Alternate Roman History

[Traitorfish]

Killing 12,000 Jews and then insulting their graves by religious desecration isn't a "terrible abuse"? I suppose it wouldn't be to a Stalinist.

I would've thought that the next few centuries of military occupation were more insulting than a religious faux pas.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I would've thought that the next few centuries of military occupation were more insulting than a religious faux pas.

You'd be surprised.

 

[vogtmurr]

Pompey just decided to step in and have a peak, having helped the Pharisee high priest take power there as John Hyrcanus, against the Sadducees. I don't think he revealed much of what he saw and allowed them to purify it and seal it up again, leaving offerings. As I understood it the Romans stayed on relatively good terms at least as long as the time of Agrippa. It was unrest under Herod Agrippa II and the mismanagement of a Roman governor there that precipitated the catastrophe against Vespasian and Titus. Bar Kokhba came 60 years later, and by then they were certainly not popular. They were persecuted, like Christians, under the rule of Severus who was upholding the law. But the reasons as some have pointed out here, is the Romans didn't care for religions at odds with their own traditional beliefs, resisting the process of syncretism.

 

[Karalysia]

Out of the list of things done to the Jews I think Pompey violating a "holy" place ranks pretty low on the list.

 

[sophie]

I wonder how much it would have cost and how long it would have taken for Rome to build a wall along the Rhine River during Hadrian's reign?

Thanks for making my day!

 

[Lord Baal]

All true, but you're leaving quite a few details out. The Romans were on several occasions very abusive of Jews, even prior to the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. The most egregious example being Pompey marching into the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem just because he was curious, knowing that the Judeans couldn't stop him.

Point taken. Jews were still, on average, treated better than most subject peoples at this time though. Which may well account for how shockingly they were treated when the Romans finally turned on them fully.

 

[SG-17]

Thanks for making my day!

I just want to know from a time and cost perspective. I've used the Wall Units in Civ3 mods to build complete walls around my empire.

In reality it took about 6 years to build Hadrian's Wall which is only a fraction of the length of the Rhine. I am simple postulating the cost in time that a much longer wall would take for the Romans to build.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Do we care about the resources to man it or just the physical stone and mortar requirements?

 

[Dachs]

Pity it had to be during the reign of Hadrianus, because by the end of Valentinianus I's reign the Rhine frontier was pretty well fortified - probably wouldn't have taken nearly the same amount of effort to build a Long Wall of some kind.

 

[Ajidica]

If the Rhine was fortified so well, why did the Rhine Invaders break into Gaul so easily?

 

[Dachs]

Most of the fortifications that obtained in the 370s were kinda trashed by the 390s due to the two civil wars and the relocation of the government center to Italy. Even then, it was hardly "easy".