REVOLT OF THE JEWS AGAINST TRAJAN AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
Trajan and Asia--Revolt of the Jews--Hadrian--The Jewish
Sibylline Books--The Attempted Rebuilding of the Temple--The
Ordinances of Usha--Bar-Cochba--Akiba's Part in the
War--Bar-Cochba's Victories--Suppression of the Revolt--Siege
and Fall of Bethar.
96-138 C. E.
Nerva had chosen the Spaniard Ulpianus Trajan as his successor.
This emperor, who was nearly sixty years old, set about realizing
his favorite idea of annexing the territories lying between the
Euphrates and Tigris and the Indus and Ganges to the Roman Empire, so
as to win laurels similar to those obtained by Alexander the Great.
In the Parthian lands he had an easy conquest; for this ancient
kingdom--partly of Greek and partly of Persian origin--was torn
asunder by the various pretenders to the throne, and offered but
little resistance to the conqueror. Only the Jews, who lived in great
numbers in this district, under the leadership of the Prince of the
Captivity, possessed a certain amount of independence, and offered
resistance to the Roman conqueror. The Babylonian Jews beheld in Trajan
the descendant of those who had destroyed the Temple and condemned
their brethren to miserable slavery, and armed themselves as if for a
holy war. The town of Nisibis, which had always possessed a numerous
Jewish population, displayed such obstinate resistance that it could be
subdued only after a lengthy siege. The district of Adiabene, on the
center branch of the Tigris, obeyed a ruler whose ancestors, scarcely
a century before, had adopted Judaism. Mebarsapes, who was now on the
throne of Adiabene, was, perhaps, also inclined towards Judaism. He
fought bravely against Trajan, but was overcome by the Roman forces.
Trajan, unlike any of his predecessors, witnessed after a very short
space of time the glorious results of his campaign. Conquests seem to
have met him half-way. When he withdrew into his winter quarters in
Antioch (115-116), in order to receive homage, the chief campaign was
almost at an end. In the spring he again set forth, in order to crush
any opposition, and to carry into effect the long-cherished plan of
conquering the Jews. But hardly had Trajan set out when the conquered
people on the twin rivers revolted again. The Jews had a great share
in this uprising; they spread anarchy through a great portion of
the Roman Empire. Not alone the Babylonian Jews, but also the Jews
of Egypt, Cyrenaica, Lybia, and those in the island of Cyprus were
seized with the idea of shaking off the Roman yoke. As if possessed
by an overwhelming power, the Jews of this far-lying district seized
their weapons, as though to show the enemy that their power was not
destroyed nor their courage broken, and that they were not willing to
share the weakness and degradation of the times, and to sink without an
effort amongst the masses of enslaved nations. Such unanimous action
presupposes a concerted plan and a powerful leader. From Judæa the
rebellion spread through the neighboring countries to the Euphrates
and Egypt (116-117). In half a century after the fall of the Jewish
State a new race had arisen, who inherited the zealous spirit of their
fathers, and who bore in their hearts a vivid remembrance of their
former independence. The hope of the Tanaite teacher, "Soon the Temple
will be rebuilt," had kept alive a love of freedom in the Jewish
youths, who had not lost the habit of using weapons in the schools.
A legend relates that Trajan's wife (Plotina) had given birth to a
son on the ninth of Ab, and lost it on the feast of Dedication, which
the Jews kept in memory of the victory of the Hasmonæans, and she
had interpreted their sorrowing as the hatred of an enemy, and their
rejoicing as joy for her loss. The Empress therefore wrote to Trajan,
"Instead of subduing the barbarians, you should rather punish the Jews
who revolt against you."
In Judæa the leaders of the rebellion appear to have been two
courageous men from Alexandria, Julianus and Pappus. The former seems
to have been the Alabarch of Alexandria, or his relative, and a
descendant of the celebrated Alexander Lysimachus. He and his companion
enjoyed a princely position amongst the Jews. The meeting place of the
revolutionary troops in Judæa was the plain of Rimmon, or the great
plain of Jezreel. There exists but a dim picture of the proceedings,
and only the issue of the revolt is known with certainty. In Cyrene,
whose Jewish inhabitants had been encouraged to revolt against the
Romans immediately after their defeat, the rebellion was at its height.
They had a leader named Andreias, also called Lucuas, one of whose
names was, perhaps, of an allegorical nature.
The Egyptian Jews, who in former times had been loyal to the Romans,
this time made common cause with the rebels, and conducted operations
as in every other revolution. They first attacked the neighboring
towns, killed the Romans and Greeks, and avenged the destruction of
their nationality on their nearest enemies. Encouraged by the result,
they collected in troops and attacked the Roman army under the Roman
general Lupus, who commanded the legions against the Jews. In the
first encounter the wild enthusiasm gave the Jews an advantage over
the Romans, and Lupus was defeated. The results of this victory were
scenes of horror and barbarity on both sides, as was naturally the
case in a racial war between people who carried in their hearts an
ancient hatred which, when it came to a fiery outburst, could only be
quenched by blood. The heathens who had taken flight after the defeat
of the Roman army marched against Alexandria. The Jewish inhabitants
who could bear arms, and who had joined in the revolt, were taken
prisoners and killed amidst fearful tortures. The conquering Jewish
troops felt themselves filled with a desire for revenge. In despair
they invaded the Egyptian territories, imprisoned the inhabitants, and
repaid cruelties with fresh cruelties. The Greek and Roman fugitives
took to their boats, in order to escape pursuit on the bosom of the
Nile; but armed Jews followed close behind them. The historian Appian,
at that time an official in Alexandria, sought safety by taking flight
at night, and would have fallen into the hands of his Jewish pursuers,
had he not missed his way along the coast. The short description of his
flight and his unexpected deliverance gives some idea of the terror
excited by the Jewish populations, who had suffered so long at the
hands of their enemies. The Jews are said to have eaten the flesh of
the captive Greeks and Romans, to have smeared themselves with their
blood, and to have wrapped themselves in the skins torn off them. These
horrors are quite foreign to Jewish character and customs, but it is
probably true that the Jews made the Romans and Greeks fight with wild
animals or in the arena. This was a sad reprisal for the horrible
drama to which Vespasian and Titus had condemned the captive Jews. In
Cyrenaica 200,000 Greeks and Romans were slain by the Jews, and Lybia,
the strip of land to the east of Egypt, was so utterly devastated that,
some years later, new colonies had to be sent thither.
