Hadrian became Emperor of the Roman Empire in 117 C.E. Thereafter, he traveled widely throughout the Empire and encouraged the reconstruction of cities destroyed during the Roman conquests. Hopes ran high among the Jewish people for the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem. These hopes stimulated a migration of Jews back to Jerusalem. However, in a turnabout from his previous intentions, Hadrian gave orders that the city was to be rebuilt as a Roman colony.

In 129-130 C.E., Hadrian announced plans for a city called Aelia Capitolina to be built over the ruins of Jerusalem. Aelia, after his family name, Aeluis, and Capitolina, after the three gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, who according to Roman belief, sat on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Hadrian also changed the name of the country from Judea to Palestine; a Greek name for Philistine. By this action, Hadrian would demonstrate supremacy of the Roman deities in Judea. As the Roman historian Dio Cassius wrote, "A war (e.g., the Second Jewish Revolt) neither small nor short was caused when Hadrian established in Jerusalem a city in place of that which had been destroyed, which he called Aelia Capitolina, and when he erected, on the site of the Temple of the Lord a different temple, dedicated to Jupiter-Zeus. The Jews were shocked that foreigners were settling in the city and that 'pagan temples were being built there.'"

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