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{{Short description|Part of the First Jewish–Roman War}}
{{About||the siege by Nebuchadnezzar that led to the destruction of the First Temple|Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|other sieges upon the city of Jerusalem|Siege of Jerusalem (disambiguation){{!}}Siege of Jerusalem}}
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{{pp-move-indef}}
{{pp-protect|small=yes}}
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{{short description|Siege of the Jewish-Roman war that led to the destruction of the Second Temple}}
{{For|the seige by Nebuchadnezzar|Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)}}
{{For|other sieges upon the city of Jerusalem|Siege of Jerusalem (disambiguation){{!}}Siege of Jerusalem}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox military conflict
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)
| conflict = Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)
| partof = the [[First Jewish–Roman War]]
| partof = the [[First Jewish–Roman War]]
| image = File:(Venice) La distruzione del tempio di Gerusalemme -Francesco Hayez - gallerie Accademia Venice.jpg
| image = [[File:Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)-en.svg|300px|Map indicating progress of the Roman army during the siege]]
| caption = Progress of the Roman army during the siege.
| caption = ''Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem'' by [[Francesco Hayez]]. Oil on canvas, 1867.
| date = 14 April – 8 September 70 CE<ref name="livius1"/><br>({{Age in months, weeks and days|year1=70|month1=04|day1=14|year2=70|month2=09|day2=08}})
| date = 14 April – 8 September 70 CE<br/>({{Age in months, weeks and days|year1=70|month1=04|day1=14|year2=70|month2=09|day2=08}})
| place = [[Jerusalem]], [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]]
| place = [[Jerusalem]], [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]]
| coordinates = {{coord|31|46|41|N|35|14|9|E|type:event_region:IL-JM|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates = {{coord|31|46|41|N|35|14|9|E|type:event_region:IL-JM|display=inline,title}}
| territory = Roman rule of Jerusalem restored
| territory = Roman rule of Jerusalem restored
| result = Roman victory
| result = Roman victory
| combatant1 = [[Roman Empire]]
*Main rebel Judean forces subdued.
| combatant2 = Remnants of the [[Judean provisional government (66-68)|Judean provisional government]]
*City of Jerusalem and the [[Second Temple|Temple of Jerusalem]] destroyed.
*Further Roman expansion into the [[Levant]]
| combatant1 = [[Roman Empire]]
| combatant2 = Remnants of the [[Judean provisional government (66-68)|Judean provisional government]]
* [[Sadducees]]
* [[Sadducees]]
* [[Pharisees]]
* [[Pharisees]]
Line 25: Line 21:
* Peasantry faction
* Peasantry faction
** [[Idumaea]]ns
** [[Idumaea]]ns
| combatant3 = [[Zealotry|Zealots]]
| combatant3 = [[Zealotry|Zealots]]
| commander1 = [[Titus]]<br>[[Tiberius Julius Alexander|Julius Alexander]]
| commander1 = [[Titus]]<br/>[[Tiberius Julius Alexander|Julius Alexander]]
| commander2 = [[Simon bar Giora]]{{Executed}}
| commander2 = [[Simon bar Giora]]{{Executed}}
| commander3 = [[John of Giscala]]{{POW}}<br/>[[Eleazar ben Simon]]{{KIA}}
| commander3 = [[John of Giscala]]{{POW}}<br />[[Eleazar ben Simon]]{{KIA}}
| strength1 = 70,000
| strength1 = 70,000
| strength2 = 15,000–20,000
| strength2 = 15,000–20,000
| strength3 = 10,000
| strength3 = 10,000
| casualties1 = ''Unknown''
| casualties1 = ''Unknown''
| casualties2 = 15,000–20,000
| casualties2 = 15,000–20,000
| casualties3 = 10,000
| casualties3 = 10,000
|notes=According to Josephus, 1.1 million [[non-combatant]]s died in Jerusalem, mainly as a result of the violence and famine, but this number exceeds the entire [[Demographic history of Jerusalem#1st century Judea|pre-siege population of Jerusalem]]. Many of the casualties were observant Jews from across the world such as Babylon and Egypt who had travelled to Jerusalem wanting to celebrate the yearly Passover but instead got trapped in the chaotic siege.<ref name="Wars 6.9.3">{{Cite Josephus|per=1|1=J.|2=BJ|3=6.9.3|pace=1|text=wars|bookno=6|chap=9|sec=3|abbr=yes|show-translator=no}}</ref><br /> He also writes that 97,000 were enslaved.<ref name="Wars 6.9.3"/><br />''Matthew White'', ''[[The Great Big Book of Horrible Things]]'' (Norton, 2012) p.52,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://necrometrics.com/romestat.htm |title=Atrocity statistics from the Roman Era |publisher=Necrometrics.com |access-date=5 April 2018}}</ref> estimates the combined death toll{{clarify|date=April 2015}} for the First and Third Roman Jewish Wars as being approximately 350,000
}}
}}
{{Campaignbox First Jewish-Roman War}}
{{Campaignbox First Jewish–Roman War}}
{{Jerusalem sidebar}}
{{Jerusalem sidebar}}


The '''Siege of Jerusalem''' (70 CE) was the decisive event of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE), in which the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] army led by future emperor [[Titus]] besieged [[Jerusalem]], which was then the center of the rebellious [[Roman province|province]] of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]]. Following a brutal five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city and the [[Second Temple]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1170143447 |title=Aelia Capitolina - Jerusalem in the Roman period: in light of archaeological research |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |pages=3 |oclc=1170143447 |quote=The historical description is consistent with the archeological finds. Collapses of massive stones from the walls of the Temple Mount were exposed lying over the Herodian street running along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The residential buildings of the Ophel and the Upper City were destroyed by great fire. The large urban drainage channel and the Pool of Siloam in the Lower City silted up and ceased to function, and in many places the city walls collapsed. [...] Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new era began in the city's history. The Herodian city was destroyed and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion established on part of the ruins. In around 130 CE, the Roman emperor Hadrian founded a new city in place of Herodian Jerusalem next to the military camp. He honored the city with the status of a colony and named it Aelia Capitolina and possibly also forbidding Jews from entering its boundaries}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Ami |first=Doron |last2=Tchekhanovets |first2=Yana |date=2011 |title=The Lower City of Jerusalem on the Eve of Its Destruction, 70 CE: A View From Hanyon Givati |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=364 |pages=61–85 |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |issn=0003-097X}}</ref>
The '''siege of Jerusalem''' of 70 CE was the decisive event of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE), in which the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] army led by future emperor [[Titus]] besieged [[Jerusalem]], the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the [[Roman province]] of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]]. Following a five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city, including the [[Second Temple|Second Jewish Temple]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1170143447 |title=Aelia Capitolina Jerusalem in the Roman period: in light of archaeological research |year=2019 |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |pages=3 |publisher=Brill |oclc=1170143447 |quote=The historical description is consistent with the archeological finds. Collapses of massive stones from the walls of the Temple Mount were exposed lying over the Herodian street running along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The residential buildings of the Ophel and the Upper City were destroyed by great fire. The large urban drainage channel and the Pool of Siloam in the Lower City silted up and ceased to function, and in many places the city walls collapsed. [...] Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new era began in the city's history. The Herodian city was destroyed and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion established on part of the ruins. In {{circa|130&nbsp;CE}}, the Roman emperor Hadrian founded a new city in place of Herodian Jerusalem next to the military camp. He honored the city with the status of a colony and named it Aelia Capitolina and possibly also forbidding Jews from entering its boundaries}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Westwood |first=Ursula |date=2017-04-01 |title=A History of the Jewish War, AD 66–74 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=189–193 |doi=10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |issn=0022-2097}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Ben-Ami |first1=Doron |last2=Tchekhanovets |first2=Yana |date=2011 |title=The Lower City of Jerusalem on the Eve of Its Destruction, 70 CE: A View From Hanyon Givati |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=364 |pages=61–85 |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |s2cid=164199980 |issn=0003-097X}}</ref>


On 14 April 70 CE, three days before [[Passover]], the [[Imperial Roman army|Roman army]] started besieging Jerusalem.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref name="War of the Jews" /> The city had been taken over by several rebel factions following [[Jerusalem riots of 66|a period of massive unrest]] and the collapse of a [[Judean provisional government (66–68)|short-lived provisional government]]. Within three weeks, the Roman army broke the first two walls of the city, but a stubborn rebel standoff prevented them from penetrating the thickest and third wall.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref>Si Shepperd, The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74, (Osprey Publishing), p. 62.</ref>
In April 70 CE, three days before [[Passover]], the [[Imperial Roman army|Roman army]] started besieging Jerusalem.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref name="War of the Jews" /> The city had been taken over by several rebel factions following [[Jerusalem riots of 66|a period of massive unrest]] and the collapse of a [[Judean provisional government (66–68)|short-lived provisional government]]. Within three weeks, the Romans broke the first two walls of the city, but a stubborn rebel standoff prevented them from penetrating the third and thickest wall.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref>Si Shepperd, ''The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74'', (Osprey Publishing), p. 62. {{ISBN?}}</ref> According to [[Josephus]], a contemporary historian and the main source for the war, the city was ravaged by murder, [[famine]], and [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Maclean Rogers |first=Guy |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1294393934 |title=For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-26256-8 |location=New Haven and London |pages=3–5 |oclc=1294393934}}</ref>


On [[Tisha B'Av]], 4 August 70 CE<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hebrew Calendar |url=http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=70 |website=www.cgsf.org}}</ref><ref>Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning, which is considered inappropriate for the joyful atmosphere of the Sabbath. Thus, if its date falls on a Sabbath, it is observed on the 10th of Av instead. If this modern Jewish practice was followed in the Second Temple period, Tisha B'Av would have fallen on Sunday August 5 in 70 CE. Josephus gives the date of 10 Loos for the destruction, in a lunar calendar almost identical to the Hebrew calendar.</ref> or 30 August 70 CE,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsrGEFpW80UC&pg=PA212 |title=A Dictionary of the Roman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0195102338 |pages=212 |language=English}}</ref> forces finally overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the Second Temple.<ref>The destruction of both the [[Solomon's Temple|First]] and Second Temples is still mourned annually during the Jewish fast of [[Tisha B'Av]].</ref> Resistance continued for another month, but eventually the upper city was taken as well, and the city was burned to the ground. Titus spared only the three towers of the Herodian citadel as a testimony to the city's former might.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.51-52">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], pp. 51-52.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1016414322 |title=Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-029127-8 |pages=25 |oclc=1016414322 |quote=The capitulation of the rest of Jerusalem was rapid. Those parts of the lower city already under Roman control were deliberately set on fire. The erection of new towers to break down the walls of the upper city was completed on 7 Elul (in mid-August), and the troops forced their way in. By 8 Elul the whole city was in Roman hands—and in ruins. In recompense for the ferocious fighting they had been required to endure, the soldiers were given free rein to loot and kill, until eventually Titus ordered that the city be razed to the ground, “leaving only the loftiest of the towers, Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamme, and the portion of the wall enclosing the city on the west: the latter as an encampment for the garrison that was to remain, and the towers to indicate to posterity the nature of the city and of the strong defences which had yet yielded to Roman prowess. All the rest ofthe wall encompassing the city was so completely levelled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited.}}</ref> The contemporary historian [[Josephus]] wrote that over a million people perished in the siege and the subsequent fighting.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sebag Montefiore |first1=Simon |title=Jerusalem: The Biography |date=2012 |isbn=9780307280503 |edition=First Vintage books |location=New York |page=11}}</ref>
On [[Tisha B'Av]], 70 CE (August 30),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsrGEFpW80UC&pg=PA212 |title=A Dictionary of the Roman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-510233-8 |pages=212 |language=English}}</ref> Roman forces overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the Temple.<ref>The destruction of both the [[Solomon's Temple|First]] and Second Temples is still mourned annually during the Jewish fast of [[Tisha B'Av]].</ref> Resistance continued for another month, but eventually the upper and lower parts of the city were taken as well, and the city was burned to the ground. Titus spared only the three towers of the Herodian citadel as a testimony to the city's former might.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.51-52">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], pp. 51–52.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1016414322 |title=Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-029127-8 |pages=25 |oclc=1016414322 |quote=The capitulation of the rest of Jerusalem was rapid. Those parts of the lower city already under Roman control were deliberately set on fire. The erection of new towers to break down the walls of the upper city was completed on 7 Elul (in mid-August), and the troops forced their way in. By 8 Elul the whole city was in Roman hands{{snd}}and in ruins. In recompense for the ferocious fighting they had been required to endure, the soldiers were given free rein to loot and kill, until eventually Titus ordered that the city be razed to the ground, 'leaving only the loftiest of the towers, Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamme, and the portion of the wall enclosing the city on the west: the latter as an encampment for the garrison that was to remain, and the towers to indicate to posterity the nature of the city and of the strong defences which had yet yielded to Roman prowess. All the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely levelled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited.'}}</ref> The siege had a major toll on human life, with many people being killed and enslaved, and large parts of the city destroyed. This victory gave the [[Flavian dynasty]] legitimacy to claim control over the empire. A [[Roman triumph|triumph]] was held in [[Rome]] to celebrate the victory over the Jews, with two [[Triumphal arch|triumphal arches]] erected to commemorate it, including the [[Arch of Titus]], which still stands today. The treasures looted from the Temple were put on display.<ref name=":7" />


