Week 7!

Tuesday

In Tuesday’s lecture we discussed Herodian Jerusalem or Jesus’ Jerusalem. In 43 BCE, Antipater, the installed procurator, was murdered and Herod became the new Roman ruler. Most of our archaeological evidence of Herod the Great was coins. He tried to be sensitive with the Jews but he was also careful not to upset Rome so they could essentially overthrow him. He was not truly Jewish, he had been one of the people forcibly Judaized by the Hasmoneaons, but his knowledge of Jewish tradition enabled him to rule without provoking the Jews to rebel. He was known as being paranoid and impulsive and he was effective for Rome but hated by the Jews. Herod was most known for his massive building projects, which was good for the people of Rome because it gave them jobs. We went through lots of pictures of the different building projects such as the Herodian Temple Mount and the Western Wall. Professor brought up the question of whether Herod was a good or bad king and provided evidence for both sides. Although he didn’t defile the Temple, allowed the Jews to select their High Priest, offered generous relief during famine, and provided jobs, he was considered only “half Jewish” and worked for the Romans.

Next we talked about Jesus and Jesus’ Jerusalem. Just like with David and Solomon, Jesus’ existence was questioned. There is very little archaeological evidence that Jesus actually existed but it is believed that he most likely did. This is because there is much evidence that showed that people believed he was a prophet, rabbi, teacher, and savor and many of the descriptions of Jerusalem and Palestine at the time of Jesus are considered accurate.

Thursday

In Thursday during class we talked about Jerusalem in Revolt. After Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, Herod the Great comes into power. After Herod dies, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons. Archelaus, the first son, became the ethnarch of Judea. Archelaus received the most land but was not an effective ruler and was eventually sent into exile in 6 CE. Herod Antipas, the second son, became the tetrarch of Perea and Galilee. He ruled from 4 BCE until his exile in 39 CE. The third son Herod Philip became the tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, northwest of the Sea of Galilee. He ruled from 4 BCE until his death in 34 CE. Over time Roman procurators replaced all of the Herodian rulers. These governors were inexperienced and inept and the Jews in Jerusalem became more and more provoked and angry.             

Finally in 66 CE, revolt breaks out in Jerusalem. The Jews began to mint their own coins as a way of revolting against the Romans. The first revolt was unsuccessful and as a result in 70 CE the northern city falls and the Temple is destroyed. The Romans return to power and continue to rule. Just as with the destruction of the first Temple (Solomon’s Temple) in 586 BCE, the Jew experience cognitive dissonance and the destruction of the Temple again causes rise to new traditions and reinterpretations. Many Jews, who were not prepared for the destruction, fled to Masada, but eventually commit suicide in 73 CE. There is much archaeological evidence for the 1^st revolt and the destruction of the Temple. Professor showed pictures of the revolt coins and the Arch of Titus, which Titus built to brag about his victories. The second revolt or “Bar-Kokbha” revolt has very few sources and was unsuccessful as well. The revolt coins frequently had misspelled words and many coins were overstrikes. There were also letters, that were interestingly written in multiple languages including Greek because there was almost no one who spoke Hebrew. As a result of the Bar Kokbha Revolt, Emperor Hadrian punished the Jews bloodily and rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman city (Aelia Capitolina). There was a Temple to Jupiter built right on the Temple Mount. Lastly the Professor talked about the rise of synagogues. The rise of synagogue is believed be to a direct response to the destruction of the Temple. We then looked at Synagogue architecture during the 1^st century CE.