Gessius Florus was the 7th

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * Procurator (Ancient Rome), the title of var ...

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

from 64 until 66.

Biography

Born in

Clazomenae Klazomenai () or Clazomenae was one of the 12 cities of ancient Ionia (the others being Chios, Samos, Phocaea, Erythrae, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, and Miletus). It is located at the south coast of Smyrna Gulf, Ion ...

, Florus was appointed to replace Lucceius Albinus as

by the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

due to his wife Cleopatra's friendship with Nero's wife Poppaea. He was noted for his antagonism toward the Judean and Jewish population, and is credited by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

as being the primary cause of the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–74 CE), also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, the First Jewish Revolt, the War of Destruction, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. Fought in the prov ...

. Upon taking office in

Caesarea Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title " Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire: Places In the Levant * Caesarea Maritima, also known as "Caesarea Palaestinae", an ancient Roman city near the modern ...

, Florus began favoring local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population. The local Greek population noticed Florus' policies and took advantage of the circumstances. One notable instance of provocation occurred while the Jews were worshiping at their local

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

and a Hellenist sacrificed several birds on top of a chamber pot at the entrance of the synagogue, an act that rendered the building ritually unclean. In response to this action, the Jews sent a group of men to petition Florus for redress. Despite accepting a payment of eight talents to hear the case, Florus refused to listen to the complaints and instead had the petitioners imprisoned. Florus further angered the Jewish population of his province by having seventeen talents removed from the treasury of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, claiming the money was for the Emperor. In response to this action, the city fell into unrest and some of the Jewish population began to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus were poor. Florus reacted to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders. The arrested individuals were whipped and

crucified Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Carthaginians, ...

despite many of them being

Roman citizens Citizenship in ancient Rome () was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, traditions, and cu ...

. After the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War, Florus was replaced as procurator by Marcus Antonius Julianus.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Florus, Gessius Roman governors of Judaea 1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman governors of Judaea Poppaea Sabina Gessii Antisemitism in Asia

Biography

See also

Notes

References