Syria Palaestina

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Province of Syria Palaestina
Provincia Syria Palaestina (
Koinē Greek)
Province of the Roman Empire
136–390

Syria Palaestina within the Roman Empire in 210.
CapitalCaesarea Maritima
Historical eraClassical antiquity
• Established
136
• Disestablished
390
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Judaea
Palaestina Prima
Palaestina Secunda

Syria Palaestina (

Koinē Greek: Συρία ἡ Παλαιστίνη, romanized: Syría hē Palaistínē [syˈri.a (h)e̝ pa.lɛsˈt̪i.ne̝]), or Roman Palestine,[1][2][3] was a Roman province in the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The provincial capital was Caesarea Maritima
.

Background

Further information: Judaea (Roman province), Jewish–Roman wars, and Bar Kokhba revolt

Judaea was a

6th century BCE
.

Following the deposition of Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judea came under direct Roman rule,[4] during which time the Roman governor was given authority to punish by execution. The general population also began to be taxed by Rome.[5] However, Jewish leaders retained broad discretion over affairs within Judaism.[6]

The Herodian kingdom was split into a tetrarchy in 6 AD, which was gradually absorbed into Roman provinces, with

Trachonitis. The capital of Judaea was shifted from Jerusalem to Caesarea Maritima, which, according to historian Hayim Hillel Ben-Sasson, had been the "administrative capital" of the region beginning in 6 AD.[7]

History

During the 1st and 2nd centuries, Judaea became the epicenter of a series of unsuccessful large-scale Jewish rebellions against Rome, known as the Jewish-Roman Wars. The Roman suppression of these revolts led to wide-scale destruction, a very high toll of life and enslavement. The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.[8] Two generations later, the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136) erupted. Judea's countryside was devastated, and many were killed, displaced or sold into slavery.[9][10][11][12] Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt.[13]

Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judea was incorporated into Syria Palaestina.[14][15] Syria-Palaestina included Judea , Samaria , Galilee , Idumaea , and Philistia. The province retained its capital, Caesarea Maritima, and therefore remained distinct from Syria, which was located further north with its capital in Antioch. Jerusalem, which held special religious significance for the Jews but had been destroyed, was rebuilt as the colonia Aelia Capitolina. Jews were forbidden to settle there or in the immediate vicinity.

While Syria was divided into several smaller provinces by Septimius Severus, and later again by Diocletian, Syria Palaestina survived into late antiquity. Presumably, it was small enough not to become dangerous as a potential starting point for usurpation attempts. Instead, Diocletian even integrated parts of Arabia Petraea into the province, namely the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula. He moved the Legio X Fretensis from Aelia Capitolina to Aila (today's Eilat/Aqaba) to secure the country against Arab incursions. The part of the Roman imperial border that now ran through Palestine was subsequently placed under its own supreme commander, the dux Palaestinae, who is known from the Notitia Dignitatum.[16] The border wall, the Limes Arabicus, which had existed for some time, was pushed further south.[17]

The

Christianization of the Roman Empire and the associated upswing in Christian pilgrimage to the "Holy Land". In the course of late antiquity, with imperial support, Christianity succeeded in asserting itself against Judaism
in almost the entire region.

The province was split into smaller ones during the fourth and fifth centuries. In 358, areas that had formerly belonged to

Palestina Tertia or Salutaris.[18]

Name

Further information: Timeline of the name Palestine

The name Syria-Palaestina was given to the former

Ephesos from AD 170-180, honors the wife of a figure known as "Eroelius Klaros " , who had the epithet "ruler of Judaea" ("[Ερο]υκίου Κλάρου, υπάτου, [ηγ]εμόνος Ιουδ[αίας] ), decades after the recreation of Provincia Judaea as Syria-Palaestina.[30]

Other scholars and commenters disagree with a punitive recent origin for the term, and point it has been used to refer to the Southern Levant at large for centuries since Classical antiquity, when it was first used by Herodotus, and has been used by Jewish authors such as Philo and Josephus while Judaea still existed.[31][32] It's claimed that the name was chosen as the new province was far larger than geographical Judea (the name sake of Judaea), and was resulted from the merger of Judea with Galilee.[33][34][35]

