Editing History of Israel (section)

==Second Temple period==
{{Main|Second Temple period}}

===Persian period (538–332 BCE)===
{{See also|Return to Zion|Yehud (Persian province)|Cyrus Cylinder}}
[[File:YehudObverse 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Obverse of [[Yehud coinage|Yehud silver coin]]]]
[[File:JUDAEA,_Persian_Period._Anonymous._Circa_375-332_BCE.jpg|thumb|upright|Silver coin (''[[gerah]]'') minted in the Persian province of Yehud, dated <abbr>c.</abbr> 375-332 BCE. ''Obv'': Bearded head wearing crown, possibly representing the Persian Great King. ''Rev'': Falcon facing, head right, with wings spread; [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew]] ''YHD'' to right.]]
In 538 BCE, [[Cyrus the Great]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] conquered Babylon and took over its empire. [[Edict of Cyrus|Cyrus issued a proclamation]] granting religious freedom to all peoples subjugated by the Babylonians (see the [[Cyrus Cylinder]]). According to the Bible, Jewish exiles in Babylon, including 50,000 Judeans led by [[Zerubabel]], returned to Judah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The [[Second Temple]] was subsequently completed c. 515 BCE.<ref>Nodet 1999, p. 25.</ref> A second group of 5,000, led by [[Ezra]] and [[Nehemiah]], returned to Judah in 456 BCE. The first was empowered by the Persian king to enforce [[Torah|religious rules]], the second had the status of governor and a royal mission to restore the walls of the city.<ref>Soggin 1998, p. 311.</ref> The country remained a province of the Achaemenid empire called [[Yehud (Province)|Yehud]] until 332 BCE.

The final text of the [[Torah]] (the first five books of the Bible) is thought to have been written during the Persian period (probably 450–350 BCE). The text was formed by editing and unifying earlier texts.{{Sfn|Frei|2001|p=6}} The returning [[Israelites]] adopted an [[Aramaic script]] (also known as the [[Ktav Ashuri|Ashuri alphabet]]), which they brought back from Babylon; this is the current Hebrew script. The [[Hebrew calendar]] closely resembles the [[Babylonian calendar]] and probably dates from this period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jewish religious year |website=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303554/Jewish-religious-year/34907/Origin-and-development |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226044744/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/303554/Jewish-religious-year/34907/Origin-and-development |archive-date=26 December 2014 |access-date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

The Bible describes tension between the returnees, the elite of the First Temple period,<ref name="Pastor" /> and those who had remained in Judah.<ref>Miller 1986, p. 458.</ref> It is possible that the returnees, supported by the Persian monarchy, became large landholders at the expense of the people who had remained to work the land in Judah, whose opposition to the Second Temple would have reflected a fear that exclusion from the cult would deprive them of land rights.<ref name="Pastor" >Jack Pastor [https://books.google.com/books?id=AGeHDna_9dwC&pg=PT28 ''Land and Economy in Ancient Palestine,''] [[Routledge]] (1997) 2nd.ed 2013 {{isbn|978-1-134-72264-8}} p.14.</ref> Judah had become in practice a [[theocracy]], ruled by hereditary [[High Priest (Judaism)|High Priests]]<ref>Wylen 1996, p. 25.</ref> and a Persian-appointed governor, frequently Jewish, charged with keeping order and seeing that tribute was paid.<ref>Grabbe 2004, pp. 154–5.</ref>

A Judean military garrison was placed by the Persians on [[Elephantine Island]] near Aswan in Egypt. In the early 20th century, [[Elephantine papyri|175 papyrus documents]] recording activity in this community were discovered, including the "Passover Papyrus", a letter instructing the garrison on how to correctly conduct the [[Passover]] feast.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3259988|title = The Passover Papyrus from Elephantine|journal = Journal of Biblical Literature|volume = 31|issue = 1|pages = 1–33|last1 = Arnold|first1 = William R.|year = 1912| doi=10.2307/3259988 }}</ref>

