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Session 11 - Lecture

Roman Power and Herodian Rule

I. Roman Power

A. Introduction

The accounts of the rise of Rome have come down overlaid with such a mass of and legend that few can be verified. Roman historians of later times, lacking authentic records, relied on fabrications of a patriotic nature. Following this period, when a republic was established, Rome became a world power and emerged as an empire with extensive boundaries.

B. The Rise of Rome (753-509 BC)

1. Rome was said to have been founded by colonists from Alba Longa, a nearby city in ancient Latium. The legendary date of the founding was 753 BC and it was ascribed to , the twin sons of , a vestal virgin and the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa.

Romulus and Remus

2. Later legend carried the ancestry of the Romans back to the Trojans and their leader , whose son Ascanius, or Iulus, was the founder and the first king of Alba Longa. Three tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, that appear in the legend of Romulus as the parts of the new commonwealth suggest that Rome arose from the amalgamation of three stocks, thought to be Latin, Sabine, and Etruscan.

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Rome originally developed as a strongly patriarchal society based upon families and clans, with the head of each of the families forming an advisory council to the kings known as the Senate.

3. The seven kings of the regal period and the dates traditionally assigned to their reigns are as follows:

a. Romulus, from 753 to 715 BC, traditional founder of Rome

b. , from 715 to 676 or 672 BC

c. , from 673 to 641 BC, a warlike king, who destroyed Alba Longa and fought against the Sabines

d. , from 641 to 616 BC, said to have built the port of Ostia and to have captured many Latin towns, transferring their inhabitants to Rome

e. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, from 616 to 578 BC, celebrated both for his military exploits against neighboring peoples and for his construction of public buildings at Rome f. , from 578 to 534 BC, famed for his new constitution and for the enlargement of the boundaries of the city

g. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, from 534 to 510 BC, the seventh and last king, whose tyrannical rule was overthrown when his son ravished Lucretia, the wife of a kinsman. Tarquinius was banished, and attempts by Etruscan or Latin cities to reinstate him on the throne at Rome were unavailing.

C. The Republic

1. After the overthrow of Tarquinius Superbus, a republic was established in 509 B.C. The word "Republic" comes from the Latin (the language of the Romans) words res publica which mean "public matters" or "matters of state." Rome was ruled by two officials called consuls who were elected from the Senate. The consuls served for a period of one year. This was a wise idea, as it tended to force the consul to rule carefully and not as a tyrant. Once the consul's year was finished, he could be punished by the next consul.

2. Rome had four classes of people. The lowest class were the slaves. They were owned by other people. They had no rights at all. The next class were the plebeians. They were free people, but they had little say in government. The second highest class were the equestrians (sometimes they are called the "knights"). Their name means the "riders," as they were given a horse to ride if they were called to fight for Rome. To be an equestrian you had to be from a wealthy family. The equestrians were technically plebeians, but again, were wealthy. The highest class were the nobles of Rome. They were called patricians and held the real power in Rome.

3. The plebeians and the patricians had a long protracted struggle as the plebeians attempted to rid themselves of social and political disabilities and gain new privileges. Beginning around 494 B.C., plebeian uprisings nd protests began to affect the creation of laws to help plebeians.

4. These political changes gave rise to a new aristocracy, composed of patrician and wealthy plebeian families, and admission to the Senate became almost the hereditary privilege of these families. The Senate, which had originally possessed little administrative power, became a powerful governing body, dealing with matters of war and , foreign alliances, the founding of colonies, and the handling of the state finances. The rise of this new nobility brought to an end the struggles between the two orders, but the position of the poorer plebeian families was not improved, and the marked contrast between the conditions of the rich and the poor led to struggles in the later Republic between two groups called the aristocratic party (wealthy ruling families) and the popular party (everyone else).

5. The external history of Rome during this period was chiefly military. The city of Rome had acquired the leadership of the area surrounding it before the close of the regal period. The Romans proceeded to fight against other people groups in the area (the Etruscans, the Volscians, and the Aequians) in an attempt to expand their influence and territory. In rapid succession, the different people groups on the Italian peninsula succumbed to Rome either by conquest or by treaty. By 266 B.C., the Romans had completed their conquest and gained control of the entire peninsula as far north as the Arno and Rubicon rivers.

D. A World Power (264-133 BC)

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1. In 264 B.C., Rome engaged with Carthage in a struggle for the control of the Mediterranean Sea. Carthage, at this time, was the foremost maritime power in the world, ruling absolutely in the central and western Mediterranean, as did Rome on the Italian Peninsula. This conflict spanned a century and was resolved in three bitterly contested conflicts known as the .

