Jewish–Roman wars

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox military conflict|main}} Template:Campaignbox Jewish–Roman wars

The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE.<ref>Bloom, J.J. 2010 The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66–135: A Military Analysis. McFarland.</ref> The conflict was driven by Jewish aspirations to restore the political independence lost when Rome conquered the Hasmonean kingdom, and unfolded over three major uprisings: the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), the Kitos War (116–118 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE). Some historians also include the Diaspora Revolt (115–117 CE) which coincided with the Kitos War, when Jewish communities across the Eastern Mediterranean rose up against Roman rule.

The Jewish–Roman wars had a devastating impact on the Jewish people, turning them from a major population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority.<ref name="Hitti, P. K">Template:Cite book</ref> The First Jewish-Roman War ended with the devastating siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, including the burning of the Second Temple—the center of Jewish religious and national life. Roman forces destroyed other towns and villages throughout Judaea, causing massive loss of life and displacement of the population.<ref name="Schwartz-2014">Template:Cite book</ref> The surviving Jewish community lost all political autonomy under direct Roman rule.<ref name="AHJ-GM3">Template:Cite book</ref> The later Bar Kokhba revolt proved even more devastating. The Romans' brutal suppression of this uprising led to the near-total depopulation of Judea through a combination of battlefield casualties, mass killings, and the widespread enslavement of survivors.<ref name="Taylor2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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

SequenceEdit

The Jewish–Roman wars include the following:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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

BackgroundEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Rome gained control of Judaea, then an independent kingdom ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty, in 63 BCE.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn That year, the Roman general Pompey intervened in a succession war between brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, who were fighting for the throne following the death of their mother, Queen Salome Alexandra.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Pompey besieged and conquered Jerusalem, committing a religious violation by entering the Temple's Holy of Holies,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn a space reserved exclusively for the High Priest who entered it only once a year on Yom Kippur.Template:Sfn After the Roman conquest, Judaea became a client state: the monarchy was abolished, and Hyrcanus was reduced to serving solely as High Priest.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Parts of the former kingdom were detached and incorporated into the province of Syria, likely in an attempt to weaken the Jewish population economically and pave the way for future annexation.Template:Sfn Fifteen years later, Julius Caesar visited the region and improved Jewish status, restoring some territories to Jewish control and appointing Hyrcanus as ethnarch.Template:Sfn

Antigonus II Mattathias, Aristobolus's son, reclaimed Judaea's throne in 40 BCE with popularTemplate:Sfn and Parthian support.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, the Roman Senate appointed Herod, an Idumean noble from a family that had converted to Judaism a century prior, as "King of the Jews".Template:Sfn It took Herod three years to conquer the kingdom, capturing Jerusalem through siege and ending Antigonus' brief reign.Template:Sfn He ruled Judaea as a client kingdom, maintaining close ties with Rome, though he faced widespread Jewish resentment.Template:Sfn After his death in 4 BCE, his realm was divided among his sons:Template:Sfn Archelaus became ethnarch of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea, while Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea.Template:Sfn Archelaus' misrule led to his removal within a decade, and in 6 CE Judaea was annexed as a Roman province.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In 6 CE, Quirinius, the governor of Syria, conducted a census in Judaea, triggering an uprising led by Judas of Galilee. Judas led what Josephus described as the 'fourth philosophy,' rejecting Roman rule and affirmed God's sole kingship.Template:Sfn During the tenure of Pontius Pilate (c. 26–36 CE), several incidents provoked unrest: the introduction of military standards into Jerusalem, the diversion of Temple funds to build an aqueduct, and a soldier's indecent exposure near the Temple.Template:Sfn

