Bar Kokhba Revolt in the context of "Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Bar Kokhba Revolt

The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD), also known as the Bar Kokhba war, the War of Betar, and the Third (or Second) Jewish–Roman War, was the last and most devastating of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. The rebels, led by Simon bar Kokhba, succeeded in establishing an independent Jewish state in Judaea that lasted several years. The revolt was ultimately crushed by the Romans, resulting in the near-depopulation of Judea through mass killings, widespread enslavement, and the displacement of much of the Jewish population.

Resentment toward Roman rule in Judaea and nationalistic aspirations remained high following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple during the First Jewish Revolt in 70 AD. The immediate triggers of the Bar Kokhba revolt included Emperor Hadrian's decision to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, a Roman colony dedicated to Jupiter, extinguishing hopes for the Temple's reconstruction, as well as a possible ban on circumcision. The rebels used guerrilla tactics and underground hideouts embedded in their villages. Simon bar Kokhba was declared "nasi" (prince) of Israel, and the rebels established a full administration, issuing their own weights and coinage. Contemporary documents celebrated a new era of "the redemption of Israel".

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👉 Bar Kokhba Revolt in the context of Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135)

The administration of Judaea as a province of Rome from 6 to 135 was carried out primarily by a series of Roman prefects, procurators, and legates pro praetore. The first of these administrators coincided or were intertwined with the ostensible rule by the Herodian tetrarchy. The Roman administrators were as follows:

"Hadrian stationed an extra legion in Judaea, renaming it Syria Palaestina." This was following the defeat of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135. The Syria-based legion, Legio III Gallica, took part in the quelling of the revolt from 132 to 136, and in the aftermath, the emperor Hadrian renamed the province of Judea and its extra legion Syria Palaestina. The province of Syria Palaestina was divided into Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Salutaris in about 357, and by 409 Palaestina Prima had been further split into a smaller Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda, while Salutaris was named Tertia or Salutaris. Palæstina Prima or Palaestina I existed from the late 4th century until it was temporarily lost to the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) in 614, but re-conquered in 628 and finally until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s.

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Bar Kokhba Revolt in the context of Roman Palestine

Roman Palestine is the term used by historians for the Palestine region during the period in its history in which it stood, to varying degrees, under the rule of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Historians typically trace the period from the Roman intervention in the Hasmonean civil war in 63 BCE (uncontested), up until the transition from the pagan Roman to the Christian Byzantine Empire with the consolidation of Constantine's rule in 324 CE, but this end date varies from author to author. The Roman period can be subdivided into early and late phases, transitioning at either the First Jewish–Roman War c. 70 CE or the Bar Kokhba Revolt c. 135 CE. Some add a Middle Roman period to the Early and Late subsets.

During the Roman period, Palestine went through a series of administrative changes, beginning as a series of Roman client states under the Judean Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties before being gradually annexed into the Roman Empire as the fully incorporated Roman province of Judaea; in its peripheral areas it included parts of the Nabataean Kingdom, which underwent a similar evolution from client state to Roman province. After 135 CE, Roman Palestine was re-organised into the Roman province of Syria Palaestina.

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