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Visual History of the World
(CONTENTS)
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The Ancient World
ca. 2500 B.C. - 900 A.D.
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The epics of Homer, the wars
of Caesar, and temples and palaces characterize the image of classic
antiquity and the cultures of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
They are the sources from which the Western world draws the
foundations of its philosophy, literature, and, not least of all,
its state organization. The Greek city-states, above all Athens,
were the birthplace of democracy. The regions surrounding the
Mediterranean Sea and great parts of Northwest Europe were forged
together into the Roman Empire, which survived until the time of the
Great Migration of Peoples. Mighty empires also existed beyond the
ancient Mediterranean world, however, such as those of the Mauryas
in India and the Han in China.
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Alexander the Great
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Judea and Arabia before the Romans
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CA.1100 B.C.-136 A.D.
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Herod the Great and His Successors
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Herod the Great conclusively did away with the rule of the Maccabees
and allied himself with Rome. Following rebellions by the Jews, Judea
was completely integrated into the Roman Empire.
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see also collection:
David Roberts
"A Journey in the Holy Land"
David Roberts
Jerusalem
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7
Herod the Great was from a family that was loyal to the Romans; his
father Antipater had been appointed procurator over Judea by Julius
Caesar.
Herod eliminated the last of the Maccabees and assumed the throne in 37
B.C. Although he married the Maccabean princess Mariamne, his rule was
secularly oriented, following the Roman model.
Herod suppressed the religious agitators in the land, as well as
intrigues in his palace, and was thus able to maintain peace. Under him
Judea's economy blossomed, as evidenced not least by his monumental
construction projects.
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7
The taking of Jerusalem by Herod the Great, 36 BC, by Jean Fouquet.
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He had the 10 temple erected anew,
yet his attempts to culturally unify the Jews ultimately failed.
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10 Temple in Jerusalem
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The birth of Jesus Christ falls within his reign, but the
11 murder of innocent children of which
he was accused is probably a Christian myth.
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11 The Holy Innocents by
Giotto
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Upon his death in 4 B.C., Herod's kingdom was divided among his three
sons, the Tetrarchs.
One of them, Herod Antipas (ruled 4 â.ñ-39 a.d.), who received Galilee
and Peraea, is known to this day for his marriage to his niece and
sister-in-law Herodias and the dance of his stepdaughter,
9 Salome, performed for the head of
John the Baptist.
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His nephew, Herod Agrippa I, ruled once more over the reunited realm of
Herod the Great with great support of Judaism and as a friend of the
Romans from 41 to 44.
In 66 a.d., Jewish religious zealots initiated a revolt against Roman
rule. The king, Agrippa II, who while of Jewish faith had been raised in
Rome, sided with the Romans against the zealots.
The revolt led the Roman emperor Titus to seize control of Jerusalem and
to order the 12 destruction of the
temple in 70 a.d.
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12 Destruction of the temple of Jerusalem
by the Romans under
Titus, 70A.D.
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Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem
by Francesco Hayez, 1867.
Depicting the destruction and looting of the Second Temple by the
Roman army.
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Titus' triumph after the First Jewish-Roman War was
celebrated with the Arch of Titus in Rome,
which shows the treasures taken from the Temple in Jerusalem,
including the Menorah.
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The last stronghold of the Jewish zealots, 8
Masada, fell in 73 a.d. after the suicide of all the defenders.
Judea was made a Roman province with limited autonomy. But even that was
permanently lost after the revolt of Bar Kokhba in 132-135, led by the
Jewish military commander Simon Bar Kokhba, establishing the independent
state of Israel. The Jewish people were then driven out of Judea by the
Romans three years later into the Diaspora.
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8 The ruins of Masada, in the
background the Dead Sea
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Masada
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The
Rebellion of Bar Kokhba
Simon Bar Kokhba ("the Son of the Star") led the last revolt
of the Jews against the Romans in 132 a.d. The catalyst was the
ban on circumcision and the Roman attempt to construct a temple
to Jupiter in Jerusalem.
Bar Kokhba captured Jerusalem and ruled
as "prince of Judea," with messianic traits as defined by
ancient Jewish laws, in 135 à.d. he was vanquished by superior
Roman strength at Bethar. Thereafter the Jews were forbidden to
enter Jerusalem.
Silver coins (tetra
drachmas), distributed by Bar Kokhba
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