Judea

Region in the Levant

"Judaea" redirects here. For the Roman province, see Judaea (Roman province).

Judea

יְהוּדָה (Hebrew)

Region

Coordinates: 31°40′N 35°00′E﻿ / ﻿31.667°N 35.000°E﻿ / 31.667; 35.000
Location| Southern Levant
Part of|

* Palestine
* Israel

Highest elevation| 1,020 m or 3,350 ft

(Mount Hebron)

Judea or Judaea (/dʒuːˈdiːə, dʒuːˈdeɪə/;[1] Hebrew: יהודה, Modern: Yəhūda, Tiberian: Yehūḏā; Greek: Ἰουδαία, Ioudaía; Latin: Iudaea) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Israel and the West Bank. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, the Hebrew name of the tribe, called Juda(h) in English. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians (the Yehud province), the Persians (the Yehud province), the Greeks (the Hasmonean Kingdom), and the Romans (the Herodian Kingdom and the Provincia Iudaea = Judaea province).[2] Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt (c. 132–136 CE), the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina.[3][4][5]

The term Judea was used by English speakers for the hilly internal part of Mandatory Palestine.[6][7] Most of the region of Judea was incorporated into what the Jordanians called ad-difa'a al-gharbiya (translated into English as the "West Bank"),[8] though "Yehuda" is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was captured and occupied by Israel in 1967.[9] The Israeli government in the 20th century used the term Judea as part of the Israeli administrative district name "Judea and Samaria Area" for the territory that is generally referred to as the West Bank of the Jordan River.[10]

## Etymology

[edit]

The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the Hebrew name Yehudah (Hebrew יהודה, "Judah"), which originally encompassed the territory of the Israelite tribe of that name and later of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. Nimrud Tablet K.3751, dated c. 733 BCE, is the earliest known extra-biblical record of the name Judah (written in Assyrian cuneiform as Yaudaya or KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a).

Judea was sometimes used as the name for the entire region, including parts beyond the river Jordan.[11] In 200 CE Sextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius (Church History 1.7.14), described "Nazara" (Nazareth) as a village in Judea.[12] The King James Version of the Bible refers to the region as "Jewry".[13]

"Judea" was a name used by English speakers for the hilly internal part of Mandatory Palestine until the Jordanian rule of the area in 1948. For example, the borders of the two states to be established according to the UN's 1947 partition scheme[6] were officially described using the terms "Judea" and "Samaria" and in its reports to the League of Nations Mandatory Committee, as in 1937, the geographical terms employed were "Samaria and Judea".[7] Jordan called the area ad-difa'a al-gharbiya (translated into English as the "West Bank").[8] "Yehuda" is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was captured and occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.[9]

## Historical boundaries

[edit]

The Judean hills Old Roman road in Judea

### Roman-era definition

[edit]

The first century Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote (The Jewish War 3.3.5):

> In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath, which is also named Borceos.[14] This is the northern boundary of Judea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by a village adjoining to the confines of Arabia; the Jews that dwell there call it Jordan. However, its breadth is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated in the very middle; on which account some have, with sagacity enough, called that city the Navel of the country. Nor indeed is Judea destitute of such delights as come from the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais: it was parted into eleven portions, of which the royal city Jerusalem was the supreme, and presided over all the neighboring country, as the head does over the body. As to the other cities that were inferior to it, they presided over their several toparchies; Gophna was the second of those cities, and next to that Acrabatta, after them Thamna, and Lydda, and Emmaus, and Pella, and Idumea, and Engaddi, and Herodium, and Jericho; and after them came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over the neighboring people; and besides these there was the region of Gamala, and Gaulonitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, which are also parts of the kingdom of Agrippa. This [last] country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, and reaches breadthways to Lake Tiberias; and in length is extended from a village called Arpha, as far as Julias. Its inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with all possible brevity, described the country of Judea, and those that lie round about it.[15]

Elsewhere, Josephus wrote that "Arabia is a country that borders on Judea."[16]

## Geography

[edit]

