Jewish history under Roman rule has long been told as “a history of suffering.” From this perspective, joy is considered incongruous with the experience of the rabbis of Roman Palestine. This talk puts joy back in rabbinic history. It is not, however, a feel-good lecture (at least not only). Instead, the talk will explore what rabbinic literature reveals about the nexus between public joy and imperial power in Palestine, elsewhere in the Roman world, and even within asymmetric political systems of other times and places.