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Martin Goodman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Martin David Goodman 1 August 1953 |
| Nationality | British |
| Academic background | |
| Education | B.A., Trinity College, Oxford PhD (1980) University of Oxford [1] |
| Thesis | State and society in Roman Galilee, AD 132-212 (1980) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | History |
| Sub-discipline | |
| Institutions | |
Martin David Goodman, FBA (born 1 August 1953) is a British historian and academic, specialising in Roman history and the history and literature of the Jews in the Roman period.
Goodman was born into an English Jewish family. Goodman noted that "[t]he family practised little beyond a Sabbath-eve dinner each Friday, an annual family Seder and occasional attendance at services in Bevis Marks Synagogue." [2] Goodman's paternal grandfather was the secretary of the London congregation of the Iberian Jews for many years. [2]
Goodman was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, (B.A.) where he studied classical language and literature, ancient history and philosophy ( Literae Humaniores ). He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1980: his doctoral thesis was titled State and society in Roman Galilee, AD 132-212. [3] In 2010 he was awarded the degree of DLitt.[ citation needed ]
Goodman began his academic career as a research fellow, holding the Kaye Junior Research Fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies from 1976 to 1977. He was then a lecturer in ancient history at the University of Birmingham from 1977 to 1986. [4]
In 1986, Goodman was elected a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. He was awarded the Title of Distinction of Professor of Jewish Studies by the University of Oxford in 1996. From 2014 to 2018, he was the President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. [4] [5]
He has edited the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies . He is past President of the British Association for Jewish Studies, past secretary of the European Association of Jewish Studies, and he is a fellow and governor of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.
Goodman teaches Roman history and Jewish history. He has written extensively on Jewish history in the Graeco-Roman period, including the religious and political conditions of the Jews, and their interactions with other peoples of the Roman Empire.
In 1996, Goodman was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). [6] In 2010, he was made an honorary fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
His book, Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, won the National Jewish Book Award in Scholarship for 2002–2003. [7]
B. Weinstein, professor emeritus at Howard University describes the work as a "page turner" because of its clarity and style. Weinstein also notes that Goodman has provided a huge number of primary sources. [8] Rose Mary Sheldon offers a more critical review. Recognising his expertise in both Roman and Jewish history, Sheldon comments that while the text is clear and logical it uses minimal footnotes and is aimed towards a general audience. Sheldon also claims that Goodman's arguments in favour of a lack of conflict between Romans and Jews between 6-60 CE "do not hold water". Sheldon does conclude that Goodman has written an accurate historical survey of Roman-Jewish relations. [9] Publishers Weekly observes that Goodman has backed his account with archaeological evidence and ancient commentary with the result of producing a "scholarly tour de force". [10] Jay Freeman in Booklist holds Goodman's work to be a "definitive account" for historians of both the Roman and Jewish worlds. Freeman also states that Goodman has convincingly illuminated the role of the Jewish-Roman conflict in shaping relations between Jews and Christians. [11] David Noy of the University of Wales, Lampeter describes in The Journal of Roman Studies that the picture portrayed in the book is a "compelling one". However, Noy criticizes Goodman's over reliance on Josephus. [12] Erich S. Gruen gives a highly positive review and recommends this book for it "demands attention" because it is a "sweeping survey" that aims to reach an audience beyond academia. Describing Goodman as "too good a historian" he observes that Goodman has approached the subject in a "masterly fashion". Gruen's conclusion is that Goodman is committed to "thorough and scrupulous" scholarship. [13]
Flavius Josephus 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.
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Herod I or Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—the Western Wall being part of it. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.
The Hasmonean dynasty was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period, from c. 140 BCE to 37 BCE. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE the dynasty ruled Judea semi-autonomously in the Seleucid Empire, and from roughly 110 BCE, with the empire disintegrating, Judea gained further autonomy and expanded into the neighboring regions of Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea. The Hasmonean rulers took the Greek title basileus ("king") as the kingdom became a regional power for several decades. Forces of the Roman Republic intervened in the Hasmonean Civil War in 63 BCE and made it into a client state, marking the decline of Hasmonean dynasty; Herod the Great displaced the last reigning Hasmonean client-ruler in 37 BCE.
The Jewish diaspora or exile is the biblical dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the globe.
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 Roman-controlled Judea, 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.
Syria Palaestina, or Roman Palestine, was a Roman province in the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The provincial capital was Caesarea Maritima.
The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jewish–Roman War (66–70). Zealotry was the term used by Josephus for a "fourth sect" or "fourth Jewish philosophy" during this period.
The Bar Kokhba revolt was a large-scale armed rebellion initiated by the Jews of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. Lasting until 135 or early 136, it was the third and final escalation of the Jewish–Roman wars. Like the First Jewish–Roman War and the Second Jewish–Roman War, the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in a total Jewish defeat; Bar Kokhba himself was killed by Roman troops at Betar in 135 and the Jewish rebels who remained after his death were all killed or enslaved within the next year.
The Jewish War or Judean War, also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews, is a book written by Josephus, a first-century Roman-Jewish historian. It has been described by Steve Mason as "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history".
The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea and the Eastern Mediterranean against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The First Jewish–Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt were nationalist rebellions, striving to restore an independent Judean state, while the Kitos War was more of an ethno-religious conflict, mostly fought outside the province of Judaea. As a result, there is variation in the use of the term "Jewish-Roman wars." Some sources exclusively apply it to the First Jewish-Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt, while others include the Kitos War as well.
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 and the Second Jewish Temple.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Judea. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah.
Shaye J. D. Cohen is an American Hebraist, historian, and rabbi. He is a modern scholar of Hebrew Bible. Currently, he is the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University.
David Flusser was an Israeli professor of Early Christianity and Judaism of the Second Temple Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The history of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel begins in the 2nd millennium BCE, when Israelites emerged as an outgrowth of southern Canaanites, During biblical times, a postulated United Kingdom of Israel existed but then split into two Israelite kingdoms occupying the highland zone: the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and the Kingdom of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Initially exiled to Babylon, upon the defeat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great, many of the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem, building the Second Temple.
Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria, the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and North Africa, both founded in the end of the fourth century BCE in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, where there was a conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists.
The Battle of Beth Horon was a military engagement fought in 66 CE between the Roman army and Jewish rebels in the early phase of the First Jewish–Roman War. During the event, the Syrian Legion Legio XII Fulminata with auxiliary support headed by Legate of Syria Cestius Gallus was ambushed by a large force of Judean rebel infantry at the passage of Beth Horon, on their retreat from Jerusalem towards the coastal plain. The rebel Judean forces headed by Simon Bar Giora, Eleazar ben Simon and other rebel generals succeeded in inflicting a humiliating defeat, killing some 6,000 Roman troops and capturing Legion's aquila, with much of the Roman Army fleeing in disarray from the battle field. The defeat of the Roman Army had major implications in prolonging the rebellion, leading to the short-lived Judean self-governorship in Judea and Galilee.
The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem.
The history of the Jews in the Roman Empire traces the interaction of Jews and Romans during the period of the Roman Empire. A Jewish diaspora had migrated to Rome and to the territories of Roman Europe from the land of Israel, Anatolia, Babylon and Alexandria in response to economic hardship and incessant warfare over the land of Israel between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires from the 4th to the 1st centuries BCE. In Rome, Jewish communities thrived economically. Jews became a significant part of the Roman Empire's population in the first century CE, with some estimates as high as 7 million people; however, this estimation has been questioned.
