By the time of Christ, Rome had put an end to the Pharaohs, destroyed the Jewish temple and made Egypt the personal property of Augustus Caesar. The greatest revolt against Rome is by the Jews, not only of Palestine or Canaan, but throughout the Roman empire. The historical account of these wars, if seen as political, describes a people in a struggle for dominance within a changing world political landscape. Although presented as a messianic movement, this conflict must have had economic backing and what better source could there have been than the disenfranchised rulers of Egypt and its Greek counterparts. We tend to leave out the larger fact, that it’s not only the Jews that have been conquered by Augustus but the entire Hellenistic realm, the Egyptians, Persians and Greeks have now come under Roman rule. 399 4-4-3