Mediterranean oak and terebinth woodland in the Valley of Elah, southwestern Judea

Judea is a mountainous region, part of which is considered a desert. It varies greatly in height, rising to an altitude of 1,020 metres (3,350 ft) in the south at the Hebron Hills, 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, and descending to as much as 400 metres (1,300 ft) below sea level in the east of the region. It also varies in rainfall, starting with about 400–500 millimetres (16–20 in) in the western hills, rising to 600 millimetres (24 in) around western Jerusalem (in central Judea), falling back to 400 millimetres (16 in) in eastern Jerusalem and dropping to around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in the eastern parts, due to a rain shadow: this is the Judaean Desert. The climate, accordingly, moves between Mediterranean in the west and desert climate in the east, with a strip of semi-arid climate in the middle. Major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gush Etzion, Jericho and Hebron.[17]

Geographers divide Judea into several regions: the Hebron hills, the Jerusalem saddle, the Bethel hills and the Judaean Desert east of Jerusalem, which descends in a series of steps to the Dead Sea. The hills are distinct for their anticline structure. In ancient times the hills were forested, and the Bible records agriculture and sheep farming being practiced in the area. Animals are still grazed today, with shepherds moving them between the low ground to the hilltops as summer approaches, while the slopes are still layered with centuries-old stone terracing. The Jewish Revolt against the Romans ended in the devastation of vast areas of the Judean countryside.[18]

Mount Hazor marks the geographical boundary between Samaria to its north and Judea to its south.

## History

[edit]

### Biblical Era

[edit]

Main article: History of ancient Israel and Judah

Map of the southern Levant, c. 830s BCE

Kingdom of Judah

According to the biblical story of the Patriarchs,[19] Abraham came to the Land of Canaan as commanded by God and moved around in the hill country (Judaea and Samaria) and the Negev. The country is described as populated by Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites and other population groups. This pattern continued with his son Isaac, his son Jacob and his 12 sons and daughter, Dina and their families.[20] The Patriarchs Sarai, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca and Jacob were buried at Hebron in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.[21] according to Genesis and Exodus.

After the Conquest of Joshua the Israelite tribes conquered and lived in most of the land west of the river Jordan and in the nothern part east of that river for close to 400 years.

The biblical account in the Books of Kings describes how King Saul and later King David and his son Solomon (Shlomo) succeeded in fighting the last remenants of non-Israelite populations and unified the tribes into one united monarchy. According to our understanding of the text as well as recent archeological findings, this was to a large degree possible through the Israelite adaption of Iron Age technologies. Scholarship has been divided as to the historical veracity of the existence and extension of a kingdom that unified Judea and Samaria, but archeological excavations of the last 30 years have time and again found solid evidence that confirms the bibilcal descriptions.[22][23][24][25]

Regardless, the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE and parts of the population of the 10 nothern tribes exiled. The nothern Kingdom of Judah remained nominally independent, but paid tribute to the Assyrian Empire from 715 and throughout the first half of the 7th century BCE, regaining its independence as the Assyrian Empire declined after 640 BCE, but after 609 again fell under the sway of imperial rule, this time paying tribute at first to the Egyptians and after 601 BCE to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, until 586 BCE, when it was finally conquered by Babylonia, the temple in Jerusalem destroyed and many of the inhabitants of Judea exiled to Babylonia.

### Persian and Hellenistic periods

[edit]

Main article: Yehud Medinata

Hasmonean Kingdom at its greatest extent under Salome Alexandra

The Babylonian Empire fell to the conquests of Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE.[26] Judea remained under Persian rule until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, eventually falling under the rule of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire until the revolt of Judas Maccabeus resulted in the Hasmonean dynasty of kings who ruled in Judea for over a century.[27]

### Early Roman period

[edit]

See also: Judaea (Roman province)

Judea lost its independence to the Romans in the 1st century BCE, becoming first a  tributary kingdom, then a province, of the Roman Empire. The Romans had allied themselves to the Maccabees and interfered in 63 BCE, at the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when the proconsul Pompey ("Pompey the Great") stayed behind to make the area secure for Rome, including his siege of Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Queen Salome Alexandra had recently died, and a civil war broke out between her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. Pompeius restored Hyrcanus, but political rule soon passed to the Herodian dynasty, who ruled as client kings.

