Jewish–Roman wars: A Visual History

The Jewish-Roman wars were three great uprisings against Roman rule. The First Jewish Revolt (66-73) began with riots in Caesarea and Jerusalem, saw Vespasian and Titus reconquer Galilee and Judaea and destroy Jerusalem and the Second Temple in August 70, and ended with the fall of Masada in 73 or 74. The Kitos War (115-117) was a revolt of Diaspora Jews in Cyrenaica, Egypt, Cyprus and Mesopotamia during Trajan's Parthian war, crushed with great slaughter. The Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136), sparked by Hadrian's plans for Jerusalem, established an independent Jewish state for three years before Rome's legions killed some 580,000 Jews, banned them from Jerusalem and renamed the province Syria Palaestina.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Jewish-Roman wars. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Ancient claims of Jewish deaths

Josephus and Cassius Dio give figures far beyond modern estimates.

Timeline of the Jewish-Roman wars

1. 66
   Revolt begins; Beth Horon
2. 67
   Vespasian conquers Galilee
3. 70
   Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed
4. 73
   Masada falls
5. 115
   Diaspora revolt
6. 132
   Bar Kokhba revolt begins
7. 135
   Betar falls
8. 136
   Judaea renamed Syria Palaestina

The Great Revolt, 66-73

Procurator Florus's seizure of Temple funds triggered revolt in 66; the garrison was massacred, and the Syrian legate Cestius Gallus was routed at Beth Horon. Nero sent Vespasian, who reduced Galilee in 67 (Josephus, its commander, surrendered at Jotapata and became Rome's historian) and was proclaimed emperor in 69. Titus besieged Jerusalem in spring 70 as factions fought inside; the Antonia fell, then the Temple burned on 9-10 Av, and the city was razed. Herodium and Machaerus fell; at Masada the Sicarii killed themselves rather than surrender in 73 or 74. Titus's arch in Rome shows the menorah carried in triumph.

The Kitos War, 115-117

While Trajan campaigned in Parthia, Jews of Cyrene under a 'king' Lukuas destroyed pagan temples and, according to Dio, massacred Greeks; the revolt spread to Alexandria, Cyprus (whose Jewish population was exterminated in reprisal and Jews banned) and Mesopotamia, where Lusius Quietus (Kitos) suppressed it savagely. Egyptian and Cyrenaican Jewry never recovered.

Bar Kokhba, 132-136

Hadrian's decision to rebuild Jerusalem as the pagan Aelia Capitolina, and perhaps a ban on circumcision, provoked a planned revolt under Simon bar Kosiba, hailed by Rabbi Akiva as Bar Kokhba, 'son of a star', the messiah. The rebels held Judaea, minted coins dated to 'the freedom of Israel' and used tunnels and hideouts. Hadrian brought Julius Severus from Britain with a dozen legions to grind them down; Betar fell in 135 and Bar Kokhba died. Dio says 985 villages were destroyed. Jews were barred from Jerusalem, the province renamed, and rabbinic Judaism regrouped in Galilee.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)
• Parthian Empire (247 BC to 224)
• Seleucid Empire (312 BC to 63 BC)
• Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 BC to 30 BC)
• Byzantine Empire (395 to 1453)
• Kingdom of Armenia (ancient) (331 BC to 428)

Wars of the same era and region

• Arab-Israeli conflict (1948 to present)
• Roman-Germanic wars (113 BC to 476)

8 surprising things about the Jewish-Roman wars

1. The Arch of Titus in Rome shows the Temple menorah carried in triumph; Jews traditionally refused to walk under it until 1948.
2. The Colosseum was built with loot from Jerusalem and by Jewish prisoners, according to a reconstructed inscription.
3. Josephus's Jewish War is our main source and its author had commanded against Rome before switching sides.
4. The Masada mass suicide is known only from Josephus; excavations found the remains of few bodies.
5. The 9th of Av, the day both Temples fell, is still a fast day.
6. Bar Kokhba's letters, found in the Cave of Letters in the 1960s, show a brusque commander ordering supplies and punishments.
7. Rabbi Akiva was flayed alive by the Romans and died reciting the Shema.
8. Hadrian's renaming of Judaea as Palaestina, after the Philistines, is the origin of the name Palestine.

Sources

• First Jewish Revolt Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Jewish-Roman wars Wikipedia
• Bar Kokhba Revolt Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Martin Goodman, Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations (2007) Allen Lane

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