Jewish Religion Religio Licita under Roman Rule

1
Jewish Religion Religio Licita under Roman Rule

• Tax collected for own Temple
• Exemption from military service
• Exemption from the official Imperial cult

2
HEBR1002 Survey of Jewish History and Culture in
1st millennium CE

• 4th lesson, 23 November 2007
• The Second Revolt against the Romans

3
The second revolt against Rome (132-135 CE)

• Lack of sources (scattered archaeological data,
  e.g., Bar Kochba letters, rabbinic literature,
  and some Greco-Roman authors and the Church
  Fathers)
• Controversies
• 1. Causes of the revolt
• 2. The messianic pretensions of Bar Kokhba
• 3. Geographic area and military involvement
• 4. Rabbinic support for Bar Kokhba
• 5. Consequences of the Revolt

4
Causes of the revolt?

• Did Hadrian withdrew his promise to rebuild the
  Temple (see Gen.R. 6410)?
• Did Hadrian forbid circumcision (see Pseudo-
  Spartianus Historia Augusta)?
• Did Hadrian want to build new city on ruins of
  Jerusalem (see Dio Cassius Roman History)?

5
Course of the revolt

• Carefully planned and strong leadership
• Own coins (on it Redemption of Israel or
  Redemption of Jerusalem/to the freedom of
  Jerusalem)
• Bar Kochba depicted as Messias
• Course of revolt hard to reconstruct
• Did they reconquer Jerusalem?
• Revolt confined to Judaea?
• Support of rabbis doubtful
• (see P. Schäfer, Bar Kokhba and the Rabbis, in
  idem (ed.), The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered New
  Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against
  Rome (TSAJ, 100), Tübingen 2003, pp. 1-22)

6
Coin minted in final year of revolt

• Authentic name
• bar Kosiba
• Son of/from Kosiba
• ????? ??
• R. Aqiba calls him
• Son of a star, cf. Num. 24.17
• ????? ??
• Other rabbis mocked him
• Son of a lie
• ?????? ??

7
Aftermath of the revolt

• Many Jews (also non-rebels) died or enslaved
• Jerusalem ? Aelia Capitolina, and Jews were
  refused entry
• Persecution of the rabbis?
• Change in literary genre
• Apocalyptic works disappear
• main literary activity ? commentaries on the
  Torah and legal collections, Targums and prayers.
  

8
Image of pig on coin of the 10th legion stationed
in Jerusalem
9
Babatha archive

• Provides picture of
• - Life of upper-middle class woman at beginning
  of 2nd century
• Roman bureaucracy and legal system
• (R. Freund, Secrets of the Cave of Letters,
  Amherst, N.Y., 2004)