First Jewish-Roman War

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Jewish-Roman wars
First Jewish-Roman War - Kitos War - Bar Kokhba's revolt

Jewish-Roman wars
First Jewish-Roman War - Kitos War - Bar Kokhba's revolt

The first Jewish-Roman War (years 66–73), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire (the second was the Kitos War in 115–117, the third was Bar Kokhba's revolt, 132–135). It began in 66, sparked by religious violence between the Jews and the Hellenists; it ended when legions under Titus besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, looted and burned Herod's Temple (70) and Jewish strongholds (notably Masada in 73), and enslaved or massacred a large part of the Jewish population. The defeat of the Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire notably contributed to the numbers and geography of the Jewish Diaspora, as many Jews were scattered after losing their state or were sold into slavery throughout the empire.

Contents

1 Background
2 First Jewish successes
3 The fall
4 The outcome
5 Sources
6 References
7 See also

Background

From about 6 CE, Judaea was ruled by Roman procurators, who were responsible for maintaining peace and collecting taxes. Pocketing any amount above the quota had been a regular practice, which led to abuse. The tensions rose higher when pagan Rome took over the appointment of the High Priest, also beginning about 6. In 39, Emperor Caligula declared himself a god and ordered his statues to be set up at every temple. The Jews refused, and prepared for armed revolt. Only Caligula's death in 41 ended the disturbance. The theft of a large amount of money from Temple treasury by procurator Gessius Florus (who, according to Tacitus, "indulged in every kind of robbery and violence") contributed to the radicalization and increased the popularity of Zealots, some of whom believed that any means were justified in order to attain political and religious independence from Rome.

First Jewish successes

The revolt began in 66 in Caesarea, provoked by the desecration of a local synagogue by Hellenists; the Greek-speaking Roman garrison did not intercede. In an act of defiance, the son of high priest Eliezar ben Hanania ceased prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the Temple and subsequently led a successful attack on the Roman garrison stationed in Jerusalem. The pro-Roman king Agrippa II and his sister Berenice fled Jerusalem to Galilee, where later they gave themselves up to the Romans. Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brought reinforcements to restore order, but was soundly defeated (Legio XII Fulminata lost even its aquila) at Beit-Horon while retreating.

The fall

Emperor Nero appointed general Vespasian instead of Gallus to crush the rebellion. Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and with his legions — X Fretensis and V Macedonica, 60,000 professional soldiers — methodically cleared the coast and the North. Some towns gave up without a fight. By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the North had been crushed.

The leaders of the collapsed Northern revolt, John of Giscala and Simon ben Jair, managed to escape to Jerusalem. Brutal civil war erupted: the Zealots and Sicarii executed anyone advocating surrender, and by 68 the entire leadership of the southern revolt was dead, all killed by the Jews, none by the Romans.

A drawing depicting the destruction of the Second Temple

After the death of Nero and with the backing of the army, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor in 69 and left for Rome to take the throne from Vitellius in a brief Roman civil war, the so-called Year of the four emperors.

The siege of Jerusalem, the capital city, had begun early in the war, but had turned into a nasty stalemate. Unable to breach the cities defenses, the Roman armies established a permanent camp just outside the city, digging a trench around the circumfrence of its walls and building a wall as high as the city walls themselves around Jerusalem. Anyone caught in the trench attempting to flee the city would be captured, crucified, and placed in lines on top of the dirt wall facing into Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of crucified bodies encircled Jerusalem by the end of the siege. "Jews, God and History" by Max I. Dimont Titus Flavius, Vespasian's son, led the final assault and siege of Jerusalem. During the infighting inside the city walls, a stockpiled supply of dry food was intentionally burned to induce the defenders to fight against the siege instead of negotiating peace; as a result many city dwellers and soldiers died of starvation during the siege. Zealots under Eleazar ben Simon held the Temple, Sicarii led by Simon ben Giora held the upper city.

The treasures of Jerusalem (detail from the Arch of Titus).

By the summer of 70 the Romans had breached the walls of Jerusalem, ransacking and burning nearly the entire city. The Second Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av (August 29 or August 30), 70. John of Giscala surrendered at Agrippa II's fortress of Jotaphta and was brought to Rome for public execution. The famous Arch of Titus still stands in Rome: it depicts Roman legionaries carrying off the Temple of Jerusalem's treasuries, including the menorah.

During the spring of 71, Titus set sail for Rome. A new military governor was then appointed from Rome, Lucilius Bassus, whose assigned task was to undertake the "mopping-up" operations in Judaea. He used X Fretensis to oppose the few remaining fortresses that still resisted. Bassus took Herodium, and then crossed the Jordan to capture the fortress of Machaerus on the shore of the Dead Sea. Due to illness, Bassus did not live to complete his mission. Lucius Flavius Silva replaced him, and moved against the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, in the autumn of 72. He used Legio X, auxiliary troops, and thousands of Jewish prisoners. After his orders for surrender were rejected, Silva established several base camps and a wall of circumvolution completely around the fortress. According to Josephus, when the Romans finally broke through the walls of this citadel (73), they discovered that the 960 defenders had preferred death with a mass suicide to surrender (this claim has been challenged). [The Masada Myth], Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Hebrew University, Retrieved July 7 2006

The outcome

A coin issued by the rebels in 68. Obverse: "Shekel, Israel. Year 3". Reverse: "Jerusalem the Holy"

Estimates of the death toll range from 600,000 to 1,300,000 Jews: there was "no room for crosses and no crosses for the bodies". Over 100,000 died during the siege, and almost 100,000 were taken to Rome as slaves. Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean.

The Romans hunted down and slaughtered entire clans, such as descendants of the House of David. On one occasion, Titus condemned 2,500 Jews to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheatre of Caesarea in celebration of his brother Domitian's birthday.

An ancient Roman coin. The inscription reads IVDAEA CAPTA

The coins inscribed Ivdaea Capta (Judea Captured) were issued throughout the Empire in order to demonstrate the futility of possible future rebellions. Judea was represented by a crying woman.

Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, as there is "no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God". (Philostratus, Vita Apollonii).

Before Vespasian's departure, the Pharisaic sage and Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai attained his permission to establish a Judaic school at Yavne. Zakkai was smuggled away from Jerusalem in a coffin by his students. Later this school has become a major center of Talmudic study. (See Mishnah)

Sources

The main account of the revolt comes from Josephus, the former Jewish commander of Galilee who switched over to the Roman side. Since Josephus had been granted citizenship and a pension in Rome and was well accepted at the courts of Vespasian, Titus and Domitian, his work is likely to be biased in favor of his imperial patrons, especially Titus.

His popular works The Wars of the Jews (c. 79) and Jewish Antiquities (c. 94)—especially its autobiographical appendix-are frequently contradictory. He was loathed by the Jews as a turncoat and Roman apologist and never returned to his homeland after the fall of Jerusalem, ending his days in Rome.

Bérénice, the tragedy written by Jean Racine in 1670, is based on the story of her love affair with Titus.