Ancient history

Judea | Region, Middle East

Judea , also Judea written , or Judah , Hebrew Yehudaḥ , the southernmost of the three traditional divisions of ancient Palestine; The other two were Galilee to the north and Samaria in the center. No clearly marked border separated Judea from Samaria, but the city of Beersheba was traditionally the southernmost border. The region has a variety of geographical features, but the real core of Judea was the upper hill country known as Har Yehuda ("Hills of Judea"), lying south of of the region Bethel (in present-day Ramallah) to Beersheba and including the area of ​​ Jerusalem , Bethlehem and Hebron .

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Before the The Israelite Conquest of Palestine, the Canaanites dominated the region, and the city of Hebron was an important center. As the stems Israel invaded the country, the tribe was Israel Judah claimed all of the territory south of Jerusalem into the Region Negev (the area south of Beersheba). The tribes of Simeon, Benjamin and Dan also settled some small areas of the region at one time or another. When David became king of Judah (10th century v ) he conquered the ancient Canaanite (Jebusite) stronghold of Jerusalem and made it the capital of the United Kingdom of the tribes of Israel. After the death of David's son, King Solomon (10th century), the 10 northern tribes of Judah separated, and Jerusalem remained the capital of the kingdom of Judah, which ruled until 587/ 586 lasted when the Babylonians conquered it and destroyed Jerusalem. Later, however, Persian kings allowed captured Jews to return home from Babylonia and rebuild their temple and the walls of Jerusalem.

After the Conquest of Middle East through Alexander the Great Judah came first under the rule of the Ptolemies and later under the Seleucids. Opposition to the Seleucid attempt to suppress the beliefs of the Jewish ancestors led to the rise of the family of Jewish leaders known as Maccabees who gradually drove the Seleucids out of the country and established a revived kingdom of Judea. However, family disputes led to 63 v . Chr . To a Roman intervention . Under Roman control, Herod the Great 37 v. And later from all of Palestine (20–4 v . Ch. ) To appointed king of Judea . After Herod's death, the country was alternately ruled by Herod's direct descendants and by Roman procurators. As a result of the Jewish uprising that 66 n. broke out, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed ( 70 n . Chr .). The name Judea is still used to describe roughly the same area in modern Israel.