Social Banditry? Galilean Banditry from Herod until the Outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt

Abstract

Influenced by the work of twentieth-century social historian Eric Hobsbawm, certain quarters of scholarship view Galilean brigandage as a classic example of “Social Banditry.”  That is, Galilean banditry essentially operated as a kind of prepolitical and nonorganized form of rural protest against injustice and foreign occupation whereby bandits primarily functioned to right the wrongs inflicted upon the peasantry by the ruling classes. While this view may be tidy, and even attractive, it belies the actual nature and situation of Galilean brigandage at the turn of the Common Era. This paper hopes to redress the question of Galilean banditry by not only critiquing this characterization but also by offering a more nuanced analysis of the phenomenon.