Ventidius Cumanus
Encyclopedia
Ventidius Cumanus was the Roman procurator
of Iudaea Province
from AD 48
to c. AD 52
. A disagreement between the surviving sources, the Jewish historian Josephus
and the Roman Tacitus
, makes it unclear whether his authority was over some or all of the province. Cumanus' time in office was marked by disputes between his troops and the Jewish population, and his failure to respond to an anti-Jewish murder in Samaritan
territory led to violent conflict between Jews and Samaritans. Following an investigation by the governor of Syria
, Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, Cumanus was sent to Rome
for a hearing before the Emperor
Claudius
, who held him responsible for the violence and sentenced him to exile.
Nothing is known about Cumanus before he was appointed procurator
of Iudaea
in 48, in succession to Tiberius Julius Alexander
.
. However, Tacitus states that Felix was already governing Samaria
before 52, while Cumanus had authority over Galilee
to the north (see map). Tacitus does not mention who controlled other areas of the province.
This conflict has led historians to take a number of positions on political arrangements in the province. Some have argued that Josephus' greater knowledge of Jewish affairs justifies favouring his account. M. Aberbach believes that there was a division of power, but that Tacitus reversed the governors' areas of authority and that Cumanus actually governed the south and Felix the north; this fits better with Josephus, who describes Cumanus as active in Jerusalem and nearby. Another suggestion is that part of the province was transferred to Felix after disturbances under Cumanus' rule.
feast. Cumanus, following the precedent set by earlier governors, assembled a detachment of Roman soldiers on the roof of the Temple portico to maintain order among the crowds, but one caused chaos by exposing himself to the Jews in the courtyard while calling out insults. Some of the Jews brought their complaints to Cumanus, but others began to retaliate by hurling stones at the soldiers. Some openly accused Cumanus of being responsible for the provocation – a sign that relations between governor and provincials may already have been poor. Finding himself unable to calm the angry crowd, Cumanus called for fully armed reinforcements, who assembled either in the Temple courtyard or on the roof of the Antonia Fortress
, overlooking the Temple. In the ensuing stampede, according to Josephus
' estimates, between twenty and thirty thousand people were crushed to death. These numbers may be exaggerated, but the loss of life was substantial; the feast, says Josephus, "became the cause of mourning to the whole nation".
Further unrest was triggered when an Imperial slave named Stephanus was robbed while travelling near Beth-horon
. Troops sent by Cumanus to arrest the leading men of the nearby villages began plundering the area. One of them, finding a copy of the Torah
, destroyed it in view of the villagers while shouting blasphemies. Angered by this insult to God and to the Jewish religion, a crowd of Jews confronted Cumanus at Caesarea Maritima, demanding that the guilty party should be punished. This time the governor acted decisively and ordered that the soldier responsible should be beheaded in front of his accusers, temporarily restoring the calm.
, Eleazar and Alexander, they invaded Samaria and began a massacre. Cumanus led most of his troops against the militants, killing many and taking others prisoner, and the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem were subsequently able to calm most of the others, but a state of guerrilla warfare
persisted.
Meanwhile, two separate embassies had been dispatched to Tyre to appeal to Ummidius Caius Quadratus
, who as legate
of Syria
had some authority over the lower-ranking procurator
of Iudaea. One, from the Samaritans, protested the Jewish attacks on Samaritan villages. The Jewish counter-embassy held the Samaritans responsible for the violence and accused Cumanus of siding with them. Agreeing to investigate, Quadratus proceeded in 52 to Iudaea, where he had all of Cumanus' Jewish prisoners crucified
and ordered the beheading of several other Jews and Samaritans who had been involved in the fighting.
Perhaps after hearing a case against Cumanus in Iudaea, Quadratus sent him, along with several Jewish and Samaritan leaders including the High Priest
Ananias, to plead their cases in Rome
before the Emperor
Claudius
. At the hearing, several of Claudius' influential freedmen
officials took the side of Cumanus. However, the Jews were supported by Agrippa II
, a friend of Claudius whose father, Agrippa I
, had been the last king of Iudaea before the province was placed under Roman procurators. Whether influenced by court politics or not, Claudius decided in favour of the Jewish side. The Samaritan leaders were executed and Cumanus was sent into exile. Felix succeeded him as procurator of Iudaea. Cumanus' life and career after his banishment are unknown.
Procurator (Roman)
A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
of Iudaea Province
Iudaea Province
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
from AD 48
48
Year 48 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vitellius and Poplicola...
to c. AD 52
52
Year 52 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sulla and Otho...
. A disagreement between the surviving sources, the Jewish historian Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
and the Roman Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, makes it unclear whether his authority was over some or all of the province. Cumanus' time in office was marked by disputes between his troops and the Jewish population, and his failure to respond to an anti-Jewish murder in Samaritan
Samaritan
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism...
territory led to violent conflict between Jews and Samaritans. Following an investigation by the governor of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, Cumanus was sent to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for a hearing before the Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
, who held him responsible for the violence and sentenced him to exile.
Procuratorship of Iudaea
Procurator (Roman)
A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
of Iudaea
Iudaea Province
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
in 48, in succession to Tiberius Julius Alexander
Tiberius Julius Alexander
Tiberius Julius Alexander was an equestrian governor and general in the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy Jewish family of Alexandria but abandoning or neglecting the Jewish religion, he rose to become procurator of Judea under Claudius...
.
Scope of Authority
Josephus, the main source for Cumanus' career, presents him as governing the whole of Iudaea until 52, when he was succeeded by Marcus Antonius FelixAntonius Felix
Marcus Antonius Felix was the Roman procurator of Iudaea Province 52-58, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus.- Life :...
