The Jews Under Roman Rule

The epoch of which this volume professes to treat embraces a period of about three hundred years (B.C. 164 to A.D. 135), and has an intimate bearing on one of the most momentous turning-points in the history of the world. The first half of this period is almost co-incident with the formation of the great confederation of Mediterranean states under the supremacy of Rome—a confederation which constituted the most important external preparation for the success of Christianity; the second half is co-incident with the birth development and primitive organization of the Christian faith. These are events which gave a new direction to the history of humanity in the West; they are the starting-points of a fresh era in the life of the world; unlike some of the records of antiquity, an account of them is not merely a revelation of what has transpired in the past; at the present moment they are still exercising an immense influence on the deepest sentiments of mankind.