Seder Olam Revisited: C32d- Titus
- Albert Benhamou
- Sep 13
- 44 min read
Updated: Oct 7
CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY
Generation 32: Hebrew years 3720-3840 (40 BCE - 80CE)
Previous page < Navigation > Next page
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Introduction
This 32nd chronological generation sees the times of great troubles for the Jewish people, with the increase rule of Rome over the Jewish nation, the rise of Christianity and the destruction of the Second Temple.
Hebrew Year | CE | Event | Source |
3830 | 70 | Assault on Jerusalem | Josephus, War, 5, 1-13 |
3830 | 70 | Fall of Jerusalem | Josephus, War, 6, 1-9 ; Tacitus, Histories, 5 ; Sulpicius Severus, Sacred History, 2 ; Suetonius, Life of Titus ; Talmud Gittin, 56b |
3831 | 71 | The Sabbation River | Pliny the Elder, 31:18 ; Josephus, War, 7 ; Talmud Sanhedrin, 65b |
3834 | 74 | Fall of Masada | Josephus, War, 7 |
3839 | 79 | Pompeii |
Year 3830 – 70 CE – The assault on Jerusalem
Before heading to Rome, Vespasian gave the command of the army of Judea to his son Titus, who was only 30 years old but had a lot of experience of warfare gained alongside his father in their previous campaigns.
Vespasian also placed Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Alexandria and previous procurator of Judea, to second his son Titus. Tiberius Alexander was of Jewish origin, whose family had assimilated to Roman culture and gained Roman citizenship. He was a friend of Agrippa II as both came to rule over Judea at the same time around 45 CE. Both Tiberius Alexander and Agrippa II witnessed, at the side of the Romans, the events that unfolded in this last phase of the war of the Jews.
By the time his father reached Rome, Titus was besieging Jerusalem. He pitched his command post on a hill, which is the present-day Mount Scopus, as Cestius had done before him. He had the existing three legions under his command: Legio V Macedonica which was later sent to the borders north of Romania, Legio X Fretensis which remained in Judea after the war and for over 200 years, and Legio XV Apollinaris which was later sent to the border with Armenia. But Vespasian also added to him Legio XII legion Fulminata who had previously been defeated in Judea during the campaign of Cestius.
So, Titus had four legions, and also cavalry, Syrian and Arabian foreign auxiliaries. In total, his army exceeded 30,000 fighters. As for the Jews, they had 24,000 fighters composed of the Sicarii, the Zealots and also the Idumeans (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,6,1). But the civilian population is said to have been more than 1 million people in the city (mainly due to the refugees who flocked in the city during Vespasian's campaign in Galilee).
The besieged city was in great disorder and under the control of two armed factions fighting one against the other: on one side the Zealots had the upper hand on the Temple Mount and on the other side the Sicarii led by Simon bar Giora and his son Eleazar. The latter had the initial support of the population, who had enough of the terror previously exercised by the Zealots but had now to suffer their liberators. Josephus recalled that the population was eager to see the Romans deliver them from these factions (but such statement, aimed at the Roman readership, would be expected coming from Josephus):
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. The aged men and the women were in such distress by their internal calamities that they wished for the Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery from their domestical miseries. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,1,5)
Titus decided to force the walls from the "New City", located at the north-western side of the city, where the natural defenses were not so difficult to overcome and where the defense walls were lower compared to the grounds. In fact, all armies who attacked Jerusalem in the past 3000 years had done so from the northern side for this topographical reason. The only exception was done by the Israeli army in June 1967 who attacked the city from the east when they took it from the Jordanian army.
The Legio XII legionnaires were eager to get a revenge of their previous defeat and fought harder against the exits that the Jews made from time to time in their attempts to break down the works of the Roman engineers against the walls or to destroy the war machines that threw stones and darts at the city:
So, this fight about the machines was very hot, while one side tried hard to set them on fire, and the other side to prevent it; on both sides there was a confused cry made, and many of those in the forefront of the battle were slain. However, the Jews were now too hard for the Romans, by the furious assaults they made like madmen; and the fire caught hold of the works, and both all those works, and the engines themselves, had been in danger of being burnt, had not many of these select soldiers that came from Alexandria opposed themselves to prevent it, and had they not behaved themselves with greater courage than they themselves supposed they could have done; for they outdid those in this fight that had greater reputation than themselves before. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,6,5)
Then Titus ordered the making of moveable towers that were higher than the walls. They were to be used by archers to reduce the defense of the outer walls and to protect the works of the Roman sappers to weaken and break the wall. Ultimately the Romans made a breach in the north-western part of the outer wall, the so-called Third Wall, initially started by Agrippa I and completed in haste during the present revolt (see document C32b, year 41). So, the Jews retreated to the next middle (second) wall, so-called Herodian Wall, as built it had been built by Herod. Archaeologists found evidence of the Roman siege on the north-western side of the city, in the modern-day Russian Compound, with remains of catapults and scores of rounded rocks used to breach this third wall: the findings were published in 2016 (to read the article, click here). The outer (third) wall was finally entirely taken by the Romans after 15 days of assaults, in the 7th of Iyar (May-June) of the year 70 and was almost entirely demolished.
Titus then moved his camp inside the city, between the outer wall and the middle wall, and displaced his line of defense (earth wall) there as well. This move encouraged his soldiers to fight more bravely under his personal and closer watch. The middle wall was breached five days after the outer wall by taking the Antonia Tower which was in fact a four-tower fortress built by Herod and named after his protector of that time, Mark Antony.