Despite this naming, Palestine was independent of Syria, even to a greater extent than before, since instead of a legatus Augusti pro praetore, a higher-ranking governor of consular rank now presided over the region. This in turn was probably due to the fact that in addition to the already existing legion in Caesarea, a second legion was stationed in Legio, increasing the military importance of the province. Exactly when the legion was moved and the rank of the governor's post increased is a matter of debate - in any case, these events must have occurred before the governorship of Quintus Tineius Rufus, who took office no later than 130.[36]

Demographics

The population of Syria-Palaestina was of mixed character.[37] It appears that at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jewish settlement in Judea proper had nearly been eradicated, but remained strong in other parts of Palestine.[38][39][40][41]

According to Eitan Klein, the Roman authorities confiscated lands in the area, leading to the emergence of a new population. As evidenced by archaeological evidence : the countryside was penetrated by gentile migrants from the neighboring Levantine provinces such as Arabia, Syria, and Phoenicia , and areas beyond Judean proper from the Coastal Plain . In the new Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina was settled by a mix of Roman veterans and migrants from western parts of the empire, who also inhabited its surroundings, administrative centers, and along the main roads[42] According to Lichtenberger, archaeological evidence from Bayt Nattif suggests a persistence of non-conformist unorthodox Jewish groups that did not adhere to strict Biblical monotheism, as well as remnants of semitic pagan groups related to those of Yahwahist Iron Age Judah in the late Roman period.[43]

In AD 300, Jews formed around a quarter of the population and lived in compact settlements in Galilee, while Samaritans were concentrated in Samaria.[37][44] By the fifth century, Christianity had gained further ground in the region, and Christians formed a majority in Palestine and Jerusalem through immigration and conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews.[37][38][39]

Religion

Roman cult

After the Jewish–Roman wars (66–135), which

Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, c. 326–28.[citation needed
]

New pagan cities were founded in Judea at Eleutheropolis (now Bayt Jibrin), Diopolis (now Lod), and Nicopolis.[46][47]

Early Christianity

The Romans destroyed the Jewish community of the Church in Jerusalem, which had existed since the time of Jesus.

Jerusalem Christians waited out the Jewish–Roman wars in Pella in the Decapolis.[citation needed
]

The line of

Jewish Christians sought refuge in the Arabian Peninsula and he quotes with approval Clemen et al., "This produces the paradox of truly historic significance that while Jewish Christianity was swallowed up in the Christian church, it preserved itself in Islam."[49]

Christianity was practiced in secret and the Hellenization of Palaestina continued under Septimius Severus (193–211 AD).[46]

Reorganization

In circa 390, Syria Palaestina was reorganised into several administrative units:

Palaestina Tertia (in the 6th century),[50] Syria Prima and Phoenice and Phoenice Lebanensis. All were included within the larger Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Diocese of the East, together with the provinces of Isauria, Cilicia, Cyprus (until 536), Euphratensis, Mesopotamia, Osroene, and Arabia Petraea.[citation needed
]

Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis,[failed verification] with the seat of government at Scythopolis.[1] Palaestina Tertia included the Negev, southern Transjordan part of Arabia, and most of Sinai, with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris.[51]

