CHAPTER 4

THEROMAN PROVINCIAL

ADMINISTRATION

RUDOLF HAENS CH

1 . PRELIMINARY REMARKS

Between the first century CE and late antiquity, Judaea seems to have been quite a wel1: .. known part of the Roman world based on the great number of literary sources relating to this region: the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus as weil as a number oOewish and Christian texts written and edited between the second and sixth centuries CE .. These authors provide a great deal of information concerning the daily life of the inhabitants of Judaea, but they do not deal with all parts of the population; for example, we do not know much about the citizens of the Roman coloniae in Judaea (cf .. Belayche 2001) .. What is even more important in this regard is the fact that the Jewish and Christian sources from late antiquity are not very interested in Roman administrators and their daily routine .. Rather they are concerned with issues and problems of daily life faced by the Jewish community at the time of the Roman Empire's Christianization, and with the internal quarrels of its Christian groups (for the specific problems of the interpretation of rabbinic sources in our context see e .. g .. Goodman 1983: 5-14) .. In his work The Jewish War (Bellum Iudaicum), Josephus gives us many pieces of information concerning the first Roman administrators and the Roman army of the middle of the first century CE, but he is mostly concerned with extraordinary events-some misdeeds of the

72 THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LIFE

govemors and then the first Jewish revolt against Rome-and not with the daily administrative routine.

Thus, despite the large quantity of Jewish and Christian literary sources, in the case of the Roman administration the most important sources are those which are also found in other provinces, that is, inscriptions, especially those on honorific monuments and those conceming building activities. But the number of these sources is not only quite limited, they also iliuminate only certain aspects of the Roman provincial administration. They offer the names and titles of the govemors (and to a certain extent those of important members of their staff) and teil us about their careers, the army as their most important executive basis, and their building activity. In these inscriptions we hear almost nothing, however, about the most important part of their activity, namely their jurisdiction (but see Haensch 2002: 326) , and we do not leam much about the impact of their activities on the daily life of the provincials. Thus we are quite weil informed about certain aspects of Roman provincial administration of Judaea but not about others.

This situation has apparently also influenced scholarly research on the topic: to

date, no detailed study of the Roman provincial administration of Judaea during

the first three centuries CE or the last three centuries of Roman rule has been

written. Hannah Cotton and Wemer Eck are currently working on a detailed study

of the aovemors of the first three centuries of Roman rule, and both have tackled a '" number of questions in this context in separate articles (see bibliography). But for

an overview in the English language we can refer only to the respective parts of

some general studies (see, e.g. Schrer 1973-1987, vol. 1; Miliar 1993; Sartre 2001 and

2005; Tsafrir et al. 199 9-19) . In this chapter I shall not deal with the administration of the neighbouing

provincia Arabia, even if a considerable number of Jews lived in its territory (as they

did in other provinces), and even though Cotton has argued that the behaviour of

the J ews living there towards the Roman govemment may have been typical of J ews

in the eastem parts of the empire (see, e.g. Cotton 1999 and 2002) . The govemors of Arabia have been dealt with by Sartre (1982; see also Di Segni 1999: 166-178) , and the administrative centres by Sartre (1985) and Haensch (1997: 238-244) The Jewish documents were published by Lewis (1989) and Cotton and Yardeni (1997; for the foilowing scholarly debate see, inter aha, KatzofffSchaps 2005) .

2. THE GENERAL CONDITIONS: THE PROVINCES AND THEIR BOUNDARIES

. . ..................... ................................ . . . . ...... ...

........................................ ....

It was only after the expulsion of Archelaus in 6 CE that direct Roman rule was po'r"hl;ol\prl in Tllrl::.P::' ::.nn S",m",ri

74 THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LTFE

This title had become customary for governors of equestrian rank during the reign of Claudius, as a consequence of certain aspects of his politics.