Although initially pacified (the years between 7 and 26 being relatively quiet), the province continued to be a source of trouble under Emperor Caligula (after 37). The cause of tensions in the east of the empire was complicated, involving the spread of Greek culture, Roman law, and the rights of Jews in the empire. Caligula did not trust the prefect of Roman Egypt, Aulus Avilius Flaccus. Flaccus had been loyal to Tiberius, had conspired against Caligula's mother, and had connections with Egyptian separatists.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus III.8, IV.21.</ref>Template:Better source needed In 38 Caligula sent Herod Agrippa to Alexandria unannounced to check on Flaccus.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.26–28.</ref>Template:Better source needed According to Philo, the visit was met with jeers from the Greek population, who saw Agrippa as the king of the Jews.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus V.29.</ref><ref name="Unger2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Flaccus tried to placate both the Greek population and Caligula by having statues of the emperor placed in Jewish synagogues.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VI.43.</ref><ref name="Modrzejewski1997">Template:Cite book</ref> As a result, extensive religious riots broke out in the city.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus VII.45.</ref> Caligula responded by removing Flaccus from his position and executing him.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, Flaccus XXI.185.</ref> In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus mentions that in 39 CE Agrippa accused Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, of planning a rebellion against Roman rule with the help of Parthia. Antipas confessed, and Caligula exiled him. Agrippa was rewarded with his territories.<ref name="josephus-antiquities-18-7-2">Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.7.2.</ref>

Riots again erupted in Alexandria in 38 between Jews and Greeks.<ref name="zepjql">Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1.</ref> Jews were accused of not honoring the emperor.<ref name = "zepjql"/> Disputes occurred also in Jamnia.<ref name="philo-gaius-30">Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201.</ref> Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it.<ref name="philo-gaius-30" /> In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Temple in Jerusalem,<ref name="philo-gaius-statue">Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.203.</ref> a demand in conflict with Jewish monotheism.<ref name="philo-caligula-16">Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XVI.115.</ref> In this context, Philo writes that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his".<ref name="philo-caligula-16"/> Fearing civil war if the order were carried out, Publius Petronius—governor of Roman Syria—delayed implementing it for nearly a year.<ref>Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXXI.213.</ref> Agrippa finally convinced Caligula to reverse the order.<ref name = "zepjql"/> However, only Caligula's death at the hands of Roman conspirators in 41 prevented a full-scale war in Judaea, that might have spread to the rest of the eastern part of the empire.<ref>M. Stern, "The period of the Second Temple" in H.H. Ben-Sasson (ed.), A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, Template:ISBN, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254–256: "The reign of Gaius Caligula (37–41) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio-Claudian empire. Until then – if one accepts Sejanus's heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus's banishment – there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the empire ... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides. ... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of himself be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Only Caligula's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators (41), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish-Roman war that might well have spread to the entire eastern provinces of the Roman Empire."</ref>

Caligula's death did not stop the tensions completely, and in 46 an insurrection led by two brothers, the Jacob and Simon uprising, broke out in the Judea province. The revolt, mainly in the Galilee, began as sporadic insurgency; when it climaxed in 48 it was quickly put down by Roman authorities. Both Simon and Jacob were executed.<ref name="Firestone2012">Template:Cite book</ref>

First Jewish–Roman WarEdit

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

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

File:Gamla ruin.jpg

Roman breach in the walls of Gamla, Golan, captured after a prolonged siege in late 67 CE

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

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

File:Arc titus relief sud.jpg

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

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

File:Masada Massada 3.JPG

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

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

Diaspora RevoltEdit

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File:Roman Empire - Jewish Revolt (117 AD).png

Roman provinces involved in the Diaspora Revolt (115–117)

