Roman Palestine is the term used by historians for the Palestine region during the period in its history in which 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, 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.[dubious – discuss] Some add a Middle Roman period to the Early and Late subsets.
| Roman Palestine | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependency of ancient Rome | |||||||||
| 63 BCE–324 CE | |||||||||
Map of the province of Judaea in 125 CE | |||||||||
| Capital |
| ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| • Coordinates | 32°30′N 35°0′E / 32.500°N 35.000°E | ||||||||
| Status | |||||||||
| Government |
| ||||||||
| Legislature | Sanhedrin | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical antiquity | ||||||||
• Siege of Jerusalem | 63 BCE | ||||||||
| 30s CE | |||||||||
• Jewish–Roman wars | 66–135 CE | ||||||||
| 324 CE | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||
During the Roman period, Palestine went through a series of administrative changes, beginning as a series of Roman client states under the Judean Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties before being gradually annexed into the Roman Empire as the fully incorporated Roman province of Judaea; in its peripheral areas it included parts of the Nabataean Kingdom, which underwent a similar evolution from client state to Roman province. After 135 CE, Roman Palestine was re-organised into the Roman province of Syria Palaestina.
Known governors of Roman Palestine
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)
- Aelius Flavianus (303)
- Urbanus (304–307)
- Valerius Firmilianus (308/9–310/11)
- Valentinianus (310/311)
Economy
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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.
See also
- Byzantine Palestine, the region during the following period
- Early Christianity
- Herodian tetrarchy, Herod the Great's kingdom under his immediate successors
- History of the Jews in the Roman Empire
- Mishnah
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.
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