D. Falk, 2002

1.          The War with Rome. (66-73 CE)

1.1.         Conflict with Roman Rule

1.1.1.           Images of Caesar. Josephus, War 2.167–174

(167) AND now as the ethnarchy of Archelaus was fallen into a Roman province, the other sons of Herod, Philip, and that Herod who was called Antipas, each of them took upon them the administration of their own tetrarchies . . .

(169) Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar that are called ensigns into Jerusalem. This excited a very among great tumult among the Jews when it was day; for those that were near them were astonished at the sight of them, as indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws do not permit any sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay, besides the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast number of people came running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those ensigns out of Jerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate’s denial of their request, they fell down prostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture for five days and as many nights.

(172) On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the open market-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band of soldiers stood round about the Jews in three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation at that unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them that they should be cut in pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar’s images, and gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell down in vast numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried out that they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their law should be transgressed. Hereupon Pilate was greatly surprised at their prodigious superstition, and gave order that the ensigns should be presently carried out of Jerusalem.

1.1.2.           Spending Sacred Money. Josephus, War 2.175–7

(175) After this he raised another disturbance, by expending that sacred treasure which is called Corban [sacred money] upon aqueducts, whereby he brought water from the distance of four hundred furlongs. At this the multitude had indignation; and when Pilate was come to Jerusalem, they came about his tribunal, and made a clamor at it. Now when he was apprized aforehand of this disturbance, he mixed his own soldiers in their armor with the multitude, and ordered them to conceal themselves under the habits of private men, and not indeed to use their swords, but with their staves to beat those that made the clamor. He then gave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves; by which means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and held their peace.

1.1.3.           Caesar as God. Josephus, War 2.184–203

(184) NOW Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity: but God concerned himself with these his commands. However, Petronius marched out of Antioch into Judea, with three legions, and many Syrian auxiliaries. . . .

(192) But now the Jews got together in great numbers with their wives and children into that plain that was by Ptolemais, and made supplication to Petronius, first for their laws, and, in the next place, for themselves. So he was prevailed upon by the multitude of the supplicants, and by their supplications, and left his army and the statues at Ptolemais, and then went forward into Galilee, and called together the multitude and all the men of note to Tiberias, and showed them the power of the Romans, and the threatenings of Caesar; and, besides this, proved that their petition was unreasonable, because while all the nations in subjection to them had placed the images of Caesar in their several cities, among the rest of their gods, for them alone to oppose it, was almost like the behavior of revolters, and was injurious to Caesar.

(195) And when they insisted on their law, and the custom of their country, and how it was not only not permitted them to make either an image of God, or indeed of a man, and to put it in any despicable part of their country, much less in the temple itself, Petronius replied, “And am not I also,” said he, “bound to keep the law of my own lord? For if I transgress it, and spare you, it is but just that I perish; while he that sent me, and not I, will commence a war against you; for I am under command as well as you.” Hereupon the whole multitude cried out that they were ready to suffer for their law. Petronius then quieted them, and said to them, “Will you then make war against Caesar?” The Jews said, “We offer sacrifices twice every day for Caesar, and for the Roman people;” but that if he would place the images among them, he must first sacrifice the whole Jewish nation; and that they were ready to expose themselves, together with their children and wives, to be slain. At this Petronius was astonished, and pitied them, on account of the inexpressible sense of religion the men were under, and that courage of theirs which made them ready to die for it; so they were dismissed without success.

1.1.4.           Passover Riot. Josephus, War 2:224–227

[48–52 CE, while Cumanus was procurator]

NOW after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, over his uncle’s kingdom, while Cumanus took upon him the office of procurator of the rest, which was a Roman province, and therein he succeeded Alexander; under which Cureanus began the troubles, and the Jews’ ruin came on; for when the multitude were come together to Jerusalem, to the feast of unleavened bread, and a Roman cohort stood over the cloisters of the temple, (for they always were armed, and kept guard at the festivals, to prevent any innovation which the multitude thus gathered together might make,) one of the soldiers pulled back his garment, and cowering down after an indecent manner, turned his breech to the Jews, and spake such words as you might expect upon such a posture. At this the whole multitude had indignation, and made a clamor to Cumanus, that he would punish the soldier; while the rasher part of the youth, and such as were naturally the most tumultuous, fell to fighting, and caught up stones, and threw them at the soldiers. Upon which Cumanus was afraid lest all the people should make an assault upon him, and sent to call for more armed men, who, when they came in great numbers into the cloisters, the Jews were in a very great consternation; and being beaten out of the temple, they ran into the city; and the violence with which they crowded to get out was so great, that they trod upon each other, and squeezed one another, till ten thousand of them were killed, insomuch that this feast became the cause of mourning to the whole nation, and every family lamented their own relations.

1.1.5.           Desecration of Torah. Josephus, War 2.229–231

(229) Now here it was that a certain soldier, finding the sacred book of the law, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the fire. Hereupon the Jews were in great disorder, as if their whole country were in a flame, and assembled themselves so many of them by their zeal for their religion, as by an engine, and ran together with united clamor to Cesarea, to Cumanus, and made supplication to him that he would not overlook this man, who had offered such an affront to God, and to his law; but punish him for what he had done. Accordingly, he, perceiving that the multitude would not be quiet unless they had a comfortable answer from him, gave order that the soldier should be brought, and drawn through those that required to have him punished, to execution, which being done, the Jews went their ways.

1.1.6.           The Sicarii. Josephus, War 2.254–7

(254) . . . there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who slew men in the day time, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means they appeared persons of such reputation, that they could by no means be discovered. The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celerity of the plotters against them, and so cunning was their contrivance.

1.1.7.           Messiahs and Magicians. Josephus, War 2.258–63

(258) There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers. These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretense of Divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty. But Felix thought this procedure was to be the beginning of a revolt; so he sent some horsemen and footmen both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.

(261) But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him; these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every one to their own homes, and there concealed themselves.

1.1.8.           Agitation for Revolt. Josephus, War 2.264–5

(264) Now when these were quieted, it happened, as it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject to an inflammation; for a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty, inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to the Roman government, and saying, that such as willingly chose slavery ought to be forced from such their desired inclinations; for they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down the country, and plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages on fire; and this till all Judea was filled with the effects of their madness. And thus the flame was every day more and more blown up, till it came to a direct war.

1.1.9.           Festus as Procurator. Josephus, War 2.271

(271) NOW it was that Festus succeeded Felix as procurator, and made it his business to correct those that made disturbances in the country. So he caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of them.

1.1.10.       Albinus as Procurator. Josephus, War 2.272–6

(272) But then Albinus, who succeeded Festus, did not execute his office as the other had done; nor was there any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in it. (273) Accordingly, he did not only, in his political capacity, steal and plunder every one’s substance, nor did he only burden the whole nation with taxes, but he permitted the relations of such as were in prison for robbery, and had been laid there, either by the senate of every city, or by the former procurators, to redeem them for money; and no body remained in the prisons as a malefactor but he who gave him nothing.

(274) At this time it was that the enterprises of the seditious at Jerusalem were very formidable; the principal men among them purchasing leave of Albinus to go on with their seditious practices . . . Upon the Whole, nobody durst speak their minds, but tyranny was generally tolerated; and at this time were those seeds sown which brought the city to destruction.

1.1.11.       Florus as Procurator. Josephus, War 2.277

(277) And although such was the character of Albinus, yet did Gessius Florus who succeeded him, demonstrate him to have been a most excellent person, upon the comparison; for the former did the greatest part of his rogueries in private, and with a sort of dissimulation; but Gessius did his unjust actions to the harm of the nation after a pompons manner. . .  Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the occasion that entire toparchies were brought to desolation, and a great many of the people left their own country, and fled into foreign provinces.

(280) And truly, while Cestius Gallus was president of the province of Syria, nobody durst do so much as send an embassage to him against Florus; but when he was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of the feast of unleavened bread, the people came about him not fewer in number than three millions [an exaggeration] these besought him to commiserate the calamities of their nation, and cried out upon Florus as the bane of their country. But as he was present, and stood by Cestius, he laughed at their words. However, Cestius, when he had quieted the multitude, and had assured them that he would take care that Florus should hereafter treat them in a more gentle manner, returned to Antioch. Florus also conducted him as far as Cesarea, and deluded him, though he had at that very time the purpose of showing his anger at the nation, and procuring a war upon them, by which means alone it was that he supposed he might conceal his enormities; for he expected that if the peace continued, he should have the Jews for his accusers before Caesar; but that if he could procure them to make a revolt, he should divert their laying lesser crimes to his charge, by a misery that was so much greater; he therefore did every day augment their calamities, in order to induce them to a rebellion. . .

