Background to the Roman-Jewish Wars

In the first century BCE, most of the world’s Jews — perhaps as many as 8 000 000 (Baron, 1952, I 170; 1971: 871) — came into the net of Roman conquest as the empire expanded to become the largest and most powerful in ancient history. Only a minority of Jews lived in the kingdom of Judaea, conquered by Rome in 63 BCE and formally annexed in 6 CE. Except for about seven years of revolt, in 66–70 and 132–5 CE, Judaea remained under Roman rule for half a millennium, until the fall of the empire. Both conquest and annexation warned of Judaea’s tragic future: in 63 BCE Pompey, commander of the victorious Roman army, entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple — forbidden to all but the Jewish High Priest on Yom Kippur — giving lasting insult to the Jews; and in 6 CE a census for tax-assessment was made in Judaea, leading to unrest and violence.