What is Judea?
[[File:Judea 1 by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|Judaean Desert.]] '''Judea''' or '''Judaea''' ({{lang-he|יהודה}}, ''Yehudah'') is the ancient name of the [[mountain]]ous terrain surrounding [[Jerusalem]]. Its location falls in present-day [[Israel]] and the [[Palestine|Palestinian]] [[West Bank]]. ==History== Judea was the territory of the ancient [[Judah|Kingdom of Judah]]. Judea lost its nationhood to the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] in the [[1st century BC]], by becoming first a [[tribute|tributary]] kingdom, then a [[Roman province|province]], of the [[Roman Empire]]. The first interference of Rome in the region dates from 63 BC, following the end of the Third Mithridatic war. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, general [[Pompey|Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus]] (Pompey the Great) stayed behind to make the area secure for Rome. Judea at the time was not a peaceful place. Queen Alexandra had recently died, and her sons were troubling the country with a [[civil war]] for power. They were Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. In 63 BC, Aristobulus was surrounded in Jerusalem by his brother's armies, and the situation was bad. He sent a messenger to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Pompey's representative in the area. Aristobulus offered a large [[bribe]] to be rescued, that Pompey quickly accepted, but later, he tried to accuse Scaurus of [[extortion]]. This caused his downfall, because Scaurus was Pompey's brother in law and was protected by him. The general did not like what Aristobulus had done, and put the prince and high priest Hyrcanus in charge of the kingdom. Judea and [[Galilee]] became tributary kingdoms of Rome, which meant that they had to pay tribute to the [[Roman Republic]] to buy their protection. ===After Caesar's death=== Around the same time Pompey was defeated by [[Julius Caesar]], Hyrcanus was followed by a member of his court, Antipater. Caesar and Antipater were both killed in 44 BC, and Herod, Antipater's son, was appointed as governor (''tetrarch'') by Rome in 41 BC. He became the king (''basileus'') of