From the modern world we tend to think of Jerusalem and Judea

在现代社会里我们认为耶路撒冷和犹太
as being very important because of course that's where Judaism

很重要因为他们是犹太教的发源地
started off and that's where Christianity started off.

是基督教的发源地
But by the standards of the Greek and Roman worlds,

但是按希腊和罗马世界的标准
Judea was a kind of insignificant backwater.

犹太就是无关紧要的死水一潭
It wasn't a big important place economically or politically,

这不是经济或政治上十分重要的地方
and Jerusalem was not that terribly important.

耶路撒冷也不是那么的重要
Judea was relatively unimportant from a world historical perspective,

犹太在一个世界历史的记述中相当无足轻重
but--and this is also very

但是对于我们这堂课的结尾
important for how this lecture plays out for the rest of the course

和剩下的课程仍然十分重要
the Jews were never truly independent during this time

在此期间犹太人从未真正独立
nor were they ever truly powerful during this time.

也从未真正强大