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Jewish–Roman wars
Date66–135 CE (70 years)
Location
Roman Judea, Egypt, Cyprus, Cyrenaica, Mesopotamia
Result

Roman victory:

Territorial
changes		 Roman Judea (Iudaea) remained under Roman control, renamed and merged into the province of Syria Palaestina
Belligerents
Roman Empire Judean provisional government
Jewish Zealots
Jewish rebels
Judea under Bar Kokhba
Commanders and leaders
Titus
Vespasian
Marcus Lupus
Marcius Turbo
Lusius Quietus
Hadrian
Sextus Julius Severus		 Hannan
Eleazar ben Hanania
Bar Giora
Eleazar
John
Artemion
Lukuas
Julian and Pappus
Simon bar Kokhba †
Eleazar of Modi'im
Strength
Great revolt: 30,000 (Beth Horon) – 60,000 (siege of Jerusalem)
Kitos War: forces of the eastern legions
Bar Kokhba revolt: 6–7 full legions with cohorts and auxiliaries of 5–6 additional legions – about 120,000 total.		 Great revolt: 25,000+ Jewish militias
20,000 Idumeans
Kitos War: loosely organized tens of thousands
Bar Kokhba revolt: 200,000–400,000b militiamen
Casualties and losses
Great revolt: Legio XII Fulminata lost its aquila and Syrian contingent destroyed – about 20,000 casualties; thousands of Roman civilians slain
Kitos War: 240,000 killed in Cyprusa,[1] 200,000 killed in Cyrenaicaa
Bar Kokhba revolt: Legio XXII Deiotariana destroyed,
Legio IX Hispana possibly disbanded,[2]
Legio X Fretensis – sustained heavy casualties		 Great revolt: 1,356,460 civilians and militia killed[3] – perhaps hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish civilians (mostly trapped visitors) killed; enslavement of 97,000–99,000c
Kitos War: 200,000 killed[4]
Annihilation of Jewish communities in Cyprus, Cyrenaica and Alexandria
Bar Kokhba revolt: 580,000a killed,[5]
985 Jewish strongholds and villages destroyeda
350,000[6]–1,400,000[7] fatalities
[a] per Cassius Dio[8]
[b] according to Rabbinic sources
[c] per Josephus[9]

The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE.[10] The conflict primarily encompasses two major uprisings: the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), both driven by Jewish aspirations to restore the political independence lost when Rome conquered the Hasmonean kingdom. Some historians also include the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE), when Jewish communities across the Eastern Mediterranean rose up against Roman rule.

The Jewish–Roman wars had a devastating impact on the Jewish people, turning them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority.[11] The First Jewish-Roman War ended with the devastating siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, including the burning of the Second Temple—the center of Jewish religious and national life. Roman forces destroyed other towns and villages throughout Judaea, causing massive loss of life and displacement of the population.[12] The surviving Jewish community lost all political autonomy under direct Roman rule.[13] The later Bar Kokhba revolt proved even more devastating. The Romans' brutal suppression of this uprising led to the near-total depopulation of Judea proper through a combination of battlefield casualties, mass killings, and the widespread enslavement of survivors.[14][15] In a deliberate effort to erase Jewish connections to the land, Emperor Hadrian renamed the province from Judaea to Syria Palaestina. On the ruins of Jerusalem, he established the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina, prohibited Jewish entry into the city, and outlawed key Jewish religious practices.

These catastrophic events expanded and strengthened the Jewish diaspora, driving profound religious and cultural transformations that would shape Judaism for millennia. With the Temple's sacrificial cult no longer viable, other forms of worship developed, centered on prayer, Torah study, and communal synagogue gatherings, enabling Jewish communities to preserve their identity and practices despite dispersion. As Jewish life in Judaea became untenable, two major shifts occurred: within the Land of Israel, the cultural center shifted northward to Galilee, while internationally, Babylonia and other diaspora communities across the Mediterranean and Near East gained unprecedented importance, eventually comprising the majority of the Jewish population. These developments laid the foundation for Rabbinic Judaism, which emerged as the dominant form of Judaism in late antiquity and was responsible for the codification of the Mishnah and Talmud.

Sequence

[edit]

The Jewish–Roman wars include the following:[16]

  • First Jewish–Roman War (66–73)—also called the First Jewish Revolt or the Great Jewish Revolt, spanning from the 66 insurrection, through the 67 fall of the Galilee, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and institution of the Fiscus Judaicus in 70, and finally the fall of Masada in 73.
  • Diaspora revolt (115–117)—known as the "Rebellion of the Exile" and sometimes called the Second Jewish–Roman War; includes the Kitos War in Judaea
  • Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136)—also called the Second Jewish–Roman War (when Kitos War is not counted), or the Third (when the Kitos War is counted).