In the Island of Cyprus, which had for a long time previous been
inhabited by Jews, who owned synagogues there, a certain Artemion
headed the uprising against the Romans. The number of rebels was very
great, and was probably strengthened by the discontented heathen
inhabitants of the island. The Cyprian Jews are said to have destroyed
Salamis, the capital of the island, and to have killed 240,000 Greeks.
Trajan, who was then in Babylon, greatly feared the outbreak of a
revolt, and sent an army, proportionate in numbers to the anticipated
danger. He entrusted an important force by land and sea to Martius
Turbo, in order that he might quell the smouldering troubles of war
which existed in Egypt, Cyrenaica, and on the island of Cyprus.
In the district of the Euphrates, where the Jews, notwithstanding the
nearness of the Emperor's crushing army, had taken up a threatening
position, he gave the chief command to his favorite general, Quietus,
a Moorish prince of cruel disposition, whom he had appointed as his
successor. It is not known who led the Jews of Babylon. Maximus, a
Roman general, lost his life in the battle; Quietus had received orders
to entirely annihilate the Jews of his district, so great was the
fear and hatred of the Emperor of a nation whose power he seems in no
way to have rightly estimated. Thus Trajan had to oppose the Jews on
three sides, and had they united and mutually supported each other,
the colossal Roman empire would perhaps have received a deadly blow.
Martius Turbo, who had to oppose the Egyptian and Cyrenean revolts,
went himself in his ships to the threatened spots, which he reached in
five days. He avoided meeting the hostile forces in a sudden attack,
coolly calculating that this would only give the victory to a people
who were guided more by enthusiasm for an idea than by principles
of military tactics. He preferred to weaken the rebels by repeated
onslaughts, which gradually wearied them and thinned their ranks.
The Jews, however, did not submit without making a brave defense.
The heathen authorities, who were against the Jews, acknowledge that
it was only after a contest of long duration that the Romans became
masters of the situation. It was inevitable that the Romans should
conquer in the end, as they had greater multitudes and greater skill in
war, and especially as their cavalry had to encounter only half-armed
foot-soldiers. Turbo displayed an amount of cruelty to the captives
which was not strange to the Romans. The legions surrounded the
prisoners and cut them to pieces, the women were lashed, and those who
offered resistance were killed. The ancient Alexandrian synagogue,
a marvel of Egyptian architecture, a basilica, was destroyed. From
that time, says a Jewish source, the glory of Israel departed. In the
massacre which Martius Turbo set on foot amongst the African Jews, the
same source relates that the blood of the slain stained the sea to
the island of Cyprus. This refers to the sea of blood which the Roman
general shed amongst the Cyprian Jews.
Turbo, after the end of this African revolt, led his legions against
Cyprus. Concerning the particulars of this war, authorities are silent.
The contest, however, must have been a bitter one, for a deadly hatred
arose in Cyprus against the Jews. This hatred was expressed in a
barbarous law, according to which no Jew might approach the island of
Cyprus, even if he suffered shipwreck on that coast.
The war of destruction waged by Lucius Quietus against the Babylonian
and Mesopotamian Jews is but little known in its individual features.
Only so much is certain, that he destroyed many thousands, and that he
laid waste the towns of Nisibis and Edessa, which were inhabited by
Jews. The houses, streets and roads were strewn with corpses. As a
reward for the great services rendered by this general in fighting the
Jews, Trajan named him governor of Palestine, with unlimited power,
so that he might suppress the revolt in the Jewish fatherland. Trajan
himself was unsuccessful in his encounters; he had to leave Babylon,
give up the siege of the town of Atra, and relinquish the idea of
converting the Parthian land into a Roman province.
Through the failure of his favorite plan, the emperor fell ill, and
was brought to Antioch, and he died a few months later at Cilicia. His
desire that his faithful general, Quietus, should succeed, was also not
fulfilled. His astute wife, Plotina, set aside his last wishes, and
assured the army that Trajan had, before his death, accepted his near
relation, Ælius Hadrian, as his son and successor.
Hadrian, at his accession (August, 117), found that various nations
were on the eve of a rebellion, and that others were taking measures
to break the fetters of all-powerful Rome. Hardly had the report of
Trajan's death been spread than the flames of rebellion burst forth
both in the East and the West, and the wish of the nations to free
themselves from the Roman yoke, in a violent manner, made itself known.
The Parthian lands, where Trajan had just established the semblance of
the Roman rule, some of the districts of Asia Minor, whose agricultural
wealth had been appropriated by the officers of the emperor, Mauritania
and Sarmatia, and distant Britain--all seized upon this moment of
weakness to strive for independence.
