jewish-history

When Hadrian Erased Jerusalem and Christians Spoke Up

/ Jason Conrad / Leave a comment

Hadrian (AD 117–138) succeeded Trajan not as a conqueror but as a reformer. He traveled widely, reorganized law and military, and adorned the empire with monuments. Yet his vision of a unified Greco-Roman order brought him into conflict with the Jews.

Dio Cassius (c. AD 211–230) remembered him as tireless:

“He was laborious and vigilant, inasmuch as he neglected nothing, and often prevented many things from going wrong by being on the spot, and he would not accept excuses for any neglect of duty.”
— Roman History 69.6 (Loeb)

But Hadrian’s measures in Judea—especially banning circumcision, renaming Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, and building a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount—ignited a war that would devastate the Jewish nation.

The Provocation: Circumcision and Aelia Capitolina

Dio Cassius records:

“At Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a war of no slight importance nor of brief duration. For the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites planted there.”
— Roman History 69.12.1–2 (Loeb)

He adds:

“At this time the Jews began war because they were forbidden to mutilate their genitals. For Hadrian ordered them to desist from this practice, and thus attempted to abolish their national customs.”
— Roman History 69.12 (Loeb)

While Hadrian was still nearby, the Jews prepared in secret:

“They did not dare to fight in the open, but they occupied advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, so that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and might meet together under ground unseen; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at intervals to let in air and light.”
— Roman History 69.12.3 (Loeb)

The Bar Kokhba Revolt (AD 132–135)

Once Hadrian departed, open revolt broke out under Simon bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba), hailed by Rabbi Akiva as Messiah.

“Soon, however, all Judaea was in a ferment, and the Jews everywhere were showing signs of disturbance, gathering together, and giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by overt acts.”
— Roman History 69.13.1 (Loeb)

Rome responded with overwhelming force.

“Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out. Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate.”
— Roman History 69.14 (Loeb, Xiphilinus epitome)

Bethar: The Last Fortress of Bar Kokhba

Bethar (Betar) was the final stronghold of the revolt. Located about six miles southwest of Jerusalem, it sat high on a ridge above the Valley of Sorek.

  • Strategic Position: Its steep hills made it naturally defensible, and Jewish forces fortified it heavily.
  • Headquarters: Bar Kokhba is said to have commanded from Bethar in the final stage.
  • The Siege: Roman forces encircled the city. Archaeological surveys have found burn layers, ballista stones, and siege trenches.
  • Symbolism: Rabbinic tradition later remembered Bethar as falling on the 9th of Av, the same date both the First and Second Temples were destroyed.

Bethar became the symbol of the revolt’s futility—the last fortress where Jewish resistance was extinguished.

Rabbinic Memory of Bethar

The Jerusalem Talmud (Ta’anit 4:5–6) preserves the devastation:

“The blood flowed until horses were submerged in it up to their nostrils… And the slain of Bethar were not permitted burial until a later emperor gave permission.”

This is not the voice of a Roman chronicler but the lament of a people for whom even death did not bring rest. Bethar was remembered not merely as a defeat, but as a massacre.

Archaeology of Catastrophe

  • Bethar: burn layers, Roman siege trenches, and ballista stones confirm the destruction.
  • Caves of Refuge: in Nahal Hever and the Cave of Letters, archaeologists found skeletons, sandals, knives, jars of food, and scrolls.
  • Babatha Archive: 35 legal documents of a Jewish widow, sealed in leather and buried with her remains. Her last dated record is from August 132 CE—the very month the revolt broke out. After that, silence.
  • Letters of Bar Kokhba: papyrus and wooden tablets signed “Shim‘on ben Kosiba, Prince of Israel,” ordering supplies, threatening deserters, and requesting palm branches for Sukkot.

This was a war remembered in blood, texts, and ash.

Hadrian’s Rescript on Christians

While crushing the Jews, Hadrian issued a rescript on Christians. Preserved by Eusebius:

“If, therefore, the provincials can sustain by evidence their charges against the Christians, let them prosecute the cases, but not by mere clamour and outcry. For it is much more just, if anyone desires to make accusations, that you yourself should pass judgment.”
— Ecclesiastical History 4.9 (Loeb)

It offered no protection against charges of impiety—but it restrained mob violence.

Christian Voices in Hadrian’s Reign

This same period saw a burst of Christian literature. These writings are the first direct responses to imperial scrutiny.

Quadratus of Athens (c. 125)

Eusebius introduces him:

“After Trajan had reigned for nineteen years, Aelius Hadrian became his successor in the empire. To him Quadratus addressed a discourse, as an apology for our religion, because certain wicked men were attempting to trouble our people.”
— Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.1 (Loeb)

Quadratus’ surviving words:

“But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine: those who were healed, those who were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also present continually; not only while the Saviour was living, but also for a considerable time after His departure; and indeed some of them have survived even to our own time.”
— Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.2 (Loeb)

Why this claim is plausible:

  • Quadratus was writing c. AD 125, less than 100 years after Jesus’ ministry (c. AD 30).
  • People who had been children or teenagers when healed by Jesus could still be alive in their 80s or 90s. Rare, but possible in antiquity (Polycarp, for example, lived to 86).
  • More importantly, many were still alive who had personally known eyewitnesses — family, neighbors, or members of the earliest churches.

Commentary:
Quadratus is not arguing that Christianity is ancient like Judaism. He is arguing that it is true because it is still within memory: the miracles of Jesus left people alive long enough for their authenticity to be checked. His defense to Hadrian is: Christianity is not myth or invention — it happened in history, and its effects are still visible in living witnesses.

Aristides of Athens (c. 125–140)

Dedication:

“To the Emperor Caesar Titus Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, from Marcianus Aristides, a philosopher of Athens.

I, O King, by the inspiration of God, have come to this conclusion, that the universe and all that is in it is moved by the power of another… Wherefore I… have no wish to worship any other than God, the living and true, and I have searched carefully into all the races of men and tested them, and this is what I have found.”
— Aristides, Apology 1 (Loeb Syriac)

Survey of humanity (chs. II–XIV):

  • Barbarians: idol worshippers.
  • Greeks: immoral gods.
  • Egyptians: animal worship.
  • Jews: monotheists, but clinging to angels, sabbaths, and rituals.

Christians (full text, chs. XV–XVI):

XV.
“But the Christians, O King, reckon the beginning of their religion from Jesus Christ, who is named the Son of God most High; and it is said that God came down from heaven, and from a Hebrew virgin took and clad Himself with flesh; and that the Son of God lived in a daughter of man. This is taught in the gospel, as it is called, which a little while ago was preached among them; and you also, if you will read therein, may perceive the power which belongs to it.
This Jesus, then, was born of the race of the Hebrews; and He had twelve disciples in order that a certain dispensation of His might be fulfilled. He was pierced by the Jews, and He died and was buried; and they say that after three days He rose and ascended to heaven.
Thereupon these twelve disciples went forth into the known parts of the world, and taught concerning His greatness with all humility and sobriety. And those then who still observe the righteousness which was enjoined by their preaching are called Christians.
And these are they who more than all the nations of the earth have found the truth. For they acknowledge God, the Creator and Maker of all things, in the only-begotten Son and in the Holy Spirit; and besides Him they worship no other God. They have the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself graven upon their hearts; and they keep them, looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
They do not commit adultery or fornication; they do not bear false witness; they do not covet what belongs to others; they honor father and mother; they do good to those who are their neighbors. And they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols in the likeness of man. Whatever they would not wish others to do to them, they do not practice themselves. They do not eat of the food offered to idols, for they are pure. They comfort their oppressors and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies. Their women are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest. Their men abstain from all unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in another world.”

XVI.
“They love one another. They do not turn away a widow, and they rescue the orphan. He who has gives ungrudgingly to him who has not. If they see a stranger, they take him under their roof, and they rejoice over him as over a real brother. If any one among them is poor and needy, and they have no spare food, they fast two or three days, that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.
They observe scrupulously the commandments of their Messiah; they live honestly and soberly, as the Lord their God ordered them. They give thanks to Him every hour, for all meat and drink, and other blessings.
And if any righteous man among them passes away, they rejoice and thank God, and escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another.
And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and if it chance to die in childhood, they praise God mightily, as for one who has passed through the world without sins.
But if any one of them be a man of wealth, and he sees that one of their number is in want, he provides for the needy without boasting. And if they see a stranger, they take him under their roof, and they rejoice over him as over a brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the Spirit and in God.
And whenever one of their poor passes away from the world, each of them, according to his ability, gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial.
Such is the law of the Christians, O King, and such is their manner of life.”
— Aristides, Apology 15–16 (Loeb Syriac text)

Commentary:
Notice how Aristides even tells Hadrian: “and you also, if you will read [the Gospel], may perceive the power which belongs to it.” Aristides assumes the emperor could obtain and read a Christian Gospel. This shows both the confidence of Christians in their Scriptures and the public availability of the Gospel writings by Hadrian’s reign.

Epistle of Barnabas (c. 120–130)

On the covenant:

“Take heed to yourselves, and be not like some, heaping up your sins and saying that the covenant is both theirs and ours. It is ours: but in this way did they finally lose it, after Moses had already received it.”
— Barnabas 4.6–7 (Loeb)

On circumcision:

“He has abolished these things, that the new law of our Lord Jesus Christ, free from the yoke of constraint, might have its own offering not made by human hands… So we are they whom he brought into the new law… no longer bound by circumcision.”
— Barnabas 9.4–7 (Loeb)

On the temple:

“Now we say that their wretched men set their hope on the building, as though it were the house of God, and not on their God who created them. But learn how the Lord speaks, abolishing it: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What manner of house will you build for me? says the Lord.’”
— Barnabas 16.1–2 (Loeb)

Commentary:

  • Written at the very moment Hadrian was making Jerusalem into Aelia Capitolina.
  • The letter insists: the true temple is the people of God, not a building or land.
  • Barnabas draws a sharp break with Judaism — aligning with Hadrian’s years when Jewish identity itself was outlawed.

2 Clement (c. 120–140)

On confession and deeds:

“Let us not think it enough to call him Lord; for that will not save us. Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he that works righteousness. So then, brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge him by our works, by loving one another, by abstaining from slander and envy, by being self-controlled, compassionate, good.”
— 2 Clement 4.2–5 (Loeb)

On perseverance:

“If we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; but if not, nothing will deliver us from eternal punishment, if we disobey his commandments. The scripture says: If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? So then, brothers and sisters, let us struggle, knowing that the contest is near and that many things are at stake.”
— 2 Clement 5.4–6 (Loeb)

On endurance in suffering:

“Blessed are they that obey these commands, though they be for a short season afflicted in the world; they shall be gathered into the immortal fruit of the resurrection.”
— 2 Clement 19.3 (Loeb)

Commentary:

  • 2 Clement reflects the atmosphere of Hadrian’s reign: Christians under scrutiny, exhorted to prove their faith by life, not just words.
  • Where Aristides says to Hadrian, “See how we live,” 2 Clement says to the church, “Live so that the world sees.”

Conclusion: Two Stories

Hadrian tried to erase the Jews: banning circumcision, renaming their land, and slaughtering them by the hundreds of thousands.

Christians, already distinct, were forced out of Jerusalem along with the Jews—but the movement itself was not tied to land or temple.

The earliest imperial-facing defenses came in Hadrian’s reign: Quadratus and Aristides, written directly to emperors. Alongside them, Barnabas and 2 Clement spoke to Christian communities in the same decades, sharpening identity and urging moral seriousness.

And the core claim running through them is not philosophical speculation but a simple one: this faith works.

It changes lives.
It makes a people who fast to feed the poor, who rejoice in death, who call strangers their brothers, who endure under trial.