Background

[edit]
Main articles: Jacob and Simon uprising and Alexandrian riots (38 CE)

Following increasing Roman domination of the Eastern Mediterranean, the client kingdom of the Herodian dynasty had been officially merged into the Roman Empire in 6 CE with the creation of the Roman province of Judaea. The transition of the Tetrarchy of Judaea into an Imperial province immediately brought a great deal of tensions and a Jewish uprising by Judas of Galilee erupted right away as a response to the Census of Quirinius.

Although initially pacified (the years between 7 and 26 being relatively quiet), the province continued to be a source of trouble under Emperor Caligula (after 37). The cause of tensions in the east of the empire was complicated, involving the spread of Greek culture, Roman law, and the rights of Jews in the empire. Caligula did not trust the prefect of Roman Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus. Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius, had conspired against Caligula's mother, and had connections with Egyptian separatists.[17][better source needed] In 38 Caligula sent Herod Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus.[18][better source needed] According to Philo, the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population, who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews.[19][20] Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues.[21][22] As a result, extensive religious riots broke out in the city.[23] Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him.[24] In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus mentions that in 39 CE Agrippa accused Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, of planning a rebellion against Roman rule with the help of Parthia. Antipas confessed, and Caligula exiled him. Agrippa was rewarded with his territories.[25]

Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 38 between Jews and Greeks.[26] Jews were accused of not honoring the emperor.[26] Disputes occurred also in Jamnia.[27] Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it.[27] In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Temple in Jerusalem,[28] a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism.[29] In this context, Philo writes that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his".[29] Fearing civil war if the order were carried out, Publius Petronius—governor of Roman Syria—delayed implementing it for nearly a year.[30] Agrippa finally convinced Caligula to reverse the order.[26] However, only Caligula's death at the hands of Roman conspirators in 41 prevented a full-scale war in Judaea, that might have spread to the rest of the eastern part of the empire.[31]

Caligula's death did not stop the tensions completely, and in 46 an insurrection led by two brothers, the Jacob and Simon uprising, broke out in the Judea province. The revolt, mainly in the Galilee, began as sporadic insurgency; when it climaxed in 48 it was quickly put down by Roman authorities. Both Simon and Jacob were executed.[32]

First Jewish–Roman War

[edit]
Main article: First Jewish–Roman War

In the spring and summer of 66 CE, a chain of events in Caesarea and Jerusalem sparked what would become the First Jewish–Roman War. The conflict began with a local dispute in Caesarea over land adjacent to a synagogue, which escalated when a Greek resident deliberately provoked the Jewish community by sacrificing birds at the synagogue entrance.[33] The situation worsened when Florus plundered the Jerusalem Temple treasury and ordered brutal crackdowns that killed thousands in the city.[34] After Agrippa II, a pro-Roman Jewish king, failed to relax the crowds and fled the city,[35][36] Eleazar ben Hanania, the Temple captain, halted sacrifices for Rome—effectively declaring rebellion.[37][38] The crisis spiraled into widespread ethnic violence across the region, with massacres of Jewish communities in several mixed cities,[39][40] while Jewish forces retaliated against Greek cities and seized key fortresses. In Jerusalem, the rebels drove out and killed the remaining Roman forces; afterward, Menahem ben Judah, leader of the Sicarii, attempted to seize power but was assassinated, leading to the Sicarii's expulsion to the desert fortress of Masada.[41]

At this stage, the Roman legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus, assembled a force including the Legio XII Fulminata and auxiliary troops from regional vassals,[42] devastating Jewish settlements such as Chabulon, Jaffa and Lydda.[43] However, after initial successes, he withdrew from the city for unclear reasons and was decisively ambushed at the Bethoron Pass,[44] suffering losses equivalent to a full legion. This unexpected defeat proved a turning point, bolstering rebel morale[45] and leading to the establishment of a provisional government in Jerusalem.[46] Led by former High Priest Ananus ben Ananus,[47] this new administration divided the country into military districts, appointed regional commanders,[47] and began minting coins with nationalist Hebrew inscriptions, such as "For the Freedom of Zion".[48][49] While the government publicly supported the revolt, they seem to have secretly hoped to restore order and negotiate with Rome.[50] During this period, several rebel leaders emerged, including John of Gischala in Galilee[51] and Simon Bar Giora in Judea.[52]

