Editing Palestine (section)

=====Roman Palestine (Syria Palestina)=====

The Maccabeans were a group of Jewish rebels who wrested control of Judea from the Seleucid Empire. The Maccabeans took over in 167 BC until 37 BC under the Hasmonean Dynasty, retaining full independence from 106 BC to 63 BC. They were, in the proper sense, Judas Maccabeus and his four brothers; the later Maccabees were not their direct descendants. 

The land of Judea was at first Ptolemy's before falling to the Seleucids around 200 BC. Alexander had already begun Hellenizing the area, and some upper-class Jews (such as the Tobiads) elected to renounce Jewish law and embrace Hellenistic lifestyles. Hellenistic Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in public sport, "removed their marks of circumcision and repudiated the holy covenant". (I Maccabees 1:15) Eventually, the traditional (Orthodox) and Hellenistic Jews struggled with each other, and so the term "Judaism" was created in opposition to "Hellenism" by the author of the second book of Maccabees. According to 1 Maccabees, Antiochus banned many traditional Jewish and Samaritan religious practices: he made possession of the Torah a capital offense and burned the copies he could find; sabbaths and feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, and mothers who circumcised their babies were killed along with their families; traditional Jewish ritual sacrifice was forbidden too. It was said that an idol of Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple and that Israelites set up altars to Greek gods and sacrificed "unclean" animals on them.

After Matthais the Hasmodean refused to worship the Greek gods, he killed a Hellenistic Jew who attempted to offer a sacrifice in his place. He fled with his five sons to Judea. After his death, Matthais' son Judah lead the revolt, which took the form of guerilla warfare. This revolt was first directed against Hellenized Jews, who numbered many, but eventually widened in scope against the Seleucids and their pagan gods. A large Seleucid army was sent to quash the revolt but returned to Syria on the death of Antiochus IV. Its commander, Lysias, preoccupied with internal Seleucid affairs, agreed to a political compromise that restored religious freedom.

In the aftermath of this war, which involved many battles, the triumphant Maccabeans cleansed the Temple. They could only find a single small jug of untainted oil with which to light the Temple menorah, and it would be eight days before they could procure any more. The oil, which was only a single day's worth, miraculously lasted all eight days, which from then on was celebrated by Jews as Hannukah. The Temple was rededicated to Yahweh and the Hasmonean Dynasty was founded.

Rome, which rose at the same time the Grecian empire fell, sent General Pompey to Jerusalem to help negotiate between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II (the two Hasmonean brothers vying for power following the death of their mother, Alexandra Salome). This turned into a civil war between the brothers in 63 BC. Angered by what he viewed as Aristobulus' lack of respect, the Roman general sieged and sacked Jerusalem, taking the Kingdom of Judea under Rome's control. According to The Collector, "It took three months to breach the walls and overrun the Temple precinct, and the protracted siege resulted in the death of some 12,000 Jews. Pompey himself entered the Temple’s Holy of Holies (hitherto the exclusive privilege of the high priest). Although this desecrated the Temple, Pompey otherwise showed considerable respect: no treasures were looted to be included within his Triumph [over the Mithradic empire, including Jews, Albanias, and other critics/enemies of Rome], for instance, and he was quick to allow rituals to be resumed within the Temple."

Antipater was the first Roman procurator, or finance minister/administrator of Judea, appointed by Julius Caesar. Hyrcanus Hasmonean became the high priest. The Romans allowed the Hasmoneans to rule under their control until 40 BC, with Herod the Great, Antipater's son, to rule as king under Rome's direction. 

Rome ended the Hasmonean dynasty with Herod's appointment. Herod, who helped rebuild and expand the Second Temple of Jerusalem, was the Biblical figure who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents during Jesus' time, in the Gospel of Matthew.
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Beginning in the first century AD, the land of Judea became a province of the Roman Empire, with Syria to its north and Arabia Petrafa to its south, bordering the Sinai desert. Augustus, the first emperor, removed Herod's incompetent grandson Archelaus in 6 AD, after his own people plead to Rome for his removal. Starting this year, Rome began sending governors to Judea, including Pontius Pilate. Locals became tax collectors for Rome and profited by adding their own fees, fanning flames of disdain for the empire in the region. Kingdom of Judea offered Roman Egypt the land and sea routes in the region, and for a short time Jews enjoyed a degree of freedom in administering their own laws.

Jesus was born in Bethelem, in modern-day Palestine. Galilee, the land north of Judea (in today's northern Palestine/Israel and southern Lebanon), was the childhood home of Jesus, and was the setting of most of the Biblical miracles performed by him. In the two centuries following the birth of Jesus, the early Christians (who were Communists according to descriptions by the 4th-century author Lucien of Samasota, 19th-century French revolutionary Communists, and Friedrich Engels himself) were surpressed equally to if not moreso than the Jews.

Notorious Emperor Caligula intended to leave his own mark on the region when he ordered a statue of himself to be built in Temple of Jerusalem. Jews were furious, and the Syrian administrators delayed the order in 37 AD, until the emperor rescinded. The next time Caligula ordered the statue to be built, he was assassinated, closing the matter entirely.

The first Jewish-Roman war erupted when tensions sharpened in 66 AD. The Jews and Romans had violent religious disputes, including protests of taxation and attacks on Roman citizens. Rome sacked the Second Temple and executed thousands of Jews, at which point a full-fledged rebellion broke out. About 6,000 Jews were killed during the Battle of Beth Haron, and the Roman-allied king (Herod Agrippa II) was forced to flee. The Romans called the highly experienced general Vespasian to put down the rebellion.

