Palestine in 1 AD was shortly after the birth of Jesus Christ, who was born there no later than 4 BC.
- Location: 32° N, 35° E, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, south of Syria, north-east of Egypt.
- Population: 0.6 million (maybe as high as 2.5 million).
- Major cities: Jerusalem (Mount Zion = 31.77617° N 35.23583° E).
- Languages:
- Religion: mainly Judaism, divided into three sects: Saducees, Pharisees, Essenes. And the off-brand Judaism of the Samaritans. For the fashionable or foreign: Greek paganism (idol worship). The Canaanite god Beelzebub seems to have still been in business.
- Pharisees, unlike the Saducees, believed in angels, immortal souls, Judgement Day and a Messiah. The Pharisees will soon give birth to two other sects: the militaristic Zealots in 6 AD and the pacifistic Christians in about 30 AD. Modern Judaism comes from the Pharisees.
- Government: now a restive part of the Roman Empire. Roman rule is still indirect: the Jewish parts were ruled by means of the Tetrarchy: four vassal princes (three sons and one sister of Herod the Great):
- Herod Archelaus: got the lion’s share (see the map above). Despite his cruelty (or because of it) he was never able to bring true peace to his part of Palestine. This will lead to direct Roman rule, bringing a census in 7 AD, Pontius Pilate in 26 AD, and the Roman-Jewish War from 66 to 73 AD (in which the Temple of Jerusalem is destroyed).
- Herod Antipas: ruled to the north, including western Galilee where Jesus is from. This is the Herod who will hand over Jesus to Pontius Pilate. He is not the Herod who ruled at the time of Jesus’s birth: that was Herod the Great, his father.
- Herod Philip: parts north and east of the Sea of Galilee. He was also known as Philip the Tetrarch because he had a brother also named Herod Philip. He was married to his niece Salome, the one who wanted John the Baptist’s head. She is not to be confused with her great aunt:
- Salome I: Herod the Great’s scheming sister. He left her parts of the coast and a bit along the Jordan River.
- under direct Roman rule: the Greek and Gentile parts, mainly in the north, like Decapolis.
- Currency: a mix of Greek and Roman coins. The Roman denarius (called a penny in the King James Bible) was a day’s pay. It had 3.9 grams of silver and the image of Caesar.
- Economy: wine, figs, the Temple of Jerusalem. No major ports, like nearby Tyre or Alexandria. But it was on the main trade route from Mesopotamia and the Silk Road beyond, bringing silks and spices.
History: In the year 63 BC Rome overthrew the Maccabees, the Jewish kings who had ruled an independent kingdom since 142 BC. The Romans put in place a puppet, Antipater the Idumaean, who had no royal or even Jewish blood (though he was Jewish by religion). He was the father of Herod the Great, who ruled at the time of Jesus’s birth, and the grandfather of Herod Antipater, who ruled at his death.
Palestine’s corner of the Roman Empire in 1 AD. Because Rome’s rule was indirect it is not yet in pink but light green. See full map.
– Abagond, 2022.
Source: mainly Danzig HD Mapper on Youtube and “The Land of Canann” (1971) by Isaac Asimov.
See also:
- The 000s
- Bible chronology
- Roman Empire
- Palestine
- Jesus Christ
- Jerusalem
- Money in the New Testament
- AD (Anno Domini)
- Beelzebub
- Silk Road
568
Abagond 
“Philip the Tetrarch …. was married to his niece Salome, the one who wanted John the Baptist’s head.”
Just to clarify, the Herod that Salome danced before wasn’t Philip but Herod Antipas, her stepfather, right? And I guess after her marriage to Philip, Herod Antipas became her brother-in-law, too. Sheesh, this is almost as bad as the Pharoahs and the Targaryens!
LikeLike
@ Solitaire
You got it right.
LikeLike
Did some quick research and it just gets worse.
If I’ve followed everything correctly, Herod Antipas was Salome’s half-uncle through her father (a son of Herod the Great), her half-great-uncle through her mother (a granddaughter of Herod the Great), her stepfather, and her brother-in-law.
Salome’s husband Philip was likewise also both her half-uncle and half-great-uncle.
Salome’s mother during her lifetime was married to not one but two of her half-uncles. And before that, her grandfather had her father executed.
Yikes!
LikeLike
There was no such thing as Palestine at the time. Judea was given that name in the 2nd century AD by the Romans, who hoped to humiliate the Jews by renaming their homeland after their enemies. Muslims don’t belong in the Land of Israel, in Europe, in the Anglosphere. They should stay or return to their ancestral lands.
LikeLike
Why should followers of the false prophet have any claim on this ancient Jewish land?
LikeLike