ABSTRACT
The Roman period was in many ways the most eventful and also the most traumatic period in Jewish history. It opened up opportunities for many Jews in the Diaspora. Despite the consistent bias of both ancient primary sources and much modern scholarship, Herod’s rule was probably the high point of Judea’s prestige in the world, and his championship of Jews and Judaism abroad and his magnificent building program at home could only be good for the religion as a whole. His undoubted oppressive treatment of some Judean inhabitants has made historians overlook the fact that most Jews benefited from his rule, and that some of the things subsequently suffered at Roman hands would not have taken place under his rule. The contrast with the position of Jews under his rule and the rapid deterioration afterward is striking. Thus, we have the paradoxical situation that at a time when Judaism was officially tolerated and certain Jewish leaders and families had access to the Roman emperor himself, the Jewish religion suffered some of its greatest perils.
