Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Government
I.—Government.
The government of the country under the Legate, with various local officials, assisted by Roman legions and by native auxiliaries, was in the hands of foreigners. Soldiers from Italy, Gaul, Saxony, Greece, Africa, and Asia Minor, mingled with corps of Arabs on dromedaries, guarded the frontiers, and were quartered in the towns. They have left many memorials, especially in Bashan, where the tombstones of Roman officers are numerous; and the local councils often erected memorial tablets, which speak enthusiastically of the goodness of their rulers, and attest their fealty to the Cæsars.
Under these rulers the population included the עם הארץ or "country folk," apparently Jews, together with pagans of Aramean and Arab origin; and an upper native class who understood Greek. There were scattered communities of Christians, living very humbly, and some of whom—Marcionites, Markosians, Ebionites, and, later on, Manicheans—were heretics; while some—like Justin Martyr's congregation at Shechem—held a purer faith, and were recruited from among Samaritans, Jews, and Greeks alike. The Jews were allowed freedom of religion, and a Sanhedrin, which was permitted to rule them in religious matters, but sternly repressed when it attempted political action, or roused rebellions like that of Rabbi Akiba at Bether. As subjects the Jews seem to have enjoyed equal rights with others, and were not only prosperous in trade, but also owned houses and lands, and became rich. Their power in Rome itself, after the unsuccessful attempt of Claudius to banish them, greatly increased, especially in the times of the Agrippas, before the fall of Jerusalem, and under the Syrian Emperors Elagabalus and Philip the Arab. They do not appear to have held government posts, though some were enlisted in the army (Tebul Yom, iv, 5). Their relations with the other elements of the population will be considered later.
The Jewish colony at Palmyra prospered under the native princes. In the third century Queen Zenobia is called Yedithah on some Palmyrene texts, which apparently means "Jewess." She was not really of Jewish birth, though she may have favoured the Jews as she favoured the Christians. She is not mentioned in the Mishnah, which shows that late additions were not allowed to corrupt its text.
The Sanhedrin which finally settled at Tiberias (T. B. Rosh hash Shanah, 51 h) appears to have been undisturbed till Constantine renewed the edicts of Hadrian against the Jews (T. B. Sanhed, 12 a). In the Mishnah there is little which would lead us to suppose that the persecution of the Jews continued after Hadrian's time[1] until the establishment of Christianity. There is much on the contrary to prove peaceful intercourse with the non-Jewish population.
- ↑ Justin Martyr, however, says that Jerusalem was guarded, "and that death is decreed against any Jew apprehended entering it" (1 Apol. xlvii). This was Hadrian's edict, still in force about 150 A.D.