After Jerusalem falls under Roman Rule, there are 2 great revolts that eventually lead to the destruction of the 2nd Temple and the banishment of Jews from Palestine. These events are chronicled by a historian by Josephus, who was very pro-Rome.
Herod's Legacy: Division of his Kingdom
Herod had 3 sons to whom inherited his Kingdom. Archelaus became ethnarch of Judea and received the lands of Judea and Samaria. He was highly ineffective and eventually exiled. Herod Antipas was a tetrarch and got the North, Galilee and Perea. He was also exiled after a time. Herod Phillip was a tetrarch as well but worst NW parts of Ituraea and Trachonitis. It did have good volcanic soil once the Jews drained the swamp. He was so far removed from Jerusalem that he was able to put his own image on his coins. Due to the ineffective leadership, eventually procurators (direct Roman governors) take over. An example of one was Pontius Pilate. He was a Roman Governor of Judea. [Found inscription that proves his existence] He is known for having tried Jesus and ordering his execution. The ineptitude of the leadership caused the 1st Jewish Revolt in 66 CE. For 4 years, the Jewish militants were able to revolt and even minted their own coins. The Romans send Vespasian to conquer Galilee in 67 CE. He wipes out the Jewish forces there and captures Josephus.
Josephus was a military general in the Jewish revolt. Seeing that the end was near, he and his unit formed a suicide pact. He however, chickened out and claimed to be a prophet instead and predicted that his captor, Vespasian would become the next emperor. After Nero died, Vespasian did become emperor and released Josephus to become a historian.
Titus (Vespasian's son) takes over for Vespasian in dealing with the Jewish revolt and takes Jerusalem and destroys the 2nd Temple on the 9th of Ab, 70 CE. He has the Arch of Titus built back in Rome to commemorate his victory. People did flee and there was a standoff with the Jewish rebels at Masada. After the Romans build a ramp to reach them, the holdouts commit mass suicide. With the Temple having been again destroyed, cognitive dissonance arises once more. It lays in ruins until Emperor Hadrian rebuilds it into the Temple of Jupiter in 135 CE. In addition, Vespasian continues having every Jew pay a half-shekel Temple Tax even though the Temple no longer stands. Thus, the causes of the 1st revolt were because of infighting due to messianic conflicts and ineffective government.
The 2nd Jewish Revolt was called the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. This revolt was also a failure and shorter lived than the first revolt. They also tried to mint coins but the spelling was wrong or the letters would be in multiple languages. Not having enough of their own silver to mint, they would simply re-stamp over Roman coins. Year 1-3 coins exist. After the 2nd revolt failed, the Jews were punished heavily. Jerusalem was sacked and renamed and rebuilt as a Roman city, the Aelia Capitolina. The area was renamed from Judea to Syria-Palestine. Jews were forbidden to visit Jerusalem except for on the 9th of Ab to mourn their defeat. Circumcision was banned.
In order to deal with the destruction of the 2nd Temple, 2 main sects formed: The Pharisees (now modern Judaism) and the Christians (more spiritual). There became the rise of the synagogue: regional meeting places instead of the Temple. Everything became greater decentralized, which created rabbinic traditions: different canons of Jewish thoughts. Judaism embraced diversity whereas Christianity did not (they embraced a single canon). Instead of a religion of blood sacrifice, Judaism became a religion of the Book.
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