Rome buried cities. But the church carried forward a witness of lives transformed.

Claudius, the Jews, and the Window for the Gospel (AD 41–54)

/ Jason Conrad / Leave a comment

Introduction

When Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, the empire teetered between chaos and reform.
The Senate debated restoring the Republic, but the Praetorian Guard made their choice: they found Claudius, uncle to Caligula, hiding behind a curtain in the palace, and proclaimed him emperor.
He would reign from AD 41 to 54 — thirteen years that gave the early church unprecedented space to grow.

Claudius was no outsider to Rome’s first imperial family.
He was the step-grandson of Augustus through Augustus’ marriage to Livia Drusilla, the grandmother who raised him.
This Julio-Claudian lineage tied Claudius directly to the imperial tradition of Julius Caesar and Augustus — and under his rule, he would restore and reaffirm the protections for the Jews that both men had supported.

Roman historians describe Claudius as bookish, awkward, and underestimated — the butt of jokes in his own family. Yet when given the throne, he proved unexpectedly competent, bringing stability after years of volatility.

For the Jewish people — and for the Christians still seen as part of Judaism — this meant an abrupt reversal from Caligula’s threats.
Claudius restored and reaffirmed the privileges and protections for Jewish communities that had first been granted by Julius Caesar and confirmed by Augustus.
This meant legal recognition of their right to keep the Sabbath, follow their food laws, send offerings to the Temple, and live according to their ancestral customs.

It was during these years that Paul completed all three missionary journeys and wrote his earliest letters, as recorded in the book of Acts.

Christians Were Still Seen as Jews

In the early 40s AD, Rome still made no distinction between Jews and Christians.
The followers of Jesus worshiped in synagogues and kept many Jewish customs.
Their legal standing was tied to that of the Jewish people.

That meant that Claudius’ actions to protect Jewish rights automatically extended to Christians as well.
The legal umbrella was still intact.

Claudius’ Letter to the Alexandrians

Shortly after taking power, Claudius addressed a violent conflict between Jews and Greeks in Alexandria — the same city where Philo had once pleaded with Caligula for relief.
Claudius sent a decree restoring order and reaffirming Jewish rights.

Josephus, Antiquities 19.278–285 (c. AD 93):
“Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, imperator, consul, tribune of the people, to the city of the Alexandrians, greeting.

I have long been aware of the troubles which have existed in your city between the Jewish and the Greek inhabitants, and of the recent outbreaks that occurred under my predecessor Gaius. Now, having become emperor, and desiring to settle these disturbances, I issue this decree.

I therefore command the Greeks and the Jews who live in the same city not to engage in further unrest or unlawful behavior toward one another.

The Jews shall not again be expelled from Alexandria, nor shall their rights be diminished, but they are to continue to inhabit the city in accordance with their ancestral customs.

They are not to bring in or admit Jews from Syria or Egypt as new settlers in the city, but only those who already reside there may continue in peace.

I strictly forbid them to hold public meetings except in accordance with their ancestral customs and only in those places officially assigned to them — meaning their synagogues.

Furthermore, I order that no one shall insult them or interfere with their observance of the Sabbath, or any of their other traditional rites and customs.

They are to enjoy all the rights and privileges they formerly had under Augustus and the other emperors.

If anyone violates this order — Jew or Greek — I shall take vengeance on them as a disturber of the peace, no matter what nation they belong to.”

This was one of Claudius’ very first acts as emperor — a clear break from Caligula’s religious aggression and a deliberate restoration of the policies of Julius Caesar and Augustus.

Claudius’ General Decree to the Provinces

Claudius didn’t stop with Alexandria. He issued a broader decree to all the provinces, making protection of Jewish customs an imperial policy.

Josephus, Antiquities 19.286–291:
“Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, imperator and consul for the second time, issues the following decree:

Since I am fully persuaded that the Jewish people — not only in Alexandria but throughout the entire world — have increased in numbers and are living with prosperity,

and since they have continually demonstrated loyalty to us and to our ancestors, especially in matters of religion and public conduct,

I judge it right that they should be permitted to continue in observance of their ancestral customs without interference.

