Jews and Romans in the Early Empire, Part II

In dealing with the Jews of Palestine, Rome was motivated by the fundamental principle of religious toleration, to which was added a regard for the maintenance of law and order and political stability. In practice, however, the Jews often fared less well under Roman rule than their brethren elsewhere. Definite protection of Jewish religious liberty was less necessary in a predominantly Jewish country than it was in places where the Jews formed only minority groups. But Rome showed toleration and commonsense in respecting Jewish prejudices where the Imperial cult was concerned.

Not that that cult was entirely unknown in Palestine. It was found in the far north. But its establishment there was the work of the half-foreign and half-pagan Herod and his sons, whose policy was one of Hellenization, and not the work of the Emperors; and a large proportion of the population of the north was non-Jewish. With the single exception of Gaius, none of the Emperors attempted to impose the Imperial cult on Palestine, although it was the regular thing to introduce it into other new provinces.