The Ruling Class of Judaea
The Origins of the Jewish Revolt against Rome, A.D. 66–70

How Rome's misunderstanding of the status criteria of Jewish society led to the revolt of AD 66.

Martin Goodman (Author)

9780521447829, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 June 1993

280 pages, 2 maps
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.455 kg

'… a major contribution to the history of Roman Judaea.' Society for Old Testament Study

This book examines why in AD 66 a revolt against Rome broke out in Judaea. It attempts to explain both the rebellion itself and its temporary success by discussing the role of the Jewish ruling class in the sixty years preceding the war and within the independent state which lasted until the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. The author seeks to show that the ultimate cause of the Revolt was a misunderstanding by Rome of the status criteria of Jewish society. The importance of the subject lies both in the significance of the history of Judaea in this period for the development of Judaism and early Christianity and in the light shed on Roman methods of provincial administration in general by an understanding of why Rome was unable to control a society with cultural values so different from its own.

1. Introduction: (i) The problem
(ii) The conventional explanations
(iii) Civil war, the ruling class and revolt
Part I. The Ruling Class AD 6–66: 2. The new ruling class AD 6
3. Problems facing the ruling class: economic and social
4. Problems facing the ruling class: religious ideology
5. Why the ruling class failed
Part II. Faction Struggle within the Ruling Class: 6. Reactions to failure: the ruling class AD 6–66
7. The outbreak of revolt
8. The independent Jewish state AD 67–70
9. Trends in faction politics AD 50–70
Part III. The Aftermath of the Revolt: 10. The Roman reaction.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]