It was normal Roman practice in the incorporation of a new province into direct rule to build upon existing institutions, and to depose the existing local leaders from power only when it seemed absolutely necessary. It will therefore be helpful in trying to understand the composition of the Judaean ruling class through which Rome ruled from a.d. 6 to 66 to delve back some way into the earlier history of the area.

The independent Jewish state of Judah came to an end in 586 b.c. with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Much of the population was carried off into exile in Mesopotamia. For many, the catastrophe seemed permanent, and they tried to build new lives, and new religious explanations of the world, in a foreign land. Babylon in turn, however, fell in 539 b.c. to Cyrus, the energetic king of Persia, and under his patronage and that of his successor the Jews began to revive their national life in Judah. The temple was gradually rebuilt and the High Priest was eventually recognized by the suzerain as the leader of the nation. This small Persian province was distinctively Jewish. The local representatives of the Persian king are known to have been in some cases Jews who maintained close, if not always friendly, relations with the governor of the neighbouring province of Samaria.