3rd Roman prefect to govern all
Palestine. Publius Ventidius Cumanus was a cavalry officer whose disdain
for Jews was exceeded only by his lack of restraint in retaliating for any
outburst against Roman authority. One Passover thousands of Jews were
trampled trying to escape Roman troops that Cumanus sent through the
streets of Jerusalem in response to Jewish outrage at an obscene gesture
by a Roman soldier stationed at the temple. When a Jewish mob attacked a
tax-collector, Cumanus raided Jewish villages. When Galilean Jews
plundered the villages of Samaritans in retaliation for the murder of
Galilean pilgrims, Cumanus sent troops to slaughter Jews. The escalation
of violence, charges & counter-charges from these incidents led Quadratus,
the governor of Syria, to send all principals (including Cumanus) to the
emperor Claudius at Rome. Agrippa II's
intervention on behalf of the Jews, however, eventually persuaded Claudius
to remove Cumanus, grant Agrippa control of eastern Galilee, & send
one of his own retinue (Antonius Felix) to govern
Judea & Samaria.
References: Josephus,
Antiquities
20.103-109, 114-136;
_____, War
2.223-246;
Tacitus, Annals 12.54.
Other resources
on line:
Perspective on the
World of Jesus 