11 20 12 4 BCE 6 CE Herod dies 6 41 CE The Great Revolt Rome vs Judaea 70 BCE Archelaus son succeeds over his brother Antipater for about 10 years until Rome decides to rule directly over Judaea with its own administrators and governors procurators and remove Archelaus from power o Problematic period bc Rome sends relatively low level incompetent money hungry administrators to handle Judaea who don t seem to be up to the task of handling a tension filled neighborhood Tension started when Rome established province in Syria 60 BCE and governor Quirinius dispatched Roman officials to get a sense of taxes in Judaea leading to organized and ideological opposition to Romans and only increases with Rome s increased involvement in Judaea Josephus Fourth Philosophy response to tax inquiry and in general Rome s presence First 3 Judaism is divided over these positions 4th political and religious opposition to Rome Jews are aware that Roman officials are regarded as gods so to be submissive to Rome is therefore idolatry political agenda expressed in religious terms Independence Movement that says Judaea must be free from this religious suppression Judaea itself comes under procurator rule but outlying areas Galilee Golan are still ruled by Herod s family Pontius Pilate Roman governor responsible for overseeing execution of Jesus 41 44 CE Interlude Agrippa Herod s grandson is returned to throne victory lap in Alexandria riot o Rules with Roman recognition o Rabbis have praise for Agrippa traditional Jewish perspective of thinking highly of Herod s dynasty because seen as a humble trying to be pious personality recognizes his lack of qualifications for kingship o EG Agrippa reads Torah out loud to Jews passage in Deuteronomy which details qualifications for king realizes he is not legitimate starts crying Rabbis comfort him 44 70 CE Agrippa dies Rome returns to preferred policy of direct Roman rule Results o Relations between Jews and Roman administration diminishes rapidly o Increased lawlessness Roman policemen do not maintain law and order consistently increased robbery in the countryside which is beyond the control of the hated occupying force of Rome o Increased tension of rebellion with the development of individual prophets charismatic leaders who claim to see a great war coming against Rome aka political prognosticators presenting it as a Divine Will raising false hope of G d fighting on Judaea s side o Messianism first appears here right before rebellion against Rome Josephus discusses man named Theudas who convinces Jews to pack up their bags follow him to the Jordan River which will part like Moses Joshua for them to cross Romans kill Theudas bc see him as bad for their situation Another story of taking people to the desert to live there in its wonders Another story of the walls of Jerusalem falling down JESUS powerful anti Roman sentiment coupled with following of charismatic religious leader idea of overthrowing Romans Jews begin to feel like the Romans are favoring everyone else o Samaritans preexisting tension bc Samaritans are not viewed by Jews as Jews Jews are not viewed as legitimate by Samaritans attack Jews while Romans ignore the assault o Greeks cities established since Alexander in Caesarea question rights of Jews in that area which is not exclusively Jewish while Florus Roman governor takes seemingly anti Jewish stance and favors other side following up his decision by allowing Roman troops to pillage resulting in rioting in Jerusalem and crucifies several important Jerusalem Jews Florus leaves Jerusalem and Jews retaliate and kill the local Roman officials and decide they will no longer offer sacrifices in the Temple dedicated in the name of the Roman Emperor Jews FTW 8 66 CE Roman response o 10 66 Roman governor of Syria most closely located with largest army marches to Judaea to suppress rebellions and reestablish Roman rule defeated o Winter of 66 Judaea is free of Roman domination Provisional autonomous government is established aware of the fact that it is in the middle of a rebellion so mostly consists of military personnel generals and military officials are set up around country to prepare for Rome s retaliation Josephus dispatched to north to help defend border against Roman invasion Rome is coming Josephus Co draw lots to commit suicide until it s just the two of them left who both reject suicide but Josephus surrenders to the Romans when they enter and prophesies to Vespasian that he will become emperor Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai who decides to keep Josephus around spending rest of the war with Roman army pleading with Jews to surrender bc things will end up bad for the Jews anyway so they re better off surrendering Clashes of Jews and Pagans o 67 Nero Roman Emperor appoints Vespasian general to suppress rebellion Vespasian slowly marches from Golan to Galilee crushing Jewish autonomy o 67 68 Moderate Jewish government in Jerusalem in power from beginning of war is replaced by extremists Zealots named by Josephus who overthrow moderate gov bc seen as being too pro Roman Josephus description of siege on Jerusalem Revolutionaries are still in charge while Josephus begs the people inside the siege to surrender to Rome s generous terms army led by Titus Vespasian s son John of Gischala Gush Chalav and Simon of Bar Giora leaders of revolutionaries Josephus greatest opposition o More concerned with Jews leaving as per Titus deal of leaving with no consequences than with Romans entering they kill those Jews who leave Militant leaders flock toward Jerusalem John included non Jerusalemite represents the hijacking of the war effort o 6 68 Jerusalem is only city left to be conquered and some Herodian fortresses scattered throughout the land including Masada o 6 7 68 69 Jerusalem conquest is put on hold bc Rome is in turbulence with quick succession of 3 emperors Nero commits suicide political instability military campaign put on hold bc they receive their orders from the emperor o 7 69 Vespasian becomes emperor leaves Judaea appoints Titus son as successor and military general to finish Judean campaign given vast resources bc they NEED this war as their claim to fame o 4 9 70 Siege established outside Jerusalem Jerusalem captured over course of 4 5 months Critical Moment August of 70 CE sacrifices cease completely Temple burned down September remainder of city captured north of Temple o 70 74 Rome captures the rest of Judaea over the course of 4 years fighting