===Hellenistic period (333–64 BCE)===
{{Main|Hasmonean dynasty}}
In 332 BCE, [[Alexander the Great]] of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]] conquered the region as part of his [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaign against the Persian Empire]]. After his death in 322 BCE, his generals [[Alexander the Great#Division of the Macedonian Empire|divided the empire]] and [[Judea]] became a frontier region between the [[Seleucid Empire]] and [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] in Egypt.<ref>Green, p. 499.</ref> Following a century of Ptolemaic rule, Judea was conquered by the Seleucid Empire in 200 BCE at the [[battle of Panium]]. Hellenistic rulers generally respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions.<ref name="Hengel">{{cite book |last=Hengel |first=Martin |title=Judaism and Hellenism : Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period |date=1974 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=0334007887 |edition=1st English |location=London |orig-date=1973 |authorlink=Martin Hengel}}</ref><ref>Tchrikover, Victor. ''Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews''.</ref> Judea was ruled by the hereditary office of the [[High Priest of Israel]] as a Hellenistic vassal.<ref name="Green">Green, p. 501.</ref> Nevertheless, the region underwent a process of [[Hellenization]], which heightened tensions between Greeks, Hellenized Jews, and observant Jews. These tensions escalated into clashes involving a power struggle for the position of high priest and the character of the holy city of Jerusalem.<ref>Ginzberg, Lewis. {{cite web|title=The Tobiads and Oniads|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1589&letter=A|access-date=6 March 2023|archive-date=14 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514142533/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1589&letter=A|url-status=live}} Jewish Encyclopedia.</ref>

When [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] consecrated the temple, forbade Jewish practices, and forcibly imposed Hellenistic norms on the Jews, several centuries of religious tolerance under Hellenistic control came to an end. In 167 BCE, the [[Maccabean Revolt|Maccabean revolt]] erupted after [[Mattathias]], a Jewish priest of the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] lineage, killed a Hellenized Jew and a Seleucid official who participated in sacrifice to the [[Greek Gods|Greek gods]] in [[Modi'in (ancient city)|Modi'in]]. His son [[Judas Maccabeus]] defeated the Seleucids in several battles, and in 164 BCE, he captured Jerusalem and restored temple worship, an event commemorated by the Jewish festival of [[Hanukkah|Hannukah]].<ref>Jan Assmann: ''Martyrium, Gewalt, Unsterblichkeit. Die Ursprünge eines religiösen Syndroms.'' In: Jan-Heiner Tück (Hrsg.): ''Sterben für Gott – Töten für Gott? Religion, Martyrium und Gewalt.'' [Deutsch]. Herder Verlag, Freiburg i. Br. 2015, 122–147, hier: S. 136.</ref>{{sfn|Morkholm|2008|p=290}}