Therefore I order that the same privileges granted to them from the time of Augustus — and after him by my father Drusus and my brother Germanicus — be fully maintained in all the cities under Roman rule.

I command that no one shall molest them or compel them to abandon their customs, particularly concerning:
— the keeping of the Sabbath,
— their food laws,
— and their sending of offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem.

In these matters, the Jews are not to be harassed or charged with offenses, so long as they continue in their loyalty and orderly conduct.”

This decree explicitly names Augustus as the source of these rights — and Augustus had been continuing what Julius Caesar had already put in place decades earlier. Claudius was not inventing new privileges; he was reinforcing a long-standing imperial policy that gave Jews, and by extension early Christians, freedom to practice their faith.

The Rome Expulsion

Despite his protections for Jewish customs, Claudius would not tolerate unrest in the capital.
Around AD 49 or 50, disturbances among the Jewish population in Rome led to a sweeping expulsion.

Acts 18:2:
“There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.”

Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25.4 (c. AD 110–130):
“Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.”

“Chrestus” is almost certainly a misunderstanding of “Christus” — Christ. The unrest likely involved disputes within the Jewish community over Jesus as the Messiah.

Among those expelled were Aquila and Priscilla, who were already Christians when Paul met them in Corinth. Acts never records their conversion; they immediately appear as trusted co-laborers in ministry.

Christianity had, by this point, already reached Rome before Paul ever visited. Paul confirms this in Romans 1:8, writing, “Your faith is being reported all over the world.” The church in Rome likely began through Jewish believers who had been in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2:10) and carried the gospel back home.

What Was Happening in the Church?

Claudius’ reign was one of the most formative in early church history:

  • James the brother of John was martyred c. AD 44
    • Emperor: Claudius
    • Official: Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1–2)
  • Peter was arrested, likely to be executed next (Acts 12:3–11)
  • Paul’s First Missionary Journey: AD 46–48 (Acts 13–14)
  • The Jerusalem Council: AD 49 (Acts 15)
  • Paul’s Second Missionary Journey: AD 49–52 (Acts 15:36–18:22)
  • Paul tried before Gallio, Roman proconsul of Achaia (Acts 18:12–17)
  • Paul’s Third Missionary Journey: AD 52–54 (Acts 18:23–21:16)

Paul’s Letters During Claudius’ Reign

Several of Paul’s letters were written under Claudius:

  • Galatians – c. AD 48–49, likely between the first and second journeys, addressing the push to require Gentile Christians to keep the Mosaic Law.
  • 1 Thessalonians – c. AD 50–51, written from Corinth during the second journey to encourage a persecuted young church.
  • 1 Corinthians – c. AD 53–54, written from Ephesus during the third journey to address division, immorality, and doctrinal confusion.

Persecution Continued Under Claudius

Although Claudius’ reign provided legal protection through Judaism’s recognized status, Paul’s own letters from this period show that persecution was an ongoing expectation and reality for the church.

In Galatians, Paul warns against compromising the gospel under pressure from those demanding Gentile believers keep the law (Galatians 1:6–10; 4:29).
In 1 Thessalonians, he commends the believers for standing firm in the face of suffering: “You suffered from your own people the same things those churches of God suffered from the Jews” (1 Thessalonians 2:14).
In 1 Corinthians, he speaks of apostles being “condemned to die in the arena” and “made a spectacle to the whole universe” (1 Corinthians 4:9).

This persecution came from multiple directions —

  • Jewish authorities, as seen in Paul’s repeated synagogue expulsions (Acts 13:45–50; 14:2–6; 17:5–9).
  • Local Gentile opposition, stirred up by economic or religious concerns (Acts 16:19–24; 19:23–41).
  • And from rulers like Herod Agrippa I, who executed James the brother of John and imprisoned Peter in Jerusalem during Claudius’ reign (Acts 12:1–3).