The Jews of Palestine, whose hatred towards the Romans was yet
stronger, had already organized a rebellion, for the suppression of
which Quietus had been sent out by Trajan, after he had completed
his work in the lands of the Euphrates. He had not yet succeeded in
mastering the revolt when Hadrian became ruler. Historians are silent
as to the nature of the war in Judæa. The Jewish sources call this
second rebellion "the war of Quietus" (Polemos shel Kitos). It appears
to have taken an unfavorable turn for the Jews, for fresh signs of
public mourning were added to those observed for the destruction of the
Temple by the teachers of the Law. It was forbidden that brides should
wear wreaths on their weddings, or that the Jews should learn Greek. It
is not clear whether this prohibition was directed against the Greek
language or the Greek customs; as little is it possible to discover
the connection between this war and a distaste for what was Greek.
Perhaps the Greeks of Palestine became false to their allies, and left
the Jews in the lurch. The Synhedrion of Jamnia appears to have been
destroyed under Quietus, but the Jewish people were soon delivered
from the merciless oppressor, whose plans for their annihilation could
not be carried into effect. The new emperor himself put an end to his
general's career. Hadrian, who had more ambition than warlike courage,
and whose innermost aspiration was for the nimbus of royal authority
rather than for a rough and troublesome military existence, drew back
at the prospect of so many revolts, and from the chance of a long and
wearisome war. Already envious of the reputation of his predecessor,
with whom he had no sympathy, and whom the Senate had been unwearied
in granting triumphs, Hadrian, for the first time, swerved from the
hard and fast line of Roman politics, and was inclined to be yielding.
In the same spirit, he permitted the Parthians to be ruled by their
own prince, renounced all claims on them, and appears to have made
concessions to the other provinces, and to have granted the Jews their
apparently harmless requests. Amongst these they expressed a wish for
the removal of the heartless Quietus and the restoration of the Temple.
The all-powerful general was deposed; and though the jealousy of the
emperor with regard to this great and powerful ruler was a chief reason
for his removal, it yet was made to appear as if it were done to favor
the Jews, and to do away with their chief grievance. Before Quietus
fell into disgrace he was about to pronounce sentence of death on the
two Jewish leaders, Julianus and Pappus, who had fallen into his hands;
they were to be executed in Laodicea. He had said to them, "If your
God is powerful, as you assert, He may rescue you from my hands." To
which they replied, "Thou art scarcely worthy that God should perform a
miracle for thy sake, who art not even an independent ruler, but only
the servant of one higher." At the very moment when the two prisoners
were being led to a martyr's death, the order came from Rome which
deposed their executioner from the governorship of Judæa.
Quietus left Palestine, and was soon afterwards executed at the command
of Hadrian. The day of the release of Julianus and Pappus, 12th Adar
(Feb.-March, 118), was celebrated as a memorable event, and the college
appointed it as a half-holiday, under the name of Trajan's day (Yom
Trajanus). It is not to be doubted that the Jews made the re-erection
of the Temple on its former site a condition of their laying down
arms. A Jewish source relates this fact in clear terms, and Christian
accounts positively aver that the Jews on several occasions endeavored
to restore the Temple, and this can only refer to the early years of
Hadrian's reign. The superintendence of the building of the town,
Hadrian is said to have entrusted to the proselyte Akylas. Great was
the delight of the Jews at the prospect of again possessing a holy
fane. Fifty years had elapsed since the destruction of the Temple, just
the same period as had formed the interval between the destruction of
the first sanctuary and the return from Babylon. The keenest hopes were
aroused by Hadrian's assent. A Jewish-Alexandrian poet expresses in
Greek verse the feelings which filled every breast. The unknown poet
places his words in the mouth of a heathen prophetess, the Sibyl, the
sister of Isis. She first recites, in enigmatic references, the names
of a long line of Roman conquerors from the time of Cæsar--
... and after him there came
As king a man who wore a silver helm--the name
He bore was of a sea--a worthy man, far-seeing,
And 'neath thee--thou good and splendid raven-locked,
And 'neath thy race, this happened for all times,
That there arose a god-like race, indwellers of heaven,
Who e'en on earth surround the town of God,
And unto Joppa surround it with high walls,
And boldly raise their towers to heaven's heights.
No more the death sound of the trumpet's cry--
No more they perish at the foe's rash hands;
But trophies shall float in the world o'er evil.
Torment thy heart no more, nor pierce with sword thy breast,
Thou godly one, too rich, thou much-loved flower,
Thou light so good and bright, desired and holy goal!
Dear Jewish land! fair town, inspired of songs,
No more shall unclean foot of Greeks within thy bounds
Go forth.
But in honor thy faithful ones shall hold thee;
And they shall serve thy board with holy words,
With varied offerings, and with welcome prayers.
Those who remorseless send ill words to heaven
Shall cease to raise their voices in thy midst,
Shall hide away until the world has changed.
For from the heavenly land a happy man comes forth,
Within whose hands a scepter given by God;
And over all he rules with glory, and to the good
Again he giveth riches, bereft of them by others gone before,
The towns by fire leveled to the very earth,
And burnt the homes of men who once did evil.
But the town beloved of God he made
Brighter than stars or sun, and than the moon,
Adorned them brightly, and reared a holy Temple.
The great expectations formed with regard to the restoration, which
had appeared like a pleasant dream, paled before the stern reality.
