I do regret the omission here of the extensive scholarship written in Hebrew, which is not accessible to me or, I assume, to most readers of this page.
Pride of place goes to the new edition of Emil Schürer's The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC-AD 135), trans and rev by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Matthew Black, and Martin Goodman, 3 vols (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, LTD, 1973-87). Although it addresses Christians and scholars interested in the Jewish setting of early Christianity, its comprehensiveness makes it an invaluable aid to the general study of Roman Palestine. E Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian: A Study in Political Relations, Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 20 (Leiden: E J Brill, 1981), furnishes a highly detailed monograph especially relevant to the administrative and military history of Palestine. Michael Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule: A Political History of Palestine from the Bar Kokhba War to the Arab conquest (New York: Schocken Books; Jerusalem: Magnes, the Hebrew University, 1984) is a useful study by one of the great scholars of Roman Palestine that picks up where Schürer leaves off, albeit with a focus not on Palestine but on the Jews of Palestine. For religious and cultural developments, again with reference to the Jews, see Shaye J D Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Library of early Christianity 7 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987). Moshe Gil summarizes the Muslim conquest and the end of Roman rule in Palestine in the first chapter of his monumental A History of Palestine 634-1099, trans Ethel Broido (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press, 1992).
Fergus Millar, The Roman Near East 31 BC-AD 337 (Cambridge, Mass, and London: Harvard Univ Press, 1993) surveys the history of Roman relations, Romanization, and ethnicity in the eastern provinces. Several recent works place Palestine within the context of Roman eastern military policy or practice. These include Benjamin Isaac, The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East, rev ed (Oxford: Oxford Univ Press, 1993), and David Kennedy and Derrick Riley, Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air (Austin: Univ of Texas Press, 1990).
In addition to the general works cited above, the following works represent important contributions to the study of particular issues. Schürer's History of the Jewish People offers extensive bibliographic information for the period from the founding of the province until the end of the second revolt.
On the Herods see A H M Jones, The Herods of Judaea, rev ed (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967). On the origins of the first revolt see, in addition to Schürer's History of the Jewish People, Martin Goodman, The Ruling Class of Judaea: the Origins of the Jewish Revolt against Rome, AD 66-70 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press, 1987). On the outbreak of the Bar Cochba Revolt see H Mantel, "The Causes of the Bar Kokba Revolt," Jewish Quarterly Review 58 (1967-68): 224-42, 274-96, 59 (1968-69): 341-42.
On individual cities see the section on Archaeology below. On the status of imperial colonia, especially Caesarea and Aelia Capitolina, see F Millar, "The Roman Coloniae of the Near East: A Study of Cultural Relations," in Roman Eastern Policy and Other Studies in Roman History, Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 91 (Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, 1990), 7-58, esp 23-30. On Hadrian's patronage in Palestine see Kenneth G Holum, "Hadrian and Caesarea: An Episode in the Romanization of Palestine," Ancient World 23.1 (1992): 51-61.
Many regional studies examine parts of Palestine. Galilee especially has excited a good deal of scholarly interest. Martin Goodman, State and Society in Roman Galilee, AD 132-212 (Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld, 1983) presents a social history of Galilee with emphasis on the rise and development of rabbinic Judaism in the second century. Sean Freyne has investigated Galilee from religious and cultural perspectives in several works: From Alexander the Great to Hadrian, 323 BCE to 135 CE: A Study of Second Temple Judaism, University of Notre Dame Center for the Study of Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity, no. 5 (Wilmington, Del: M Glazier; Notre Dame, Ind: Univ of Notre Dame Press, 1980); and Galilee, Jesus, and the Gospels: Literary Approaches and Historical Investigations (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1988). Galilee in Late Antiquity was the subject of a conference whose proceedings are published as The Galilee in Late Antiquity, ed Lee I Levine, International Conference on Galilean Studies in Late Antiquity (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ Press, 1992). For the other side of the Sea of Galilee see D Urman The Golan: A Profile of a Region during the Roman and Byzantine Periods, British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 269 (Oxford, England: BAR, 1985). For the results of a survey in central Israel see Shimon Dar, Landscape and Pattern: An Archaeological Survey of Samaria 800 BCE-636 CE, British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 308 (Oxford: BAR, 1986). And for the south see Kenneth C. Gutwein, Third Palestine: A Regional Study in Byzantine Urbanization (Washington, D.C.: Univ Press of America,1981). Philip Mayerson investigates the flowing of the desert in the late antique Negev in The Ancient Agricultural Regime of Nessana and the Central Negeb (London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem 1961). For Nabataea see Nelson Glueck, Deities and Dolphins: The Story of the Nabataeans (London: Cassell, 1966).