Even in this window of stability, Paul and the churches he planted understood that following Christ meant sharing in his sufferings — a reality they embraced alongside the rapid spread of the gospel.

The Crucial Window: Caligula to Nero

Between Caligula’s threats to desecrate the Temple and Nero’s fire in AD 64 came a rare 13-year window of stability under Claudius.
In that time:

  • Paul completed all three missionary journeys.
  • The gospel spread across Syria, Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia.
  • The first New Testament letters were written.
  • The church began to define the gospel for both Jew and Gentile.
  • Christianity had already reached Rome before Paul arrived, and the church there was strong enough for him to say their faith was known “all over the world” (Romans 1:8).

Had Claudius ruled like Caligula — or had Nero come to power earlier — the story could have been very different.

Conclusion

Claudius died in AD 54, likely poisoned by his wife Agrippina.
Her son, Nero, became emperor.
And under Nero, the fire would start.

But for just over a decade, the church had room to grow — protected under the legal status of Judaism, traveling freely across the empire, planting congregations, writing the Scriptures that would anchor the Christian faith, and enduring persecution with the expectation that it was part of following Christ.

Caligula, the Jews, and the Birth of the Christian Name

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Introduction

When the Emperor Tiberius died in AD 37, the empire — and Judea in particular — was ready for change.
Years of suspicion and repression had left the people weary.

Into that moment stepped Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus — better known by his childhood nickname, Caligula, “little boots.”
At first, he was welcomed as a breath of fresh air: the beloved son of the popular general Germanicus, a man whose family name still inspired loyalty in the legions.

But within months of taking the throne, Caligula’s rule took a shocking turn.
A serious illness changed him — or perhaps revealed him.
He began to speak and act as if he were not just Rome’s ruler, but Rome’s god.

Caligula’s four-year reign takes us into the early chapters of the book of Acts — roughly Acts 8 through Acts 11, and possibly touching Acts 12. This is the period after Stephen’s martyrdom, when Saul is converted, the gospel spreads to Samaria, and the first Gentiles come to faith.
In Acts 11:26 we read, “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
That moment, the birth of the Christian name, happens right around the time Caligula is assassinated.

At this stage in history, Christians were still viewed by Rome as part of the Jewish community. There was no legal distinction between them. Because of that, they came under the same imperial pressures as the Jews — but their primary opposition, as the book of Acts records, came from certain Jewish religious leaders, not directly from Rome.

Demanding Worship

Caligula’s early popularity soon gave way to demands for divine honors.

Cassius Dio, Roman History 59.28 (c. AD 200–235):
“He gave orders that the statue of Zeus at Olympia be brought to Rome, in order that he might set up a statue of himself in its place, and be worshipped as Zeus.”

Suetonius, Caligula 22 (c. AD 110–130):
“He demanded that all statues of the gods be brought to Rome and have his image set upon them.
Those who failed to swear by his Genius or sacrifice to him were executed or exiled.”

Cassius Dio, Roman History 59.6:
“He became terribly bloodthirsty, once stained with blood. He killed without trial anyone he suspected.
And because he was now calling himself a god, any slight was counted as sacrilege.”

Cassius Dio, Roman History 59.25:
“In Gaul he executed many nobles who failed to show delight at his arrival.
Some were accused of mocking the temples erected in his honor.”

These weren’t harmless eccentricities. Caligula’s divine pretensions were enforced with political terror. Refusal to participate in his worship could mean exile, confiscation of property, or death — whether you were a senator in Rome or a provincial subject.

Christians Were Still Seen as Jews

In the late 30s AD, the Roman state made no distinction between Jews and Christians.

The followers of Jesus still met in synagogues. They kept many Jewish customs. Their proclamation of a crucified and risen Messiah looked, to outsiders, like one more messianic variation within Judaism.

That meant that when Jews came under threat for refusing emperor worship, Christians came under the same threat — not because Rome recognized them as a separate group, but because they were still identified as Jews.