After Judas' death, his brothers [[Jonathan Apphus]] and [[Simon Thassi]] were able to establish and consolidate a vassal Hasmonean state in Judea, capitalizing on the Seleucid Empire's decline as a result of internal instability and [[Seleucid–Parthian Wars|wars]] with the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], and by forging ties with the rising [[Roman Republic]]. Hasmonean leader [[John Hyrcanus]] was able to gain independence, doubling Judea's territories. He took control of [[Idumaea]], where he converted the Edomites to Judaism, and invaded [[Beit She'an|Scythopolis]] and [[Samaria]], where he demolished the Samaritan Temple.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HYRCANUS, JOHN (JOHANAN) I. - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7972-hyrcanus-john-johanan-i |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com |access-date=1 September 2022 |archive-date=4 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304213029/https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7972-hyrcanus-john-johanan-i |url-status=live }}</ref> Hyrcanus was also the first Hasmonean leader to [[Hasmonean coinage|mint coins]]. Under his sons, kings [[Aristobulus I]] and [[Alexander Jannaeus]], Hasmonean Judea became a kingdom, and its territories continued to expand, now also covering the [[Israeli coastal plain|coastal plain]], [[Galilee]] and parts of the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Helyer |first1=Larry R. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/961153992 |title=The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts |last2=McDonald |first2=Lee Martin |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8010-9861-1 |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Joel B. |pages=45–47 |chapter=The Hasmoneans and the Hasmonean Era |oclc=961153992 |editor-last2=McDonald |editor-first2=Lee Martin |archive-date=11 January 2024 |access-date=23 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111181126/https://search.worldcat.org/title/961153992 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson |first=H.H. |title=A History of the Jewish People |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1976 |isbn=0-674-39731-2 |pages=226 |quote=The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there.}}</ref><ref name="Ben-Eliyahu-2019">{{Cite book |last=Ben-Eliyahu |first=Eyal |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1103519319 |title=Identity and Territory: Jewish Perceptions of Space in Antiquity |date=30 April 2019 |isbn=978-0-520-29360-1 |pages=13 |publisher=Univ of California Press |oclc=1103519319 |quote=From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan. |archive-date=17 February 2022 |access-date=23 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217084729/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1103519319 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Smith |first=Morton |title=The Gentiles in Judaism 125 BCE – 66 CE |date=1999 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/gentiles-in-judaism-125-bcece-66/1AC78E99125BFE8E215AC8137DD8FE32 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 3: The Early Roman Period |volume=3 |pages=192–249 |editor-last=Sturdy |editor-first=John |access-date=2023-03-20 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521243773.008 |isbn=978-0-521-24377-3 |quote=These changes accompanied and were partially caused by the great extension of the Judaeans' contacts with the peoples around them. Many historians have chronicled the Hasmonaeans' territorial acquisitions. In sum, it took them twenty-five years to win control of the tiny territory of Judaea and get rid of the Seleucid colony of royalist Jews (with, presumably, gentile officials and garrison) in Jerusalem. [...] However, in the last years before its fall, the Hasmonaeans were already strong enough to acquire, partly by negotiation, partly by conquest, a little territory north and south of Judaea and a corridor on the west to the coast at Jaffa/Joppa. This was briefly taken from them by Antiochus Sidetes, but soon regained, and in the half century from Sidetes' death in 129 to Alexander Jannaeus' death in 76 they overran most of Palestine and much of western and northern Transjordan. First John Hyrcanus took over the hills of southern and central Palestine (Idumaea and the territories of Shechem, Samaria and Scythopolis) in 128–104; then his son, Aristobulus I, took Galilee in 104–103, and Aristobulus' brother and successor, Jannaeus, in about eighteen years of warfare (103–96, 86–76) conquered and reconquered the coastal plain, the northern Negev, and western edge of Transjordan. |editor2-last=Davies |editor2-first=W. D. |editor3-last=Horbury |editor3-first=William |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612214626/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/gentiles-in-judaism-125-bcece-66/1AC78E99125BFE8E215AC8137DD8FE32 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some scholars argue that the Hasmonean dynasty also institutionalized the final [[Development of the Hebrew Bible canon|Jewish biblical canon]].<ref>Philip R. Davies in ''The Canon Debate'', p. 50: "With many other scholars, I conclude that the fixing of a canonical list was almost certainly the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty."</ref>

