Roman Palestine

Roman Palestine is the term used by historians for the region of Palestine during the period in its history when it stood, to varying degrees, under the rule of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Historians typically trace the period from the Roman intervention in the Hasmonean civil war in 63 BCE (uncontested), up until the transition from the pagan Roman to the Christian Byzantine Empire with the consolidation of Constantine's rule in 324 CE, ^[1] but this end date varies from author to author. The Roman period can be subdivided into early and late phases, transitioning at either the First Jewish–Roman War c. 70 CE or the Bar Kokhba Revolt c. 135 CE. ^{[2] [3] [ dubious – discuss ]} Some add a Middle Roman period to the Early and Late subsets.

During the Roman period, Palestine went through a series of administrative changes, beginning as a succession of Roman client states initially centered on Jerusalem and Judea, under the Jewish dynasty of the Hasmoneans, followed by the Herodians, before being gradually annexed into the Roman Empire as the fully incorporated Roman province of Judaea. Its peripheral areas incorporated parts of the Nabataean Kingdom, which underwent a similar evolution from client state to Roman province, Arabia Petraea (est. in 106). After 135 CE, Roman Palestine was re-organised into the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, ^[4] which received in c. 300 CE, during the reforms of Diocletian, additional territories formerly part of Arabia Petraea: the Negev, Sinai and southern Transjordan. ^[5] About six decades later, already during the next, Byzantine period, the province was split in two, the northern part being named Palaestina Prima and the southern yet later becoming part of a wider Palaestina Tertia.

Hasmonean Judea, a Roman dominion after 63 BCE

Herodian kingdom of Judea (37-4 BCE) at its greatest extent

Herodian Tetrarchy

  Territory under Herod Archelaus

  Territory under Herod Antipas

  Territory under Philip

  Territory under Salome I

The province of Judaea within the Roman Empire in 125 CE

Syria Palaestina within the Roman Empire in 210

Known governors of Judaea and Syria Palaestina

The governors of the Roman provinces in the Palestine region had a large amount of administrative power, however, they and the province they led were - to degrees varying with time - under the authority of the Roman legatus (legate) who governed over Syria from Antioch (see Roman Syria and Coele Syria (Roman province) for the province under their direct administration). ^[6]

During the early imperial period (from 6 CE), Judaea was governed locally by equestrian ^{[note 1]} prefects ^{[note 2]} (later also styled procurators ^{[note 3]} ), but remained under the authority of the consular governor ^{[note 4]} of Roman Syria, whose seat was at Antioch. ^[7] After the First Jewish-Roman War, the arrangement changed: from 70 CE Judaea was a praetorian ^{[note 5]} province governed by a legatus Augusti pro praetore ^{[note 6]} , who also commanded the legion stationed in the province (Legio X Fretensis). ^[8]

Province of Judaea

For the time period between the first dissolution of the Herodian client statelets into the empire during Herod's immediate successors, to the change of name for the province from Judaea to Palaestina after the Bar Kokhba Revolt, see Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135).

Province of Syria Palaestina

• Aufidius Priscus (293/305) ^[9]
• Aelius Flavianus (303) ^[10]
• Urbanus (304–307) ^[10]
• Valerius Firmilianus (308/9–310/11) ^[10]
• Valentinianus (310/311) ^[11]

Economy

The study of the ancient economy is based on a mixture of the archaeological and historical (including epigraphic) records. For the Roman period, these typically focus on the activities and lives of the rich. The Talmud offers perspectives on rural life in Roman Palestine. The historian Daniel Sperber suggested that the region's declined during the Crisis of the Third Century. ^[12]

See also

• Byzantine Palestine, the region during the following period
  • Timeline of the Palestine region: Byzantine period
• Early Christianity
• Herodian tetrarchy, Herod the Great's kingdom under his immediate successors
• History of the Jews in the Roman Empire
• Mishnah, first written collection of Jewish oral traditions

