- Historical background
Roman rule from 63 BCE to 70 CE. - 63 BCE- Roman general, Pompey, invades Judea.
Romans appoint Herod King of Judea.Herod dies 4 BCE. - After ousting of his son, Archelaus (6CE), Judea ruled as a province by a series of procurators. Parts also ruled at times by Herod's sons and grandsons, Herod Agrippa I and Herod Agrippa II.
39 CE- Reign of Caligula, declared himself a deity and ordered his statue to be set up at every temple in the Roman Empire.
66CE Looting of Temple treasury by procurator, Florus.- -Confiscatory taxes
- - Periodic indignities
- - Religious clashes
66 CE- 70 CE. The Great Revolt. Up to 1000 000 Jews died. Destruction of Second Temple.
132-135 CE- Another great revolt breaks out, led by Simon Bar Kochba, and supported by Rabbi Akiva. Over 500 000 Jews died. Temporarily successful, but ultimately, after the fall of Betar, the failure of the revolution led to the loss of Jewish independence in Israel until 1948.- _________________________________________________________
- Text 1: Josephus, The Jewish War
- Josephus outlines how the revolt broke out and gives the reasons that in his view, this was misguided and foolhardy.
Text 2: Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 56a-b
Sinat Chinam- Senseless hatred.
The clash between the Zealot party and the moderates in besieged Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai's great escape and his request to the Roman general, Vespasian: "Give me Yavneh and its wise men".
Text 3. Talmud Yerushalmi: - Messianic fervour: Bar Kochba: "This is the annointed King"
- Text 4. Pseudo Spartianus: Religious persecution:Ban on circumcision.
- Text 5. Cassius Dio: Roman History. The Bar Kochba Revolt.
- "Thus nearly the whole of Judea was made desolate"
- Judea renamed Syria Palestina. End of Jewish independence in Israel until 1948 as Jews became mainly a people in Exile.
Roman rule from 63 BCE to 70 CE.
Romans appoint Herod King of Judea.Herod dies 4 BCE.
39 CE- Reign of Caligula, declared himself a deity and ordered his statue to be set up at every temple in the Roman Empire.
66CE Looting of Temple treasury by procurator, Florus.
66 CE- 70 CE. The Great Revolt. Up to 1000 000 Jews died. Destruction of Second Temple.
132-135 CE- Another great revolt breaks out, led by Simon Bar Kochba, and supported by Rabbi Akiva. Over 500 000 Jews died. Temporarily successful, but ultimately, after the fall of Betar, the failure of the revolution led to the loss of Jewish independence in Israel until 1948.
Text 2: Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 56a-b
Sinat Chinam- Senseless hatred.
The clash between the Zealot party and the moderates in besieged Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai's great escape and his request to the Roman general, Vespasian: "Give me Yavneh and its wise men".
Text 3. Talmud Yerushalmi: