districts of the Hauran (S.E.), to Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peraea, to Archelaus, Samaria, Judæa, and Idumaea. In 6 A.D. the territory of Archelaus was added to the Roman province of Syria, but was governed by procurators of its own.
The power of the native princes, such as Agrippa I., who was the last prince to unite the whole of Herod's kingdom under one monarch, and Agrippa II., whose share of Jewish territory was, strictly speaking, confined to a few towns in Galilee, became merely nominal as that of the Roman governors increased. At length, in consequence of the maladministration of Gessius Florus, a national insurrection broke out with great violence. Jerusalem was captured by Titus in 70 A.D., and the Temple was destroyed. Under the leadership of Simon, surnamed Bar Cochba ('son of the star'), there was a final revolt against the foreign yoke. After a struggle lasting for three and a half years (132–135), the insurrection was quelled and the last remnant of the Jewish kingdom destroyed. Jerusalem became a Roman colony under the name of Ælia Capitolina, and the Jews were denied access to their ancient capital.[1]
§ 4. Palestine under Rome, Byzantium and the Arabs.
Roman Rule.—The ensuing three centuries were relatively uneventful in the history of Palestine. After the revolt of the Jews in 132–5 A.D. the Emperor Julian the Apostate once more raised the hopes of the Jewish people for a brief moment. Previous to the interlude of his short reign a change of the utmost importance had taken place within the Roman Empire by the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the State, and this change was felt particularly in Palestine. The unaccustomed interval of peace which the country was enjoying caused many Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land in emulation of the Empress Helena, and the country was soon thickly covered with Christian religious establishments.
- ↑ Cf. Sir G. A. Smith, Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land, London, 1915.