See also

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Roman Palestine". Palestine - Roman Rule, Jewish Revolts, Crusades | Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  2. ^ Bryce, Trevo (2009), The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia
  3. ^ a b de Vaux, Roland (1978), The Early History of Israel, p. 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135, the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Palestinian Syria."
  4. ISBN 978-0-19-921643-7
    .
  5. De Bello Judaico (Wars of the Jews) 2.8.1
    .
  6. OCLC 796754060
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-8052-4127-3
    . When Judea was converted into a Roman province [in AD 6, page 246], Jerusalem ceased to be the administrative capital of the country. The Romans moved the governmental residence and military headquarters to Caesarea. The centre of government was thus removed from Jerusalem, and the administration became increasingly based on inhabitants of the hellenistic cities (Sebaste, Caesarea and others).
  8. ISSN 0022-2097
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-19-955448-5
    . These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 AD, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction
  10. ^ Eck, Werner. "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen" (in German), Novum Testamentum 55 (2.13), pp. 1–21.
  11. S2CID 245512193
    . Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio's account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio's figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio's demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation.
  12. ISBN 978-90-04-31463-4
    . Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.
  13. ^ Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6
    , page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89236-800-6
    . "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name - one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus - Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land."
  16. ^ Notitia Dignitatum, Chapter 34.
  17. ISBN 978-3-525-50166-5, p. 281 f. [dead link
    ]
  18. ^
    JSTOR 27925836
    . The division of Palestine into two provinces, Palestina Prima and Southern Palestine, later to be known as Palaestina Salutaris, took place in 357-358 [...] In 409 we hear for the first time of the three provinces of Palestine: Palaestina Prima, Secunda and Tertia (the former Salutaris)
  19. ISBN 978-3-476-01479-5
    , Sp. 160–162, here Sp. 162.
  20. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5
    . Retrieved 2022-07-08. After the Bar Kokhba war, in the reign of Hadrian, the Roman province of Judaea was re-named Syria-Palaestina. Thus an appellation referring to an ethnic element associated with Jews was replaced by the purely geographic one: Syria-Palaestina.
  21. ^ Lehmann, Clayton Miles (Summer 1998). "Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy". The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2014-08-24. In the aftermath of the Bar Cochba Revolt, the Romans excluded Jews from a large area around Aelia Capitolina, which Gentiles only inhabited. The province now hosted two legions and many auxiliary units, two colonies, and--to complete the disassociation with Judaea--a new name, Syria Palaestina.
  22. ^ Sharon, Moshe (1988). Pillars of Smoke and Fire: The Holy Land in History and Thought.
  23. ^ Lehmann, Clayton Miles (Summer 1998). "Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy". The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2014-08-24. In the aftermath of the Bar Cochba Revolt, the Romans excluded Jews from a large area around Aelia Capitolina, which Gentiles only inhabited. The province now hosted two legions and many auxiliary units, two colonies, and--to complete the disassociation with Judaea--a new name, Syria Palaestina.
  24. ^ Keel, Küchler & Uehlinger (1984), p. 279.
  25. ^ Feldman 1990, p. 19"While it is true that there is no evidence as to precisely who changed the name of Judaea to Palestine and precisely when this was done, circumstantial evidence would seem to point to Hadrian himself, since he is, it would seem, responsible for a number of decrees that sought to crush the national and religious spirit of the Jews, whether these decrees were responsible for the uprising or were the result of it. In the first place, he refounded Jerusalem as a Graeco-Roman city under the name of Aelia Capitolina. He also erected on the site of the Temple another temple to Zeus."
  26. ^ Cotton 2009, p. 80
  27. S2CID 154240558
    .
  28. ^ Foster, Zachery (2017). The invention of Palestine (PhD thesis). Princeton University.
  29. ISBN 978-3-16-147153-7
    . Once the troubles, which inflamed Galilee under Trajan and the rest of the province fifteen years later had been controlled, Judaea became the province of Syria-Palaestina (or Palaestina) as it was known in official and literary documents. However, after this date, some authors continued to use the former name. No doubt out of habit, as the memory of the revolt which was responsible for the banishment of the name faded and because in the ancient imagination, this territory was first and foremost that of the Jews.
