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Jewish–Roman wars

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Jewish–Roman wars

Depiction of the Roman triumph celebrating the Sack of Jerusalem on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The procession features the Menorah and other vessels taken from the Second Temple.
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 Jewish subjects against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE.[10] The term primarily applies to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), nationalist rebellions striving to restore an independent Jewish state. Some sources also include the Diaspora revolt (115–117 CE), an ethno-religious conflict fought across the Eastern Mediterranean and including the Kitos War in Judaea.

The Jewish–Roman wars had a devastating impact on the Jewish people, transforming them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority.[11] The First Jewish-Roman War culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and other towns and villages in Judaea, resulting in significant loss of life and a considerable segment of the population being uprooted or displaced.[12] Those who remained were stripped of any form of political autonomy.[13] Subsequently, the brutal suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in even more severe consequences. Judea witnessed a significant depopulation, as many Jews were killed, expelled, or sold into slavery.[14][15] Jews were banned from residing in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which the Romans rebuilt into the pagan colony of Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina. Collectively, these events enhanced the role of Jewish diaspora, relocating the Jewish demographic and cultural center to Galilee and eventually to Babylonia, with smaller communities across the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and beyond.

The Jewish–Roman wars also had a major impact on Judaism, after the central worship site of Second Temple Judaism, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, was destroyed by Titus's troops in 70 CE.[16] The destruction of the Temple led to a transformation in Jewish religious practices, emphasizing prayer, Torah study, and communal gatherings in synagogues. This pivotal shift laid the foundation for the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism, which has been the dominant form of Judaism since late antiquity, after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud.[17]

Sequence

[edit]

The Jewish–Roman wars include the following:[18]

  • First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) — also called the First Jewish Revolt or the Great Jewish Revolt, spanning from the 66 CE insurrection, through the 67 CE fall of the Galilee, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and institution of the Fiscus Judaicus in 70 CE, and finally the fall of Masada in 73 CE.
  • Diaspora revolt (115–117 CE) — 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 CE) — also called the Second Jewish–Roman War (when Kitos War is not counted), or the Third (when the Kitos War is counted).

History

[edit]

Prelude

[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 the year 6 CE with the creation of the Roman province of Judaea. The transition of the Tetrarchy of Judaea into a Roman 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 CE being relatively quiet), the province continued to be a source of trouble under Emperor Caligula (after 37 CE). 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.[19][better source needed] In 38 CE, Caligula sent Herod Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus.[20][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.[21][22] Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues.[23][24] As a result, extensive religious riots broke out in the city.[25] Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him.[26] 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. Herod Antipas confessed and Caligula exiled him. Agrippa was rewarded with his territories.[27]

Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 40 CE between Jews and Greeks.[28] Jews were accused of not honoring the emperor.[28] Disputes occurred also in the city of Jamnia.[29] Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it.[29] In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Temple in Jerusalem,[30] a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism.[31] 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".[31] Fearing civil war if the order were carried out, Publius Petronius—governor of Roman Syria—delayed implementing it for nearly a year.[32] Agrippa finally convinced Caligula to reverse the order.[28] However, only Caligula's death at the hands of Roman conspirators in 41 CE prevented a full-scale war in Judaea, that might well have spread to the entire Eastern Roman Empire.[33]

Caligula's death did not stop the tensions completely and in 46 CE 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 CE it was quickly put down by Roman authorities. Both Simon and Jacob were executed.[34]

First Jewish–Roman War

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Main article: First Jewish–Roman War

The First Jewish–Roman War began in the year 66 CE, originating in the Greek and Jewish religious tensions, and later escalated due to anti-taxation protests and attacks upon Roman citizens.[35] In response to the Roman plunder of the Second Jewish Temple and the execution of up to 6,000 Jews in Jerusalem, a full-scale rebellion erupted. The Roman military garrison of Judaea was quickly overrun by rebels, while the pro-Roman king Herod Agrippa II and Roman officials fled Jerusalem. As it became clear the rebellion was getting out of control, Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brought the Syrian army, based on Legio XII Fulminata and reinforced by auxiliary troops, to restore order and quell the revolt. Despite initial advances, the Syrian Legion was ambushed and defeated by Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon with 6,000 Romans massacred and the legionary eagle lost – a result that shocked the Roman leadership.[citation needed]