Scarcely had Hadrian taken a firm footing in his kingdom and calmed
the unruly nations, when, like other weak princes, he began to
diminish his promises, and to prevaricate. One report relates that the
Samaritans--who were jealous that the object of their aversion, the
Temple of Jerusalem, should again rise from the dust--endeavored to
represent to the Emperor the danger of such a restoration; as their
forefathers had formerly demonstrated to the Persian rulers, so they
endeavored to prove to the Roman emperor that the building of the
Temple was a mere subterfuge to bring about a total separation from
Rome. Hadrian, however, would probably have come to this conclusion
without the interposition of the Samaritans. In any case, while he
did not venture wholly to retract his word, he began to bargain. It
is said by some that he gave the Jews to understand that the Temple
must be erected on a different place from that on which stood the
ruins of the former building, or that it must be built on a smaller
scale. The Jews, who well understood this temporizing, and saw therein
only a retractation of the imperial promise, were not inclined to let
themselves be played with.
When matters had reached this pass, many people armed themselves and
assembled again in the valley of Rimmon, on the plain of Jezreel. When
the royal epistle was read out the masses burst into tears. A rebellion
and an embittered war seemed imminent. But there were still lovers of
peace amongst the people, who recognized that a rebellion, under the
circumstances then existing, would be dangerous. At the head of this
party was Joshua. He was immediately sent for to tranquillize the
excited populace by his influence and eloquence. Joshua addressed the
people in a manner which has always appealed to the masses. He related
a fable, and drew a moral which applied to existing circumstances: "A
lion had once regaled himself on his prey, but a bone remained sticking
in his throat. In terror he promised a great reward to any one who
would extract the bone. A crane with a long neck presented himself,
performed the operation and claimed his reward. The lion, however,
said mockingly, Rejoice that thou hast withdrawn thy head unharmed from
the lion's jaws. In like manner," said Joshua, "let us be glad that we
have escaped unscathed from the Roman, and not insist on the fulfilment
of his promise." Through these and similar exhortations he prevented
an immediate outbreak. But the nation was filled with the idea of
rebellion, and adhered to it in a manner worthy of a better fortune.
Joshua was the chief leader of the people in the time of Hadrian, and
appears to have performed the duties of Patriarch, for Gamaliel had
probably died at the commencement of Hadrian's reign. The honors paid
to his dead body show the high esteem in which he was regarded by the
people. Joshua, Eliezer, and his disciples mourned for him; Akylas
the proselyte--as was customary at royal funerals--burnt clothes and
furniture to the amount of seventy minas. When reproached for this
extravagance he said, "Gamaliel is worth more than a hundred kings,
from whom the world gains nothing." A striking contrast to this display
was afforded by the simplicity of the shroud which Gamaliel had
expressly ordered before his death. It was customary at that time to
clothe the corpse in costly garments, an expense which fell so heavily
on those of small means, that many deserted their dead relations in
order to avoid the outlay. To prevent such expense, Gamaliel ordered
in his last will that he should be buried in simple white linen. From
that time greater simplicity was observed, and it became the custom at
funeral feasts to drink a cup to the memory of Gamaliel. He left sons,
but the eldest, Simon, appears to have been too young to undertake the
patriarchate, which, therefore, devolved on Joshua probably (as his
representative, Ab-bet-din). After Gamaliel's death Joshua was desirous
of abolishing various ordinances which the former had enforced, but he
was opposed by Jochanan ben Nuri, who was supported by most of the
Tanaites.
It is hardly possible to doubt that the Jamnian Synhedrion removed to
Upper Galilee after the death of Gamaliel, and Usha (El-Uz) in the
vicinity of Shefaram (Shefa-Amar), between Acco and Safet, became
the seat of the Synhedrion. Ishmael is mentioned amongst those who
emigrated to Usha. Here the Synhedrion made various enactments of high
moral and historical importance, which took the form of laws, under the
title of Ordinances of Usha (Tekanoth Usha). One of these laws decreed
that a father must support his young children--the boys until their
twelfth year, and the girls until they married. Before this time the
provision for children had been left to the option of parents. Another
law enacted that if a father during his own lifetime gave up all his
property to his son, it followed, as a matter of course, that the son
must support both his father and the wife of his father. A third law
limited the reckless devoting of the whole of a man's property to
charitable purposes, which custom prevailed at that time. This law
prescribed that only a fifth part of the property might be given away.
Isebab, who afterwards died the death of a martyr, was desirous of
dividing his whole property amongst the poor, but Akiba opposed him,
referring him to this law respecting property. One decision of Usha
seems to have been directed against Gamaliel's severe employment of the
interdict. It decreed that no member of the College should in future
be excommunicated unless he actually despised and revolted against
the whole Law, like King Jeroboam. This circumstance shows that the
unity of the Law was so established that a difference of opinion no
longer implied, as formerly, a total break, and Joshua, no doubt, had
contributed to this result.
The tolerable relations between Hadrian and the Jews did not last much
more than a decade. He could not forget that he had been compelled
to make concessions to the despised nation, and the latter could not
forget that he had broken faith with them, and had deprived them of
their fairest hopes. This mutual antipathy displayed itself during
Hadrian's journey through Judæa. The emperor, urged by vanity, and
a desire to be called the father of his country, and impelled by a
restlessness and want of occupation, which drove him from one spot
to another, had visited nearly all the provinces of the great Roman
empire, for the purpose of seeing everything with his own eyes.