The loss of mother-city and temple necessitated a reshaping of Judaean culture to ensure its survival, which eventually resulted in the emergence of [[Rabbinic Judaism]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Westwood |first=Ursula |date=2017-04-01 |title=A History of the Jewish War, AD 66–74 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=4 |doi=10.18647/3311/jjs-2017 |issn=0022-2097}}</ref> After the war had ended, a military camp of [[Legio X Fretensis]] was established on the city's ruins.<ref>{{Citation |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |title=The Camp of the Legion X Fretensis |date=2019-12-09 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004417076_003 |work=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman Period |pages=19–50 |publisher=BRILL |quote=After the destruction of the Herodian city of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion was established on part of the ruins to guard the former center of the revolt. This is clearly stated by Josephus (Jos. BJ, 7:1–,5,17; Vita, 422); it can be understood from the text of a diploma of 93 CE: “(veterani) qui militaverunt Hierosolymnis in legione X Fretense”, and it is also clear from epigraphic finds from the town. A bulk of military small finds recovered from several sites around the Old City indicates the presence of the XFretensis in Jerusalem |access-date=2022-05-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Geva |first=Hillel |date=1984 |title=The Camp of the Tenth Legion in Jerusalem: An Archaeological Reconsideration |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27925952 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=239–254 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref> In 130 CE, Hadrian re-founded Jerusalem as a Roman colony called [[Aelia Capitolina]].<ref name=":0" /> Scholars believe that this event was one of the catalysts for the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].<ref name="Weksler-Bdolah2019">{{cite book |author=Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnnEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |title=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman Period: In Light of Archaeological Research |date=December 16, 2019 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |pages=54–58}}</ref><ref name="Jacobson">{{cite journal |last=Jacobson |first=David |title=The Enigma of the Name Īliyā (= Aelia) for Jerusalem in Early Islam |url=https://www.academia.edu/38981188 |journal=Revision 4 |access-date=December 23, 2020}}</ref>
The destruction of Jerusalem marked a major turning point in [[Jewish history]].<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |title=Judaism in a Time of Crisis: Four Responses to the Destruction of the Second Temple |date=2017-11-28 |work=Neusner on Judaism |pages=399–413 |editor-last1=Hinnells |editor-first1=John |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781351152761-20 |access-date=2022-05-22 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781351152761-20 |isbn=978-1-351-15276-1}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |publisher=Facts On File |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-78785-171-9 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=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.}}</ref> The loss of the mother-city and Second Temple necessitated a reshaping of Jewish culture to ensure its survival. With sacrificial worship no longer possible, Jewish practices shifted to [[Jewish prayer|prayer]], [[Torah study]], and [[synagogue]] gatherings. According to [[Rabbinic literature|Rabbinic tradition]], [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]] escaped Jerusalem during the siege and secured Roman permission to establish a study center in [[Yavne|Yavneh]].<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/3F4F0A32983FC0DCDB414553888DC394 |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |volume=4 |location=Cambridge |pages=268 |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488 |quote=Under the leadership of R. Yohanan ben Zakkai and his circle at Yavneh, Judaism sought to reconstitute itself and find a new equilibrium in the face of the disaster of 70.}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Citation |last=Stemberger |first=Guenter |title=The Formation of Rabbinic Judaism, 70–640 CE |date=2003 |work=The Blackwell Companion to Judaism |pages=78–79 |editor-last=Neusner |editor-first=Jacob |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470758014.ch5 |access-date=2024-07-02 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470758014.ch5 |isbn=978-1-57718-058-6 |editor2-last=Avery-Peck |editor2-first=Alan J.}}</ref> This event was foundational in the development of [[Rabbinic Judaism]], which emerged from [[Pharisees|Pharisaic]] traditions and eventually became the mainstream form of Judaism.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldenberg |first=Robert |date=1977 |title=The Broken Axis: Rabbinic Judaism and the Fall of Jerusalem |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=XLV |issue=3 |pages=353 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/xlv.3.353 |issn=0002-7189}}</ref> Jewish sects such as the [[Sadducees]] and [[Essenes]] faded into obscurity,<ref name=":54">{{Cite book |last=Karesh |first=Sara E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1162305378 |title=Encyclopedia of Judaism |publisher=Facts On File |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-78785-171-9 |oclc=1162305378 |quote=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.}}</ref> while surviving followers of [[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]] continued to spread his teachings, leading to the rise of [[Christianity]] as a new, separate religion.<ref name=":7" /> After the war, [[Legio X Fretensis]] established a military camp on Jerusalem's ruins.<ref>{{Citation |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |title=The Camp of the Legion X Fretensis |date=2019-12-09 |work=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman Period |pages=19–50 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004417076_003 |access-date=2022-05-19 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004417076_003 |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |s2cid=214005509 |quote=After the destruction of the Herodian city of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion was established on part of the ruins to guard the former center of the revolt. This is clearly stated by Josephus (Jos. BJ, 7:1–5, 17; Vita, 422); it can be understood from the text of a diploma of 93 CE: “(veterani) qui militaverunt Hierosolymnis in legione X Fretense”, and it is also clear from epigraphic finds from the town. A bulk of military small finds recovered from several sites around the Old City indicates the presence of the XFretensis in Jerusalem}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Geva |first=Hillel |date=1984 |title=The Camp of the Tenth Legion in Jerusalem: An Archaeological Reconsideration |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27925952 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=239–254 |issn=0021-2059 |jstor=27925952}}</ref> The city was later re-founded as the [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman colony]] of [[Aelia Capitolina]] and foreign cults were introduced, with a temple to Jupiter being erected on the Temple Mount.<ref name="Schäfer2003">{{cite book |author=Peter Schäfer |url={{Google books |id=1TA-Fg4wBnUC |page=36 |plainurl=yes }} |title=The Bar Kokhba war reconsidered: new perspectives on the second Jewish revolt against Rome |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-16-148076-8 |pages=36– |access-date=4 December 2011}}</ref><ref name="erp-places">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Palestine: History |encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces |publisher=The University of South Dakota |url=http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |access-date=18 April 2007 |last=Lehmann |first=Clayton Miles |date=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310053428/http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |archive-date=10 March 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |title=Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of their Origins and Early Development |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society |year=1996 |editor=Hershel Shanks |location=Washington DC |page=196 |chapter=Judaism to Mishnah: 135–220 AD}}</ref> This is often seen as a catalyst for the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].<ref name="Weksler-Bdolah2019">{{cite book |author=Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnnEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |title=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman Period: In Light of Archaeological Research |publisher=Brill |year=2019 |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |pages=54–58}}</ref><ref name="Jacobson">{{cite journal |last=Jacobson |first=David |title=The Enigma of the Name Īliyā (= Aelia) for Jerusalem in Early Islam |url=https://www.academia.edu/38981188 |journal=Revision 4 |access-date=December 23, 2020}}</ref>

== Dating ==
[[Josephus]] places the siege in the second year of [[Vespasian]],<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-6.html The Jewish War 6:4]</ref> which corresponds to year 70 of the [[Common Era]].


== Background ==
== Background ==
{{More information|Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period}}
{{More information|Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period}}
During the [[Second Temple period|Second Temple Period]], Jerusalem was the center of religious and national life for Jews, including those in the [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Lee I. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/698161941 |title=Jerusalem: portrait of the city in the Second Temple period (538 BCE – 70 CE) |date=2002 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society, published in cooperation with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America |isbn=978-0-8276-0956-3 |edition=1st |location=Philadelphia |pages=15–20 |oclc=698161941 |quote=}}</ref> The Second Temple attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals]].<ref name=":6" /> The city reached a peak in size and population during the late Second Temple period, when the city covered {{convert|2|km2|sqmi|abbr=off|spell=in|frac=4}} and had an estimated population of 200,000.<ref name="erp-places"/><ref name="HarEl68">{{Cite book |last=Har-El |first=Menashe |title=This Is Jerusalem |publisher=Canaan Publishing House |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-86628-002-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/thisisjerusalem0000hare/page/68 68–95]}}</ref> In his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]],'' [[Pliny the Elder]] celebrated it as "by far, the most famous of the cities of the East".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Roth |first1=Helena |last2=Gadot |first2=Yuval |last3=Langgut |first3=Dafna |date=2019 |title=Wood Economy in Early Roman Period Jerusalem |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/705729 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=382 |pages=71–87 |doi=10.1086/705729 |s2cid=211672443 |issn=0003-097X}}</ref>
Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population during the late [[Second Temple period]], when the city covered {{convert|2|km2|sqmi|abbr=off|spell=in|frac=4}} and had an estimated population of 200,000.<ref name="ERPplaces">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Palestine: History |encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces |publisher=The University of South Dakota |url=http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |access-date=18 April 2007 |last=Lehmann |first=Clayton Miles |date=22 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310053428/http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |archive-date=10 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="HarEl68">{{Cite book |last=Har-El |first=Menashe |title=This Is Jerusalem |publisher=Canaan Publishing House |year=1977 |isbn=0-86628-002-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/thisisjerusalem0000hare/page/68 68–95]}}</ref>

In the early Roman period, Jerusalem had two distinct precincts. The first encompassed the regions within the "first wall", the [[City of David (historic)|City of David]] and the Upper City, and was heavily built up, though less so at its wealthy parts. The second, known as the "suburb" or "[[Pool of Bethesda|Bethesda]]", lay north of the first and was sparsely populated. It contained that section of Jerusalem within the Herodian "second wall" (which was still standing), though it was itself surrounded by the new "third wall", built by king [[Agrippa I]].<ref name="Rocca2008 p.8">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], p. 8.</ref> Josephus stated that Agrippa wanted to build a wall at least 5 meters thick, literally impenetrable by contemporary siege engines. Agrippa, however, never moved beyond the foundations, out of fear of emperor [[Claudius]] "lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order to make some innovation in public affairs."<ref name="war142">{{Cite web |title=Josephus, The Jewish War V, 142 |url=http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148&layout=&loc=5.142 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002072128/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148 |archive-date=2009-10-02 |access-date=2009-12-18}}</ref> It was only completed later, to a lesser strength and in much haste, when the First Jewish–Roman War broke out and the defenses of Jerusalem had to be bolstered. Nine towers adorned the third wall.

== Jerusalem during the revolt ==

=== Outbreak of the rebellion ===
According to [[Gittin]] (a tractate of the Mishnah and the Talmud) the origin of the war was in a personal dispute between [[Kamsa and Bar Kamsa]] over hospitality.<ref>Kass, Larry. ''[http://www.jewishmag.com/12MAG/KAMSA/kamsa.htm The Story of Kamsa and Bar Kamsa]''. Jewish Magazine. July 1999, accessed May 14, 2007.</ref><ref>''[http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/kamtza.htm Kamtza and Bar-Kamtza]''. Orthodox Union. accessed May 14, 2007.</ref>

The [[First Jewish–Roman War|First Jewish-Roman War]], also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, broke following the appointment of prefect [[Gessius Florus]] and his demand to receive Temple funds.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.82">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], p. 8.</ref> Florus plundered the [[Second Temple#Herod's%20Temple|Second Temple]], claiming the money was for the Emperor, and in the next day launching a raid on the city, arresting numerous senior Jewish figures. This prompted a wider, large-scale rebellion and the Roman military garrison of Judaea was quickly overrun by the rebels, while the pro-Roman king [[Herod Agrippa II]], together with Roman officials, fled [[Jerusalem]].


In the early Roman period, Jerusalem had two distinct precincts. The first encompassed the regions within the "first wall", the [[City of David (historic)|City of David]] and the Upper City, and was heavily built up, though less so at its wealthy parts. The second, known as the "suburb" or "[[Pool of Bethesda|Bethesda]]", lay north of the first and was sparsely populated. It contained that section of Jerusalem within the Herodian "second wall" (which was still standing), though it was itself surrounded by the new "third wall", built by king [[Agrippa I]].<ref name="Rocca2008 p.82">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], p. 8.</ref>
The zealots killed and set alight the moderate [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]]'s house and a bonds archive in an effort to mobilize the masses. Revolt spread then from Jerusalem to the rest of the country, including the mixed cities of [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], [[Beit She'an]] and the [[Galilee]]. Roman suppression of the revolt begun in the north, with an expeditionary force led by the Roman legate of Syria, [[Cestius Gallus]], making its way to Jerusalem. Gallus failed to take the city and decided to withdraw. Pursued by rebel scouts, the [[Battle of Beth Horon (66)|Roman troops were ambushed near Bethoron]], losing the equivalent of an entire legion. Gallus managed to escape but died shortly after.
A popular assembly was then convened in Jerusalem to formulate policy and decide upon a subsequent course of action. Dominated by the moderate Pharisees, including [[Simeon ben Gamliel]], president of the [[Sanhedrin]], it appointed military commanders to oversee the defense of the city and its fortifications. Leadership of the revolt was thus taken from the Zealots and given to the more moderate and traditional leadership of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Lacking sufficient military or administrative skills, these were not military leaders but rather the men deemed able to conclude a negotiated settlement with the Romans.


Josephus stated that Agrippa wanted to build a wall at least 5 meters thick, literally impenetrable by contemporary siege engines. Agrippa, however, never moved beyond the foundations, out of fear of emperor [[Claudius]] "lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order to make some innovation in public affairs."<ref name="war142">{{Cite web |title=Josephus, The Jewish War V, 142 |url=http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148&layout=&loc=5.142 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002072128/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148 |archive-date=2009-10-02 |access-date=2009-12-18}}</ref> It was only completed later, to a lesser strength and in much haste, when the First Jewish–Roman War broke out and the defenses of Jerusalem had to be bolstered. Nine towers adorned the third wall.
During a brief period of renewed independence, indications are that Jerusalem enjoyed a sense of hope and prosperity. It minted its own coins and a new year count, beginning with its recent liberation, was initiated. This short-lived independence, however, was soon challenged by the Romans.


