Jews In The Roman World by Michael Grant

Author:Michael Grant [GRANT, MICHAEL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780222813
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2011-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Part IV

The Wars Against the Romans

11

The Prelude to the First Revolt

This was a period in which King Agrippa II seemed on the crest of the wave. To show his loyalty to the emperor, he re-named his capital Caesarea Philippi as Neronias – and celebrated the occasion by starting a new royal era (AD 61).1 Yet in Jerusalem, where he was entrusted with the supervision of Temple affairs, he now became involved in a highly embarrassing dispute. During his visits to the city for religious festivals it was his custom to reside in the old palace of the Hasmonaeans, which was separated from the Temple by the Tyropoeon valley. To this palace he now added a tower containing a dining-room from which he could directly overlook the Temple and all that happened there. The high priest Ishmael and his colleagues, however, strongly opposed this action, claiming (according to what law or tradition we do not know) that it was improper for these proceedings, and especially the sacrifices, to be spied upon – or perhaps they objected to the spying being directed from a secular building. So they proceeded to erect a high wall at the western end of the Temple enclosure, in order to block Agrippa’s view. This annoyed him greatly, but it also annoyed Festus, because it obstructed the view not only of Agrippa but of the Roman soldiers whose task it was to supervise the Temple during festivals. Festus consequently ordered the Jews to pull the wall down, but they objected, and he then allowed them to send a deputation to Nero. It consisted of ten men, including Ishmael the high priest and Helcias the Temple treasurer. Their appeal was successful, and the emperor permitted the wall to remain standing.

Most of the delegates now returned in triumph to Judaea. But in order to mitigate the snub to Agrippa II, Nero ordered that Ishmael and Helcias should remain behind in his palace at Rome as hostages. This gave Agrippa the opportunity to depose Ishmael from the high priesthood. In his place he appointed a certain Joseph Cabi, the son of Simon.2 Nothing is known of him but his name, but these changes and other recent events had left an impression of the disunity that prevailed among the Jews – a disquieting situation when the maximum unity was required to face Romans and Christians alike.

Unfortunately for the future of Judaea, Porcius Festus, who if not actively pro-Jewish was at least efficient, died in office in AD 62. It was learnt that another procurator, Lucceius Albinus, had been appointed and was on the way. Before he arrived, however, Agrippa II deposed Josephus Cabi, after an extremely short tenure, and replaced him by Ananus II, the son of Ananus I and a member of the house of that name which had held so many high priesthoods during the earlier days of the province. It is impossible to say why he made this further rapid change, but it may be conjectured, in view of

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