1.1.12.       Provocation in Caesarea. Josephus War 2.289-92.

Now on the next day, which was the seventh day of the week, when the Jews were crowding apace to their synagogue, a certain man of Cesarea, of a seditious temper, got an earthen vessel, and set it with the bottom upward, at the entrance of that synagogue, and sacrificed birds. This thing provoked the Jews to an incurable degree, because their laws were affronted, and the place was polluted. Whereupon the sober and moderate part of the Jews thought it proper to have recourse to their governors again, while the seditious part, and such as were in the fervor of their youth, were vehemently inflamed to fight. The seditions also among the Gentiles of Cesarea stood ready for the same purpose; for they had, by agreement, sent the man to sacrifice beforehand [as ready to support him;] so that it soon came to blows. Hereupon Jucundus, the master of the horse, who was ordered to prevent the fight, came thither, and took away the earthen vessel, and endeavored to put a stop to the sedition; but when he was overcome by the violence of the people of Cesarea, the Jews caught up their books of the law, and retired to Narbata, which was a place to them belonging, distant from Cesarea sixty furlongs. But John, and twelve of the principal men with him, went to Florus, to Sebaste, and made a lamentable complaint of their case, and besought him to help them; and with all possible decency, put him in mind of the eight talents they had given him; but he had the men seized upon, and put in prison, and accused them for carrying the books of the law out of Cesarea.

1.1.13.       Florus fans the flames. Josephus, War 2.293-334

(293) Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this matter very ill, yet did they restrain their passion; but Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up the war into a flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this the people were in confusion immediately, and ran together to the temple, with prodigious clamors, and called upon Caesar by name, and besought him to free them from the tyranny of Florus. Some also of the seditious cried out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon him . . .  he marched hastily with an army of horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and might, by his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.

(301) Now at this time Florus took up his quarters at the palace; and on the next day he had his tribunal set before it, and sat upon it, when the high priests, and the men of power, and those of the greatest eminence in the city, came all before that tribunal; upon which Florus commanded them to deliver up to him those that had reproached him . . .

(305) Florus was more provoked at this, and called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder that which was called the Upper Market-place, and to slay such as they met with . . . they also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly, the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives and children, (for they did not spare even the infants themselves,) was about three thousand and six hundred. . . .

(316) the men of power were aftrighted, together with the high priests, and rent their garments, and fell down before each of them, and besought them to leave off, and not to provoke Florus to some incurable procedure, besides what they had already suffered. Accordingly, the multitude complied immediately, out of reverence to those that had desired it of them, and out of the hope they had that Florus would do them no more injuries.

(318)  So Florus was troubled that the disturbances were over, and endeavored to kindle that flame again . . .

(333) HOWEVER, Florus contrived another way to oblige the Jews to begin the war, and sent to Cestius, and accused the Jews falsely of revolting [from the Roman government], and imputed the beginning of the former fight to them, and pretended they had been the authors of that disturbance, wherein they were only the sufferers. . . .

1.1.14.       The Intervention of Agrippa. Josephus, War 2.335–407

(335) . . . king Agrippa as he was returning from Alexandria, at Jamnia . . .  the high priests, and men of power among the Jews, as well as the sanhedrim, came to congratulate the king [upon his safe return]; and after they had paid him their respects, they lamented their own calamities, and related to him what barbarous treatment they had met with from Florus.

(342) But as for the multitude of the Jews, they addressed themselves to the king, and to the high priests, and desired they might have leave to send ambassadors to Nero against Florus . . .  But Agrippa, although he thought it too dangerous a thing for them to appoint men to go as the accusers of Florus, yet did he not think it fit for him to overlook them, as they were in a disposition for war. He therefore called the multitude together into a large gallery . . .  and spake to them as follows:

[Agrippa sternly warns the hot-headed youths not to start a war with Rome: they will lose. He advised them to keep peace with Rome by paying their taxes and rebuilding the porticoes that they had destroyed.]

(405) THIS advice the people hearkened to . . . (406) And thus did Agrippa then put a stop to that war which was threatened. Moreover, he attempted to persuade the multitude to obey Florus, until Caesar should send one to succeed him; but they were hereby more provoked, and cast reproaches upon the king, and got him excluded out of the city; nay, some of the seditious had the impudence to throw stones at him.

1.2.         First Stage of Revolt

1.2.1.           Revolutionaries Take Masada. Josephus, War 2.408–10

(408) And at this time it was that some of those that principally excited the people to go to war made an assault upon a certain fortress called Masada. They took it by treachery, and slew the Romans that were there, and put others of their own party to keep it.

1.2.2.           Eleazar stops Sacrifices for Rome. Josephus, War 2.408–10

(409) At the same time Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high priest, a very bold youth, who was at that time governor of the temple, persuaded those that officiated in the Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. And this was the true beginning of our war with the Romans; for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account; and when many of the high priests and principal men besought them not to omit the sacrifice, which it was customary for them to offer for their princes, they would not be prevailed upon. . . .

(411) Hereupon the men of power got together, and conferred with the high priests, as did also the principal of the Pharisees; and thinking all was at stake, and that their calamities were becoming incurable, took counsel what was to be done. . . .  And, in the first place, they showed the great indignation they had at this attempt for a revolt, and for their bringing so great a war upon their country; after which they confuted their pretense as unjustifiable, and told them that their forefathers had adorned their temple in great part with donations bestowed on them by foreigners, and had always received what had been presented to them from foreign nations; and that they had been so far from rejecting any person’s sacrifice  . . .  (417) But still not one of the innovators would hearken to what was said; nay, those that ministered about the temple would not attend their Divine service, but were preparing matters for beginning the war. (418) So the men of power perceiving that the sedition was too hard for them to subdue, and that the danger which would arise from the Romans would come upon them first of all, endeavored to save themselves, and sent ambassadors, some to Florus . . .  and others to Agrippa . . . and they desired of them both that they would come with an army to the city, and cut off the seditious before it should be too hard to be subdued.  . . .

(422)  Upon this the men of power, with the high priests, as also all the part of the multitude that were desirous of peace, took courage, and seized upon the upper city [Mount Sion;] for the seditious part had the lower city and the temple in their power; so they made use of stones and slings perpetually against one another, and threw darts continually on both sides; and sometimes it happened that they made incursions by troops, and fought it out hand to hand, while the seditious were superior in boldness, but the king’s soldiers in skill. These last strove chiefly to gain the temple, and to drive those out of it who profaned it; as did the seditious, with Eleazar, besides what they had already, labor to gain the upper city. Thus were there perpetual slaughters on both sides for seven days’ time; but neither side would yield up the parts they had seized on.

(425)  . . .  The others then set fire to the house of Ananias the high priest, and to the palaces of Agrippa and Bernice; after which they carried the fire to the place where the archives were reposited, and made haste to burn the contracts belonging to their creditors, and thereby to dissolve their obligations for paying their debts; and this was done in order to gain the multitude of those who had been debtors, and that they might persuade the poorer sort to join in their insurrection with safety against the more wealthy . . .

(430) But on the next day, which was the fifteenth of the month Lous, [Ab,] they made an assault upon Antonia, and besieged the garrison which was in it two days, and then took the garrison, and slew them, and set the citadel on fire; after which they marched to the palace. . .

(433) In the mean time, one Manahem, the son of Judas, that was called the Galilean, (who was a very cunning sophister, and had formerly reproached the Jews under Cyrenius, that after God they were subject to the Romans,) took some of the men of note with him, and retired to Masada, where he broke open king Herod’s armory, and gave arms not only to his own people, but to other robbers also. These he made use of for a guard, and returned in the state of a king to Jerusalem; he became the leader of the sedition, and gave orders for continuing the siege . . .  Manahem and his party fell upon the place whence the soldiers were fled, and slew as many of them as they could catch, before they got up to the towers, and plundered what they left behind them, and set fire to their camp . . .

(441) But on the next day the high priest was caught where he had concealed himself in an aqueduct; he was slain, together with Hezekiah his brother, by the robbers: hereupon the seditious besieged the towers, and kept them guarded, lest any one of the soldiers should escape. Now the overthrow of the places of strength, and the death of the high priest Ananias, so puffed up Manahem, that he became barbarously cruel . . .  no better than an insupportable tyrant;

(445) . . . But Eleazar and his party fell violently upon him, as did also the rest of the people; and taking up stones to attack him withal, they threw them at the sophister, and thought, that if he were once ruined, the entire sedition would fall to the ground. Now Manahem and his party made resistance for a while; but when they perceived that the whole multitude were falling upon them, they fled which way every one was able; those that were caught were slain, and those that hid themselves were searched for. A few there were of them who privately escaped to Masada, among whom was Eleazar, the son of Jairus, who was of kin to Manahem, and acted the part of a tyrant at Masada afterward. As for Manahem himself, he ran away to the place called Ophla, and there lay skulking in private; but they took him alive, and drew him out before them all; they then tortured him with many sorts of torments, and after all slew him . . .