Now the battle moved towards the city, with its dense population and narrow alleys:
And then [the Jews] attacked those Romans that had come within the wall. Some of them they met in the narrow streets, and some they fought against from their houses, while they made a sudden sally out at the upper gates, and assaulted such Romans as were beyond the wall, till those that guarded the wall were so affrighted, that they leaped down from their towers, and retired to their several camps: upon which a great noise was made by the Romans that were within, because they were encompassed round on every side by their enemies; as also by them that were without, because they were in fear for those that were left in the city. Thus did the Jews grow more numerous perpetually, and had great advantages over the Romans, by their full knowledge of those narrow lanes; and they wounded a great many of them, and fell upon them, and drove them out of the city. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,8,1)
The first attack in the breach was thus repulsed by the Jews but the Romans succeeded to take control of it after 3 days of fighting. Then Titus ordered the destruction of the middle wall. The Romans now faced the first and inner wall, giving access to the upper and lower cities and to the flanks of the Temple precinct.
Five days later, on the 12th of Iyar, Titus started the works to prepare the final assault to the inner wall. Josephus also mentioned that he endeavored to leave time for the Jews to think of their situation and give up the siege to save their city. Even Josephus tried to exhort the fighters to give up the doomed fight:
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, and not to be more obdurate in these cases than foreigners themselves. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,9,3)
The point was that the strongest walls of the city had already been destroyed and thus the attack on the last wall would mean the Romans would soon reach the Temple. Besides, even without leading any final assault, the lack of supplies and the general famine in the city would eventually kill its inhabitants if the siege would last longer. And, without surrender, a final assault would mean that the city would be delivered to the hands of the soldiers for several days, as the rules of war dictated. The situation of the Jews was thus desperate unless a divine miracle would come. But there was no expectation to this, as the Temple had long been profaned by unworthy men, battles, murders, and other calamities. Josephus continued his exhortation, and mentioned a detail about the water that was now in want in Jerusalem:
And as for Titus, those springs [outside the city walls] that were formerly almost dried up when they were under your power since he has come, run more plentifully than they did before; accordingly, you know that Siloam, as well as all the other springs that were without [sic. within] the city, did so far fail, that water was sold by distinct measures [by rationing]; whereas they now have such a great quantity of water for your enemies, as is sufficient not only for drink both for themselves and their cattle, but for watering their gardens also. The same wonderful sign you had also experience of formerly, 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. Wherefore I cannot but suppose that God is fled out of his sanctuary and stands on the side of those against whom you fight. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,9,4)
These efforts did not stop the Jewish fighters but convinced some civilians to escape from the city. Titus encouraged this movement and let those who escaped go free and leave the area. Yet, when the armed rebellious groups saw this happening, they killed whoever attempted to escape. According to Josephus, they killed many of the richer people who were eager to leave, although the famine was on the increase and that it was not possible to feed all the population:
Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort; but of barley if they were poorer. When these had so done, they shut themselves up in the inmost rooms of their houses, and ate the corn they had gotten; some did it without grinding it, by reason of the extremity of the want they were in, and others baked bread of it, according as necessity and fear dictated to them: a table was nowhere laid for a distinct meal, but they snatched the bread out of the fire, half-baked, and ate it very hastily. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,10,2)
Some people managed to get out of the inner walls to try to find food in the valleys that surrounded the other south-eastern side of the city. But the Romans ambushed them and crucified any one they captured, in hope that the dreadful sight would convince the fighters to surrender out of fear of what would wait for them:
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; nay, some days they caught more: yet it did not appear to be safe for him to let those that were taken by force go their way, and to set a guard over so many he saw would be to make such as great deal them useless to him.
The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. 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. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,11,1)
And when the valleys were filled with crucified corpses, with no more room to apply the same torment to the newcomers, Titus ordered to cut off their hands and to send them back inside the city so that they would not be able to participate in the fighting and could serve as examples for those who remained.
On the 29th Iyar, the Romans completed the ground works to prepare for the final assault. This consisted of raising four banks, one for each legion, as ramps for the war machines and the assault in four separate places of the inner wall. At this time, the defenders threw all sorts of materials over the wall, with bitumen, and set them on fire so that it would destroy the works done by the Romans. The tactics worked and the Romans retrieved what could be saved of their war machines and rams:
However, seeing the banks of the Romans demolished, these Romans were very much cast down upon the loss of what had cost them so long pains, and this in one hour's time. And many indeed despaired of taking the city with their usual engines of war only. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,11,6)
Titus could have just surrounded the city and waited for the famine to do its work, as Caesar did to the Gauls besieged in Alesia. But the Roman commander didn’t want to win a war without action. So, the ground works resumed, this time in building an earth wall that would encompass the city and prevent anyone escaping from it. Then the famine continued to take its toll and the robbers ruled over the ghastly city:
A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they break open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what metal they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand and their sword to dispatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple and left the seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not to endure the stench of their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,12,3)
Titus was fully aware that the city was held by seditious factions and that the civilians were the ones paying the human cost of the siege, so he ordered the banks and the ramps to be built again, hoping to end the war at the soonest. Some of these citizens were Josephus’ parents themselves who were put in prison by Simon bar Giora, the leader of the Sicarii (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,13,1).
One of the Jewish defenders caught on the 1st of Tammuz, when the general attack started, declared to Titus that, through the gate he oversaw, they carried no less than 115,000 dead bodies out of the city since the 14th of the previous month of Sivan. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5,13,7).
On that night, one of the towers of the Antonia fortress collapsed from the hammering of its walls. This was an important milestone, and an unexpected result too, because the Antonia towers stood higher than the floor of the Temple Mount adjacent to them. Climbing on top of these towers meant that the Romans would then be able to slip into the Temple courts below.
