The Diaspora Revolt: Cyprus’s Forgotten Jewish Uprising

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The Jewish uprising that occurred across the eastern Mediterranean from 115 to 117 CE was violently suppressed by the Romans, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Yet, unlike the better-known First Jewish Revolt and the later Bar-Kokhba Revolt, this uprising is poorly documented in written sources. Explore what recent archaeological discoveries reveal about the Diaspora Revolt on the island of Cyprus.

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Endnotes

1. Danielle Parks, The Roman Coinage of Cyprus (Nicosia: Cyprus Numismatic Society, 2004).

2. David Soren, The Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates at Kourion, Cyprus (Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press, 1987).

3. John Lund, “The Distribution of Cypriote Sigillata as Evidence of Sea-Trade Involving Cyprus,” in Stuart Swiny et al., eds., Res Maritimae: Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean from Prehistory to Late Antiquity (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), pp. 201–215.

4. Thomas Davis, “The Jewish Diaspora in Ptolemaic and Roman Cyprus: Some Speculations,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 10.1 (2016), pp. 39–44.