(449) [A group of trapped Roman soldiers surrender to Eleazar, lay down their arms and request safe passage. Eleazar shakes hands with them, but then treacherously murders them]

. . . they had all laid down their shields and their swords, and were under no further suspicion of any harm, but were going away, Eleazar’s men attacked them after a violent manner, and encompassed them round, and slew them . . .

(455) . . .  the city was filled with sadness, and every one of the moderate men in it were under great disturbance, as likely themselves to undergo punishment for the wickedness of the seditious; for indeed it so happened that this murder was perpetrated on the sabbath day, on which day the Jews have a respite from their works on account of Divine worship.

1.3.         War with Rome

1.3.1.           Pogroms against the Jews. Josephus, War 2.457–512

(457) NOW the people of Cesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day

(477) Besides this murder at Scythopolis, the other cities rose up against the Jews that were among them; those of Askelon slew two thousand five hundred, and those of Ptolemais two thousand, and put not a few into bonds; those of Tyre also put a great number to death, but kept a greater number in prison; moreover, those of Hippos, and those of Gadara, did the like while they put to death the boldest of the Jews, but kept those of whom they were afraid in custody; as did the rest of the cities of Syria, according as they every one either hated them or were afraid of them; only the Antiochtans the Sidontans, and Apamians spared those that dwelt with them, and would not endure either to kill any of the Jews, or to put them in bonds. . . .

(481) There was also a plot laid against the Jews in Agrippa’s kingdom . . .

(487) But for Alexandria, the sedition of the people of the place against the Jews was perpetual . . .

(494) Now when he [Tiberius, governor of Alexandria] perceived that those who were for innovations would not be pacified till some great calamity should overtake them, he sent out upon them those two Roman legions that were in the city, and together with them five thousand other soldiers . . . to the ruin of the Jews. They were also permitted not only to kill them, but to plunder them of what they had, and to set fire to their houses. These soldiers rushed violently into that part of the city that was called Delta, where the Jewish people lived together, and did as they were bidden, though not without bloodshed on their own side also; for the Jews got together, and set those that were the best armed among them in the forefront, and made a resistance for a great while; but when once they gave back, they were destroyed unmercifully; and this their destruction was complete, some being caught in the open field, and others forced into their houses, which houses were first plundered of what was in them, and then set on fire by the Romans; wherein no mercy was shown to the infants, and no regard had to the aged; but they went on in the slaughter of persons of every age, till all the place was overflowed with blood, and fifty thousand of them lay dead upon heaps; nor had the remainder been preserved, had they not be-taken themselves to supplication. So Alexander commiserated their condition, and gave orders to the Romans to retire; accordingly, these being accustomed to obey orders, left off killing at the first intimation; but the populace of Alexandria bare so very great hatred to the Jews, that it was difficult to recall them, and it was a hard thing to make them leave their dead bodies.

(499) And this was the miserable calamity which at this time befell the Jews at Alexandria. Hereupon Cestius thought fit no longer to lie still, while the Jews were everywhere up in arms; so he took out of Antioch the twelfth legion entire . . .

1.3.2.           Vespasian as General. Josephus, War 3.1–7

(1) WHEN Nero was informed of the Romans’ ill success in Judea, a concealed consternation and terror, as is usual in such cases, fell upon him . . . (3) And as he was deliberating to whom he should commit the care of the East, now it was in so great a commotion, and who might be best able to punish the Jews for their rebellion, and might prevent the same distemper from seizing upon the neighboring nations also, – he found no one but Vespasian equal to the task . . . (8) So Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia, where he had been with Nero, to Alexandria, to bring back with him from thence the fifth and the tenth legions, while he himself, when he had passed over the Hellespont, came by land into Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood.

1.3.3.           The Battle at Jotapata. Josephus, War 3.132–339

[Josephus was commander of Jewish forces in Galilee. He faced assassination attempts from Jewish rivals such as John of Gischala. He was accused by some as a traitor: when he was under siege at Jotapata he tried to sneak out of the city but was prevented by the people; when it became clear the city was doomed, he hid in a cave; when discovered, he willingly surrendered to the Romans. He ingratiated himself to the Roman general Vespasian, and thereafter lived handsomely on a Roman allowance writing histories of the Jewish people.]

(135) As to Josephus, his retiring to that city [Jotapata] which he chose as the most fit for his security, put it into great fear; for the people of Tiberias did not imagine that he would have run away, unless he had entirely despaired of the success of the war. And indeed, as to that point, they were not mistaken about his opinion; for he saw whither the affairs of the Jews would tend at last, and was sensible that they had but one way of escaping, and that was by repentance. However, although he expected that the Romans would forgive him, yet did he chose to die many times over, rather than to betray his country, and to dishonor that supreme command of the army which had been intrusted with him, or to live happily under those against whom he was sent to fight. He determined, therefore, to give an exact account of affairs to the principal men at Jerusalem by a letter . . .

(141) Now Vespasian was very desirous of demolishing Jotapata, for he had gotten intelligence that the greatest part of the enemy had retired thither . . .

(166) Vespasian then set the engines for throwing stones and darts round about the city. The number of the engines was in all a hundred and sixty . . .

(193) And now it was that Josephus perceived that the city could not hold out long, and that his own life would be in doubt if he continued in it; so he consulted how he and the most potent men of the city might fly out of it. When the multitude understood this, they came all round about him, and begged of him not to overlook them while they entirely depended on him . . .

(197)  Hereupon Josephus avoided letting them know that he was to go away to provide for his own safety, but told them that he would go out of the city for their sakes . . . if he were once gotten free from this siege, he should be able to bring them very great relief; for that he would then immediately get the Galileans together, out of the country, in great multitudes, and draw the Romans off their city by another war.

[Josephus describes valiant raids on the Romans led by him and others, and the defence of the city. But the Romans eventually take the city after a long bloody siege]

(329) And for the Romans, they so well remembered what they had suffered during the siege, that they spared none, nor pitied any, but drove the people down the precipice from the citadel, and slew them as they drove them down . . . (331) This provoked a great many, even of those chosen men that were about Josephus, to kill themselves with their own hands; for when they saw that they could kill none of the Romans, they resolved to prevent being killed by the Romans, and got together in great numbers in the utmost parts of the city, and killed themselves.

1.3.4.           Josephus Surrenders. Josephus, War 3:340–408

(340) AND now the Romans searched for Josephus, both out of the hatred they bore him, and because their general was very desirous to have him taken; for he reckoned that if he were once taken, the greatest part of the war would be over. They then searched among the dead, and looked into the most concealed recesses of the city;

(341) but as the city was first taken, he was assisted by a certain supernatural providence; for he withdrew himself from the enemy when he was in the midst of them, and leaped into a certain deep pit, whereto there adjoined a large den at one side of it, which den could not be seen by those that were above ground; and there he met with forty persons of eminency that had concealed themselves, and with provisions enough to satisfy them for not a few days.  . . . Thus he concealed himself two days; but on the third day, when they had taken a woman who had been with them, he was discovered. Whereupon Vespasian sent immediately and zealously two tribunes, Paulinus and Gallicanus, and ordered them to give Josephus their right hands as a security for his life, and to exhort him to come up. . . .

(346) . . . However, he [Josephus] was afraid that he was invited to come up in order to be punished, until Vespasian sent besides these a third tribune, Nicanor, to him; he was one that was well known to Josephus, and had been his familiar acquaintance in old time. When he was come, he enlarged upon the natural mildness of the Romans towards those they have once conquered; and told him that he had behaved himself so valiantly, that the commanders rather admired than hated him . . . (350) Now as Josephus began to hesitate with himself about Nicanor’s proposal . . .  he put up a secret prayer to God, and said, “Since it pleaseth thee, who hast created the Jewish nation, to depress the same, and since all their good fortune is gone over to the Romans, and since thou hast made choice of this soul of mine to foretell what is to come to pass hereafter, I willingly give them my hands, and am content to live. And I protest openly that I do not go over to the Romans as a deserter of the Jews, but as a minister from thee.”

(355) When he had said this, he complied with Nicanor’s invitation. But when those Jews who had fled with him understood that he yielded to those that invited him to come up, they came about him in a body . . .  they began to thrust their swords at him, and threatened they would kill him, if he thought of yielding himself to the Romans.

(361) Upon this Josephus was afraid of their attacking him, and yet thought he should be a betrayer of the commands of God, if he died before they were delivered. So he began to talk like a philosopher to them in the distress he was then in . . .

[Philo first tries to persuade them to surrender. When that doesn’t work, he convinces them all to commit suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. When only he and another are left, he surrenders]

(383) Now these and many the like motives did Josephus use to these men to prevent their murdering themselves; but desperation had shut their ears, as having long ago devoted themselves to die, and they were irritated at Josephus. They then ran upon him with their swords in their hands, one from one quarter, and another from another, and called him a coward, and everyone of them appeared openly as if he were ready to smite him;  . . .

