Book contents
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Copyright page
- Frontispiece
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Empire
- Chapter 1 Germs and Empire
- Chapter 2 Imperial Integration on Rome’s Atlantic Rim
- Chapter 3 The Ambitions of Government
- Chapter 4 Contingency and Context
- Part II Religion
- Appendix: Bibliography of Brent D. Shaw’s Publications to 2020
- Index
- References
Chapter 4 - Contingency and Context
The Origins of the Jewish War against Rome
from Part I - Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 August 2021
Edited by
Book contents
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World
- Copyright page
- Frontispiece
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Empire
- Chapter 1 Germs and Empire
- Chapter 2 Imperial Integration on Rome’s Atlantic Rim
- Chapter 3 The Ambitions of Government
- Chapter 4 Contingency and Context
- Part II Religion
- Appendix: Bibliography of Brent D. Shaw’s Publications to 2020
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter reexamines the extensively discussed evidence for the circumstances that drove the Jews to a seemingly irrational and hopeless challenge to the power of Rome. The account of Josephus, on which we almost exclusively rely, offers the teleological scenario of a long build-up of hostility that issued inevitably in disaster. While acknowledging the background and circumstances that lay behind the conflict, this chapter emphasizes the numerous contingencies, unanticipated events, personalities, and miscalculations that played a key role in bringing it about. The tension and anxiety that had built up for two generations in a series of individual episodes supplied a significant impetus. But error, accident, and unintended consequences are critical to understanding the course of events. Josephus’ sense of inevitability, born of hindsight and his special situation, needs a corrective.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empire and Religion in the Roman World , pp. 94 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Bernett, M. (2007) Der Kaiserkult in Judäa unter den Herodiern und Römern, Tübingen.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumell, L. (2008) “Social Banditry? Galilean Banditry from Herod Until the Outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt,” Scripta Classica Israelica 27: 35–53.Google Scholar
Brighton, M. A. (2009) The Sicarii in Josephus’s Judean War: Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Observations, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Eck, W. (2011) “Die römischen Repräsentanten in Judaea: Provokateure oder Vertreter der römischen Macht?”, in Popovic, M. (ed.), The Jewish Revolt Against Rome, Leiden: 45–68.Google Scholar
Goodman, M. (1982) “The First Jewish Revolt: Social Conflict and the Problem of Debt,” Journal of Jewish Studies 33: 417–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, M. (1987) The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt Against Rome, AD 66–70, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gruen, E. S. (2012) “Caligula, the Imperial Cult, and Philo’s Legatio,” The Studia Philonica Annual 24: 135–147.Google Scholar
Hengel, M. (1989) The Zealots: Investigations into the Jewish Freedom Movement in the Period from Herod I until 70 A.D., Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. (1971) Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Manchester.Google Scholar
Horsley, R. A. (1979) “Josephus and the Bandits,” Journal for the Study of Judaism 10: 37–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horsley, R. A. (1981) “Ancient Jewish Banditry and the Revolt Against Rome,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 43: 409–432.Google Scholar
Horsley, R. A. and Hanson, J. S. (1985) Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements at the Time of Jesus. New York.Google Scholar
Isaac, B. (1984) “Bandits in Judaea and Arabia,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 88: 171–203.Google Scholar
Kreissig, H. (1969) “Die Landwirtschaftliche Situation in Palestina vor dem Judäischen Krieg,” Acta Antiqua 17: 223–254.Google Scholar
Mason, S. (2008) Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Vol. 1b: Judean War 2, Leiden.Google Scholar
McLaren, J. S. (1998) Turbulent Times? Josephus and Scholarship on Judaea in the First Century CE, Sheffield.Google Scholar
McLaren, J. S. (2011) “Going to War Against Rome: The Motivation of the Jewish Rebels,” in Popovic, M. (ed.), The Jewish Revolt Against Rome, Leiden: 129–153.Google Scholar
Price, J. J. (1992) Jerusalem Under Siege: The Collapse of the Jewish State, 66–70 C.E., Leiden.Google Scholar
Rajak, T. (2002) “Jewish Millenarian Expectations,” in Berlin, A. M. and Overman, J. A. (eds.), The First Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History, and Ideology, London: 164–188.Google Scholar
Rappaport, U. (1981) “Jewish-Pagan Relations and the Revolt Against Rome in 66–70 C.E.”, The Jerusalem Cathedra 1: 81–95.Google Scholar
Rappaport, U. (2011) “Who Were the Sicarii?” in Popovic, M. (ed.), The Jewish Revolt Against Rome, Leiden.Google Scholar
Regev, E. (2014) “The Temple Cult, Romanization, and the Rebels: The Roman Setting for the Rebels’ Religious Ideology,” Journal of Ancient Judaism 5: 40–60.Google Scholar
Rhoads, D. M. (1976) Israel in Revolution, 6–74 CE: A Political History Based on the Writings of Josephus, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Schürer, E. (1973) The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, Vol. 1, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. D. (1989) Review of M. Goodman, The Ruling Class of Judaea, Journal of Roman Studies 79: 246–247.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. D. (1993) “Tyrants, Bandits, and Kings: Personal Power in Josephus,” Journal of Jewish Studies 44: 176–204.Google Scholar
Shaw, B. D. (2004) “Bandits in the Roman Empire,” in Osborne, R. (ed.), Studies in Ancient Greek and Roman Society, Cambridge: 326–374.Google Scholar
Smith, M. (1971) “Zealots and Sicarii: Their Origins and Relation,” Harvard Theological Review 64: 1–19.Google Scholar
Stern, M. (1974) “The Province of Judaea,” in Safrai, S and Stern, M (eds.), The Jewish People in the First Century, Philadelphia: 308–376.Google Scholar
Van Hoof, A. J. L. (1988) “Ancient Robbers: Reflections Behind the Facts,” Ancient Society 19: 105–124.Google Scholar
Vanderberghe, M. J. (2016) “Villains Called Sicarii: A Commonplace for Rhetorical Vituperation in the Texts of Flavius Josephus,” Journal for the Study of Judaism 47: 475–507.Google Scholar
Wilker, J. (2012) “‘God Is with Italy Now’: Pro-Roman Jews and the Jewish Revolt,” in Eckhardt, B. (ed.), Jewish Identity and Politics Between the Maccabees and Bar Kokhba, Leiden: 157–187.Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by