On the 3rd day of Tammuz, the first Romans climbed up the ruins of the collapsed tower but met with resistance from the defenders. On the 5th day, a night expedition of a few Romans managed to take control of the tower. Now all the Romans followed shortly after signal was made that the passage was taken, and the Jews fled towards the Temple to protect the passage to its courts. And they fought dearly all-night hand to hand against the Romans for the control of the narrow passage:
At length the Jews' violent zeal was too hard for the Romans' skill, and the battle already inclined entirely that way; for the fight had lasted from the ninth hour of the night till the seventh hour of the day, While the Jews came on in crowds, and had the danger the temple was in for their motive; the Romans having no more here than a part of their army; for those legions, on which the soldiers on that side depended, were not come up to them. So, it was at present thought sufficient by the Romans to take possession of the tower of Antonia. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,1,7)
On the 7th of Tammuz, the daily sacrifices of the Temple were stopped, probably due to the lack of animals to sacrifice !
Year 3830 – 70 CE – The fall of Jerusalem
On the 17th of Tammuz, Titus gave orders to dig under the foundations of the broken tower of Antonia to make a broader passage for his army. It was a day of Jewish bad omen because it was on that day, after 40 days, that Moses came down from Mount Sinai, saw the Hebrews dancing around the Golden Calf and broke the two tablets where God had inscribed the Ten Commandments. That day will become a day of fast for future Jewish generations, as the commencement of the three weeks period until the destruction of the Second Temple. The destruction of the First Temple also followed a breach in its walls that the Babylonians did in Tammuz:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it; in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. (Jeremiah 39:1-2)
According to Josephus, who may have tried to exonerate Vespasian and his son, his protectors, Titus tried to save the Temple and proposed to the seditious factions to choose another place of fighting than the courts of the Temple which he promised to preserve. But the Zealots wouldn’t hear it or saw it as a sign of weakness from their enemy and preferred to defile the sanctuary with the dead bodies of their fighters and of their enemies, instead of leaving the precinct of the Temple (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,2,4).
After 7 days of work, on the 24th of Tammuz, the foundations of the tower of Antonia were overthrown and a broad passage was made for the Roman army. Soon the Romans penetrated to the edge of the Court of the Gentiles, in the precinct. A fire started in the Antonia area and spread towards the Temple close by.
At this point, it seems that some of the fighters attempted an exit and rushed to the Roman camp on the Mount of the Olives, opposite the Temple Mount. But the attempt was stopped against the Roman fortifications that encompassed the city.
On the 27th of Tammuz, the Jews set the cloisters of the Court of Gentiles on fire to stop the Roman advance. The Romans had not anticipated such move and the passage was crowded, so many of them died in the fire or were cut off from their rear and killed by the Jews inside. The next day, the Romans burned the rest of the northern cloister over its entire length up to the Kidron valley on the eastern side.
At about this time, the news spread in the city and in the Roman camp that one woman killed her own child out of despair and hunger and ate him. Josephus recorded Titus’ thoughts at this horror that justified in his eyes the destruction of the city:
And while he said this, he reflected on the desperate condition these men must be in; nor could he expect that such men could be recovered to sobriety of mind, after they had endured those very sufferings, for the avoiding whereof it only was probable they might have repented. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,3,5)
This horror of the war, and the thought that the holy city was destined to be destroyed, may have fueled the legend that some historians later recorded, as having happened before the final assault, maybe in a goal to exonerate the Romans, or Titus, from the destruction that was about to take place:
A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the orient would triumph and from Judea would go forth men destined to rule the world. This mysterious prophecy really referred to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, true to the selfish ambitions of mankind, thought that this mighty destiny was reserved for them, and not even their calamities opened their eyes to the truth. (Tacitus, Histories, 5:13)
Without knowing about it, Tacitus mentioned the Jewish belief that these were Messianic times.
On the 8th of the month of Av, two legions were ready for the final assault, and Titus ordered the rams to be brought in. But these machines proved useless against the size of the stones used by Herod to build the Temple. So, the assault was attempted by climbing the walls of its court with ladders. But the Jews fought back and prevented the attack. Titus, worried by a greater loss of his men if he continued to try preserve the Temple, gave orders to burn the doors to access the inner court, the last refuge of the Zealots. The fire then spread to the cloisters that surrounded the inner court.
Titus gathered a council to decide what to do with the Temple. Although opinions were expressed that the Temple ought to be burned, Titus argue to the contrary, according to Josephus:
But Titus said, that "although the Jews should get upon that holy house, and fight us thence, yet ought we not to revenge ourselves on things that are inanimate, instead of the men themselves;" and that he was not in any case for burning down so vast a work as that was, because this would be a mischief to the Romans themselves, as it would be an ornament to their government while it continued. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,4,3)
So, he ordered the fire to be extinguished and not let it spread further. But later Historians contradicted Josephus' version and made it obvious that Titus was in favor of destroying the Temple:
Titus is said, after calling a council, to have first deliberated whether he should destroy the temple, a structure of such extraordinary work. For it seemed good to some that a sacred edifice, distinguished above all human achievements, ought not to be destroyed, inasmuch as, if preserved, it would furnish evidence of Roman moderation, but, if destroyed, would serve for a perpetual proof of Roman cruelty. But on the opposite side, others and Titus himself thought that the temple ought specially to be overthrown, in order that the religion of the Jews and of the Christians might more thoroughly be subverted;[1] for that these religions, although contrary to each other, had nevertheless proceeded from the same authors; that the Christians had sprung up from among the Jews; and that, if the root were extirpated, the offshoot would speedily perish. Thus, according to the divine will, the minds of all being inflamed, the temple was destroyed, three hundred and thirty-one years ago. (Sulpicius Severus, The Sacred History, book II, chapter 30)
The above author was a Christian writer who lived around 400 CE. There is no evidence that, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, Titus was aware of a different Christian religion. And, in these times, the Christians had fled to Pella, a pagan city of the Decapolis on the eastern side of the Jordan river.
