The Patriarchate in the Late Roman Period

At about the turn of the third century, probably during the Severan dynasty (193–235 CE, founded by Septimus Severus), the position of patriarch (Hebrew nasi, meaning “prince” or “exalted one”) emerged and was established as an official political representative of the Jewish communities in Palestine and the diaspora. The patriarch was granted imperial sanction to preside over these communities. The Severan emperors, granting citizenship to disenfranchised peoples, generally improved political conditions for Jews, who may have enjoyed a higher degree of autonomy in the political, civil, and religious spheres. This relatively stable, official form of Jewish authority continued through the late Roman and early Byzantine periods.

Part of the difficulty in determining a more precise historical timeline for the patriarchate results from the discrepancies between rabbinic and nonrabbinic sources. Rabbinic literature composed in Palestine is virtually silent about the relationship between the Romans and later patriarchs, instead reporting mainly about those patriarchs who predated the third century. Many scholars consider these accounts of early figures historically unreliable, as they reflect later perspectives from the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds and the midrashim. The title nasi, however, appears regularly in rabbinic sources from the time of the Mishnah (ca. 200 CE), designating select leaders like Judah “the Prince”—that is, nasi—and perhaps suggesting an early institution of the patriarchal office. Scholars claim that this is to be distinguished from earlier references to the nasi as one presiding over the Sanhedrin (see The Patriarch and the Head of the Court). The non-Jewish sources in this section, by contrast, especially those from the late fourth century, attest to the importance and prestige of the patriarch’s political and communal role. It is unclear precisely why the patriarchate was ultimately terminated in 425 CE. The last person to hold the office was Gamaliel VI (d. 426 CE). It is possible that competing political figures, such as bishops and provincial governors, may have derived benefit from the end of the patriarchate. See also Rabbinic Constructions of the Past: The Patriarch.