Seder Olam Revisited: C33a- Akiva
- Albert Benhamou
- Sep 24
- 31 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY
Generation 32: Hebrew years 3840-3960 (80-200 CE)
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Introduction
This 33rd chronological generation sees the times of last struggle of the Jewish people against Rome and their ultimate expulsion from Jerusalem and Judea. It is the start of their long diaspora, away from their homeland. It is also the time of preparedness for this new exile, with the compilation of the Oral Law into what will become the Talmud to help the exiled communities overcome their forthcoming tribulations.
Hebrew Year | CE | Event | Source |
3840 | 80 | Rabbi Akiva starts studying | Talmud, Nedarim, 50a |
3841 | 81 | Death of Titus | Suetonius, Life of Titus |
3850 | 90 | Death of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai | Talmud, Berachot, 28b |
3850 | 90 | Gamaliel II of Yavneh | |
3855 | 95 | Religious persecutions under Domitian | Cassius Dio, Roman History, volume 67 |
3856 | 96 | Jewish mission to Rome | Talmud, Horayot, 10b |
3856 | 96 | Emperor Nerva | Talmud, Gittin, 56a |
3857 | 97 | Abolition of the Fiscus Judaicus | Suetonius, Life of Domitian |
3870 | 110 | Targum of Onkelos | Talmud, Megillah, 3a |
3873 | 113 | Trajan's campaign in the East | |
3875 | 115 | Jewish riots in Cyrene and Egypt | Cassius Dio, Roman History, volume 68 |
3877 | 117 | Lucius Quietus' siege of Lydda | Talmud, Taanit, 18b |
3877 | 117 | Emperor Hadrian | |
3886 | 126 | Simon bar Yohai, the Zohar | Talmud, Shabbat, 33b |
3890 | 130 | Rabbi Joshua ben Hananyah | Talmud, Taanit, 7a |
3891 | 131 | Jerusalem becomes Aelia Capitolina | Cassius Dio, Roman History, volume 69 |
Year 3840 – 80 CE – Rabbi Akiva
Akiva son of Joseph was born to a poor family in 40 CE. He was employed in the estate of a rich Jerusalemite Jew who had a daughter who loved Akiva. The Talmud gives the following account of the life of this great scholar:
The daughter of Kalba Shebua betrothed herself to R. Akiva. When her father heard thereof, he vowed that she was not to benefit from aught of his property. Then she went and married him in winter. They slept on straw, and he had to pick out the straw from his hair. ‘If only I could afford it,’ said he to her, ‘I would present you with a golden Jerusalem.’ [Later] Elijah came to them in the guise of a mortal and cried out at the door. ‘Give me some straw, for my wife is in confinement and I have nothing for her to lie on.’ ‘See!’ R. Akiva observed to his wife, ‘there is a man who lacks even straw.’ [Subsequently] she counselled him, ‘Go, and became a scholar.’
So, he left her and spent twelve years [studying] under R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. At the end of this period, he was returning home, when from the back of the house he heard a wicked man jeering at his wife, ‘Your father did well to you. Firstly, because he is your inferior; and secondly, he has abandoned you living widowhood all these years.’ She replied, ‘Yet were he to hear my desires, he would be absent another twelve years.' 'Seeing that she has thus given me permission,’ he said, ‘I will go back.’ So, he went back, and was absent for another twelve years, [at the end of which] he returned with twenty-four thousand disciples. Everyone flocked to welcome him, including her [his wife] too. But that wicked man said to her, ‘And where are you going?’ [Proverbs 12:10] ‘A righteous man knows the life of his beast,’ she retorted. So, she went to see him, but the disciples wished to repulse her. ‘Make way for her,’ he [R. Akiva] told them, ‘For my [learning] and yours are hers.’ When Kalba Shebua heard thereof, he came [before R. Akiva] and asked for the remission of his vow and he annulled it for him. (Talmud, Nedarim, 50a)
Why did a wicked man said to Akiva's wife: And where are you going?’ Because he was taunting her as she was too poor to be noticed by a great scholar such as Akiva. But, since Akiva's huge reputation, his father-in-law Kalba Shebua shared his wealth with him.
Year 3841 – 81 CE – Death of Titus
The sudden death of Titus is shrouded with some mystery. Sometime before, he became melancholic and wept bitterly in the presence of people. The Historian Suetonius relates the circumstance of his death:
At the first resting-place on the road, he was seized with a fever, and being carried forward in a litter, they say that he drew back the curtains, and looked up to heaven, complaining heavily, "that his life was taken from him, though he had done nothing to deserve it; for there was no action of his that he had occasion to repent of, but one." [...]
He died in the same villa where his father had died before him, upon the Ides of September; two years, two months, and twenty days after he had succeeded his father; and in the one-and-fortieth year of his age. (Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus, IX-X, 473-474; for the text online, click here)
Titus died upon the Ides of September which means probably the eve of that day. The Ides of September are the 13th of September which corresponds to the 22 Elul in Hebrew calendar in that year. In Megillat Taanit (the Scroll of the Fasts), the Maccabees defeated the Greeks on 22 Elul. This day falls one week before the New Year in Hebrew calendar (1 Tishri). It is remarkable that the date of his death occurred as a succession of the number "2": he died on the 22 Elul, 2 years, 2 months, 20 days after he became emperor. Also, the 13th of September is written 13.9 which makes 13+9=22. In Jewish symbolism, the number 2 is the revelation of 1. The number 1 is associated with God and the number 2 with His revelation (the two tablets of the Law, for example). So, this succession of 2's that was associated with Titus' death seems like an act of God (to read about Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here).
