THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
Only forty years after the day of the Crucifixion the blood of the
rejected Messiah came on the heads of those who had invoked it on
themselves and on their children; and the soldiers of Titus nailed the
Jewish deserters to crosses outside the city to the north, till “room
was wanting for the crosses and crosses for the bodies.”[321] We may
briefly examine the course of events that led to the final catastrophe.
The death of Herod the Great was the signal for revolt against
Rome.[322] Archelaus and Antipas sailed at once for the imperial city,
to urge their claims before Augustus. In their absence Sabinus acted
as Cæsar’s procurator, under Varus the governor of Syria. He appears
to have exacted money, and to have otherwise oppressed the Jews, and
at the Feast of Pentecost--about the middle of May--the city was
filled with pilgrims from Jericho, Galilee, and beyond Jordan, and
with Idumæans from the south. Their indignation at injuries inflicted
by Sabinus led to revolt, and while some held the west cloister of
the Temple, and others the “Hippodrome” (perhaps the Xystos) towards
the south, a third band besieged the Romans in Herod’s palace on the
west side of the Upper City. Sabinus, from the top of the Phasaelus
tower, directed a sally, and drove the rebels back to the Temple. The
west cloister was set on fire, and the soldiers plundered the Temple
treasure; but the siege closed in again, and the Jews attempted to
undermine the palace walls. Varus hastened to march on Palestine,
which was reduced to anarchy, and he advanced on Samaria, set fire to
Emmaus Nicopolis, and finally reached Jerusalem, reinforced by Arab
auxiliaries sent by Ḥârith, king of Petra. The Jerusalem Jews excused
themselves before him, and the strangers abandoned the siege and
dispersed. Sabinus, fearing to meet his superior, stole away to the
seaside, probably to Cæsarea; the revolt was quelled, and two thousand
of the rebels were seized and crucified. Varus returned to Antioch,
leaving a legion at Jerusalem, and pacified the Jews by allowing them
to send an embassy to Rome, petitioning that they might be permitted to
live according to their own law. Archelaus was given the government of
Judæa and Samaria by Augustus, but only held it for ten years. Antipas
received Galilee, and Peræa (beyond Jordan), which he held till 39
A. D., and Herod Philip had Bashan and Abilene.
The time was, however, now come for direct Roman rule; and when
Archelaus was banished to Vienne, Coponius became the first
procurator,[323] and Pontius Pilatus was the fifth (25 to 35 A. D.).
The character of these governors depended on that of the emperor under
whom they served, and Pilate was a placeman under Tiberius in the
later years of that hated emperor. But, as Tacitus says, the Jews, as
a whole, “had rest” under Tiberius, and the prosperity of the country
increased. Agrippa was a popular ruler, though in his last year he
persecuted the Christians at Jerusalem; and in his time the city was
fortified by a new wall on the north. Tacitus again says that “the Jews
had patience till Gessius Florus was made procurator” (by Nero); “under
him it was that the war began.”
[Sidenote: PILATE’S AQUEDUCT]
Even when Pilate attempted to benefit the city by making an aqueduct,
he roused bitter wrath by appropriating the “sacred money” for the
purpose. He also introduced statues of Cæsar secretly into the Temple,
and was soon forced by Jewish opposition to remove them. He put
down a Samaritan outbreak with cruelty, and Vitellius, governor of
Syria, ordered him to Rome, where he arrived in 37 A. D. to find that
Tiberius was dead. Marcellus was appointed procurator in his stead,
and Vitellius pacified the Jews by granting to them the custody of the
high-priest’s vestments, which were kept till then under Roman custody
in Antonia.[324]
There is no mention of any aqueducts at Jerusalem before the time
of Pilate, except the Siloam one, and the “Conduit of the Upper
Pool,” dating from the reign of Ahaz. Nor do the remains of the great
reservoirs at Etam (near Urṭâs), and of the two aqueducts from the
south, give any indications of construction earlier than the work
of the Romans. The high-level aqueduct indeed was probably not in
existence till the time of Hadrian, as will appear subsequently. It
was the low-level aqueduct that Pilate made.[325] It was fed by the
spring at Etam, south of Bethlehem, by a reservoir farther south, and
by the lowest of the three great tanks near the spring. When in repair
it still carries water to the Temple enclosure, having a serpentine
course of about thirteen miles, and passing through two tunnels at
Bethlehem and near Jerusalem. The three pools at Etam are fed by rain
water, and by the spring known as the “Sealed Fountain.” The channel
crossed the Valley of Hinnom (on arches) above the present Birket es
Sulṭân, and ran on the south slope of the upper city and along its east
side, crossing the Tyropœon, and passing (near the present Gate of the
Chain) through the Herodian west rampart, and thus to a rock-cut tank
south of the inner Temple court. Josephus does not over-estimate its
length, if he refers to that feeder of the “low-level” aqueduct which
runs from the spring of Kueizîba, far south of the Etam pool, to feed
the three reservoirs. Even the shorter distance from near the pool
makes Pilate’s aqueduct much longer than any other known in Palestine.
