Lecture 12; Jerusalem in Revolt

King Herod dies in 4 BCE and afterward the rulers of the Jerusalem were regarded as ethnarchs not kings. There were two major revolts that are covered. The 1st Jewish Revolt took place during 66-73 CE and was called the "Great Revolt". The Second revolt was a failure in comparison. After the second revolt Jerusalem ceased to be called Jerusalem. Our main sources of information for these events comes from the writing of Flavius Josephus who was a Jewish General that later became a Roman historian to chronicle Jewish history with a pro-Roman view. His life was spared when he predicted that a Roman General would become Emperor. The others sources we have come from the writings of Tacitus and archeological evidence.

After Herod's death, his inheritance was distributed according to his will. However, Herod had several wills and this made it difficult to see who would receive what. Archelaus, got Jerusalem and Samaria. Herod Antipas got Galilee and Perea. Herod Philip received Iturea. All of his sons were ineffective rulers that prompted Rome to send Procurators to take charge. However, many of these Roman rulers were also ineffective rulers as well.

Pontius Pilate was a Procurator that was mentioned in the Bible. He was highly ineffective, provoked the Jews by minting coins with pagan symbols, and also tried Jesus. He was later recalled to Rome due to his inefficiency. Some other characteristics of Roman governors were that they were often inexperienced, inept, and lead Jerusalem to a steady decline in Law and Order. They were sent there to test their abilities to rule.

Jews began to revolt by minting their own coins. In 66 CE, a revolt breaks out and Vespasian is appointed to conquer the area. Thus in 70 CE, the 2nd temple was destroyed by the Romans. Later Hadrian, a roman, comes to Jerusalem in builds a temple to Jupiter where the 2nd temple once stood in 135 CE. The Second Jewish Revolt was called the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. This revolt also minted coins but did a poor job when re-striking coins with Jewish propaganda. Hebrew words were often misspelled. The revolt was put down and Jews were banned from the city. Jerusalem was renamed as Aelia Capitolina. We see a rise in the use of synagogues and the issue of cognitive dissonance. Religion became more personalized and few Jewish sects were able to cope with the situation. One of these groups was Christianity. The other Jewish sect that remained focused on a more intellectual form of worship rather than blood sacrifice. They studied the "Law" and we see that they use the Ark of the Covenant as a way to protect the "scrolls". They worshiped in synagogues and we see that this was a response to the destruction of the temple.