What was the capital of Palestine at the time of Luke's Gospel?

Answer 1

Although David established Jerusalem as the capital of a united Israel long before Jesus came, the country later split into two kindgoms - the kingdom of the north retaining the name of Israel and that of the south being called Judah, as it occupied much of the territory that was held as the area of the tribe of Judah way back in the time of Jacob abd his twelve sons . The Kingdom of Israel (or Northern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until around 720 BC when it was conquered by the Assyrian Empire; while the Kingdom of Judah (or Southern Kingdom) existed as an independent state until 586BC when it was conquered by the Babylonicn Empire. Until these times the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel was Samaria, and the southern kingdom of Judah still held Jerusalem as its capital. In the time of Jesus, the Roman Empire had conquered both Israel and Judah (which became known by its Latin name of Judea) and the two capitals retained as administrative centres, but as they were part of the Roman Empire, the official capital city was, of course, Rome.

Answer 2

The Kingdom of Israel existed in two stages: the United Kingdom of Israel and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

As the United Kingdom of Israel, the capitals were (in chronological order): Gibeah, Hebron, and Jerusalem.

As the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the country was estranged from Jerusalem, which remained in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The capitals of the Northern Kingdom were (in chronological order): Shechem (currently called Nablus), Penual, Tirzah, and Samaria.

In 722 BCE, Samaria was conquered by the Assyrian army and the Kingdom of Israel was defeated.

Answer 3

Caesarea, a coastal city roughly halfway between the modern Israeli cities of Hadera and Haifa along the Mediterranean Coast, was the Roman Administrative Center of the Judea and later Syria-Palaestina Provinces. Jerusalem was still the center of Jewish religious affairs, however.

Answer 4

There was no single province of Palestine at the time of Luke's Gospel.

Caesarea Maritima was the capital of the province of Judea, which included the ancient city of Jerusalem and the immediate surrounds.