Giday, I'm Gary Stevens.

And welcome to the third season of the History in the Bible podcast.

In this final season, I explore how the Jews and the Christians constructed new religions when they were

sent spinning into the void after the destruction of the temple. All of the history, about all of the books beyond the Bible.

Episode 3.28. The last heirs of Abraham, part two.

Fall of the Temple.

In the last episode, I set the stage for the final act in the great drama there was Second Temple Judaism.

The Romans have now lumbered into the theatre and installed Herod the Greatest Star of the show.

The Romans esteemed Judaism as a bona fide religion, one just as worthy of esteem as many other religions in the empire.

They respected Judaism's ancient roots.

The Judeans enjoyed special protections and privileges, especially in their homeland.

They were exempt from military service, and from performing the pagan state demonstrations of loyalty they found so offensive.

They also had special permission to meet in synagogues.

Now that was a really big deal.

The Roman state was deeply suspicious of private meetings.

One emperor had even dissolved the Roman fire brigades,

lest they become hotbeds of sedition.

As far as we can tell,

some pagans thought the Jews were rather unsocial.

But that's about it.

In return, most Jews thought that any religion other than their own was rubbish. We know that in the Hellenistic period,

not only did Jews except converts, they actively sought them. The Jews seemed to have ceased

...