Hadrian's petty curiosity led him to concern himself with all manner
of things, to desire to be considered as a philosopher, and better
informed than his contemporaries in all matters. Whether he judged the
condition of other provinces correctly may be doubted; he certainly
was deceived in his hasty judgment of the Jews. During his visit to
Judæa (130), it is probable that those people, such as the Romans,
Samaritans, and Christians, who disliked the original inhabitants
(the Jews), approached him with subservience, in order to greet him
as a demi-god, or even as a god. A pantomimic conversation, which was
held between a Christian and a representative of Judaism, Joshua ben
Chananya, in Hadrian's presence, describes their respective positions.
The former showed by gestures that the God of Israel had hidden His
face from the Jews; the latter showed, by a movement of the arm,
that God still stretched forth His hand to protect Israel, and this
pantomime Hadrian desired to have explained to him. He seems to have
had many interviews with Joshua. Several conversations between Hadrian
and the Tanaite have been handed down, of which one appears to be
credible. He asked him, "If you are as wise as you assert, tell me
what I shall behold this night in my dreams." Joshua replied, "Thou
wilt dream that the Persians (Parthians) will subdue thee, and compel
thee to guard low animals with a golden scepter." This retort was well
chosen, for the superstitious emperor feared the Parthians beyond all
nations, and did his utmost to maintain peace with them.
Hadrian thought that he had nothing to fear from Judæa. He informed
the Roman Senate of the peaceful disposition of the Jews, and they
perpetuated their credulity by various coins, in which the emperor is
represented dressed in a toga, raising a kneeling Jew from his humble
position. Three boys (probably emblematic of the districts of Judæa,
Samaria, and Galilee) hand him palm branches. He thus cherished the
expectation that racial and religious differences would soon disappear,
and that the inhabitants would merge their identity in that of the
Romans. In order to induce such a state of things he drew up a plan,
which could not have been more unfortunately conceived. Jerusalem was
to be rebuilt, but as a pagan city. Whilst he repaired to Egypt to
commit other follies, the desecration of the holy city was commenced.
The Jews naturally did not remain unmoved at this act, which was to
erase their name as a nation and a religious body from the book of the
living, and a bitter feeling overcame them. Joshua again appears to
have endeavored to bring about a reconciliation in order to frustrate
the thoughtless plan of the emperor, and to allay the discontent of the
people. Though an aged man, he traveled to Egypt in order to induce the
emperor to alter his mind.
But his prudent suggestions were ridiculed; the emperor would only
mock at the Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian religions, with which he
thought himself thoroughly acquainted. He wrote at this time to his
brother-in-law, "No president of the synagogue (Rabbi) of the Jews, no
Samaritan, no Christian priest, honors anything but Serapis. Even that
patriarch who has come to Egypt [probably Joshua] was compelled by some
to worship Serapis, and by others to worship Christ." Joshua returned
to Judæa after his fruitless visit, and appears to have died soon after
of grief and old age. It was justly said of him that with his death
wisdom and prudent moderation came to an end. After his decease there
occurred wide-spread movements and contests in Judæa, which were among
the most memorable in its history, and there was no one to stem the
tide.
So long as Hadrian remained in Syria (130-131) the malcontents did not
commence the revolt for which they had probably been long preparing.
The weapons prepared by the Jewish smiths for the Romans were made (in
anticipation of their being used against themselves) weak and useless.
In the hollow chalk mountains of Judæa the insurgents silently prepared
underground passages and refuges, which were used as secret armories
before the war, and afterwards as secret ambushes, from which the enemy
could be attacked. Akiba seems to have developed a silent but effective
activity in his preparation for a revolt. After the death of Joshua he
was recognized as the head of the Jewish community. Hadrian, lulled
into security, discovered the conspiracy only when it broke out at the
various points of the Roman empire, so skilfully had the Roman spies
been deceived. When the revolt was about to commence everything was in
readiness. There were stores of arms, means of communication, warriors,
and even a powerful leader, who, through his strange position, infused
religious enthusiasm and warlike courage. It was considered as a
favorable sign for their daring undertaking that two of the stations
of the Roman legions had been destroyed. Cæsarea and Emmaus had been
swallowed up some years before by an earthquake. Cæsarea was the Roman
capital of Judæa, the dwelling-place of the governor, and, like Rome,
it brought down the hatred of the Jews on itself. The peculiar idea was
entertained, that, as the greatness of Cæsarea had dated from the time
of the destruction of Jerusalem, so from the fall of Cæsarea Jerusalem
would again attain to power. Emmaus had been the dwelling-place of
eight hundred soldiers of Vespasian who had served there; it therefore
had been used as a second citadel.
The chief hero of the revolt was Bar-Cochba, who inspired the Roman
empire in its then state of weakness with as much terror as Brennus and
Hannibal had formerly done.
Not a trace, however slight, can be found of the descent and early life
of this much reviled and misunderstood personage. Like the hero of
every revolution, he suddenly appeared as the perfect incarnation of
the nation's will and the nation's hate, spreading terror around, and
standing as the center-point of an eventful movement. His real name was
Bar-Kosiba, doubtless from the town of Kosiba, and was not a nickname
meaning "son of lies." Bar-Cochba was a symbolical Messianic name which
Akiba had given him. When Akiba, actively engaged in the deliverance of
the Jewish people, first saw Bar-Cochba, he was so impressed with the
appearance of the man that he said, "That is a Messianic king." Akiba
applied to him the verse of Scripture, "Kosiba has arisen as a star
(Cochba) in Jacob." Akiba was confirmed, by the imposing personality of
Bar-Cochba, in his hopes that the Roman power would soon be overthrown,
and that the splendors of Israel would once more shine forth, and he
looked forward through this means to the speedy establishment of the
Messianic kingdom. He cited the verse of the prophet Haggai with regard
to this (ii. 21), "Yet a little and I will shake heaven and earth."
