Iudaea Novel

This book was invaluable in understanding the deeper causes of the Jewish revolts against Rome.  Horsley goes beyond the simple explanations and looks at the economic and social factors that allowed the differences between Rome and Jerusalem to erupt into bloody conflicts.

Horsley explains that the major revolts would not have happened without the support or desperation of the masses.   He breaks down the traditions and beliefs that support the ideology behind the uprisings but also describes the stratification within Jewish culture that many times made the Jewish elite complicit with Roman authority and Jewish peasants at odds with both Rome and the high priests.  When the peasants became over-taxed by both the Roman tax collectors and their tribute to the Temple they had little option but to revolt.  But it was their history and traditions that sustained their efforts and gave them the will to fight to the death.

Most of the book deals with the First Jewish Revolt from AD 66 to 70 but many of the same underlying factors led to the Bar Kokhba revolt.  Horsley looks at these conflicts from the peasantry’s perspective – from the point of view of the people who actually fought these wars, the ones who gave up their lives to try and make a better future for their people.   He goes beyond the common history of the conflicts and the elitist interpretation gleaned from Josephus’s Jewish War and offers what feels like a truer account of the causes and motivations that led to and sustained the wars.

This extensive book covers in detail the complex relationship between Rome and Jerusalem through the 1st Century and the major conflicts and revolts up through the Bar Kokhba revolt in AD 132.  It also explores the aftermath of these wars and the Rome and Jerusalem that emerged from them.

Goodman compares Roman and Jewish views from every angle including cultural, political and religious.  He writes about the two culture’s differing views on morality, the afterlife, sex, family, political power, religious authority, and many other aspects of life.  He shows how these views contributed to the conflicts that arose in the Jewish holy land and throughout the Roman Empire.  For anyone interested in a deeper understanding of the major Jewish revolts this book is a must.

The account Goodman gives of the Bar Kokhba revolt is straightforward and adds only a little to what can be found elsewhere.  For research, this book was much more valuable for the insights concerning the Jewish views and opinions of the Romans and vice versa.  The centrality of religion and faith in Jewish political control in contrast to the superficial religious ceremonies in Roman government shows just one of the glaring gulfs between these two cultures.