The Talmud also gives an anecdote regarding Titus' death:
When he [Titus] landed [back to Rome] the gnat came and entered his nose, and it knocked against his brain for seven years. One day as he was passing a blacksmith's, it heard the noise of the hammer and stopped. He said, “I see there is a remedy.” So, every day they brought a blacksmith who hammered before him. If he was a non-Jew, they gave him four zuz, if he was a Jew they said, it is enough that you see the suffering of your enemy.
This went on for thirty days, but then the creature got used to it. It has been taught R. Phineas b. ‘Aruba said: “I was in company with the notables of Rome, and when he died, they split open his skull and found there something like a sparrow two sela's in weight.” (Talmud, Gittin, 56b)
Year 3850 – 90 CE – Death of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakai
Ben Zakai was the rabbi who escaped Jerusalem during the siege by Vespasian and founded the school of Yavneh (see document C32c, year 69 CE). After the destruction of Jerusalem, Yavneh became an important center of religious life and hosted the Sanhedrin. When Ben Zakai fell fatally ill, his disciples came to attend to him. His last words were recorded in the Talmud, as they were enigmatic:
At the moment of his departure, he said to them [the disciples]: Remove the vessels so that they shall not become unclean [due to the presence of a dead person] and prepare a throne for Hezekiah the king of Judah who is coming. (Talmud, Berachot, 28b)
Hezekiah had been the righteous king of Judah who built the defenses of Jerusalem in preparation of the forthcoming siege by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (see document C26b, year 725 BCE). Maybe, in his last moments, and although Jerusalem and the Temple had already been destroyed in his lifetime, ben Zakkai had the vision of the future anointed Messiah who will come to rebuild Jerusalem, as Hezekiah did.
Year 3850 – 90 CE – Gamaliel II of Yavneh
After the death of Johanan ben Zakkai who had led the survival of the religious authority out of the besieged Jerusalem into Yavneh, Gamaliel, the son of a previous nassi, Shimon ben Gamaliel, was chosen at the next president of the Sanhedrin. It was a time when the religious schools had reunited and ended their quarrels, as this had previously been the case between the Houses of Hillel and Shammai. However, this change did not take place without some problem, as one circumstance caused the insurgence of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Nathan who attempted to depose Gamaliel from his position. The case was not successful, and the consequence was described as follows:
Said R. Simeon b. Gamaliel to them [the members of the Sanhedrin]: “We shall re-admit them [the expelled scholars] but impose upon them this penalty, that no traditional statement shall be reported in their names.” [As a result] R. Meir was designated ‘others’, and R. Nathan ‘some say’. (Talmud, Horayoth, 13b)
Gamaliel II's authority towards religious and educational matters grew over the years. He is the one who instructed the pivotal prayer called Amidah that Jews recite three times a day. The Romans also acknowledged his authority. In one anecdote, Gamaliel confounded a Christian who ruled a tribunal for non-Jews, similarly to what Gamaliel and the Sanhedrin were doing for the Jews:
Imma Shalom, R. Eliezer's wife, was R. Gamaliel's sister. Now, a certain philosopher (1) lived in his vicinity, and he bore a reputation that he did not accept bribes [because he was the head of a tribunal for non-Jews]. They wished to expose him, so she brought him a golden lamp, went before him, [and] said to him, ‘I desire that a share be given me in my [deceased] father's estate.’ ‘Divide,’ ordered he. Said he [R. Gamaliel] to him, ‘It is decreed for us, where there is a son, a daughter does not inherit.’ [He replied], ‘Since the day that you were exiled from your land the Law of Moses has been removed and another book given (2), wherein it is written: 'A son and a daughter inherit equally'.(3). The next day, he [R. Gamaliel] brought him a Libyan ass. Said he to them, ‘Look at the end of the book, wherein it is written, I came not to destroy the Law of Moses nor to add to the Law of Moses (4), and it is written therein, 'A daughter does not inherit where there is a son'. Said she to him, ‘Let your light shine forth like a lamp.’ Said R. Gamaliel to him, ‘An ass came and knocked the lamp over!’ (Talmud, Shabbat, 116a-b)
Notes for the text above:
A philosopher (min in Hebrew) was employed by practicing Jews to name those who were attracted by alien customs, such as the Sadducees for Hellenism; it started with the Greek "philosophy" and the term was coined to embrace any deviation foreign (min) from Jewish values, such as the Jews who were then attracted by the new Christian faith.
Another book seems to refer to either writings from Paul the Apostle who had previously declared that the Law of Moses was no longer needed, or it may refer to the Book of the Acts which will be included in the compilation of the New Testament.
