From the minutes of the Century Society 3/16/2023

From the minutes of the Century Society 3/16/2023 Today the discussion was a back and fill of the minutes of last session. The defeat of 70AD caused the Jews to reflect but not desist. Even though the temple was destroyed and the population decimated forty-five years later two of the largest Jewish colonies were convinced to revolt, or perhaps, other colonies preferred to remain quiet. The expression of this Jewish revolt was no military action, but rather the Jews rose up and began murdering the non-Jewish population in a sneak attack. The two colonies affected were the very large settlements of Alexandria, Egypt and the island of Cyprus. Two hundred fifty thousand Alexadrines and two hundred fifty thousand Cypriots were slaughtered and not just slaughtered; the Jews were said to wear their intestines as belts and other atrocities. So, in real terms not much different from the holocausts of WWII. The reactions of the Mediterranean world must been to be aghast. It also must follow that Jews in all parts of the Empire were shunned, distanced and avoided. The slaughter was horrific. What the reaction was in attacked Jewish colonies was isn’t recorded but it must have been harsh. This was a mere forty-five years after the Jewish defeat. There must have been many people alive who remembered that. Twenty years later in 135 the Bar Kochba revolt was waged that exasperated the Romans beyond endurance. The legions descended on Israel slaughtering how many. while masses were deported, mainly to Spain. Then a manhunt was conducted to kill any militants and planners left alive. The Romans forbade the Jews to inhabit Israel for all time in hope that without their home of Jerusalem survivors would blend In with the population. But the colonies and Jews in Mesopotamia still existed. The result must have been the detestation of Jews everywhere, how could it have been otherwise. Yet Jewish resistance was not done yet although clandestine. Meanwhile the Catholic, or Universal Church, for that is what catholic means, was slowly taking form. The Christians were persecuted from time to time by various Emperors but their numbers were increasing although they remained a minority. Constantine would win the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, subsequently to make Christianity, as the Catholic Church, the State religion. All the old gods were not yet finished still being practiced at that time. This date 3/16/2023, Sec’y R.E. Prindle