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Kingdom of Judea redirects here. For the 10th-6th century BCE kingdom, see Kingdom of Judah
Iudaea (
Hebrew: יהודה,
Standard Yehuda Tiberian Yehûḏāh;
Greek:
Ιουδαία;
Latin:
Iudaea) was a
Roman province that extended over the region of
Judea proper, later renamed
Palestine. It was named in reference to the ancient
Kingdom of Judah of the 6th century BCE, which had subsequently been conquered by
Babylonia, the
Persian Empire, and contested by the
Seleucid and
Ptolemaic Empires in the six
Syrian Wars of the 2nd century BCE. The majority of the population, and the local rulers, remained Jewish until after the
Bar Kokhba's revolt.
Rome's involvement in the area dated from
63 BCE, following the end of the
Third Mithridatic War, when Rome made
Syria a province. After the defeat of
Mithridates VI of Pontus,
general Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) remained to secure the area. Subsequently, during the
1st century BCE, Judea's
Hasmonean Kingdom became a
client kingdom and then a
province of the
Roman Empire.
Iudaea Province was the stage of three major
rebellions (see
Jewish-Roman wars), including the
Great Jewish Revolt (
66-
70 CE) the
Kitos War (
115-
117 CE), and
Bar Kokhba's revolt (
132-
135 CE), after which
Hadrian changed the name of the province to
Syria Palaestina and
Jerusalem to
Aelia Capitolina in an attempt to erase the historical ties of the Jewish people to the region.
The client kingdom of Judea
The first intervention of Rome in the region dates from
63 BCE, following the end of the
Third Mithridatic War, when Rome made a province of
Syria. After the defeat of
Mithridates VI of Pontus,
Pompey (Pompey the Great) remained there to secure the area.
Judea at the time wasn't a peaceful place. Queen
Salome Alexandra had recently died and her sons,
Hyrcanus II and
Aristobulus II, divided against each other in a civil war. In 63 BCE, Aristobulus was besieged in
Jerusalem by his brother's armies. He sent an envoy to
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, 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 Priest.
When Pompey was defeated by
Julius Caesar, Hyrcanus was succeeded by his
courtier Antipater the Idumaean, also known as Antipas, as the first
Roman Procurator. In 57-55 BCE,
Aulus Gabinius, proconsul of
Syria, split the former
Hasmonean Kingdom into Galilee, Samaria & Judea with five districts of
Sanhedrin/
Synedrion (councils of law).
Both Caesar and Antipater were killed in
44 BCE, and the
Idumean Herod the Great, Antipater's son, was designated "
King of the Jews" by the
Roman Senate in 40 BCE. He didn't gain military control of Judea till
37 BCE. During his reign the last representatives of the
Maccabees 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
tetrarchs ("rulers of fourth parts"). One,
Herod Archelaus, ruled Judea so badly that he was dismissed in 6 CE by the
Roman emperor Augustus, after an appeal from his own population. Another,
Herod Antipas, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BCE to 39 CE, being then dismissed by
Caligula.
Iudaea
In 6 CE Judea became part of a larger Roman province, called
Iudaea, which was formed by combining
Judea proper with
Samaria and
Idumea. It didn't include
Galilee,
Gaulanitis (the Golan), nor
Peraea or the
Decapolis. The capital was at
Caesarea.
Quirinius became
Legate (Governor) of
Syria and conducted the first
Roman tax census of Iudaea, which was opposed by the
Zealots. This province was one of the few
governed by a
knight of the equestrian order, not a former
consul or
praetor of
senatorial 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
Egypt and was a border province against
Parthia because of the Jewish connections to
Babylonia.
Pontius Pilate was one of these
prefects, from 26 to 36 CE.
Caiaphas was one of the appointed
High Priests of
Herod's Temple, being appointed by the Prefect
Valerius Gratus in 18. Both were deposed by the Syrian Legate
Lucius Vitellius in 36 CE.
The
Crisis under Caligula (37-41) has been proposed as the first open break between Rome and the Jews.
Between
41 and
44 CE, Iudaea regained its nominal
autonomy, when
Herod Agrippa was made King of the Jews by the
emperor Claudius. Following Agrippa's death, the province returned to direct Roman control for a short period. Iudaea was returned to Agrippa's son
Marcus Julius Agrippa in
48. He was the seventh and last of the
Herodians. There was, however, an imperial procurator in the area, responsible for keeping peace and
tax raising. When Agrippa II died, about
100, the area returned to direct
Roman Empire control.
Iudaea was the stage of three major
rebellions against the Romans. They were (see
Jewish-Roman wars for the full account):
Following the suppression of Bar Kokhba's revolt, the emperor
Hadrian changed the name of the province to
Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem became
Aelia Capitolina in order to humiliate the
Jewish population by attempting to erase their historical ties to the region.
According to historian H.H. Ben-Sasson, under
Diocletian (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.
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