What did the Romans do to Jews?

Answer 1

Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the two sons of the Jewish King Yannai (Johanan Hyrcanus, 1st century BCE), got the Romans involved in Judea when they asked the Romans to settle a dispute. At first the Romans were cordial; and they actually became party to a military treaty with Judea (Talmud, Avodah Zara 9a). A couple of decades later, however, they unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and placed Roman governors over the land who afflicted the Jews with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a). In the first two centuries CE, things got worse, with the Romans destroying the Second Temple and temporarily outlawing Torah-observances, and the Jews attempting to revolt. The Romans destroyed large numbers of Jewish communities in the Holy Land, and they killed some of the leading Jewish sages.

(During those times that the Romans didn't interfere with the internal life of the Jews, the reason was because the Romans wanted to receive their taxes. That, and making sure none of their colonies planned rebellions, was usually the only thing that the Romans were really concerned about.)

Answer 2

In 63 B.C. there was a succession war between the brothers of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. Both brothers tried to woo the Romans to their side. Pompey the great decided in favour of Hycarnius, but he denied the tile of king and made him ethnarch (leader of the ethnic group) and high priest instead. Judea became a client state of Rome.

In 57 B.C. Antigonus I the Hasmonean, the son of Aristobulus II, seized power and incited the Jews to rebel against Roman dominion. The governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius deposed him, restored Hyrcanus II as high priesta and divided Judea into five autonomous districts Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, Sepphoris & Hammath.

In 47 B.C. Antipater I the Idumaean, the founder of the Herodian Dynasty, rescued Julius Caesar in Egypt and was made procurator (chief minister) of Judea with the right to collect taxes. His pro-Roman policies made him unpopular with the devout Jews.

In 42, Antigonus II (another Hasmonean) tried to seize Judea by force with the assistance of his brother-in-law, but was defeated by Herod. However excessive taxation to pay for Marc Antony and Cleopatra lifestyle created hatred for the Romans and Antigonus gained support from both the Jerusalem aristocracy and the Pharisees A religious movement which had the support of the common people). In 40 B.C the Persians invaded Syria and proclaimed Antigonus king and high priest. In 39 B.C. Herod had the Romans declare him king of Judea and besieged Jerusalem. In 37 or 36 B.C., with the help of the Romans, deposed Antigonus, who was taken to Syria and executed.

In 6 A.D. a Jewish delegation appealed to the emperor Augustus to dismiss Archelaus because of his misrule. Augustus annexed his territory (Judea, Samaria and part of Idumea), which became the Roman province of Judea as a Satellite of the Roman province of Syria. Antipas and Phillip continued to rule their territories.

In 40 A.D. Riots erupted in Alexandria of Egypt (which had a very large Jewish population) between Jews and Greeks in 40, during the reign of Caligula. In the city of Jamnia (in Judea) Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. Caligula's response to the crisis was to order the erection of a statue of himself in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem. The governor of Syria feared that this would provoke a revolt and delayed its implementation for nearly a year. Caligula was persuaded to abandon this idea.

During the governorship of Ventidius Cumanus (48-52 A.D.) there was a series of unrest. During the Passover feast a Roman soldier exposed himself and insulted the crowd. Some in the crowd threw stones at the soldiers and some held Cumanus responsible for this. Cumanus called in other troop. Thousands of people died in the ensuing stampede. Further unrest occurred when Cumanus sent troops to arrest leaders of villages after an imperial slave was robbed while travelling. The soldiers began plundering the area and one of them found a copy of the Torah, destroyed it and shouted blasphemies. A crowd confronted Cumanus at Caesarea, and demanded the punishment of the soldier. Cumanus ordered his public beheading. Later, when some Galilean pilgrims were murdered Camanus ignored pleas to pursue the murderers. Bands of Jews led by two zealots invaded Samaria and began a massacre. Cumanus suppressed the revolt harshly, but a state of guerrilla warfare persisted. A Sarmatian and a Jewish embassy went to, Caius Quadratus, the governor of Syria. The Samaritans claimed that Jews attacked their villages. The Jews held Samaritans responsible for the violence and accused Cumanus of siding with them. Quadratus went to Judea and had Cumanus' Jewish prisoners crucified and ordered the beheading of several other Jews and Samaritans who had been involved in the fighting. He then sent Cumanus and several Jewish and Samaritan leaders to plead their cases in Rome before the Emperor Claudius. Claudius ruled in favour of the Jews, had the Samaritan leaders were executed and Cumanus sent into exile.