=== Outbreak of rebellion ===
=== Vespasian's campaign and replacement by Titus ===
Nero entrusted the job of crushing the rebellion in Judaea to [[Vespasian]], a talented and unassuming general. In early 68 CE, Roman General [[Vespasian]] landed at [[Acre, Israel|Ptolemais]] and began suppression of the revolt with operations in the [[Galilee]]. By July 69 all of Judea but Jerusalem had been pacified and the city, now hosting rebel leaders from all over the country, came under Roman siege. A fortified stronghold, it may have held for a significant amount of time, if not for the intense civil war that then broke out between moderates and Zealots.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.51-52" />
The [[First Jewish–Roman War]], also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, broke following the appointment of prefect [[Gessius Florus]] and his demand to receive Temple funds.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.82"/> [[Nero]] entrusted the job of crushing the rebellion in Judaea to [[Vespasian]], a talented and unassuming general. In early 68 CE, Vespasian landed at [[Acre, Israel|Ptolemais]] and began suppression of the revolt with operations in the [[Galilee]]. By July 69 all of Judea but Jerusalem had been pacified and the city, now hosting rebel leaders from all over the country, came under Roman siege.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.51-52" />


In the summer of 69 CE, Vespasian departed Judea for Rome and in December became Emperor. Command of the Roman legions passed to his son [[Titus]], who was now in charge of the siege of Jerusalem.
A fortified stronghold, it might have held for a significant amount of time, if not for the intense civil war that then broke out between moderates and Zealots.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.51-52" /> In the summer of 69 CE, Vespasian departed Judea for Rome and in December became Emperor, with command of the Roman legions passing to his son [[Titus]].{{cn|date=August 2022}}


==Siege==
==Siege==


[[Titus]] began his siege a few days before Passover,<ref name="Schäfer">{{cite book |author-link=Peter Schäfer |first=Peter |last=Schäfer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdKCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab |publisher=Conquest Routledge |year=2003 |pages=129–130 |isbn=9781134403172 }}</ref> on 14 April,<ref name="War of the Jews">''[[War of the Jews]]'' Book V, sect. 99 (Ch. 3, paragraph 1 in Whiston's translation); dates given are approximations since the correspondence between the calendar Josephus used and modern calendars is uncertain.</ref> surrounding the city with three [[Roman legion|legions]] ([[Legio V Macedonica|V ''Macedonica'']], [[Legio XII Fulminata|XII ''Fulminata'']], [[Legio XV Apollinaris|XV ''Apollinaris'']]) on the western side and a fourth ([[Legio X Fretensis|X ''Fretensis'']]) on the [[Mount of Olives]], to the east.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheppard|first1=Si|title=The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74 |date=20 October 2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781780961842|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1KbCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |page=42 }}</ref><ref name="Levick1999">{{cite book |first=Barbara |last=Levick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnRB0K35E4wC&pg=PA32 |title=Vespasian |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |pages=116–119 |isbn=9780415338660 }}</ref> If the reference in his [[The Jewish War|''Jewish War'']] at 6:421 is to Titus's siege, though difficulties exist with its interpretation, then at the time, according to [[Josephus]], Jerusalem was thronged with many people who had come to celebrate [[Passover]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Frederico M. |last=Colautti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=llchj1PkMIUC&pg=PA124 |title=Passover in the Works of Flavius Josephus |publisher=BRILL |year=2002 |pages=115–131 |isbn=9004123725 }}</ref>
[[Josephus]] places the siege in the second year of [[Vespasian]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-6.html|title=Josephus: Of the War, Book VI|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> which corresponds to year 70 of the [[Common Era]]. [[Titus]] began his siege a few days before Passover,<ref name="Schäfer">{{cite book |author-link=Peter Schäfer |first=Peter |last=Schäfer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdKCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab |publisher=Conquest Routledge |year=2003 |pages=129–130 |isbn=978-1-134-40317-2 }}</ref> on 14 Xanthicus (April),<ref name="War of the Jews">''[[War of the Jews]]'' Book V, sect. 99 (Ch. 3, paragraph 1 in Whiston's translation); dates given are approximations since the correspondence between the calendar Josephus used and modern calendars is uncertain.</ref> surrounding the city with three [[Roman legion|legions]] ([[Legio V Macedonica|V ''Macedonica'']], [[Legio XII Fulminata|XII ''Fulminata'']], [[Legio XV Apollinaris|XV ''Apollinaris'']]) on the western side and a fourth ([[Legio X Fretensis|X ''Fretensis'']]) on the [[Mount of Olives]], to the east.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheppard|first1=Si|title=The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74 |year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78096-184-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1KbCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |page=42 }}</ref><ref name="Levick1999">{{cite book |first=Barbara |last=Levick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnRB0K35E4wC&pg=PA32 |title=Vespasian |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |pages=116–119 |isbn=978-0-415-33866-0 }}</ref> If the reference in his [[The Jewish War|''Jewish War'']] at 6:421 is to Titus's siege, though difficulties exist with its interpretation, then at the time, according to [[Josephus]], Jerusalem was thronged with many people who had come to celebrate [[Passover]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Frederico M. |last=Colautti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=llchj1PkMIUC&pg=PA124 |title=Passover in the Works of Flavius Josephus |publisher=Brill |year=2002 |pages=115–131 |isbn=978-90-04-12372-4 }}</ref>


The thrust of the siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the [[Jaffa Gate]]. By May, this was breached and the Second Wall also was taken shortly afterwards, leaving the defenders in possession of the Temple and the upper and lower city.
The thrust of the siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the [[Jaffa Gate]]. By May, this was breached and the Second Wall also was taken shortly afterwards, leaving the defenders in possession of the Temple and the upper and lower city.


The Jewish defenders were split into factions. [[Simon bar Giora|Simon Bar Giora]] and [[John of Giscala]], the two prominent Zealot leaders, placed all blame for the failure of the revolt on the shoulders of the moderate leadership. [[John of Giscala|John of Gischala]]'s group murdered another faction leader, [[Eleazar ben Simon]], whose men were entrenched in the forecourts of the Temple.<ref name="Schäfer" /> The Zealots resolved to prevent the city from falling into Roman hands by all means necessary, including the murder of political opponents and anyone standing in their way. There were still those wishing to negotiate with the Romans and bring a peaceful end to the siege. The most prominent of these was [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], whose students smuggled him out of the city in a coffin in order to deal with Vespasian. This, however, was insufficient to deal with the madness that had now gripped the Zealot leadership in Jerusalem and the reign of terror it unleashed upon the population of the city.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.9">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], p. 9.</ref> Josephus describes various acts of savagery committed against the people by its own leadership, including the torching of the city's food supply in an apparent bid to force the defenders to fight for their lives.
The Jewish defenders were split into factions. [[Simon bar Giora|Simon Bar Giora]] and [[John of Giscala]], the two prominent Zealot leaders, placed all blame for the failure of the revolt on the shoulders of the moderate leadership. [[John of Giscala|John of Gischala]]'s group murdered another faction leader, [[Eleazar ben Simon]], whose men were entrenched in the forecourts of the Temple.<ref name="Schäfer" /> The Zealots resolved to prevent the city from falling into Roman hands by all means necessary, including the murder of political opponents and anyone standing in their way.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.9"/>


There were still those wishing to negotiate with the Romans and bring a peaceful end to the siege. The most prominent of these was [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], whose students smuggled him out of the city in a coffin in order to deal with Vespasian. This, however, was insufficient to deal with the madness that had now gripped the Zealot leadership in Jerusalem and the reign of terror it unleashed upon the population of the city.<ref name="Rocca2008 p.9">[[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period#Rocca2008|Rocca (2008)]], p. 9.</ref> Josephus describes various acts of savagery committed against the people by its own leadership, including the torching of the city's food supply in an apparent bid to force the defenders to fight for their lives.
The enmities between John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were papered over only when the Roman siege engineers began to erect [[Rampart (fortification)|ramparts]]. Titus then had a wall built to girdle the city in order to starve out the population more effectively. After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the [[Antonia Fortress|Fortress of Antonia]], the Romans finally launched a secret attack.<ref name="Schäfer" /> Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the [[Zealots]] fought amongst themselves, and they lacked proper leadership, resulting in poor discipline, training, and preparation for the battles that were to follow. At one point they destroyed the food stocks in the city, a drastic measure thought to have been undertaken perhaps in order to enlist a merciful [[God|God's]] intervention on behalf of the besieged Jews,<ref name="Yehuda">{{cite book |last=Ben-Yehuda |first=Nachman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pdrTMtarF14C&pg=PA90 |title=Theocratic Democracy: The Social Construction of Religious and Secular Extremism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780199813230 |page=91}}</ref> or as a stratagem to make the defenders more desperate, supposing that was necessary in order to repel the Roman army.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Telushkin |first1=Joseph |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-great-revolt-66-70-ce |title=Jewish Literacy |date=1991 |publisher=William Morrow and Co. |location=NY |quote=While the Romans would have won the war in any case, the Jewish civil war both hastened their victory and immensely increased the casualties. One horrendous example: In expectation of a Roman siege, Jerusalem's Jews had stockpiled a supply of dry food that could have fed the city for many years. But one of the warring Zealot factions burned the entire supply, apparently hoping that destroying this "security blanket" would compel everyone to participate in the revolt. The starvation resulting from this mad act caused suffering as great as any the Romans inflicted. |access-date=11 December 2017}}</ref>{{unreliable inline|date=May 2022|reason=Jewish Virtual Library is listed as a Generally Unreliable at [[WP:RSP]] over its partisan content and myth pedalling}}


The enmities between John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were papered over only when the Roman siege engineers began to erect [[Rampart (fortification)|ramparts]]. Titus then had a wall built to girdle the city in order to starve out the population more effectively. After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the [[Antonia Fortress|Fortress of Antonia]], the Romans finally launched a secret attack.<ref name="Schäfer" /> Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the [[Zealots]] fought amongst themselves, and they lacked proper leadership, resulting in poor discipline, training, and preparation for the battles that were to follow. At one point they destroyed the food stocks in the city, a drastic measure thought to have been undertaken perhaps in order to enlist a merciful [[God|God's]] intervention on behalf of the besieged Jews,<ref name="Yehuda">{{cite book |last=Ben-Yehuda |first=Nachman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pdrTMtarF14C&pg=PA90 |title=Theocratic Democracy: The Social Construction of Religious and Secular Extremism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-981323-0 |page=91}}</ref> or as a stratagem to make the defenders more desperate, supposing that was necessary in order to repel the Roman army.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Telushkin |first1=Joseph |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-great-revolt-66-70-ce |title=Jewish Literacy |date=1991 |publisher=William Morrow and Co. |location=New York|quote=While the Romans would have won the war in any case, the Jewish civil war both hastened their victory and immensely increased the casualties. One horrendous example: In expectation of a Roman siege, Jerusalem's Jews had stockpiled a supply of dry food that could have fed the city for many years. But one of the warring Zealot factions burned the entire supply, apparently hoping that destroying this "security blanket" would compel everyone to participate in the revolt. The starvation resulting from this mad act caused suffering as great as any the Romans inflicted. |access-date=11 December 2017}}</ref>{{unreliable inline|date=May 2022|reason=Jewish Virtual Library is listed as a Generally Unreliable at [[WP:RSP]] over its partisan content and myth pedalling}}
According to Josephus, when the Romans reached Antonia they tried to destroy the wall which protected it. They removed four stones only, but during the night the wall collapsed. "That night the wall was so shaken by the battering rams in that place where John had used his stratagem before, and had undermined their banks, that the ground then gave way, and the wall fell down suddenly." (v. 28)
<ref name="Whiston1">{{cite book |author-link=William Whiston |first=William |last=Whiston |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D15 |title=The Works of Flavius Josephus|publisher= A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. |orig-year=1895 |year=1895 |page=28 |isbn=9781134371372 }}</ref> Following this, Titus had raised banks beside the court of the Temple: on the north-west corner, on the north side, and on the west side (v. 150).
<ref name="Whiston2">{{cite book |author-link=William Whiston |first=William |last=Whiston |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D149 |title=The Works of Flavius Josephus|publisher= A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. |orig-year=1895 |year=1895 |page=150 |isbn=9781134371372 }}</ref>


According to Josephus, when the Romans reached Antonia they tried to destroy the wall which protected it. They removed four stones only, but during the night the wall collapsed. "That night the wall was so shaken by the battering rams in that place where John had used his stratagem before, and had undermined their banks, that the ground then gave way, and the wall fell down suddenly." (v. 28)<ref name="Whiston1">{{cite book |author-link=William Whiston |first=William |last=Whiston |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D15 |title=The Works of Flavius Josephus|publisher= A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. |orig-year=1895 |year=1895 |page=28 |isbn=978-1-134-37137-2 }}</ref> Following this, Titus had raised banks beside the court of the Temple: on the north-west corner, on the north side, and on the west side (v. 150).<ref name="Whiston2">{{cite book |author-link=William Whiston |first=William |last=Whiston |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D149 |title=The Works of Flavius Josephus|publisher= A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley |orig-year=1895 |year=1895 |page=150 |isbn=978-1-134-37137-2 }}</ref>
Josephus goes on to say that the Jews then attacked the Romans on the east, near the Mount of Olives, but Titus drove them back to the valley. Zealots set the north-west colonnade on fire (v. 165). The Romans set the next one on fire, and the Jews wanted it to burn (v. 166), and they also trapped some Roman soldiers when they wanted to climb over the wall. They had burned wood under the wall when Romans were trapped on it (v.178–183).


Josephus goes on to say that the Jews then attacked the Romans on the east, near the Mount of Olives, but Titus drove them back to the valley. Zealots set the north-west colonnade on fire (v. 165). The Romans set the next one on fire, and the Jews wanted it to burn (v. 166), and they also trapped some Roman soldiers when they wanted to climb over the wall. They had burned wood under the wall when Romans were trapped on it (v. 178–183).
After Jewish allies killed a number of Roman soldiers, Josephus claims that Titus sent him to negotiate with the defenders; this ended with Jews wounding the negotiator with an arrow, and another sally was launched shortly after. Titus was almost captured during this sudden attack, but escaped.[[File:Francesco_Hayez_017.jpg|thumb|''Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem'' by [[Francesco Hayez]] depicts the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman soldiers. Oil on canvas, 1867.]]

