 |
Gessius Florus was the 7th Roman procurator of Judea from 64 until 66.
| |
Gessius Florus was the 7th Roman procurator of Judea from 64 until 66.
Born in Clazomenae, Florus was appointed to replace Lucceius Albinus as procurator by the Emperor Nero due to his wife Cleopatra's friendship with Nero's wife Poppaea. [1] He was noted for his antagonism toward the Judean and Jewish population, and is credited by Josephus as being the primary cause of the First Jewish–Roman War. [1]
Upon taking office in Caesarea, Florus began favoring local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population. The local Greek population noticed Florus' policies and took advantage of the circumstances. One notable instance of provocation occurred while the Jews were worshiping at their local synagogue and a Hellenist sacrificed several birds on top of a chamber pot at the entrance of the synagogue, an act that rendered the building ritually unclean. In response to this action, the Jews sent a group of men to petition Florus for redress. Despite accepting a payment of eight talents to hear the case, Florus refused to listen to the complaints and instead had the petitioners imprisoned. [2]
Florus further angered the Jewish population of his province by having seventeen talents removed from the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, claiming the money was for the Emperor. In response to this action, the city fell into unrest and some of the Jewish population began to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus were poor. [3] Florus reacted to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders. The arrested individuals were whipped and crucified despite many of them being Roman citizens. [4]
After the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War, Florus was replaced as procurator by Marcus Antonius Julianus. [5]
Flavius Josephus or Yosef ben Mattityahu was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.
The Roman historian and senator Tacitus referred to Jesus, his execution by Pontius Pilate, and the existence of early Christians in Rome in his final work, Annals, book 15, chapter 44.
The Sicarii were a group of Jews who, in the final decades of the Second Temple period, conducted a campaign of "terror-kidnapping, extortion, robbery, and murder" against other Jews and Romans, and became known for a reported mass suicide at the Siege of Masada. The Sicarii carried sicae, or small daggers (sickles), concealed in their cloaks; at public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection.
Herod Agrippa II, officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes shortened to Agrippa, was the last ruler from the Herodian dynasty, reigning over territories outside of Judea as a Roman client. Agrippa II fled Jerusalem in 66, fearing the Jewish uprising, and he supported the Roman side in the First Jewish–Roman War.
Berenice of Cilicia, also known as Julia Berenice and sometimes spelled Bernice, was a Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire during the second half of the 1st century. Berenice was a member of the Herodian Dynasty that ruled the Roman province of Judaea between 39 BC and 92 AD. She was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I and Cypros and a sister of King Herod Agrippa II.
The First Jewish–Roman War, sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt or the Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire fought in the province of Judaea, resulting in the destruction of Jewish towns, the displacement of its people, and the appropriation of land for Roman military use, as well as the destruction of the Jewish Temple and polity.
Antiquities of the Jews is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. The book contains an account of the history of the Jewish people for Josephus's gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve.
Gamla, also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump.
The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War, in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Judaea. Following a five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city, including the Second Jewish Temple.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which at its height incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Idumea Samaria, and Galilee, and parts of the costal plain including Philistia, extending over the territories of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah, that was centered predominantly in Judea.
Eleazar ben Simon was a Zealot leader during the First Jewish-Roman War who fought against the armies of Cestius Gallus, Vespasian, and Titus Flavius. From the onset of the war in 66 CE until the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, he fought vehemently against the Roman garrisons in Judea and against his fellow Jewish political opponents in order to establish an independent Jewish state at Jerusalem. Although the Jewish defeat at Jerusalem cannot be entirely attributed to Eleazar ben Simon, his inability to establish unity with John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora resulted in a bitter civil war that weakened the Jewish resistance against Rome. Eleazar ben Simon and his Zealots' radical anti-Roman policies and eradication of the moderate temple aristocracy from Jerusalem in 67 CE also prevented any peaceful agreement with Rome to avoid the death and destruction which ensued in 70 CE.
Marcus Antonius Julianus was the 8th procurator of Judea from 66 to 70, during the time of the First Jewish–Roman War.
Ventidius Cumanus was the Roman procurator of Iudaea Province from AD 48 to c. AD 52. A disagreement between the surviving sources, the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman Tacitus, makes it unclear whether his authority was over some or all of the province. Cumanus' time in office was marked by disputes between his troops and the Jewish population. Ventidius Cumanus failed to respond to an anti-Jewish murder in Samaritan territory which led to the violent conflict between Jews and Samaritans. Following an investigation by the governor of Syria, Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, Cumanus was sent to Rome for a hearing before the Emperor Claudius, who held him responsible for the violence and sentenced him to exile.
Lucceius Albinus was the 6th Roman Procurator of Judea from 62 until 64 and the governor of Mauretania Tingitana from 64 until 69.
The procuratorial coinage of Roman Judaea was minted by the prefects and procurators of the province between AD 6 and 66 in only one denomination and size, the bronze prutah. All the coins were minted in Jerusalem.
Eleazar ben Hanania was a Jewish leader during the Great Revolt of Judea. Eleazar was the son of the High Priest Hanania ben Nedebai and hence a political figure of the 1st century Judaea Province. Eleazar was the governor of the temple at the outbreak of the rebellion in 66 CE and following the initial outbreak of the violence in Jerusalem convinced the priests of the Jewish Temple to stop service of sacrifice for the Emperor. The action, though largely symbolic, was one of the main milestones to bring a full-scale rebellion in Judea.
Jerusalem riots of 66 refer to the massive unrest in the center of Roman Judea, which became the catalyst of the First Jewish–Roman War.
The Egyptian or Ha-Mitzri was a 1st-century Jewish prophetic figure, always described as a sign prophet or a messianic prophet. He is said to have assembled a sizable gathering of followers atop the Mount of Olives either in preparation of an assault of Jerusalem in order to establish himself as the ruler of the people, or in the expectation that he would miraculously cause the walls of the city to fall, allowing his followers to enter the city. This group was crushed by the Roman procurator of Judaea, Antonius Felix, and the Egyptian fled, while many of his followers were killed and captured, with the remainder managing to flee and hide. The campaign was initially supported by Helena of Adiabene, but repressed by Herod Agrippa II.
The gens Gessia was a minor Roman family, known chiefly from the east of Imperial times. Members of this gens are first mentioned toward the end of the second century BC. Although they were of senatorial rank, none of the Gessii are known to have held any curule magistracies. The emperor Severus Alexander is believed to have been descended from a branch of this family.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Part of the Jewish–Roman wars | |||||||||||
| Origins |  | ||||||||||
| Military engagements |
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents and leaders |
| ||||||||||
| Aftermath |
| ||||||||||
| Related topics | |||||||||||