After Gallus' defeat, Nero appointed the experienced commander Vespasian to lead the Roman response.[53][54] He assembled a massive force including three legions and numerous auxiliary troops.[53] Arriving in Akko-Ptolemais in the summer of 67 CE,[55] Vespasian launched a systematic campaign in the Galilee. Yodfat, a key stronghold, fell after a grueling 47-day siege,[56] with thousands killed or captured.[57] Josephus, who had been the commander of the Galilee, surrendered after the city's fall and later gained Roman favor by claiming prophetic visions of Vespasian's rise to power,[58] ultimately becoming a historian under Flavian patronage and the main source for the war.[59][60] Taricheae mounted fierce resistance before falling in an event of mass killing, with its survivors facing execution, slavery, or other severe punishments.[61] Gamla, a fortified city in the Golan, was the next Roman target. After a prolonged siege, it fell in the autumn of 67 CE. Despite suffering heavy casualties, the Romans succeeded, leaving the city in ruins and its population nearly exterminated.[62][63] Other Roman successes included the recapture of Mount Tabor,[64] Gush Halav,[65] Mount Gerizim,[66] and Jaffa, where they suppressed rebel piracy and restored imperial control.[67]

While the Romans pacified the north, Jerusalem plunged into civil war as refugees and zealots poured in from the Galilee.[68] The radical Zealot faction, allied with John of Gischala, who arrived in the city with his followers from the north, overthrew the moderate government. With Idumeans joining the Zealots, Ananus ben Ananus was killed, and his forces suffered heavy casualties;[69] many moderates were executed[69][70] or forced to flee.[71] The Zealots instituted revolutionary changes, including selecting a new High Priest by lot rather than from traditional aristocratic families.[72] Upon learning of the turmoil in Jerusalem from deserters, Vespasian chose not to advance on the city, reasoning that internal conflict would weaken the Jews.[73]

A relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome, depicting the Temple menorah and other spoils from Jerusalem carried during the triumph of 71 CE

After a lull in military operations due to civil war and political instability in Rome, Vespasian returned to Rome and was proclaimed emperor in 69 CE. After Vespasian's departure, his son Titus besieged the center of rebel resistance in Jerusalem in early 70. As conditions within Jerusalem deteriorated catastrophically—with widespread famine, disease, and factional violence—the Romans employed psychological warfare, including mass crucifixions of escapees and parades displaying their military might. While the first two walls of Jerusalem were breached within three weeks, a stubborn stand prevented the Roman Army from breaking the third and thickest wall. However, they eventually penetrated the Jewish defenses, fighting through to the Temple Mount and destroying the Temple. The Romans then methodically razed the rest of the city, sparing only the Western Wall and a few towers.[74][75] Archaeological findings corroborate these accounts of widespread destruction. Titus returned to Rome, where he and his father celebrated a triumph in the summer of 71, during which the Temple menorah and other spoils from the Temple were paraded through the city. The triumph also featured hundreds of captives, including Simon bar Giora, who was executed as a primary leader of the revolt at the conclusion of the procession.

Masada, a fortress on the southwest coast of the Dead Sea, marked the final stand of the revolt, falling to the Romans in 73 or 74 CE

With Jerusalem destroyed, the Romans launched an operation aimed at eliminating the last pockets of resistance: the rebel-held desert fortresses of Herodium, Machaerus, and Masada.[76][77][78] Under Sextus Lucilius Bassus, the Romans swiftly captured Herodium, secured the surrender of Machaerus,[79][80] and then eliminated rebel forces in the Forest of Jardes.[81] After Bassus's death, his successor Lucius Flavius Silva led the siege of Masada in 73 or 74 CE.[82][83] This massive engineering effort on an isolated, fortified rocky plateau near the Dead Sea included a complete circumvallation wall and an enormous siege ramp, which still stands today.[83][78] According to Josephus, when the Romans finally breached the fortress walls, they discovered that the Sicarii defenders, led by Eleazar ben Yair, had chosen mass suicide over capture—960 men, women, and children died by their own hands, with only seven survivors.[84][85]