In 115 CE, a wave of large-scale Jewish uprisings, known as the "Diaspora Revolt", erupted almost simultaneously across several provinces in the Eastern Mediterranean.Template:Sfn At that time, Emperor Trajan was further east, engaged in a military campaign against the Parthian Empire in Mesopotamia.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The uprisings, which followed decades of ethnic tensions that sometimes escalated into violence,Template:Sfn appear to have been influenced by events in Judaea, including the destruction of the TempleTemplate:Sfn and the arrival of insurgents after the First Jewish–Roman War, spreading revolutionary ideas among local Jewish communities.Template:Sfn Also fueling the unrest were messianic expectations of divine redemption,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn the humiliating Jewish Tax,Template:Sfn and what seems to be an attempt to create a mass movement of Jews from the diaspora into Judaea.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In Libya, Jewish forces launched attacks against Greek and Roman populations under the leadership of either Andreas (according to Dio/Xiphilinus) or Lukuas (according to Eusebius) – possibly the same individual known by both names.Template:Sfn Dio describes extreme brutality by the Jewish forces in the Libyan region of Cyrenaica, but these accounts are likely exaggerated.Template:Sfn In Egypt, the uprising reportedly began with clashes between Jewish communities and their Greek neighbors,Template:Sfn escalating when Lukuas and his followers arrived from Cyrenaica. They plundered the countryside and overcame local resistance, prompting Greeks, supported by Egyptian peasants and Romans, to retaliate with a massacre of Alexandria's Jews.Template:Sfn In both provinces, the Jews destroyed public sites such as the shrine of Nemesis near AlexandriaTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn and temples in Libya,Template:Sfn while also securing control of waterways in Egypt.Template:Sfn In Cyprus, Jewish rebels under Artemion's leadership reportedly devastated the island and the city of Salamis.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Eusebius also mentions Roman violence against Jews in Mesopotamia, but modern analysis of the available evidence suggests this was part of broader local uprisings against Roman rule, with Jewish involvement likely influenced by their favorable status under Parthian control.Template:Sfn

The uprisings in Egypt and Libya were suppressed by Marcius Turbo, who was redirected from the campaign against the Parthians.Template:Sfn In late 116 or early 117,Template:Sfn he arrived in Egypt with substantial land and naval forces, including Roman legions, auxiliaries, and local recruits.Template:Sfn Turbo carried out extensive and brutal military campaigns, reportedly annihilating the Jewish population.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In Mesopotamia, another general, Lusius Quietus, was involved in subduing local insurgency. Following this, he was appointed governor of Judaea.Template:Sfn It was around this time that localized unrest, referred to in rabbinic sources as the Kitos War after Quietus, occurred in the province.Template:Sfn However, the evidence in ancient sources is so limited that the details of these events remain unclear.Template:Sfn The uprisings in the diaspora were likely quelled by summer or autumn 117 CE,Template:Sfn though it is possible that unrest in Egypt continued into the winter of 117/118 CE.Template:Sfn

The aftermath brought devastating consequences for Jewish communities. A campaign of ethnic cleansing led to the near-complete extermination of Jews from Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and Egypt.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Trajan implemented a new registry cataloging confiscated Jewish properties.Template:Sfn Alexandria's wealthy and influential Jewish community was effectively destroyed, with survivors limited to those who fled early in the uprising.Template:Sfn The city's grand synagogue, celebrated in the Talmud, was destroyed,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and its Jewish court likely abolished.Template:Sfn Some Jews may have escaped to Judaea and Syria.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The physical impact was equally severe. Archaeological evidence shows such extensive damage to Cyrene that Hadrian needed to rebuild the city early in his reign.Template:Sfn A festival commemorating the victory over the Jews continued in Egypt eighty years later, c. 200 CE.Template:Sfn In Cyprus, Jews were permanently banned; Cassius Dio noted that even in his time, during the third century, Jews faced death if found on the island, even due to shipwreck.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Jewish communities only gradually re-established themselves: in Egypt during the third century (though never regaining their former influence),Template:Sfn and in Cyprus and Cyrenaica by the fourth century.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Bar Kokhba revoltEdit

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The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135/136 CE<ref>for the year 136, see: W. Eck, The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View, pp. 87–88.</ref>) was the last major Jewish revolt and organized effort to regain national independence.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The immediate catalysts for the rebellion included Emperor Hadrian's decision to establish the pagan colony of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn extinguishing Jewish hopes for the Temple's restoration, and possibly also the imposition of a ban on circumcision.Template:Sfn

