Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian

Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian
Author: William Horbury
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 652
Release: 2014-09-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1139991515

Two major Jewish risings against Rome took place in the years following the destruction of Jerusalem - the first during Trajan's Parthian war, and the second, led by Bar Kokhba, under Hadrian's principate. The impact of these risings not only on Judaea, but also on Cyrene, Egypt, Cyprus and Mesopotamia, is shown by accounts in both ancient Jewish and non-Jewish literature. More recently discovered sources include letters and documents from fighters and refugees, and inscriptions attesting war and restoration. Historical evaluation has veered between regret for a pointless bloodbath and admiration for sustained resistance. William Horbury offers a new history of these risings, presenting a fresh review of sources and interpretations. He explores the period of Jewish war under Trajan and Hadrian not just as the end of an era, but also as a time of continuity in Jewish life and development in Jewish and Christian origins.

Bar Kokhba

Bar Kokhba
Author: Lindsay Powell
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2021-11-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1473890020

This biography of the ancient Jewish military leader examines how he mounted a years-long revolt against Rome that changed the course of history. In AD 132, a bloody struggle began between two determined leaders over who would rule Judea. One was the powerful Roman Emperor Hadrian, who some regarded as divine. The other was Shim’on—known today as Bar Kokhba—a Jewish military commander in a district of a minor province, who some believed to be the ‘King Messiah’. In Bar Kokhba, ancient historian Lindsay Powell examines the clash between these two men, and the two ancient cultures they represented. In the ensuing conflict, the Jewish militia resisted the onslaught of the professional Roman army for three-and-a-half years. They established an independent nation with its own administration, headed by Shim’on as its president. The outcome of that David and Goliath contest was of great consequence, both for the people of Judaea and for Judaism itself. Drawing on archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions, militaria, as well as secular and religious documents, Lindsay Powell sheds light on Bar Kokhba’s singular life and legacy. She also describes her personal journey across three continents to establish the facts.

The Jews Under Roman Rule

The Jews Under Roman Rule
Author: E. Mary Smallwood
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 618
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780391041554

It is remarkable that Judaism could develop given the domination by Rome in Palestine over the centuries. Smallwood traces Judaism's constantly shifting political, religious, and geographical boundaries under Roman rule from Pompey to Diocletian, that is, from the first century BCE through the third century CE. From a long-standing nationalistic tradition that was a tolerated sect under a pagan ruler, Judaism becomes, over time, a threat that needs to be repressed and confined against a now-Christian empire. This work examines the galvanizing forces that shaped and defined Judaism as we have come to know it. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.

Military Service and the Integration of Jews into the Roman Empire

Military Service and the Integration of Jews into the Roman Empire
Author: Raúl González-Salinero
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2022-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004507256

Even though relations between the Jewish people and the Roman state were sometimes strained to the point of warfare and bloodshed, Jewish military service between the 1st century BCE to the 6th century CE is attested by multiple sources.

Hadrian

Hadrian
Author: Anthony R Birley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135952337

Hadrian's reign (AD 117-138) was a watershed in the history of the Roman Empire. Hadrian abandoned his predecessor Trajan's eastern conquests - Mesopotamia and Armenia - trimmed down the lands beyond the lower Danube, and constructed new demarcation lines in Germany, North Africa, and most famously Hadrian's Wall in Britain, to delimit the empire. The emperor Hadrian, a strange and baffling figure to his contemporaries, had a many-sided personality. Insatiably ambitious, and a passionate Philhellene, he promoted the 'Greek Renaissance' extravagantly. But his attempt to Hellenize the Jews, including the outlawing of circumcision, had disastrous consequences, and his 'Greek' love of the beautiful Bithynian boy Antinous ended in tragedy. No comprehensive account of Hadrian's life and reign has been attempted for over seventy years. In Hadrian: The Restless Emperor, Anthony Birley brings together the new evidence from inscriptions and papyri, and up-to-date and in-depth examination of the work of other scholars on aspects of Hadrian's reign and policies such as the Jewish war, the coinage, Hadrian's building programme in Rome, Athens and Tivoli, and his relationship with his favourite, Antinous, to provide a thorough and fascinating account of the private and public life of a man who, though hated when he died, left an indelible mark on the Roman Empire.

Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome

Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome
Author: Anthony Everitt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2013-04-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 178185209X

Born and bred in what is now northern Spain to a family of olive-oil magnates, Hadrian was lucky enough to benefit from the patronage of his maternal cousin, Trajan, who would later become emperor, and who named Hadrian his successor on his death in AD 117. After suppressing the Jewish revolt that had started under Trajan (memorably depicted in Josephus' Jewish War), Hadrian brought years of turbulence to an end. He presided over Rome's expansion to its greatest extent, travelling all over his empire to fortify its borders and, notably, building a wall to demarcate its northern extreme in the island of Britain (as well as another in Germany). Hadrian also 'Hellenized' the cultural life of the empire, and left an extraordinary legacy, yet he remains one of the least-known of Rome's emperors. Using exhaustive research, Anthony Everitt unveils the private life and character of this most successful of emperors, in the most vivid and exciting retelling of his story to date.

A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 4

A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 4
Author: Lester L. Grabbe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 663
Release: 2021-07-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567700712

This is the fourth and fi nal volume of Lester L. Grabbe's four-volume history of the Second Temple period, collecting all that is known about the Jews during the period in which they were ruled by the Roman Empire. Based directly on primary sources such as archaeology, inscriptions, Jewish literary sources and Greek, Roman and Christian sources, this study includes analysis of the Jewish diaspora, mystical and Gnosticism trends, and the developments in the Temple, the law, and contemporary attitudes towards Judaism. Spanning from the reign of Herod Archelaus to the war with Rome and Roman control up to 150 CE, this volume concludes with Grabbe's holistic perspective on the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period.

CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2024

CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2024
Author:
Publisher: CCAR Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2024-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0881236497

This double issue of CCAR Journal includes a new data analysis by the Reform Pay Equity Initiative, a discussion of the growth of Reform Judaism in IberoAmerica, a piece on disenfranchised grief in the wake of October 7, and several articles addressing the challenges of pastoral care. The issue also contains new book reviews and poems.

The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–136

The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–136
Author: Lindsay Powell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2017-07-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472818008

In AD 132, Shim'on Ben Koseba, a rebel leader who assumed the messianic name Shim'on Bar Kokhba ('Son of a Star'), led the people of Judaea in open rebellion, aiming to establish their own independent Jewish state and to liberate Jerusalem from the Romans. During the ensuing 'Bar Kokhba War' (AKA the Second Jewish War), the insurgents held their own against the crack Roman troops sent by Emperor Hadrian for three-and-a-half years. The cost of this rebellion was catastrophic: hundreds of thousands of casualties, the destruction and enslavement of Jewish communities and a ban on Jews entering Jerusalem. Bar Kokhba remains important in Israel today because he was the last leader of a Jewish state before the rise of Zionism in modern times. This fully illustrated volume explores the gripping story of the uprising, profiling its rebel leader Bar Kokhba as well as the Emperor Hadrian and his generals, and assesses the impact that this violent rebellion had on the region and those that were displaced.