age and inexperience of the younger Agrippa, Claudius returned Judea to
the rule of a Roman procurator (J.W.2.220;Ant.18.362-63).The Road to Revolution (44-66c.e.)
Despite its size and importance to both the Roman economy and political
system, when Judea again became a Roman province following the death
of Agrippa I, it was not upgraded to proconsular status. Instead, as before,
an equestrian procurator governed from Caesarea under the supervision
of the governor of Syria. For the next twenty years, these procurators
would govern a province that became increasingly unstable and hostile to
Roman rule. Ultimately, their mismanagement of the province would be
one of the major causes of the outbreak of the Great Jewish Revolt in 66
c.e.Josephus attributes the outbreak of revolution in 66c.e.to the follow-
ing other factors: Roman oppression, socioeconomic tensions, religious
incitement, and quarrels with local Gentiles. Some scholars have added an-
other factor ignored by Josephus: the failure of the Judean elite to control
the province and its restive population (Goodman 1987). As with any com-
plex event, it is more likely that the culmination of these factors, as op-
posed to one or another, caused the revolt.The First Jewish Revolt
Revolution broke out in Judea in the early summer of 66c.e.Some Jewish
young men had parodied the greed and stinginess of the procurator
Florus. In response, he marched to Jerusalem and demanded that the el-
ders of the city hand over the youths for punishment. The local authorities
refused to comply, and Florus let loose his soldiers upon the city. Accord-
ing to Josephus, he even crucified some Jewishequites(J.W.2.294-308).
Some members of the Jerusalem ruling elite attempted to defuse the situa-
tion, but this proved impossible. Florus made the situation more volatile
by demanding a public display of submission and ordering the Jewish
populace to greet the two cohorts he had sent to Jerusalem as reinforce-
ment of the city garrison. However, the soldiers of these cohorts behaved
so arrogantly toward the populace that more riots broke out, forcing
Florus to withdraw to Caesarea. Meanwhile, Herod Agrippa II and his sis-
ter Berenice, who had heard about the disturbances in the city, tried to ap-56chris seeman and adam kolman marshakEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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