Although the existing Gospels do not contain any indication about such inheritance, it is possible that, in these times, when many more gospels existed (but only four gospels were later retained in the Christian canon), some texts may have touched into this topic. The anecdote here is about cancelling Moses laws.
This part is found in the canonical gospels, such as Gospel of Matthew 5:17-20: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets [the Torah]; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
This anecdote was to stress the discrepancy among Early Christians between those, like Jesus and the Apostles, who were Jews and endeavored to maintain their faith, and those newcomers to the faith, being the philosophers, who lived with contradictions, or even invented laws that were never established by the Early Church to form their own "gospels" that would not be allowed later in the Christian canon.
Rabban Gamaliel II had obviously studied some early (unknown) gospels and was quite ready to argue on religious points. He held the role of nassi until his death which occurred before the Jewish revolts under Trajan's rule.
Year 3855 – 95 CE – Religious persecutions under Domitian
Domitian was the youngest son of Vespasian, and he married his niece, the daughter of Titus. He became emperor in 81 at the death of his brother. Historians recorded that he built a cult of his personality as a semi-god and titled himself dominus et deus (master and god). He was popular among the army and the people, but he was considered a tyrant by the Senate. His effort to portray himself as an imperial god led him to persecute members of non-Roman religions who would oppose his divine status. The Jews of the Roman empire were tolerated but heavily taxed, while the Christians were more persecuted than ever before according to the Book of Revelation. In the year 95, Domitian executed his cousin Titus Clemens because the latter would not acknowledge the divine status of the emperor. Clemens’ father had been the prefect of the city of Rome at the time of Nero. Clemens had married his cousin Flavia Domitilla, one of Vespasian’s granddaughters, and both converted to Judaism at the time of the visit of Rabbi Akiva in Rome:
Domitian slew, along with many others, Flavius Clemens the consul, although he was a cousin and married to Flavia Domitilla, who was also a relative of the emperor. The charge brought against them both was that of sacrilege or godlessness [atheism], a charge on which many others who drifted into Jewish ways were condemned. (Cassius Dio, Roman History, Epitome of book LXVII, chapter 14, to read it online, click here)
Here, atheism in Greek means that they did not acknowledge the emperor’s religious divine status. After her husband’s execution, Domitilla was banished to Ventotene island off the Italian coast. Despite historical evidence from above, Christian scholars consider that Clemens and his wife had converted to Christianity. The truth is that, in these times of ate 1st century, the distinction between Christians and Jews was not as pronounced as it became later.
Year 3856 – 96 CE – Jewish mission to Rome
To intercede in favor of the Jews in the Roman Empire, four religious leaders of the Jewish community of Judea set sail to Rome after the Jewish New Year of 3856 to meet with the emperor. These leaders were Rabbi Akiva the great scholar, Rabban Gamaliel II the head of the school of Yavneh and nassi (head of the Sanhedrin), Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, a young and rich leader who had Ezra the Scribe as ancestor 10 generations before (he was also at one time elected head of the Sanhedrin instead of Rabban Gamaliel II), and Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah, a tana and Levite, of witty character, who became a prominent Jewish leader some 25 years later during the visit of Emperor Hadrian to Judea with whom he entertained many discussions and followed him in Egypt and Greece (Talmud, Bechorot, 8b).
During their voyage, the four Rabbis celebrated the festival of Sukkoth while on board their ship. But their journey took much longer than expected, to the point that bread ran out on the boat. But everyone was saved thanks to the foresight of Rabbi Joshua who had a special knowledge:
They once traveled on board a ship. R. Gamaliel had with him some bread only, while R. Joshua [his aide] had with him bread and flour. When R. Gamaliel's bread was consumed, he depended on R. Joshua's flour. ‘Did you know’, the former asked him, ‘that we should be so much delayed that you brought flour with you?’ The latter answered him, ‘A certain star rises about every seventy years and leads the sailors astray, and I suspected it might rise and lead us astray.’ ‘You possess so much knowledge’, the former said to him, ‘and yet must travel on board a ship [to be as an aide and earn a living] !’ The other replied, ‘Rather than be surprised at me, marvel at two disciples you have on land, R. Eleazar Hisma and R. Johanan b. Gudgada, who are able to calculate how many drops there are in the sea and yet have neither bread to eat nor raiment to put on. R. Gamaliel decided to appoint them as supervisors [for them to earn a living], and when he landed [back in Judea] he sent for them, but they did not come [because of their modesty to deserve such an honor]. (Talmud, Horayoth, 10a)