All did not, however, share Akiba's pious enthusiasm. Jochanan ben
Torta, a teacher of the Law, replied dubiously to his high-flying
hopes, "Sooner shall grass grow from thy chin, Akiba, than that the
Messiah will appear." The respect and attention, however, which Akiba
displayed towards Bar-Cochba were sufficient to surround him with a
halo, as of a higher God-given power, which gave him unquestioned
authority, and increased the means at his disposal.
There is no record in Jewish sources of miracles performed by the
Messianic king for the gratification of the populace. But an account
of the enemy relates how Bar-Cochba puffed forth burning tow from his
mouth to give himself the appearance of spitting fire. The Jewish
accounts speak of his enormous bodily strength. They relate that he
cast back with his knees the huge stones thrown by the Romans by means
of machines on the Jewish army. There is no hint given that he pursued
any selfish end by his Messianism; he was actuated only by the wish
to win back freedom for his people, to restore the tarnished glory of
the Jewish state, and to throw off at once and for ever the foreign
rule which, during two centuries, had interfered with the interests of
Judaism. So energetic a mind, combined with great military talent, even
though it failed to secure a favorable result, should have received
juster recognition from posterity, and certainly does not deserve the
prejudice which it met with from interested contemporaries. The Jewish
warriors from all countries poured forth to aid the Messianic king, and
the revolt became one of great dimensions. Even the Samaritans joined
their former opponents, as the chronicles relate. Heathens themselves
made common cause with the Jews, impelled by a desire to shake off the
unbearable Roman yoke. It seemed as if the whole Roman empire were
about to receive a heavy blow, by which the various members of its
gigantic body were to be rent asunder. From these facts the number of
the warriors cannot be considered as exaggerated if the Jewish sources
put them down as 400,000, whilst the Pagan historian Dio Cassius rates
them even at 580,000. Bar-Cochba felt so confident in his own courage
and the numerous warriors at his command, that he is said to have
uttered the blasphemy, "Lord, if thou dost not help us, at least do not
help our enemies, and we shall not be defeated."
Tinnius Rufus, the Governor of Judæa, was not prepared for the enormous
military power opposed to him, and he soon had to retreat before the
troops of the warlike Messiah. Rufus withdrew from one citadel to
another, and in one year (132-133) fifty fortified places and 985
cities and villages fell into the hands of the rebels. It appears that
the whole of Judæa, together with Samaria and Galilee, were evacuated
by the Romans, and fell into the possession of the Jews. When Hadrian
received the first news of the revolt in Judæa, he laid no great weight
upon it; but when one report after another of the defeat of the Roman
troops reached him, he sent relays and his best generals to the scene
of action; these, however, had no better fortune than Rufus. It is not
to be doubted that Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Jewish victors,
who may have contemplated the restoration of the Temple; but in the
midst of the war, and continually harassed by the Roman legions, they
had no time to undertake so extensive a work. Bar-Cochba, in order to
announce national independence, performed a sovereign act of power by
causing Jewish coins to be struck. These were called Bar-Cochba coins,
and also coins of the Revolution.
Notwithstanding the deep hatred entertained by the Jews for their
enemies, they did not avenge themselves upon such as fell into their
hands. It was only against the Jewish Christians who lived in Judæa
that Bar-Cochba displayed his hostility, because they were considered
as blasphemers and as spies. This hatred against the Jewish Christians
was increased because they refused to take part in the national war,
and were the only idle lookers-on at the fearful spectacle. One of the
oldest Christian sources relates that Bar-Cochba had demanded of the
Christians to deny Jesus, and to take part in the war with the Romans,
and that those who refused to do so were punished with heavy penalties.
When the State was restored and all laws again came into force, the
Jewish authorities felt themselves justified in summoning those
of their countrymen before the justice-seat who not only denied
the Law but held it up to ridicule. It is nowhere related that the
Christians were compelled to recognize and believe in Bar-Cochba as
a new Christ. Such compulsion seems to have been foreign to the new
Jewish State. Later Christian chronicles, in their usual manner, have
greatly exaggerated the floggings to which the Jewish Christians were
subjected, until they assumed the proportions of actual persecution,
accompanied by death and martyrdom, for which there is no historical
basis. The Evangelists, who, before the appearance of Bar-Cochba, had
spoken of the warlike preparations, and all events of the time, in a
veiled but perfectly comprehensible manner, alone relate the position
of the Jewish population towards the Christians. They seem to hint
that even in the midst of Christianity there was great dissension, and
that some who were eager for the cause of liberty, reported their more
indifferent coreligionists with much zeal to the Jewish authorities.
These Evangelists make Jesus utter a prophecy which foretold a coming
change, as though he, amidst these stormy days, would appear in the
flesh at the Last Judgment.
This prophecy of Jesus displays the gloomy tendency of the times of
Bar-Cochba. The words run:
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of
wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but
the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in
divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed to yourselves: for
they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues
ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and
kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel
must first be published among all nations. But when they shall
lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall
be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye
that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death, and the father the son; and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be
put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved.
Thus a father of the Church comforted the Christian community in Judæa.
