the Romanquadrans.[103]
The design of the coins reflects an attempt to accommodate Jewish sensibilities, likely in collaboration with the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem.[103] Unlike typicalRoman coinage featuring the emperor's portrait, these coins displayed symbols likepalm tree andears of grain, echoing earlierHasmonean andHerodian designs. A notable exception is the coinage ofPontius Pilate, (26-36 CE), which included Roman cultic items like thesimpulum andlituus on one side, though the reverse maintained Jewish imagery.[104][105]
Attributing these coins to specific governors is a challenge. They lack the governor's name, but display the reigning emperor'sregnal year and name in Greek. Scholars rely on cross-referencing this information with historical records, particularly the writings of Josephus, to establish a governor's chronology and assign the coins accordingly.[102][103]
These coins were primarily circulated within Judaea, with the highest concentration found in Jerusalem, where hundreds have been discovered. However, evidence indicates that the coins transcended their intended region, with discoveries inTransjordan and even in distant locations likeDura andAntioch.[103]
The minting of provincial coins ceased in 59 CE, and they continued to circulate until the end of theFirst Jewish–Roman War in 70 CE. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, Jews lost their previously held rights; subsequent Roman coinage in Judaea no longer reflected Jewish influence.[103]
When Archelaus was deposed from theethnarchy in 6 CE, Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea were converted into a Roman province under the name Iudaea.
...if there is any fact of Jesus' life that has been established by a broad consensus, it is the fact of Jesus' crucifixion.
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