After Jewish allies killed a number of Roman soldiers, Josephus claims that Titus sent him to negotiate with the defenders; this ended with Jews wounding the negotiator with an arrow, and another sally was launched shortly after. Titus was almost captured during this sudden attack, but escaped.


Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. [[Battering ram]]s made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire; a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus's goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by [[Herod the Great]] mere decades earlier. Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple dedicated to the [[Roman Emperor]] and the [[Roman mythology|Roman pantheon]]. However, the fire spread quickly and was soon out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 [[Tisha B'Av]], sometime in August 70 CE, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref name="Levick1999" /> Josephus described the scene:
Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. [[Battering ram]]s made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire; a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus's goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by [[Herod the Great]] mere decades earlier. Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple dedicated to the [[Roman Emperor]] and the [[Roman mythology|Roman pantheon]]. However, the fire spread quickly and was soon out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 [[Tisha B'Av]], sometime in August 70 CE, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.<ref name="Schäfer" /><ref name="Levick1999" /> Josephus described the scene:


<blockquote>As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.<ref name="Schäfer1">{{cite book |author-link=Peter Schäfer |first=Peter |last=Schäfer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=unguAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 |title=The History of the Jews in Antiquity |publisher=Routledge |orig-year=1995 |year=2013 |pages=191–192 |isbn=9781134371372 }}</ref></blockquote>Josephus's account absolves Titus of any culpability for the destruction of the Temple, but this may merely reflect his desire to procure favor with the [[Flavian dynasty]].<ref name="Schäfer1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-28/ad-70-titus-destroys-jerusalem.html|title=A.D. 70 Titus Destroys Jerusalem|work=Christian History |access-date=6 July 2017|language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.<ref name="Schäfer1">{{cite book |author-link=Peter Schäfer |first=Peter |last=Schäfer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=unguAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 |title=The History of the Jews in Antiquity |publisher=Routledge |orig-year=1995 |year=2013 |pages=191–192 |isbn=978-1-134-37137-2 }}</ref>}}


Josephus's account absolves Titus of any culpability for the destruction of the Temple, but this may merely reflect his desire to procure favor with the [[Flavian dynasty]].<ref name="Schäfer1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-28/ad-70-titus-destroys-jerusalem.html|title=A.D. 70 Titus Destroys Jerusalem|work=Christian History |access-date=6 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> According to Josephus, the excitement of the Roman troops led them to fuel the flames beyond control. In contrast, another historiographic tradition, which traces back to [[Tacitus]] and is later reflected in Christian writings, asserts that Titus explicitly authorized the destruction of the Temple, which was also functioning as a key fortress.<ref name=":11">{{Citation |last=Goldenberg |first=Robert |title=The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple: its meaning and its consequences |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=194–195 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/destruction-of-the-jerusalem-temple-its-meaning-and-its-consequences/A3D597AAE094CCFDCCE188FFD48CD16C |access-date=2024-09-16 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.009 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8}}</ref> Modern scholarship generally supports this latter account, although the issue remains debated.<ref name=":11" />
The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance. Some of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden tunnels and sewers, while others made a final stand in the Upper City.<ref name="Fast2012">{{cite book|author=Peter J. Fast|title=70 A. D.: A War of the Jews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=im_Wh477dksC&pg=PA761|date=November 2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4772-6585-7|page=761}}</ref> This defense halted the Roman advance as they had to construct siege towers to assail the remaining Jews. [[Herod's Palace (Jerusalem)|Herod's Palace]] fell on 7 September, and the city was completely under Roman control by 8 September.<ref name="Sheppard2013">{{cite book|author=Si Sheppard|title=The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6qHCwAAQBAJ|date=20 October 2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78096-185-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}<ref name="Wahl2006">{{cite book|author=Dr Robert Wahl|title=Foundations of Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYSwPqeP6qUC&pg=PA103|year=2006|publisher=David C Cook|isbn=978-0-7814-4380-7|page=103}}</ref> The Romans continued to pursue those who had fled the city.

The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance. Some of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden tunnels and sewers, while others made a final stand in the Upper City.<ref name="Fast2012">{{cite book|author=Peter J. Fast|title=70 A.D.: A War of the Jews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=im_Wh477dksC&pg=PA761|year=2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4772-6585-7|page=761}}</ref> This defense halted the Roman advance as they had to construct siege towers to assail the remaining Jews. [[Herod's Palace (Jerusalem)|Herod's Palace]] fell on 7 September, and the city was completely under Roman control by 8 September.<ref name="Sheppard2013">{{cite book|author=Si Sheppard|title=The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6qHCwAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78096-185-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}<ref name="Wahl2006">{{cite book|author=Dr Robert Wahl|title=Foundations of Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYSwPqeP6qUC&pg=PA103|year=2006|publisher=David C Cook|isbn=978-0-7814-4380-7|page=103}}</ref> The Romans continued to pursue those who had fled the city.
[[File:Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)-en.svg|thumb|Progress of the Roman army during the siege]]


==Destruction==
==Destruction==
{{More information|Burnt House|Second Temple#Archaeology}}
The account of Josephus described Titus as moderate in his approach and, after conferring with others, ordering that the 500-year-old Temple be spared. According to Josephus, it was the Jews who first used fire in the Northwest approach to the Temple to try and stop Roman advances. Only then did Roman soldiers set fire to an apartment adjacent to the Temple, starting a conflagration which the Jews subsequently made worse.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mireille|last=Hadas-Lebel | title=Jerusalem Against Rome | publisher=Peeters Publishers | date=2006 | page=86}}</ref>

The account of Josephus described Titus as moderate in his approach and, after conferring with others, ordering that the 500-year-old Temple be spared. According to Josephus, it was the Jews who first used fire in the Northwest approach to the Temple to try and stop Roman advances. Only then did Roman soldiers set fire to an apartment adjacent to the Temple, starting a conflagration which the Jews subsequently made worse.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mireille|last=Hadas-Lebel | title=Jerusalem Against Rome | publisher=Peeters Publishers | date=2006 | page=86}}</ref> Later Christian sources, traced back to Tacitus, claim that Titus personally authorized the destruction, a perspective that modern scholars generally support, though the debate remains unsettled.<ref name=":11" />


Josephus had acted as a mediator for the Romans and, when negotiations failed, witnessed the siege and aftermath. He wrote:
Josephus had acted as a mediator for the Romans and, when negotiations failed, witnessed the siege and aftermath. He wrote:
<blockquote>Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.<ref>{{Cite Josephus|PACEJ=1|text=bj|bookno=7|chap=1|sec=1|show-translator=yes|abbr=yes}}</ref><br>
{{blockquote|Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.<ref>{{Cite Josephus|PACEJ=1|text=bj|bookno=7|chap=1|sec=1|show-translator=yes|abbr=yes}}</ref><br/>
And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it.<ref>{{Cite Josephus|PACEJ=1|text=bj|bookno=6|chap=1|sec=1|show-translator=yes|abbr=yes}}</ref></blockquote>
And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it.<ref>{{Cite Josephus|PACEJ=1|text=bj|bookno=6|chap=1|sec=1|show-translator=yes|abbr=yes}}</ref>}}

=== Archeological evidence ===
=== Archeological evidence ===
[[File:Fresco_from_the_Second_Temple_Period,_Wohl_Archaeological_Museum,_The_Jewish_Quarter,_Jeruslem.jpg|thumb|Fresco showing signs of burning, Wohl Archaeological Museum, Jewish Quarter]]
[[File:Fresco from the Second Temple Period, Wohl Archaeological Museum, The Jewish Quarter, Jeruslem.jpg|thumb|A [[fresco]] showing signs of burning, [[Wohl Archaeological Museum]], Jewish Quarter]]
Over the years, various remains that provide evidence of Jerusalem's destruction have been discovered, leading scholars to believe that Josephus' description is accurate.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> [[Ronny Reich]] wrote that "While remains relating to the destruction of the Temple are scant, those pertaining to the Temple Mount walls and their close vicinity, the Upper City, the western part of the city, and the Tyropoeon Valley are considerable. [...] It was found that in most cases the archaeological record coincides with the historical description, pointing to Josephus' reliability".<ref name=":3" />
Over the years, various remains that provide evidence of Jerusalem's destruction have been discovered, leading scholars to believe that Josephus' description is accurate.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> [[Ronny Reich]] wrote that "While remains relating to the destruction of the Temple are scant, those pertaining to the Temple Mount walls and their close vicinity, the Upper City, the western part of the city, and the Tyropoeon Valley are considerable. [...] It was found that in most cases the archaeological record coincides with the historical description, pointing to Josephus' reliability".<ref name=":3" />


In the 1970s and 1980s, a team led by [[Nahman Avigad]] discovered traces of great fire that damaged the Upper City's residential buildings. The fires consumed all organic matter. In houses where there was a beamed ceiling between the floors, the fire caused the top of the building to collapse with the top rows of stone, along with the top rows of stone, and they buried everything that remained in the home under them. There are buildings where traces remain only in part of the house, and there are buildings that have been completely burned. [[Calcium oxide|Calcium oxides]] have been discovered in several locations, indicating that a lengthy burning damaged the limestones. The [[Burnt House]] in the Herodian Quarter, for example, shows signs of a fire that raged at the site during the city's destruction.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=רייך |first=רוני |last2=Reich |first2=Ronny |date=2009 |title=The Sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE: Flavius Josephus' Description and the Archaeological Record / חורבן ירושלים בשנת 70 לסה"נ: תיאורו של יוסף בן מתתיהו והממצא הארכאולוגי |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23407359 |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה |issue=131 |pages=25–42 |issn=0334-4657}}</ref><ref>Geva, H. ed., 2010 Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969–1982 IV: The Burnt House of Area B and Other Studies. Final Report. Jerusalem.</ref>
In the 1970s and 1980s, a team led by [[Nahman Avigad]] discovered traces of great fire that damaged the Upper City's residential buildings. The fires consumed all organic matter. In houses where there was a beamed ceiling between the floors, the fire caused the top of the building to collapse, along with the top rows of stone, and they buried everything that remained in the home under them. There are buildings where traces remain only in part of the house, and there are buildings that have been completely burned. [[Calcium oxide]]s have been discovered in several locations, indicating that a lengthy burning damaged the limestones. The [[Burnt House]] in the Herodian Quarter, for example, shows signs of a fire that raged at the site during the city's destruction.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=רייך |first1=רוני |last2=Reich |first2=Ronny |date=2009 |title=The Sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE: Flavius Josephus' Description and the Archaeological Record / חורבן ירושלים בשנת 70 לסה"נ: תיאורו של יוסף בן מתתיהו והממצא הארכאולוגי |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23407359 |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ ישראל ויישובה |issue=131 |pages=25–42 |jstor=23407359 |issn=0334-4657}}</ref><ref>Geva, H. ed., 2010 Jewish Quarter Excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem Conducted by Nahman Avigad, 1969–1982 IV: The Burnt House of Area B and Other Studies. Final Report. Jerusalem.</ref>


The fire left its mark even on household utensils and objects that were in the same buildings. Limestone vessels were stained with ash or even burned and turned into lime, glass vessels exploded and warped from the heat of the fire until they could not be recovered in the laboratory. In contrast, pottery and basalt survived. The layer of ash and charred wood left over from the fires reached a height of about an average meter, and the rock falls reached up to two meters and more.<ref name=":3" />[[Image:NinthAvStonesWesternWall.JPG|thumb|Stones from the [[Western Wall]] of the [[Temple Mount]] (Jerusalem) thrown onto the street by Roman soldiers on the Ninth of Av, 70]]Massive stone collapses from the Temple Mount's walls were discovered laying over the Herodian street that runs along the [[Western Wall]].<ref>Reich, R. and Billig, Y. 2008. Jerusalem, The Robinson’s Arch Area. NEAEHL 5: 1809–1811.</ref>
The fire left its mark even on household utensils and objects that were in the same buildings. [[Stone vessels in ancient Judaea|Limestone vessels]] were stained with ash or even burned and turned into lime, glass vessels exploded and warped from the heat of the fire until they could not be recovered in the laboratory. In contrast, pottery and basalt survived. The layer of ash and charred wood left over from the fires reached an average height of about a meter, and the rock falls reached up to two meters and more.<ref name=":3" />[[Image:NinthAvStonesWesternWall.JPG|thumb|Stones from the [[Western Wall]] of the [[Temple Mount]] (Jerusalem) thrown onto the street by Roman soldiers on the [[Tisha_B'Av|Ninth of Av]], 70]]The great urban drainage channel and the [[Pool of Siloam]] in the Lower City silted up and stopped working, and the city walls collapsed in numerous places.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Reich |first1=Ronny |last2=Shukron |first2=Eli |last3=Lernau |first3=Omri |date=2007 |title=Recent Discoveries in the City of David, Jerusalem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927171 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=153–169 |jstor=27927171 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref>


Massive stone collapses from the Temple Mount's walls were discovered laying over the Herodian street that runs along the [[Western Wall]].<ref>Reich, R. and Billig, Y. 2008. Jerusalem, The Robinson's Arch Area. NEAEHL 5: 1809–1811.</ref> Among these stones is the [[Trumpeting Place inscription]], a monumental Hebrew inscription which was thrown down by Roman legionnaires during the destruction of the Temple.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Demsky |first=Aaron |author-link=Aaron Demsky |year=1986 |title=When the Priests Trumpeted the Onset of the Sabbath |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/12/6/3 |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=The BAS Library |language=en}}</ref>
The great urban drainage channel and the [[Pool of Siloam]] in the Lower City silted up and stopped working, and the city walls collapsed in numerous places.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reich |first=Ronny |last2=Shukron |first2=Eli |last3=Lernau |first3=Omri |date=2007 |title=Recent Discoveries in the City of David, Jerusalem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927171 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=153–169 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref>