Failing a comprehensive survey on the Roman army in Palestine, consult, in addition to Schürer's History of the Jewish People and Smallwood's Jews under Roman Rule, Baruch Lifshitz, "Légions romaines en Palestine," in Hommages à Marcel Renard, vol 2, Collection Latomus, 102 (Brussels: Latomus, 1969), 458-69; Michael P Speidel, "The Roman Army in Judaea Under the Procurators," Ancient Society 13-14 (1982-83): 233-40; Benjamin Isaac, "The Roman Army in Jerusalem and Its Vicinity," in Studien zu den Militärgrenzen Roms III, 13. Vorträge des Internationalen Limeskongreß, Aalen 1983, Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frügeschichte in Baden-Württemberg, vol 20 (Stuttgart: Komissionsverlag, Konrad Theiss Verlag, 1986), 635-40.
On economic history consult Zeev Safrai, The Economy of Roman Palestine (London, New York: Routledge, 1994).
On Eusebius's roots in the school of Christian learning at Caesarea see Timothy D Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ Press, 1981), esp pt 2. On pilgrimage see Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire, AD 312-460, by E D Hunt ( Oxford : Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1982). On the remarkable flowering of monasticism in the Judaean desert see Yizhar Hirschfeld, The Judean Desert Monasteries in the Byzantine Period (New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 1992), and John Binns, Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries of Palestine 314-631 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994).
The last generation has seen an enormous flowering of late antique studies, for Palestine as well as for the Roman world in general. We have yet to see a comprehensive summary of this new information. On new archaeological information see below, under archaeology (esp The Roman and Byzantine Near East--see below). For the north see The Galilee in Late Antiquity (cited above); for the south C Foss, "The Near Eastern Countryside in Late Antiquity," in The Roman and Byzantine Near East, 213-34 at 223-34. Philip Mayerson examines the administrative history of late antique Palestine in a series of articles culminating in "Justinian's Novel 103 and the Reorganization of Palestine," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 269 (1988): 65-71. Leah Di Segni studies the relations between local and imperial elites and the administration and finances of the late empire in her valuable "The Involvement of Local, Municipal, and Provincial Authorities in Urban Building in Late Antique Palestine and Arabia," in The Roman and Byzantine Near East, 312-32. See, too, the indispensable Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey, by A H M Jones (Norman: Univ of Oklahoma Press, 1964).
Some of the maps in the article on Palestine depend on the maps in the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean Web site. They have been copied, reused or redistributed under the terms of IAM's fair use policy. These maps are Copyright 1998 by the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean.
The Tabula Imperii Romani Iudaea-Palaestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods, by Yoram Tsafrir, Leah Di Segni, and Judith Green (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanitites, 1994), includes maps and a gazetter incorporating the most recent scholarship, including work on the network of roads. Two of the maps locate synagogues and churches. The authors had to limit coverage, however, to the area of Palestine within the modern borders of Israel and the occupied territories. Their work follows that of Michael Avi-Yonah, whose Gazetter of Roman Palestine, Qedem 5 (Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem, 1976), and The Holy Land from the Persian to the Arab Conquests (536 BC to AD 640): A Historical Geography, rev ed (Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1977), remain important, especially for areas not covered by the Tabula Imperii Romani. For a description of the modern region see Atlas of the Middle East, ed Moshe Brawer (New York: Macmillan, 1988). For additional information on the roads in the southeast see D F Graf, "The Via Nova Traiana in Arabia Petraea," in The Roman and Byzantine Near East (cited below), 241-67. And for a comprehensive survey of the road system see I Roll, "The Roman Road System in Judaea," The Jerusalem Cathedra 3 (1983): 136-81.