Carthage

2. Punic Wars a. The was waged mainly for the possession of and was marked by the emergence of Rome as a great naval power. The first battle occurred at Mylae on the northern coast of Sicily in 260 B.C. and marked Rome's first naval armament. Here, Rome defeated a great Carthaginian fleet. Encouraged by the victory, the Romans attempted to transfer the war to , but the result was defeat and the capture of the Roman general Regulus. The war then shifted back to Sicily, where the Romans won a great naval victory in 242 B.C. near the Aegates Islands, west of Sicily. The war ended in the following year with the cession to the Romans of the Carthaginian part of Sicily, which was made into a Roman province. This was Rome's first foreign possession. Sardinia and Corsica were taken from Carthage and annexed as provinces soon after. b. The became inevitable when Carthage acquired a foothold in . Under the leadership of the great general Hamilcar, who conceived the project of making Spain a military base, Carthage occupied the Iberian peninsula as far as the Tagus River (central part of Spain). Hamilcar's son-in-law Hasdrubal continued the work of subjugation until his death in 221 B.C. Finally, Hamilcar's son extended the conquests of Carthage up to the Iberus River (northern part of Spain). The Second Punic War began in 218 B.C. when Hannibal crossed the Alps with an enormous force, descending on Italy from the north, and defeated the Romans in a series of battles. He then continued to ravage most of southern Italy for years. However Hannibal did not have the resources to completely destroy Rome, and the Romans sent an army to North Africa. Hannibal was recalled to Africa to face the Roman Scipio Africanus who had invaded Carthage. Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal in 202 B.C., and Carthage was compelled to give up its navy, cede Spain and its Mediterranean islands, and pay a huge indemnity. Rome was thus left in complete control of the western Mediterranean.

Hannibal crosses the Alps

c. The Romans now became harsher in their treatment of the Italian communities under their domination. In addition, the Greek cities of southern Italy, which had sided with Hannibal, were made colonies. Meanwhile Rome was extending its power northward. From 201-196 B.C., the Celts of the Po Valley (northern Italy) were subjugated and their territory was Latinized. The interiors of Corsica and Sardinia were subdued, and Spain, where the wars were troublesome, was held by military occupation, a practice that gave rise to the first Roman standing armies.

d. A was fought from 149-146 B.C. The Romans won and Carthage was completely destroyed. Northern Africa became a province of Rome.

3.

a. Fifty years after becoming the foremost power of the west by defeating the Carthaginians, Rome had also become the mightiest state in the east. This was accomplished through a series of wars called the Macedonian Wars (214-205 B.C., 200- 196 B.C., 171-167 B.C., and 150-148 B.C.). They caused increasing involvement by Rome in Greek affairs and helped lead to Roman domination of the entire eastern Mediterranean area.

b. The roots of the First Macedonian War (214-205 B.C.) can be found in the Second Punic War. While Rome was preoccupied with Carthage, the Macedonian king Philip V attacked Rome's client states in (across the from Italy and west of ) and made an alliance with Hannibal of Carthage against Rome. After finishing Carthage, the Romans fought the first Macedonian War ineffectively and the war ended on terms favorable to Philip, allowing him to keep his conquests in Illyria. c. Philip then began to harass Greek city-states friendly to Rome. The (200-196 B.C.) was launched by Rome against Philip after he refused to stop making hostile moves against these states. Macedonia was badly defeated by the Romans and their Greek allies in battle in 197 B.C. The Macedonians lost most of their navy, had to pay a large indemnity to Rome, and lost their territories outside of Macedonia. Rome subsequently established a benevolent protectorate over . This enabled Rome to proceed against Antiochus III, king of Syria, who was trying to expand eastward through Asia Minor and into Greece. Antiochus was defeated by the Romans at Magnesia in 190 B.C. and obliged to surrender his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor. d. The (171-167 B.C.) started when Philip's son and successor, Perseus, tried to make allies of Greek-city states for the purpose of pushing Rome from Greece. The war ended with Persues' defeat and capture at Pydna in 168 B.C. by the Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus. e. In 152 B.C., some Macedonians tried to reestablish the Macedonian monarchy, thus provoking the (150-148 B.C. ). The Roman praetor Quintus Caecilius Metellus crushed the rebellion, and Macedonia was made a Roman province. It was the first province of the future . f. As mentioned previously, 146 B.C. marked the end of the Third Punic War, which had begun three years earlier. Rome completely destroyed Carthage, thus bringing to an end the Carthaginian Empire whose territory became the Roman province of Africa. A series of Spanish campaigns ended with the conquest of the Numantines (a local people group in Spain who caused the Romans quite a bit of trouble) in 133 B.C. In the same year, the king of Pergamum (kingdom in Asia Minor) died and bequeathed his client kingdom to its protector, Rome. Shortly after, this territory was formed into the province of Asia. g. Thus in 131 years Rome had developed from a land power controlling only the Italian peninsula to a world empire. From Syria to Spain, the Mediterranean was now dominated by Rome, but Roman authority was better established in the west than in the east. h. During this period the Romans made great cultural advances. Brought into contact with the Greeks, first in southern Italy and Sicily, and later through Roman expansion to the east, they adopted much from the older civilization in art, literature, , and . Roman literature began in 240 B.C. with the translation and adaptation of Greek epic and dramatic poetry, and the various Greek schools of philosophy were formally introduced into Rome in 155 B.C.

