Julian ben Sabar

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Julian ben Sabar ( Latinized Iulianus Sabarides ; * in the 5th century ; † 529 ) was a leader of Samaritan rebels against the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I in 529.

Life

After Emperor Justinian had passed laws against heterodox (i.e. people who did not recognize the teachings of the imperial church ) as part of his strict Christian religious policy and there had also been attacks on the Samaritans, these rose in 529, after 484 Riots had come. The Samaritan uprising spread from Scythopolis , the main focus of the movement was soon also the areas of the cities of Caesarea Maritima and Neapolis in Palestine . Julian ben Sabar, who is referred to as the leader of a band of robbers in some late antique sources, soon became the leader of the rebels, who even made him king (not emperor!).

Julian, whose kingship was perhaps also conditioned by messianic motives, pursued a harsh anti-Christian policy. The Bishop of Neapolis and several priests were killed, churches were destroyed and Christians were persecuted in general. In Neapolis, Julian had chariot racing games held in imperial fashion. In military terms, he did not seek open confrontation with the Roman government troops, but rather waged a kind of guerrilla war. However, Julian could not hold out against the troops that were soon to be mobilized (to which the Arab allies of East Stream belonged, the Ghassanids ). The dux Palaestinae Theodoros advanced on Neapolis, so that Julian fled. Julian's troops were brought in, he himself was captured and executed as a usurper ; his head adorned with a diadem is said to have been sent to Emperor Justinian.

The uprising was not put down until 530. Johannes Malalas reports 20,000 dead , Prokopios of Caesarea even 100,000 dead. Several thousand Samaritans fled, while 20,000 are said to have been handed over to the Ghassanids. Because Theodoros had not acted rigorously against the insurgents from the start, the general was arrested on Justinian's orders and replaced by a certain Eirenaios, who proceeded with extreme severity and put an end to the last unrest.

The hard and energetic action of the emperor may have been justified by the simultaneous threat from the Persian Sassanids in the east (see Roman-Persian wars ); it is also possible that the eschatological expectations of the Samaritans played a role. Since Julian explicitly proclaimed himself king of Israel rather than the counter-emperor, following the tradition of Joseph and combining his kingship with messianic expectations, the uprising also had a considerable component of the history of ideas. After the suppression, Justinian had Samaritan synagogues demolished in order to deprive the Samaritans of the hope of the dispensation and thus to calm the eschatologically heated atmosphere. Justinian also celebrated the end of the uprising as a gift from God.

However, there was another uprising of the Samaritans in 556.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ For a summary and with further literature see also Crown u. a. (1993), pp. 199-201.
  2. ↑ See John of Nikiu 93: 4f.
  3. ↑ These and other documents in Meier (2003), pp. 210f. See also Martindale (1992), p. 729.
  4. ↑ For example, the thesis of Mischa Meier, who generally assumes a strongly eschatological age of Justinian, which is not entirely undisputed. For his thoughts on the uprising, see Meier (2003), pp. 209ff.
  5. ↑ Since the middle of the 5th century, the Roman Empire has been explicitly linked to the Israelite royal tradition in church writings; see. on this, Gereon Siebigs: Emperor Leo I. The Eastern Roman Empire in the first three years of his reign (457–460 AD). Berlin / New York 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-022584-6 , p. 780.
  6. ^ So Meier (2003), p. 215.
personal data
SURNAME Julian ben Sabar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Leader of Samaritan insurgents against the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century
DATE OF DEATH 529