== Deaths, enslavement, and displacement ==
=== Massacre ===
Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish. Josephus attributes this to the celebration of [[Passover]] which he uses as rationale for the vast number of people present among the death toll.<ref name="goldberg1">{{cite web |last=Goldberg |first=G J |title=Chronology of the War According to Josephus: Part 7, The Fall of Jerusalem |url=http://www.josephus.org/FlJosephus2/warChronology7Fall.html |access-date=8 December 2017 |website=www.josephus.org}}</ref> The revolt had not deterred pilgrims from [[Jewish diaspora]] communities from trekking to Jerusalem to visit the Temple during the holiday, and a large number became trapped in the city and perished during the siege.<ref>Wettstein, Howard: [https://books.google.co.il/books?id=6u90DckCgo4C&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false Diasporas and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity], p. 31 (2002). [[University of California Press]]</ref> Armed rebels, as well as the frail citizens, were put to death. All of Jerusalem's remaining citizens became Roman prisoners. After the Romans killed the armed and elder people, 97,000 were enslaved.<ref name="josephus-wars-vi-9">Josephus, ''[[The Wars of the Jews]]'' [[wikisource:The War of the Jews/Book VI#Chapter_9|VI.9.3]]</ref> Of the 97,000, thousands were forced to become gladiators and eventually expired in the arena. Many others were forced to assist in the building of the Forum of Peace and the Colosseum. Those under 17 years of age were sold into servitude'''.'''<ref name="livius1">{{cite web |title=Titus' Siege of Jerusalem Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/roman-jewish-wars/roman-jewish-wars-4/? |access-date=8 December 2017 |website=www.livius.org |language=en}}</ref>
Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people, the majority of them Jewish, were killed during the siege a death toll he attributes to the celebration of [[Passover]].<ref name="goldberg1">{{cite web |last=Goldberg |first=G J |title=Chronology of the War According to Josephus: Part 7, The Fall of Jerusalem |url=http://www.josephus.org/FlJosephus2/warChronology7Fall.html |access-date=8 December 2017 |website=www.josephus.org}}</ref> Josephus goes on to report that after the Romans killed the armed and elderly people, 97,000 were enslaved.<ref name="josephus-wars-vi-9">Josephus, ''[[The Wars of the Jews]]'' [[wikisource:The War of the Jews/Book VI#Chapter_9|VI.9.3]]</ref> Josephus records that many people were sold into slavery, and that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 40,000 individuals survived, and the emperor let them to go wherever they chose.<ref>Flavius Josephus, ''The Jewish War'', Book VI, 378–386</ref> Before and during the siege, according to Josephus' account, there were multiple waves of desertions from the city.<ref name=":8"/>


The Roman historian Tacitus later wrote: "... the total number of the besieged of every age and both sexes was six hundred thousand; there were arms for all who could use them, and the number ready to fight was larger than could have been anticipated from the total population. Both men and women showed the same determination; and if they were to be forced to change their home, they feared life more than death".<ref>Tacitus, [[Histories (Tacitus)|''Histories'']], Book V, Chapter XIII</ref>
Josephus' death toll assumptions were rejected as impossible by [[Seth Schwartz]] (1984), as according to his estimates at that time about a million people lived in Palestine, about half of whom were Jews, and sizable Jewish populations remained in the area after the war was over, even in the hard-hit region of Judea.<ref name="Schwartz">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1984 |title=Political, social and economic life in the land of Israel |encyclopedia=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjtWLZhhMoYC |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |editor-last1=Davies |editor-first1=William David |page=24 |isbn=9780521772488 |editor-first2=Louis |editor-last2=Finkelstein |editor-first3=Steven T. |editor-last3=Katz}}</ref>


Josephus' death toll figures have been rejected as impossible by [[Seth Schwartz]], who estimates that about a million people lived in all of the land of Israel at the time, about half of them Jews, and that sizable Jewish populations remained in the area after the war was over, even in the hard-hit region of Judea.<ref name="Schwartz">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1984 |title=Political, social and economic life in the land of Israel |encyclopedia=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjtWLZhhMoYC |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |editor-last1=Davies |editor-first1=William David |page=24 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor-first2=Louis |editor-last2=Finkelstein |editor-first3=Steven T. |editor-last3=Katz}}</ref> Schwartz, however, believes that the captive number of 97,000 is more reliable.<ref name=":8" /> It has also been noted that the revolt had not deterred pilgrims from visiting Jerusalem, and a large number became trapped in the city and perished during the siege.<ref>Wettstein, Howard: [https://books.google.com/books?id=6u90DckCgo4C&pg=PA31 Diasporas and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity], p. 31 (2002). [[University of California Press]]</ref>
=== Triumph ===
Titus and his soldiers celebrated victory upon their return to Rome by parading the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]] and [[Showbread#The table (shulchan)|Table of the Bread of God's Presence]] through the streets. Up until this parading, these items had only ever been seen by the High Priest of the Temple. This event was memorialized in the [[Arch of Titus]].<ref name="livius1" /><ref name="goldberg1" />


Many of the people of the surrounding area are also thought to have been driven from the land or enslaved.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Seth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/863044259 |title=The ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-107-04127-1 |location=Cambridge |pages=85–86 |oclc=863044259}}</ref>
Some 700 Judean prisoners were paraded through the streets of Rome in chains during the triumph, among them Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala.<ref name="josephus-wars-vi-9" /><ref>Civan, Julian: [https://books.google.co.il/books?id=OclHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q&f=false Abraham's Knife: The Mythology of the Deicide in Anti-Semitism], p. 68</ref> Simon bar Giora was executed by being thrown to his death from the [[Tarpeian Rock]] at the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Temple of Jupiter]] after being judged a rebel and a traitor,<ref>{{cite book |last=Horsley |first=Richard A. |title=Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus |publisher=Trinity Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-56338-273-4 |location=Philadelphia |pages=126–7}}</ref> while John of Giscala was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]].<ref name="JW Book VII">{{Cite book |author=Josephus |title=[[The Jewish War]] |chapter=Book VII}}</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:taTUy-fZsAcJ:www.cojs.org/pdf/other_side_coin.pdf+jewish+gush+halav+megillah+reading&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgv3XQfhI2pKCymMg-kakTOz98fD8PMSsQTg-9vVg7GTkt0sDolo6xETQhOs8aXV6OC8yGBt30bwOIGHxRRhsDP28031sEfZhrs609v6zxBD3zR256AKK6JTfIYRPCORHS9LSvZ&sig=AHIEtbSsW3pYQ9Wu6KKe21I-UWoZqxsk0w The Other Side of the Coin]</ref>

According to [[Philostratus]], writing in the early years of the 3rd century, Titus reportedly refused to accept a [[laurel wreath|wreath]] of victory, saying that the victory did not come through his own efforts but that he had merely served as an instrument of divine wrath.<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''The Life of Apollonius of Tyana'' [https://www.livius.org/ap-ark/apollonius/life/va_6_26.html#%A729 6.29]</ref>


==Aftermath==
==Aftermath==
{{More information|First Jewish-Roman War#Aftermath}}

=== Triumph ===
Titus and his soldiers celebrated victory upon their return to Rome by parading the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]] and [[Showbread#The table (shulchan)|Table of the Bread of God's Presence]] through the streets. Up until this parading, these items had only ever been seen by the High Priest of the Temple. This event was memorialized in the [[Arch of Titus]].<ref name="goldberg1" />

Some 700 Judean prisoners were paraded through the streets of Rome in chains during the triumph, among them Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala.<ref name="josephus-wars-vi-9" /><ref>Civan, Julian: [https://books.google.com/books?id=OclHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 Abraham's Knife: The Mythology of the Deicide in Anti-Semitism], p. 68</ref> Simon bar Giora was executed by being thrown to his death from the [[Tarpeian Rock]] at the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Temple of Jupiter]] after being judged a rebel and a traitor,<ref>{{cite book |last=Horsley |first=Richard A. |title=Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus |publisher=Trinity Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-56338-273-4 |location=Philadelphia |pages=126–127}}</ref> while John of Giscala was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]].<ref name="JW Book VII">{{Cite book |author=Josephus |title=[[The Jewish War]] |chapter=Book VII}}</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:taTUy-fZsAcJ:www.cojs.org/pdf/other_side_coin.pdf+jewish+gush+halav+megillah+reading&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgv3XQfhI2pKCymMg-kakTOz98fD8PMSsQTg-9vVg7GTkt0sDolo6xETQhOs8aXV6OC8yGBt30bwOIGHxRRhsDP28031sEfZhrs609v6zxBD3zR256AKK6JTfIYRPCORHS9LSvZ&sig=AHIEtbSsW3pYQ9Wu6KKe21I-UWoZqxsk0w The Other Side of the Coin]</ref>


=== Suppression of the revolt ===
=== Suppression of the revolt ===
{{More information|Siege of Masada}}
{{More information|Siege of Masada}}
After the Fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and its Temple, there were still a few Judean strongholds in which the rebels continued holding out, at [[Herodium]], [[Machaerus]], and [[Masada]].<ref name="Tropper 2016 p. 92">{{cite book | last=Tropper | first=Amram D. | title=Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Studies in Ancient History | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-24708-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HigFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 | access-date=27 March 2019 | page=92}}</ref> Both Herodium and Machaerus fell to the Roman army within the next two years, with Masada remaining as the final stronghold of the Judean rebels. In 73 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Masada and captured the fortress, with Josephus claiming that nearly all of the Jewish defenders had committed mass [[suicide]] prior to the entry of the Romans.<ref name="Josephus">{{cite book | last = Josephus | first = Flavius | author-link = Josephus | editor-first = Abraham |editor-last = Wasserstein | title = Flavius Josephus: Selections from His Works | edition = 1st | year = 1974 | publisher = Viking Press | location = New York | oclc = 470915959 | pages = 186–300 }}</ref> With the fall of Masada, the First Jewish–Roman War came to an end.
After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and its temple, there were still a few Judean strongholds in which the rebels continued holding out, at [[Herodium]], [[Machaerus]], and [[Masada]].<ref name="Tropper 2016 p. 92">{{cite book | last=Tropper | first=Amram D. | title=Rewriting Ancient Jewish History: The History of the Jews in Roman Times and the New Historical Method | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Studies in Ancient History | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-24708-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HigFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 | access-date=27 March 2019 | page=92}}</ref> Both Herodium and Machaerus fell to the Roman army within the next two years, with Masada remaining as the final stronghold of the Judean rebels. In 73 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Masada and captured the fortress, with Josephus claiming that nearly all of the Jewish defenders had committed mass [[suicide]] prior to the entry of the Romans.<ref name="Josephus">{{cite book | last = Josephus | first = Flavius | author-link = Josephus | editor-first = Abraham |editor-last = Wasserstein | title = Flavius Josephus: Selections from His Works | edition = 1st | year = 1974 | publisher = Viking Press | location = New York | oclc = 470915959 | pages = 186–300 }}</ref> With the fall of Masada, the First Jewish–Roman War came to an end.

=== In Jewish and Christian thought ===
The Jewish [[Amoraim]] attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the "baseless" hatred that pervaded Jewish society at the time.<ref>Yoma, 9b</ref> Many Jews in despair are thought to have abandoned Judaism for some version of paganism, many others sided with the growing Christian sect within Judaism.{{r|Schwartz}}{{rp|196–198}}

The destruction was an important point in the separation of [[Early Christianity|Christianity]] [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|from its Jewish roots]]: many Christians responded by distancing themselves from the rest of Judaism, as reflected in the [[Gospel]]s, which portray [[Jesus]] as anti-Temple and view the destruction of the temple as punishment for rejection of Jesus.{{r|Schwartz}}{{rp|30–31}}


=== Bar Kokhba revolt ===
=== Bar Kokhba revolt ===
{{More information|Bar Kokhba revolt}}
{{More information|Bar Kokhba revolt}}

Six decades after the suppression of the revolt, another revolt known as the Bar Kokhba revolt erupted in Judaea.<ref>William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, [[iarchive:cambridgehis_xxxx_1984_004_8494287/page/n1083|<!-- pg=106 --> ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period'']], Cambridge University Press, 1984 pp. 106.</ref> The construction of a [[Colonia (Roman)|roman colony]] named [[Aelia Capitolina]] over the ruins of [[Jerusalem]] and the construction of a temple to [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] on the [[Temple Mount]], among other things, are thought to have been major catalysts for the revolt.<ref name="Eshel">Hanan Eshel,[[iarchive:cambridgehis_xxxx_1984_004_8494287/page/n1082|<!-- pg=105 --> 'The Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135,']] in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period,'' pp.105-127, p.105.</ref> The Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities, more so than during the First Jewish–Roman War.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=J. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA243 |title=The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea |date=15 November 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199554485 |quote=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}}</ref> The Jewish communities of Judea were devastated to an extent which some scholars describe as a [[genocide]].<ref name="Taylor" /><ref name="google.co.il">Totten, S. ''Teaching about genocide: issues, approaches and resources.'' p24. [http://www.google.com/books?hl=iw&lr=&id=LoQo50YPzTUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA23]</ref> However, the Jewish population remained strong in other parts of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], thriving in [[Galilee]], Golan, Bet Shean Valley, and the eastern, southern, and western edges of Judea.<ref name="CambridgeJudaism">David Goodblatt, 'The political and social history of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel,' in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) [[iarchive:cambridgehis_xxxx_1984_004_8494287/page/n437|<!-- pg=406 --> ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period'']], Cambridge University Press, 2006 pp.404-430, p.406.</ref> Emperor Hadrian wiped the name Judaea off the map and replaced it with [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">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."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">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}}</ref><ref name="The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered">[https://books.google.com/books?id=1TA-Fg4wBnUC&pg=PA33&dq=intentionally+suppressed+jewish+national+Aelia+Capitolina+Palaestina&sig=xxUlDy9oYikzsdYmFHP0E-lDFE8 ''The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered''] by Peter Schäfer, {{ISBN|3-16-148076-7}}</ref>
In 132 CE, six decades after the suppression of the revolt, another revolt known as the Bar Kokhba revolt erupted in Judaea.<ref>William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, [[iarchive:cambridgehis xxxx 1984 004 8494287/page/n1083|<!-- pg=106 --> ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period'']], Cambridge University Press, 1984 pp. 106.</ref> The construction of a [[Colonia (Roman)|Roman colony]] named [[Aelia Capitolina]] over the ruins of [[Jerusalem]] and the construction of a temple to [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] on the [[Temple Mount]] are thought to have been major catalysts for the revolt.<ref name="Eshel">Hanan Eshel, [[iarchive:cambridgehis xxxx 1984 004 8494287/page/n1082|<!-- pg=105 --> 'The Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135,']] in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period,'' pp. 105–127 [105].</ref>

