AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE
Following the example of the Assyrians, Babylonians and Greeks, the
Romans invaded Judea in 63 BCE.
In 70 CE, the Romans crushed a revolt and destroyed the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
In 135 CE, the Romans crushed a second revolt led by Bar Kokhba,
a charismatic Jewish leader. Four years of battles ended in a bloodbath.
The surviving Jews fled Judea. A pagan city was built on the ruins
of Jerusalem - renamed Aelia Capitolina by the Roman occupiers-and
the name of the Roman province was changed from Judea to
Syria-Palestina. Now no Jew would have the right to live in
Jerusalem.
A new era had begun. The centres of Jewish life and its leadership
shifted to the Galilee and abroad.
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