The Great Revolt (66-73) started with tensions between the Jews and the Greeks of Judea. Some Greeks sacrificed birds in front of a synagogue in Caesarea. The Roman Garrison did not intervene. A clerk at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem stopped prayers and sacrifices for the Roman emperor. Anti-taxation protests broke out. The Roman governor broke into the Jewish temple to seize some money claiming it was for the emperor. There were protests and the governor got the army to arrest some city leaders who were whipped and crucified. The zealots Jewish nationalist faction overran the Roman Garrison in Jerusalem. The pro-Roman Jewish king, Agrippa II, fled. The revolt spread and militias killed Romans and pro-Roman Jews. The Romans deployed more than 60,000 troops, two legions from Egypt and one from Syria, together with the forces of local allies. They subdued Galilee. Then they besieged and stormed Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the Jewish Tempe, killed many people and took some 97,000 slaves. Finally they besiege a fortress at Masada where the last Sicarii (another Jewish nationalist faction) and fled. When the Romans were about to storm it they committed mass suicide.

The Kito revolt (115-117) was a series of revolts of Jews in Mesopotamia (Iraq) which spread to Egypt, Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) and Cyprus. There were tensions between the Jewish population of the Roman Empire and Greeks and Romans. While the emperor Trajan was conquering Mesopotamia from the Persians, Jewish rebels attacked small Roman garrisons left in Trajan rear. The revolt spread to the other mentioned areas. This encouraged revolt in Judea and a rebellion in the city of Lydda threatened the supply of grain from Egypt to Trajan's front. Cities with substantial Jewish populations in Mesopotamia ( Nisibis, Edessa, Seleucia, Arbela) slaughtered other small Roman garrisons. According to the ancient historian Cassius Dio 200,000 Romans and Greeks were killed in Cyrenaica and 240,000 Greeks were in Cyprus. However these might be exaggerated figures. The rebellions were eventually suppressed by the Roman armies led by Lucius Quietus, who undertook his campaign very methodically.

The Bar Kohba Revolt (132-135) was sparked the emperor Hadrian's decision built a temple to Jupiter in the place of the Jewish Temple which had been destroyed by the Romans during the Great Revolt and to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina (after the name of his clan and the Roman God Jupiter Capitolinus) and forbade circumcision. According to one source, Hadrian also banned circumcision, which he was as mutilation. Initially the rebels gained some victories and established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for over two years. However, six legions and other Roman forces were deployed and the rebellion was suppressed. Half a million Jews died and 50 towns and over 900 villages were destroyed. After he suppressed the rebellion, Hadrian persecuted Judaism. He banned the Torah law and the Hebrew calendar and executed Judaic scholars. The sacred scroll was burned on the Temple Mount. Hadrian wanted to erase the memory of Judaea. He joined Judea with Galilee and renamed the two areas Syria Palaestina (Palaestina meant land of the Philistines). The Jews were forbidden from entering Jerusalem.

Answer 3

Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the two sons of the Jewish King Yannai (Johanan Hyrcanus, 1st century BCE), got the Romans involved in Judea when they asked them to settle a dispute. At first the Romans were cordial; and they actually became party to a military treaty with Judea (Talmud, Avodah Zara 8b). The Romans didn't interfere much in Jewish internal matters, because the main thing that they wanted was taxes and a quiet populace.
A couple of decades later, however, they unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and placed Roman governors over the land who afflicted the Jews with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a).

In the first two centuries CE, things got worse, with the Romans destroying Jerusalem and the Second Temple after the Jewish Zealots attempted to revolt. The Romans sold hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery (Josephus). From time to time they forbade the observance of the Torah-commands, and they killed several of the leading Sages, despite the fact that the Torah-leaders had advised against revolt (Talmud, Gittin 56a).

Later, Simeon Bar Kochba led a second revolt, in an ill-advised attempt to recreate the independent Judea. The Romans responded by destroying Betar.

See also:

Jewish history timeline

The Jews and the Romans