(387)However, in this extreme distress, he was not destitute of his usual sagacity; but trusting himself to the providence of God, he put his life into hazard [in the manner following]: “And now,” said he, “since it is resolved among you that you will die, come on, let us commit our mutual deaths to determination by lot . . . yet was he with another left to the last, whether we must say it happened so by chance, or whether by the providence of God . . .  he persuaded him to trust his fidelity to him, and to live as well as himself.

(392) Thus Josephus escaped in the war with the Romans, and in this his own war with his friends, and was led by Nicanor to Vespasian.

[Josephus flatters Vespasian by prophesying that he will be the next emperor, and wins his friendship]

(401) . . . “ . . . Thou, O Vespasian, art Caesar and emperor . . .”

(403) When he had said this, Vespasian at present did not believe him, but supposed that Josephus said this as a cunning trick, in order to his own preservation; but in a little time he was convinced, and believed what he said to be true . . . (407) Now when Vespasian had inquired of the captives privately about these predictions, he found them to be true, and then he began to believe those that concerned himself. Yet did he not set Josephus at liberty from his hands, but bestowed on him suits of clothes, and other precious gifts; he treated him also in a very obliging manner, and continued so to do . . .

1.3.5.           Pictures: Gamla

See http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dfalk/courses/ejud/gamla.htm

1.3.6.           Battle at Gamala. Josephus, War 4.1–82

(1) NOW all those Galileans who, after the taking of Jotapata, had revolted from the Romans, did, upon the conquest of Taricheae, deliver themselves up to them again. And the Romans received all the fortresses and the cities, excepting Gischala and those that had seized upon Mount Tabor; Gamala also, which is a city ever against Tarichem, but on the other side of the lake, conspired with them. This city lay Upon the borders of Agrippa’s kingdom . . . (4) . . . yet did not Gamala accede to them, but relied upon the difficulty of the place, which was greater than that of Jotapata, (5) for it was situated upon a rough ridge of a high mountain, with a kind of neck in the middle: where it begins to ascend, it lengthens itself, and declines as much downward before as behind, insomuch that it is like a camel in figure, from whence it is so named, although the people of the country do not pronounce it accurately. Both on the side and the face there are abrupt parts divided from the rest, and ending in vast deep valleys . . .

(9) As this city was naturally hard to be taken, so had Josephus, by building a wall about it, made it still stronger, as also by ditches and mines under ground . . . they had been able to resist those whom Agrippa sent to besiege it for seven months together.

(11) But Vespasian removed from Emmaus . . . and came to Gamala . . .  (17) Now when the banks were finished . . .  they brought the machines . . .  (20) then did the Romans bring battering rams to three several places, and made the wall shake [and fall]. They then poured in over the parts of the wall that were thrown down, with a mighty sound of trumpets and noise of armor, and with a shout of the soldiers, and brake in by force upon those that were in the city; (21) but these men fell upon the Romans for some time, at their first entrance, and prevented their going any further, and with great courage beat them back . . . and as these Romans could neither beat those back that were above them, nor escape the force of their own men that were forcing their way forward, they were compelled to fly into their enemies’ houses, which were low; but these houses being thus full, of soldiers, whose weight they could not bear, fell down suddenly; and when one house fell, it shook down a great many of those that were under it, as did those do to such as were under them. By this means a vast number of the Romans perished.

(26) The people of Gamala supposed this to be an assistance afforded them by God . . .

(70) At which time Titus, who was now returned, out of the indignation he had at the destruction the Romans had undergone while he was absent, took two hundred chosen horsemen and some footmen with him, and entered without noise into the city . . .  the groans of those that were killed were prodigiously great every where, and blood ran down over all the lower parts of the city, from the upper.

(73) But then Vespasian himself came to his assistance against those that had fled to the citadel, and brought his whole army with him; now this upper part of the city was every way rocky, and difficult of ascent, and elevated to a vast altitude, and very full of people on all sides, and encompassed with precipices, whereby the Jews cut off those that came up to them, and did much mischief to others by their darts, and the large stones which they rolled down upon them, while they were themselves so high that the enemy’s darts could hardly reach them. (76) However, there arose such a Divine storm against them as was instrumental to their destruction; this carried the Roman darts upon them, and made those which they threw return back, and drove them obliquely away from them; nor could the Jews indeed stand upon their precipices, by reason of the violence of the wind, having nothing that was stable to stand upon, nor could they see those that were ascending up to them; (78) so the Romans got up and surrounded them, and some they slew before they could defend themselves . . .

(79) a great number also of those that were surrounded on every side, and despaired of escaping, threw their children and their wives, and themselves also, down the precipices, into the valley beneath, which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast depth; but so it happened, that the anger of the Romans appeared not to be so extravagant as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown themselves down was found to be five thousand: nor did any one escape except two women . . .

(120) . . . And thus was all Galilee taken, but this not till after it had cost the Romans much pains before it could be taken by them.

1.3.7.           Strife in Jerusalem. Josephus, War 4.121–223

[Josephus’ rival and enemy, John of Gischala, had defended against the Romans until the fall of the last city in Galilee (Gischala). He then fled to Jerusalem, where he contributed to the turmoil among Jewish revolutionaries]

(121) NOW upon John’s entry into Jerusalem, the whole body of the people were in an uproar, and ten thousand of them crowded about every one of the fugitives that were come to them . . . (126) But for John, he was very little concerned for those whom he had left behind him, but went about among all the people, and persuaded them to go to war . . .

(138) There were besides these other robbers that came out of the country, and came into the city, and joining to them those that were worse than themselves, omitted no kind of barbarity; for they did not measure their courage by their rapines and plunderings only, but preceded as far as murdering men . . .

(147) [these robbers] took upon them to appoint high priests.

(151) And now the multitude were going to rise against them already; for Ananus, the ancientest of the high priests, persuaded them to it. He was a very prudent man, and had perhaps saved the city if he could but have escaped the hands of those that plotted against him. These men made the temple of God a strong hold for them, and a place whither they might resort, in order to avoid the troubles they feared from the people; the sanctuary was now become a refuge, and a shop of tyranny. . . .

(162) And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly, and every one was in indignation at these men’s seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders . . .

(200) . . . great slaughter was made on both sides, and a great number were wounded.

1.3.8.           Factions Battle in Jerusalem. Josephus, War 5.1–46

(1) WHEN therefore Titus had marched  . . .  it so happened that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three factions, and that one faction fought against the other; which partition in such evil cases may be said to be a good thing, and the effect of Divine justice. Now as to the attack the zealots made upon the people, and which I esteem the beginning of the city’s destruction, it hath been already explained after an accurate manner  . . .

(4) But for the present sedition, one should not mistake if he called it a sedition begotten by another sedition, and to be like a wild beast grown mad, which, for want of food from abroad, fell now upon eating its own flesh.

(5)  For Eleazar, the son of Simon, who made the first separation of the zealots from the people, and made them retire into the temple, appeared very angry at John’s insolent attempts, which he made everyday upon the people; for this man never left off murdering; but the truth was, that he could not bear to submit to a tyrant who set up after him. So he being desirous of gaining the entire power and dominion to himself, revolted from John, and took to his assistance Judas the son of Chelcias, and Simon the son of Ezron, who were among the men of greatest power.  . . .  Each of these were followed by a great many of the zealots; these seized upon the inner court of the temple . . . there were continual sallies made one against another, as well as darts thrown at one another, and the temple was defiled every where with murders.

(11) But now the tyrant Simon, the son of Gioras, whom the people had invited in, out of the hopes they had of his assistance in the great distresses they were in, having in his power the upper city, and a great part of the lower, did now make more vehement assaults upon John and his party,  . . .  slew moreover many of the priests, as they were about their sacred ministrations. For notwithstanding these men were mad with all sorts of impiety, yet did they still admit those that desired to offer their sacrifices . . .

(21) And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John . . . Those that were with John plundered the populace, and went out with zeal against Simon. . . . as if they had, on purpose, done it to serve the Romans, by destroying what the city had laid up against the siege, and by thus cutting off the nerves of their own power. Accordingly, it so came to pass, that all the places that were about the temple were burnt down . . . almost all that corn was burnt, which would have been sufficient for a siege of many years. So they were taken by the means of the famine, which it was impossible they should have been, unless they had thus prepared the way for it by this procedure.

(27) And now, as the city was engaged in a war on all sides, from these treacherous crowds of wicked men, the people of the city, between them, were like a great body torn in pieces.

1.3.9.           Pictures: Siege of Jerusalem

See http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dfalk/courses/ejud/siege.htm

1.3.10.       Siege of Jerusalem. Josephus, War 5.47–572

 [Titus encamps at Mt. Scopus with three legions, and a fourth on the Mt. of Olives, to set up siege against Jerusalem. The Jewish factions now unite to defend against the Romans]

(71) Now when hitherto the several parties in the city had been dashing one against another perpetually, this foreign war, now suddenly come upon them after a violent manner, put the first stop to their contentions one against another; and as the seditious now saw with astonishment the Romans pitching three several camps, they began to think of an awkward sort of concord . . .