But, on the 9th of Av, the Jews gathered their last forces and fought in the court at the first hours of the night, repulsed the guards who stood there, penetrated the inner court of the Temple, and shut themselves up in it. Titus planned to attack them in the early hours of the morning. But during the night, one of the Romans took a torch and threw it inside the inner cloisters through a window, and a fire started.
In the tumult that ensued, the orders of Titus to quench this fire were not heard. Instead, the soldiers, in their enthusiasm to finally conquer the last stand, had already penetrated the inner court and slew every Jew they could find in there. The fire had not reached the holy house yet but was burning its cloisters all around. So, Titus rushed to the place to endeavor to get the soldiers to quench the fire. But the view of the silver, gold and treasures that adorned the holy house was too much for the soldiers’ desire to plunder the place after such a long and exhausting siege.
While the holy house was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity, but children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives, as those that defended themselves by fighting. The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo, together with the groans of those that were slain; and because this hill was high, and the works at the temple were very great, one would have thought the whole city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything either greater or more terrible than this noise; for there was at once a shout from the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword.
The people also that were left above were beaten back upon the enemy, and under great consternation, and made sad moans at the calamity they were under; the multitude also that was in the city joined in this outcry with those that were upon the hill. And besides, many of those that were worn away by the famine, and their mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of the holy house, they exerted their utmost strength, and broke out into groans and outcries again. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,5,1)
Some of the account given by Josephus is suspicious as he wrote his book War of the Jews as a mean to glorify Vespasian and Titus. In fact, there are accounts in the Talmud that proved Josephus wrong, for example the following anecdote after the Romans finally took control of the Temple:
Vespasian sent Titus [to complete the siege of Jerusalem] who said, “where is their God, the rock in whom they trusted?” [Deuteronomy 32:37] This was the wicked Titus who blasphemed and insulted Heaven. What did he do? He took a harlot by the hand and entered the Holy of Holies and spread out a scroll of the Law and committed a sin on it. He then took a sword and slashed the curtain. Miraculously blood spurted out, and he thought that he had slain himself. (Talmud, Gittin, 56b)
Some Roman historians also disproved Josephus:
Besides his cruelty, he [Titus] lay under the suspicion of giving way to habits of luxury, as he often prolonged his revels till midnight with the most riotous of his acquaintance. Nor was he unsuspected of lewdness, on account of the swarms of catamites and eunuchs about him, and his well-known attachment to queen Berenice, who received from him, as it is reported, a promise of marriage. He was supposed, besides, to be of a rapacious disposition; for it is certain, that, in causes which came before his father, he used to offer his interest for sale, and take bribes. In short, people publicly expressed an unfavorable opinion of him, and said he would prove another Nero. (Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus, VII, 468-469; for the text online, click here)
Berenice was the sister of Agrippa II, and the concubine of Titus. He took her to Rome to marry her, but the Romans would not accept a Jewess being the wife of a future emperor.
In another of his books, Josephus gave a description of the Temple. One detail refers to the size of the pillars (columns) that stood in the royal cloister (so-called the Royal Stoa):
This cloister had pillars that stood in four rows one over against the other all along, for the fourth row was interwoven into the wall, which [also was built of stone]; and the thickness of each pillar was such, that three men might, with their arms extended, fathom it round, and join their hands again, while its length was twenty-seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis; and the number of all the pillars [in that court] was a hundred and sixty-two. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 15, chapter 410 ; full text available online by clicking here)
The base of these massive pillars can still be seen today in Jerusalem in a few places.
Josephus also gave his account of the numbers of years that the Temple stood:
Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai, in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian, there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,4,8)
Solomon started to build the First Temple in Hebrew year 2745, 1015 BCE (see document C23b, year 1015 BCE). So, until the year 70 CE, there have been 1085 years, instead of 1130 years assessed by Josephus, an error of 45 years, barely 4% error. As for the duration of the Second Temple, Josephus got it wrong too but not by a significant difference either: he assessed 639 years from the second year of Cyrus. But, since the Persian conquest of Babylon took place in 540 BCE and since the first foundations of the Temple were laid in year 539 BCE, there were 609 years until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Thus, Josephus made another error of about 4% in his second assessment too.
We have previously seen that Jewish tradition says that the Second Temple was destroyed after 420 years. How to conciliate this tradition with the 609 years? It is because, as before for the First Temple, tradition only counts the years when a proper divine service was operated. As we know, the service was not always divine during these 609 years when the Second Temple stood because it was interrupted at the beginning, due to the complaint from the Samaritans to the king of Persia, then the service was often broken during the Seleucid kingdom when high priests were elected according to their allegiance to the ruler rather than tradition. The service was then greatly affected in the years of the Herodian dynasty when the High Priests were chosen by the foreign rulers according to power and wealth from the collaborating Sadducees. And last, the service was interrupted during the war against Rome from about the time when Vespasian left for Rome. Some may say that the last 40 years before the Temple was destroyed were already doomed because the Sanhedrin moved away from the Temple precinct in 30 CE.
The above painting is not fully accurate concerning the candelabrum because, according to Josephus, two priests who had escaped the previous slaughter proposed to surrender to Titus in exchange for the precious items that had been deposited in the Temple and that had been spared from destruction:
But now at this time it was that one of the priests, the son of Thebuthus, whose name was Joshua, upon his having security given him, by the oath of Caesar [Titus], that he should be preserved, upon condition that he should deliver to him certain of the precious things that had been reposited in the temple came out of it, and delivered him from the wall of the holy house two candlesticks, like to those that lay in the holy house, with tables, and cisterns, and vials, all made of solid gold, and very heavy. He also delivered to him the veils and the garments, with the precious stones, and a vast number of other precious vessels that belonged to their sacred worship.
