Pax by Tom Holland

"In 64 [AD] Rome had gone up in flames. That same year, Nero had sent out a new official to administer Judaea. Gossips claimed that Gessius Florus had secured his appointment thanks to his wife's friendship with Poppaea: but it was not long before he had begun to demonstrate a qualification that might have recommended him to Nero even more. 'He stripped bare whole cities: he ruined entire communities.' Wherever there were funds to be extorted, Florus would extort them... So it was that Florus continued with his depredations: and so it was, a mere two years after his appointment to the province, that Judaea had exploded." from Tom Holland's Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age.

That was some new history for me. Currently reading this and about halfway through it. Enjoying the book but all the Roman names and pronunciations are sometimes tough to take.