The origins of the Zealot movement can be traced to the year 6 C.E., when Rome called for a census to be taken of all of Syria and Palestine. It was customary for the Romans to conduct periodic registers of their citizens, along with their wives, children, slaves, and property, for the purpose of proper taxation. But this time, a small band of Jewish reactionaries from the Galilee decided to take a stand: They would not be counted. The land was not Rome’s to be parceled out and tallied. The land was God’s, and only God could claim ownership of it. To cooperate with the Roman census would be to
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