Jerusalem in Revolt

After Herod died in 4 BCE, three of his sons took over the throne. They were very ineffective rulers, so the Roman emperor eventually replaced them with Roman procurators, one being Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate ruled from 26-37 CE and is know for presiding over the trial of Jesus. An ineffective leader as well, he always provoked the Jews and was eventually also recalled and replaced. With the rise of Jewish nationalism and growing conflicts among the Jews and Romans, the stage was set for the Great Revolt of 66 CE to begin. However, this revolt was soon put out by Vespasian, the future emperor of the Romans. In 70 CE, on the 9th of Ab, the Temple was destroyed again and cognitive dissonance filled the Jews. In addition, Vespasian instituted a temple tax on only Jews, giving them further incentive to renounce their religion.

After years of oppression and humiliation by the Romans, the Jews began another revolt, called the Bar Kokhba Revolt. As propaganda, Bar Kokhba minted coins, usually an overstrike of Roman coins, but with many misspellings. He also wrote letters in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek to promote Jerusalem and the idea that he was the prince, or the Nsy. As a consequence, the Jews were bloodily punished by Hadrian. He banned circumcision, rebuilt Judea into Aelia Capitolina, and renamed the temple the Temple of Jupiter. This marked the end of Jerusalem for a long time, until 330 CE. However, from archaeological remains, there was a noticeable rise in local synagogues. The main question about these structures is whether they were built before or after the destruction of the Temple. Synagogues show the transformation of Jewish tradition from blood sacrifice to interpretation of the Torah, and that Jews no longer needed the one Temple in Jerusalem to practice their faith.