In 63 BC Rome took control of Palestine and made it a province of the Roman Empire. In those days Palestine was known as Judea, meaning ‘land of the Jews’. The name was used sometimes for Palestine as a whole, as for example when Herod the Great governed the region (Luke 1:5). But in general people thought of Palestine as consisting of three sections, the northern known as Galilee, the central as Samaria and the southern as Judea (John 4:3-4). When Herod died in 4 BC, his former territory was divided among his sons, the central and southern parts going to Archelaus (Matthew 2:22).