Natural disasters have not occurred without their effect on Palestine's history. Consult K W Russell, "The Earthquake Chronology of Palestine and Northwest Arabia from the Second through the Mid-Eighth Century," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 260 (1985): 37-59; and D H K Amiran and E Arieh, "Earthquakes in Israel and Adjacent Areas: Macroscismic Observations since 100 BCE," Israel Exploration Journal 44 (1994): 260-305.
For demographic information, including populations, ethnic distribution, and distributionof churches and synagogues, see the summaries in Avi-Yonah, Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, and the Tabula Imperii Romani Iudaea-Palaestina. Few scholars dare estimate sizes of population; Avi-Yonah, Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, offers some; for more recent estimates see Magen Broshi, "The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 236 (1980): 1-10.
On the Jews see, for religious and cultural developments, Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, and Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. On Jewish identity and its formation see the important articles by Shaye J D Cohen collected as The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties, Hellenistic Culture and Society, 31(Berkeley: Univ of California Press, 1999).
On the Samaritans see A D Crown, The Samaritans (Tübingen: J C B Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1989) in general and, on their revolts, K G Holum, "Caesarea and the Samaritans," City, Town, and Countryside in the Early Byzantine Era, ed R L Hohlfelder, East European Monographs no 120, Byzantine Series no 1 (Boulder: East European Monographs; New York: Columbia University Press, 1982).
Millar, The Roman Near East, struggles to define the ethnic groups of the east both on their own and their neighbors' terms and by objective linguistic and cultural criteria; his valuable study demonstrates how difficult and incomplete such an undertaking must be. See also id, "Hagar, Ishmael, Josephus, and the Origins of Islam," Journal of Jewish Studies 44 (1993).
In general, consult Hans-Peter Kuhnen, Palästina in griechisch-römischer Zeit, Handbuch der Archäologie, Vorderasien, 2.2 (Munich: Beck, 1990); and Rachel Hachlili, Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Land of Israel, Handbuch der Orientalistik 7.1.2.B.4 (Leiden, New York: Brill, 1988). The best guidebook to Palestine is Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's The Holy Land, 4th ed (Oxford: Oxford Univ Press, 1998).
Two new encyclopedias furnish important information about the archaeology of Palestine. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Carta; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993) is a recently updated (to 1992) version of M Avi-Yonah's previously indispensable encyclopedia (1975-78). It contains articles about all important archaeological sites in Israel, including those of the Roman period. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford Univ Press, 1997) ranges further afield, but still includes many relevant and recent articles.
Since 1892 the École biblique has produced the Revue Biblique, with articles and notices on the history, epigraphy, and archaeology of Palestine. The American Schools of Oriental Research--which sponsors the W F Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem--has a number of vehicles for disseminating archaeological research on Palestine: the Bulletin, the Annual (1919-), and the popular magazine Near Eastern Archaeology (1998-; formerly Biblical Archaeologist). The Biblical Archaeology Society publishes another popular magazine with many articles on Palestine, Biblical Archaeology Review (1975-). The Israel Exploration Society publishes a host of popular and scholarly works on the history and archaeology of Israel. Especially important are its periodicals Israel Exploration Journal (1950-) and Qadmoniot: Quarterly for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible Lands (1968-). The Israel Antiquities Authority offers up-to-date information about its fieldwork in Hadashot Arkheologiyot, English summaries of which the Israel Exploration Society publishes as Excavations and Surveys in Israel (1982-); the Antiquitites Authority (formerly the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums) also publishes a journal, `Atiqot (1955-), which since 1991 has included articles in English. The Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem publishes reports on the excavations it sponsors in the series Qedem (1970-). The Journal of Roman Archaeology (1988-) has published many important and relevant articles, and its fourteenth supplement, The Roman and Byzantine Near East: Some Recent Archaeological Research (1995), contains recent research.