. However, Tacitus states that Felix was already governing Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
before 52, while Cumanus had authority over Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
to the north (see map). Tacitus does not mention who controlled other areas of the province.
This conflict has led historians to take a number of positions on political arrangements in the province. Some have argued that Josephus' greater knowledge of Jewish affairs justifies favouring his account. M. Aberbach believes that there was a division of power, but that Tacitus reversed the governors' areas of authority and that Cumanus actually governed the south and Felix the north; this fits better with Josephus, who describes Cumanus as active in Jerusalem and nearby. Another suggestion is that part of the province was transferred to Felix after disturbances under Cumanus' rule.
Roman-Jewish conflict
Under Alexander, the province of Iudaea had enjoyed a period of relative peace, but that proved to be transient, as Cumanus' governorship was marked by a series of serious public disturbances. Trouble started while Jewish pilgrims were gathered in Jerusalem for the PassoverPassover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
feast. Cumanus, following the precedent set by earlier governors, assembled a detachment of Roman soldiers on the roof of the Temple portico to maintain order among the crowds, but one caused chaos by exposing himself to the Jews in the courtyard while calling out insults. Some of the Jews brought their complaints to Cumanus, but others began to retaliate by hurling stones at the soldiers. Some openly accused Cumanus of being responsible for the provocation – a sign that relations between governor and provincials may already have been poor. Finding himself unable to calm the angry crowd, Cumanus called for fully armed reinforcements, who assembled either in the Temple courtyard or on the roof of the Antonia Fortress
Antonia Fortress
The Antonia Fortress was a military barracks built by Herod the Great in Jerusalem on the site of earlier Ptolemaic and Hasmonean strongholds, named after Herod's patron Mark Antony...
, overlooking the Temple. In the ensuing stampede, according to Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
' estimates, between twenty and thirty thousand people were crushed to death. These numbers may be exaggerated, but the loss of life was substantial; the feast, says Josephus, "became the cause of mourning to the whole nation".
Further unrest was triggered when an Imperial slave named Stephanus was robbed while travelling near Beth-horon
Beth-horon
Bethoron was the name for two adjacent towns, Bethoron Elyon , and Bethoron Tahton , named for the Egypto-Canaanite deity Horon mentioned in Ugaritic literature and other texts...
. Troops sent by Cumanus to arrest the leading men of the nearby villages began plundering the area. One of them, finding a copy of the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, destroyed it in view of the villagers while shouting blasphemies. Angered by this insult to God and to the Jewish religion, a crowd of Jews confronted Cumanus at Caesarea Maritima, demanding that the guilty party should be punished. This time the governor acted decisively and ordered that the soldier responsible should be beheaded in front of his accusers, temporarily restoring the calm.
Jewish-Samaritan conflict
The events that would cost Cumanus his office began with the murder of one or more Galilean pilgrims who had been travelling through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem. A Galilean embassy asked Cumanus to investigate but received little attention; Josephus alleges that he had been bribed by the Samaritans to turn a blind eye. The result was that a crowd of Jews decided to take the law into their own hands. Under the leadership of two ZealotsZealotry
Zealotry was originally a political movement in 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt...
, Eleazar and Alexander, they invaded Samaria and began a massacre. Cumanus led most of his troops against the militants, killing many and taking others prisoner, and the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem were subsequently able to calm most of the others, but a state of guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
persisted.
Meanwhile, two separate embassies had been dispatched to Tyre to appeal to Ummidius Caius Quadratus
Ummidius Caius Quadratus
Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus was the Roman governor of Syria from c. 50 until his death.-Early life:Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus was born c. 12 BCE. His family, the Ummidii, were nobles from the Italian town of Casinum, Latium...
, who as legate
Legatus
A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
had some authority over the lower-ranking procurator
Procurator (Roman)
A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
of Iudaea. One, from the Samaritans, protested the Jewish attacks on Samaritan villages. The Jewish counter-embassy held the Samaritans responsible for the violence and accused Cumanus of siding with them. Agreeing to investigate, Quadratus proceeded in 52 to Iudaea, where he had all of Cumanus' Jewish prisoners crucified
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
and ordered the beheading of several other Jews and Samaritans who had been involved in the fighting.
Perhaps after hearing a case against Cumanus in Iudaea, Quadratus sent him, along with several Jewish and Samaritan leaders including the High Priest
Kohen Gadol
The High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
Ananias, to plead their cases in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
before the Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
. At the hearing, several of Claudius' influential freedmen
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
officials took the side of Cumanus. However, the Jews were supported by Agrippa II
Agrippa II
Agrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, and Drusilla...
, a friend of Claudius whose father, Agrippa I
Agrippa I
Agrippa I also known as Herod Agrippa or simply Herod , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, so named in honour of Roman statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the...
, had been the last king of Iudaea before the province was placed under Roman procurators. Whether influenced by court politics or not, Claudius decided in favour of the Jewish side. The Samaritan leaders were executed and Cumanus was sent into exile. Felix succeeded him as procurator of Iudaea. Cumanus' life and career after his banishment are unknown.
Ancient
- JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, WarThe Wars of the JewsThe Jewish War , in full Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans , also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews and The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, is a book written by the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus.It is a description of Jewish...
2.223-247 - Josephus, AntiquitiesAntiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the Jews is a twenty volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people,...
20.103-137 - TacitusTacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, AnnalsAnnals (Tacitus)The Annals by Tacitus is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this...
12.54