The treasurer of the temple also, whose name was Phineas, was seized on, and showed Titus the coats and girdles of the priests, with a great quantity of purple and scarlet, which were there reposited for the uses of the veil, as also a great deal of cinnamon and cassia, with a large quantity of other sweet spices, which used to be mixed together, and offered as incense to God every day.
A great many other treasures were also delivered to him, with sacred ornaments of the temple not a few, which things thus delivered to Titus obtained of him for this man the same pardon that he had allowed to such as deserted of their own accord. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,8,3)
These treasures from the Temple were taken by Titus and brought back to Rome. But the candlesticks given to Titus were copies of the original one (called the menorah) dating from Moses. The reason is that the one depicted on the arch of Titus in Rome does not fully fit the Biblical description of the menorah. And there was only one copy of the original menorah, not two that were offered to Titus.
During the Roman assault, priests of the Temple hid in some secret chambers about the Temple, but they were running out of water and necessities. So, they decided to come out after a few days, hoping for clemency from the conquerors once the rage seemed to have passed:
On the fifth day afterward, the priests who were pinned with the famine came down, and when they were brought to Titus by the guards, they begged for their lives; but he replied, that the time of pardon was over as to them, and that this very holy house, on whose account only they could justly hope to be preserved, was destroyed; and that it was agreeable to their office that priests should perish with the house itself to which they belonged. So, he ordered them to be put to death. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,6,1)
It is unknown when and how the head of the Sanhedrin, the nassi Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel, died but he was already old at this time, and he died of natural causes during this siege or during the massacre that followed when the Romans penetrated the city. He had already passed the religious leadership to Johanan ben Zakkai at the time of the beginning of the siege by Vespasian. When Jerusalem fell, the role of nassi was given to Johanan ben Zakkai who had established a religious school and tribunal in Yavneh (see document 32c, year 69).
As for the leaders of the sedition, they were not granted any safe passage nor surrender. So, they continued the fight or hid inside the lower city, and they also went under the ground where they knew there were caves. But the Romans found these escape routes and set fires in the underground passages.
On the 20th of Av, Titus started to attack the upper city where Simon bar Giora and the Sicarii had found refuge. At that time, the Idumeans who had allied with the Sicarii decided to surrender. A battle thus broke out between the two groups, but this could not prevent the flow of them, and a number of the civilians escaping to the Romans, who set them free to pass in exchange for a ransom for sparing their life.
On the 7th of the next month, Elul (about August), the ramps were ready for the assault against the upper city, the city quarter of rich families (in Jerusalem Old City of today, the remains of this Upper City can be visited in a site called the Herodian Quarter). When the walls started to shake by the battering of the rams, the fighters began to flee through underground tunnels and caves into the Siloam valley. But they soon found themselves facing the fortifications that Titus had raised around the city. Meanwhile the Romans penetrated the upper city only to find dead corpses and desolation, but they set houses on fire (for example, the so-called Burnt House, of a priestly family, can be visited to witness the fire that destroyed the city):
But when they [the Romans] went in numbers into the lanes of the [upper] city with their swords drawn, they slew those whom they overtook without and set fire to the houses whither the Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and laid waste a great many of the rest; and when they were come to the houses to plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that is, of such as died by the famine; they then stood in a horror at this sight, and went out without touching anything.
But although they had this commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner, yet had they not the same for those that were still alive, but they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,8,5)
On the 8th of Elul, Titus came to the upper city to see the awesome size of the towers that protected the walls and decided to leave them as a testimonial of how difficult this city had been to conquer. Some of these structures still exist today, located near the Jaffa Gate in the old city of Jerusalem, and are now part of the Citadel.
Next came the issue of prisoners. Titus sorted the ones who would be used as slaves or in various work sites in the Roman Empire, and slew all who were suspected of having been fighters, and the elderly and infirm ones as well:
So this Fronto [in charge of sorting the prisoners] slew all those that had been seditious and robbers, who were impeached one by another; but of the young men he chose out the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph [in Rome]; and as for the rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian mines. Titus also sent a great number into the provinces, as a present to them, that they might be destroyed upon their theatres, by the sword and by the wild beasts; but those that were under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,9,2)
The sending of slaves to the mines of Egypt may be the realization of Moses’ prophecy to the Hebrews before they entered Canaan. He said the following if they would not follow God’s commandments:
“And the Lord shall scatter you among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
And among these nations shall you have no repose, and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the Lord shall give you there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and languishing of soul. And your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall fear night and day and shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say: 'who will give an evening!' and in the evening you shall say: 'who will give a morning!' for the fear of your heart which you shall fear, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
And the Lord shall bring you back into Egypt in ships, whereof I said unto you: 'You shall see it no more again'; and there you shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwoman, and no man shall buy you.” (Deuteronomy 28:64-68)
The mention of wood and stone must refer to antique pagan worship when all the gods were made of such materials. Some also assume that the reference to ‘wood’ may be Christianity because of the wooden cross as symbol, and the ‘stone’ would refer to Islam because of the black stone in Mecca.
The above Biblical prophecy depicts the hardship that the Jews would go through in the next 2000 years of exile, under Christian or Muslim rules, until the times of Emancipation and Return to Sion (Zionism).
Josephus reckoned that the siege of Jerusalem had costed the life of 1,100,000 Jews, most of them having been trapped in the holy city from the time of Passover of that year, and that 97,000 were taken captives by Titus or sent to slavery in the Roman Empire. He made this assessment from the number of lambs that had been used in Jerusalem for the festival and deducted the number of people being in the city at the time to about 2,700,000 people (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6,9,3). Most of the people died of famine during the siege.