E. Internal Conflict (133-27 BC)

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1. With the establishment of external supremacy, Rome's internal troubles began. Several extremely wealthy plebeian families combined with the old patrician families to exclude all but themselves from the Senate. They were called optimates. This aristocratic ruling class had become selfish, arrogant, and addicted to luxury, losing the high standards of morality and integrity of their forbearers. The gradual extinction of the peasant farmers, caused by the growth of large estates, a system of slave labor, and the devastation of the country by war, forced large numbers of people to leave their land and move into the city of Rome. Conflicts between the aristocratic party and the popular party (party of the common people) were inevitable.

2. At the same time, the expansion of Rome's territory continued. In Africa, the Romans overthrew the king of Numidia (on the north coast of Africa to the west of Carthage) and defeated the several Celtic tribes in southern (area in southern France) and northern Italy.

3. The Italian communities (non-Romans in Italy), the allies of Rome, had felt their burdens increase as their privileges waned, and they demanded their share of the conquests they had helped to achieve. As such, the Italian armies rose in revolt, their purpose being to erect a new Italian state governed on the lines of the Roman constitution. This war, which lasted from 90 to 88 B.C., is known as the Social War. The Italians were defeated but were granted full citizenship by the Romans.

4. Even with the end of the Social War, the internal troubles continued. A conflict broke out between Marius, the spokesman and idol of the popular party, and , the leader of the aristocracy. A war (89-63 B.C.) with Mithridates VI, king of Pontus (a kingdom in Asia Minor), threw the two leaders into rivalry over who should command the expeditionary force. With the legions he had commanded in the Social War, Sulla marched on Rome from the south, for the first time bringing Roman legions into the city. The subsequent flight of Marius left Sulla free to impose his will and be confirmed as commander in the war. In 87 B.C., while Sulla was fighting against Mithridates, Marius returned, entered Rome, and was recognized as consul (leader). The popular party was again in control and brutally massacred a number of senators and patricians (aristocratic party) in retaliation for earlier aristocratic actions. However, in 83 B.C., Marius died and Sulla returned from Asia with 40,000 troops. Sulla defeated the popular party and once again established his leadership. As a result of the example set by Sulla, the Republican constitution was henceforth at the mercy of the strongest leader supported by the strongest troops.

F. The Rise of Caesar

1. In the first century B.C., the slowly broke down and power was increasingly in the hands of successful generals. One such general was the Great, who had fought in Africa, Sicily, and Spain. He was given the task of clearing the Mediterranean of pirates and put in charge of the war against Mithridates. At the same time, another general, Gaius , rose to prominence. As leader of the popular party, Caesar strengthened his hold on the people by avenging the injured name of Marius and bringing to Sulla's corrupt followers.

2. These two men, along with a third named Marcus Crassus, formed what is known as the First Triumvirate (60 B.C.). The alliance combined Caesar's enormous popularity and legal reputation with Crassus's fantastic wealth and influence within the aristocratic party and Pompey's equally spectacular wealth and military reputation, and allowed each to gain what they wanted politically.

First Triumvirate 3. In 59 B.C., the triumvirate fulfilled its compact. Pompey and Crassus had their demands fulfilled and Caesar obtained the consulship and obtained a five-year military command in Gaul where he could gain glory through military conquests and from which he could watch every political move in Italy.

