YAHUD?LER ROMA DA NASIL BÜYÜMEYE BA?LADI? The Jewish community which is in Rome is known as the oldest Jewishcommunity in the Europe. Also, it is known as the oldest settlement in theworld and it dates to the 161. B.
C.E. When Jonahan, Eupolemus, Jason Ben andEleazar came as envoys of Judah Maccabee, Other delegations had been sent byHamonean rulers in 150 and 139 B.C.
E. By the time, Jewish prisoners of war hadbeen brought to Rome to be made slaves after the Romans invaded Judea in 63B.C.E.
Jewish merchants who were looking for the job opportunities went to theRome and in that time, Jewish delegates also went to the Rome with diplomatic tasks.Thus, people who went to the Rome made decision to stay and live in there andpopulation rate of Jewish started to increase. Relationshipswith the rulers in Rome were good although treatment that is applied by theRomans in Palestine to the Jews was harsh.
For example, it was known well thatJulius Caser was friends with Jews and he accepted Jews to settle anywhere inRome. According to the historians, Roman Jews were crying all day and night onthe Caesar’s tomb when Caesar was killed by Brutus in 44 B.C.E. Augustus actedtoward the Jews and he planned grain distribution in the way that JewishSabbath cannot interfere. Two synagogues were built by the slaves who was freedby Augustus (14 B.C.
E) and Agrippa(12 B.C.E).In the classic period, Jews wereexiled from Rome for two times in 19 C.E-49 C.E. Reason of the first exile wasa Roman woman who was attracted toJudaism Fulvia. The seconddeportation happened because of disturbances that caused by the rise of Christianity.
However, it is not certain that these measures were carried out or that periodof deportation took a long time. In Palestine, during the Jewish-Roman battles66-73 and 132-135, Jewish prisoners of war was bringing to the Rome and theywere accepted as slaves. Majority of the oldest Jewish Roman families followancestry in the city to this time. Jewish academicians who are from Israel werecoming to the Rome in 95-96. Jews were allowed as Roman citizens by Caracella.The Roman Jewishcommunity became firmly established since the second half of the first centuryC.
E. Most of the community were peddlers, craftsman and shopkeepers. However, therewere other actors who became actors, poets and doctors. Satiric poets of the time,for example Martial, indicated thechoked activities of the Jewish peddlers and beggars in their poetries.Evidence has been found that twelve synagogues were open during this period(although not at the same time). Unfortunately, none of those synagogues havebeen protected.
Since 2nd C.B.C, Jews were living inthe Rome. Laws that allowed to protect to worship Jews chose had been supportedby Caesar and Augustus. Then, Synagogues were allowed to be able to collect thetax that paid yearly by every Jewish men for temple maintenance and classifiedas colleges to get around Roman rules banning secret societies. By time, therewere some problems and one of these problems is exiled of the Jewish in 139B.C.
in 19 A.D. They had been banished from the Rome but after that, they hadbeen allowed to turn back and go on their lives by independently existenceunder the Roman laws.
In the history of Jews in Judaea, there were some revolts against to theRoman laws by the Jews. The first revolt was the consequent of long series ofclashes in the small groups of Jews that had been responded with sporadicresistance against the Romans. After the loss of AD 66 Jews, when Jews revoltthey discarded Romans from the Jerusalem and they destroyed in the pass ofBeth-Horon that is a Roman punitive force under Gallus which is the imperiallegate in Syria. Then, a revolutionist government was established andpopulation of the whole country had extended as country. Vespasian had beensent to the country to finish the rebellion by the Romans and he met withJosephus who is a historian to go to Galilee that the historian Josephus headedthe Jewish forces together.
The army of Josephus faced with the army ofVespasian and they runned. Josephus had given up and Roman forces had swept thecountry after the fall of castle of Jatapata. Jerusalem had fell in AD 70 onthe 9th of the month of Av also, Jewish state collapsed and theTemple had been burned. However, castle of Masada could not be conquered untilApril 73 by the Roman general Flavius Silva. This revolt had been some wars andrevolts; First Jewish Roman War, Kitos war and BAR Kohba Revolt.
The FirstJewish-Roman War had started in 66 CE and finished in 73 CE. This war is calledas the First Jewish Revolt or the Great Jewish Revolt. It continued untildestruction of the 2nd temple and of Jerusalem and fall of Galileein 67 C.E and to the Fiscus Judaicus in 70 C.E and finally the falling of theMasada in 73 C.E.
Then Kitos war had happened in 115 C.E to 117 C.E. and it isknown as ”Rebellion of Exile”.Bar Kohba revolt hadstarted in 132 B.C and finished in 136 C.E.
