Roman Judea

In the year 63 BC, two brothers went to war over a single throne. Both were Jewish princes of the Hasmonean dynasty. Both were certain that he alone deserved to rule Judea. And both made the same fatal mistake — each one wrote a letter to Rome, begging the most powerful army on earth to come settle the quarrel. What do you think happened next? Did the older brother win the throne? Did the younger? Neither. Rome read the letters, marched its legions into Jerusalem, and took the throne for itself. The two brothers had invited the wolf to judge a fight between two sheep.

Key Terms

Pompey the Great: The Roman general who led 12,000 soldiers into Jerusalem in 63 BC and forced the city to surrender after a 3-month siege.
Holy of Holies: The most sacred place in the Jewish Temple, which only the High Priest could enter, until Pompey walked inside and looked around.
Hasmonean Dynasty: The Jewish royal line descended from the Maccabees, ruling Judea nearly 100 years until two brothers begged Rome to settle their fight for the throne.
Herod’s Temple Platform: The stone platform Herod expanded to about 36 acres, more than 24 football fields laid side by side.
Census of Augustus: The emperor’s official count of people and property, ordered to set taxes, which sent Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary from Galilee to Bethlehem.
Crosses of Varus: The crosses outside Jerusalem where 2,000 captured Jewish fighters were nailed up in 4 BC, a sight older men in later crowds still pictured.
Sepphoris: The Galilean town Varus burned to the ground, selling its survivors into slavery, after revolts broke out following Herod’s death.
Caesarea Maritima: The coastal city where Pontius Pilate stayed in the cool sea breeze rather than living among the people he governed.
Corban: The sacred Jewish Temple treasury of money set apart for God, until Pilate took it to pay for an aqueduct he wanted to build.
The Hidden Clubs: Weapons Pilate’s soldiers hid under ordinary robes, armor removed, then swung at his signal to break up a crowd protesting the Corban’s seizure.
Jesus of Nazareth: A teacher who called humble servants the greatest and peacemakers blessed, words Rome heard as rivaling the emperor’s claim to be a Son of God.
Cross of Yehohanan: A first-century heel bone from a Jerusalem tomb, AD 1968, pierced by a 4.5-inch iron nail whose tip bent on a knot in the wood.
Gessius Florus: The Roman prefect who marched into the Temple treasury in AD 66 and took 17 talents of silver, helping spark open revolt.
17 Talents of Silver: The amount taken from the Temple treasury in AD 66, weighing roughly half a ton, enough to ruin a small kingdom.
Nero: The Roman emperor who sent 60,000 soldiers, siege towers, battering rams, and ballistae hurling stones of 50 pounds or more to crush the Great Revolt.
Second Temple: The building Roman forces set ablaze by AD 70; the gold on its walls melted and ran down the stones as the fire climbed higher.
Flavius Josephus: The Jewish commander who held the fortress of Jotapata for 47 days, surrendered, and predicted his captor would become emperor of Rome, which came true.
Arch of Titus: The monument Rome carved to make its victory over Judea permanent, showing soldiers parading the Temple’s golden lampstand through the streets like a trophy.
Client Kingdom: A nation that kept its own king but obeyed a stronger empire and paid tribute, the status Judea received after Pompey’s conquest in 63 BC.
Rival Jewish Factions: Groups that fought each other instead of the Romans during Jerusalem’s siege; one burned the city’s own food stores to force the others into battle.