The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Jews under Rome

Besides Christianity, the only major religion to survive the impact of Roman domination was Judaism�symbolized by this seven branched candlestick, or Menorah, from a relief in the ancient Palestinian catacombs of Beth Shetarim. Scattered in small settlements throughout the Empire, and surrounded by pagans, the Jews clung to their belief in one God, and to the literature, laws and language which had united them as a people for some 1,300 years.

Although they lived under chronic suspicion for their strict adherence to a monotheistic God, the Jews of Rome enjoyed periods of genuine toleration. Augustus even decreed that synagogues were inviolable and that Jews were exempt from appearing in court on their Sabbath. Indeed, the growing dissatisfaction which many Romans felt toward the proliferation of pagan cults led some to convert to Judaism.

Palestine, however, was a Jewish state which had been ruled by the Romans since 63 B.C. Seething under the supervision of unpopular procurators, the Jews rose up in fierce rebellion in 66 AD. But this uprising and other sporadic revolts which followed were soon crushed by the legions. In 135 AD the Jews were driven out of Jerusalem and forbidden to re-enter�a dispersal that was to last until the 20th Century.