Supported by the [[Sanhedrin]], [[Simon bar Kokhba|Simon Bar Kosiba]] (later known as Bar Kokhba) established an independent state that was conquered by the Romans in 135 CE. The revolt resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities, more so than during the First Jewish–Roman War.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=J. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA243 |title=The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea |year= 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955448-5 |quote=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}}</ref> The Jewish communities of Judea were devastated to an extent which some scholars describe as a [[genocide]].<ref name="Taylor" /><ref name="google.co.il">Totten, S. ''Teaching about genocide: issues, approaches and resources.'' p. 24. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LoQo50YPzTUC&pg=PA23]</ref> However, the Jewish population remained strong in other parts of the land of Israel, thriving in [[Galilee]], Golan, Bet Shean Valley, and the eastern, southern, and western edges of Judea.<ref name="CambridgeJudaism">David Goodblatt, 'The political and social history of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel,' in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) [[iarchive:cambridgehis xxxx 1984 004 8494287/page/n437|<!-- pg=406 --> ''The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period'']], Cambridge University Press, 2006 pp. 404–430 [406].</ref> Emperor Hadrian wiped the name Judaea off the map and replaced it with [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 334">H.H. Ben-Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0-674-39731-6}}, 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."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">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|978-0-89236-800-6}}</ref><ref name="The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered">[https://books.google.com/books?id=1TA-Fg4wBnUC&dq=intentionally+suppressed+jewish+national+Aelia+Capitolina+Palaestina&pg=PA33 ''The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered''] by Peter Schäfer, {{ISBN|978-3-16-148076-8}}</ref>


== Commemoration ==
== Commemoration ==
[[File:Arch_of_Titus_Menorah.png|thumb|The victory was commemorated in Rome with the [[Arch of Titus]], which depicts the valuables seized from the Temple, including the [[Temple menorah]]]]
[[File:Arch_of_Titus_Menorah.png|thumb|The victory was commemorated in Rome with the [[Arch of Titus]], which depicts the valuables seized from the Temple, including the [[Temple menorah]]]]


The [[Flavian dynasty]] celebrated the fall of Jerusalem by building two monumental triumphal arches. The [[Arch of Titus]], which stills stands today, was built {{circa}} 82 CE by the Roman Emperor [[Domitian]] on [[Via Sacra]], [[Rome]], to commemorate the siege and fall of Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Arch of Titus |url=http://exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu/galleries/Exhibits/Empire2/monument/titus.html |access-date=6 July 2017 |website=exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu}}</ref> The [[bas-relief]] on the arch depicts soldiers carrying spoils from the Temple, including the [[Temple menorah|Menorah]], during a [[Roman triumph|victory procession]]. A second, less known [[Arch of Titus (Circus Maximus)|Arch of Titus]] constructed at the southeast entrance to the [[Circus Maximus]] was built by the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] in 82 CE. Only a few traces of it remain today.<ref name=":7" />
=== Monuments ===
* [[Temple of Peace, Rome|Temple of Peace]]: In 75 CE, the Temple of Peace, also known as the Forum of Vespasian, was built under Emperor [[Vespasian]] in Rome. The monument was built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem and it is said to have housed the [[Temple menorah|Temple Menorah]] from [[Herod's Temple]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cals.cornell.edu/cals/public/comm/pubs/als-news/2003-april/ancient-parks.cfm |title=Cornell.edu |publisher=Cals.cornell.edu |access-date=31 August 2013}}</ref>
* The [[Colosseum]], otherwise known as the Flavian Amphitheater, was built in Rome between 70-82 CE. Archaeological discoveries have found a block of travertine that bears dowel holes that show the Jewish Wars financed the building of the amphitheater.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Alföldy|first=Géza|title=Eine Bauinschrift Aus Dem Colosseum.|journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|year=1995|volume=109|pages=195–226}}</ref>
* [[Arch of Titus]]: {{circa}} 82 CE, Roman Emperor [[Domitian]] constructed the Arch of Titus on [[Via Sacra]], [[Rome]], to commemorate the capture and siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, which effectively ended the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], although the Romans did not achieve complete victory until the fall of [[Masada]] in 73 CE.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu/galleries/Exhibits/Empire2/monument/titus.html|title=The Arch of Titus|website=exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu|access-date=6 July 2017}}</ref> The [[bas-relief]] in the Arch of Titus has been influential in establishing the [[Temple menorah|Menorah]] as the most dramatic symbol of the looting of the Second Temple.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}


In 75 CE, the [[Temple of Peace, Rome|Temple of Peace]], also known as the Forum of Vespasian, was built under Emperor [[Vespasian]] in Rome. The monument was built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem and it is said to have housed the [[Temple menorah|Temple Menorah]] from [[Herod's Temple]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Cornell.edu |url=http://www.cals.cornell.edu/cals/public/comm/pubs/als-news/2003-april/ancient-parks.cfm |access-date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Cals.cornell.edu}}</ref>
=== Coinage ===


The [[Colosseum]], otherwise known as the Flavian Amphitheater, built in Rome between 70 and 82 CE, is believed to have been partially financed by the spoils of the Roman victory over the Jews. Archaeological discoveries have found a block of travertine that bears dowel holes that show the Jewish Wars financed the building of the amphitheater.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alföldy |first=Géza |year=1995 |title=Eine Bauinschrift Aus Dem Colosseum. |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |volume=109 |pages=195–226}}</ref>
* [[Judaea Capta coinage]]: Judaea Capta coins were a series of commemorative coins originally issued by [[Vespasian]] to celebrate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Temple by his son Titus.<ref name="Moresino">{{cite book |author=Andrea Moresino-Zipper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KbFImRPdT0C&pg=PA61 |title=Die Judaea-Capta-Münze und das Motiv der Palme. Römisches Siegessymbol oder Repräsentation Judäas? (The Judaea Capta coin and the image of the palm tree: Roman symbol of victory, or representation of Judaea?) |work=Jerusalem und die Länder: Ikonographie–Topographie–Theologie |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2009 |isbn=9783525533901 |editor=Gerd Theissen |series=Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus/Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments (NTOA/StUNT) (Book 70) |location=Göttingen |pages=61, 64–67 |language=de |access-date=26 July 2018 |display-editors=etal}}</ref>


[[Judaea Capta coinage]]: Judaea Capta coins were a series of commemorative coins originally issued by [[Vespasian]] to celebrate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Temple by his son Titus.<ref name="Moresino">{{cite book |author=Andrea Moresino-Zipper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KbFImRPdT0C&pg=PA61 |title=Die Judaea-Capta-Münze und das Motiv der Palme. Römisches Siegessymbol oder Repräsentation Judäas? (The Judaea Capta coin and the image of the palm tree: Roman symbol of victory, or representation of Judaea?) |work=Jerusalem und die Länder: Ikonographie–Topographie–Theologie |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2009 |isbn=978-3-525-53390-1 |editor=Gerd Theissen |series=Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus/Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments (NTOA/StUNT) (Book 70) |location=Göttingen |pages=61, 64–67 |language=de |access-date=26 July 2018 |display-editors=etal}}</ref>
=== Jewish commemoration ===
*[[Tisha B'Av]], an annual [[Ta'anit|fast day]] in [[Judaism]], marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the [[Hebrew Calendar]].


In [[Jewish tradition]], the annual fast day of [[Tisha B'Av]] marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the [[Hebrew calendar]].
==Culture==

In the centuries following the destruction of the Temple, some Jewish communities adopted a new Hebrew calendar that designated the year of the Temple's destruction as the starting point. In [[Zoara]], located south of the Dead Sea, this dating system was uniformly used in the Jewish section of the cemetery.<ref name=":10">{{Citation |last=Sivan |first=Hagith |title=Contesting Scripture and Soil: Liturgical Dates and Seasonal Dieting |date=2008-02-14 |work=Palestine in Late Antiquity |pages=243–244 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/6825/chapter-abstract/151010453?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2024-09-04 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284177.003.0007 |isbn=978-0-19-928417-7}}</ref> One inscription, for example, belonging to a woman named Marsa, says she "she died on the fifth day, 17 days into the month of Elul, the fourth year of ''shemitah'', 362 years after the destruction of the Temple." This calendar system was used by other Jewish communities in the Levant during late antiquity, and later in the [[Jewish diaspora]], serving as a means to mark significant life events such as births and marriages.<ref name=":10" />

==In Jewish and Christian eschatology ==
{{main|Jewish eschatology|Christian eschatology}}

The Jewish [[Amoraim]] attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the "baseless" hatred that pervaded Jewish society at the time.<ref>Yoma, 9b</ref> Many Jews in despair are thought to have abandoned Judaism for some version of paganism, and many others sided with the growing Christian sect within Judaism.{{r|Schwartz}}{{rp|196–198}}

The destruction was an important point in the separation of [[Early Christianity|Christianity]] [[Split of early Christianity and Judaism|from its Jewish roots]]: many Christians responded by distancing themselves from the rest of Judaism, as reflected in the [[Gospel]]s, which described [[Jesus]] as anti-Temple. Christians understood the events of 70 CE as a fulfilment of his prediction that the temple would be destroyed (in [[Matthew 24]], [[Luke 21]], [[Mark 13]]);<ref>{{Cite web |last=L. Gentry, Jr. |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Gentry |date=2019-05-09 |title=Why Is AD 70 Important? |url=https://postmillennialworldview.com/2019/05/09/why-is-ad-70-important/ |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=Postmillennial Worldview |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=H. Meservy |first=Keith |title='Gadiantonism' and the Destruction of Jerusalem |url=https://rsc.byu.edu/pearl-great-price-revelations-god/gadiantonism-destruction-jerusalem |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=[[BYU Religious Studies Center]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=L. Maier |first=Paul |author-link=Paul L. Maier |title=Not One Stone Left Upon Another |url=https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/not-one-stone-left-upon-another |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=[[Christian History]] |publisher=[[Christian History Institute]] |language=en}}</ref> some also saw it as a punishment of the Jews for their rejection of Jesus.{{r|Schwartz}}{{rp|30–31}}

Jerusalem retained its importance in Jewish life and culture even after its destruction, and it became a symbol of hope for return, rebuilding and renewal of national life.<ref name=":6" /> The belief in a [[Third Temple]] remains a cornerstone of [[Orthodox Judaism]].<ref>Baker,&nbsp;Eric W..&nbsp;The Eschatological Role of the Jerusalem Temple: An Examination of the Jewish Writings Dating from 586 BCE to 70 CE.&nbsp;Germany:&nbsp;Anchor Academic Publishing,&nbsp;2015, pp. 361–362</ref>

==In popular culture==
The siege and destruction of Jerusalem has inspired writers and artists through the centuries.
The siege and destruction of Jerusalem has inspired writers and artists through the centuries.
[[File:Siege and destruction of Jerusalem (f. 155v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|180px|'Siege and destruction of Jerusalem', ''La Passion de Nostre Seigneur'' c.1504]]
[[File:Siege and destruction of Jerusalem (f. 155v) Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|180px|'Siege and destruction of Jerusalem', ''La Passion de Nostre Seigneur'' {{circa|1504}}]]