It’s important to remember: in this period, as Acts records, the primary persecution of Christians came from Jewish religious authorities and their allies, not from the Roman state.

The Temple Statue Order

Caligula’s most infamous act toward the Jews came in AD 39 or 40, when he ordered a colossal statue of himself to be placed in the Jerusalem Temple — the holiest site in Judaism.

Josephus, Antiquities 18.261–262 (c. AD 93):
“Petronius, the governor of Syria, was astonished at the constancy of the Jews… Tens of thousands came to meet him, begging him not to allow the laws of their forefathers to be transgressed. They threw themselves on the ground and exposed their necks, declaring they were ready to be slain rather than see the image set up.”

Josephus, War 2.195 (c. AD 75):
“They continued in this posture for forty days, lying prostrate on the ground and praying with tears that the laws of their forefathers not be violated.”

Josephus, Antiquities 18.278:
“They said they would rather let their land lie untilled than submit to such impiety. ‘We will neither fight nor flee,’ they said, ‘but if you wish, kill us. Slaughter us as sacrifices upon our own soil, and we shall die satisfied if we keep our Law.’”

This was a theological line that could not be crossed. The Jewish resistance was total and nonviolent, but it risked triggering a rebellion that could have spread far beyond Judea.

Philo Stands Before Caligula

In Alexandria, Jews were being attacked. Synagogues were seized. A delegation led by Philo of Alexandria (c. AD 40s) was sent to plead their case before Caligula.

Philo’s description in Embassy to Gaius is striking.

Philo, Embassy to Gaius 206:
“He would run to the peacocks and talk to them, then dart off to a cluster of trees… laughing loudly and pretending to judge the beauty of the statues.
We followed him like prisoners in a triumphal procession.”

Philo, Embassy to Gaius 351–352:
“He ridiculed us without restraint.
He said, ‘You are people who do not believe I have been made a god, although I am clearly one!’
And when we tried to explain our ancestral customs, he laughed louder still and said,
‘You are not defending your religion — you are insulting mine!’”

Philo, Embassy to Gaius 358:
“No one could guess what he would do next.
His madness was like the sea, stirred by contrary winds — always shifting, never at peace.”

The emperor’s mood, not the law, was the deciding factor for the fate of entire communities.

Petronius Risks His Life

In Judea, the man tasked with carrying out the statue order was the governor of Syria, Publius Petronius. He saw the Jewish determination to resist and feared the order would ignite a rebellion that could consume the whole region.

Josephus, Antiquities 18.297–299:
“Petronius took the blame upon himself… He wrote to Caligula saying that if he forced the image into the Temple, all Syria would be in revolt.
He told his wife and children to prepare for his death.”

Caligula sent a letter ordering Petronius to commit suicide. But before it arrived:

Josephus, Antiquities 18.302:
“The letter from Caligula, commanding Petronius to kill himself, was already on its way —
but a messenger arrived first announcing that Gaius was dead. And so Petronius was saved.”

What Was Happening in the Church?

During Caligula’s reign:

  • Jesus had been crucified just a few years earlier, c. AD 30.
  • Paul had been converted, c. AD 31–32.
  • The gospel had spread to Samaria and Antioch.
  • According to Acts 11:26, “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
  • The events of Acts 8–11 — and possibly into Acts 12 — take place during these years.
  • The primary persecution of Christians recorded in Acts during this period came from certain Jewish authorities (Acts 8:1–3; Acts 9:1–2), not from Rome.

Conclusion

Caligula’s reign ended in AD 41 when members of the Praetorian Guard assassinated him.
For the Jews — and for Christians — his death was seen as a deliverance.

But his four years on the throne left a deep impression: the empire could demand worship from its subjects, and refusal could bring you to the brink of death.

The birth of the Christian name in Antioch happened in this very period, under the shadow of an emperor who claimed to be all the gods.

In the next post, we’ll see how the man who succeeded him — Claudius — brought a surprising period of stability, and how, under that stability, the Christian mission exploded across the empire.