Judäa - Syria Palästina

Many aspects of the history of a province are missing in the literary records. In the past decades, numerous epigraphical, papyrological, numismatic and archeological sources have become accessible for the province of Judaea. These sources have led to a considerably newer and more realistic image of the province of Judaea / Syria Palestine than had previously evolved, especially under the influence of the information in Mishnah or Talmud. The essays in Werner Eck's volume show the new perspective on Roman rule in Judaea enabled by Latin and Greek inscriptions in particular and also the disastrous consequences of the Bar Kokhba revolt for the country. In addition, there is a skeptical view on Josephus, whose description of the Roman prefects before the first revolt is exposed as a deliberate defamation.