In 6 CE, Judea came under direct Roman rule as the southern part of the province of Judaea, although Jews living there still maintained some form of independence and could judge offenders by their own laws, including capital offences, until c. 28 CE.[28] The Hashmonean kingdom, after Pompey's conquest, was divided in 57 BCE by Gabinius, the governor of Syria, into five administrative districts (synedria or  toparchies), as mentioned by Josephus, later on the region of historical Judaea proper being further divided; the exact number of Judaean districts (in the end ten or eleven according to Josephus and  Pliny) and their location is disputed, Schürer amending the ancient authors' list as follows: Jerusalem in the centre, later becoming the district of Orine ["Orine Judaea", 'mountainous [region of] Judaea');  Gophna,  Akrabatta north of it; Thamna and Lydda to the northwest; Emmaus (possibly future  Nicopolis/Imwas, although other towns in the region also bore that name) to the west;  Bethleptepha (rather than Josephus' Pella) to the southwest; Idumaea to the south; Engaddi and Herodeion to the southeast; and Jericho to the east. Schürer dismisses Pliny's listing of "Jopica" ( Joppa) and Josephus' of Pella, as these were, in his opinion, independent cities not included in Judaea proper.[29][30]

Other regions outside Judaea proper, which had belonged to the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms and came under Roman dominance and then direct rule, remained or became also split into districts with regional capitals, these being Galilee (with the capital at Sepphoris and later Tiberias), and Perea in Transjordan (with Amathus); however, a district administered from a certain Gadara is also mentioned, which can be in three different locations - either in Perea (at or near Al-Salt), in the Decapolis at Umm Qais,[31][32][33][34][35] or - which is relevant for Judaea - at biblical Gezer in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains, mentioned by Josephus under a Hellenised form of its Semitic name, Gadara, edited to "Gazara" in the Loeb edition[36]).

### Jewish–Roman wars and Late Roman period

[edit]

#### First Jewish–Roman War

[edit]

In 66 CE, the Jewish population rose against Roman rule in a revolt that was unsuccessful. Jerusalem was besieged in 70 CE. The city was razed, the Second Temple was destroyed, and much of the population was killed or enslaved.[37]

#### Bar Kokhba revolt

[edit]

In 132 CE, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE) broke out. After an initial string of victories, rebel leader Simeon Bar Kokhba was able to form an independent Jewish state that lasted several years and included most of the district of Judea, including the Judean Mountains, the Judean Desert, and northern Negev desert, but probably not other sections of the country.

#### Aftermath

[edit]

When the Romans finally put an end to the uprising, most of the Jews in Judea were killed or displaced, and a sizable number of captives were sold into slavery, leaving the district mostly depopulated. Jews were expelled from the area surrounding Jerusalem.[38][39][40] No village in the district of Judea whose remains have been excavated so far has not been destroyed during the revolt.[41] Roman emperor Hadrian, determined to root out Jewish nationalism, changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria Palaestina.[42] The province's Jewish population was now mainly concentrated in Galilee, the coastal plain (especially in Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea), and smaller Jewish communities continued to live in the Beit She'an Valley, the Carmel, and Judea's northern and southern frontiers, including the southern Hebron Hills and along the shores of the Dead Sea.[43][44]

The suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt led to widespread destruction and displacement throughout Judea, and the district saw a decline in population. The Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina, which was built on the ruins of Jerusalem, remained a backwater for the duration of its existence.[39] The villages around the city were depopulated, and arable lands in the region were confiscated by the Romans. Having no alternative population to fill the empty villages led the authorities to establish imperial or legionary estates and monasteries on confiscated village lands to benefit the elites and, later, the church.[45] This also initiated a process of romanization that took place during the Late Roman period, with pagan populations penetrating the region and settling alongside Roman veterans.[46][38] There was only a revival of village settlement on the eastern edges of Jerusalem's hinterland, on the transition between the arable highlands and the Judaean Desert. Those settlements grew on marginal lands with vague ownership and unenforced state land dominion.[45]

