Time for a history lesson.
Xtians later chose to set their story during the reign of Tiberius but if ever there was a point in history when the jews did not need a messiah it was at that time. Even after they had petitioned to become a Roman Praefecture they were granted exemptions from taxes and military service by Augustus and continued by Tiberius. The country was quiet and prosperous and protected from outside attack by the Roman Army in Syria. They still occupied a valuable position along the trade routes from Arabia and the port of Caesarea gave them a naval link to the rest of the world, most notably Alexandria to the south and Phoenicia to the north. Plus, they had a degree of home rule in Jerusalem as the Prefects made their headquarters in Caesarea.
If there were someone stirring up trouble I wouldn't blame the jews for killing him. He was threatening to fuck up a good thing.
Quote:Cneius Pompeius was the first of our countrymen to subdue the Jews. Availing himself of the right of conquest, he entered the temple. Thus it became commonly known that the place stood empty with no similitude of gods within, and that the shrine had nothing to reveal. The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, the temple was left standing. After these provinces had fallen, in the course of our civil wars, into the hands of Marcus Antonius, Pacorus, king of the Parthians, seized Judaea. He was slain by Publius Ventidius, and the Parthians were driven back over the Euphrates. Caius Sosius reduced the Jews to subjection. The royal power, which had been bestowed by Antony on Herod, was augmented by the victorious Augustus. On Herod's death, one Simon, without waiting for the approbation of the Emperor, usurped the title of king. He was punished by Quintilius Varus then governor of Syria, and the nation, with its liberties curtailed, was divided into three provinces under the sons of Herod. Under Tiberius all was quiet. But when the Jews were ordered by Caligula to set up his statue in the temple, they preferred the alternative of war. The death of the Emperor put an end to the disturbance. The kings were either dead, or reduced to insignificance, when Claudius entrusted the province of Judaea to the Roman Knights or to his own freedmen, one of whom, Antonius Felix, indulging in every kind of barbarity and lust, exercised the power of a king in the spirit of a slave. He had married Drusilla, the granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and so was the grandson-in-law, as Claudius was the grandson, of Antony.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Book 5 The Histories
Xtians later chose to set their story during the reign of Tiberius but if ever there was a point in history when the jews did not need a messiah it was at that time. Even after they had petitioned to become a Roman Praefecture they were granted exemptions from taxes and military service by Augustus and continued by Tiberius. The country was quiet and prosperous and protected from outside attack by the Roman Army in Syria. They still occupied a valuable position along the trade routes from Arabia and the port of Caesarea gave them a naval link to the rest of the world, most notably Alexandria to the south and Phoenicia to the north. Plus, they had a degree of home rule in Jerusalem as the Prefects made their headquarters in Caesarea.
If there were someone stirring up trouble I wouldn't blame the jews for killing him. He was threatening to fuck up a good thing.
