Judaea in the context of "Ptolemy IX Lathyros"

The anointings of Jesus’s head or feet are events recorded in the four gospels. The account in Matthew 26, Mark 14, takes place on Holy Wednesday, while the account in John 12 takes place 6 days before Passover in Bethany, a village in Judaea on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, where Lazarus lived. In Matthew and Mark, he is anointed by an unnamed woman. In John, the woman is identified as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus of Bethany. The event in Luke features an unnamed sinful woman, and is in the northern region, as Luke 7 indicates Jesus was ministering in the northern regions of Nain and Capernaum. The honorific anointing with perfume is an action frequently mentioned in other literature from the time; however, using long hair to dry Jesus's feet, as in John and Luke, is not recorded elsewhere, and should be regarded as an exceptional gesture. Considerable debate has discussed the identity of the woman, the location, timing, and the message.

Ptolemy IX Soter II (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Σωτήρ, Ptolemaĩos Sōtḗr 'Ptolemy the Saviour'), commonly nicknamed Lathyros (Λάθυρος, Láthuros 'chickpea'), was twice king of Ptolemaic Egypt. The son of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III; he reigned as Ptolemy Philometor Soter in joint rule with his grandmother Cleopatra II and mother Cleopatra III from 116 to 107 BC, and then again as Ptolemy Soter from 88 to 81 BC. Ptolemy IX became the heir apparent after the murder of his half-brother Ptolemy Memphites in 130 BC, during a civil war between Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra II. On his father's death in 116 BC, he became co-regent with Cleopatra II (until 115 BC) and with Cleopatra III. He eventually quarrelled with his mother and in 107 BC, she deposed him and replaced him with his younger brother, Ptolemy X. However, Ptolemy IX succeeded in seizing control of Cyprus. From there he invaded Judaea, but was prevented by Ptolemy X from invading Egypt (103–102 BC). In 88 BC, the Alexandrians expelled Ptolemy X and restored Ptolemy IX to the throne. He reigned alone until 81 BC, when he appointed his daughter Berenice III as co-regent shortly before his own death. She succeeded him as ruler.

The term "Diaspora Revolt" (115–117 CE, Hebrew: מרד הגלויות, romanized: mered ha-galuyot, or מרד התפוצות, mered ha-tfutzot, 'rebellion of the diaspora'; Latin: Tumultus Iudaicus), also known as the Trajanic Revolt and sometimes as the Second Jewish–Roman War, refers to a series of uprisings launched by Jewish diaspora communities across the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire during the final years of Trajan's reign. Hostilities began while Trajan was engaged in his Parthian campaign in Mesopotamia, creating a favorable opportunity for rebellion. Ancient sources do not specify the motivations, but they were likely shaped by the Roman destruction of the Second Temple during the First Jewish Revolt in 70 CE, long-standing tensions between Jews and Greeks, the Fiscus Judaicus tax, messianic expectations, and hopes for a return to Judaea.

The Jewish uprisings broke out almost simultaneously across several provinces of the eastern Roman Empire. In Egypt, Libya and Cyprus, rebel attacks were directed mainly against local populations rather than Roman authorities, with ancient authors such as Cassius Dio and Eusebius, as well as epigraphic evidence, reporting extreme violence, including mass killings and the destruction of temples. By contrast, the revolt in Mesopotamia appears to have formed part of a broader local resistance to Roman expansion into Parthian territories.

Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity (consisting of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches) refers to the moveable feast before Palm Sunday to which it is liturgically linked. It celebrates the raising of Lazarus of Bethany. Bethany is recorded in the New Testament as a small village in Judaea, the home of the siblings Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper.

John's gospel reports that "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead." Presumably, it is where he spent the Great Sabbath that occurs immediately before Passover, prior to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is reported to have lodged there during Holy Week, and it is where his anointing by Lazarus' sister Mary took place a few days later on Holy Wednesday.

Mary of Bethany is a biblical figure mentioned by name in the Gospel of John and probably the Gospel of Luke in the Christian New Testament. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Martha, she is described as living in the village of Bethany, a small village in Judaea to the south of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem.

Western Christianity initially identified Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and the sinful woman of Luke 7 (Luke 7:36–50). This influenced the Roman Rite liturgy of the feast of Mary Magdalene, with a Gospel reading about the sinful woman and a collect referring to Mary of Bethany. After the liturgical revision in 1969 and 2021, the feast of Mary Magdalene continues to be on 22 July, while Mary of Bethany is celebrated as a separate saint, along with her siblings Lazarus and Martha on 29 July. In Eastern Christianity and some Protestant traditions, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are also considered separate persons. The Eastern Orthodox Church has its own traditions regarding Mary of Bethany's life beyond the gospel accounts.