### Byzantine period

[edit]

5th century CE: Byzantine provinces of Palaestina I (Philistia, Judea and Samaria) and Palaestina II (Galilee and Perea)

Judea's decline only came to an end in the fifth century CE, when it developed into a monastic center, and Jerusalem became a major Christian pilgrimage and ecclesiastical hub.[39] Under Byzantine rule, the regional population, composed of pagan populations who had migrated there after Jews were driven out following the Bar Kokhba revolt, gradually converted to Christianity.[38]

The Byzantines redrew the borders of the land of Palestine. The various Roman provinces (Syria Palaestina, Samaria, Galilee, and Peraea) were reorganized into three dioceses of Palaestina, reverting to the name first used by Greek historian Herodotus in the mid-5th century BCE: Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia or Salutaris (First, Second, and Third Palestine), part of the Diocese of the East.[47][48] Palaestina Prima consisted of Judea, Samaria, the Paralia, and Peraea with the governor residing in Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government at Scythopolis. Palaestina Tertia included the Negev, southern Jordan—once part of Arabia—and most of Sinai, with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris.[47][49] According to historian H.H. Ben-Sasson,[50] this reorganisation took place under Diocletian (284–305), although other scholars suggest this change occurred later, in 390.

### Crusader period

[edit]

The mostly French army of the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem from the Seljuks in 1099 and expanded the territory they held in the following years. According to Ellenblum, the Franks tended to settle in the southern half of the region between Jerusalem and Nablus since there was a sizable Christian population there.[51][52]

### Mamluk period

[edit]

Most of the people living in the northern portion of Judea in the late 16th century were Muslims; some of them resided in towns that today have significant Christian populations. According to the 1596–1597 Ottoman census, Birzeit and Jifna, for instance, were wholly Muslim villages, while Taybeh had 63 Muslim families and 23 Christian families. There were 71 Christian families and 9 Muslim families in Ramallah, although the Christians there were recent arrivals who had moved from the Kerak area only a few years previously. According to Ehrlich, the region's Christian population decreased as a result of a combination of factors including impoverishment, oppression, marginalization, and persecution. Sufi activity took place in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, which most likely pushed Christian villagers in the region to convert to Islam.[52]

## Timeline

[edit]

* Around 1800-1500 BCE Period of Patriarchs. Stone Age.
* Around 1200 BCE Conquest of Joshua and period of Judges. Bronze Age.
* Around 900–586 BCE: Kingdom of Judah. Iron Age.
* 586–539 BCE: Yehud, Babylonian Empire
* 539–332 BCE: Yehud Medinata, Persian Empire
* 332–305 BCE: Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great
* 305–198 BCE: Ptolemaic Egypt
* 198–141 BCE: Seleucid Empire
* 141–37 BCE: The Hasmonean kingdom established by the Maccabees, under the Roman Empire after 63 BCE
* 63 BCE: Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem
* 37 BCE – 132 CE: Herodian dynasty ruling Judea as a vassal state of the Roman Empire (37–4 BCE Herod the Great, 4 BCE – 6 CE Herod Archelaus, 41–44 CE Agrippa I), interchanging with direct Roman rule (6–41, 44–132)
* c. 25 BCE: Caesarea Maritima is built by Herod the Great, replacing Jerusalem as the capital
* 6 CE the Roman Empire deposed Herod Archelaus and converted his territory into the Roman province of Judea.
* Census of Quirinius, too late to correspond to census related to Jesus' birth
* 26–36: Pontius Pilate prefect of Roman Judea during the Crucifixion of Jesus
* 66–73: First Jewish–Roman War, includes Destruction of the Second Temple in 70
* 115–117: Kitos War
* 132: Judea was merged with Galilee into the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.[4][5]

## Selected towns and cities

[edit]

Judea, in the generic sense, also incorporates places in Galilee and in Samaria.