It appears that the Synhedrion of the time of Bar-Cochba introduced
some innovations in order to work against the increasing spread of the
worship of Jesus amongst the Jewish Christians, and to promote a means
of recognizing those who were for them or against them. It had been the
habit for centuries past never to pronounce the sacred name of God,
IHW, but to substitute the word Lord (Adonaï). The Christians, however,
had accustomed themselves to call Jesus "Lord." To counteract this, the
Synhedrion enacted that the name of God should be used as in ancient
times, and that this name should be introduced even into the formula of
greeting.
The newly founded kingdom of Bar-Cochba had already subsisted during
two years (132-134). With deep concern Hadrian beheld the continuous
progress of the Jewish revolution. It had taken a course and an extent
which opened up a vista of unlooked-for results. Every auxiliary force
which he had sent to join in the contest suffered defeat, and every
fresh general left his reputation on a Jewish battle-field. Hadrian was
obliged to summon his greatest general, who at that time was repressing
the revolt of a nation who loved freedom equally well, namely, the
Britons. Julius Severus was recalled to Judæa, as he seemed to be the
only man who could measure swords with the great hero, Bar-Cochba.
Severus, on his arrival, found the military position of the Jews so
secure and inaccessible that he did not venture to give them battle
immediately. The chief stronghold of the Jews during this war was the
district around the Mediterranean Sea which had for its central point
the town of Bethar (Bither). This fortress, the ruins of which are
still to be seen, is only one Roman mile (four-fifths of a geographical
mile) distant from the sea.
Besides Bethar, Bar-Cochba had fortified several other towns, which
were probably placed under special commanders. In the north, at the
foot of the Galilean highlands, at the entrance to the great plain of
Jezreel (Esdraelon) there were three cities, which formed a triangle
of fortresses from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. To the
west near Acco there was Cabul, or Chabulon; three miles from this,
towards the southeast, there was the fortified town of Sichin, near
to Sepphoris, in a fruitful plain. About three miles further, to the
east of Galilee, and on the lake of the same name, stood Magdala
(Tarichæa). All three towns, Cabul, Sichin and Magdala, are described
as having been densely populated, and they formed the outposts which
were to prevent the invasion of the Romans on the side of Syria and
Upper Galilee. The inhabitants of Sepphoris appear to have secretly
maintained their devotion to the Romans, as they had formerly done
under Vespasian and Trajan. Full confidence was not placed in them,
but the more reliable towns of the neighborhood were chosen as
meeting-places. A second line of fortifications was in the middle
of the Jewish territory, and was greatly favored by the conformation
of the ground. One of the chief fortresses which Bar-Cochba probably
again put in a state of defense was Tur-Simon, doubtless named after
Simon the Hasmonæan. This fortress was also said to have so numerous a
population that, every Friday, three hundred large baskets of loaves
were distributed amongst the army. Here, according to legend, the
revolt broke out, on account of an offense given by the Romans to the
inhabitants.
Julius, whose rapid glance no doubt perceived the difficulty of
obtaining a victory, owing to the strong fortifications, the number of
warriors and their fanatical courage, avoided a decided battle, which
would have been desired by Bar-Cochba, who relied on the number and
devotion of his troops. Like Vespasian, Severus purposely prolonged
the war by divers attacks. He reckoned more especially on the scarcity
of food which must inevitably ensue in a land-locked territory, when
the hands which should hold the plow were engaged with the sword. He
contented himself with depriving the enemy of food, with attacking the
separate bodies of Jewish troops, and harassing them with his cavalry.
These tactics fully succeeded, more especially as all prisoners were
immediately put to death.
The particulars of this revolutionary war were no doubt as memorable as
those of the war with the Zealots, but no account has been preserved
to tell posterity of the death-struggle of the Jewish nation. The
heroic deeds of the Zealots--Bar-Giora and John of Gischala--have been
immortalized by their greatest enemy, against his will, but no pen was
found to commemorate on the tablets of history the warlike deeds of
the last of the Jewish heroes. It almost seemed that the remembrance
of their prowess, destined as the new generations were to forget the
arts of war, was to be totally forgotten Only a few traits have been
preserved to us of the war, which bear witness, not only to the courage
of the Jews but also to their all-defying enthusiasm for the cause of
their race.
If, as the geographical position of Judæa demanded, the first attack
of the Romans was made on the north, on the Syrian and Phœnician side,
the three northernmost citadels of Cabul, Sichin and Magdala must have
been first attacked. The Jewish sources which have handed down the
details of the war, as given by survivors, relate the manner of the
destruction of these three cities, and the circumstances which led
to their downfall. Cabul fell through internal dissensions; Sichin
through sorcery, by which an unlooked-for attack was probably meant;
lastly, Magdala, the birthplace of the penitent Mary Magdalene, fell,
weakened through the vices of its inhabitants. After the fall of the
three strongholds on the borders, the war was virtually at an end,
just as in the first revolution, after the subjection of Jotapata and
Gischala, the land was considered as subdued. The plain of Rimmon
seems to have been another seat of the war, for the Roman legions had
to traverse this plain in order to reach the interior of the land. On
this plain a terrible battle seems to have taken place, which became
the subject-matter of many a legend. The next campaign of the Romans
was evidently directed against the cities in the mountains. Legend
relates how 100,000 Romans marched into the citadel of Tur-Simon with
drawn swords, and how, during three days and nights, they massacred
the inhabitants. The fifty fortified places occupied by the Jews fell
one after another into the hands of the enemy, and the Roman generals
gave battle to the Jewish army on fifty-two, or, according to some
authorities, on fifty-four occasions. The circle drawn round Bethar,
where Bar-Cochba and the flower of his army had retreated, became ever
narrower. All fugitives had betaken themselves to his side, in order
to escape the sword of destruction and to find a place of refuge. On
this spot, where the two greatest generals of the time--Julius Severus
and Bar-Cochba--were opposed, the decisive conflict was to take place.