While the archaeological investigation of this part of the world has focused on the Biblical period, it has generated considerable information about the Roman period. Work on the late antique period proved especially fruitful in the latter twentieth century. See The Roman and Byzantine Near East: Some Recent Archaeological Research, Journal of Roman Archaeology Suppl Ser 14 (Ann Arbor: Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1995). Jodi Magness has constructed a systematic chronology of the late antique pottery in Jerusalem Ceramic Chronology Circa 200-800 CE, JSOT/ASOR monograph series, no 9 (Sheffield, England: JSOT Press, 1993).
Frowald Hüttenmeister and Gottfried Reeg assemble the corpus of synagogues in Die antiken Synagogen in Israel, 2 vols (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1977). For mosaic pavements see Ruth Ovadiah and Asher Ovadiah, Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaic Pavements in Israel, Bibliotheca Archaeologica 6 (Rome: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1987).
Some of the most impressive and popular new information has come from the Judaean desert and the area of the Dead Sea. On Masada see Yigael Yadin Masada: Herod's Fortress and the Zealots' Last Stand, trans Moshe Pearlman (New York: Random House, 1966); see also the continuing excavation reports: Masada: The Yigael Yadin Excavations 1963-1965: Final Reports (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1989-), of which five volumes have thus far appeared. The documents that have emerged from the area of the Dead Sea since the middle of the twentieth century appear in the series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (1955-); for a translation of many of these texts see Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, and Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (New York: HarperCollins, 1996). Joseph A Fitzmyer maintains a bibliography: The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and Tools for Study, rev ed (Atlanta, Ga: Scholars Press, 1990). An on-line version of the exhibit at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, "Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship" features documents and artifacts. For the site at Qumran see Roland deVaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Oxford Univ Press, 1973); the excavation field notes are now available: Jean-Baptiste Humbert and Alain Chambon, Fouilles de Khirbet Qumran et de Ain Feshkha, Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus, Series Archaeologica 1 (Fribourg, Switzerland: Editions universitaires; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994). Finally, for a rich source for the history of the Bar Cochba period, see The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period in the Cave of Letters, ed Naphtali Lewis, Yigael Yadin, and Jonas C. Greenfield (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society; Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Shrine of the Book, 1989).
Daniel Sperber offers a view of the ancient experience of the city according to literary sources in The City in Roman Palestine (New York: Oxford Univ Press, 1998). For the archaeological evidence see the following.
Jerusalem's Roman and late antique periods have benefited from recent historical and archaeological study, especially in the area around the temple platform and the the Jewish Quarter, both in the Old City; see Discovering Jerusalem by Nahman Avigad (Nashville: T Nelson, 1983). For more general historical information see Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus: An Investigation into Economic and Social Conditions during the New Testament Period, trans F H Cave and C H Cave (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969). The article on Jerusalem in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land surveys the relevant periods. Consult, too, Dan Bahat, The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, trans Shlomo Ketko (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
The coastal city Caesarea Maritima,
founded by Herod on the site of the Hellenistic city Strato's Tower, has since
the 1950s attracted maritime archaeologists on account of its magnificent
harbor as well as terrestrial archaeologists. King Herod's Dream,
by Kenneth G Holum, Robert L Hohlfelder, Robert J Bull, and Avner Raban
(New York and London: Norton, 1988), offers an excellent survey of the history
of Caesarea, a synthesis of the archaeological evidence, and a most accessible
introduction to the practice of archaeology in the Near East. The
subsequent intensive exploration of the site, however, makes the book
increasingly dated. Current work appears regularly in the journals
mentioned above and in the series Caesarea Papers, published by the
Journal of Roman Archaeology, and the proceedings of an international
conference held at Caearea in 1995 appear as Caesarea Maritima: A
Retrospective after Two Millennia, ed Avner Raban and Kenneth G Holum
(Leiden: Brill, 1996). For the most recent information about the excavations
at Caesarea, including annual field reports, see the Web site of the Combined Caesarea
Expeditions. On the exploration of the harbor see The
Harbours of Caesarea Maritima: Results of the Caesarea Ancient Excavation
Project, 1980-1985, ed John Peter Oleson, BAR International Series 491,
594; Center for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa, 3, 5 (Oxford: Tempus
Reparatum, 1989). The Pilate inscription has generated an enormous bibliography; see L'année
épigraphique, 1963, 104; Carla Brusa Gerra in Scavi di Caesarea
Maritima (Rome: Bretschneider, 1966), 217-20; most recently Gilbert Labbé,
Ponce Pilate et la munificence de Tibère," Revue des Études Anciennes
93 (1991): 277-97. The page on People and Places illustrates two tombstones from Caesarea: a Jewish one published by Baruch Lifshitz, "Inscriptions de
Césarée," Revue Biblique 74 (1967): 50-59 at 50-52; and a Christian one published by Clermont-Ganneau, Mission en
Palestine et en Phénicie (Paris: Impr nationale, 1884), 59.