Simon bar Giora, the leader of the Sicarii, who came out from underground caves after Titus left the city, was taken to Rome for triumph. He was initially held in Mamertine Prison as a political prisoner but executed before the triumph. His son managed to escape with a group of his followers and joined the rebels in Masada. As for John, the leader of the Zealots, he was condemned to life imprisonment.
Before leaving the city, Titus gave his last orders:
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 [Titus] 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, Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamne [these towers were part of the destroyed Herod Palace which would later be known as the Citadel of David, so-called by the Crusaders]; and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side [this is the Western Wall, named Kotel in Hebrew].
This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to by the madness of those that were for innovations, a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,1,1)
Titus left the Legio X Legion Fretensis in Jerusalem as a guard. Their camp was located on the ruins of Herod Palace for the next 200 years. But Titus sent the Legio XII, who had been defeated at the time of Cestius, to the limits of the Empire in Armenia. He took the two other legions with him back to Caesarea. He then moved to Caesarea Philippi (near Banyas, northern Israel). In both cities, he organized game spectacles of gladiator fights with Jewish prisoners who, at times, were also thrown to wild beasts. In total, Josephus reckoned that 2500 Jews died in these Roman games. Titus then moved to Berytus, an old Phoenician city, called Laodice in the time of the Greek, which became the most Roman city in the East at the time of the Herodian dynasty: it is now called Beirut.
Year 3831 – 71 CE – The Sabbation river
When he published his Natural History in 77, the Roman author Pliny the Elder mentioned:
In Judea there is a river that is dry every Sabbath day. (Pliny the Elder, Natural History, book 31, chapter 18)
The legend was that this river would have water flowing very strongly, even carrying stones, every weekday but would get dry every Shabbat: in other words, this river seemed to “keep Shabbat”. Pliny probably never stepped foot in Judea so must have heard the story from Jews who lived in Rome. This fact was known to them at these times, and the river was called Sabbation. It was later mentioned in the Talmud.
One conversation between Rabbi Akiva and the Roman commander of Judea, Turnus Rufus (or Tereutius Rufus), who was left to govern over Judea after the departure of Titus (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,2,6), and who frequently tried to confound the religious scholar with apparent contradictions or difficulties, went as follows:
And this question was asked by Turnus Rufus to R. Akiva: ‘Wherein does this day [the Sabbath] differ from any other?’ — He replied: Wherein does one noble differ from one commoner?’ — ‘Because my Lord [the Emperor] wishes it.’ — ‘The Sabbath too,’ R. Akiva rejoined, ‘then, is distinguished because the Lord wishes so.’ — He replied: ‘I ask this: Who tells you that this day is the Sabbath?’ — He answered: ‘Let the river Sabbation prove it.’ (Talmud, Sanhedrin, 65b)
The river is also mentioned in the Midrash as a northern boundary to the tribes of the kingdom of Israel, a river beyond which the Assyrians exiled these tribes:
He was referring to those exiles who were living beyond Sambatyon. (Midrash Rabba, Numbers, XVI, 25)
In other words, the river marked the northern border of the Holy Land.
Josephus also added to the story by mentioning that Titus himself saw this legendary river:
He then saw a river as he went along, of such a nature as deserves to be recorded in history; it runs in the middle between Arcea [Acre], belonging to Agrippa's kingdom [Judea], and Raphanea [outside the kingdom, so in Phoenicia or Syria]. It has somewhat very peculiar in it; for when it runs, its current is strong, and has plenty of water; after which its springs fail for six days together, and leave its channel dry, as any one may see; after which days it runs on the seventh day as it did before, and as though it had undergone no change at all; it has also been observed to keep this order perpetually and exactly; whence it is that they call it the Sabbatical River [Sabbation] that name being taken from the sacred seventh day among the Jews. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,5,1)
The point of contention with Pliny is that Josephus mentioned the detail in the opposite way, whereas the river would be dry during six days and flows strongly on Shabbat day. But let’s remember that Josephus was not a direct witness and that, probably, Titus didn’t wait seven days to notice a peculiar behavior of the river. Either way, the important point here is that such small details mentioned by religious scholars in Judea would find their way into the knowledge of historians and writers of the Roman Empire. Pliny, most likely, would have heard the story from another source than Titus or Josephus, as he reported it more in line with Talmudic tradition, that the river stopped “working” on Shabbat days.
Before returning to Rome, Titus went to Jerusalem where he saw the desolated and ruined city again, then he headed to Alexandria where he boarded a ship for Rome. There his troops marched in the procession of the triumph, with prisoners and the spoils of war:
But for those [spoils] that were taken in the temple of Jerusalem, they made the greatest figure of them all; that is, the golden table, of the weight of many talents; the candlestick also, that was made of gold, though its construction were now changed from that which we made use of; for its middle shaft was fixed upon a basis, and the small branches were produced out of it to a great length, having the likeness of a trident in their position, and had every one a socket made of brass for a lamp at the tops of them. These lamps were in number seven and represented the dignity of the number seven among the Jews; and the last of all the spoils, was carried the Law of the Jews. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,5,5)
In the above text, Josephus seems to acknowledge that the candlestick taken by Titus was not the original menorah of the Temple (see above, in year 70).
The original Ark of the Covenant was not among the spoils because it had been stored in a secret location, probably in an underground cave in the Temple Mount at the time of the First Temple (see document C27a, year 622 BCE), before its destruction by the Babylonians. Other Sages believe that the Ark had been taken away by the Babylonians and returned to the Israelites by order of Cyrus the Mede (Talmud, Yoma, 53b-54a). In any case, at the time of the Second Temple, there was no ark in the Temple.
