«Tumultus Iudaicus»? The Parthian Campaign of Trajan and the Mesopotamian Rebellion of 116-117 CE
Abstract
The article deals with the problem of interpreting the Mesopotamian rebellion in 116-117 CE, which enveloped the territories previously occupied by Romans during their campaign against the Parthian Kingdom. Graeco-Roman and Byzantine authors had different views describing the rebellion itself and its reasons and participants. That fact creates problems for scholars. One of the potential interpretations focuses on the hypothetical connection between the rebellion in Mesopotamia and Jewish rebellions in Egypt, Cyrenaica and Cyprus that colapsed in 115-117 CE. Author compared the texts of Eusebius and Dio Cassius. Eusebius in his «Chronicon» mentions a Jewish Rebellion in Mesopotamia. In «Historia ecclesiastica» he changed his mind and only mentioned the campaign of Lusius Quietus against Jews. Dio Cassius mentions the rebellions in Mesopotamia but there is no sign that those were Jewish rebellions. Author states that the late Eusebius and other authors probably recorded Roman preventive activity with the purpose not to allow the Jewish rebellions to spread in Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian rebellions itself possibly had a polyethnical character and weren't connected with the idea of Jewish rebellions in the Eastern Mediterranean and Egypt in that period.
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