Benjamin of Tiberias
Jewish leader of the revolt against Heraclius
570 CE to 630 CE
According to Jewish sources, Benjamin of Tiberias was a man of immense wealth, who enlisted and armed many soldiers during the Jewish revolt against Heraclius in the 7th century Palaestina province of the Byzantine Empire.
Benjamin takes a place as one of the leaders of the revolt, actively participating in the Persian siege and capture of Jerusalem in 614 and playing a major role in managing the newly established autonomous Jewish community within the Sassanid Empire.
However, the autonomy period is brief, and the Jews surrender to Heraclius, who enters Jerusalem in 628.
Despite the surrender, the next year a major massacre by Byzantines and Ghassanids devastates the Jewish communities of Galilee and Jerusalem.
The fate of Benjamin is not known for certain.
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The Jews of Jerusalem, in their Sassanid-sponsored revolt against Heraclius, have gained complete control over the city, and much of Judea and Galilee has become an autonomous Jewish province of the Persian Empire.
The Jewish Temple is rebuilt by the Persian-appointed ruler Nehemiah ben Hushiel (son of the Jewish exilarch), who has begun the work of making arrangements of the rebuilding of the Temple, and sorting out genealogies to establish a new High Priesthood.
The sources greatly diverge on what happened in the aftermath of the Jewish revolt against Heraclius.
According to some, in 625 the imperial army under the emperor’s brother Theodore reconquers the territory, and the Jews, disillusioned with Persian promises, offer to side with Constantinople in return for immunity for acts against Christians, which they, including Benjamin of Tiberias, receive.