Sects in Judea
The fiercest sect, they lived on Masada after the fall of Jerusalem
Who are the Zealots?
The greatest general of his time. Nero sent him and his son to crush the Jewish revolts in Judea.
Who was Vespasian?
A town in the Golan that fell in 67 CE after the Romans collapsed its watchtower.
What is Gamla?
Built by Herod, famous for the mass suicide of the Zealots in 73 CE.
What is Masada?
Who was R' Yochanan ben Zakkai?
Who are the Pharisees?
Not really a Roman, but a Roman-appointed governor of Judea. He had major building projects, including the fortress at Masada.
Who was Herod?
The town that Vespasian gave to R' Yochanan ben Zakkai.
What is Yavneh?
He laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 CE because he knew it was the heart of Judea and where many Jews fled after other revolts were crushed.
Who is Titus?
He redacted the Mishnah.
Who was R' Yehuda HaNasi?
The wealthiest sect, most aligned with Rome and comprised most members of the Sanhedrin and Priest class.
Who are the Sadducees?
Emperor during the time of the Bar Kokhba revolts, he combined Judea and the Galil to form Roman Palestine.
Who was Hadrian?
One of two ports in the north where the Romans landed to crush the Jewish revolts in 66 CE.
What is Acre or Caesarea?
This is where the Bar Kokhba revolt ended.
What is Beitar?
Who was Titus?
A small, very spiritual sect that had a tough initiation process and lived in caves.
Who were the Essenes?
A Jewish commander defeated by Vespasian, he worked for the Romans and is our greatest historian of this period.
Who was Josephus?
Hadrian named Palestine for them.
Who were the Plishtim (Philistines)?
This emperor wanted to build a statue of himself in the Beit HaMikdash. This is one of the precursors to the revolts.
Who was Caligula?
He believed Bar Kokhba was moshiach.
Who was R' Akiva?
We believe they wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Who are the Essenes?
He built the Arch of Titus.
Who was Domitian?
The town where R' Yehuda HaNasi grew up, it's where the Sanhedrin moved after Yavneh.
What is Usha?
Josephus said the cause of the revolts was problems of religious nationalism, class and ethnic struggle, and unresolved problems of the correct form of religious observance that led to clashes between the Jews. We refer to this problem by one phrase.
What is sinat chinam?
Though these rabbis didn't have many personal disagreements, their followers had more than 300 that are recorded. We call their followers by this name.
What are Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai?