The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age. The Neo-Assyrian Empire destoyed Israel around 720 BCE. Judah was later conquered by the Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces. The Maccabean revolt led to an independent Jewish kingdom in 110 BCE, which came to an end in 63 BCE when Judea became a client state of the ...