Reprisals by Varus after the death of Herod

At the death of Hérode le Grand, Judea erupted in flames. The procurator Sabinus, who had come to seize the deceased's assets, clashed with the crowd that had gathered in Jérusalem for the festival of Shavuot; the Temple's porticoes were set ablaze and the sacred treasury pillaged by his men. The revolt immediately spread to Galilee, where Judas son of Hezekiah seized the arsenal of Sepphoris, and to Peraea.

Varus, legate of Syria, descended with two legions and Arab auxiliaries. Sepphoris was burned and its inhabitants sold into slavery, Emmaus razed to the ground. The repression ended with mass crucifixions on the outskirts of Jérusalem, a punishment Rome reserved for rebels and slaves. The rabbis would long refer to this episode as "the war of Varus."

Rome then divided the kingdom among the sons of Hérode, before placing Judea under direct administration ten years later.