=== Art ===
=== Art ===
*The [[Franks Casket]] (8th century). The back side of the casket depicts the siege.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=R. I. Page |last=Page |first=R. I. |title=An Introduction to English Runes |publisher=Woodbridge |year=1999 |pages=176–177}}</ref>
* The [[Franks Casket]] (8th century). The back side of the casket depicts the siege.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=R. I. Page |last=Page |first=R. I. |title=An Introduction to English Runes |publisher=Woodbridge |year=1999 |pages=176–177}}</ref>
*''The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem'' by [[Nicolas Poussin]] (1637). Oil on canvas, 147 × 198.5&nbsp;cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Depicts the destruction and looting of the Second Temple by the Roman army led by Titus.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Soloveichik |first=Meir |date=12 July 2018 |title=How Rembrandt Understood the Destruction of Jerusalem (and Poussin Didn't) |url=https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2018/07/how-rembrandt-understood-the-destruction-of-jerusalem-and-poussin-didnt/ |magazine=Mosaic Magazine |access-date=28 August 2018 }}</ref>
* ''The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem'' by [[Nicolas Poussin]] (1637). Oil on canvas, 147 × 198.5&nbsp;cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Depicts the destruction and looting of the Second Temple by the Roman army led by Titus.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Soloveichik |first=Meir |date=12 July 2018 |title=How Rembrandt Understood the Destruction of Jerusalem (and Poussin Didn't) |url=https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2018/07/how-rembrandt-understood-the-destruction-of-jerusalem-and-poussin-didnt/ |magazine=Mosaic Magazine |access-date=28 August 2018 }}</ref>
*''[[:File:Kaulbach Zerstoerung Jerusalems durch Titus.jpg|The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus]]'' by [[Wilhelm von Kaulbach]] (1846). Oil on canvas, 585 × 705&nbsp;cm. Neue Pinakothek, [[Munich]]. An allegorical depiction of the [[destruction of Jerusalem]], dramatically centered on the figure of the High Priest, with Titus entering from the right.<ref name="Zissos2015">{{cite book |last=Zissos |first=Andrew |title=A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHdjCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA493 |access-date=28 August 2018 |date=31 December 2015 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9781118878170 |page=493 }}</ref>
* ''[[:File:Kaulbach Zerstoerung Jerusalems durch Titus.jpg|The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus]]'' by [[Wilhelm von Kaulbach]] (1846). Oil on canvas, 585 × 705&nbsp;cm. Neue Pinakothek, [[Munich]]. An allegorical depiction of the [[destruction of Jerusalem]], dramatically centered on the figure of the High Priest, with Titus entering from the right.<ref name="Zissos2015">{{cite book |last=Zissos |first=Andrew |title=A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHdjCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA493 |access-date=28 August 2018 |year=2015 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-87817-0 |page=493 }}</ref>
*''[[:File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, 70]]'' by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] (1850). Oil on canvas, 136 × 197&nbsp;cm. Private collection. Depicts the burning and looting of Jerusalem by the Roman army under Titus.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jerusalem.nottingham.ac.uk/items/show/62 |title=David Roberts' 'The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70' |website=Jerusalem: Fall of a City—Rise of a Vision |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]] |language=en-US |access-date=28 August 2018 }}</ref>
* ''[[:File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, 70]]'' by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] (1850). Oil on canvas, 136 × 197&nbsp;cm. Private collection. Depicts the burning and looting of Jerusalem by the Roman army under Titus.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jerusalem.nottingham.ac.uk/items/show/62 |title=David Roberts' 'The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70' |website=Jerusalem: Fall of a City{{snd}}Rise of a Vision |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]] |language=en-US |access-date=28 August 2018 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220222951/http://jerusalem.nottingham.ac.uk/items/show/62 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*''[[:File:Francesco Hayez 017.jpg|The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem]]'' by [[Francesco Hayez]] (1867). Oil on canvas, 183 × 252&nbsp;cm. [[Gallerie dell'Accademia]], [[Venice]]. Depicts the destruction and looting of the Second Temple by the Roman army.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/941/features/mourning-memory-and-art/ |title=Mourning, Memory, and Art |last=McBee |first=Richard |date=8 August 2011 |website=Jewish Ideas Daily |access-date=28 August 2018 }}</ref>
* ''[[:File:Francesco Hayez 017.jpg|The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem]]'' by [[Francesco Hayez]] (1867). Oil on canvas, 183 × 252&nbsp;cm. [[Gallerie dell'Accademia]], [[Venice]]. Depicts the destruction and looting of the Second Temple by the Roman army.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/941/features/mourning-memory-and-art/ |title=Mourning, Memory, and Art |last=McBee |first=Richard |date=8 August 2011 |website=Jewish Ideas Daily |access-date=28 August 2018 }}</ref>
[[File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|''The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem'', by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] (1850).]]
[[File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|''The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem'', by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] (1850).]]


=== Literature ===
=== Literature ===
* ''[[Siege of Jerusalem (poem)|Siege of Jerusalem]],'' a Middle English poem (c. 1370–1390).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Livingston |first=Michael |url=http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/livingston-siege-of-jerusalem-introduction |title=Siege of Jerusalem |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications |year=2004 |series=TEAMS Middle English Texts |location=Kalamazoo, Michigan |language=en |chapter=Introduction |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>

* ''[[The Great Jewish Revolt]]'', book series by [[James Mace]] (2014–2016).
* ''[[Siege of Jerusalem (poem)|Siege of Jerusalem]],'' a Middle English poem (ca. 1370-1390).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Livingston |first=Michael |url=http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/livingston-siege-of-jerusalem-introduction |title=Siege of Jerusalem |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications |year=2004 |series=TEAMS Middle English Texts |location=Kalamazoo, Michigan |language=en |chapter=Introduction |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>
* [[The Great Jewish Revolt]], book series by [[James Mace]] (2014-2016).
* ''[[The Lost Wisdom of the Magi]]'', book by [[Susie Helme]] (2020).
* [[The Lost Wisdom of the Magi]], book by [[Susie Helme]] (2020).
* ''[[Rebel Daughter]]'', book by [[Lori Banov Kaufmann]] (2021).


=== Film ===
=== Film ===
*[[Legend of Destruction]] (2021), an Israeli animated historical drama film.
* ''[[Legend of Destruction]]'' (2021), an Israeli animated historical drama film.


==See also==
== See also ==
{{Portal|History}}
{{Portal|History}}

{{div col}}
{{div col}}
* [[Council of Jamnia]]
* [[Council of Jamnia]]
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* [[Jesus ben Ananias]]
* [[Jesus ben Ananias]]
* [[Kamsa and Bar Kamsa]]
* [[Kamsa and Bar Kamsa]]
* [[List of incidents of cannibalism]]
* [[Preterism]]
* [[Preterism]]
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}
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==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category|Siege of Jerusalem (70)}}
{{Commons category|Siege of Jerusalem (70)}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050601073725/http://askelm.com/temple/t980504.htm The Temple Mount and Fort Antonia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050601073725/http://askelm.com/temple/t980504.htm The Temple Mount and Fort Antonia]
*[http://preteristarchive.com/JewishWars/gs-siege.html Map of the siege of Jerusalem]
* [http://preteristarchive.com/JewishWars/gs-siege.html Map of the siege of Jerusalem] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527153234/http://preteristarchive.com/JewishWars/gs-siege.html |date=27 May 2011 }}
{{First Jewish–Roman War|state=expanded}}
{{Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temples}}{{The Three Weeks}}
{{Tabernacle and Jerusalem Temples}}{{The Three Weeks}}
{{Ancient Roman Wars|state=collapsed}}
{{Ancient Roman Wars|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)| ]]
[[Category:Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)| ]]
[[Category:1st-century battles]]
[[Category:1st-century battles|Jerusalem]]
[[Category:70]]
[[Category:70s conflicts|Jerusalem]]
[[Category:70s conflicts]]
[[Category:70s in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:70s in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Flavian military campaigns]]
[[Category:Flavian military campaigns]]

Latest revision as of 10:58, 24 December 2024

Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)
Part of the First Jewish–Roman War

Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Francesco Hayez. Oil on canvas, 1867.
Date14 April – 8 September 70 CE
(4 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location31°46′41″N 35°14′9″E / 31.77806°N 35.23583°E / 31.77806; 35.23583
Result Roman victory
Territorial
changes
Roman rule of Jerusalem restored
Belligerents
Roman Empire

Remnants of the Judean provisional government


Zealots
Commanders and leaders
Titus
Julius Alexander
Simon bar Giora Executed John of Giscala (POW)
Eleazar ben Simon 
Strength
70,000 15,000–20,000 10,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown 15,000–20,000 10,000

The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Judaea. Following a five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city, including the Second Jewish Temple.[1][2][3]

In April 70 CE, three days before Passover, the Roman army started besieging Jerusalem.[4][5] The city had been taken over by several rebel factions following a period of massive unrest and the collapse of a short-lived provisional government. Within three weeks, the Romans broke the first two walls of the city, but a stubborn rebel standoff prevented them from penetrating the third and thickest wall.[4][6] According to Josephus, a contemporary historian and the main source for the war, the city was ravaged by murder, famine, and cannibalism.[7]

On Tisha B'Av, 70 CE (August 30),[8] Roman forces overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the Temple.[9] Resistance continued for another month, but eventually the upper and lower parts of the city were taken as well, and the city was burned to the ground. Titus spared only the three towers of the Herodian citadel as a testimony to the city's former might.[10][11] The siege had a major toll on human life, with many people being killed and enslaved, and large parts of the city destroyed. This victory gave the Flavian dynasty legitimacy to claim control over the empire. A triumph was held in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Jews, with two triumphal arches erected to commemorate it, including the Arch of Titus, which still stands today. The treasures looted from the Temple were put on display.[7]

The destruction of Jerusalem marked a major turning point in Jewish history.[7][12][13] The loss of the mother-city and Second Temple necessitated a reshaping of Jewish culture to ensure its survival. With sacrificial worship no longer possible, Jewish practices shifted to prayer, Torah study, and synagogue gatherings. According to Rabbinic tradition, Yohanan ben Zakkai escaped Jerusalem during the siege and secured Roman permission to establish a study center in Yavneh.[13][14][15] This event was foundational in the development of Rabbinic Judaism, which emerged from Pharisaic traditions and eventually became the mainstream form of Judaism.[2][7][16] Jewish sects such as the Sadducees and Essenes faded into obscurity,[17] while surviving followers of Jesus of Nazareth continued to spread his teachings, leading to the rise of Christianity as a new, separate religion.[7] After the war, Legio X Fretensis established a military camp on Jerusalem's ruins.[18][19] The city was later re-founded as the Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina and foreign cults were introduced, with a temple to Jupiter being erected on the Temple Mount.[20][21][22] This is often seen as a catalyst for the Bar Kokhba revolt.[23][24]

Background

During the Second Temple Period, Jerusalem was the center of religious and national life for Jews, including those in the Diaspora.[25] The Second Temple attracted tens and maybe hundreds of thousands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals.[25] The city reached a peak in size and population during the late Second Temple period, when the city covered two square kilometres (34 square mile) and had an estimated population of 200,000.[21][26] In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder celebrated it as "by far, the most famous of the cities of the East".[27]

In the early Roman period, Jerusalem had two distinct precincts. The first encompassed the regions within the "first wall", the City of David and the Upper City, and was heavily built up, though less so at its wealthy parts. The second, known as the "suburb" or "Bethesda", lay north of the first and was sparsely populated. It contained that section of Jerusalem within the Herodian "second wall" (which was still standing), though it was itself surrounded by the new "third wall", built by king Agrippa I.[28]

Josephus stated that Agrippa wanted to build a wall at least 5 meters thick, literally impenetrable by contemporary siege engines. Agrippa, however, never moved beyond the foundations, out of fear of emperor Claudius "lest he should suspect that so strong a wall was built in order to make some innovation in public affairs."[29] It was only completed later, to a lesser strength and in much haste, when the First Jewish–Roman War broke out and the defenses of Jerusalem had to be bolstered. Nine towers adorned the third wall.

Outbreak of rebellion

The First Jewish–Roman War, also known as the Great Jewish Revolt, broke following the appointment of prefect Gessius Florus and his demand to receive Temple funds.[28] Nero entrusted the job of crushing the rebellion in Judaea to Vespasian, a talented and unassuming general. In early 68 CE, Vespasian landed at Ptolemais and began suppression of the revolt with operations in the Galilee. By July 69 all of Judea but Jerusalem had been pacified and the city, now hosting rebel leaders from all over the country, came under Roman siege.[10]

A fortified stronghold, it might have held for a significant amount of time, if not for the intense civil war that then broke out between moderates and Zealots.[10] In the summer of 69 CE, Vespasian departed Judea for Rome and in December became Emperor, with command of the Roman legions passing to his son Titus.[citation needed]

Siege

Josephus places the siege in the second year of Vespasian,[30] which corresponds to year 70 of the Common Era. Titus began his siege a few days before Passover,[4] on 14 Xanthicus (April),[5] surrounding the city with three legions (V Macedonica, XII Fulminata, XV Apollinaris) on the western side and a fourth (X Fretensis) on the Mount of Olives, to the east.[31][32] If the reference in his Jewish War at 6:421 is to Titus's siege, though difficulties exist with its interpretation, then at the time, according to Josephus, Jerusalem was thronged with many people who had come to celebrate Passover.[33]

The thrust of the siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the Jaffa Gate. By May, this was breached and the Second Wall also was taken shortly afterwards, leaving the defenders in possession of the Temple and the upper and lower city.

The Jewish defenders were split into factions. Simon Bar Giora and John of Giscala, the two prominent Zealot leaders, placed all blame for the failure of the revolt on the shoulders of the moderate leadership. John of Gischala's group murdered another faction leader, Eleazar ben Simon, whose men were entrenched in the forecourts of the Temple.[4] The Zealots resolved to prevent the city from falling into Roman hands by all means necessary, including the murder of political opponents and anyone standing in their way.[34]

There were still those wishing to negotiate with the Romans and bring a peaceful end to the siege. The most prominent of these was Yohanan ben Zakkai, whose students smuggled him out of the city in a coffin in order to deal with Vespasian. This, however, was insufficient to deal with the madness that had now gripped the Zealot leadership in Jerusalem and the reign of terror it unleashed upon the population of the city.[34] Josephus describes various acts of savagery committed against the people by its own leadership, including the torching of the city's food supply in an apparent bid to force the defenders to fight for their lives.

The enmities between John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were papered over only when the Roman siege engineers began to erect ramparts. Titus then had a wall built to girdle the city in order to starve out the population more effectively. After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the Fortress of Antonia, the Romans finally launched a secret attack.[4] Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the Zealots fought amongst themselves, and they lacked proper leadership, resulting in poor discipline, training, and preparation for the battles that were to follow. At one point they destroyed the food stocks in the city, a drastic measure thought to have been undertaken perhaps in order to enlist a merciful God's intervention on behalf of the besieged Jews,[35] or as a stratagem to make the defenders more desperate, supposing that was necessary in order to repel the Roman army.[36][unreliable source?]

According to Josephus, when the Romans reached Antonia they tried to destroy the wall which protected it. They removed four stones only, but during the night the wall collapsed. "That night the wall was so shaken by the battering rams in that place where John had used his stratagem before, and had undermined their banks, that the ground then gave way, and the wall fell down suddenly." (v. 28)[37] Following this, Titus had raised banks beside the court of the Temple: on the north-west corner, on the north side, and on the west side (v. 150).[38]

Josephus goes on to say that the Jews then attacked the Romans on the east, near the Mount of Olives, but Titus drove them back to the valley. Zealots set the north-west colonnade on fire (v. 165). The Romans set the next one on fire, and the Jews wanted it to burn (v. 166), and they also trapped some Roman soldiers when they wanted to climb over the wall. They had burned wood under the wall when Romans were trapped on it (v. 178–183).

