Editing Galilee (section)

===Roman period===
In the early Roman period, Galilee was predominantly Jewish. Archaeological evidence from multiple sites reveals Jewish customs, including the use of [[Stone vessels in ancient Judaea|limestone vessels]], [[Mikveh|ritual baths]] for [[Tumah and taharah|purity]], and secondary burial practices.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Chancey |first1=Mark Alan |last2=Porter |first2=Adam Lowry |date=2001 |title=The Archaeology of Roman Palestine |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/3210829 |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |language=en |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=180 |doi=10.2307/3210829 |jstor=3210829 |issn=1094-2076 |quote=}}</ref> A significant wave of Jewish settlement arrived in the region following the [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|Roman conquest of 63 BCE]].<ref name="Leibner2009" /> Large towns such as [[Kafr 'Inan|Kefar Hananya]], [[Farradiyya|Parod]], [[Ravid]], Mashkaneh, Sabban, and [[Tiberias]] were established by the end of the first century BCE or the start of the first century CE.<ref name="Leibner2009" /> By the end of the first century CE, the Galilee was dotted with small towns and villages. While Josephus writes there were 204 small towns, modern scholars consider this an exaggeration.

Galilee's economy under Roman rule thrived on a combination of agriculture, fishing, and specialized crafts. Excavations in villages like Nazareth have revealed extensive agricultural infrastructure, including numerous olive presses and granaries.<ref name=":7" /> [[Olive]] was extensively grown in parts of Upper Galilee.<ref name=":23">{{Citation |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |title=Political, social, and economic life in the Land of Israel, 66–c. 235 |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=38–39 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/political-social-and-economic-life-in-the-land-of-israel-66c-235/9B8F740CD3C91D2600B977B8A5EA2A09 |access-date=2023-03-31 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.003 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8}}</ref> Many towns and villages, particularly those around the Sea of Galilee benefited from both fertile land and a thriving fishing industry.<ref name=":7" /> In [[Tarichaea]] ([[Magdala]]), salted, dried, and pickled fish were significant export goods.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":23" /> Galilee also had specialized production centers.<ref name=":7" /> [[Shikhin|Shihin]], near Sepphoris, produced most of the region's storage jars. [[Kfar Hananya|Kefar Hananya]] in Upper Galilee manufactured various tableware forms, supplying markets across Galilee, the Golan Heights, the Decapolis, coastal areas, and the Beth Shean Valley.<ref name=":7" />

Josephus describes the Jewish population of Galilee as being nationalist and hostile to Jewish city-dwellers, making them the first target for the Romans during the [[Jewish–Roman wars|Jewish-Roman wars]]. [[Bargil Pixner]] believes they descended from a [[Davidic line|Davidic]] Jewish clan from [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Babylon]].<ref name="Skinner 113–125"/> But according to archaeological and literary evidence, upper and lower Galilee were 'very much in constant touch with the gentile, Greek-speaking cities that surrounded them.' Many Galileans were bilingual and made daily contacts with Jerusalem and gentiles around the Roman territory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Charlesworth |first=Scott D. |date=2016 |title=The Use of Greek in Early Roman Galilee: The Inscriptional Evidence Re-examined |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0142064X15621650 |journal=Journal for the Study of the New Testament |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=356–395 |doi=10.1177/0142064X15621650 |via=SageJournals}}</ref>

Markus Cromhout states that while Galileans, Judeans and diasporic Judeans were all Jewish, the Galileans had their unique social, political and economic matrix. In terms of ethnicity, Galileans were ethnic Judeans, which generally saw themselves also as Israelites, but could be also identified with localized characteristics, such as Sepphorean.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Cromhout |first=Markus |date=2008 |title=Were the Galileans "religious Jews" or "ethnic Judeans?" |url=https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222008000300008#:~:text=To%20reiterate%3A%20Galileans%20were%20not,statement%20against%20Judean%20ethnic%20identity |journal=HTS Theological Studies |volume=64 |issue=3 |via=Scielo}}</ref> Others argue that Galileans and Judeans were distinct people groups. Outsiders generally conflated them due to Hellenistic-Roman culture, which grouped all diverse groups in Palestine and their related diasporas as "Judean".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elliott |first=John |date=2007 |title=Jesus the Israelite Was Neither a 'Jew' Nor a 'Christian': On Correcting Misleading Nomenclature |url=https://www.academia.edu/27314057 |journal=Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=119–154 |doi=10.1177/1476869007079741 |via=Academia}}</ref>[[File:Herod Antipas.jpg|thumb|right|As a Roman [[client state|client ruler]], [[Herod Antipas]], the [[Herodian Tetrarchy|tetrarch of Galilee]] from 4 BCE–39 CE, was permitted to mint his own coinage (''shown above'').<ref name=Sanders1993>{{cite book|last=Sanders|first=E. P.|title=The Historical Figure of Jesus|date=1993|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-014499-4|location=London, New York, Ringwood, Australia, Toronto, Ontario, and Auckland, New Zealand|pages=20–22|author-link=E. P. Sanders}}</ref>]]In 4 BCE, a rebel named Judah plundered Galilee's largest city, [[Sepphoris]]. According to Josephus, the Syrian governor [[Publius Quinctilius Varus]] responded by sacking Sepphoris and selling the population into slavery, but the region's archaeology lacks evidence of such destruction.<ref name="Meyers1999">Eric M. Meyers,'Sepphoris on the Eve of the Great Revolt (67–68 C.E.): Archaeology and Josephus,' in Eric M. Meyers,''Galilee Through the Centuries: Confluence of Cultures,'' Eisenbrauns, 1999 pp.109ff., p. 114: (Josephus, Ant. 17.271–87; War 2.56–69).</ref><ref name="Casey2010">{{cite book |last=Casey |first=Maurice |author-link=Maurice Casey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXK0auknD0YC&q=The+area+surrounding+Nazareth+was+fertile&pg=PA194 |title=Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian's Account of His Life and Teaching |date=2010 |publisher=T & T Clark |isbn=978-0-567-64517-3 |location=New York City, New York and London, England |pages=164–169}}</ref> After the death of [[Herod the Great]] that same year, his son [[Herod Antipas]] was appointed as [[Herodian Tetrarchy|tetrarch of Galilee]] by the Roman emperor [[Augustus]]. Galilee remained a Roman [[client state]] and Antipas paid tribute to the [[Roman Empire]] in exchange for Roman protection.<ref name=Sanders1993/>