(75) Thus did they encourage one another when they were gotten together, and took their armor immediately, and ran out upon the tenth legion, and fell upon the Romans with great eagerness, and with a prodigious shout, as they were fortifying their camp.  . . .  (80) as still more and more Jews sallied out of the city, the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to fight, and ran away from their camp. Nay, things looked as though the entire legion would have been in danger, unless Titus had been informed of the case they were in, and had sent them succors immediately. . . .

(269) . . . the engines, that all the legions had ready prepared for them, were admirably contrived; but still more extraordinary ones belonged to the tenth legion: those that threw darts and those that threw stones were more forcible and larger than the rest, by which they not only repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove those away that were upon the walls also. (270) Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent, and were carried two furlongs and further.

(291) Titus had given orders for the erection of three towers of fifty cubits high, that by setting men upon them at every bank, he might from thence drive those away who were upon the wall

. . .

(296) Now these towers were very troublesome to the Jews . . . for they shot at them out of their lighter engines from those towers . . . So they retired out of the reach of the darts, and did no longer endeavor to hinder the impression of their rams, which, by continually beating upon the wall, did gradually prevail against it; so that the wall already gave way  . . . Then the Romans mounted the breach . . .  And thus did the Romans get possession of this first wall, on the fifteenth day of the siege . . . (331) NOW Caesar took this wall there on the fifth day after he had taken the first . . .

(348) A RESOLUTION was now taken by Titus to relax the siege for a little while, and to afford the seditious an interval for consideration, and to see whether the demolishing of their second wall would not make them a little more compliant, or whether they were not somewhat afraid of a famine . . .

(360) But then Titus, knowing that the city would be either saved or destroyed for himself, did not only proceed earnestly in the siege, but did not omit to have the Jews exhorted to repentance; so he mixed good counsel with his works for the siege. And being sensible that exhortations are frequently more effectual than arms, he persuaded them to surrender the city, now in a manner already taken, and thereby to save themselves, and sent Josephus to speak to them in their own language; for he imagined they might yield to the persuasion of a countryman of their own.

(362) So Josephus went round about the wall, and tried to find a place that was out of the reach of their darts, and yet within their hearing, and besought them, in many words, to spare themselves, to spare their country and their temple . . .

[Josephus compares the attack of the Romans to the attack of the Babylonians, as a judgment of God on the sins of the Jews]

(411) when the forementioned king of Babylon made war against us, and when he took the city, and burnt the temple; while yet I believe the Jews of that age were not so impious as you are. (412) Wherefore I cannot but suppose that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those against whom you fight.

[many wanted to surrender, but the revolutionary leaders killed any intending to surrender]

(420) AS Josephus was speaking thus with a loud voice, the seditious would neither yield to what he said, nor did they deem it safe for them to alter their conduct; but as for the people, they had a great inclination to desert to the Romans; accordingly, some of them sold what they had, and even the most precious things that had been laid up as treasures by them, for every small matter, and swallowed down pieces of gold, that they might not be found out by the robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, and had wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves; for Titus let a great number of them go away into the country, whither they pleased. And the main reasons why they were so ready to desert were these: That now they should be freed from those miseries which they had endured in that city, and yet should not be in slavery to the Romans.

(423) however, John and Simon, with their factions, did more carefully watch these men’s going out than they did the coming in of the Romans; and if any one did but afford the least shadow of suspicion of such an intention, his throat was cut immediately.

(429) It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting [for want of it.]

(446) SO now Titus’s banks were advanced a great way . . . He then sent a party of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that went out into the valleys to gather food. . . . (449) . . . so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews . . .  So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.

(491) AND now did Titus consult with his commanders what was to be done . . . (499) . . . his opinion was . . . they must build a wall round about the whole city; which was, he thought, the only way to prevent the Jews from coming out any way, and that then they would either entirely despair of saving the city, and so would surrender it up to him, or be still the more easily conquered when the famine had further weakened them . . .

(508) Now the length of this wall was forty furlongs . . .

(512) So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families . . .

[The revolutionaries inside murder many—even of the priests—who want to surrender]

(569) After this man there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown out at the gates …

1.3.11.       Fall of Jerusalem. Josephus, War 6.1–442

(1) THUS did the miseries of Jerusalem grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed upon the people. And indeed the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench . . .

[Josephus again urges surrender]

“ . . . (109) And who is there that does not know what the writings of the ancient prophets contain in them, – and particularly that oracle which is just now going to be fulfilled upon this miserable city? For they foretold that this city should be then taken when somebody shall begin the slaughter of his own countrymen. And are not both the city and the entire temple now full of the dead bodies of your countrymen? It is God, therefore, it is God himself who is bringing on this fire, to purge that city and temple by means of the Romans, and is going to pluck up this city, which is full of your pollutions.”

(149) In the mean time, the rest of the Roman army had, in seven days’ time, overthrown [some] foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had made a ready and broad way to the temple. . .

(164) In the mean time, the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had been in, as the war advanced higher and higher, and creeping up to the holy house itself, that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper’s spreading further; for they set the north-west cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that brake off about twenty cubits of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary . . . nor did they entirely leave off what they were about till the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire; nay, they lay still while the temple was first set on fire, and deemed this spreading of the fire to be for their own advantage. However, the armies were still fighting one against another about the temple, and the war was managed by continual sallies of particular parties against one another. . .

(228) But when Titus perceived that his endeavors to spare a foreign temple turned to the damage of his soldiers, and then be killed, he gave order to set the gates on fire. . .

(249) So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. But as for that house, God had, for certain, long ago doomed it to the fire; and now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages; it was the tenth day of the month Lous, [Ab,] upon which it was formerly burnt by the king of Babylon; although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them . . .

(266) . . . And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar’s approbation.

(267)  Now although any one would justly lament the destruction of such a work as this was,  . . . yet might such a one comfort himself with this thought, that it was fate that decreed it so to be. . .

(374) Caesar, finding it impracticable to reduce the upper city without earthworks, owing to the precipitous nature of the site, on the twentieth of the month Lous (Ab) apportioned the task among his forces. The conveyance of timber was, however, arduous, all the environs of the city to a distance of a hundred furlongs having, as I said, been stripped bare . . . (392) The earthworks having now been completed after eighteen days’ labor, on the seventh of the month Gorpiaeus (Elul) the Romans brought up the engines. Of the rebels, some already despairing of the city, retired from the ramparts to the citadel, others slunk down into the tunnels. . . .

(404) Pouring into the alleys, sword in hand, they (the Romans) massacred indiscriminately all whom they met, and burnt the houses with all who had taken refuge within. Often in the course of their raids, on entering the houses for loot, they would find whole families dead and the rooms filled with the victims of the famine…  (406) Running everyone through who fell in their way, they choked the alleys with corpses and deluged the whole city with blood, insomuch that many of the fires were extinguished by the gory stream. Towards evening they ceased slaughtering, but when night fell the fire gained the mastery, and the dawn of the eighth day of the month of Gorpiaeus (Elul) broke upon Jerusalem in flames – a city which had suffered such calamities…

(434) The Romans now set fire to the outlying quarters of the town and razed the walls to the ground.

(435) Thus was Jerusalem taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth of the month of Gorpiaeus. [26 September, 70 CE]

[Loeb translation]

1.3.12.       Destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus, War 7.1–2

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,) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared . . .

1.3.13.       Destruction of the Temple

http://archpark.org.il/articles.shtml?startPoint=The%20destruction%20of%20the%20temple

1.3.14.       The Burnt House.

The remains of a house probably destroyed in 70 CE have been excavated in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.

http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/noar/sites/herod.htm

http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/NTIntro/images/Burnthouse.htm

http://www.bibleplaces.com/jewishquarter.htm (scroll down)

1.3.15.       Pictures: Masada

See http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dfalk/courses/ejud/masada.htm

1.3.16.       The Fall of Masada. Josephus, War 7.252–404

[Josephus tells a moving story of the last stand of Sicarii revolutionaries at the “impregnable” fortress at Masada, who commit suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. The siege lasts about a year, 73–74 CE. This story has taken deep roots in popular imagination, but much of the story is the product of Josephus’ romantic imagination, writing from his luxurious estate in Rome on a Roman pension, based on a kernel of truth embellished with his creative conjecture. Familiar elements of Josephus’ story-telling are here (compare the stories of Jotapata, Gamla, Jerusalem): a “divine wind” that changes the course of events and shows that God is on the side of the Romans, fictional dramatic speeches, nobility of suicide, a lottery, two women left to tell the story.

For images of Masada, see http://faculty.smu.edu/dbinder/masada.html

For an evaluation by historian Shaye Cohen, see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/masada.html.]

