Caligula

Most Jews probably saw no contradiction between being faithful to God and living under Rome; principled refusal was a minority stance. Over time, though, concrete threats arose. The worst came from Caligula, who, doubting Jewish loyalty, ordered a statue of himself as Jupiter (Zeus, in the book's timeline) placed in the Temple. The governor Petronius delayed the order, and the emperor's assassination ended the crisis before a revolt broke out.1

For Philo, Augustus was the model sovereign: he brought peace, united the world, civilized the barbarians and put an end to piracy; Caligula, by contrast, was dreadful, but in his view most successors acted with benevolence toward the Jews. Archaeology shows what prompted this judgment: aqueducts in Jerusalem and Caesarea, better roads, streets and ports.2

In the mixed cities of North Africa, Jews shared cities with large Greek-speaking and indigenous communities, and coexistence often turned to violence. Alexandria is the best-known case. Greeks and Egyptians resented the Jews, Rome stoked the rivalry by sometimes taking sides and sometimes setting one group against the other, and the Jews, insecure in their position, feared their neighbors and at times attacked them. In 38 CE an anti-Jewish riot left many dead and synagogues destroyed; in 41, with Caligula's death, came the Jewish reprisal; in 66 a new fight ended with a Roman massacre of Jews.3