Under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels launched a highly organized resistance, initially achieving substantial military success. Unlike previous revolts, Jewish forces were well-prepared, employing guerrilla tactics, fortified hideouts, and an extensive network of underground hideout systems and tunnels.Template:Sfn Bar Kokhba was declared "Nasi (Prince) of Israel" and was supported by prominent figures, including Rabbi Akiva, one of the most revered sages of the time, who identified him as the Messiah, a figure in Jewish eschatology who stems from the Davidic line and will restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher the Messianic age. The rebels succeeded in establishing a short-lived independent Jewish state, exerting control over much of southern and central Judaea. As a symbol of sovereignty, they issued coinage bearing Jewish iconography and inscriptions affirming independence, reminiscent of those minted during the First Jewish Revolt.Template:Sfn

The insurgency presented an acute challenge to the Romans. Hadrian took the time to assemble a vast force under Sextus Julius Severus, comprising six full legions, auxiliaries, and reinforcements from up to six additional legions, and then launched a campaign of systematic devastation of Judaea. In 135 CE, after a brutal siege, the Jewish fortress of Betar fell and Bar Kokhba died. Some rebels, having retreated into refuge caves in the Judaean Desert, were besieged and starved by Roman forces.

AftermathEdit

The Jewish-Roman wars profoundly transformed the Jewish people, converting a once-prominent population in the Eastern Mediterranean into a dispersed and persecuted minority.<ref name="Hitti, P. K2">Template:Cite book</ref> These conflicts caused extensive casualties and destruction throughout Judea and led to mass displacement and the enslavement of many. While the First Jewish-Roman War devastated Jerusalem—destroying the center of Jewish political, national, and religious life—the Bar Kokhba revolt had even more catastrophic consequences, effectively depopulating Judea, the core of the Jewish homeland, of its Jewish population.

The consequences for the Jews of Judaea were catastrophic, characterized by widespread destruction and mass slaughter, which some historians regard as genocidal in scope.Template:Sfn According to surviving ancient accounts, hundreds of thousands of Jews perished,<ref name="raviv2021">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Mohr Siebek et al. Edited by Peter Schäfer. The Bar Kokhba War reconsidered. 2003. pp. 142–143.</ref> while countless others were enslaved or exiled.Template:Sfn The region of Judea (as opposed to the entire province) was heavily depopulated, with surviving Jewish communities largely concentrated in Galilee. The defeat marked a turning point in Jewish history, leading to a shift in messianic expectations and the development of a more cautious, conservative rabbinical approach to political resistance. The war and its aftermath accelerated the emergence of early Christianity as a distinct religion from Judaism.<ref>M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 p. 143</ref> Roman reprisals included severe religious restrictions, such as bans on circumcision and Shabbat observance. Hadrian completed the transformation of Jerusalem into Aelia Capitolina, barring Jews from entering and settling foreign populations there. At the former Jewish sanctuary on the Temple Mount he installed two statues, one of Jupiter and another of himself.<ref>H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, page 334: "Jews were forbidden to live in the city and were allowed to visit it only once a year, on the Ninth of Ab, to mourn on the ruins of their holy Temple."</ref>

