How did the Romans feel about Judaism?

Answer 1

For most of the time of the Roman Empire, the Jews who lived in their homeland were just another group of conquered peoples. They paid their taxes and obeyed the laws and Rome protected them. However when the Jews revolted, the Romans came down hard on them as they would on any other province that revolted. After the second Jewish revolt, Jerusalem was disgraced and the Jews were forbidden to enter their former capital and holy city.

Answer 2

Our traditions state that even at the best of times, the Romans squeezed us with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a). They originally had a treaty with Judea, but they unilaterally violated it after a couple of decades (Talmud, Avodah Zarah 8b). They sold hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery (Josephus). From time to time they forbade the observance of the Torah-commands, and they killed several of the leading Sages, despite the fact that the Torah-leaders always advised against revolt (Talmud, Gittin 56a).
In the first two centuries of the Common Era, they laid waste to large parts of the Holy Land, destroying the tax-base that they had had there.

Answer 3

The Romans detested Judaism because of its insistence that the Roman Caesar was not a god and that the loyalty and worship of the Jews concentrated on their own God and the land that He had given as an inheritance to the Jewish people.

Answer 4

Rome was a vast empire, and no single answer could apply to all of the Romans. Historians write that many thousands of Romans became interested or influenced by their Jewish neighbors. Some of these became converts, while most eventually joined Christianity, which was viewed by some as a new Jewish community. Others were not so sympathetic, obviously partly because of the military battles between the Jews and Romans. Concerning those many Romans who hated the Jews, see this linked page.

Historical background:

Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the two sons of the Jewish King Yannai (Johanan Hyrcanus, 1st century BCE), got the Romans involved in Judea when they asked them to settle a dispute. At first the Romans were cordial; and they actually became party to a military treaty with Judea (Talmud, Avodah Zara 8b). The Romans didn't interfere much in Jewish internal matters, because the main thing that they wanted was taxes and a quiet populace.
A couple of decades later, however, they unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and placed Roman governors over the land who afflicted the Jews with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a).

In the first two centuries CE, things got worse, with the Romans destroying Jerusalem and the Second Temple after the Jewish Zealots attempted to revolt. The Romans sold hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery (Josephus). From time to time they forbade the observance of the Torah-commands, and they killed several of the leading Sages, despite the fact that the Torah-leaders had advised against revolt (Talmud, Gittin 56a).

Later, Simeon Bar Kochba led a second revolt, in an ill-advised attempt to recreate the independent Judea. The Romans responded by destroying Betar.

See also:

Jewish history timeline

Answer 5

Rome was a vast empire, and no single answer could apply to all of the Romans. Historians write that many thousands of Romans became interested or influenced by their Jewish neighbors. Some of these became converts, while most eventually joined Christianity, which was viewed by some as a new Jewish community.Others were not so sympathetic, obviously partly because of the military battles between the Jews and Romans. Concerning those many Romans who hated the Jews, see this linked page.

Historical background:

Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, the two sons of the Jewish King Yannai (Johanan Hyrcanus, 1st century BCE), got the Romans involved in Judea when they asked them to settle a dispute. At first the Romans were cordial; and they actually became party to a military treaty with Judea (Talmud, Avodah Zara 8b). The Romans didn't interfere much in Jewish internal matters, because the main thing that they wanted was taxes and a quiet populace.
A couple of decades later, however, they unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and placed Roman governors over the land who afflicted the Jews with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a).

In the first two centuries CE, things got worse, with the Romans destroying Jerusalem and the Second Temple after the Jewish Zealots attempted to revolt. The Romans sold hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery (Josephus). From time to time they forbade the observance of the Torah-commands, and they killed several of the leading Sages, despite the fact that the Torah-leaders had advised against revolt (Talmud, Gittin 56a).

Later, Simeon Bar Kochba led a second revolt, in an ill-advised attempt to recreate the independent Judea. The Romans responded by destroying Betar.

See also:

Jewish history timeline

Answer 6

At first the Romans were cordial; and they actually became party to a military treaty with Judea (Talmud, Avodah Zara 8b). The Romans didn't interfere much in Jewish internal matters, because the main thing that they wanted was taxes and a quiet populace.
A couple of decades later, however, they unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and placed Roman governors over the land who afflicted the Jews with crushing taxation (Talmud, Yoma 9a).

In the first two centuries CE, things got worse, with the Romans destroying Jerusalem and the Second Temple after the Jewish Zealots attempted to revolt. The Romans sold hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery (Josephus). From time to time they forbade the observance of the Torah-commands, and they killed several of the leading Sages, despite the fact that the Torah-leaders had advised against revolt (Talmud, Gittin 56a).

Later, Simeon Bar Kochba led a second revolt, in an ill-advised attempt to recreate the independent Judea. The Romans responded by destroying Betar.

See also the Related Links.

Link: The Destruction

Link: The Revolt

Link: Jewish history timeline

Link: The Jews and the Romans

Answer 7

We had some periods of coexistence with the Romans (as with the later Christians). Otherwise, the Romans were to us a nightmare of cruel despots.

Answer 8

The Jews rebelled against Roman rule.