Diaspora Revolt

[edit]
Main article: Diaspora Revolt

The Diaspora Revolt (115–117), also known as mered ha'galuyot or mered ha'tfutzot (Rebellion of the exile), is the name given to the second of the Jewish–Roman wars. The Kitos War consisted of major revolts by diasporic Jews in Cyrenaica, Cyprus, Mesopotamia and Egypt, which spiraled out of control, resulting in a widespread slaughter of Roman citizens and others (200,000 in Cyrene, 240,000 in Cyprus according to Cassius Dio) by the Jewish rebels. The rebellions were finally crushed by Roman legionary forces, chiefly by Roman generals Marcius Turbo and Lusius Quietus. Kitos War was a contemporaneous episode of unrest and revolt in Judaea. The Diaspora revolt led to the disappearance of the influential Jewish community in Alexandria and Egypt and in the expulsion of Jews from Cyprus.[86]

Bar Kokhba revolt

[edit]
Main article: Bar Kokhba revolt
Bar Kokhba coin showing the Second Temple
During the Bar Kokhba revolt (132 CE), Jews briefly established an independent state, minting coins like this one, depicting the former Temple and a lulav
Ruins of Betar
The revolt was brutally crushed by the Romans, nearly depopulating Judea. Pictured is Betar, a key stronghold of the revolt, which fell around 135 CE

The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136,[87] Hebrew: מרד בר כוכבא) was the third major and final rebellion of the Jewish–Roman wars. The establishment of Roman colony Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem as well as the prohibition of circumcision by Hadrian, are the most likely causes which sparked the uprising. The Judeans spent a long time preparing for this rebellion in secrecy, carving out hundreds of underground hideout systems beneath their villages. Simon bar Kokhba was acclaimed as a messiah, a figure in Jewish eschatology who stems from the Davidic line and will restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher the Messianic age. The revolt managed to establish independence of many parts of Judaea as a state for more than two years, with Jerusalem being Bar Kokhba's capital. However a Roman army of six full legions with auxilia and elements from up to six additional legions ultimately crushed the rebellion [88], and defeated Bar Kokhba in his last stand in Betar.

The repercussions of the revolt's conclusion were catastrophic. The brutal suppression of it resulted in a significant number of Judaea's people being killed or captured, devastating its countryside and made it depopulated.[89][90][91][92][93] Jewish presence in the Land of Israel was eradicated, and to complete the destruction of the memory of Judaea ; it was converted into a pagan province, with its name replaced with Syria Palaestina.[94][95] Jews were then barred from entering Jerusalem, except to attend Tisha B'Av. At the former Jewish sanctuary on the Temple Mount he installed two statues, one of Jupiter and another of himself.[96] Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba,[97] they were barred from Jerusalem along with other fellow Jews.[citation needed] The war and its aftermath accelerated the emergence of early Christianity as a distinct religion from Judaism.[98]

Aftermath

[edit]

After the First war, and before Vespasian's departure, the Pharisaic sage Yohanan ben Zakkai obtained his permission to establish a Judaic school at Yavne. Zakkai was smuggled away from Jerusalem in a coffin by his students. This school later became a major center of Talmudic study.[citation needed]

The destruction of the Second Temple ushered in a major period of radical reformation in religious leadership, forcing the Jewish faith to adapt to new circumstances. The Second Temple served as the centralized location from which the ruling groups Sadducees and the Pharisees maintained Judaism, with rivaling Essenes and Zealots being largely in opposition. With the destruction of the temple, the major ruling group lost their power—the Sadducees, who were the priests, directly lost their localized power source and were rendered obsolete. Thus only one group with authority remained : the Pharisees, who eventually evolved into Rabbis, whose teachings did not derive from the temple or from military prowess but spread to different Jewish communities through the synagogues. The traditions of the Rabbis changed the way Judaism was practiced on a daily basis, which included changing from sacrificing animals to prayer in order to worship God.[99] With the adoption of rabbinic ways, Judaism became a religion centered around synagogues and tradition, as the Jews of the Roman Empire were further exiled and dispersed from the land of Israel throughout the world and beyond.[100] With the destruction of Jerusalem, important centers of Jewish culture developed in Galilee and Babylonia, where the Talmud was composed in these locations in subsequent centuries.

