Jews and the Romans

1. Jews and the Romans

2. All Roads Lead to Rome • The kings and priests who followed Simeon supported the Sadducees, a group of priestly Jews who believed in the sacrificial services of the Temple (called the Temple Cult). • Some Jews, disgusted by what they considered the desecration of true Judaism, split off and became the Essenes.

3. The other group unhappy with the Hasmonean and Sadducean rule were the Pharisees, who believed in the Oral Torah. • The Pharisees firmly downplayed the primacy of the Temple and its sacrifices and believed that each Jew was responsible for his/her own relationship with God. • They didn’t accept the authority of the priests of the Temple, and they urged Jews to worship in synagogues and to study the Torah.

4. John Hyrcanus and his son Alexander Jannaeus were two rulers who often resorted to violence to repress the Pharisees and support the Sadducees. At the same time, these two men greatly expanded the land of Judea, resulting in the forced conversion of other tribes to Judaism (not a good idea)

5. Alexander’s wife, Queen Salome, became more political after Alexander died, keeping the peace by offering much more power to the Pharisees while still keeping her son Hyrcanus II as High Priest. • After Queen Salome died in 67 BCE, her younger son, backed by the Sadducees, wrestled power from his brother, and assumed not only the role of King but also of High Priest.

6. With Judea continually involved in a civil war for 3 years, Hyrcanus II finally decided to invite the Roman Emperor Pompey to settle the dispute. • Pompey did what any reasonable Roman general would do: decided to favor Rome, stripping both brothers of power and insisting that Judea start paying tribute as a vassal state (although he did leave Hyrcanus II as High Priest). • Rome was the dominant power across Europe, Egypt, and now Judea.

7. An Edifice Complex • Hyrcanus II continued ruling as High Priest under the greater control of Rome for over 20 years. • After Pompey died, Julius Caesar became the uncontested leader of the entire Roman empire, though he was soon murdered and was eventually succeeded by Mark Anthony. • Anthony wanted a governor of Judea whose first loyalty would be Rome, and so he picked a man who, while Jewish “in name”, had little connection to the Jews: Herod, who's father had been forcibly converted to Judaism by John Hyrcanus.

8. Herod was an ambitious, scheming, paranoid man- and those were his good qualities! • He didn’t favor the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but rather simply annoyed just about every Jewish faction. • For example, one of his early orders of business was to marry the only living Hasmonean female and have the High Priest, her brother, assassinated. He then angered many by appointing a new High Priest whenever he wanted to. Later, afraid of a possible set up, he had his wife and two children killed….he was that king of leader.

9. Herod was clearly a terrible guy, but he is widely remembered for the amazing structures he built or re-built, most importantly, he vastly built up the Second Temple, creating one of the most amazing architectural wonders in the Empire. • The Western Wall, which some people call the “Wailing Wall”, in Jerusalem is the remnant of the outer retaining wall that Herod built around the rebuilt Temple.

11. Not one but many messiahs • During Herod’s reign, false prophets and false decedents of King David appeared out of thin air, spreading unrest among the people. • When Herod died in 4 BCE, the chaos and wild hopes in the land became worse than ever. • People were primed for change and for something new in which to believe.

12. Death and dismemberment • After Herod’s death, his sons fought for control over the land. • Rome, while not eliminating Herodian Dynasty, decided to limit its control, so they appointed each of Herod’s four sons to a small part of the greater kingdom. • Then the Romans brought in “procurators” to act as governors, maintaining Roman law. (These men were mostly scoundrels)

13. Today, the most famous of Herod’s sons was Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist beheaded, possibly for speaking publicly against Antipas’ marriage to his own sister-in-law. • As well, the most famous Roman persecutors was Pontius Pilate, who ordered the crucifixion of a young Jewish preacher from Galilee named Jesus, along with thousands of other Jews who threatened the political power of the Romans. • *show video clip*

14. Sects and Violence • Some scholars estimate that the majority of Jews actually lived outside of Judea at this point, just as today the majority of Jews live outside of Israel. • In the meantime, Judea was a mess politically: The Sadducees fought with the Pharisees over philosophy, religious practice, and control of the Temple. • There were also class differences; the Sadducee priests were aristocratic, while the Pharisees were mostly scribes and scholars who later transformed into “rabbis”.

15. More than anything, though, none of the Jewish people liked the Romans. • Gangs of Jews, called the Zealots, began to appear, violently attacking Jews who were known to be in collaboration with the Romans or were simply not anti-Roman enough. • Ultimately, in 66 CE, this popular uprising evolved into a full-scale war against Rome.

16. Unlike most wars, this one was very unorganized. • While the various sections of Judean society all agreed in the “freedom of Zion”, they disagreed over who should lead the rebellion. • In fact, near the end of the war, when the walls of Jerusalem were about to fall to the Romans, there were 3 factions in Jerusalem fighting for control of the Temple. • They clearly preferred to fight each other rather than the really dangerous enemy.

17. In the end, Judea and Jerusalem were conquered on the day of Tisha B’Av in 70 CE by Titus, the son of the new Roman Emperor, Vespasian. • The great Temple was destroyed and legions of Jews, along with their religious artifacts, were marched over 1,500 miles back to Rome as prisoners and slaves. • The Romans, in an attempt to blot out all traces of Judaism from the area, changed the name of Judea to Palestine.