After Jewish allies killed a number of Roman soldiers, Josephus claims that Titus sent him to negotiate with the defenders; this ended with Jews wounding the negotiator with an arrow, and another sally was launched shortly after. Titus was almost captured during this sudden attack, but escaped.

Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire; a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus's goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple dedicated to the Roman Emperor and the Roman pantheon. However, the fire spread quickly and was soon out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 Tisha B'Av, sometime in August 70 CE, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.[4][32] Josephus described the scene:

As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.[39]

Josephus's account absolves Titus of any culpability for the destruction of the Temple, but this may merely reflect his desire to procure favor with the Flavian dynasty.[39][40] According to Josephus, the excitement of the Roman troops led them to fuel the flames beyond control. In contrast, another historiographic tradition, which traces back to Tacitus and is later reflected in Christian writings, asserts that Titus explicitly authorized the destruction of the Temple, which was also functioning as a key fortress.[41] Modern scholarship generally supports this latter account, although the issue remains debated.[41]

The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance. Some of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden tunnels and sewers, while others made a final stand in the Upper City.[42] This defense halted the Roman advance as they had to construct siege towers to assail the remaining Jews. Herod's Palace fell on 7 September, and the city was completely under Roman control by 8 September.[43][page needed][44] The Romans continued to pursue those who had fled the city.

Progress of the Roman army during the siege

Destruction

The account of Josephus described Titus as moderate in his approach and, after conferring with others, ordering that the 500-year-old Temple be spared. According to Josephus, it was the Jews who first used fire in the Northwest approach to the Temple to try and stop Roman advances. Only then did Roman soldiers set fire to an apartment adjacent to the Temple, starting a conflagration which the Jews subsequently made worse.[45] Later Christian sources, traced back to Tacitus, claim that Titus personally authorized the destruction, a perspective that modern scholars generally support, though the debate remains unsettled.[41]

Josephus had acted as a mediator for the Romans and, when negotiations failed, witnessed the siege and aftermath. He wrote:

Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison [in the Upper City], as were the towers [the three forts] also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall [surrounding Jerusalem], it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it [Jerusalem] had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind.[46]
And truly, the very view itself was a melancholy thing; for those places which were adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judaea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change. For the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste. Nor had anyone who had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again. But though he [a foreigner] were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it.[47]

Archeological evidence

A fresco showing signs of burning, Wohl Archaeological Museum, Jewish Quarter

Over the years, various remains that provide evidence of Jerusalem's destruction have been discovered, leading scholars to believe that Josephus' description is accurate.[1][48] Ronny Reich wrote that "While remains relating to the destruction of the Temple are scant, those pertaining to the Temple Mount walls and their close vicinity, the Upper City, the western part of the city, and the Tyropoeon Valley are considerable. [...] It was found that in most cases the archaeological record coincides with the historical description, pointing to Josephus' reliability".[48]

In the 1970s and 1980s, a team led by Nahman Avigad discovered traces of great fire that damaged the Upper City's residential buildings. The fires consumed all organic matter. In houses where there was a beamed ceiling between the floors, the fire caused the top of the building to collapse, along with the top rows of stone, and they buried everything that remained in the home under them. There are buildings where traces remain only in part of the house, and there are buildings that have been completely burned. Calcium oxides have been discovered in several locations, indicating that a lengthy burning damaged the limestones. The Burnt House in the Herodian Quarter, for example, shows signs of a fire that raged at the site during the city's destruction.[48][49]

The fire left its mark even on household utensils and objects that were in the same buildings. Limestone vessels were stained with ash or even burned and turned into lime, glass vessels exploded and warped from the heat of the fire until they could not be recovered in the laboratory. In contrast, pottery and basalt survived. The layer of ash and charred wood left over from the fires reached an average height of about a meter, and the rock falls reached up to two meters and more.[48]

Stones from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (Jerusalem) thrown onto the street by Roman soldiers on the Ninth of Av, 70

The great urban drainage channel and the Pool of Siloam in the Lower City silted up and stopped working, and the city walls collapsed in numerous places.[50]

Massive stone collapses from the Temple Mount's walls were discovered laying over the Herodian street that runs along the Western Wall.[51] Among these stones is the Trumpeting Place inscription, a monumental Hebrew inscription which was thrown down by Roman legionnaires during the destruction of the Temple.[52]

Deaths, enslavement, and displacement

Josephus wrote that 1.1 million people, the majority of them Jewish, were killed during the siege – a death toll he attributes to the celebration of Passover.[53] Josephus goes on to report that after the Romans killed the armed and elderly people, 97,000 were enslaved.[54] Josephus records that many people were sold into slavery, and that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 40,000 individuals survived, and the emperor let them to go wherever they chose.[55] Before and during the siege, according to Josephus' account, there were multiple waves of desertions from the city.[56]

The Roman historian Tacitus later wrote: "... the total number of the besieged of every age and both sexes was six hundred thousand; there were arms for all who could use them, and the number ready to fight was larger than could have been anticipated from the total population. Both men and women showed the same determination; and if they were to be forced to change their home, they feared life more than death".[57]

Josephus' death toll figures have been rejected as impossible by Seth Schwartz, who estimates that about a million people lived in all of the land of Israel at the time, about half of them Jews, and that sizable Jewish populations remained in the area after the war was over, even in the hard-hit region of Judea.[58] Schwartz, however, believes that the captive number of 97,000 is more reliable.[56] It has also been noted that the revolt had not deterred pilgrims from visiting Jerusalem, and a large number became trapped in the city and perished during the siege.[59]

Many of the people of the surrounding area are also thought to have been driven from the land or enslaved.[56]

Aftermath

Triumph

Titus and his soldiers celebrated victory upon their return to Rome by parading the Menorah and Table of the Bread of God's Presence through the streets. Up until this parading, these items had only ever been seen by the High Priest of the Temple. This event was memorialized in the Arch of Titus.[53]

Some 700 Judean prisoners were paraded through the streets of Rome in chains during the triumph, among them Simon bar Giora and John of Giscala.[54][60] Simon bar Giora was executed by being thrown to his death from the Tarpeian Rock at the Temple of Jupiter after being judged a rebel and a traitor,[61] while John of Giscala was sentenced to life imprisonment.[62][63]

Suppression of the revolt

After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and its temple, there were still a few Judean strongholds in which the rebels continued holding out, at Herodium, Machaerus, and Masada.[64] Both Herodium and Machaerus fell to the Roman army within the next two years, with Masada remaining as the final stronghold of the Judean rebels. In 73 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Masada and captured the fortress, with Josephus claiming that nearly all of the Jewish defenders had committed mass suicide prior to the entry of the Romans.[65] With the fall of Masada, the First Jewish–Roman War came to an end.

Bar Kokhba revolt

In 132 CE, six decades after the suppression of the revolt, another revolt known as the Bar Kokhba revolt erupted in Judaea.[66] The construction of a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina over the ruins of Jerusalem and the construction of a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount are thought to have been major catalysts for the revolt.[67]

Supported by the Sanhedrin, Simon Bar Kosiba (later known as Bar Kokhba) established an independent state that was conquered by the Romans in 135 CE. The revolt resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities, more so than during the First Jewish–Roman War.[68] The Jewish communities of Judea were devastated to an extent which some scholars describe as a genocide.[68][69] However, the Jewish population remained strong in other parts of the land of Israel, thriving in Galilee, Golan, Bet Shean Valley, and the eastern, southern, and western edges of Judea.[70] Emperor Hadrian wiped the name Judaea off the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina.[71][72][73]

Commemoration

The victory was commemorated in Rome with the Arch of Titus, which depicts the valuables seized from the Temple, including the Temple menorah

The Flavian dynasty celebrated the fall of Jerusalem by building two monumental triumphal arches. The Arch of Titus, which stills stands today, was built c. 82 CE by the Roman Emperor Domitian on Via Sacra, Rome, to commemorate the siege and fall of Jerusalem.[74] The bas-relief on the arch depicts soldiers carrying spoils from the Temple, including the Menorah, during a victory procession. A second, less known Arch of Titus constructed at the southeast entrance to the Circus Maximus was built by the Senate in 82 CE. Only a few traces of it remain today.[7]

In 75 CE, the Temple of Peace, also known as the Forum of Vespasian, was built under Emperor Vespasian in Rome. The monument was built to celebrate the conquest of Jerusalem and it is said to have housed the Temple Menorah from Herod's Temple.[75]

The Colosseum, otherwise known as the Flavian Amphitheater, built in Rome between 70 and 82 CE, is believed to have been partially financed by the spoils of the Roman victory over the Jews. Archaeological discoveries have found a block of travertine that bears dowel holes that show the Jewish Wars financed the building of the amphitheater.[76]

Judaea Capta coinage: Judaea Capta coins were a series of commemorative coins originally issued by Vespasian to celebrate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Temple by his son Titus.[77]

In Jewish tradition, the annual fast day of Tisha B'Av marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples, which according to Jewish tradition, occurred on the same day on the Hebrew calendar.

In the centuries following the destruction of the Temple, some Jewish communities adopted a new Hebrew calendar that designated the year of the Temple's destruction as the starting point. In Zoara, located south of the Dead Sea, this dating system was uniformly used in the Jewish section of the cemetery.[78] One inscription, for example, belonging to a woman named Marsa, says she "she died on the fifth day, 17 days into the month of Elul, the fourth year of shemitah, 362 years after the destruction of the Temple." This calendar system was used by other Jewish communities in the Levant during late antiquity, and later in the Jewish diaspora, serving as a means to mark significant life events such as births and marriages.[78]

In Jewish and Christian eschatology

The Jewish Amoraim attributed the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem as punishment from God for the "baseless" hatred that pervaded Jewish society at the time.[79] Many Jews in despair are thought to have abandoned Judaism for some version of paganism, and many others sided with the growing Christian sect within Judaism.[58]: 196–198 

The destruction was an important point in the separation of Christianity from its Jewish roots: many Christians responded by distancing themselves from the rest of Judaism, as reflected in the Gospels, which described Jesus as anti-Temple. Christians understood the events of 70 CE as a fulfilment of his prediction that the temple would be destroyed (in Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13);[80][81][82] some also saw it as a punishment of the Jews for their rejection of Jesus.[58]: 30–31 

Jerusalem retained its importance in Jewish life and culture even after its destruction, and it became a symbol of hope for return, rebuilding and renewal of national life.[25] The belief in a Third Temple remains a cornerstone of Orthodox Judaism.[83]

The siege and destruction of Jerusalem has inspired writers and artists through the centuries.

'Siege and destruction of Jerusalem', La Passion de Nostre Seigneur c. 1504

Art

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850).

Literature

Film

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Weksler-Bdolah, Shlomit (2019). Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman period: in light of archaeological research. Brill. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-04-41707-6. OCLC 1170143447. The historical description is consistent with the archeological finds. Collapses of massive stones from the walls of the Temple Mount were exposed lying over the Herodian street running along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. The residential buildings of the Ophel and the Upper City were destroyed by great fire. The large urban drainage channel and the Pool of Siloam in the Lower City silted up and ceased to function, and in many places the city walls collapsed. [...] Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new era began in the city's history. The Herodian city was destroyed and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion established on part of the ruins. In c. 130 CE, the Roman emperor Hadrian founded a new city in place of Herodian Jerusalem next to the military camp. He honored the city with the status of a colony and named it Aelia Capitolina and possibly also forbidding Jews from entering its boundaries
  2. ^ a b Westwood, Ursula (1 April 2017). "A History of the Jewish War, AD 66–74". Journal of Jewish Studies. 68 (1): 189–193. doi:10.18647/3311/jjs-2017. ISSN 0022-2097.
  3. ^ Ben-Ami, Doron; Tchekhanovets, Yana (2011). "The Lower City of Jerusalem on the Eve of Its Destruction, 70 CE: A View From Hanyon Givati". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 364: 61–85. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061. ISSN 0003-097X. S2CID 164199980.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Schäfer, Peter (2003). The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab. Conquest Routledge. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-1-134-40317-2.
  5. ^ a b War of the Jews Book V, sect. 99 (Ch. 3, paragraph 1 in Whiston's translation); dates given are approximations since the correspondence between the calendar Josephus used and modern calendars is uncertain.
  6. ^ Si Shepperd, The Jewish Revolt AD 66–74, (Osprey Publishing), p. 62. [ISBN missing]
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  8. ^ Bunson, Matthew (1995). A Dictionary of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-19-510233-8.
  9. ^ The destruction of both the First and Second Temples is still mourned annually during the Jewish fast of Tisha B'Av.
  10. ^ a b c Rocca (2008), pp. 51–52.
  11. ^ Goodman, Martin (2008). Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations. Penguin. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-14-029127-8. OCLC 1016414322. The capitulation of the rest of Jerusalem was rapid. Those parts of the lower city already under Roman control were deliberately set on fire. The erection of new towers to break down the walls of the upper city was completed on 7 Elul (in mid-August), and the troops forced their way in. By 8 Elul the whole city was in Roman hands – and in ruins. In recompense for the ferocious fighting they had been required to endure, the soldiers were given free rein to loot and kill, until eventually Titus ordered that the city be razed to the ground, 'leaving only the loftiest of the towers, Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamme, and the portion of the wall enclosing the city on the west: the latter as an encampment for the garrison that was to remain, and the towers to indicate to posterity the nature of the city and of the strong defences which had yet yielded to Roman prowess. All the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely levelled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited.'
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