Читать книгу Bible of the Time. …from the Big Bang to the present day… - Rem Word - Страница 11

The first Hebrew tribes, in the manner described in the Bible, or in some other way, appear in the territory with the general name Canaan forty-two centuries ago. This is followed by a series of periods of assimilation or isolation of the Jews among other nations.

Canaan, «the Promised Land» on the map of the Ancient World

The Epoch of Judges, interpreters of the law, lasts three hundred years, marked, at the end, by a certain decline in morals. The last of the Judges, Samuel creates a kind of school of prophets who speak the truth to the rulers in the face, not caring about the consequences. He anoints the kingdom of the chosen one of God, Saul. His successor, the shepherd David, who ascended to the very pinnacle of power because of his decisive disposition, has the capital in Jerusalem. Having finally dealt with the Ammonites, Philistines and other tribes that have inhabited Canaan since ancient times, he created a mono-ethnic Jewish state. The son of David, Solomon erects the First Temple – the only legal place for God to serve among the Jews. After the death of the king, the country is divided into Israel with the capital Samaria, where ten tribes of Jews find shelter and Judea with the center of power – Jerusalem.

Judea (Jerusalem), Israel (Samaria) and Assyria (ancient capital – Ashur), eighth century BC

Seven centuries BC. The first superpower of antiquity, Assyria, turns Israel into a scorched desert. Ten of the twelve tribes are taken prisoner by the invaders. Their traces are lost. Later, Judea, which remained aloof from the battle, includes Babylon into its empire. Residents are taken away into slavery. After some time, thanks to the beloved wife of King Esther, the Babylonians declare them equal and allow them to return to their historical homeland. The liberated Jews build the Second Temple on the ruins of the First Sanctuary. Another one and a half centuries of relative peace and Judea falls under the control of the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemaic-Seleucids. The uprisings directed by the Hasmonean clan and the branch of Maccabees emanating from it (a nickname that has become a household name for the implacable defenders of the faith), dissatisfied with Hellenization, make the Hasmonean kingdom quite independent. But internecine wars break out. To resolve all issues, as an arbitrator, the Jews call on the great Wrath Pompey. All this ends with the fact that the Roman commander includes Judea in the structure of his Republic.

In the sixty-sixth year A.D. The First Jewish Revolt breaks out. The emperors of Rome, father and son, Titus and Vespasian, are systematically carrying out reprisals against the rebels. In Jerusalem, six hundred thousand inhabitants perish from hunger, in internecine massacres and at the hands of legionnaires. Another fifty years of dull discontent and under the Emperor Trajan follows the Second Uprising. As a result, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and founded the Hellenized city of Aelia Capitolina in its place.

Fifteen years later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who forbade circumcision so important for the Jews, the rebellion of Shimon Bar-Kokhba breaks out. The Iron Legions capture the last stronghold of the rebels – the mountain fortress of Betar. Judea completely loses its autonomy. The surviving 30% of its inhabitants are settled throughout the Ecumene.