Under Hasmonean rule, the [[Pharisees]], [[Sadducees]] and the mystic [[Essenes]] emerged as the principal Jewish social movements. The Pharisee sage [[Simeon ben Shetach]] is credited with establishing the first schools based around [[synagogue|meeting houses]].<ref>[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], ''History of the Jews'', p. 106, Harper 1988</ref> This was a key step in the emergence of [[Rabbinical Judaism]]. After Jannaeus' widow, queen [[Salome Alexandra]], died in 67 BCE, her sons [[Hyrcanus II]] and [[Aristobulus II]] engaged in a civil war over succession. The conflicting parties requested [[Pompey]]'s assistance on their behalf, which paved the way for a Roman takeover of the kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Hyrcanus II |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Hyrcanus-II |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=6 March 2023 |archive-date=5 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205122753/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Hyrcanus-II |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Early Roman period (64 BCE–2nd century CE)===
{{Main|Herodian dynasty|Herodian kingdom|Herodian Tetrarchy|Judea (Roman province)}}
[[File:Temple Scroll.png|thumb|upright|Portion of the [[Temple Scroll]], one of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] written by the Essenes]]
In 63 BCE, the [[Roman Republic]] conquered Judaea, ending Jewish independence under the Hasmoneans.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |title=The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt against Rome, A.D. 66–70 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=9780511552656 |pages=1–3, 9, 122 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511552656}}</ref> Roman general [[Pompey]] intervened in a [[Hasmonean civil war|dynastic civil war]] and, after [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|capturing Jerusalem]], reinstated [[Hyrcanus II]] as high priest but denied him the title of king.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Gabba |first=Emilio |title=The Early Roman Period |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139053662 |editor1-last=Horbury |editor1-first=William |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |volume=3 |pages=94–98, 130, 133, 152 |chapter=The Social, Economic and Political History of Palestine 63 BCE–CE 70 |editor2-last=Davies |editor2-first=W. D. |editor3-last=Sturdy |editor3-first=John}}</ref> Rome soon installed the [[Herodian dynasty]]—of [[Idumean]] descent but Jewish by conversion—as a loyal replacement for the nationalist Hasmoneans.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |title=From Maccabees to Mishnah |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-664-23904-6 |edition=3rd |location=Louisville, Kentucky |pages=3–4}}</ref> In 37 BCE, [[Herod the Great]], the first [[Client kingdoms in ancient Rome|client king]] of this line, took power after defeating the restored Hasmonean king [[Antigonus II Mattathias]].<ref name=":3">{{cite book |title=The First Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History, and Ideology |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-62024-6 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Andrea M. |pages=1–3 |chapter=Introduction |editor2-last=Overman |editor2-first=J. Andrew}}</ref> Herod imposed heavy taxes, suppressed opposition, and centralized authority, which fostered widespread resentment.<ref name=":0" /> Herod also carried out major monumental construction projects throughout his kingdom, and significantly expanded the [[Second Temple]], which he transformed into one of the largest religious structures in the ancient world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Feissel |first=Denis |title=Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: Volume 1 1/1: Jerusalem, Part 1: 1–704 |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-11-174100-0 |editor1-last=Cotton |editor1-first=Hannah M. |location=Berlin |page=41 |oclc=840438627 |editor2-last=Eck |editor2-first=Werner |editor3-last=Heimbach |editor3-first=Marfa |editor4-last=Isaac |editor4-first=Benjamin |editor5-last=Kushnir-Stein |editor5-first=Alla |editor6-last=Misgav |editor6-first=Haggai}}</ref> After his death in 4 BCE, his kingdom was divided among his sons into a [[Herodian tetrarchy|tetrarchy]] under continued Roman oversight.<ref name=":3" />

In 6 CE, Roman emperor [[Augustus]] transformed [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]] into a [[Roman province]], deposing its last Jewish ruler, [[Herod Archelaus]], and appointing a Roman governor in his place.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> That same year, a [[Census of Quirinius|census]] triggered a small uprising by [[Judas of Galilee]], the founder of a movement that rejected foreign authority and recognized only God as king.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> Over the next six decades, with the brief exception of a short period of Jewish autonomy under the client king [[Herod Agrippa|Herod Agrippa I]],<ref name=":0" /> the province remained under direct Roman administration. Some governors ruled with brutality and showed little regard for Jewish religious sensitivities, deepening resentment among the local population.<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last=Freyne |first=Sean |title=The First Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History and Ideology |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-62024-6 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Andrea M. |location=London and New York |pages=45–47 |chapter=The Revolt from a Regional Perspective |editor2-last=Overman |editor2-first=J. Andrew}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> This discontent was also fueled by poor governance, corruption, and growing economic inequality, along with rising tensions between Jews and neighboring populations over ethnic, religious, and territorial disputes.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> At the same time, collective memory of the Maccabean revolt and the period of Hasmonean independence continued to inspire hopes for national liberation from Roman control.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Mendels |first=Doron |title=The Rise and Fall of Jewish Nationalism: Jewish and Christian Ethnicity in Ancient Palestine |publisher=Doubleday |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-385-26126-5 |series=Anchor Bible Reference Library |pages=26}}</ref>

