The economic conditions of Palestine were marked by a sharp rise in prosperity in the Hasmonaean period and a decline in the middle of the first century B.C., caused by the civil wars, the Roman intervention with its financial burden, and the remigration of such Jews as had been settled by the Hasmonaeans in territories which were separated again from the Jewish commonwealth by the Romans. The rule of Herod, the son of the financial ἐπίτϱοπος of the last Hasmonaean, meant a sophistication of the taxation system and, perhaps, an increase of the levy, but, by and large, a slow rise in prosperity. The many public edifices which were erected under Herod indicate the existence of certain financial resources and the new possibility of long-term commitments. The expansion of certain crafts and, indeed, the new establishment of others must have been the consequence of this building wave. The economic situation was such that no special reason for discontent existed. The same is true for the Roman period. The new valuation of property, a certain alteration in the fiscal system, caused discontent, but there is no substantial evidence for an increase in the burden on the population. Occasional sequestrations, like the appropriation of Temple-money for the improvement of the water supply of Jerusalem, were for the benefit of the people, and major wars, such as would have demanded the use of the resources of Palestine, did not take place. The pilgrimages, which were very important especially for Jerusalem, are likely to have increased considerably in the times of the Pax Augusta.