The
history of the Jews in the Roman Empire traces the interaction of
Jews and
Romans during the period of the
Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 476). Their cultures began to overlap in the centuries just before the
Christian Era. Jews, as part of the
Jewish diaspora, migrated to
Rome and Roman Europe from the
Land of Israel,
Asia Minor,
Babylon and
Alexandria in response to economic hardship and incessant warfare over the land of Israel between the
Ptolemaic and
Seleucid empires. In Rome, Jewish communities enjoyed privileges and thrived economically, becoming a significant part of the Empire's population (perhaps as much as ten percent).
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The Roman general
Pompey in his eastern campaign established the
Roman province of Syria in 64 BC and
conquered Jerusalem in 63 BC.
Julius Caesar conquered Alexandria c. 47 BC and
defeated Pompey in 45 BC. Under Julius Caesar,
Judaism was officially recognised as a legal religion, a policy followed by the first Roman emperor,
Augustus.
Herod the Great was designated 'King of the Jews' by the
Roman Senate in c. 40 BC, the
Roman province of Egypt was established in 30 BC, and
Judea proper,
Samaria and Idumea (biblical
Edom) were converted to the
Roman province of Iudaea in 6 AD.
Jewish–Roman tensions resulted in several
Jewish–Roman wars, 66–135 AD, which resulted in the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and institution of the
Jewish Tax in 70 and
Hadrian's attempt to create a new
Roman colony named
Aelia Capitolina c. 130.
Around this time,
Christianity developed from Second Temple Judaism. In 313, Constantine and
Licinius issued the
Edict of Milan giving official recognition to Christianity as a legal religion.
Constantine the Great moved the Roman capital from Rome to
Constantinople ('New Rome') c. 330, sometimes considered the start of the
Byzantine Empire, and with the
Edict of Thessalonica in 380, Christianity became the
state church of the Roman Empire. The Christian emperors persecuted their Jewish subjects and restricted their rights.
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