[Oxymoron]

I don't think that's entirely true. Before the Roman-Jewish Wars, the Jews were a major population group in the eastern Mediterranean. It is this fact which probably emboldened them to commit these atrocities and to rise up against Roman rule, and not just in Judea. However, during the course of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Jews went from being a major population group in the eastern Mediterranean to being a hunted and despised minority, exiled from their heartland and placed under increasingly strict prohibitions on their ability to organise and their ability to integrate with mainstream Gentile society. For more than a millennium, they were unable to act as an effective Fifth Column for anyone. All of this culminated, of course, in the Nazi Holocaust, during which Hitler managed to kill off half of all Jews living in Europe. In a sense, the Holocaust was actually part of the same troubles between the Gentiles and the Jews which had begun back in the 1st century AD, as was the Zionist project to recolonise the Jewish heartland in southern Levant. As a wise man once said, "The past is never dead. In fact, it's not even past."

You seem to be advocating for the holocaust.

[Potemkin]

You seem to be advocating for the holocaust.

Not at all. I regard the Holocaust as one of the worst crimes in human history. I am merely pointing out its historical roots, which go back to the Roman Empire. The Holocaust was not an anomaly in European history; this, in fact, is part of what makes it so horrific. It was a true expression of European culture rather than merely a grotesque crime which cut across European history. Part of the reason why almost all Europeans hate Hitler so much is because he held up a mirror to the European soul, and we didn't like what we saw there.

[Rich]

The Holocaust was not an anomaly in European history; this, in fact, is part of what makes it so horrific. It was a true expression of European culture rather than merely a grotesque crime which cut across European history. Part of the reason why almost all Europeans hate Hitler so much is because he held up a mirror to the European soul, and we didn't like what we saw there.

Why didn't we like what we saw? Because we looked at it from a Christian or neo Christian perspective. There's nothing European about genocide. Genocide is sign of human greatness. That our main competitors for the world's limited resources are not other species but other humans. Genocide was perfectly normal amongst primitive peoples. Some tribes would be decimated and merge with other tribes, some tribes would expand and split.

Ethnic genocide was uncommon amongst the ancient empires, because captured serfs, occupied towns were yet more people for the aristocracy to exploit. Instead the genocide was by class, with the poor dying out and being replaced by the descendants of the aristocracy. Society had perpetual downward mobility.

[Negotiator]

The Roman Empire was mostly peaceful.

What the. WHAT ? Certainly not. The roman empire was brutal, it conquered with force and held with force.

The jews on the other hand wanted out, and the romans didnt want to let the territory go.

[starman2003]

What the. WHAT ? Certainly not. The roman empire was brutal, it conquered with force and held with force.

It conquered with force but did much to gain the support of subjects. In fact from the second century onward, some of the most important backers of the Empire were conquered peoples who once rebelled against it. The greatest second century panygeric was delivered by a Greek not a Roman.