Vespasian invaded Judea in 67 AD with his son Titus his second-in-command. With the support of Herod Agrippa's troops and four legions of his own, Vespasian elected to target clusters of rebels at a time rather than launch a total assault on Jerusalem; however, Vespasian had to leave the battlefield in 68/9 AD, when emperor Nero committed suicide and various factions tried to take power in the absence of the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Vespasian came out on top as emperor, and his son Titus tried to end the war in Judea swiftly to return to Rome. After much difficulty and a seven-month siege, Titus and his army sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD and finished off the remaining Jewish resistance, ending the first Jewish-Roman war. Unbeknownst until emperor Hadrian's visit to Judea (129-130 AD), Titus had destroyed the Second Temple and built a temple dedicated to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. 

From The Collector:

"The Roman victory over the Jews had a profound impact, felt keenly both in Judaea as well as in Rome. For the Jewish population, the war had been devastating. Thousands had perished in the fighting, while countless others were enslaved, sold, and shipped around the empire. The most significant Jewish city, Jerusalem, was annihilated. Vespasian also settled veterans of the conflict in Judaea at Colonia Amosa, as well as garrisoning a legion (Legio X Fretensis) in Jerusalem on a permanent basis, providing a clear statement of Rome’s commitment to keeping the Jews firmly under control.

"Just as significant was how Vespasian used the riches plundered from Judaea. His predecessor Nero had lost favour with the Senate and people of Rome due to his megalomaniac tendencies. Perhaps the most notorious of these was the construction of his Domus Aurea, or Golden House, in central Rome. This palatial residence ate up huge swathes of public land and included the construction of a vast man-made lake. During his reign, Vespasian made a conscious effort to “return” this land to the Roman people: on the site of Nero’s lake, he built the empire’s largest amphitheater. Named the Flavian Amphitheatre, you probably know it by its other name: the Colosseum. The Colosseum was adorned with a dedicatory inscription that made clear that this vast public monument was paid for with the spoils of Vespasian’s war in Judaea."

The Second Jewish-Roman War began in 115 AD under emperor Trajan, with Rome attempting to broaden the empire eastward. During this time, Trajan was leading a campaign against the Parthians. Uprisings in Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Egypt, and Mesopotamia saw Roman garrisons and citizens killed by the rebels. The figures for death are still unknown, but likely in the tens of thousands. Eventually, thanks to Lusius Quietus and the Romans he led, the city of Lydda (today Lod) was sacked. Still, Jews of Judea were growing in resentment for the empire as Rome continued enhancing and fortifying their occupation of Judea.

In 132 AD, emperor Hadrian joined Judea and Galilee to form Syria Palaestina, combining the name of ancient Philistia with that of the neighboring province of Syria. This was in spite of the Jews, as Rome had thoroughly suppressed Judaism (as we will have outlined) between the end of the Hasmonean dynasty up through Hadrian's rule. However, again, there is no ancestral link between the ancient Philistines and modern Palestinians.

The Third Jewish-Roman war was another rebellion, coordinated in 132 AD and led by Simon Bar Kokhba. At first, the Jews were highly effective against the Roman legions. The Romans even fled in some areas. The Jews were able to found an independent, sovereign autonomous region, which lasted until Roman forces surrounded and entrenched themselves in Judea. Sextus Julius Severus, summoned by Hadrian from Britannia (Roman Britain) to take charge of the legions in Judea in 133/4 AD and backed by his own experienced army, slowly whittled the Jewish rebels down until they retreated to the Betar fortress in 135 AD. Eventually, his forces broke through the walls and the rebels were massacred.

As in the Second Jewish-Roman War, many Jews were either killed in battle or enslaved. In the latter case they were shipped to various locations and separated from their land, their families, and their communities. Many rebel bases and villages were razed, destroyed by the victors. The land was then repopulated by the empire with a "cosmopolitan mix" of different peoples from Roman-controlled lands. Hadrian issued edicts restricting the practice of Judaism, and Jewish literature was burned. He not only left the statue of Jupiter standing on the Temple Mount-- Hadrian had a statue of himself erected beside it. Jerusalem became the settlement or "colony" of Aelia Capitolina in the new Roman province of Syria Palaestina. 

During the 4th century AD, Christianity began its rise in the area, with early Christians building some of the oldest temples and churches in the world-- they were definitely the oldest in the region. Orthodox Christians had already built temples dating to this time in Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, such as the Monastery of Saint Anthony and the Monastery of Saint Mary Deipara. In Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the rest of the Levant Christianity awoke, spawning temples such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; Mor Gabriel Monastery in modern Midyat, Turkey; and Mar Mattai Monastery on Mount Alfaf in Iraq. Even today in the 2020s some of the oldest distinct Christian communities are still operating in these churches, still alive through much hardship we've yet to unpack here. Of course, by this time Christianity had become the official religion of Rome, so these practitioners were not treated as harshly as the earlier Christians, but for their denominations.

Following the merger and baptized in cosmopolitanism, the area of Syria Palaestina (today, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and western Jordan) became heavily Christian after the Jews were decimated in the prior two centuries, and the northern area encompassing Galilee, the Valley of Megiddo, the Samarian hills, and Golan Heights was ruled by the Byzantine empire beginning in the decade before 400 AD. This province was known as Palaestina Secunda, relative to the southern region of Palaestina Prima, also taken under the rule of Byzantium. The Galilean region was a stronghold for Judaism in spite of the fact that the Romans occupied it and enforced Christianity, or at least anti-Judaism, to a certain extent. 

The Romans continued to suppress the history of the Jewish-Roman wars and Roman brutality against the inhabitants of the Palestine region. The late Roman empire lasted (albeit in a decadent state) until 476 AD, when it was invaded from the north and collapsed. The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, continued on, lasting until the end of the middle ages and falling in 1453 AD.