4. By 56 B.C., the ties between the three men were fraying. However, they were able to renew their alliance. Caesar procured his command in Gaul for five more years while Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls for the year 55 B.C. In the following year, Pompey received as his province Spain with Africa, while Crassus received Syria. Unfortunately, Crassus died in 53 B.C. while fighting in the Middle East, and the alliance frayed. Pompey, who was increasingly jealous of Caesar, aligned himself with the Senate who elected him sole consul for the year 52 B.C. and made Pompey its champion against Caesar.

5. The Senate, wishing to terminate Caesar's military command and defeat his second stand for the consulship in 49 B.C., made some serious demands. They demanded both Caesar's disbanding of his legions and his presence in Rome at the time of the election, or his continued command and his renunciation of claims to the consulship. Negotiations failed to solve the deadlock, and in 49 B.C., Caesar with his legions boldly crossed the Rubicon River, the southern boundary of his province, and advanced on the city, thereby beginning the civil war that would continue for five years. Pompey and the leading members of the aristocracy withdrew to Greece, allowing Caesar to enter Rome in triumph. Caesar's victory, unlike those of the other generals who had marched on Rome, was not followed by a reign of terror. A policy of economic and administrative reforms was put into effect, in an attempt to overcome corruption and restore prosperity to Rome.

6. Continuing the war against Pompey, Caesar hurried to Spain, where he was victorious over Pompey's powerful armies. He returned to Rome having been appointed dictator in his absence. However, he immediately renounced the post and was elected consul. Early in 48 B.C., he crossed into Greece and dealt Pompey a crushing blow at Pharsalus. Pompey was killed soon after in , but the Pompeian cause struggled on until 45 B.C., when it collapsed at Munda in Spain, and Caesar was made dictator for life.

7. Caesar was quite popular with the people, but many aristocrats hated him and his policies. As a result, Caesar was assassinated by Republican nobles on March 15, 44 B.C. This was followed by the nobles attempt to restore the old Republican constitution, but Mark Antony, who was Caesar's 2nd in command and now at the head of 17 legions, combined forces with Marcus Lepidus and Caesar's grandnephew, the youthful Octavian (later ), to form the second triumvirate and put a stop to the plan.

Ides of March

Second Triumvirate

8. The triumvirate began operations by assassinating their opponents while a last stand made at Philippi (in Greece) by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, two of Caesar's assassins, was crushed by Octavian and Antony. Subsequently, the triumvirate divided the control of the empire, Octavian taking Italy and the west, Antony the east, and Lepidus Africa.

9. In 36 B.C., Lepidus was summoned to Sicily by Octavian to assist in the war against the son of Pompey the Great. Instead of helping, Lepidus attempted to seize Sicily for himself. He was defeated and deprived of his province and his position in the triumvirate. This and the defeat and death of Pompey's son left Octavian, who had been sagaciously strengthening his position in the west, with only Antony as rival. Eventually, the two had a falling out, mainly because of Antony's relationship with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, and civil war ensued. Octavian defeated Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. and after the subsequent suicide of both Antony and Cleopatra, the victorious Octavian became, in 29 B.C., undisputed ruler of the entire Roman Empire.

G. The Age of Augustus

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1. Octavian received the title of Augustus in 27 B.C. and began the new regime by an apparent restoration of the Republic, with himself as princeps, or chief citizen.

2. The Republican constitution was retained, although as princeps Augustus held the real authority. The Senate retained control of Rome, Italy, and the older, more peaceful provinces.

3. The rule of Emperor Augustus would commence the (Roman Peace) wherein Rome would enjoy a long period of internal peace and stability. The Augustan Peace allowed for the following:

a. Ended civil war

b. Security - The frontier provinces, where legions were necessarily quartered, were governed by legates appointed and controlled by Augustus alone. The corruption and extortion that had existed in Roman provincial administration during the last century of the Republic was no longer tolerated, and the provinces benefited greatly.

c. Social Reform - Augustus introduced numerous social reforms, especially those calculated to restore the ancient morality of the Roman people and the integrity of marriage. He attempted to combat the licentiousness of the times and sought to restore the ancient religious . d. Building programs - He adorned the city with temples, basilicas, and porticoes, transforming it from a city of brick into a city of marble.

e. Economic prosperity

f. Cultural Revival - To the Romans an era of peace and prosperity seemed to have dawned, and the Augustan period represents the culmination of the Golden Age of Latin literature, distinguished in poetry by the achievements of Vergil, Horace, and , and in prose by 's monumental History of Rome.

