known by the romans as "cofna", jifna was a regional capital in the iudaea province under the roman empire. around 50 bce the roman general cassius sold the population into slavery, for failure to pay taxes. they were freed, however, by mark antony shortly after he came to power. jifna was within the area under john b. hananiah's command in 66 ce, during the first jewish-roman war, and was the headquarters of one of the twelve toparchies (administrative districts) of judea. the roman emperor vespasian occupied the town in 68 ce, established an army garrison there, and concentrated within the city jewish priests and other local notables who had surrendered to him. titus, the future roman emperor, passed through gophna during his march to besiege jerusalem in 70 ce. gophna had a sizable priestly israelite population on the wake of the bar kokhba revolt in the 130s, and it is possible that an entire synagogue congregation of gophna (including priests) relocated to sepphoris in galilee by the 3rd century ce.