Bethar was, no doubt, filled to overflowing by the contingents who
came in from all sides. The sources could not speak with sufficient
hyperbole of this final scene of the defense; they relate, amongst
other things, that several hundreds of schools existed in Bethar, and
that the numbers of the pupils were so great that they boasted that
they could overthrow the enemy with their writing-reeds. The siege
of Bethar probably lasted for a year, and the duration of the whole
war was about three years and a-half. We are left in uncertainty as
to the various incidents of the siege, as also regarding the causes
which led to the fall of the citadel. A Jewish authority relates that
the river Joredethha-Zalmon faithlessly deprived the besieged of its
waters, which may mean that the summer heat dried it up. A somewhat
vague account from Samaritan sources recounts that the food-supplies,
which had been secretly conveyed into the town, were suddenly cut off;
this agrees with the Jewish accounts, which relate that Bethar fell
through the stratagems of the Samaritans. The Jewish sources assert
that Eleazar of Modin prayed in sackcloth and ashes that Bethar might
be spared; and perhaps his piety inspired the besieged with endurance
and courage.
Hadrian, or his general, being wearied with the long contest, was
about to raise the siege, when a Samaritan promised to aid him, and
told him that Eleazar was the guardian spirit of the citadel, adding
that "so long as that hen cackles in ashes Bethar is impregnable."
Thereupon the Samaritan, passing through a subterranean passage,
approached Eleazar whilst he was engaged in prayer, and whispered
in his ear. The spectators, whose suspicions were aroused by this
secrecy, led him to Bar-Cochba and related the incident. The spy,
when questioned, declared: "If I tell thee the truth, my master will
kill me; and if I keep it from thee, thou wilt kill me; but I would
rather die by thy hand than by my masters." Bar-Cochba, suspecting a
traitorous understanding between Eleazar and the enemy, summoned him
to appear, and questioned him as to his meeting with the Samaritan.
Eleazar, who had been absorbed in his devotions, and had hardly noticed
the Samaritan, could only reply that he knew nothing of the matter.
Bar-Cochba, who thought that he was being deceived, struck Eleazar a
blow with his foot, and, enfeebled as he was by fasting, Eleazar fell
down dead. Then a voice was heard: "Thou hast lamed the arm of Israel
and blinded his eyes; therefore shall thine arm and thine eye lose
their power."
The Samaritan sources describe the conquest of Bethar as similar to
that of Jerusalem. Hadrian, they assert, who had laid siege to the
city, had already raised the siege, as the inhabitants had obtained
supplies, which they showed to the enemy. Then two Samaritan brothers,
who were held imprisoned by the Jews, contrived to throw over the wall
a letter wrapped in linen to Julius, saying that if the exits were
guarded the inhabitants of the town would certainly die of starvation.
He followed their advice, and entered the city on a Sabbath. So much is
certain, that the Romans, introduced by a traitor into a subterranean
way, massacred the people of Bethar. This is described with fearful
detail. Horses were said to wade to the nozzle in blood--a river of
blood flowed into the distant sea, carrying bodies along with it. One
can scarcely credit the numbers said to have been slain, and yet they
are confirmed both by Jewish and by Greek historians. The authentic
historian Dio Cassius relates that besides those who died of hunger
and fire, there fell half a million Jews.
The loss of the Romans was equally great, and Hadrian did not dare
employ in his message to the Senate the usual formula, "I and the
army are well." The Senate did not decree the Emperor a triumph, but
a medal was struck in commemoration of the services rendered by the
army. This coin bore the inscription, "Exercitus Judaicus. Thanks to
the army victorious over the Jews." Bethar fell, as tradition relates,
on the 9th Ab, the date on which the Temple had twice been reduced to
ashes. The end of the mighty Bar-Cochba is not known. One who brought
his head to the Roman General boasted that he had killed him. His body,
however, was found crushed by a snake. On this the conqueror said, "Had
not God's hand killed him, a human hand could not have injured him."
Hadrian established three military stations to capture the fugitives,
in Chamath (Ammaus near Tiberias), in Kephar Lekitaja, and in Bethel.
Whoever escaped the one garrison was captured by the other. Thus all
the warriors were destroyed, all towns and villages laid waste, and the
land was literally converted into a desert. The prisoners, mostly women
and children, were dragged by thousands to the slave markets of Hebron
and Gaza, where they were sold. There were, however, some fugitives who
lived in caves in order to escape the enemy. But even this miserable
existence was not permitted to them. Heralds announced that to those
who voluntarily yielded themselves up, mercy would be granted. Many
listened to the temptation, but were carried off to the plain of
Rimmon, and the victors were commanded to massacre their prisoners
before Hadrian tasted food. Many fugitives, however, fled to Arabia,
whence that country obtained its Jewish population, which afterward
played so important a part in its history. Hadrian also caused foreign
Jews to feel the weight of his anger, and imposed on them a tax
much heavier than that exacted by Vespasian. In memory of this last
revolt, the Jews, as a sign of mourning, decreed that brides should no
longer be carried in beautiful sedan-chairs into the houses of their
bridegrooms.