References

Citations

1. Chancey & Porter 2001, p. 165.
2. Keddie 2018, pp. 4–5.
3. Dauphin, Claudine (3 July 2018). "Rabbinic texts and the history of late-Roman Palestine (Proceedings of the British Academy 165)". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 150 (3): 253–258. doi:10.1080/00310328.2018.1496985.
4. "Roman Palestine". Palestine - Roman Rule, Jewish Revolts, Crusades. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
5. Tsafrir, Yoram (1986). "The Transfer of the Negev, Sinai and Southern Transjordan from "Arabia" to "Palaestina"". Israel Exploration Journal . 36 (1/2): 77–86. ISSN   0021-2059. JSTOR   27926015.
6. Deutsch, Gotthard; Krauss, Samuel (1906). "Procurators (Governors, Roman, of Judea)". Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk & Wagnalls . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
7. Hall, John F. (1996–1997). "The Roman Province of Judea: A Historical Overview" (PDF). BYU Studies Quarterly. 36 (3): 321–330. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
8. Cotton, Hannah M.; Eck, Werner; Isaac, Benjamin (2003). "A Newly Discovered Governor of Judaea in a Military Diploma from 90 CE" (PDF). Israel Museum Studies in Archaeology. 2: 17–32. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
9. "Columnar base for statue of Constantius I, emperor. Caesarea Maritima (Palaestina I). 293-303". 'Last Statues of Antiquity (LSA)' Database. University of Oxford. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
10. Davenport 2010, p. 351.
11. Barnes 1982, p. 152.
12. Safrai 2003, pp. 1–2.

Notes

1. "Equestrian" refers to members of the Roman equestrian order (ordo equester), a social rank below the senatorial order.
2. A prefect (Latin praefectus) was an appointed official; the earliest governors of Judaea after 6 CE are commonly described as equestrian prefects.
3. A procurator (Latin procurator) was an imperial administrative official; the title usage for Judaea's governors varies over time in the evidence and in modern scholarship.
4. "Consular" indicates the governor's rank (a senator who had been consul). Roman Syria was normally governed by a consular imperial legate.
5. "Praetorian" here means "of praetorian rank" (linked to the Roman office of praetor): a senatorial rank above equestrian governors but below consular governors.
6. Legatus Augusti pro praetore was the emperor's senatorial governor of a province; in Judaea after 70 CE this governor also held military command.

Bibliography

• Barnes, Timothy David (1982). The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-28066-3.
• Chancey, Mark Alan; Porter, Adam Lowry (2001). "The Archaeology of Roman Palestine". Near Eastern Archaeology. 64 (4): 164–203. doi:10.2307/3210829. JSTOR   3210829.
• Davenport, Caillan (2010). "The building inscription from the fort at Udruh and Aelius Flavianus, tetrarchic praeses of Palaestina" . Journal of Roman Archaeology. 23: 349-357. doi:10.1017/S1047759400002440. ISSN   1047-7594.
• Keddie, Anthony (2018). Revelations of Ideology: Apocalyptic Class Politics in Early Roman Palestine. doi:10.1163/9789004383647. ISBN   978-90-04-38364-7.
• Safrai, Ze'ev (2003) [1994]. The Economy of Roman Palestine. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203204863. ISBN   978-1-134-85187-4.

Further reading

• Horsley, Richard (2010). "Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine". Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. 8 (2): 99–145. doi:10.1163/174551910X504882.
• Jacobs, Theuns (2018). "Social Conflict in Early Roman Palestine: A Heuristic Model". Neotestamentica. 52 (1): 115–140. doi:10.1353/neo.2018.0005. hdl:10520/EJC-fc761d21b. JSTOR   26499215. Project MUSE   700501.
• Sperber, Daniel (1978). Roman Palestine, 200–400: The Land. Bar-Ilan University.
• Stiebel, Guy Daniel (2007). Armis et litteris: The military equipment of early Roman Palestine, in light of the archaeological and historical sources (Thesis).
• Udoh, Fabian E. (2020). To Caesar What Is Caesar's: Tribute, Taxes, and Imperial Administration in Early Roman Palestine. Brown Judaic Studies. ISBN   978-1-951498-57-3. Project MUSE   book 75385.