 

(252) WHEN Bassus was dead in Judea, Flavius Silva succeeded him as procurator there; who, when he saw that all the rest of the country was subdued in this war, and that there was but one only strong hold that was still in rebellion, he got all his army together that lay in different places, and made an expedition against it. This fortress was called Masada. It was one Eleazar, a potent man, and the commander of these Sicarii, that had seized upon it. He was a descendant from that Judas who had persuaded abundance of the Jews, as we have formerly related, not to submit to the taxation when Cyrenius was sent into Judea to make one; for then it was that the Sicarii got together against those that were willing to submit to the Romans, and treated them in all respects as if they had been their enemies, both by plundering them of what they had, by driving away their cattle, and by setting fire to their houses . . .

(275) For now it was that the Roman general came, and led his army against Eleazar and those Sicarii who held the fortress Masada together with him; and for the whole country adjoining, he presently gained it, and put garrisons into the most proper places of it; he also built a wall quite round the entire fortress, that none of the besieged might easily escape; he also set his men to guard the several parts of it; he also pitched his camp in such an agreeable place as he had chosen for the siege, and at which place the rock belonging to the fortress did make the nearest approach to the neighboring mountain, which yet was a place of difficulty for getting plenty of provisions; for it was not only food that was to be brought from a great distance [to the army], and this with a great deal of pain to those Jews who were appointed for that purpose, but water was also to be brought to the camp, because the place afforded no fountain that was near it. When therefore Silva had ordered these affairs beforehand, he fell to besieging the place; which siege was likely to stand in need of a great deal of skill and pains, by reason of the strength of the fortress . . .

(295) . . . here was laid up corn in large quantities, and such as would subsist men for a long time; here was also wine and oil in abundance, with all kinds of pulse and dates heaped up together; all which Eleazar found there, when he and his Sicarii got possession of the fortress by treachery. . .

(299) There was also found here a large quantity of all sorts of weapons of war, which had been treasured up by that king, and were sufficient for ten thousand men . . .

(315) When Silva saw this, he thought it best to endeavor the taking of this wall by setting fire to it; so he gave order that the soldiers should throw a great number of burning torches upon it: accordingly, as it was chiefly made of wood, it soon took fire; and when it was once set on fire, its hollowness made that fire spread to a mighty flame. Now, at the very beginning of this fire, a north wind that then blew proved terrible to the Romans; for by bringing the flame downward, it drove it upon them, and they were almost in despair of success, as fearing their machines would be burnt: but after this, on a sudden the wind changed into the south, as if it were done by Divine Providence, and blew strongly the contrary way, and carried the flame, and drove it against the wall, which was now on fire through its entire thickness. So the Romans, having now assistance from God, returned to their camp with joy, and resolved to attack their enemies the very next day; on which occasion they set their watch more carefully that night, lest any of the Jews should run away from them without being discovered.

(320) However, neither did Eleazar once think of flying away, nor would he permit any one else to do so; but when he saw their wall burned down by the fire, and could devise no other way of escaping, or room for their further courage, and setting before their eyes what the Romans would do to them, their children, and their wives, if they got them into their power, he consulted about having them all slain. Now as he judged this to be the best thing they could do in their present circumstances, he gathered the most courageous of his companions together, and encouraged them to take that course by a speech which he made to them . . .

(323) “Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice. . . .

(326) “It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day’s time; but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends. This is what our enemies themselves cannot by any means hinder, although they be very desirous to take us alive. . . . (331) . . . we are openly deprived by God himself of all hope of deliverance; for that fire which was driven upon our enemies did not of its own accord turn back upon the wall which we had built; this was the effect of God’s anger against us for our manifold sins, which we have been guilty of in a most insolent and extravagant manner with regard to our own countrymen; (333) the punishments of which let us not receive from the Romans, but from God himself, as executed by our own hands; for these will be more moderate than the other. (334) Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted of slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually, and preserve ourselves in freedom, as an excellent funeral monument for us. But first let us destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I am well assured that this will be a great grief to the Romans, that they shall not be able to seize upon our bodies, and shall fall of our wealth also; and let us spare nothing but our provisions; for they will be a testimonial when we are dead that we were not subdued for want of necessaries, but that, according to our original resolution, we have preferred death before slavery. . . .

(386) . . . let us die before we become slaves under our eneimies, and let us go out of the world, together with our children and our wives, in a state of freedom. . . .”

. . . (391) . . . the husbands tenderly embraced their wives, and took their children into their arms, and gave the longest parting kisses to them, with tears in their eyes. Yet at the same time did they complete what they had resolved on . . . every one of them despatched his dearest relations. Miserable men indeed were they! whose distress forced them to slay their own wives and children with their own hands, as the lightest of those evils that were before them.  . . .  they presently laid all they had upon a heap, and set fire to it. They then chose ten men by lot out of them to slay all the rest; every one of whom laid himself down by his wife and children on the ground, and threw his arms about them, and they offered their necks to the stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office; and when these ten had, without fear, slain them all, they made the same rule for casting lots for themselves, that he whose lot it was should first kill the other nine, and after all should kill himself.  . . .

(398) So these people died with this intention, that they would not leave so much as one soul among them all alive to be subject to the Romans. (399) Yet was there an ancient woman, and another who was of kin to Eleazar, and superior to most women in prudence and learning, with five children, who had concealed themselves in caverns under ground, and had carried water thither for their drink, and were hidden there when the rest were intent upon the slaughter of one another. Those others were nine hundred and sixty in number, the women and children being withal included in that computation. This calamitous slaughter was made on the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan].

(402) Now for the Romans, they expected that they should be fought in the morning, when, accordingly, they put on their armor, and laid bridges of planks upon their ladders from their banks, to make an assault upon the fortress, which they did; but saw nobody as an enemy, but a terrible solitude on every side, with a fire within the place, as well as a perfect silence. So they were at a loss to guess at what had happened. At length they made a shout, as if it had been at a blow given by the battering ram, to try whether they could bring any one out that was within; the women heard this noise, and came out of their under-ground cavern, and informed the Romans what had been done, as it was done; and the second of them clearly described all both what was said and what was done, and this manner of it; yet did they not easily give their attention to such a desperate undertaking, and did not believe it could be as they said; they also attempted to put the fire out, and quickly cutting themselves a way through it, they came within the palace, and so met with the multitude of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their resolution, and the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of them had shown, when they went through with such an action as that was.

[Here is Shaye Cohen’s comment on Josephus’ agenda in his invention of the speech by Eleazar (emphasis mine)]:

“Drama was not the only reason for Josephus’ invention of a premature Roman withdrawal and a careful Roman watch which saw and heard nothing. Josephus wanted Eleazar, the leader of the Sicarii, to make a speech in which he would publicly confess that he and his followers, those who had formented the war, had erred and were now receiving condign punishment from God for their sins. Josephus even has Eleazar declare that God has condemned the “tribe of the Jews” to destruction because he wanted the Jewish readers of the Jewish War to realize that the way of the Sicarii is the way of death and that the theology of the Sicarii leads to renunciation of one of the core doctrines of Judaism, the eternal election of Israel. In order to allow Eleazar to confess his guilt and to display his rhetorical skills, and in order to allow the Sicarii to follow Eleazar’s instructions and to destroy themselves in an orderly fashion, Josephus inserted a crucial but inexplicable pause in the Roman assault.” [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/masada.html]

1.3.17.       Masada

http://faculty.smu.edu/dbinder/masada.html

 

1.3.18.       Coins of the Revolt

Jewish coins of revolt

http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dfalk/courses/ejud/revolt_coins.htm

http://www.amuseum.org/book/page14.html

1.4.         Aftermath of the War

1.4.1.           Plunder of the Temple

The triumphal Arch of Titus in Rome commemorates Titus’ conquest of Judea. It contains reliefs showing soldiers carrying sacred treasures plundered from the Jerusalem Temple, including the golden  Menorah, the Table of the Shewbread shown and the silver trumpets blown on Rosh Hashannah.

 

For images see: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/titus/titus.html

(click images for enlargements)

 

On the Arch of Titus, celebrating his conquest of Jerusalem:

“ . . . he subdued the Jewish people, destroyed the city of Jerusalem . . .”

[Feldman, Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, 288]

1.5.         Jewish Response

1.5.1.           Apocalypse of Baruch

[Pseudepigrapha, ca. 100 CE. In the guise of a revelation to Baruch, the assistant to Jeremiah, about the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians in the 6^th c. BCE, this writing is a reflection by a Jewish author on the war with Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The author is devastated, and tries to place this event in a broader context of God’s justice: this is the beginning of God’s judgment of the world.]

1 1 And it came to pass in the twenty-fifth year of Jeconiah, king of Judah, that the word of the Lord came to Baruch, the son of Neriah, and said to him: 2 ‘Have you seen all that this people are doing to Me, that the evils which these two tribes which remained have done are greater than (those of) the ten tribes which were carried away captive? 3 For the former tribes were forced by their kings to commit sin, but these two of themselves have been forcing and compelling their kings to commit sin. 4 For this reason, behold I bring evil upon this city, and upon its inhabitants, and it shall be removed from before Me for a time, and I will scatter this people among the Gentiles that they may do good to the Gentiles. And My people shall be chastened, and the time shall come when they will seek for the prosperity of their times.