II. The Geography of Rome

Seven Hills of Rome

Model of A. The site of the city of Rome was a well-watered plain, twelve miles from the seacoast. The city itself was built on seven hills along the east bank of the Tiber River. At the city's center were the Palatine and Capitoline hills. Eastward from there, in an arc from south to the north, lay the Aventinem, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal hills. The heart of the city lay between the Palatine and Esquiline hills. The Forum (open public space in the middle of a Roman city) was located here and was the place where most of the commercial, political, and religious affairs occurred. In this area stood the palatial residences of the Caesars, temples, arches of triumph, theaters, amphitheaters, colossal public baths, altars, statues, colonnaded streets, memorial columns, and gardens.

The Forum

Sketch of the Forum

Artist Concept of the Forum

Parthenon Temple

Arch of Constantine

Theater of Marcellus

Reconstruction of the Theater of Marcellus

Roman Baths

B. With the gradual expanse of the city, new areas came into existence and the great places of amusement such as the Circus Maximus and the Coliseum, were built. Ornate monuments were scattered throughout the city and scores of temples and shrines were established. Many feel that the greatest era of building in Rome was reached under Augustus who boasted that having inherited a city of brick, he was leaving a city of marble. However, after the destruction of the city by fire in 64 A.D., the imperial city probably rose to new heights of magnificence and wealth.

Circus Maximus

Reconstruction of Circus Maximus

Colosseum

Reconstruction of Colosseum

C. In the early days of Rome, a wall enclosed the city, but the growth of the city negated the walls. Between 146 B.C. and 270 A.D., Rome was practically unwalled. When the city was again walled, it was so big the walls had a circumference of 13 miles. However, because of the nature of the land upon which Rome sat, the city was forced to be relatively compact. Consequently, the streets were narrow and the inner city area was packed with buildings and people. As such, the elite of the city chose to live in the less congested suburbs.

III. Herodian Rule

A. Introduction

As discussed previously, Pompey intervened on the side of Hyrcanus II, who also had the support of the Idumean governor Antipater. As a result, Aristobulus and his followers barricaded themselves in the Temple. Pompey laid siege to the Temple for three months before capturing it. Pompey then greatly reduced the area under Jewish jurisdiction. He also appointed Hyrcanus II as high priest. However, it was Antipater who became the real power for the Romans.

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B. From Pompey toHerod the Great The thirty years after Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem (63 to 31 B.C.) were extremely turbulent. This was the period of the decline of the Roman Republic, the time of the struggle between Julius Caesar and Pompey, of Julius Caesar's ascension to the throne and his subsequent assassination, of the struggle between Octavian and Mark Antony, and of the ascension of Octavian (Augustus) and the beginning of the Roman Empire.

In Palestine, times were just as turbulent. Aristobulus II and his sons led several rebellions that were thwarted by Antipater. At the same time, Antipater installed his sons Phasael and Herod as governors over Jerusalem and Galilee. In 43 B.C., Antipater was assassinated and Phasael and Herod were named tetrarches (rulers of a fourth).

In 40 B.C., the Parthians, who occupied a kingdom to the east of Syria, attacked Palestine. Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus II, made a pact with the Parthians who placed him on the throne in Palestine. As a result, Herod was forced to escape to Rome. In Rome, the Senate made Herod King of the Jews and gave him the territories of Judea, Galilee, Idumea, and Samaria. Herod returned to Palestine and began to fight for his kingdom. In 37 B.C., Herod re- conquered Jerusalem and Palestine.

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C. Herod the Great

1. Herod's life Herod was an able king. His firm rule brought peace and stability to the region. He also brought great wealth to his kingdom through agricultural and commercial enterprises. Most of this wealth was spent on building projects including the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. We will talk more about this building later.

Herod was a Jew by religion, but his racial descent was Edomite. As such, he was never popular with the Jewish people. In addition, the Jews had to pay for his building projects which made him even less popular. In an attempt to legitimize his position as king he married Mariamne, the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II. But instead of winning the people over, this act just caused friction between the Hasmonean and Edomite branches of his family.

While it is true that Herod was an able ruler, he was also extremely jealous of his position as king. He always feared that someone was conspiring to take his throne. In fact, Herod had two of his sons and his wife Mariamne killed because of rumors of conspiracy. It is not surprising then that he would have had all the infants in Bethlehem killed if he thought one of them would rise and take his throne. Herod's reputation for cruelty was so widespread that the Roman emperor Augustus was once reported to have said it is better to be Herod's pig than his son.