Simon Bar Giora, considered by the Romans to have been the enemy leader, was slain just before the procession of the triumph, probably because he resisted to be displayed alive in this show. His dead body was, however, drawn to the procession and taken to the due place where he ought to have been executed in public.
After these triumphs were over, and after the affairs of the Romans were settled on the surest foundations, Vespasian resolved to build a temple to Peace, which was finished in so short a time, and in so glorious a manner, as was beyond all human expectation and opinion: for he having now by Providence a vast quantity of wealth, besides what he had formerly gained in his other exploits, he had this temple adorned with pictures and statues; for in this temple were collected and deposited all such rarities as men aforetime used to wander all over the habitable world to see, when they had a desire to see one of them after another; he also laid up therein those golden vessels and instruments that were taken out of the Jewish temple, as ensigns of his glory. But still he gave order that they should lay up their Law, and the purple veils of the holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep them there. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,5,7)
Year 3834 – 74 CE – Masada
The Romans in Judea realized that the resistance had not ended with the destruction of Jerusalem because many of the fighters had escaped and regrouped in some fortresses in the Judean desert. They needed to secure the region so that Pax Romana could be enforced everywhere. The X Legion Fretensis which remained in Judea was sent to conquer Herodion and Machaerus, both located on high hilltops, and did so in the springtime of years 71 and 72 respectively. Herodion fell very fast in 71. For Machaerus, a siege was started in 72 but the defenders surrendered. These two fortresses were conquered by Roman general Luciulus Bassus.
There was only one stronghold left in the country: Masada, on the western side of the Dead Sea. It was held by the Sicarii since before the siege of Jerusalem and was commanded by Eleazar ben Yair. The place had strong natural defenses and, in view of an upcoming attack by the Romans, the defenders had gathered plenty of supplies to sustain a prolonged siege. Meanwhile Bassus had died in 73 and was replaced by Flavius Silva, new procurator over Judea. The latter directed the campaign against Masada in Spring 74.
Eleazar had a total of 980 men, of which no more than 200 men in the age of war, whereas the rest was elderly, women and children. The Roman's X Legion had 5000 legionnaires and as many auxiliaries. Silva arranged for supplies of food and water to be brought to them in the desert by thousands of Jewish prisoners. The building of the three elements of the siege only took about two months. They consisted of (1) a circumvolution wall (dike), (2) a redoubt to protect it, and (3) several camps (seven in total) in key positions behind the wall. The techniques used for this siege are classic of Roman military warfare. In Masada, all three have been preserved for nearly 2000 years, which enabled UNESCO to declare the site a World Heritage site in 2001.
The war machines such as catapults and ballistae (catapults) were not sufficient to attack the stronghold because of its height. So, Silva ordered to build a ramp on the western side of the mount, so that the Romans would later be able to bring up their towers of assault. In parallel, the Jews raised the wall facing the side where the Romans would be coming with their ramp. After the ramp was made, Silva ordered to raise the assault tower, made of wood. The defenders threw torches at it and set it on fire. At that moment, the winds turned, and the fire also consumed the defense wall made of wooden beams.
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. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,8,5)
The battle to come had obvious outcome as the Jews were vastly outnumbered. So, before the Roman forthcoming assault, Eleazar gathered his men and gave them a remarkable speech, as reported to the Romans by the only survivors, a couple of old women, to prefer voluntary death to slavery:
“We were the very first that revolted from them [the Romans], and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God has granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which has not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly. 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 are very desirous to take us alive. Nor can we propose to ourselves any more to fight them and beat them. […] 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.” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7,8,6)
Each head of a family slew his wife and children. Eleazar then drew lots to select ten men that would kill all their companions in arms. Then the ten last ones chose one by drawing cast, thus avoiding the prohibition to voluntarily commit suicide, to kill the nine others and set the place on fire before killing himself. Only a couple of old women survived with five children, as they had hidden themselves in caves before the mass killing. She could tell the Romans what happened. Masada fell on the 15th of Nisan, according to Josephus, which was the day of Passover.
The Wars of the Jews, which was published by Josephus in the year that followed the fall of Masada, had drawn a lot of attention in Rome, but hatred for Jews too, as one could read the way that the Roman historian Tacitus described the Jewish nation after their defeat:
As I am now to record the death-agony of a famous city [Jerusalem], it seems appropriate to inform the reader of its origins. […]
The whole of Egypt was once plagued by a wasting disease which caused bodily disfigurement. So, Pharaoh Bocchoris (1) went to the oracle of Amun to ask for a cure and was told to purify his kingdom by expelling the victims to other lands, as they lay under a divine curse. Thus, a multitude of sufferers were rounded up, herded together, and abandoned in the wilderness. Here the exiles tearfully resigned themselves to their fate. But one of them who was called Moses urged his companions not to wait passively for help from God or man, for both had deserted them: they should trust to their own initiative and to whatever guidance first helped them to extricate themselves from their present plight. They agreed and started off at random into the unknown. But exhaustion set in, chiefly through lack of water, and the level plain was already strewn with the bodies of those who had collapsed and were at their last gasp when a herd of wild asses left their pasture and made for the spade of a wooded crag. Moses followed them and was able to bring to light several abundant channels of water whose presence he had deduced from a grassy patch of ground. This relieved their thirst.
They traveled on for six days without a break, and on the seventh they expelled the previous inhabitants of Canaan, took over their lands and in them built a holy city and temple. In order to secure the allegiance of his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them a novel religion quite different from those of the rest of mankind.