Place Names of Judea  English  | Hebrew (Masoretic, 7th–10th century CE)  | Greek (Josephus, LXX, 3rd century BCE – 1st century CE)  | Latin  | Arabic

|
|
|
|

Jerusalem | ירושלם  | Ιερουσαλήμ  | Herusalem (Aelia Capitolina)  | القدس (al-Quds)
Jericho | יריחו  | Ίεριχω  | Hiericho / Herichonte  | أريحا (Ariḥa)
Shechem / Nablus | שכם  | Νεάπολις
(Neapolis)  | Neapoli  | نابلس (Nablus)
Jaffa | יפו  | Ἰόππῃ  | Ioppe  | يَافَا (Yaffa)
Ascalon | אשקלון  | Ἀσκάλων (Askálōn)  | Ascalone  | عَسْقَلَان (Asqalān)
Beit Shean | בית שאן  | Σκυθόπολις (Scythopolis)
Βαιθσάν (Beithsan)  | Scytopoli  | بيسان (Beisan)
Beth Gubrin /Maresha | בית גוברין  | Ἐλευθερόπολις
(Eleutheropolis)  | Betogabri  | بيت جبرين (Bayt Jibrin)
Kefar Othnai | (לגיון) כפר עותנאי  | xxx  | Caporcotani (Legio)  | اللجّون (al-Lajjûn)
Peki'in | פקיעין  | Βακὰ[53] | xxx  | البقيعة (al-Buqei'a)
Jamnia | יבנה  | Ιαμνεία  | Iamnia  | يبنى (Yibna)
Samaria / Sebaste | שומרון / סבסטי  | Σαμάρεια / Σεβαστή  | Sebaste  | سبسطية (Sabastiyah)
Paneas / Caesarea Philippi | פנייס  | Πάνειον (Καισαρεία Φιλίππεια)
(Paneion)  | Cesareapaneas  | بانياس (Banias)
Acre / Ptolemais | עכו  | Πτολεμαΐς (Ptolemais)
Ἀκχώ (Akchó)  | Ptoloma  | عكّا (ʻAkka)
Emmaus | אמאוס  | Ἀμμαοῦς (Νικορολις)
(Nicopolis)  | Nicopoli  | عمواس ('Imwas)

## See also

[edit]

* Timeline of the name Judea
* Seleucid Empire versus Maccabean Revolt
* History of Palestine
* Ioudaios
* Kitos War
* Judaea (Roman province)
* State of Judea

