Lecture 11

This lecture was about the Roman Jerusalem, which can also be called the Herodian Jerusalem, or Jesus' Jerusalem.  This Roman conquest began in 68 BCE with Pompey taking control of Jerusalem from Darius I.  In doing so he settled the dispute between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II.  After this he set Hyrcanus as the "ethnarch," which is considered the ruler of an ethnicity, or of a people.  We also see Antipater installed as a procurator.

When Antipater was killed, Herod wanted to get his revenge.  He does so in 43 BCE and over time he takes control of Jerusalem in 37 BCE.  Here are some notes regarding him and his rule:

§  Rome rules Palestine with Client Kings

§  Herod “The Great”

·         No graven images on the coins

o   Have coins with his name tho

·         Coins have jewish symbols but also roman symbols

o   Makes it to where no one wants to overthrow him

§  Was from an area (Idumea) that had been “Judaized” by the Hasmoneans, so he was superficially “Jewish”

§  Knowledge of jewish tradition enabled him to rule w/o provoking wrate of jews

§  King of the Jews from 37 to 4 BCE

§  Paranoid and impulsive (see Matthew 2)

·         Effective for Rome, hated by the Jews

·         Best known for his massive building projects

·         Matthew 2 was detailing the “murder of the innocents”

o   Like with moses

o   Looks almost like a previous story, so it may not be true

§  But seems to be in line with what we are told about Herod everywhere else

§  But no evidence proving this

His temple that he expanded is said to be the 3rd temple, the first being Solomon's temple and the second being the one rebuilt with Persian money.  On this he built the temple mount, which includes the western wall.  He also established Herodian Miqvahs, which are places of water baths where people can go purify themselves before entering a holy place. There are several other structures he built, such as the Citadel of David, the Antonia fortress, his palace at masada, etc.  He also built the Herodian, another place of his south of Jerusalem.  Questions arise regarding whether or not Herod was a good king.  He was a great economic king, giving people work by creating structures of his will, but people think he wasn't a great religious monarch.

We then touched upon Jesus, and how there is no evidence for his existence at all.  It is likely that he did exist, but it is not certain.  We have seen different proposed pieces of evidence for his existence, but most are either fake or they don't prove anything.