In order to suppress the first Jewish revolt (66-70 CE) and to prevent another revolt from developing, many more military units were necessary than had been stationed in the province until 66 CE. Such a large number of units, and especially the co re formations of the Roman army, the legions, whose soldiers were Roman citizens, could be commanded by a senator only. Thus, Vespasian and the governors of Judaea from the late first until the third centuries came from this leading stratum of Roman society (for a list see Thomasson 1984-1990, vol. 1: 321-326, vol. 3: 41-42; see further Eck 2006). To be more concrete, after the first revolt one legion-the legio X Fretensis in Jerusalem-and a number of auxiliary soldiers, corresponding altogether roughly to the number of legionaries (for a probably complete list of their units-two alae and seven co hortes-see Ri\ilD V 332 from the year 90; cf. Cotton 200T 396) were left in the province.

To command these troops the govemor had to be of senatorial rank. Even if all senatorial governors of the so-called 'Imperial' provinces had the same title, namely, legatus Augusti pro praetore, there was an important difference between govemors of provinces with two or more legions and those with a smaller military presence. While the governors of provinces with two or more legions were senators of the highest rank, originating from the former consuls, the governors of the rest of the provinces were chosen from the former praetors. Judaea was the first province with only one legion-until then Roman provinces had either garrisons of two or more legions, or no legion at all. During the Julio-Claudian period, in provinces with legions as, for example, the Tarraconensis, the governors had always been of consular rank and their legions had been commanded by senators of praetorian ,

i rank, appointed and discharged by the emperor but subordinated to the govemor for all matters of daily routine. Now there was one province where the govemor was also commander-in-chief of the most important military formation (Thomasson 1973; Eck 2007b: 109-10). Perhaps these praetorian governors of Judaea were subordinated to the govemors of Syria in ways similar to the equestrian governors before them. Vespasian had, for example, also subordinated the praetorian governor of Galatia to the consular legate of Cappadocia.

AB in the case of all imperial provinces with senatorial governors, the supervision of the financial administration of the province was now dealt with by an equestrian procurator, also appointed and discharged by the emperor and not subordinated to the govemor. Apparently there was already one in place at the time of the first Jewish War (Josephus, Bell. 4.238; cf. Cotton 2007: 394).

Both Roman authorities were based at Caesarea. This is understandable in view of the following: Caesarea had supported the Romans during the first revolt and would probably not want to lose its importance; some of the buildings erected by Herod were already used by the Roman administration, especially by the govemor (Haensch 199T 230-31; idem 2004a: 315; Patrich 2000; Cotton/Eck 2001; Eck 2007b:

LIFE IN A ROMAN PROVINC E 75

79-82); it was a Roman colonia-Caesarea was promoted to this status after the first revolt and perhaps even Roman veterans were settled there (Haensch 1997: 233, n. 17; Eck 2007b: 192, 216-225)-and was therefore most suited to the needs of a Roman governor; the lines of communication to Rome and other centres were shorter in a harbour city; Caesarea was pro bably already considered ilie capital of ilie province by the Romans (Tacitus, Hist. 2.78-4).

On the other hand, the choice of Caesarea is astonishing because Jerusalern had been the traditional centre of the region. There the camp of the legion was established, whose direct commander the govemor. was. Yet similar conditions can be 0 bserved in other provinces with a garrison of one legion commanded direct1y by a praetorian governor, albeit of a later date, for example, Raetia or Noricum (Haensch 1997, especially 365-66; idem, 2004). Once the legion was stationed in Jerusalern, the govemor may have spent more time there than before. Furthermore, the roads between Caesarea and Jerusalem (and also between other cities) were apparently ameliorated at that time (Eck 1984: 27-29; idem 2007b: 76-77) While the governor occupied the palace built by Herod, for the procurator a new praetorium was constructed at Caesarea (Cotton/Eck 2001; Eck 2007b: 94-96; Haensch 199T 230-31; Patrich 2000).