The Romans did not station troops in Galilee, but threatened to retaliate against anyone who attacked it. As long as he continued to pay tribute, Antipas was permitted to govern however he wished<ref name=Sanders1993/> and was permitted to mint his own coinage. Antipas was relatively observant of Jewish laws and customs. Although his palace was decorated with animal carvings, which many Jews regarded as a transgression against the law prohibiting idols, his coins bore only agricultural designs, which his subjects deemed acceptable.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In general, Antipas was a capable ruler. Josephus does not record any instance of his use of force to put down an uprising and he had a long, prosperous reign. However, many Jews probably resented him as not sufficiently devout.<ref name="Sanders1993" /> Antipas rebuilt the city of Sepphoris,<ref name="Casey2010" /> and in either 18 CE or 19 CE, he founded the new city of [[Tiberias]]. These two cities became Galilee's largest cultural centers.<ref name="Sanders1993" /> They were the main centers of Greco-Roman influence, but were still predominantly Jewish. A massive gap existed between the rich and poor,<ref name="Casey2010" /> but lack of uprisings suggest that taxes were not exorbitantly high and that most Galileans did not feel their livelihoods were being threatened.<ref name="Sanders1993" />

Late in his reign, Antipas married his half-niece [[Herodias]], who was already married to one of her other uncles. His wife, whom he divorced, fled to her father [[Aretas IV Philopatris|Aretas]], an Arab king, who invaded Galilee and defeated Antipas's troops before withdrawing. Both Josephus and the [[Gospel of Mark]]<ref>''Bible'', {{bibleverse|Mark|6:17–29|9}}</ref> record that the itinerant preacher [[John the Baptist]] criticized Antipas over his marriage, and Antipas consequently had him [[Beheading of John the Baptist|imprisoned and then beheaded]].<ref name="Sanders1993" /> In around 39 CE, at the urging of [[Herodias]], Antipas went to Rome to request that he be elevated from the status of tetrarch to the status of king. The Romans found him guilty of storing arms, so he was removed from power and exiled, ending his forty-three-year reign. During the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Revolt]] (66–73 CE), a Jewish mob destroyed Herod Antipas's palace.<ref name="Sanders1993" />

Overall, Galilee under Antipas's rule was marked by significant demographic instability. Diseases like malaria were rampant, internal migration between urban and rural areas were frequent and women generally gave birth at young ages while married to older men. Birth control, including [[infanticide]], was not practiced. Many young men, especially marginal villagers, migrated to urban areas to find wives or alternatively, employment. Finding wives was presumed to be competitive since widows often refused to marry past the age of 30 compared to widowers. According to Jonathan L. Reed, this can provide insight on the tropes of New Testament literature, such as miraculous healings and the itinerant lifestyle of Jesus and his disciples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reed |first=Jonathan L. |date=2010 |title=Instability in Jesus' Galilee: A Demographic Perspective |jstor=27821023 |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=129 |issue=2 |pages=343–365 |doi=10.2307/27821023 }}</ref>

In 66 CE, during the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]], Josephus was appointed by the [[Judean provisional government|Jerusalem provisional government]] to command Galilee. The region experienced internal conflicts among cities such as Sepphoris and Tiberias, with factions opposing Josephus's authority and warring for control. Sepphoris and other strong cities attempted to remain neutral by maintaining alliances with Rome. Despite opposition, Josephus managed to secure internal peace and fortified nineteen cities in preparation for the Roman invasion; nearly half of them were uncovered by archaeologists. In 67 CE, the Roman army, led by general [[Vespasian]], arrived in Acre. Josephus's account, ''[[The Jewish War]]'', details the Roman [[Galilee campaign (67)|campaign in Galilee]], starting with the siege and capture of Gabara, followed by Jotapata (where Josephus was captured), and continuing with Tiberias, Taricheae, Gamala, Tabor, and ending in Gischala. While not all of Galilee was devastated, the conquered cities were razed, and many inhabitants were sold into slavery.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Petri Fischzug Raffael.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Jesus and the [[miraculous catch of fish]], in the Sea of Galilee. Many people in Roman-era Galilee were fishermen.<ref name=Casey2010/>]]