2. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• When the Romans took over
Palestine, the Jews felt they lost
some sense of national identity.
They soon got tired of foreign rule
(Rome).
3. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• Revolt Against Rome
• A group called the Zealots were the
most rebellious.
• They thought they should not answer to
anyone else but God, therefore, they
refused to obey Roman officials.
• In 66 AD they finally revolted and fought
fiercely against the Romans for four
years.
• They were not successful. Jerusalem lay
in ruins and the Second Temple was
burned to the ground by the Romans.
• When the temple was destroyed, the
Jews lost their will to fight and
surrendered.
4. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• Revolt Against Rome
• Masada
• Few Zealots, refused to give up their
fight and locked themselves in a
mountain fortress called Masada
• The Romans, under the leadership of
Titus, sent 15,000 soldiers to smash
the revolt.
• The fortress was near impenetrable
and the Romans had to build a ramp
to reach it.
• Fighting continued for two years.
• When the Romans broke in, the
Zealots took their own lives, because
they refused to be Roman slaves.
5. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• Results of the Revolt
• As punishment, the Romans killed most of the population in
Jerusalem.
• They took he survivors to Rome as slaves.
• The few that remained, left because the felt that without the Temple, it
was not worth living in the city any longer.
• They migrated to other Jewish communities, specially Alexandria in
Egypt.
6. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• Second Revolt
• 60 years after Masada, the
Jews chose to revolt once
again, tired of Roman rule.
• Once again, the Romans
defeated them and they
decided to ban all Jews from
Jerusalem.
• Once again, they migrated all
over the Mediterranean.
7. Roman Era: Revolt, defeat and migration
• Migration and Discrimination
• Without a temple, synagogues were now more
important for Jews.
• Rabbis, religious teachers, took a greater role in
guiding them in their religious lives.
• Yohanan ben Zaccai, a rabbi, founded a school
were he taught about Judaism and trained them to
be rabbis.
• Rabbis’ ideas shaped Judaism over the centuries and
they also served as community leaders.
• Over the centuries, Jews continued to migrate out of
the Mediterranean region into other parts of the
world.
• Sometimes, this was not voluntary, but due to the
pressure and discrimination of other religious groups.
• They settled as far as Russia, Asia and the U.S.
8. Ask Yourself
• Analyze:
• What led to the revolt of the Jews against the Romans?
• Why did the Zealots choose to commit suicide?
• Cause and effect:
• Why did the Romans force out Jews of Jerusalem?
• How did the defeat by the Romans affect Jewish history?
• Trace
• What are the areas to which the Jews migrated and in what order?
• Evaluate
• Why was the destruction of the Temple such a powerful blow to
Jewish culture?
• Describe
• How did the Romans finally break into Masada?
9. Bibliography
• Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World History
(Teacher´s Edition) (1st Edition ed.). (H. McDougal, Ed.)
Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Company.
• Images taken from www.google.com