  30. ^ Smallwood, E. Mary. The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian: A Study in Political Relations. Apendix A. 1. The Governors of Judaea and Syria Palaestina after A.D. 70., p. 552.
  31. ^ Jacobson 2001, pp. 44–45:"Hadrian officially renamed Judea Syria Palaestina after his Roman armies suppressed the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (the Second Jewish Revolt) in 135 C.E.; this is commonly viewed as a move intended to sever the connection of the Jews to their historical homeland. However, that Jewish writers such as Philo, in particular, and Josephus, who flourished while Judea was still formally in existence, used the name Palestine for the Land of Israel in their Greek works, suggests that this interpretation of history is mistaken. Hadrian's choice of Syria Palaestina may be more correctly seen as a rationalization of the name of the new province, in accordance with its area being far larger than geographical Judea. Indeed, Syria Palaestina had an ancient pedigree that was intimately linked with the area of greater Israel."
  32. S2CID 163534665
    . Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  33. ISBN 978-1-4620-6121-1
    . Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  34. ISBN 978-1-107-05544-5
    .
  35. ISBN 978-0-8054-9935-3
    .
  36. ISBN 978-3-486-56414-3
    , pp. 237–264, here pp. 246–250 (where, however, the latest possible start year of governorship is seen as being 132).
  37. ^
    ISBN 978-0-691-15007-9
    .
  38. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8
    . Few would disagree that, in the century and a half before our period begins, the Jewish population of Judah () suffered a serious blow from which it never recovered. The destruction of the Jewish metropolis of Jerusalem and its environs and the eventual refounding of the city... had lasting repercussions. [...] However, in other parts of Palestine the Jewish population remained strong [...] What does seem clear is a different kind of change. Immigration of Christians and the conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews eventually produced a Christian majority.
  39. ^
    ISSN 0022-0469
    . The dominant view of the history of Palestine during the Byzantine period links the early phases of the consecration of the land during the fourth century and the substantial external financial investment that accompanied the building of churches on holy sites on the one hand with the Christianisation of the population on the other. Churches were erected primarily at the holy sites, 12 while at the same time Palestine's position and unique status as the Christian "Holy Land" became more firmly rooted. All this, coupled with immigration and conversion, allegedly meant that the Christianisation of Palestine took place much more rapidly than that of other areas of the Roman empire, brought in its wake the annihilation of the pagan cults and meant that by the middle of the fifth century there was a clear Christian majority.
  40. ^ Taylor, Joan (1990). A critical investigation of archaeological material assigned to Palestinian Jewish-Christians of the Roman and Byzantine periods.
  41. ^ Bar, Doron (2008). Continuity and change in the cultic topography of late antique Palestine
  42. ^ Klein, Eitan (2010). "The Origins of the Rural Settlers in Judean Mountains and Foothills during the Late Roman Period", in: E. Baruch, A. Levy-Reifer and A. Faust (eds.), New Studies on Jerusalem, Vol. 16, Ramat-Gan, pp. 321-350 (in Hebrew).
  43. ^ Lichtenberger, Achim. "Jews and Pagans in Late Antique Judaea. The Case of the Beit Nattif Workshop." R. Raja (ed.), Contextualizing the Sacred in the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, Religious Identities in Local, Regional, and Imperial Settings (Contextualizing the Sacred 8; Turnhout) (2017): 191–211. Print.
  44. ISBN 978-0-521-70562-2
    .
  45. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Jerusalem (A.D. 71-1099): "Epiphanius (died 403) says..."
  46. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56656-557-8
    , p. 7
  47. ^ "Palestine". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  48. ^ Whealey, J. (2008) "Eusebius and the Jewish Authors: His Citation Technique in an Apologetic Context" (Journal of Theological Studies; Vol 59: 359-362)
  49. ISBN 978-1-0980-6016-9
    .
  50. ^ Thomas A. Idniopulos (1998). "Weathered by Miracles: A History of Palestine From Bonaparte and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
  51. ^ "Arabia: Roman province". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 18 May 2024.

Sources

  • Cotton, Hannah M. (2009). Eck, Werner (ed.). "Some Aspects of the Roman Administration of Judaea/Syria-Palaestina". Jahrhundert. 1, Lokale Autonomie und Ordnungsmacht in den kaiserzeitlichen Provinzen (3). Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag: 75–92.
    ISBN 978-3-486-59601-4
    .

Further reading

External links

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