The experienced and unassuming general Vespasian was then tasked with crushing the rebellion in Judaea province. His son Titus was appointed second-in-command. Vespasian was given four legions and assisted by forces of King Agrippa II. In 67 CE he invaded Galilee. While avoiding a direct attack on the reinforced city of Jerusalem which was packed with the main rebel force, Titus's forces launched a persistent campaign to eradicate rebel strongholds and punish the population. Within several months Vespasian and Titus took over the major Jewish strongholds of Galilee and finally overran Jotapata under command of Yosef ben Matitiyahu, following a 47-day siege. Meantime in Jerusalem, an attempt by Sicarii leader Menahem to take control of the city failed, resulting in his execution. A peasant leader Simon bar Giora was ousted from the city by the new moderate Judaean government and Ananus ben Ananus began reinforcing the city.[citation needed]

Driven from Galilee, Zealot rebels and thousands of refugees arrived in Judaea, creating political turmoil in Jerusalem. Zealots were at first sealed in the Temple compound. However, confrontation between the mainly Sadducee Jerusalemites and the mainly Zealot factions of the Northern Revolt under the command of John of Gischala and Eleazar ben Simon became evident. With Edomites entering the city and fighting on the side of the Zealots, Ananus ben Ananus was killed and his forces suffered severe casualties. Simon bar Giora, commanding 15,000 troops, was then invited into Jerusalem by the Sadducee leaders to stand against the Zealots, and quickly took control over much of the city. Bitter infighting between factions of Simon, John and Eleazar followed through the year 69 CE.[citation needed]

After a lull in the military operations, owing to civil war and political turmoil in Rome, Vespasian returned to Rome and was accepted as the new Emperor in 69 CE. After Vespasian's departure, Titus besieged the center of rebel resistance in Jerusalem in early 70 CE. 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. Following a brutal seven-month siege, in which Zealot infighting resulted in the burning of the entire food supply of the city to enhance "fighting to the end", the Romans finally succeeded in breaching the weakened Jewish forces in the summer of 70 CE. Following the fall of Jerusalem, Titus left for Rome, while Legion X Fretensis defeated the remaining Jewish strongholds later on, finalizing the Roman campaign in Masada in 73/74 CE.[citation needed]

Diaspora Revolt

[edit]
Main article: Diaspora Revolt

The Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE) 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. The latter's nomen later gave the Kitos War, a contemporaneous episode of unrest and revolt in Judaea its name, as "Kitos" is a later corruption of Quietus.[citation needed]

The Diaspora revolt led to the disappearance of the influential Jewish community in Alexandria and Egypt, and in the expulsion of Jews from Cyprus.[36]

Bar Kokhba Revolt

[edit]
Main article: Bar Kokhba revolt

The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE,[37] Hebrew: מרד בר כוכבא) was the third major rebellion by the Jews of Judaea and the Eastern Mediterranean against the Roman Empire and the last of the Jewish–Roman wars. The establishment of the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina in Jerusalem by the emperor Hadrian is most likely what sparked the uprising. The Jews of Judaea spent a long time preparing for this rebellion in secrecy, carving out hundreds of underground hideout systems beneath their settlements. Simon bar Kokhba was acclaimed as a Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. The revolt established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judaea for more than two years, but a Roman army made up of six full legions with auxilia and elements from up to six additional legions finally crushed it.[38]

Aftermath

[edit]

The rebels' eventual failure was a catastrophe. Due to the brutal suppression of the revolt, which resulted in a huge number of people being killed or captured, Judaea's rural countryside was devastated and depopulated.[39][40][41][42][43] Judaea was no longer the focus of Jewish life, and the province's name was changed to Syria Palaestina.[44][45] The Romans barred Jews from Jerusalem, except to attend Tisha B'Av. Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba,[46] they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews.[citation needed] The war and its aftermath helped differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism (see Split of early Christianity and Judaism).[47]

