BC10-AD9 Judea Province Ruled by Syria

In this twenty year period from 10BC-AD9 the Celts invade Greece and settle in Turkey about 3 BC (becoming the Galatians); examinations were introduced for public office in China about 6 (AD); trouble broke out in Judea with the Jews; the estimated world population in the year 1 (AD) was about 255,000,000; and Octavian, the Roman Emperor Augustus (pictured) ruled.

The Romans held a strict policy of rule through client kings and had, essentially, come to rule Judea by accident. First through Pompey's establishment of the province of Syria in 64 BC, and second through bad government by the Jews themselves.

When the Jewish dynasty that ruled after the Seleucids came to an end long before in 37BC, a local Jewish general named Herod took over the throne and when Egypt fell to the Romans in 31BC he transferred allegiance to the Romans and survived until 4BC when his kingdom was divided among his three sons.

The son who ruled the Jerusalem area was a failure, and when he was deposed in 6AD the area was organized as the province of Judea under the oversight of the governor of Syria.

From then on, the Jews became hateful towards the Romans who by necessity had to live among them in order to keep peace between them.

The Jews found it impossible to accept foreign rule because their sense of nationhood was based upon a special relationship with their god - laid out in the books of the Hebrew bible - which manifested in the secular success of their state over all enemies, in particular the idea that a "messiah" would free them from oppressors.

The Roman government accommodated local religious sensibilities -- especially concerning Jerusalem and its great Temple to the Jewish god around which all cult practice was centered -- but since the Jews themselves were divided it was difficult not to give offence.

The Romans were particularly upset because they had assisted the Jews in their revolt against the Seleucid dynasty last century and expected gratitude not resentment.

BC30-11 Octavian becomes Emperor Augustus

In my first twenty years, from 30-11 BC, Octavian (pictured) -- the adopted son of Julius Caesar -- transformed the Roman Republic into a despostic regime, the Roman Empire, with him as Emperor Augustus.

Octavian had bribed Antony's legions in Greece, Asia Minor, and Cyrenaica to his side and on his march towards Egypt received the submission of local kings and Roman governors along the way. He finally reached Egypt in 30 BC, but to avoid capture first Antony and then Cleopatra committed suicide.

On his triumphant return to Rome Octavian took control with the full consent of the Senate and citizens tired of never-ending civil wars and incompetent and unstable government.

He designated governors loyal to him to the dangerous "frontier" provinces -- where the majority of the legions were situated -- and purged the Senate, refilling it with his supporters from the provinces and outside the Roman aristocracy.

He was careful, however, to leave Republican institutions intact -- consuls continued to be elected, tribunes of the plebeians continued to offer legislation, and debate still resounded through the Roman Curia.

By 27 BC the transition was complete and in that year Octavian offered back all of his extraordinary powers to the Senate which it refused and titled him Octavian Augustus -- the revered one.

Augustus arranged for his 14 year old daughter to marry his 17 year old nephew in 24 BC, but the young man died and later he made her marry his step-son Tiberius.

Once Octavian named Tiberius as his heir, it was clear to everyone that the Republic was not going to be restored, and by the time Augustus died very few people existed who remembered a time before an Emperor ruled Rome.