Apparently, even a number of years before the Bar Kokhba revolt the Romans got the impression that the number of soldiers stationed in Judaea was not sufficient. It was already during the time of Trajan, perhaps as early as 105/6 CE, that a second legion (the legio II Traiana?) was stationed-permanently?-in the province (Eck 1984: 27-29, cf. idem 2007b: 104-5; on the legion see also Daris 2000: 359; Eck 2007b: 113-14). The number of auxiliary units was probably also increased at that time. Under the diplomata militaria from the later second century (for a list see Eck 2006) we find two examples which list three alae and twelve cohortes (CIL XVI 87 from 139 CE; EckiPangerl 2005: 101-3). Thus, even if not all units of a provincial army are necessarily mentioned on a diploma (sometimes there were no soldiers who had served for twenty-five years or more in a specific unit) , three alae and 12 cohortes were probably the whole auxiliary garrison of the province. With the increase in the number of legions, the rank of the governor was lifted. He was now chosen from the former consules. Shortly before this reform the boundaries of the province had been extended by including the land of Agrippa II (for a map see Tsafrir et al. 1994: 15).

From the Roman perspective, the necessity of all of these decisions was confirmed by the Bar Kokhba revolt (for the ongoing debate on its significance, see, most recently, Eck 2007a). The province which was now called 5yria Palaestina needed a governor wiili much experience, especially in the military field. Therefore a consular governor was appointed and about 24,000 soldiers stationed there to keep the region in a peaceful state. Further consequences of the second Jewish revolt were the shift of the centre oOudaism to Galilee, because of ilie high number of Jews who had been killed or sold into slavery in the regions traditionally settled

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LIFE

by Jews. The number and significance of the Roman, Hellenized Greek, and Samaritan inhabitants grew to a corresponding degree in the other parts of the province.

These central elements of provincial government persisted until the late third century. It was apparently only after the reign of Pro bus (276-282 CE) that an equestrian combined both functions, those of the senatorial governor and those of the financial procurator (Eck 2006: 256). A combination of these offices had existed in other provinces for some decades already. From the third century onwards, the governor would use the administrative building of the procurator, whereas the former palace of Herod was given up.

Probably some years later and under Diocletian at the latest, another important change took place. The governor lost his military command, which went to the newly created office of the so-called dux Palaestinae, who became the commander-in-chief of the units ofPalaestina, and especially of the legio X Fretensis now stationed at Aila (for examples, see PLRE vol. 1: 144 v. Bacurius, and SEG 31. 1496; cf. ibid. 35. 1537; see also Di Segni 2004, especially 132-33 n. 7). As their principal residence, these duces seem to have chosen Beer Sheva (Di Segni 2004: 132-33, in an article dealing with the so-called Beer Sheva Edict). Perhaps at that time, and. certainly before 307 (Barnes 1982: 213-215,223; Kuhoff 2001: 364-65), the boundaries ofPalestine were expanded in the south to annex the Negev, southem Transjordan (up to the river Zared/ Wadi Hasa) and the Sinai. Until then, these regions had been part of the provincia Arabia.

In 357/8 CE (see Barnes 1982: 214; PLRE vol. 1: 214) this huge province was divided into two provinces, perhaps because it had become too difficult to administer: Palaestina (Prima ?) and Palaestina salutaris, the annexed southem part of the former provincia Arabia with Petra as its capital (for a list of the govemors of these provinces in the late third and fourth centuries see PLRE vol. 1: 1108 and Eck 2066: 254-256; for the importance of Petra in late antiquity see Haensch 2004b and especially Frsen et al. 2002, 2007). Around 400 CE the northem part was further divided into two provinces, Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda, the last one stretching from the area of the Jezreel valley and the Lower Galilee to the regions of

Pella and Gadara (for a map see Tsafrir et al. 1994: 17; cf. Dauphin 1998: 66-68). Its capital became Scythopolis (Tsafrir et al. 1994: 16, 223). It seems that this form of Roman organization of the province continued until the Islamic conquest (for a list of the governors of the fifth and sixth centuries see PLRE vol. 2: 1286 and PLRE vol. 3: 2: 1490-91, cf. di Segni 1995: 317-322 and 1999: 166-178; a number of inscriptions, especially from Scythopolis mentioning govemors are still unpublished).