Due to the First Jewish-Roman War, the destruction of the Second Temple ushered in a major time of dramatic reformation in religious leadership, causing the face of Judaism to change. 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. Due to this, only one group was left with all the power – the Pharisees, who were the rabbinic group. Rabbinic power did not derive from the temple or from military prowess, but spread to different communities through the synagogues. This changed the way Judaism was practiced on a daily basis, which included changing from sacrificing animals to praying in order to worship God.[48] Rabbinic Judaism became a religion centered around synagogues, and the Jews themselves dispersed throughout the Roman world and beyond.[49] With the destruction of Jerusalem, important centers of Jewish culture developed in the area of Galilee and in Babylonia and work on the Talmud continued in these locations. Before Vespasian's departure, the Pharisaic sage and Rabbi 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]

Hadrian (emperor 117–138 CE) undertook punitive actions towards the Jewish community, including barring them from entering Jerusalem, except on the fast day of Tisha B'Av. Jerusalem itself was re-founded as the Roman polis of Aelia Capitolina, and the Province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina. At the former Jewish sanctuary on the Temple Mount he installed two statues, one of Jupiter and another of himself.[50]

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 altered the Jewish population and enhanced the importance of Jewish diaspora, essentially moving the demographic center of Jews from Judea to Galilee and Babylon, with minor communities across the Mediterranean.

See also

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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 – via JSTOR.
  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. (15 November 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. ^ Karesh, Sara E. (2006). Encyclopedia of Judaism. Facts On File. ISBN 1-78785-171-0. OCLC 1162305378. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.
  17. ^ Karesh, Sara E. (2006). Encyclopedia of Judaism. Facts On File. ISBN 978-1-78785-171-9. OCLC 1162305378. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus III.8, IV.21.
  20. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.26–28.
  21. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.29.
  22. ^ Merrill F. Unger (1 June 2009). The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Moody Publishers. pp. 1710–. ISBN 978-1-57567-500-8.
  23. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI.43.
  24. ^ Joseph Modrzejewski (16 November 1997). The Jews of Egypt: From Rameses II to Emperor Hadrian. Princeton University Press. pp. 169–. ISBN 0-691-01575-9.
  25. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VII.45.
  26. ^ Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus XXI.185.
  27. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.7.2.
  28. ^ a b c Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1.
  29. ^ a b Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201.
  30. ^ Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.203.
  31. ^ a b Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XVI.115.
  32. ^ Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXXI.213.
  33. ^ 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."
  34. ^ Reuven Firestone (2 July 2012). Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea. Oxford University Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-0-19-997715-4.
  35. ^ Josephus, War of the Jews II.8.11, II.13.7, II.14.4, II.14.5
  36. ^ Goodman, Martin (2018). A History of Judaism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 21, 232. ISBN 978-0-691-18127-1.
  37. ^ for the year 136, see: W. Eck, The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View, pp. 87–88.
  38. ^ "Israel Tour Daily Newsletter". 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
  39. ^ 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)
  40. ^ Taylor, J. E. (15 November 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
  41. ^ Werner Eck, "Sklaven und Freigelassene von Römern in Iudaea und den angrenzenden Provinzen," Novum Testamentum 55 (2013): 1–21
  42. ^ 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.
  43. ^ Mor, Menahem (18 April 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.
  44. ^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 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."
  45. ^ 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
  46. ^ Justin, "Apologia", ii.71, compare "Dial." cx; Eusebius "Hist. Eccl." iv.6,§2; Orosius "Hist." vii.13
  47. ^ M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 p. 143
  48. ^ Schiffman, Lawrence (1991). From Text To Tradition. KTAV Publishing House. ISBN 0881253723.
  49. ^ Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed.), The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon, Jerusalem 1988, p. 6.
  50. ^ 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."

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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