In Herod's last days before his death, the Jews hated Herod so much, he believed that no one would mourn for him after his death. Accordingly, he arrested many prominent citizens with orders that they be executed when he died so that there would be mourning at his death. Herod died in 4 B.C., but his orders were not carried out.

2. Herod's Building Program

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Herod was one of the great builders of the ancient world. Many of the most popular tourist sites in Israel today were built by Herod. In Jerusalem he built a new palace on the western side of the city, and on the east side he built the Antonia fortress. He is also credited with building a theater, hippodrome (horse and chariot track), and a stadium, though these have yet to be located. Herod's greatest accomplishment in Jerusalem, however, was the re-building of the Temple. As a result of Herod's work, Jerusalem became one of the most famous cities of the eastern Roman Empire.

Sketch of Herod's Temple

Model of Herod's Temple

Model of Herod's Palace in Jerusalem

Outside of Jerusalem, Herod's building was just as spectacular. On the coast, he built the city of Caesarea Maritima with its magnificent man-made harbor. He also founded other cities, most notably Sebaste, and built several fortresses and palaces. He even benefitted cities and places outside of Palestine including , , , and the Olympic games.

Caesaria Maritima

Construction of the Harbor

Sketch of the Harbor

Theater in Caesaria Maritima

Palace in Caesaria Maritima

Aqeduct in Caesaria Maritima

Outside of Jerusalem, Herod's building was just as spectacular. On the coast, he built the city of Caesarea with its magnificent man-made harbor. He also founded other cities, most notably Sebaste, and built several fortresses and palaces. He even benefitted cities and places outside of Palestine including Athens, Sparta, Rhodes, and the Olympic games.

Herodium

Masada

Herod's building program served several purposes. A network of fortresses provided refuge for Herod and his family in the event of insurrection. He rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple so that his kingdom would have a capital city worthy of his dignity and grandeur, and so that the Jews would like him. He built non-Jewish cities to endear himself to the pagan population. And finally, Herod gave gifts to other cities to enhance his prestige and feed his ego.

D. The Roman Empire during this Time

Augustus was the emperor of Rome during most of the reign of Herod. Augustus died in 14 A.D. Tiberius was the next emperor. He was 55 when he took the throne and ruled from 14-37 A.D. He was an able military commander and a capable ruler, but he lacked the energy and charisma of Augustus. As a result, he and the Roman Senate were constantly at odds with one another. However, Tiberius did leave Rome with financial stability and he stabilized her frontiers. He died in 37 A.D. and was followed by Gaius Caligula.

E. Palestine from 4 B.C. to A.D. 41

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After the death of Herod, his kingdom was divided between three of his sons: Archelaus, Philip, and Herod Antipas. Archelaus was given the title ethnarch (ruler of a people) along with the territories of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. He apparently had all the bad qualities of his father without his father's abilities. Protests from Jews and Samaritans finally secured his dismissal in A.D. 6. The Bible only mentions Archelaus once, saying that Mary and Joseph went around Judea and settled in Galilee to stay away from him.

Philip was made tetrarch (ruler of a fourth) of Iturea and Trachonitis, northeast of the Sea of Galilee. These areas were mostly populated by non- Jews and Greeks, and as such, Philip did not have to deal with the religious and nationalistic issues which plagued the Jewish regions. He ruled until A.D. 34 and governed justly and conscientiously.

Herod Antipas was made tetrarch over Galilee and Perea. He was the most capable and astute of the brothers, and ruled for forty years. He is mentioned in the Bible twenty times, probably because he was the ruler of Galilee, the area of most of ' ministry. Antipas married the daughter of the Nabatean king Arestas IV, but later divorced her in favor of Herodias, his half-brother's wife. It was this relationship that John the Baptist condemned and for which he was subsequently executed. Antipas lost Roman support when Gaius Caligula ascended the throne in A.D. 37. He was disposed and sent to live in exile in southern France.

In A.D. 6 the territory of Archelaus was made a Roman province and placed under imperial governors known as procurators. The best known of these governors was Pontius Pilate who ruled from A.D. 26-36. He was the first of the governors to seriously antagonize the Jews. His two most appalling actions were that he allowed the Roman standards with the image of the emperor into Jerusalem and that he took funds from the sacred treasury. Pilate, of course, is most famous for his role in the trial and crucifixion of Christ.