While the governors of Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Tertia were normally only called governor (praeses), those of Palaestina Prima could use the title consularis up to the 370S, and afterwards the even more prestigious title of proconsuL This was because Palaestina Prima contained the core of the region of Palestine and, even more important, enclosed many famous Christian monuments. The privileges of the governor of Palaestina Prima were enlarged by Justinian (Novella

LIFE IN A ROMAN PROVINCE 77

103) During his reign the governor of Palaestina Secunda also obtained the right to the title of consularis (Di Segni 1995: 318 n.16). Apart from the titles designating their function, the ranks of the governors were also specified in relation to the ranks of the leading strata of society. Because these titles changed to a considerable degree during the last three centuries of Roman rule, it is not useful to discuss them in detail here.

3 THE PERSONNEL OF THE ROMAN GOVERNORS . ' ..................................................................................................... ......... .

The Roman governors were not alone in dealing with the administration of their province (see generally Haensch 1997: 710-726; Rankov 1999; for late antiquity: Palme 1999). The govemor had, first, his slaves and freedmen at his disposal (Eusebis of Caesarea, Martyrs of Palestine 11.24), who were not only in charge of certam aspects of his private life but also often served hirn in confidential matters. Sometimes his family accompanied him. Secondly, important decisions were usually taken only after a council of officers and socialiy eminent people had convened (Josephus, Ant. 20.117; Acts 25.12). Some of them held a permanent membership in this council. They were paid as so-called comites praesidis by the Roman state and came and went with the govemor by whom they were appointed. References in the te.,"us of Gregory the Wonderworker (3rd century CE) show that these officials would have been accompanied by their respective family members and servants (Panegyric to Origen 65-72).

The most important part of the personnel of a governor, at least of the senatorial govemors of the late first to third centuries CE, came from the units of the provincial army. For a certain period during their time of military duty, a number of soldiers were delegated to the staff of the govemor and became so-called officiales. The exact number of these officiales depended to a certain degree on the strength of the provincial army: on the one hand, the units should not be depleted of too many soldiers; on the other hand, a higher ranking governor with more demanding tasks needed more soldiers to help hirn. Therefore provinces with n:vo legions would have approximately twice the number of officiales than provmces with only one legion.

From the legions the soldiers with the more important tasks, and especially the lerks, were recruited. Among these soldiers we find in Judaea (Syria Palaestina), as lil other important provinces, a centurio as head of an office, three cornicularii as supervisors of the other officiales, three commentarienses, who were especially r:sponsible for the reports (commentarii) of juridical proceedings and L.e executlOn of the juridical decisions, ten or twenty speculatores as executioners, thirty or

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LIFE

sixty beneficiarii as all-round officials, often sent out to other place than .the apital

of the province (AE 2003: 1807), frumentarii (AE 2003: 1805), that lS, em1ssanes for special missions (but not agents of a secret service), a few quaestionarii a

.s torturers

(cf. Pesiqta de Rav Kahana cited by Lieberman 1944: 28-29), an uncertam number of exceptores and librarii for the real writing work, quite a number of stratores under the command of a centuno strator, who dealt with the govemor' s horses, etc. Without doubt the number of functions in such an officium would have expanded durina the Hiah Empire (and therefore the number of officiales in general). For exam

;le, the fficium custodiarum (AE 2003: 1804), the department dealing th imprisonment, seems to have been added only in the later second o th1rd centuries. As already shown implicitly, in the case of Judaea, these OffiClalS are mostly documented by inscriptions from Caesarea, published in the last yeas especially by Eck and Cotton and collected in the annual volumes of Annee Epigraphique (AE).

