ABSTRACT
In the years prior to the revolt of 66–70 CE, Greek imperial ex-slaves reached the height of their power and influence in Rome. The anti-Jewish prejudices affected Roman policy, and their partisan support for Hellenism contributed to the decline and fall of the Jewish state. The status of the freedmen – as of Greeks generally in the Roman empire – was largely based on their Greek education: they were regarded as the true representatives of the culture that Rome had adopted and was attempting to make the culture of the empire. Even prior to the Jewish revolt in the 66 CE war, anti-Jewish feeling was common in Rome, which was increasingly Hellenistic and Oriental. Jewish vulnerability to opinion in Rome is suggested in reported expulsions of Roman-Jewish communities in 139 BCE, 19 CE and 49 CE.