This anecdote shows that Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah knew of the regular return of the comets, as a rule. He knew the phenomena from one comet returning about every 70 years and could assume that comet could show in the skies during their maritime journey and would confuse the sailors. Ancient civilizations had all observed comets in the skies, and thought they brought some omen, but nobody had thought these celestial objects were the same ones returning again and again. It was the ‘periodicity’ of the comets which was unknown, except to the Talmudists since Rabbi Joshua asserted it. Yet, it will not be before the year 1705 that the English astronomer Edmond Halley claimed to have discovered the return of the comets. He predicted that the comet, which became known as Halley's comet, returned every 75 years and would return to the skies in 1758. He didn't live long enough to witness its return, and the comet returned several months after his prediction... in March 1759 (the French astronomer Jerome Lalande published in 1759 a correction of Halley's calculations after the return of this comet). The reason for Halley's miscalculation is that he didn't take into full consideration the discovery of another English scientist, Isaac Newton, who explained gravity. It took some time for astronomers to realize that the periodicity of the comets was not a fixed time, because these objects were subject to the gravity of several planets, such as the large Jupiter, so their trajectory across the Solar System is always deviated by one planet or another. So, in fact, the Halley comet returns to our skies every 74-79 years. This is why Rabbi Joshua mentioned that he was not certain the comet would return during their trip, as he knew that the periodicity of a comet was not a fixed time. So, he had mentioned about every seventy years to Rabban Gamaliel ! The number 70 can always be read as a decade, thus with the range of 70-79 years. Also, 70 seems a symbolic number (for Jewish symbolism of numbers, click here) when one thinks that the Sanhedrin was composed of 70 Rabbis and headed by Rabban Gamaliel himself. This consideration led another French astronomer, George Renaudot, to dispute Halley's claim to have been the first person to have discovered the periodicity of the comets. In an article of 1910, when the comet returned to our skies, Renaudot wrote:
In summary, the important fact is that, in all likelihood, the period of Halley's comet was known to the Hebrews, and this is a historical point of highest interest which deserves mention. (Renaudot, George, article in "Revue générale des sciences pures et appliquées", March 1910 ; translation into English by Albert Benhamou)
After an unexpectedly long journey, which was not caused by the apparition of the comet, the Rabbis finally arrived in Rome later in that year and learned that the emperor they came to meet had died. Indeed, Domitian was assassinated in September 96 and, with him, the Flavius dynasty of Roman emperors had ended. An anecdote that happened during their visit has been taught:
R. Joshua b. Hananiah once happened to go to the great city of Rome, and he was told there that there was a child in prison with beautiful eyes and face and curly locks. He went and stood at the doorway of the prison and said, 'Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers?' [Isaiah 42:24] The child answered, 'Is it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned, and, in whose ways, they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law.' [ibid.] He said: I feel sure that this one will be a teacher in Israel. I swear that I will not budge from here before I ransom him, whatever price may be demanded. It is reported that he did not leave the spot before he had ransomed him at a high figure, nor did many days pass before he became a teacher in Israel. Who was he? — He was R. Ishmael b. Elisha. (Talmud, Gittin, 58a)
Year 3856 – 96 CE – Emperor Nerva
The party who got rid of Domitian was what we could call “the Nero clan”. Because the new chosen emperor was Nerva, who had been the private secretary of Nero. Nerva met the four Jewish religious leaders who had just arrived from Judea and told them about a secret, that Nero did not commit suicide but had renounced to his function of emperor to devote his life to Judaism. This is what the Talmud has to say:
He [Nero] said: The Holy One, blessed be He, desires to lay waste his House [the Temple in Jerusalem] and to lay the blame on me. So, he ran away [from his duties] and became a proselyte, and Rabbi Meir was descended from him. (Talmud, Gittin, 56a)
An alternate understanding of this passage is that Rabbi Meir descended from an envoy that Nero had sent to Judea, and who converted to Judaism.
Soon after the visit of these leaders, Nerva cancelled all Domitian’s anti-religious decrees:
Nerva also released such as were on trial for maiestas and restored the exiles. All the slaves and freedmen that had conspired against their masters he put to death and allowed that class of persons to lodge no complaint whatever against their masters. Others were not permitted to accuse anybody for maiestas or for "Jewish living." (Cassius Dio, Roman History, book LXVIII, section 1, to read it online, click here)
Maiestas were accusations for non-respect for the “majesty of the Roman people”, in other words it was a treason. Domitian used such accusations against those who did not respect his divine status.
Year 3857 – 97 CE – Abolition of the Fiscus Judaicus
Nerva went as far in his policy in favor of the Jews that he abolished in 97 the Fiscus Judaicus, a tax that was imposed upon all the Jews of the Roman Empire by Vespasian after the destruction of the Temple in 70 in order to build a temple to Jupiter in Rome. The Roman tax collectors seemed to have been particularly zealous in chasing after this infamous tax, according to Roman historian Suetonius (69-122) who was contemporary of this period:
Besides other taxes, that on the Jews was levied with the utmost rigor, and those were prosecuted who without publicly acknowledging that faith yet lived as Jews, as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised. (Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Domitian, 12)
To symbolize this gesture, Nerva issued new coins with the mention Fisci Judaici calumnia sublata, meaning abolition of the malicious Jewish tax.
But Nerva was already quite old when he came to power and died after two years of reign. He was succeeded in 98 by the one he designated as his successor, and who was not any of his relatives. It was the Roman governor of the German provinces: Trajan.
