Riots, Jews and Samaritans massacred in retaliation

Byzantine Palestine of the 6th century had witnessed the Samaritan revolts of 484 and 529, crushed with a severity that had nearly caused this community to disappear. Jews and Samaritans, both excluded from public office by Justinian's legislation, found themselves allies by circumstance.

In Caesarea, then the provincial capital, the riot turned into an attack on the churches and cost the governor his life. The imperial repression, led by an envoy from the palace, struck both communities; the measures of exclusion were aggravated, and the property of the insurgents confiscated.