3 1 And I said: ‘O LORD, my Lord, have I come into the world for this purpose that I might see the evils of my mother? Not (so) my Lord. 2 If I have found grace in Your sight, first take my spirit that I may go to my fathers and not behold the destruction of my mother. For two things vehemently constrain me: for I cannot resist you, and my soul, moreover, cannot behold the evils of my mother. 4 But one thing I will say in Your presence, O Lord. 5 What, therefore, will there be after these things? for if you destroy Your city, and deliver up Your land to those that hate us, how shall the name of Israel be again remembered? 6 Or how shall one speak of Your praises? or to whom shall that which is in Your law be explained? Or shall the world return to its nature of aforetime), and the age revert to primeval silence? And shall the multitude of souls be taken away, and the nature of man not again be named? And where is all that which you did say regarding us?’

 

4 1 And the Lord said unto me:

‘This city shall be delivered up for a time,

And the people shall be chastened during a time,

And the world will not be given over to oblivion.

…

13 1 And it came to pass after these things that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion, and lo a voice came forth from the height and said unto me:

2 ‘Stand upon your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.’

3 Because you have been astonished at what has befallen Zion, you shall therefore be assuredly preserved to the consummation of the times, that you may be for a testimony. 4 So that, if ever those prosperous cities say: 5 ‘Why hath the mighty God brought upon us this retribution?’ Say you to them, you and those like you who shall have seen this evil: ‘(This is the evil) and retribution which is coming upon you and upon your people in its (destined) time that the nations may be thoroughly smitten. 6 And then they shall be in anguish. … 9 On this account he had aforetime no mercy on His own sons, but afflicted them as His enemies, because they sinned, 10 then therefore were they chastened that they might be sanctified.

…

35 1 And I, Baruch, went to the holy place, and sat down upon the ruins and wept, and said:

2 ‘O that mine eyes were springs, And mine eyelids a fount of tears.

3 For how shall I lament for Zion, And how shall I mourn for Jerusalem?

4 Because in that place where I am now prostrate,

Of old the high priest offered holy sacrifices, And placed thereon an incense of fragrant odors.

5 But now our glorying has been made into dust, And the desire of our soul into sand.’

 

36—37. The Vision of the Forest, the Vine, the Fountain and the Cedar

[Baruch has a dream about a forest and a cedar, which are denounced and destroyed by a fountain and vine. An angel then interprets the dream: the forest as a succession of empires culminating in the Roman empire, which ultimately will be destroyed at God’s time; God’s Messiah with his people are represented by the fountain and the vine]

 

36 1 And when I had said these things I fell asleep there, and I saw a vision in the night. 2 And lo! a forest of trees planted on the plain, and lofty and rugged rocky mountains surrounded it, and that forest occupied much space. 3 And lo! over against it arose a vine … And I indeed awoke and arose.

 

38 1 And I prayed and said: ‘O LORD, my Lord … Make known to me therefore the interpretation of this vision ….’

 

39 1 And He answered and said unto me: ‘Baruch, this is the interpretation of the vision which you have seen. 2 As you have seen the great forest which lofty and rugged mountains surrounded, this is the word. 3 Behold! the days come, and this kingdom [Babylonia] will be destroyed which once destroyed Zion, and it will be subjected to that which comes after it [Persia]. 4 Moreover, that also again after a time will be destroyed, and another, a third [Greece], will arise, and that also will have dominion for its time, and will be destroyed. 5 And after these things a fourth kingdom [Rome] will arise, whose power will be harsh and evil far beyond those which were before it, and it will rule many times as the forests on the plain, and it will hold fast for times, and will exalt itself more than the cedars of Lebanon. 6 And by it the truth will be hidden, and all those who are polluted with iniquity will flee to it, as evil beasts flee and creep into the forest. 7 And it will come to pass when the time of its consummation that it should fall has approached, then the principate of My Messiah will be revealed, which is like the fountain and the vine, and when it is revealed it will root out the multitude of its host. 8 And as touching that which you have seen, the lofty cedar, which was left of that forest, and the fact, that the vine spoke those words with it which you did hear, this is the word.

 

40 1 The last leader of that time will be left alive, when the multitude of his hosts will be put to the sword, and he will be bound, and they will take him up to Mount Zion, and My Messiah will convict him of all his impieties, and will gather and set before him all the works of his hosts. 2 And afterwards he will put him to death, and protect the rest of My people which shall be found in the place which I have chosen. 3 And his principate will stand for ever, until the world of corruption is at an end, and until the times aforesaid are fulfilled. 4 This is your vision, and this is its interpretation.’

…

44 1 And I, Baruch, went from thence, and came to my people, and I called my first-born son and [the Gedaliahs] my friends, and seven of the elders of the people, and I said unto them:

 

Behold, I go unto my fathers according to the way of all the earth.

3 But withdraw you not from the way of the law,

But guard and admonish the people which remain,

Lest they withdraw from the commandments of the Mighty One.

4 For you see that He whom we serve is just,

And our Creator is no respecter of persons.

5 And see you what hath befallen Zion,

And what hath happened to Jerusalem.

6 For the judgment of the Mighty One shall (thereby) be made known,

And His ways, which, though past finding out, are right.

7 For if you endure and persevere in His fear,

And do not forget His law,

The times shall change over you for good.

And you shall see the consolation of Zion.

 

[Translation of Charles; from http://wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/ot/pseudo/2baruch.htm]

1.5.2.           4 Ezra 5:34-35

“Because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out part of his judgment … Why then was I born? Or why did not my mother’s womb become my grave, tha I might not see the travail of Jacob and the exhaustion of the people of Israel?”

1.6.         The Jewish Tax

[As a penalty for the revolt, Vespasian in 72 CE imposed on the Jewish people a special tax known as the Fiscus Judaicus. It came as both an insult to the Jewish people and a serious hardship. For centuries, Jewish adult males had paid an annual tax of one half shekel for the upkeep of the Temple, and this had been collected throughout the world. Now this was banned, cutting off a major source of revenue for the Temple community in Jerusalem. In its place, the new “Jewish tax” of two denarii had to be paid annually by all Jews, male and female over three years of age, including their slaves—and it went to support the temple of Jupiter in Rome. It was the only tax imposed by the Romans on a religion.]

1.6.1.           Recipts for the Jewish tax, Jewish Quarter of Apollinopolis Magna, Egypt.

Herenius son of Didyus, receipt for the two-denarius tax on the Jews, for the fourth year of our lord Vespasian Caesar [71–2 CA]

 

Paid by Thedetus son of Alexion, for the Jewish tax for the fourteenth year of Domitian, fourt drachmas; by Philip his son, 4. Total, 8. Year 14, Mesore 25 [August 18, 95 CE].

 

Paid by Copreus, slave of Antipater, for the Jewish tax for the ninth year of our lord Trajan, 4 obols. Year 10, Choiak 13 [December 9, 106 CE].

[translations by Meyer Reinhold, in L. Feldman, Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, 289]

 

Nerva’s Jewish Tax coin: http://www.amuseum.org/book/page16.html

1.6.2.           Closet Jews. Suetonius, Life of Domitian 12.2

[Suetonius, a Roman biographer, ca 70–130 CE. He attests to a humiliating aspect of the tax collection: Jews were publicly examined for evidence of circumcision]

The Jewish tax was exacted most assiduously. To the Fiscus Judaicus were reported those who lived as Jews without declaring this, or who by concealing their origin did not pay the tribute imposed on their people. I recall when I was a young man being present when an old man in his nineties was examined by a procurator and a very large number of advisors, to see whether he was circumcised.

[translation by Meyer Reinhold, in L. Feldman, Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, 290]

 

Roman coins of Judaea Capta: http://www.amuseum.org/book/page15.html

1.7.         Jewish Responses to Destruction of Jerusalem

1.8.         Egyptian Revolt (115-117 CE)

1.8.1.           A small Jewish victory. Papyrus 438, CPJ 2:236-8.

[A letter from Hermoupolis in Egypt to a Roman general, expressing dismay at Jewish victories, and hope for help from another Roman legion.]

The one hope and expectation that was left was the push of the massed [Egyptian] villagers from our district against the impious Jews; but now the opposite has happened. For on the 20^th(?) our forces fought and were beaten and many of them were killed . . . now, however, we have received the news from men coming from . . . that another legion of Rutilius arrived at Memphis on the 22^nd and is expected.

