In the Spring of 66 AD, the Jews of Roman Judea had had enough
of Roman intolerance and rose up in rebellion against the excesses
of the procurator Gessius Florus. Without any apparently plan or
organized leadership, Rebels seized control of Jerusalem
(Hierosolyma) section by section, and then finally massacred the
sole cohort of Roman infantry left behind by Florus as a garrison.
A relief army of 30,000 under Cestius Gallus, the Roman Governor of
Syria, quickly quashed resistance in northern Judea and then
marched on Jerusalem, assaulting the walls for eight days and
seriously demoralizing the defenders before withdrawing (presumably
because his army was proving unreliable and he lacked a seige train
to conduct seige operations). Gallus retired to Beth-Horon, where
the rejuvenated rebels attacked him, inflicting a heavy defeat.
Realizing that the die was irreparably cast for war, the Jewish
aristocrat and priest classes quickly organized the country,
dividing it into eleven administrative districts, each with its own
commander and small army. Unfortunately for their cause, the
divided Jewish forces were unable to coordinate their operations or
come to each for mutual support. The Emperor Nero responded to news
of Gallus' defeat by dispatching Vespasian to command the three
legions and auxiliaries (nearly 60,000 men) already enroute to
suppress the rebellion. The Romans successfully beseiged Jotapata
and then marched to the port of Caesarea, where they met Vespasian,
who lead them across country to Tiberias and Gamala. This campaign
successfully secured the Galilee by the close of 67 AD. Roman
successes prompted internal dissension among the Jewish leaders,
leading the fanatical Zealots under John and their allies, the
Idumaean Jews of southern Judea, to overthrow the aristocrats and
seize control of Jerusalem. Later, Simon and his bandits entered
the city and contested the Zealots' control, making life doubly
difficult for the aristocrats and priests. Vespasian then moved
southward in a multi-pronged campaign that resulted in the
recapture of Gadara, Jericho and Emmaus, thus successfully
isolating the Jewish rebels at Jerusalem by the close of 68 AD.
Before he could complete the campaign, however, Nero was overthrown
and Vespasian was proclaimed emperor by his eastern legions in July
69 AD. Shortly thereafter, he departed for Rome, leaving his son
Titus in command of operations. Titus then moved on Jerusalem,
which in September 70 AD, after a seven month seige. The Herodian
temple and much of the city was razed, captives were shipped off to
the gladiatorial games or Roman mines, and John and Simon were
captured and sent to Rome to participate in Vespasian's Triumph,
after which Simon was executed. The fall of Jerusalem marked the
effective end of the Jewish Revolt (and this period in the DBA army
list), however mop-up operations continued for the next four years
under the generals Lucilius Bassus and Flavius Silva against
fanatical bands of rebels who holed up in fortresses at Herodium,
Machaerus and Masada in the south of Judea. Masada was the last to
fall (Spring 74 AD). After the Romans had completed extensive
preparations for an assault against the rocky citadel, Masada's
defenders committed mass suicide rather than risk falling into
Roman hands. The second Jewish Revolt (132-135 AD) was prompted by
the Emperor Hadrian, who during his travels through Judea in 130 AD
indulged himself in several provocations, including a decree
banning circumcism, construction of a tomb to Pompey (who had
desecrated the Temple of Yahweh in Jersusalem in 63 BC) and the
pronouncement that he would rebuild Jerusalem as the Roman city
Aeolia Capitolina, including construction of a temple to Jupiter
Capitolinus on the site of Herod's temple. Apparently designed to
provoke a reaction, Hadrian's actions certainly did not sit well
with the natives, who promptly revolted under the leadership of
Simon Bar Kokhba. Little is recorded of the rebellion, despite the
fact that it was fiercely fought and lasted approximately three and
a half years before the Roman army under Julius Serverus was able
to bring Bar Kokhba to bay in a fortress near Jerusalem. Jewish
annals record that 50 forts and 985 villages were destroyed and
that 580,000 Jews were killed during the course of the war. The
Romans for their part were reputed to have lost the legio XXII
Deiotariana. In the rebellion's aftermath, Hadrian permanently
banned Jews from setting foot in Jerusalem and then rebuilt the
city as a Roman colony.