Year 3870 – 110 CE – The Targum of Onkelos the proselyte
Onkelos was a Roman nobleman, nephew of Titus. He converted to Judaism around 81 after enquiring from deceased people:
Onkelos son of Kolonikos was the son of Titus' sister. He had a mind to convert himself to Judaism. He went and raised Titus from the dead by magical arts, and asked him; ‘Who is most in repute in the [other] world? He replied: Israel. ‘What then,’ he said, ‘about joining them?’ He said: ‘Their observances are burdensome, and you will not be able to carry them out. Go and attack them in that world and you will be at the top as it is written, Her adversaries are become the head etc. [Lamentations 1:5]; whoever harasses Israel becomes head.’ He asked him: ‘What is your punishment [in the other world]?’ He replied: ‘What decreed for myself. Every day my ashes are collected, and sentence is passed on me and I am burnt and my ashes are scattered over the seven seas.’ (Talmud, Gittin, 56b-57a)
The Talmud mentions that Onkelos was the son of Titus' sister. Vespasian had two sons, Titus and Domitian, and one daughter in between them: Domitilla the Younger. She married a general loyal to Vespasian, Quintus Petillius Cerialis, but died young in year 68. She gave birth to one daughter, Flavia Domitilla, who became Jewish (see above, year 95) but there is no record of a son of hers. But later historians were influenced by the rise of Christianity, so it is possible that they didn't record his existence due to his conversion to Judaism, which makes sense after his mother did the same. The Talmud noted the name of Onkelos' father, as Kolonikos, which was a nickname derived from the Greek word 'kalonymos' which means a "good name". It is probably because Cerialis (also written Cerealis) had an excellent reputation as Tacitus recorded:
He possessed natural eloquence of a kind that readily appealed to his soldiers. His loyalty towards his superiors was unshakable. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911, click here for more details).
Onkelos is famous for having translated the Hebrew Torah into Aramaic. The work is called the Targum (meaning Translation) and is considered so important that it is has been added to normal Hebrew editions of the Torah. Because of its literal translation, it also at times provides some insight in the meaning of obscure passages of the Hebrew text, especially because Onkelos was helped in his task by prominent Tannaim, as other ones would later help in the translation of the rest of the Bible into Aramaic by Jonathan ben Uzziel, known as the Targum of Jonathan:
The Targum of the Pentateuch was composed by Onkelos the proselyte under the guidance of Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Joshua.
The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and the land of Israel [thereupon] quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, and a Bath Kol [a divine voice] came forth and exclaimed: ‘Who is this that has revealed My secrets to mankind?’ Jonathan ben Uzziel thereupon arose and said, ‘It is I who have revealed Your secrets to mankind. It is fully known to You that I have not done this for my own honor or for the honor of my father's house, but for Your honor l have done it, that dissension may not increase in Israel.’
He further sought to reveal [by] a Targum [the inner meaning] of the Hagiographa, but a Bath Kol went forth and said: ‘Enough!’ What was the reason? — Because the date of the Messiah is foretold in it. (Talmud, Megillah, 3a)
Indeed, according to Tradition, the Book of Daniel, which is part of the Hagiographa, is the book containing hidden references to Messianic times. The fear, according to the Talmud, was that the Targum of Jonathan would give explicit explanation about details that were otherwise obscure and intended to remain as such. One example of how far the Targum went into detailing the difficulties found in the original text was given below:
The meaning of the Pentateuch is expressed clearly, but the meaning of the [books of the] Prophets is in some things expressed clearly and in others enigmatically.
[For instance,] it is written: In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon (Zechariah 12:11), and Rabbi Joseph [commenting on this] said: Were it not for the Targum [of Jonathan] of this verse, we should not know what it means [because there is no other mention of Hadadrimmon in the Bible]. [It runs as follows]: On that day shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning of Ahab son of Omri who was killed by Hadadrimmon son of Rimmon in Ramoth Gilead, and like the mourning of Josiah son of Ammon who was killed by Pharaoh the Lame[2] in the plain of Megiddo’. (Talmud, Megillah, 3a)
The expression Pharaoh the Lame is a nickname of Pharaoh Necho (see document C27a, year 608 BCE). The Egyptian name Necho means someone with a handicap, hence the nickname ‘Lame’ mentioned in the Talmud.
The Talmud also bears a mention of a much earlier Targum of Job around the time of Rabban Gamaliel, who died 20 years before the destruction of the Second Temple. However, his translation was probably not considered correct:
Said R. Jose: It once happened that my father Halafta visited R. Gamaliel Berabbi [R. Gamaliel II] at Tiberias and found him sitting at the table of Johanan ben Nizuf with the Targum of the Book of Job in his hand which he was reading. Said he to him, ‘I remember that R. Gamaliel, your grandfather [Rabban Gamaliel], was standing on a high eminence on the Temple Mount, when the Book of Job in a Targum version was brought before him, whereupon he said to the builder, "Bury it under the bricks." (Talmud, Shabbat, 115a)
Rabbi Jose ben Halafta is mentioned multiple times in the Talmud simply as “Rabbi Jose” (Rabbi Yossi in Hebrew). He was the author of Seder Olam, the "chronology of the world"(see document C33b, year 160)
Year 3873 – 113 CE – Trajan’s campaigns in the East
In 106 CE, Trajan campaigned in the East to take over the Nabataean kingdom. This kingdom had ruled independently over the lucrative route of incense and spices on the eastern border with Judea. Trajan made an agreement with them to leave their kingdom free until the death of their king. And then, the kingdom was to become a Roman province. This happened in 113 CE when the last Nabataean king died: the kingdom was then annexed to the Roman empire.
