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Simon Bar Giora (alternatively known as Simeon Bar Giora or Simon Ben Giora or Shimon Bar Giora) was a leader of the Sicarii faction during the First Jewish-Roman War in the 1st century Judea.
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History
| “ | But as for the Acrabbene toparchy, Simon, the son of Gioras, got a great number of those that were fond of innovations together, and betook himself to ravage the country; nor did he only harass the rich men's houses, but tormented their bodies, and appeared openly and beforehand to affect tyranny in his government. And when an army was sent against him by Artanus, and the other rulers, he and his band retired to the robbers that were at Masada, and staid there, and plundered the country of Idumea with them, till both Ananus and his other adversaries were slain; and until the rulers of that country were so afflicted with the multitude of those that were slain, and with the continual ravage of what they had, that they raised an army, and put garrisons into the villages, to secure them from those insults. And in this state were the affairs of Judea at that time.[1] | ” |
In the year 68 (the third year of the revolt), after the Zealot Temple Siege when legitimate and lawful authority had been overthrown, three Jewish leaders emerged: John of Giscala, Simon bar Giora, and Eleazar ben Simon. As a leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome, Simon bar Giora – whose epithet probably means 'son of a proselyte' – was the most important rival of John of Gischala. He was a very competent general who attracted some forty thousand soldiers, promising "liberty for slaves and rewards for the free." He was was invited by that part of the population of Jerusalem that feared the power of John; he entered the city in the spring of 69, where he set himself up as the ruler of Jerusalem, yet he fought continuously with the other factions until all were forced to surrender to the Romans in the aftermath of the Siege of Jerusalem.
Quotation from the Jewish War by Josephus
- Simon had been in the upper city during the siege of Jerusalem, but when the Roman army had got within the walls and were laying the city waste, he then took the most faithful of his friends with him, and among them several stone-cutters, with those iron tools which belonged to their occupation. Taking with them as great a quantity of provisions as would suffice them for a long time, he let himself and all them down into a certain subterranean cavern that was not visible above ground. Now, so far as had been digged of old, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where they met with solid earth, they dug a mine under ground, and hoping that they should be able to proceed so far as to rise from underground in a safe place, and by that means escape. But when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of their hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and that with difficulty also because their provisions, though they distributed them by measure, began to fail them.
- Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish and elude the Romans, put on a white frock, and buttoned upon him a purple cloak, and appeared out of the ground in the place where the temple had formerly been. At the first, indeed, those that saw him were greatly astonished, and stood still where they were; but afterward they came nearer to him, and asked him who he was. Now Simon would not tell them, but bid them call for their captain; and when they ran to call him, Terentius Rufus (who was left to command the army there) came to Simon, and learned of him the whole truth, and kept him in bonds, and let Titus know that he was taken. Thus did God bring this man to be punished for what bitter and savage tyranny he had exercised against his countrymen. [2]
Death
Simon Bar Giora was captured during the Siege of Jerusalem and executed by the Romans.[3]
Bar Giora coins
Bar Giora coins bore the inscription "Redemption of Zion", indicating that there was a religious aspect to Simon's bid for power. This does not prove that he was considered the Messiah, but some historians think that it is likely and point to the fact that he wore a royal robe in the Temple as another indication.
References
- ^ Josephus (c. 75). The Jewish War, Book II.
- ^ Book 7, Chapter 2, Section 1 of the historian Flavius Josephus' The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem
- ^ Cassius Dio (1914). "Book LXV". Roman History, Loeb Translation. p. 270.
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