Among the Jews all things are profane that we hold sacred; on the other hand, they regard as permissible what seems to us immoral. In the innermost part of the Temple, they consecrated an image of the animal which had delivered them from their wandering and thirst (2), choosing a ram as beast of sacrifice to demonstrate, so it seems, their contempt for Amun (3). The bull is also offered up because the Egyptians worship it as Apis. They avoid eating pork in memory of their tribulations, as they themselves were once infected with the disease to which this creature is subject. They still fast frequently as an admission of the hunger they once endured so long, and to symbolize their hurried meal the bread eaten by the Jews is unleavened. We are told that the seventh day was set aside for rest because this marked the end of their toils. In course of time the seductions of idleness made them devote every seventh year to indolence as well (4). Others say that this is a mark of respect to Saturn, either because they owe the basic principles of their religion to the Idaei, who, we are told, were expelled in the company of Saturn and became the founders of the Jewish race, or because, among the seven stars that rule mankind, the one that describes the highest orbit and exerts the greatest influence is Saturn (5). A further argument is that most of the heavenly bodies complete their path and revolutions in multiples of seven.
Whatever their origin, these observances are sanctioned by their antiquity. […]
They will not feed or intermarry with gentiles. Though a most lascivious people, the Jews avoid sexual intercourse with women of alien race. Among themselves nothing is barred. They have introduced the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others. Proselytes to Jewry adopt the same practices, and the very first lesson they learn is to despise the gods, shed all feelings of patriotism, and consider parents, children, and brothers as readily expendable. However, the Jews see to it that their numbers increase. It is a deadly sin to kill an unwanted child (6), and they think that eternal life is granted to those who die in battle or execution - hence their eagerness to have children, and their contempt for death. Rather than cremate their dead, they prefer to bury them in imitation of the Egyptian fashion, and they have the same concern and beliefs about the world below. But their conception of heavenly things is quite different. The Egyptians worship a variety of animals and half-human, half-bestial forms, whereas the Jewish religion is a purely spiritual monotheism. They hold it to be impious to make idols of perishable materials in the likeness of man: for them, the Most High and Eternal cannot be portrayed by human hands and will never pass away. For this reason, they erect no images in their cities, still less in their temples. Their kings are not so flattered, the Roman emperors are not so honored. (Tacitus, Histories, 5:2-5)
Some notes of the above text:
Pharaoh Bocchoris reigned too late compared to the time of the Hebrews in Egypt, but his mention means that the Roman historians already considered that the Jews were already of very ancient origin.
It may be a reference to the cherubim, representations of angels.
Amun was a god of Antiquity that was represented as a ram, an animal that the Jews offered in sacrifice since the days of the Exodus (the Pesach Lamb).
This refers to the cyclic times of seven years, also concluded by the 50 years jubilee periods.
It is interesting to note the association between Saturn as the 7th planet; the Romans also called Saturn Day (Saturday) the 7th day, and Saturnalia the festival when many unusual things were permitted such as masters serving their slaves, and so on.
The killing of unwanted children, and sacrifices of children, was customary practice except for the Jews.
Year 3839 – 79 CE – Pompeii
The Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed by an eruption of the Vesuvius on 24 August 79 CE (9 Elul 3839). The city was buried under up to 6 meters of volcanic ash and was only discovered some 1500 years after its destruction. This created a unique environment for preservation of the life of the Romans in this city, caught in their activities at the time of the instant destruction. The archaeologists have been able to recover many items of the buried city and could contemplate the decoration of rich houses of that time. The frescos show many scenes of sexual content in postures that would even be banished in many countries today.
But one fresco, found in what was called the "House of the Physician" was of particular interest because it represented a scene taken from a story of the Bible: the judgment of Solomon. In the scene, we can clearly see a woman imploring sitting judges about her child about to be cut by a Roman soldier standing on the left side with a sharp butcher knife, with another woman standing next to him and the child.
This Biblical story has also been found written in a papyrus from the collection Oxyrhynchus Papyrii which was found in Egypt. Indeed the specific papyrus referenced P.Oxy. XLI (41), 2944 contains a story very similar to the Judgment of Solomon (I Kings 3:16-28). This shows that the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE was already well acquainted with this story of the Bible, and surely many others. In fact, some modern historians no longer hesitate to join the opinion of their ancient colleagues who stated that many Biblical themes and stories were known in Greece before the death of Plato around 350 BCE (for example Morrzejewski, Joseph, The Jews of Egypt: From Rameses II to Emperor Hadrian, 1997, p.66).
Why was this particular Biblical story noticed by the Greeks? Because, as the text from Tacitus mentions it above, it is a deadly sin [for the Jews] to kill an unwanted child. This story from Solomon must have struck the Greek minds of these times, about the value of life, of death, of justice, and of society.
Was the destruction of Pompeii an act of God?
Nobody can tell but one detail remains. The name Pompeii reminds of the name Pompey, the Roman general who conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE and profaned the Temple (see document C31c, year 63 BCE). Pompey died in Egypt during the Roman civil war on 29 September 48 BCE (24 Tishri 3713). In addition to the similarity of the two names, the difference between the two Pompey-Pompeii demises is 127 years (48 BCE to 79 CE). This number is reminiscent of the Biblical number of years mentioned for the life of Sarah and for the number of provinces in the largest expansion of the Persian Empire in the reign of Ahasuerus, before his episode with Esther and the festival of Purim (see document C28, year 484 BCE). An act of God was upon both events that ended with the number 127, as the height of greatness and completeness. Can we thus say that the sentence against Pompey, punished by death for his profanation of the Temple, was "complete" after 127 years when Pompeii was destroyed?
Previous page < Navigation > Next page
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Elul 5785 - September 2025