1.8.2.           Coins of the Diaspora Revolt: http://www.amuseum.org/book/page17.html

1.9.         Bar Kokhbah Revolt

1.9.1.           Coins Related to the Bar Kokhbah Revolt

Hadrian’s trip to Judaea: http://www.amuseum.org/book/page18.html

Bar Kokhba Revolt:

http://www.amuseum.org/book/page19.html; http://www.amuseum.org/book/page20.html

1.9.2.           Pictures: Murabbaat caves

See http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dfalk/courses/ejud/murabbaat.htm

1.9.3.           Letter concerning a cow. Papyrus; pMur 42. Wadi Murabba’at cave, ca. 135 CE.

[Translation by K. C. Hanson, http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/cow.html]

 

From: the stewards of Beth-Mashko—Yeshua ^c and Eleazar

To: Yeshua^c ben-Galgul’a, camp commander.
Peace. We (want to) apprise you that the cow which Yehosef ben-‘Ariston took from Ya^caqov ben-Yehudah, whose house is in Beth-Mashko, belongs to him, and if the foreigners were not so close upon us, I would have gone up and declared you free of obligation on this account. For I do not want you to say that it is through neglect that I have not come up to see you. Peace (to you) and all the house of Israel.

Yeshua^c ben-‘Ele ^c azar, writer

‘Ele^cazar ben-Yehosef, writer

Ya^caqov ben-Yehudah, “subject”

Sh’aul ben-‘Ele ^cazar, witness

Yehosef ben-Yehosef, witness

Ya^caqov ben-Yehosef, notary.

1.9.4.           Babatha Archive. “Cave of Letters,” Nahal Hever, Judean Desert.

1.9.5.           Contract for a Date Crop. 10 September, 130 CE. [from http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/dates.html]

 

In the 14th year of Emperor Trajan Hadrian Caesar Augustus , in the consulship of Marcus Flavius Aper and Quintus Fabius Catullinus, three days before the ides of September, according to the computation of the new province of Arabia 25th year on the 24th of Gorpiaios, in Maoza, Zoara district ; Babatha daughter of Simon to Simon son of Jesus son of Ananias, both resident in Maoza, greeting.
I acknowledge that I have sold to you the date crop of the groves formerly belonging to Judah son of Kthousion, my late husband, in Maoza. I distrain in lieu of my dowry and debt (owed me) the said properties called Pherora grove, and Nikarkos grove, and the third Molkhaios’s for the current year, you paying me for the aforesaid year for the said groves forty-two talents of first and second “splits,” weighing them in my house by the scales of Maoza at drying time, and also of Syrian and Naaran (dates), delivering them to (my) house, two koroi and five sata by the measure of Maoza. If you do not pay me the aforesaid dates, the total as mentioned, you shall give me for each talent of (“splits” two denarii and of Syrian and Naaran one “black.” I shall clear the right to the previously mentioned groves for you of every counterclaimant, and if anyone enters a counterclaim against you because of your purchase and I do not firmly validate (it) for you as stated, I shall be owing to you in return for your labors and expenses twenty-five denarii, interposing no objection. Whatever is (produced) over and above in the mentioned groves, those dates . . . you shall take to yourself in return for your labors and expenses. Through her guardian who has also signed below, John son of Makouthas of Maoza, the formal question having in good faith been asked and acknowledged in reply.

[Aramaic signatures and subscript:]
Babatha daughter of Shim’on: “I have sold to you, Shim’on, the produce of the palm orchards that belonged to Yehudah, my husband, son of Kthousion, which I have taken . . . according to what is written in this document, forty-two talents by the Nabatean weight 2 kors and 5 seahs as in the document which . . . your produce according to what is written above.

Yohana son of Makoutha, her guardian: “I have written by order of Babatha . . .”

[Aramaic and Greek signatures of witnesses and scribe:]

[. . . . . . .]
[. . . . . . .]
[. . . . . . .]
Yehohanan son of Menahem, witness.
Yehudah son of Shim’on, witness
Yeshu’a son of Yeshu’a, witness
It was written by Germanos, librarius .
Yohsef son of Hananiah, witness.

 

1.9.6.           Deposition Regarding an Orphan’s Legacy. 11/12 Oct, 125 CE.

[from http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/depo.html]

 

In the ninth year of Emperor Trajan Hadrian Caesar Augustus , in the consulship of Marcus Valerius Asiaticus for the second time and Titius Aquilinus, before the ides of October; and according to the computation of the Arabian province: twentieth year on the twenty-fourth of the month Hyperberetaios, called Thesrei; in Maoza, Zoara district . Before the attending witnesses, Babatha daughter of Simon son of Menahem testified against John son of Joseph Eglas and ‘Abdoobdas son of Ellouthas, guardians of her orphan son, Jesus son of Jesus, appointed guardians for the orphan by the council of Petra , in the presence of the guardians, saying:
Since you have not given my orphan son generous maintenance money commensurate with the income from the interest on his money and the rest of his property, and commensurate in particularly with a style of life which befits him, and you contribute for him as interest on the money only one-half (denarius ) per hundred denarii, as I have property equivalent in value to this money of the orphan’s that you have, therefore I previously testified so that you might decide to give me the money on security involving a mortgage of my property, with me contributing interest on the money at the rate of a denarius and a half per hundred denarii, with which my son might be raised in splendid style, rendering thanks to these most honorable times of the governorship of Julius Julianus, our governor , before whom I, Babatha, summoned the aforesaid John, one of the guardians of the orphan, for his refusal of disbursement of the maintenance money. Otherwise this deposition will serve as documentary evidence of your profiteering from the money of the orphan by giving . . .
Babatha testified as stated through her guardian on this matter: Judah son of Khthousion, who was present and signed.
I, Babatha daughter of Simon, have testified through my guardian Judah son of Khthousion against John son of Eglas and ‘Abdoobdas son of Ellouthas, guardians of my orphan son Jesus, according to the mentioned conditions. I, Eleazar son of Eleazar, wrote for her by request, since she is illiterate.
And there were seven witnesses:
Yehudah son of Khthousion, guardian of Babatha: “In my presence, Babatha confirmed all that is written above. Yehudah wrote this.”
‘Abd’obdath son of Elloutha: “In my presence and in the presence of Yohana, my colleague, son of Egla, this testimony is written according to what is written above. ‘Abd’obdath wrote this.”
Yehohanan son of Aleks, by the hand of Yehoseph his son.
The writer of this is Theenas son of Simon, librarius .

1.9.7.           Marriage Contract for Shelamzion and Judah. 5 April, 128 CE.

[from http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/marrcon.html]

 

In the consulship of Publius Metilius Nepos for the second time and Marcus Annius Libo on the nones of April, and by the computation of the new Provinica Arabia: 23rd year on the 15th of the month Xandikos; in Maoza, Zoara district ; Judah son of Eleazar, also (known as) Khthusion, gave Shelamzion, his very own daughter, a virgin, to Judah—called Kimber—son of Ananias son of Somalas, both of the village of En-gedi in Judea, living here, for Shelamzion to be married to Judah Kimber for the partnership of marriage according to the laws. She brought to him for dowry women’s jewelry in silver and god, and clothing appraised by mutual agreement, as they both attest, to be worth two hundred denarii of silver. Judah, who is called Kimber, the bridegroom, acknowledges that he received this value from her by hand from Judah her father and that he owes to Shelamzion his wife three hundred denarii which he promised to give her in addition to the sum of her dowry. This is all accounted toward her dowry, pursuant to his undertaking of feeding and clothing both her and future children in accordance with Greek custom upon the said Judah Kimber’s good faith and peril and the [security of] all his possessions, both those he now has in his home village, and here, and all those which he may additionally validly acquire elsewhere, in whatever manner his wife Shelamzion may choose, or whoever acts through her or for her may choose, to carry out the execution. Judah who is called Kimber shall redeem this contract for his wife Shelamzion, whenever she may demand it from him, in silver secured in due form, at his own expense, interposing no objection. But if not, he shall pay to her twice the mentioned denarii, she having the right of execution, both from Judah Kimber her husband and upon the possesions validly his, in whatever manner Shelamzion or whoever acts through her or for her may choose to carry out the execution. In good faith, the formal question was asked and it was acknowledged in reply that this is correctly performed.

[Aramaic signatures and subscript:]

Yehudah son of Elazar Khthousion: “I have given my daughter Shelamzion, a virgin, in marriage to Yehudah Kimber son of Hananiah son of Somala, according to what is written above. Yehudah wrote it.”

Yehudah Kimber son of Hananiah son of Somala: “I acknowledge the debt of five hundred silver denarii, the dowry of Shelamzion my wife, according to what they wrote above. Yehudah wrote it.

Theenas son of Simon, librarius : “I wrote this.”

[Aramaic signatures on the back:]

Yehudah son of Elazar wrote it.
Yehudah son of Hananiah wrote it.
[. . . . .] son of [. . . .].
Shim’on son of [. . . .], witness.
Eliezer son of Hilqiah, witness.
Yosef son of Hananiah, witness.
Wanah son of [. . . .], for himself.