Failing a comprehensive study, for a convenient survey of the history and archaeology of Ascalon see the article by its excavator, Lawrence E Stager, in the The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, sv. The Leon Levy Expedition has a Web page with current information about the expedition; additional on-line information comes from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Consult the article in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations for Eleutheropolis, Neapolis, Sebaste, and Beth Shean (Scythopolis); but for the latter see in addition the regular reports on current excavations in Excavations and Surveys in Israel. Compare the recent work of the Abila Archaeological Project at another city of the Decapolis, across the Jordan in the Yarmuk valley. Gaza has received little archaeological attention, but the rhetoric produced by its school has informed several historical studies, including Glanville Downey's Gaza in the Early Sixth Century, Centers of Civilization Series 8 (Norman: Univ of Oklahoma Press, 1963), and Carol A M Glucker's The City of Gaza in the Roman and Byzantine Periods, BAR International Series 325 (Oxford: BAR, 1987).
The Roman and late Roman history of Sepphoris (from the time of Hadrian called Diocaesarea) has benefited from the work of the Joint Sepphoris Project of the Hebrew University and Duke University (1985-89) and then the work of a team from the Hebrew University (1990-). Since 1983 a group from the University of South Florida has excavated here; see its Web site for reports and information about current work. For the work of the Joint Sepphoris Project see Sepphoris, by Eric M Meyers, Ehud Netzer, and Carol L Meyers (Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 1992), and for the Hebrew University's work see Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss, Tsipori, trans Hani Davis (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1994). The team from the Institute of Archaeology of Hebrew University also maintains a Web site with reports and news about current work and opportunities. For the literary evidence see Stuart S Miller, Studies in the History and Traditions of Sepphoris, Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 37 (Leiden: E J Brill, 1984).
For Tiberias consult Helga Dudman and Elisheva Ballhorn, Tiberias (Jerusalem: Carta, 1988), and Yizhar Hirschfeld, A Guide to Antiquity Sites in Tiberias, trans Edward Levin and Inna Pommerantz (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1992). On the synagogues at Hammath Tiberias see M Dothan, Hammath Tiberias: Early Synagogues and the Hellenistic and Roman Remains (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1983).
Failing a corpus of inscriptions for all of Palestine, the student of the province must turn to topical or local collections. The second volume of Jean-Baptiste Frey's Corpus inscriptionum judaicarum (Rome: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 1936-52) includes some texts from Palestine.
For the Greek and Semitic inscriptions of Beth She`arim see the series Beth
Shearim: Report on the Excavations during 1936-1940, 3 vols (New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Press, 1973-76). Caesarea has generated a
large body of important texts; The Greek and Latin Inscriptions of Caesarea
Maritima, by Clayton Miles Lehmann and Kenneth G Holum (Atlanta: Scholars
Press) should appear in 2000. Baruch Lifshitz studies the architectural inscriptions from the synagogues
in Donateurs et fondateurs dans les synagogues juives: Repertoire des
dedicaces grecques relatives à la construction et à la ráfection des synagogues
(Paris: J Gabalda, 1967).
For yearly reports of newly published texts consult L'Année épigraphique (Latin) and Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (Greek).
The standard survey of Palestinian numismatics is Y Meshorer, The City Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1985), and, for Jewish coinage, Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2 vols (Dix Hills, NY: Amphora Books, 1982), vol 2.
copyright Last update 22 February 2007.