The designation Syria-Palaestina was applied to the former Roman province of Judaea during the early 2nd century CE. This has been interpreted as a punitive move to remove the memory of Judaea and sever Jewish ties to the land,<ref name="H.H. Ben-Sasson, 1976, page 3342">H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, Template:ISBN, p. 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 332">Ariel Lewin. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name—one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus—Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." Template:ISBN</ref> a decision attributed to Emperor Hadrian.<ref name="IBenj">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lehmann3">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Vaux">de Vaux, Roland (1978), The Early History of Israel, p. 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in 135, the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Palestinian Syria."</ref><ref name=":12">Sharon, Moshe (1988). Pillars of Smoke and Fire: The Holy Land in History and Thought.</ref><ref name="Lehmann32">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="BSass">Ben-Sasson, H.H. (1976). A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, Template:ISBN, page 334: "In an effort to wipe out all memory of the bond between the Jews and the land, Hadrian changed the name of the province from Judaea to Syria-Palestina, a name that became common in non-Jewish literature."</ref><ref>Keel, Küchler & Uehlinger (1984), p. 279.</ref> However, no conclusive evidence exists to confirm the precise timing or authority behind the change,<ref name="F902">Template:Harvnb</ref> and it is possible the renaming occurred even before the revolt ended.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Other scholars dispute the name change being punitive, noting that the name Palestine had long been used to describe the southern Levant even during the Classical era. The term appears in Classical sources like Herodotus and was also used by Jewish authors such as Philo and Josephus while Judaea was still a province. <ref name="Jacob2001">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> From this perspective, the decision may have been administrative, reflecting the broader territorial scope of the new province after its merger with Galilee.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The destruction of the Temple was a watershed moment in Jewish history, transforming both religious practice and social structure.Template:Sfn The Temple stood at the heart of Jewish religious and national life,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn serving as the center for sacrificial worship that had been central to Judaism for centuries,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and as the primary symbol of Jewish sovereignty. Its loss created a vacuum that demanded a reimagining of Jewish life.Template:Sfn This episode also ended Jewish sectarianism: The Sadducees, whose authority and prestige were linked to the Temple, vanished as a distinct group, as did the ascetic Essenes.Template:Sfn Template:Efn However, the Pharisees, who had generally opposed the first revolt, emerged as the dominant religious force.Template:Sfn Their emphasis on prayer, scriptural interpretation, and religious law proved crucial for Judaism's survival. Under their successors, the rabbis,Template:Sfn Judaism underwent a reconstruction that enabled it to flourish without its central institution. This transformation centered on elements that could be practiced anywhere: prayer as a substitute for sacrifice, Torah study, and the performance of good deeds.Template:Sfn The synagogue, which had already existed as an institution during the Second Temple period, grew in prominence, becoming a central venue for Jewish worship and communal life.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn These changes established patterns of religious practice that would sustain and shape Jewish life for millennia, even as Jews faced further exile and dispersion from the Land of Israel.<ref>Rabbi Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed.), The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon, Jerusalem 1988, p. 6.</ref>

The Tosefta records 2nd century sage Rabbi Ishmael comparing "the day the Temple was destroyed" to the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt, describing it as a time when the Romans were "uprooting the Torah from among us."<ref>Tosefta, Sotah 15:10 (Lieberman edition)</ref>Template:Sfn A Tannaitic tradition attributed to Rabbi Akiva marks the Ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av) as the date of both Temple destructions; the Mishnah later expands this commemoration to include events from the Bar Kokhba revolt: "Betar was captured and the city was ploughed", referring to the fall of the final stronghold and the Roman transformation of Jerusalem into Aelia Capitolina.<ref>Mishnah, Ta'anit 4:5–6</ref>Template:Sfn Another passage in the Mishnah presents the three Jewish revolts as each leading to added mourning practices in the context of weddings: as a result of the "war of Vespasian", "they forbade the crowns of the grooms and the drum"; following the "war of Quietus" (though in another manuscript, Titus), "they forbade the crowns of the brides", while "in the final war", they "forbade brides to ride in a litter inside the city."<ref>Mishnah, Sotah 9:14 (Parma manuscript)</ref>Template:Sfn

According to rabbinic tradition, a key moment in this transformation took place during the siege of Jerusalem, when the Pharisaic sage Yohanan ben Zakkai had himself smuggled out of the city in a coffin. After meeting with Vespasian and prophesying his rise to the imperial throne, Yohanan secured permission to establish an academy at Yavne. This institution became a leading center of rabbinic activity, where significant enactments were introduced to reshape Jewish life and observance without the temple.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, major centers of Jewish learning emerged in the Galilee and Babylonia, where scholars compiled the foundational texts of rabbinic Judaism: the Mishnah (early 3rd century) and later, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, which became primary sources of Jewish law and religious guidance.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Jewish–Roman wars

Contents

SequenceEdit

BackgroundEdit

First Jewish–Roman WarEdit

Diaspora RevoltEdit

Bar Kokhba revoltEdit

AftermathEdit

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

BibliographyEdit

Further readingEdit