This revolt is called as te SecondJewish-Roman War or also it is known as the Third Jewish-Roman War. In 66 C.E, The First Jewish-Roman Empire battle began .The reason of this war is high tension of religious people between Greek? andby the time it became? bad because of attacks to the Roman citizens andanti-taxation?protests. After that, there had happened a revolts as a response for people whoexecuted 60000 jews in Jerusalem andthe looted of the Second Judaic Temple..Garrison of the Roman military of Judaea had been occupied by the Jewishrebels. The king Agrippa II who had stand with Romans had runned with the importantpeople of Rome from Jerusalem.
When it understood that the rebellion cannot be controlled by people, CestiusGallus and the ambassador of Syria brought the military force of Syria, to be able? torestore order and quell the insurgency , depends on ?reinforced by backup troops XII Fulminate. Althoughall improvements, Jewish rebels ambush and defeated the Syrian Legion at theBattle of Beth Horon with 6,000 Roman people and Legion Aquila could not befound by anyone. They had lost and this lost had been cause of shock for Romaleaders. Duty of quell the continuance of the riot in Judaea had been given tothe general Vespasian who is so experienced and his son and he wassecond-in-command. Four units given to the Vespasian and supportedby the forces of King Agrippa III and he invaded Galilee in 67 CE.
A campaign had been startedto punish the people and to destroy castles of rebels while the attack wasavoided by forces of Titus in Jerusalem. In months, one of the most importantcastle of Jewish ‘Galilee’ had been taken over by Vespasian and Titus.After 47 days, Jotapata under command of Yosefben Matitiyahu overran. At the same time, conquering plan of Sicarii leaderMenahem was not successful in in Jerusalem and this attempt was cause of hisexecution. Judean government oust the leader of a village, who is SimonBar-Giora, frm the city. Thus Ananus Ben Ananus started to make the city morepowerful place. So many refugees and rebels of Zealot had come to the city andthose people were driven from Galilee and they were cause of political problemsin Jerusalem.
It was proven that Zealot factions of the Northern Revolt underthe command of John of Giscala and Eleazar ben Simon and confrontation betweenthe mainly Sadducee Jerusalemites. Ananus ben Ananus who fighted on the side ofthe Zealots with Edomites entering the city and the forces had been damaged. Simon Bar Giora who commanded tov15.000 soldiers hadbeen invited to the Jerusalem to be able to stand against to the Zealots bythe leaders of Sadduce and he controlled the big part of city fastly. Unfortunately,fights between Elazar and Bar Giora had continued until 69 C.E. Because of thewar in the city and political issues, army operations almost stopped and Vespasianwent back to the Rome and then he allowed as the new king in 69 AD.
WithVespasian’s going, Titus surround the centre of rebel resistance in Jerusalemin early 70 AD. Although the first two walls had been breached in three weeks,a stubborn had prevented the wall that is third of the Rome Army and thestrongest one to be broken. After seven months, Romans had succeeded to breachthe weak Jewish forces in 70 AD. Following the fall of Jerusalem, Titus leftfor Rome, while LegionX Fretens is defeated the remaining Jewish strongholds later on,finalizing the Roman campaign in Masada in 73/74 AD.Caesarea Eusebius and some Christian resourcesnoted that Constantine had experienced a striking occurrence in 312 at theBattle of the Milvian Bridge, and after that Constantine wanted to be sovereignempire of the West.In accordance with these sources, The Emperor Constantinewas looking at the sun before the war and he saw a glowing cross on it and sawsome Greek words which mean a sign of victory. The Constantine orderedhis soldiers to decorate their protective shields with the symbol whichrepresents Christianity and after that Constantine and his soldiers becamevictorious side .
After the war, the new emperor came to ignore the altar of thegods arranging in the Capitoline, and did not make traditional sacrificesto celebrate a triumphant Roman entry, rather than going directly to theempire’s palace. Nevertheless, the most powerful people of the empire,especially the superior army authorities, did not change their religions intoChristianity and became member of a Roman traditional religions; Constantine’srule seemed at least willing to comfort these groups.After the war , Romanmoney included the Roman Gods and this situation took 8 years. The memorialsthat be built , like the Arch of Constantine, did not contain any signsabout the Christianity. Constantine and Licinius declared that it isright that each of the Christians and others must have the freedom tobelieve the best-appearing religion in 313 so he tolerated beliefs whichare Christianity and other religions. Milano? Edict took the previous Galerius’ Tolerance Edict a stepforward in 311 and ?confiscated the Church goods. Milano Edict is declaration for tolerance of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
TheRoman emperors concluded a political agreement between Constantine I andLicinius in Milan on February 313. In June 313 Licinius declared to EasternRome that everyone had the rights to worship God they wanted. Christiansthus have legal rights, including the establishment of churches. According to Edict,the property seized in the state would be returned to the Christiansimmediately.Constitution of Constantine I, and an allegedreligious order in the Roman Empire; in fact, is a breakdown of thenegotiations between Licinius and Constantine in Milan, a legitimate document,a complete breakdown of the freedom of the nobility, the compensation of thesufferings of Christians, and so on.