With this newly acquired territory, Trajan created a new province called ‘Arabia’. Its capital remained Petra, the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The new border of the Roman Empire was thus pushed more East: this border was called the Limes Arabicus. Over the subsequent years, Rome built several fortresses and military camps along this new desert border, to defend themselves from attacks from nomadic tribes. In 113 CE, Trajan then embarked on a new military campaign against Parthia and reached Babylon.
Year 3875 – 115 CE – Jewish uprising in Cyrene and Egypt
While Trajan was fighting in the East, the Jews of Cyrene (present day Shahat in Cyrenaic Libya) revolted against the Roman rule. They had some early success as proven by a papyrus mentioning one victory in Hermopolis, Egypt.
But the revolt was severely repressed by Quintus Marcius Turbo, the commander of the fleet that brought Trajan to the East:
Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put one Andreas (other historians named him Lukus) at their head and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks. They would cook their flesh, make belts for themselves of their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood, and wear their skins for clothing. Many they sawed in two, from the head downwards. [To] others, they would give to wild beasts and force still others to fight as gladiators. In all, consequently, two hundred and twenty thousand perished. In Egypt, also, they performed many similar deeds, and in Cyprus under the leadership of Artemio. There, likewise, two hundred and forty thousand perished. For this reason, no Jew may set foot in that land, but even if one of them is driven upon the island by force of the wind, he is put to death. Various persons took part in subduing these Jews, one being Lusius, who was sent by Trajan. (Cassius Dio, Roman History, volume LXVIII, section 32, to read it online, click here)
The Christian theologian Orosius also mentioned the Jewish uprising in the year that followed a major earthquake that occurred on 13 December 115, with the epicenter near Antioch. With an estimated magnitude of 7.5 in the scale of Richter, it caused a tsunami that wrecked several harbors such as the one of Caesarea in Judea (this harbor filled up with sand and was made unusable for ships):
At the same time an earthquake laid low four cities in Asia, Elaea, Myrina, Pitane, and Cyme, and in Greece, the two cities of the Opuntii and the Oriti. This same earthquake demolished three cities of Galatia. Lightning struck and burned the Pantheon at Rome, while at Antioch an earthquake laid almost the entire city in ruins.
Then violent rebellions among the Jews broke out simultaneously in various parts of the world. The Jews acted as if turned into mad savages. Throughout Libya they waged pitiless war against the inhabitants and caused great desolation by killing the tillers of the soil. So merciless were they that if the emperor Hadrian had not afterward colonized the country with people from without, the land would have remained absolutely destitute and entirely without inhabitants. They disturbed all Egypt, Cyrene, and the Thebaid by sedition and bloodshed. In Alexandria, however, the Jews were defeated and crushed in a pitched battle. When they also rebelled in Mesopotamia, the emperor ordered war to be declared against them; many thousands of them were exterminated in a vast carnage. It is true that they did destroy Salamis, a city of Cyprus, after they had killed all the inhabitants. (Orosius, A History against the Pagans, book 7, part 12)
The Roman repression nearly annihilated the Jewish communities of Egypt and Cyrene, which was over one million people in these times. The Great Synagogue of Alexandria was burned down. It is said that the building was so vast that, during the prayers, a flag was waved to the audience when they were supposed to say "Amen".
Turbo remained in Egypt as prefect for several years. He was later chosen to rule over all Northern Africa Roman provinces by Trajan’s successor.
Year 3877 – 117 CE – Lucius Quietus and the siege of Lydda
Lucius Quietus was a general of Berber origin. His father was a king of Mauretania who had supported Rome in their Northern Africa expansion. As a reward, he was granted Roman citizenship, and his son could join the army. Under Trajan, he successfully campaigned against the Dacians (Romanians) with his Berber cavalry, auxiliary to the Roman army, as depicted in Trajan’s column in Rome.
In 115 CE, Lucius Quietus was named by Trajan as governor of Judea. He brought in the 2nd Legion "Traiana" (so-called after Trajan who created it) from Alexandria and settled them near Megiddo (the name of their ancient camp is still known as "Legio"). They dealt with revolts in Judea and Egypt until 135 CE and then were replaced in Legio by the 6th Legion "Ferrata" after 138 CE.
In 117, Quietus crushed the Jewish revolt that tried to emulate the one in Cyrene after the leader of that uprising (Andreas or Lukus, see above) fled to Judea and stirred trouble there. Lucius Quietus besieged the city of Lydda where the Jewish rebels had gathered. The nassi Rabban Gamaliel II had died there before the revolt. The Romans took the city and killed all leading religious figures including prominent rabbis of the religious school. This execution, however, brought curse on the Roman perpetrators:
It was said: When Torinus (1) was about to execute Lulianus and his brother Pappus in Laodicea [Lydda] he said to them, ‘If you are of the people of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (2), let your God come and deliver you from my hands, in the same way as he delivered Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah from the hands of Nebuchadnezzar; and to this they replied: ‘Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were perfectly righteous men and they merited that a miracle should be wrought for them, and Nebuchadnezzar also was a king worthy for a miracle to be wrought through him, but as for you, you are a common and wicked man and are not worthy that a miracle be wrought through you; and as for us, we have deserved of the Omnipresent that we should die, and if you will not kill us, the Omnipresent has many other agents of death. The Omnipresent has in His world many bears and lions who can attack us and kill us; the only reason why the Holy One, blessed be He, has handed us over into your hand is that at some future time He may exact punishment of you for our blood’.
