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First Jewish-Roman War - The fall

First Jewish-Roman War - The fall: Encyclopedia II - First Jewish-Roman War - The fall

Emperor Nero appointed general Vespasian instead of Gallus to crush the rebellion. Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and with his legions — X Fretensis and V Macedonica, 60,000 professional soldiers — methodically cleared the coast and the North. Some towns gave up without a fight. By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the North had been crushed. The leaders of collapsed Northern revolt, John of Giscala and Simon ben Jair, managed to escape to Jerusalem. Brutal civil war erupted: the Zealots and Sicari ...

First Jewish-Roman War: Encyclopedia II - First Jewish-Roman War - The fall

First Jewish-Roman War - The fall

Emperor Nero appointed general Vespasian instead of Gallus to crush the rebellion. Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and with his legions — X Fretensis and V Macedonica, 60,000 professional soldiers — methodically cleared the coast and the North. Some towns gave up without a fight. By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the North had been crushed.

The leaders of collapsed Northern revolt, John of Giscala and Simon ben Jair, managed to escape to Jerusalem. Brutal civil war erupted: the Zealots and Sicarii executed anyone advocating surrender, and by 68 the entire leadership of the southern revolt was dead, all killed by the Jews, none by the Romans.

After the death of Nero and with the backing of the army, Vespasian was proclaimed emperor in 69 and left for Rome to take the throne from Vitellius in a brief Roman civil war, the so-called Year of the four emperors.

Titus Flavius, Vespasian's son, led the final assault and siege of Jerusalem. During the infighting inside the city walls, a stockpiled supply of dry food was intentionally burned to induce the defenders to fight against the siege instead of negotiating peace; as a result many city dwellers and soldiers died of starvation during the siege. Zealots under Eleazar ben Simon held the Temple, Sicarii led by Simon ben Giora held the upper city.

By the summer of 70 the Romans had breached the walls of Jerusalem, ransacking and burning nearly the entire city. The Second Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av (August 29 or August 30), 70. John of Giscala surrendered at Agrippa II's fortress of Jotaphta and was brought to Rome for public execution. The famous Arch of Titus still stands in Rome: it depicts Roman legionaries carrying off the Temple of Jerusalem's treasuries, including the menorah.

During the spring of 71, Titus set sail for Rome. A new military governor was then appointed from Rome, Lucilius Bassus, whose assigned task was to undertake the "mopping-up" operations in Judaea. He used X Fretensis to oppose the few remaining fortresses that still resisted. Bassus took Herodium, and then crossed the Jordan to capture the fortress of Machaerus on the shore of the Dead Sea. Due to illness, Bassus did not live to complete his mission. Lucius Flavius Silva replaced him, and moved against the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, in the autumn of 72. He used Legio X, auxiliary troops, and thousands of Jewish prisoners. After his orders for surrender were rejected, Silva established several base camps and a wall of circumvolution completely around the fortress. According to Josephus, when the Romans finally broke through the walls of this citadel (73), they discovered that the 960 defenders had preferred death with a mass suicide to surrender (this claim has been challenged[1]).