Judaea[1] was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which at its height encompassed the regions of Judea, Idumea, Samaria, and Galilee, as well as parts of the coastal plain of the southern Levant.

Since the Roman Republic's conquest of Judaea in 63 BCE, which abolished the independent Hasmonean monarchy, Rome maintained a system of semi-autonomous vassalage in the region.

After Hasmonean ruler Antigonus II Mattathias briefly regained the throne, he was overthrown by Herod, who was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate and ruled Judaea until his death in 4 BCE.

With the onset of direct rule, the official census instituted by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, the governor of Roman Syria, caused tensions and led to an uprising by Jewish rebel Judas of Galilee (6 CE).

The Jewish population recovered within a generation and, in 132 CE, launched the Bar Kokhba revolt in response to Hadrian's plans to construct Aelia Capitolina, a pagan colony, on the ruins of Jerusalem.

The rebels briefly established an independent Jewish state, but the Roman suppression of the revolt resulted in the widespread destruction and near-depopulation of the region of Judea.

[6] Archelaus served as ethnarch of Judea (including Jerusalem), Samaria, and Idumaea, while Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea, and Philip ruled over Gaulanitis, Trachonitis and Batanaea.

Its revenue was of little importance to the Roman treasury, but it controlled the land and coastal sea routes to the "bread basket" of Egypt and was a buffer against the Parthian Empire.

[23] In 30–33 CE, Roman prefect Pontius Pilate had Jesus of Nazareth crucified on the charge of sedition, an act that led to the birth of Christianity.

[33] Between 41 and 44 AD, Judea regained its nominal autonomy, when Herod Agrippa was made King of the Jews by the emperor Claudius, thus in a sense restoring the Herodian dynasty.

Claudius had allowed procurators, who served as personal agents to the Emperor and often as provincial tax and finance ministers, to be elevated to governing magistrates with full state authority to keep the peace.

[45] Soon Emperor Nero tasked Vespasian with suppressing the revolt,[46][47] and in 67 CE, he launched a campaign in Galilee, besieging and destroying rebel strongholds such as Yodfat, Tarichaea, and Gamla.

[49] Inside the city, internal Jewish factions clashed as Zealots seized power, overthrew the moderate government, and invited the Idumeans, who massacred opposition leaders and consolidated their control.

[51][52] In 69 CE, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor and left for Rome,[53][54] entrusting command to his son Titus, who prepared to crush the remaining Jewish resistance.

[57][58][59] In the years that followed, Roman forces launched a final campaign against isolated rebel-held fortresses, which concluded with the fall of Masada in 73/74 CE.

Because Agrippa II maintained loyalty to the Empire, the Kingdom was retained until he died, either in 93/94 or 100, when the area returned to complete, undivided Roman control.

In 115 CE, widespread Jewish uprisings, known as the Diaspora Revolt, broke out almost simultaneously across several eastern provinces, including Cyprus, Egypt, Libya, and Mesopotamia.

[64] Late Syriac sources mention unrest in Judaea, stating that Jews from Egypt and Libya were defeated by Roman forces there.

The revolt was directly precipitated by the establishment of Aelia Capitolina, a pagan Roman colony, atop the ruins of Jerusalem,[68][69][70]—an act Goodman described as the "final solution for Jewish rebelliousness.

[72] However, Roman forces under Emperor Hadrian eventually crushed the revolt, resulting in widespread destruction and mass slaughter, which some historians describe as genocidal.

[75] The remaining Jews were largely concentrated in the Galilee, the Golan, and coastal plain cities, with smaller communities along the fringes of Judea proper and a few other areas.

[85] Unlike typical Roman coinage featuring the emperor's portrait, these coins displayed symbols like palm tree and ears of grain, echoing earlier Hasmonean and Herodian designs.

A notable exception is the coinage of Pontius Pilate, (26-36 CE), which included Roman cultic items like the simpulum and lituus on one side, though the reverse maintained Jewish imagery.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, Jews lost their previously held rights, and subsequent Roman coinage in Judaea no longer reflected Jewish influence.