Despite this, he killed them. It is reported that hardly had they moved from there when two officials arrived from Rome and split his skull with clubs. (Talmud, Taanit, 18b)
Notes from the above:
Torinus is a made-up word, pointing to Trajan and his executioner Lucius Quietus.
The three Judeans who were put in a furnace by Nebuchadnezzar (see document C27c, year 587 BCE)
The rest of the religious leaders moved north to the city of Usha in Galilee, away from the troubled Roman province of Judea. The Sanhedrin and the religious schools remained in Usha up until the end of the Great Revolt of Bar-Kochba around 130 CE.
Year 3877 – 117 CE – Hadrian
In 117, Trajan set sail to return to Rome but died on the way, in a harbor of Asia Minor. He was childless. His military friend, Hadrian, who had married his niece, succeeded him as emperor with the help of friends in Rome (see document C33b). One of his first acts was to remove Lucius Quietus from his post in Judea, after dismissing his Berber cavalry. Soon after he was put to death upon orders from Hadrian on the accusation of conspiracy. The reality is that Lucius Quietus had been a celebrated general of the Roman army and could therefore challenge Hadrian having been chosen as the next emperor. This double death in the same year that followed the massacre of Lydda has been seen as the divine punishment mentioned by the Talmudists (see above).
Year 3886 – 126 CE – Shimon Bar Yohai and the Zohar
The Roman constructions in the land of Israel inspired anger among most Jews because it showed that Rome was changing the region in view of a permanent stay beyond temporary occupation. During a discussion between some Rabbis, one of them spoke loudly against the Romans:
For R. Judah [bar Ilai], R. Jose [ben Halafta], and R. Shimon [bar Yohai] were sitting, and Judah, a son of proselytes, was sitting near them. R. Judah commenced [the discussion] by observing, ‘How fine are the works of this people [the Romans] ! They have made streets, they have built bridges, they have erected baths.’ R. Jose was silent. R. Shimon b. Yohai answered and said, ‘All that they made, they made for themselves; they built marketplaces to set harlots in them, baths to rejuvenate themselves, bridges to levy tolls for them.’
Now, Judah the son of proselytes went and related their talk, which reached the government. They decreed: Judah who exalted [us] shall be exalted, Jose who was silent shall be exiled to Sepphoris, Shimon who censured let him be executed. (Talmud, Shabbat, 33b)
Shimon bar Yohai was informed of his condemnation and went into hiding with his son Elazar in a cave for 11 years. This cave is a well-known place of pilgrimage and is located above the modern-day village of Peki’in in Lower Galilee.
Shimon and his son Elazar came out of it when he heard that the emperor Hadrian had died (this was in 138 CE) and the decree against Shimon was nullified. But he went back to the cave again for another year because, it is said, he had lost connection and patience with the normal world. It is during these 12 years of hiding that Shimon bar Yohai is said to have composed the major mystical work called the Zohar.
Shimon bar Yohai was a disciple of Akiva. This condemnation saved him from the public executions that the Romans carried out against Akiva and other prominent rabbis.
Year 3890 – 130 CE – The Rabbi and the Emperor
When Hadrian came to Judea in 122 on his way to Egypt, he met with Rabbi Joshua ben Hananyah, who was a tana of Levite descent, student of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai. Rabbi Joshua had witnessed the destruction of the Temple in 70, when Hadrian was not born yet. He had also accompanied his elder colleagues during the mission to Rome at the time of Domitian and Nerva (see above, year 93 CE).