The Jewish–Roman wars had a dramatic impact on the Jews, turning them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a scattered and persecuted minority. The Jewish–Roman wars are often cited as a disaster to Jewish society.[11] The defeat of the Jewish revolts shifted the center of Jewish life from the Land of Israel to the diaspora.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Cyprus". Jewish Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ "Legio VIIII Hispana". Livius. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  3. ^ Wolfe (2011). From Habiru to Hebrews and Other Essays. p. 65.
  4. ^ Beck (2012). True Jew: Challenging the Stereotype. p. 18.
  5. ^ Armstrong (2011). Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. p. 163.
  6. ^ Matthew White 2012, The Great Big Book of Horrible Things Norton, p. 52
  7. ^ Cohen, Shaye J. D. (1982). "The Destruction: From Scripture to Midrash". Prooftexts. 2 (1): 18–39. JSTOR 20689020.
  8. ^ Cassius Dio, translation by Earnest Cary. Roman History, book 69, 12.1–14.3. Loeb Classical Library, 9 vols, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Online in LacusCurtius and Livius.org Archived 13 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Book scan in Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Calmet et al. Calmet's Great Dictionary of the Holy Bible. p. 438.
  10. ^ Bloom, J.J. 2010 The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66–135: A Military Analysis. McFarland.
  11. ^ a b Hitti, Philip K. (2002). Hitti, P. K. Gorgias Press. ISBN 9781931956604. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  12. ^ Schwartz, Seth (2014). The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad. Cambridge. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-107-04127-1. OCLC 863044259.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Goodman, Martin (2018). A History of Judaism. Princeton Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 21, 232. ISBN 978-0-691-18127-1.
  14. ^ Taylor, J. E. (2012). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199554485. These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction
  15. ^ Mor 2016, pp. 483–484
  16. ^ Rogers, Jay (2017). In The Days of These Kings: The Book of Daniel in Preterist Perspective. Clermont, Florida: Media House International. p. 646. ISBN 978-1-387-40415-5. OCLC 1085774991.
  17. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus III.8, IV.21.
  18. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.26–28.
  19. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.29.
  20. ^ Merrill F. Unger (2009). The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Moody Publishers. pp. 1710–. ISBN 978-1-57567-500-8.
  21. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI.43.
  22. ^ Joseph Modrzejewski (1997). The Jews of Egypt: From Rameses II to Emperor Hadrian. Princeton University Press. pp. 169–. ISBN 0-691-01575-9.
  23. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VII.45.
  24. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus XXI.185.
  25. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.7.2.
  26. ^ a b c Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1.
  27. ^ a b Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201.
  28. ^ Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.203.
  29. ^ a b Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XVI.115.
  30. ^ Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXXI.213.
  31. ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0674397312, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254–256: "The reign of Gaius Caligula (37–41) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio-Claudian empire. Until then – if one accepts Sejanus's heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus's banishment – there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the empire ... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides. ... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of himself be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Only Caligula's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators (41), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish-Roman war that might well have spread to the entire eastern provinces of the Roman Empire."
  32. ^ Reuven Firestone (2012). Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea. Oxford University Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-0-19-997715-4.
  33. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 1, 127, 288.
  34. ^ Smallwood 1976, p. 289–290.
  35. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 2.
  36. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 140–141.
  37. ^ Price 1992, p. 9.
  38. ^ Smallwood 1976, p. 292.
  39. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 155.
  40. ^ Ritter 2015, p. 259.
  41. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 153–154.
  42. ^ Millar 1995, p. 71.
  43. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 167–169.
  44. ^ Mason 2016, p. 281.
  45. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 181.
  46. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 1, 51, 52–53.
  47. ^ a b Rogers 2022, p. 51.
  48. ^ McLaren 2011, p. 148.
  49. ^ Cotton 2022, pp. 136–137.
  50. ^ Horsley 2002, pp. 89–90.
  51. ^ Hengel 1989, p. 374.
  52. ^ Gabba 1999, pp. 160, 290.
  53. ^ a b Millar 1995, pp. 71–72.
  54. ^ Smallwood 1976, p. 306.
  55. ^ Millar 1995, pp. 72–73.
  56. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 230.
  57. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 229.
  58. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 231–236.
  59. ^ Millar 1995, p. 70.
  60. ^ Feldman 1999, p. 903.
  61. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 245–248.
  62. ^ Syon 2002, pp. 136, 149.
  63. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 258–259.
  64. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 256–257.
  65. ^ Rogers 2022, pp. 259–260.
  66. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 227.