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Definition of Judaea in English". Lexico Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
2. ^ Crotty, Robert Brian (2017). The Christian Survivor: How Roman Christianity Defeated Its Early Competitors. Springer. p. 25 f.n. 4. ISBN 9789811032141. Retrieved 28 September 2020. "The Babylonians translated the Hebrew name [Judah] into Aramaic as Yehud Medinata ('the province of Judah') or simply 'Yehud' and made it a new Babylonian province. This was inherited by the Persians. Under the Greeks, Yehud was translated as Judaea and this was taken over by the Romans. After the Jewish rebellion of 135 CE, the Romans renamed the area Syria Palaestina or simply Palestine. The area described by these land titles differed to some extent in the different periods."
3. ^ Clouser, Gordon (2011). Jesus, Joshua, Yeshua of Nazareth Revised and Expanded. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4620-6121-1.
4. ^ a b Spolsky, Bernard (2014). The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-05544-5.
5. ^ a b Brand, Chad; Mitchell, Eric; Staff, Holman Reference Editorial (2015). Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8054-9935-3.
6. ^ a b "Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine". United Nations General Assembly. 29 November 1947. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
7. ^ a b "Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the year 1937". United Nations General Assembly. 31 December 1937. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
8. ^ a b Philologos (22 September 2010). "This Side of the River Jordan". The Forward. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010.
9. ^ a b "Judaea". Britannica. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
10. ^ Neil Caplan (19 September 2011). The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories. John Wiley & Sons. p. 8\. ISBN 978-1405175395.
11. ^ Riggs, J. S. (1894). "Studies in Palestinian Geography. II. Judea". The Biblical World. 4 (2): 87–93\. doi:10.1086/471491. ISSN 0190-3578. JSTOR 3135423. S2CID 144961794.
12. ^ "A few of the careful, however, having obtained private records of their own, either by remembering the names or by getting them in some other way from the registers, pride themselves on preserving the memory of their noble extraction. Among these are those already mentioned, called Desposyni, on account of their connection with the family of the Saviour. Coming from Nazara and Cochaba, villages of Judea, into other parts of the world, they drew the aforesaid genealogy from memory and from the book of daily records as faithfully as possible." (Eusebius Pamphili, Church History, Book I, Chapter VII,§ 14)
13. ^ For example at Luke 23:5 and John 7:1
14. ^ Based on Charles William Wilson's (1836–1905) identification of this site, who thought that Borceos may have been a place about 18 kilometers to the south of Neapolis (Nablus) because of a name similarity (Berkit). See p. 232 in: Wilson, Charles William (1881). Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt. Vol. 1\. New York: D. Appleton.. This identification is the result of the equivocal nature of Josephus' statement, where he mentions both "Samaria" and "Judea." Samaria was a sub-district of Judea. Others speculate that Borceos may have referred to the village Burqin, in northern Samaria, and which village marked the bounds of Judea to its north.
15. ^ "Ancient History Sourcebook: Josephus (37 – after 93 CE): Galilee, Samaria, and Judea in the First Century CE". Fordham.edu. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
16. ^ Josephus, Antiquities XIV.I.4. (14.14)
17. ^ "Picturesque Palestine I: Jerusalem, Judah, Ephraim". Lifeintheholyland.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
18. ^ "Unlikely A Tale of Two Conquests: The Unlikely Numismatic Association Between the Fall of New France (AD 1760) and the Fall of Judaea (AD 70)". Ansmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
19. ^ Genesis 12
20. ^ Genesis 12.1-50.26
21. ^ Gensis 23.1-20
22. ^ Kuhrt, Amiele (1995). The Ancient Near East. Routledge. p. 438. ISBN 978-0415167628.
23. ^ Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher, The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, Simon & Schuster, 2002. ISBN 0-684-86912-8
24. ^ "The Bible and Interpretation – David, King of Judah (Not Israel)". bibleinterp.arizona.edu. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
25. ^ Thompson, Thomas L., 1999, The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past, Jonathan Cape, London, ISBN 978-0-224-03977-2 p. 207
26. ^ "Cyrus the Great | Biography & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
27. ^ "Palestine – The Hasmonean priest-princes". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
28. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah 8b; ibid, Sanhedrin 41a
29. ^ Schürer, E. (1891). A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ. Vol. 1 of the 2nd division. Translated by Sophia Taylor; Rev. Peter Christie (2nd revised edition of "Manual of the History of New Testament Times" ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 157–160. Retrieved 8 July 2025 - via Hathi Trust website. Cf. Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 3:51 at perseus.tufts.edu.
30. ^ Josephus, Antiquities Book 14, chapter 5, verse 4
