James

In a previous part the death of Herod Agrippa was discussed. That happened in 44.

His son Herod Agrippa II was formally his successor, but he had no authority in Judea. In the bible he is mentioned in Acts 25 and 26, where Paul tells him about his life and faith.

Claudius appointed governors, who had in Judea the real power.

Up to the revolt of 66-70 there have been seven, all of them bad.

I discuss four:

- Alexander. He was an (apostate) Jew, born in Alexandria. Being a Jew did not inspire him to be a good governor of his fellow-Jews.

- Felix. He is mentioned in the Bible in Acts 23 and 24. He kept Paul in jail.

- Festus. He too kept Paul in jail, and sent him to Rome when Paul appealed to the emperor.

- Gessius Florus, the last and the worst. When he was governor the revolt broke out.

In this time many Jews kept expecting the coming of the Messiah, and others who said they were the Messiah, and would dislodge the Romans. Up to now the Romans had made short work of such revolts.

In Rome the emperor Claudius was poisoned by his wife Agrippina, as soon as he had adopted her son Nero, and had given his daughter Octavia to Nero as wife. That adoption made no sense to Claudius, because he had a son Britannicus, who was to be his successor, but Agrippina wanted it, so Nero could succeed Claudius. That happened in 54 AD. Nero succeeded Claudius, and started as a good emperor, but that did not last long. In 59 he committed the worst crime: he had his mother murdered, who had worked so hard to get him on the throne. Many others he had murdered too, or had them commit suicide. Most well-known are is wife Octavia and the philosopher Seneca, his former teacher. When Seneca had to kill himself he tried to imitate the death of Socrates, but he did not succeed completely. Nero married Poppaea, the wife of one Otho. He had offered her as a mistress to Nero, but Poppaea wanted more, she wanted to become empress. The story goes that she was very interested in Jewism, and according to legends she spoke to Paul. During a marital row Nero kicked her to death. She had backed the wrong horse: Otho became emperor afterwards (but not for long).

In 64 an enormous fire broke out in Rome. When it appeared that Nero wanted to use the ground of which the buildings had been burnt for building a large and beautiful palace rumours spread that he had set fire to the buildings himself, to make the ground available.

Nero blamed therefore the Christians, who were persecuted. According to the legends of the church Peter and Paul were killed.

It is the subject of the well-known movie “Quo vadis”.

Nero saw himself as a great artist. He sang and accompanied himself on the lyre.

Hij deed participated in many festivals, and got always the first price.

In 68 a general revolted, Nero was deposed and committed suicide.

His last words were: “What an artist the world is losing”.

Nero is not mentioned in the bible, but when Paul says (Acts 25:11): “I appeal unto Caesar”, Nero is meant.

The church in Judea had peace after the death of Herod Agrippa.