  67. ^ Smallwood 1976, p. 309.
  68. ^ Price 1992, p. 86.
  69. ^ a b Rogers 2022, pp. 276–277.
  70. ^ Price 1992, p. 90.
  71. ^ Price 1992, p. 95, 100.
  72. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 268.
  73. ^ Price 1992, p. 91.
  74. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 368.
  75. ^ Price 2011, p. 409.
  76. ^ Tropper 2016, pp. 91–92.
  77. ^ Millar 1995, p. 76.
  78. ^ a b Magness 2012, p. 215.
  79. ^ Tropper 2016, p. 92.
  80. ^ Davies 2023, pp. 111–112.
  81. ^ Davies 2023, pp. 110–112.
  82. ^ Davies 2023, p. 113.
  83. ^ a b Millar 1995, p. 77.
  84. ^ deSilva 2024, p. 152.
  85. ^ Rogers 2022, p. 422.
  86. ^ Goodman, Martin (2018). A History of Judaism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 21, 232. ISBN 978-0-691-18127-1.
  87. ^ for the year 136, see: W. Eck, The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View, pp. 87–88.
  88. ^ "Israel Tour Daily Newsletter". 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
  89. ^ Schwartz, Seth (2014). The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad. Cambridge. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-1-107-04127-1. OCLC 863044259. The year 70 ce marked transformations in demography, politics, Jewish civic status, Palestinian and more general Jewish economic and social structures, Jewish religious life beyond the sacrificial cult, and even Roman politics and the topography of the city of Rome itself. [...] The Revolt's failure had, to begin with, a demographic impact on the Jews of Palestine; many died in battle and as a result of siege conditions, not only in Jerusalem. [...] As indicated above, the figures for captives are conceivably more reliable. If 97,000 is roughly correct as a total for the war, it would mean that a huge percentage of the population was removed from the country, or at the very least displaced from their homes. Nevertheless, only sixty years later, there was a large enough population in the Judaean countryside to stage a massively disruptive second rebellion; this one appears to have ended, in 135, with devastation and depopulation of the district.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  90. ^ Taylor, J. E. (2012). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955448-5. These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tells us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction
  91. ^ Werner Eck, "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen," Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21
  92. ^ Raviv, Dvir; Ben David, Chaim (2021). "Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account?". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 34 (2): 585–607. doi:10.1017/S1047759421000271. ISSN 1047-7594. S2CID 245512193. Scholars have long doubted the historical accuracy of Cassius Dio's account of the consequences of the Bar Kokhba War (Roman History 69.14). According to this text, considered the most reliable literary source for the Second Jewish Revolt, the war encompassed all of Judea: the Romans destroyed 985 villages and 50 fortresses, and killed 580,000 rebels. This article reassesses Cassius Dio's figures by drawing on new evidence from excavations and surveys in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee. Three research methods are combined: an ethno-archaeological comparison with the settlement picture in the Ottoman Period, comparison with similar settlement studies in the Galilee, and an evaluation of settled sites from the Middle Roman Period (70–136CE). The study demonstrates the potential contribution of the archaeological record to this issue and supports the view of Cassius Dio's demographic data as a reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation.
  93. ^ Mor, Menahem (2016). The Second Jewish Revolt. Brill. pp. 483–484. doi:10.1163/9789004314634. ISBN 978-90-04-31463-4. Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it.
  94. ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, p. 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."
  95. ^ Ariel Lewin. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name—one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus—Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." ISBN 0-89236-800-4
  96. ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, page 334: "Jews were forbidden to live in the city and were allowed to visit it only once a year, on the Ninth of Ab, to mourn on the ruins of their holy Temple."
  97. ^ Justin, "Apologia", ii.71, compare "Dial." cx; Eusebius "Hist. Eccl." iv.6,§2; Orosius "Hist." vii.13
  98. ^ M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 p. 143
  99. ^ Schiffman, Lawrence (1991). From Text To Tradition. KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 0881253723.
  100. ^ Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed.), The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon, Jerusalem 1988, p. 6.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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Library resources about
Jewish-Roman wars
  • Chancey, Mark A., and Adam Porter. 2001. "The Archaeology of Roman Palestine". Near Eastern Archaeology 64: 164–203.
  • Goodman, Martin. 1989. "Nerva, the Fiscus Judaicus and Jewish identity." Journal of Roman Studies 79: 26–39.
  • Katz, Steven T., ed. 2006. The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Magness, Jodi. 2012. The Archaeology of the Holy Land: From the Destruction of Solomon's Temple to the Muslim Conquest. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Pucci Ben Zeev, Miriam. 2005. Diaspora Judaism in turmoil, 116/117 CE: Ancient sources and modern insights. Dudley, MA: Peeters.
  • Schäfer, P., ed. 2003. The Bar Kokhba War reconsidered: New perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck.
  • Tsafrir, Yoram. 1988. Eretz Israel from the Destruction of the Second Temple until the Muslim Conquest. Vol. 2, Archaeology and Art. Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi.
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