Jamnia
Jamnia, also known as Yavneh, is a historically significant town located in western Judaea, Israel. It was originally part of the Philistine territory and featured a harbor at the river Rubin. Throughout its history, Jamnia was influenced by various ruling powers, including the Persians, Ptolemies, and Seleucids, and played a notable role during the Maccabean Revolt, where local battles took place against the Seleucid army. The town changed hands several times, eventually becoming part of the Roman province of Judaea.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai established Jamnia as a center for Jewish learning and religious life, where an academy flourished and became a vital institution for the preservation of Jewish traditions and texts. Under the leadership of Gamaliel II, it was a hub of Torah study, accommodating many students. While the Jewish leadership later relocated to Galilee, Jamnia retained its importance into late Roman times and eventually became the seat of a Christian bishopric, marking its diverse cultural legacy.
Subject Terms
Jamnia
formerly Jabneel, `God buildeth’ (Yavneh), in western Judaea (Israel)
The northernmost of the Philistine cities, with a harbor (Minet Rubin) at the mouth of the river Rubin, Jamnia stood in a fertile and abundantly populated district. During the periods of Persian, Ptolemaic and Seleucid control, it formed part of Idumaea, and was for a time the capital of that province's governor. The Hellenistic history of the town is known from Josephus and I Maccabbees. The rebel leader Judas Maccabaeus (167–161 BC) defeated the Seleucid army of Gorgias near Jamnia, where he was the military commandant, but Gorgias subsequently defeated the local Jewish home guard, who had disobeyed Judas' order not to attack.
The town was annexed to the Jewish state by Simon Maccabaeus (142–135) but freed by the Romans under Pompey the Great (c 63) and repopulated by Aulus Gabinius (57–55). It was subsequently returned to the Judaean kingdom of Herod the Great (37–4), and after his death was bequeathed to his sister Salome who, when she died, left the place to Livia, the wife of Augustus; after her death (AD 29) it became an imperial property in the province of Judaea. In 35 the Roman agent (procurator) Herennius Capito, who was in charge of these estates, arrested the Jewish prince Agrippa I, claiming that he owed money to the Roman treasury; but Agrippa escaped. In 40 trouble broke out between the Jewish and Greek Jamnians, which triggered serious rioting at Alexandria in Egypt. During the First Jewish Revolt (66–73) Vespasian reduced and garrisoned the city, but after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (70) he granted the request of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai that he should be permitted to found a settlement for refugees at Jamnia, including an academy which, under its religious leaders (Tannaim), became the country's principal center of Jewish self-perpetuation and study, closely associated with a national council (Sanhedrin). Under Gamaliel II five hundred boys studied the Torah in the school, and five hundred studied Greek. Although the Jewish leadership subsequently moved to Galilee, Jamnia remained an important, if small, town in late Roman times, becoming the seat of a Christian bishop.