by Steve Hale
After the bloody and costly defeat of Bar-Kokhba, Hadrian decided that Jerusalem must be forever destroyed. In A.D. 70, the 10th Roman Legion was left to control the ruins. This time, however, Hadrian ordered the city to be plowed over and rebuilt as a Roman city.
A pig was carved over one of the gates to honor the 10th Legion that had wrecked the city under Titus. A temple to Jupiter was erected at the sight of Solomon's Temple. A statue to Hadrian was erected on the spot that had been occupied by the Holy of Holies.
Jews were forbidden in this new city, and any Jew caught trying to enter was crucified immediately! Only one exception was made to this on the ninth day of Ab, each year. For a fee, a Jew could enter the city and pray for restoration of the Temple.
Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina. Aelia was Hadrian's middle name. Capitolina was in homage to the pagan god, Capitoline Jupiter. Circumcision and study of the Law were outlawed. Jews who had been converted to Christianity were welcomed in the city, but could be challenged to show that they had not been circumcised!
Jewish slaves so flooded the markets in Rome that the price for a slave actually became cheaper than the price of a horse! Many of the slaves were freed because it was too expensive to feed them while waiting for someone to buy them.
Hadrian's actions accomplished four things important to remember: (1) his two long colonnaded streets crossed in the center of the city and formed a cross; (2) his pagan shrines marked the place of the Temple and other important places; (3) his edict allowing Jewish Christians to enter Jerusalem elevated Christianity to be beyond a mere sect of Judaism; (4) he renamed the province Palestina instead of Judea (for the Philistines). Hence, the name today, Palestine.
Historians list him as one of 'the five good emperors.' He was a great builder, merciful in many of his judgments, and demanded due process of law, even for Christians! In a letter to Minucius Fundanus, Hadrian wrote:
"...I have received a letter written to me by His Excellency Scrennius Granianus, your predecessor. it is not my intention to leave the matter uninvestigated, for fear of causing the men embarrassment and abetting the informers in their mischiefmaking. If then the provincial can so clearly establish their cam against Christians that they can sustain it in a court of law, let them resort to this procedure only, and not rely on petitions and mcre clamor. Much the most satisfactory course, if anyone should wish to prosecute, is for you to decide the matter. So if someone prosecutes them and proves them guilty of any UlegaEty, you must pronounce sentence according to the seriousness of the offence. ]3ut if anyone starts such proceedings in the hope of financial award, then for goodness sake arrest him for his shabby trick, and see that he gets his deserts" (History of the Church by Eusebius).
So, inspite of the awful persecutions of Jews, Hadrian was at least just toward Christians. Even Bar-Kokhba was not so friendly (see last week's article).
Hadrian died in 138, his body was cremated and put in his own tomb. Our study of lst century Emperor thus ends. While they have come and gone, the church marches on!