From the auxiliary units came the guards of the govemors, the singulares, some of whom were mounted on horses. Several hundreds of such soldiers had to accompany and protect the govemor during his various duties, sorr:e of them also in peaceful times (Eusebius, Martyrs of Palaestine 4. 8; 7.7; on thelr numbers see Speidell978: 11-15; Haensch 1997: 723-24; idem, 2004: 315)

. . The equestrian procurator was supported by an imperial freedman Wlth the htle procurator, who acted as his second, and by an unknown number of the emeror' s serfs and freedmen who worked as tabularii (clerks and accountants), dIspensatores and arcarii (cashiers) etc. (Boulvert 1970; idem 1974; Haensch 1997: 725-26; Weaver 1972). He also had some soldiers delegated to hirn, probably as a sign of reverence and to protect hirn. We know of a monument erected to one of te procuatirs of Syria Palaestina by a centurio strator, that is, the commander of hlS equernes, at Caesarea (Lehmann/Holum 2000, no. 7, cf. AE 1985. 829 = Lehmann/Holum 2000, nO4)

Late antiquity, and especially the reign of Diocletian, also brought about a number of changes amongst the administrative staff (Palme 1999) working in the three sections of Roman Palestine. The most important ones were the unmcation of the officia of the legatus and of the procurator to one officium, deing now wi jurisdictional and financial matters, and the end of the former prachce of recr:uting these officiales either from the army or the familia Ca es ans. Even if the officrales of late antiquity were nominally part of the Roman army, they no longer had any military background. The govemor's palace of t..hat time provides interesting inscriptions from the financial department, which not only name different ranks of officiales (Lehmann/Holum 2000, no. 90 = SEG 32. 1498), but also show that one already used phrases from the New Testament to encourage obedience to the provincial administration (Lehmann/Holum 2000, no. 88-89)

LIFE IN A ROMAN PROVINCE

4. THE ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNORS AND PROCURATORS

79

As already mentioned in the introduction above, we do not know much generally about the daily routine of the govemors and procurators of Roman Palestine, except for those activities which are reflected in inscriptions, that is, their building projects and the monuments erected to honour them. Only from the times of Justinian do we have a catalogue of the duties of the proconsul Palaestinae I from his Novella 103. From various other sources we get some insight into the activities of earlier govemors and procurators (for a general overview see for example Eck 1998: 107-145, 167-185; Demougin 2007; Haensch 2006; for late antiquity, see Slootjes 2006 and Palme 2007)

At different points in his work Eusebius mentions those govemors of the late third and early fourth centuries who tried to stop the Christianization of the province by condemning Christians to forced labour or death, as the emperors had ordered them (Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 6. 39. 2: Decius; ibid. 7.12: Valerian; ibid. 7.15: Gallienus. Eusebius, Martyrs of Palestine: Diocletian

80 THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LIFE

Eusebius also mentions other aspects of the daily routine of a governor, such as offering sacrifices (Martyrs of Palestine 4. 8; see generally Eck 1998: 203-217), and his presence at games (Martyrs of Palestine 3. 3). Papyri offer further insight into the activities of the higher Roman officials during the High Empire. For example, a petition published in Papiri greci e latine, pubblicazioni della Societa Italiana no. 1026 (= Corpus papyrorum latinarum 117; translated in Campbeil 1994: 201-2) is one of the thousands of petitions submitted to governors in Roman times (Haensch 1994). In this case, dismissed soldiers asked for confirmation of their dismissal from a legion and not the fleet (where they had begun their military service), because they feared that without such a confirmation they would not get all their privileges as veterani legionis. A second papyrus document (Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten no. n043, translated in Eck 2007b: 149; for an interpretation see Haensch 1992: 274 n. 186) shows how such a veteranus tried to obtain the right to a piece of land which apparently had been part of his pension.

Both of these papyri are typical in a certain way: if one wanted to get the Roman administration involved in one's problems, one had to directly approach the responsible officials. Otherwise, provincials would have had difficulties gaining these officials' attention. The Roman authorities were primarily interested in keeping peace, collecting taxes, and supporting the local administrators if they encountered problems. From a legal point of view, the governor had to decide the most important criminal cases. But if he was not informed of such cases, he would not take any action on his own initiative. While the Greek and Roman sectors of the population would not normaily have had any problems in approaching the governor, at least after 136 CE some Jewish provincials may have refrained from doing so (but see Gen. R. 49:9: 'R. Yehudah b. R. Shimon said: irIn the case of) a mortal, one can hang up [i.e. announce} against hirn an app'eal, from the commander [dux} to the prefect, from the prefect to the commander in chief '; see also ibid. 64:10 and b. Meg. 29a for rabbis' awareness of the possibility of such appeals).

5. DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE SCHOLA RSHIP

Generally speaking, the history of Judaea as a province in late antiquity is a topic which has not yet been weil researched. We do possess a number of studies that deal with the specific problems and internal quarrels of Jews and Christians in Judaea during that time. But not much research has been done on the administrative structure of the province and the more 'secular' aspects of its history. For example, one could examine the situation of the governors of late antique Palestine: their

LIFE IN A ROMAN PROVINCE

social background, their tasks, and especially their role between the different religious groups and leaders living in the province.

The use and interpretation of rabbinic sources for the historical investigation of various aspects of Roman rule in Palestine is a very complex task because of these texts' a-historical nature, that is, the impossibility to date them accurately, and the prevalence of indirect allusions rather than direct references to historical events and personages (see generally Goodman 1983: 5-14). Therefore interdisciplinary approaches, in which classicists, ancient historians, and scholars of rabbinic literature cooperate and share their respective expertise, seem to be the most appropriate way forward.

SUGGESTED READING .. . .. .. ... . . . .... . . ... .. . . . .... . .. .. .. .... .. . ..... . . .... . ..... . .. ... . . . .. . . ..... . . . . .. . . . .... . . . . .. . . ... . . . . . .. . . . . .. . .

The most comprehensive work dealing with the history of Roman Palestine from tlIe first century BCE to the se co nd century CE is the revised English edition of Schrer (1973-87). Cotton and Eck have advanced our knowledge about tlIe Roman administration in Judaea/Syria Palaestina, especially during the second and third centuries CE, in a number of studies, which are partly summarized by Eck (2007b). Jones (1964) remains the most comprehensive survey of late antiquity. Comparatively little research effort has been devoted to the functioning of the Roman state, especially in the provinces, during this period (Slootjes 2006 collected only a part of the relevant material; for a number of studies dealing with specific problems see the journal Antiquite Tardive 6,1998 and 7,1999).

ABBREVIATIONS . ... . . . . ... . .. .. n . . .... . . ........... . .... .

AE = Annee Epigraphique, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 1889 ff. BE = Bulletin Epigraphique, annual part of Revue des Etudes Grecques, Paris: Les Beiles Lettres, 1888 ff. CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. PLRE = The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, 3 vols. ed. J.-R. Martindale et al., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971-1992. RMD = Roman Military Diplomas, ed. M.-M. Roxan and P. Holder, London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1978 ff. SEG = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 1923 ff.

82 THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF JEWISH DAILY LIFE

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CHAPTER 5 ........................ ............ .................................. ................................................................ ...................... ................ .. .. .. ... ..

COURTS AND THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM

. ... . . ... ... .... . ... . . . . ... ... .... .... ..... ..... . .... . .......... ...... . .. .... ... . .... .. ..... .

JILL HARRIES

ROMAN Palestine is unique in the diversity and complexity of its sources for its legal system and the settlement of disputes. Many written sources, as elsewhere in the Roman world, reflect upper-dass perspectives. The Roman jurists who commentated on provincial jurisdiction were themselves members of that upper dass and wrote ithin a leg

.al tradition which did not always reflect changing realities 'on the

ground . In Palestme the works of the historian Flavius Josephus are all-important as source material, but he is also in many respects biased. More significant is the extensive rabbinic literature, which represented the rabbis as, in some sense, adjudicators with courts or as informal legal advisors and judges. As we shall see, there is little consensus as to how this literature should be read as evidence for the realities of dispute settlement. In addition, there are increasing numbers of papyri, otably from the so-called Babatha Archive, which provide an alternative perspectlve to that provided by both the Roman and rabbinic sources.

1. JUDICIAL DIVERSITY " . ' " .. .. .... . . . .. . .. ... . . .. . . . . .... .. .... . . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. """ """" . " " ,, ." ""." .. """ . "." .. " ... " .... """ .. . " .. """.",, .

Courts and judges existed for a number of reasons: to punish crimes or offences against the community; to provide remedies for wronged individuals; and to