Hadrian was a great admirer of Greek philosophers and of thoughtful thinkers in general. He came into knowing Rabbi Joshua, who was not good-looking, on the following occasion:
This is illustrated by the story of the daughter of the Roman Emperor [Hadrian] who addressed R. Joshua b. Hanania, ‘O glorious Wisdom in an ugly vessel’. He replied, ‘Does not your father keep wine in an earthenware vessel?’ She asked, ‘Wherein else shall he keep it?’ He said to her, ‘You who are nobles should keep it in vessels of gold and silver’. Thereupon she went and told this to her father, and he had the wine put into vessels of gold and silver, and it became sour. When he was informed of this, he asked his daughter, ‘Who gave you this advice?’ She replied. ‘R. Joshua b. Hanania’ — Thereupon the Emperor had him summoned before him and asked him, ‘Why did you give her such advice?’ He replied, ‘I answered her according to the way that she spoke to me.’ (Talmud, Taanit, 7a)
After this circumstance, Hadrian held several conversations with Rabbi Joshua which were recorded in the Talmud. In the extract below, the conversation referred to the interpretation of dreams:
The emperor said to R. Joshua b. R. Hananyah: ‘You [Jews] profess to be very clever. Tell me what I shall see in my dream.’ He said to him: ‘You will see the Persians making you do force labor and despoiling you and making you feed unclean animals with a golden crook.’ He thought about it all day, and in the night, he saw it in his dream. (Talmud, Berachot, 56a)
Maybe this dream, and especially because the rabbi foresaw it, disturbed the emperor. The fact is that, for no obvious reason, one of Hadrian's first measures was to withdraw Roman occupation forces from the most eastern provinces in Mesopotamia, thus avoiding war against the “Persians”. He feared a bad omen if his dream would come to realization. The following sentence may apply to his case, when a premonition dream would allow a person to avoid trouble or death:
Wherefore make You me to dream and make me to live. (Isaiah 38:16)
Year 3891 – 131 CE – Aelia Capitolina
Hadrian ordered to rebuild Jerusalem when he came to Judea. Never since its destruction by Titus in 70 CE, had any emperor allowed the city to be constructed again. But many Roman troops were camped in its ruins and petitioned to raise the camp to a status of polis. It is certain that the reconstruction of the city started around 130-131 CE after Hadrian's visit, because an inscription found in Jerusalem in 2013 mentions the visit of Hadrian in 130 CE (to read an article on this, click here). But it is not certain when the new city was sufficiently completed and, even today, scholars are divided whether it was completed before or after the great revolt of Bar Kochba.
Hadrian’s urban plans were to build a Roman-style city like in any other Roman province, including pagan temples. One plan was to build a temple to Jupiter on top of the Temple Mount, so this could have caused a revolt to start. But the many excavations in Judea tend to prove that the revolt was prepared secretly way before the construction works even started:
At Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a war of no slight importance nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites planted there. So long, indeed, as Hadrian was close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they remained quiet, save in so far as they purposely made of poor quality such weapons as they were called upon to furnish, in order that the Romans might reject them and they themselves might thus have the use of them; but when he went farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied the advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and might meet together unobserved underground; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at intervals to let in air and light. (Cassius Dio, Roman History, book LXIX; to read it online, click here)
It is however remarkable that, despite the destruction and fire caused by the assault from Titus in 70 CE, followed by the building of an entire new city by Hadrian, the Western Wall that was part of the Second Temple was still intact and still stands today. According to the Sages who commented on the Song of the Songs written by King Solomon, the Wall is still in existence because God wants it so:
"Behold He stands behind our Wall." [Song of Songs, 2:9]: behind the Western Wall of the Temple. Why so? Because God has sworn to him that it will never be destroyed, nor will the Gate of the Priests or the Gate of Huldah ever be destroyed until God shall renew them. (Midrash Rabba, Song of the Songs, II 9:4)
The new city was probably completed after the revolt and inaugurated with the name of Aelia Capitolina in honor of the emperor's own family name Aelius Hadrian.
The Jewish city of Jerusalem had no more protective walls at this time and was still guarded by the 10th Legion "Fretensis", appointed by Titus, who was mostly camped on the site of the previously known Upper City, in present day Jewish and Armenian Quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Hadrian built four gates which were erected at the start of the main streets into the city. Typical Roman cities had two streets: the Cardo that ran North-South and the Decumanus running East-West. In Aelia Capitolina there were two Cardo (or Cardii in plural): the Cardo Maximus starting from the Neapolis Gate (now called Damascus Gate) until the Decumanus (now David Street), and the Eastern Cardo that ran along the ravine that was adjacent to the Temple Mount. The four gates were: the Neapolis (Damascus) Gate, the central gate near the Decumanus, a gate to the western entrance (today Jaffa Gate), a gate to the eastern entrance (today its remains can be seen in the Ecce Homo church) next to where the Antonia fortress stood.
Besides, the city had two forums (or fora in plural): one at the eastern gate and one at the central gate (this forum is where the Muristan quarter is located today).
Hadrian also ordered the building of two temples: one dedicated to Jupiter on the Temple Mount (although we have no evidence that this temple was eventually built), and one dedicated to Aphrodite where the Golgotha was located (Christians seem to have revered this location quite early on, and Hadrian was keen to impose his cult over the Jewish and Christian ones). Stairs to the Aphrodite temple exist today in the Alexander Nevski Russian church in the Old City of Jerusalem.
After the Romans, came the Christian rule with the Roman Byzantine empire. They made it a point to keep Judaism and Jews away from Jerusalem, and they built many churches: this was a "Christianization" of the Jewish holy city. But they did not destroy the Western Wall, last vestige of the Second Temple of the time of Jesus.
Then came the Persians for a brief period (less than 10 years), then the Muslims who built two mosques on the Temple Mount and palaces on its southern slope: they started an Islamization of the Jewish holy city, even making it "holy" to Islam later.
Then came the Crusaders who built more Christian structures in the Old City.
Then came the Muslims again, then the Tartars, then the Muslims then finally the Turks. And all these invaders left the Western Wall as it was until the Jews gained control of it after the Six Days War in June 1967, some 1900 years after the Romans started their siege against the city.
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Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Tishri 5786 - September 2025