31. ^ Josephus. AJ. 14.5.4., Perseus Project AJ14.5.4, .: "And when he had ordained five councils (συνέδρια), he distributed the nation into the same number of parts. So these councils governed the people; the first was at Jerusalem, the second at Gadara, the third at Amathus, the fourth at Jericho, and the fifth at Sepphoris in Galilee."
32. ^ "Josephus uses συνέδριον for the first time in connection with the decree of the Roman governor of Syria, Gabinius (57 BCE), who abolished the constitution and the then existing form of government of Palestine and divided the country into five provinces, at the head of each of which a sanhedrin was placed ("Ant." xiv 5, § 4)." via Jewish Encyclopedia: Sanhedrin:
33. ^ Malamat, Abraham; Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel (1976). A History of the Jewish People. Harvard University Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6.
34. ^ Ḳornfeld, Geʾalyahu; Mazar, Benjamin; Maier, Paul L. (1 January 1982). Josephus, the Jewish War: Newly Translated with Extensive Commentary and Archaeological Background Illustrations. Zondervan Publishing House. p. 42\. ISBN 978-0-310-39210-1.
35. ^ Cohen, Getzel M. (3 September 2006). The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa. University of California Press. p. 284, n. 1. ISBN 978-0-520-93102-2.
36. ^ Meyers, Eric M. (1999). "Sepphoris on the Eve of the Great Revolt. Papers of the 2nd International Conference on Galilee in Antiquity, 1997, Duke University". In Meyers, Eric M. (ed.). Galilee Through the Centuries: Confluence of Cultures. Duke Judaic studies, volume 1. Eisenbrauns. p. 113\. ISBN 9781575060408. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
37. ^ "Titus' Siege of Jerusalem – Livius". www.livius.org.
38. ^ a b c Bar, Doron (2005). "Rural Monasticism as a Key Element in the Christianization of Byzantine Palestine". The Harvard Theological Review. 98 (1): 49–65\. doi:10.1017/S0017816005000854. ISSN 0017-8160. JSTOR 4125284. S2CID 162644246. "The phenomenon was most prominent in Judea, and can be explained by the demographic changes that this region underwent after the second Jewish revolt of 132–135 C.E. The expulsion of Jews from the area of Jerusalem following the suppression of the revolt, in combination with the penetration of pagan populations into the same region, created the conditions for the diffusion of Christians into that area during the fifth and sixth centuries. [...] This regional population, originally pagan and during the Byzantine period gradually adopting Christianity, was one of the main reasons that the monks chose to settle there. They erected their monasteries near local villages that during this period reached their climax in size and wealth, thus providing fertile ground for the planting of new ideas."
39. ^ a b c Schwartz, Seth (2006), Katz, Steven T. (ed.), "Political, social, and economic life in the Land of Israel, 66–c. 235", The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, The Cambridge History of Judaism, vol. 4, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 36–37, doi:10.1017/chol9780521772488.003, ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8, retrieved 31 March 2023
40. ^ Taylor, J. E. (15 November 2012). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199554485. "These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction"
41. ^ Eshel, Hanan (2006). "4: The Bar Kochba Revolt, 132 – 135". In T. Katz, Steven (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 4\. The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge. pp. 105–127\. ISBN 9780521772488. OCLC 7672733.
42. ^ Ben-Sasson, H.H. (1976). A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Iudaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."
43. ^ Goodblatt, David (2006). "The political and social history of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel", in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, Cambridge University Press, pp. 404–430 (406).
44. ^ Mor, Menahem (2016). The Second Jewish Revolt. Brill. pp. 483–484\. doi:10.1163/9789004314634. ISBN 978-90-04-31463-4. "Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it."
45. ^ a b Seligman, J. (2019). "Were There Villages in Jerusalem's Hinterland During the Byzantine Period?" In Peleg- Barkat O. et. al. (eds.), Between Sea and Desert: On Kings, Nomads, Cities and Monks. Essays in Honor of Joseph Patrich. Jerusalem: Tzemach. pp. 167–179.
46. ^ Zissu, Boaz [in Hebrew]; Klein, Eitan (2011). "A Rock-Cut Burial Cave from the Roman Period at Beit Nattif, Judaean Foothills" (PDF). Israel Exploration Journal. 61 (2): 196–216\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
47. ^ a b Shahin (2005), p. 8
48. ^ Thomas A. Idniopulos (1998). "Weathered by Miracles: A History of Palestine From Bonaparte and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
49. ^ "Roman Arabia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
50. ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, p. 351
51. ^ Ronnie, Ellenblum (2010). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press. pp. 225–229\. ISBN 978-0-511-58534-0. OCLC 958547332.
52. ^ a b Ehrlich, Michael (2022). "Judea and Jerusalem". The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press. pp. 111–112\. ISBN 978-1-64189-222-3. OCLC 1310046222.
53. ^ Josephus, The Jewish War 3.3.1

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