In 64 CE, the Temple High Priest [[Joshua ben Gamla]] introduced a religious requirement for Jewish boys to learn to read from the age of six. Over the next few hundred years this requirement became steadily more ingrained in Jewish tradition.<ref>The Chosen Few: How education shaped Jewish History, Botticini and Eckstein, Princeton 2012, page 71 and chapters 4 and 5</ref>

===Jewish–Roman wars===
{{Main|Jewish–Roman wars|First Jewish-Roman War|Kitos War|Bar Kokhba revolt}}
[[File:Arch of Titus Menorah.png|thumb|The [[Arch of Titus]] in [[Rome]] depicts the [[Roman triumph]] celebrating the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|fall of Jerusalem]] in 70 CE]]
The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale [[Rebellion|revolts]] by [[Jews|Jewish]] subjects against the [[Roman Empire]] between 66 and 135 CE.<ref>Bloom, J.J. 2010  ''The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66–135: A Military Analysis''. McFarland.</ref> The term primarily applies to the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE) and the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–136 CE), nationalist rebellions striving to restore an independent [[Judea]]n state. Some sources also include the [[Diaspora Revolt]] (115–117 CE), an ethno-religious conflict fought across the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and including the [[Kitos War]] in Judaea.

The Jewish–Roman wars had a devastating impact on the Jewish people, transforming them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority.<ref name="Hitti, P. K">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDQqzz-tLgUC&q=rebellion&pg=PR3 |title=Hitti, P. K. |isbn=9781931956604 |last1=Hitti |first1=Philip K. |year=2002 |publisher=Gorgias Press |access-date=28 July 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415203325/https://books.google.com/books?id=hDQqzz-tLgUC&lr=&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=history+of+syria&ots=ZZhrXOtKxl&sig=db_jqtYJyNwYJJ4SKem8G0NzOv0&redir_esc=y |url-status=dead }}</ref> The First Jewish-Roman War culminated in the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem]] and other towns and villages in Judaea, resulting in significant loss of life and a considerable segment of the population being uprooted or displaced.<ref name="Schwartz-2014">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/863044259 |title=The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-107-04127-1 |location=Cambridge |pages=85–86 |oclc=863044259}}</ref> Those who remained were stripped of any form of political autonomy.<ref name="AHJ-GM3">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |title=A History of Judaism |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18127-1 |location=Princeton Oxford |pages=21, 232}}</ref> Subsequently, the brutal suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in even more severe consequences. Judea witnessed a significant depopulation, as many Jews were killed, expelled, or sold into slavery.<ref name="Taylor2">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=J. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA243 |title=The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea |date=15 November 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199554485 |quote=These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mor|2016|pp=483–484}}</ref> Jews were banned from residing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which the Romans rebuilt into the pagan colony of [[Aelia Capitolina]], and the province of Judaea was renamed [[Syria Palaestina]]. Collectively, these events enhanced the role of [[Jewish diaspora]], relocating the Jewish demographic and cultural center to [[Galilee]] and eventually to [[Asoristan|Babylonia]], with smaller communities across the Mediterranean, the [[Middle East]], and beyond.

The Jewish–Roman wars also had a major impact on [[Judaism]], after the central worship site of [[Second Temple Judaism]], the [[Second Temple]] in Jerusalem, was destroyed by [[Titus]]'s troops in 70 CE.<ref name="Karesh-2006a">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |year=2006 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=1-78785-171-0 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism. |archive-date=26 March 2023 |access-date=7 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024548/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |url-status=live }}</ref> The destruction of the Temple led to a transformation in Jewish religious practices, emphasizing [[Jewish prayer|prayer]], [[Torah study]], and communal gatherings in [[synagogue]]s. This pivotal shift laid the foundation for the emergence of [[Rabbinic Judaism]], which has been the dominant form of Judaism since [[late antiquity]], after the codification of the [[Talmud|Babylonian Talmud]].<ref name="Karesh-2006b">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |year=2006 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=978-1-78785-171-9 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism. |archive-date=26 March 2023 |access-date=7 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024548/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |url-status=live }}</ref>