That it should be attributed to Solomon is due to later traditional
conjecture, and there is no notice in the Bible of any such work as
executed by him. The three reservoirs are now called “Solomon’s Pools,”
but the masonry is Roman. Josephus says that Solomon had gardens
“abounding in rivulets of water” at Etam, but does not speak of any
aqueduct. The legend of the “Sealed Fountain” may be founded on his
allusion, which Christian writers connected with a verse in the Song of
Songs, “A garden enclosed is my one bride, A spring shut up, a fountain
sealed.”[326]
Under Agrippa I. Jerusalem reached the summit of its prosperity, and
as early as ten years after the Crucifixion the city had so greatly
increased in size, on the north, that a new wall was necessary to
defend the new suburbs. This wall was built by Agrippa after 41 A. D.,
but the building was stopped by command of the Emperor Claudius,
whose suspicions were roused by Marcus, the governor of Syria.[327]
Josephus says, “The beginning of the third wall was at the tower
Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city
and the tower Psephinus. Then it extended opposite the monuments of
Helena, which Helena was queen of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates, and
being prolonged across the Caverns of the Kings, it bent at a corner
tower called the Monument of the Fuller, and joined the old wall at
the valley called the Valley of Kedron.” For a fourth hill, north of
Antonia, had become an inhabited quarter beyond the outer fosse of that
citadel, and this was called “Bezetha” in Aramaic, or in Greek “the
New City.” The word Bezetha comes from a root meaning to “divide,”
and seems to refer to the ridge being here cut across by the fosse.
From other passages we learn that there was a gate opposite Helena’s
monument, with towers called the “Women’s Towers.” Psephinus was a
great octagonal tower at the north-west corner of the wall; it was 70
cubits high, and Josephus says that Arabia, and even the Mediterranean,
could be seen from it. This seems impossible, but at least it may have
had a view of the mountains of Arabia near Petra, which can be seen
from the high ground near the modern Russian buildings, as I have
personally observed in winter when they were covered with snow.
[Sidenote: AGRIPPA’S WALL]
We may consider in detail the positions of the monuments of Helena
and of the Caverns of the Kings, which are the two fixed points on
the line, as well as the question whether any remains of Agrippa’s
wall can be supposed to exist. Helena’s monument is perhaps one of the
best fixed sites at Jerusalem; and, if we may believe Josephus, who
says that it was “no more than three furlongs from the city,”[328] we
have a measurement which determines the position of the Women’s Towers
as being about due west of the “House of Stoning,” described in the
last chapter. The tomb was adorned with three pyramids, and held the
bones of Helena, who had become a convert to Judaism, and of her son
Izates, named after his grandfather. They died about the same time,
apparently not earlier than 50 A. D. Pausanias describes this tomb as
having a rolling stone at its door, and Jerome says that it lay east
of the north road. These indications point to the great Greco-Jewish
rock-sepulchre which is commonly called the “Tombs of the Kings,” or by
Arabs “Tombs of the Sulṭâns.”
[Sidenote: TOMB OF HELENA]
This monument has four chambers, reached from an outer court by a
small door with a rolling stone still before it. There is also a fifth
chamber below, having a secret entrance, and reached by a flight of
steps. The tomb was explored by M. de Saulcy, who made very remarkable
discoveries in it, showing that it was still in use after 79 A. D.,
for all the coins were of the reign of Titus. Izates, however, had
a large family, and some of his children came to Jerusalem when the
throne of Adiabene descended to his brother Monobasus. Cinerary urns,
lamps, glass bottles for unguents, others of alabaster, gold ornaments,
chains, and fibulæ were found, as well as osteophagi like those in
other tombs near Jerusalem, ornamented with incised geometrical
patterns. But the most important find was an unopened sarcophagus, with
a partly legible Aramaic text of two lines, having eight letters in
each. When the cover was removed, a skeleton was seen with the hands
crossed in front; it crumbled away immediately, leaving only the gold
threads which once adorned the winding sheet. But the text (in Aramaic
letters very like the Palmyrene forms) appears clearly to begin with
the name _’Elen malkatha_, for “Helena the queen,” and thus serves to
identify the monument as being actually that of the royal family of
Adiabene.[329]
The “Caverns of the Kings” seem to be clearly those which still exist
under the cliff east of the Damascus Gate. They have been used at some
time as a quarry, but the unfinished stones now remaining in them are
not of very great dimensions. M. Clermont-Ganneau, however, found a
rough sketch of a cherub carved on the wall, and as this appears to be
in the old Phœnician or Babylonian style, it indicates considerable
antiquity for the caverns. There is also a rock fosse with scarps
at and east of this place, defending the present north wall of the
city, which runs apparently on the line of Agrippa’s wall to a corner
tower, and then turning southwards joins the east wall of the Ḥaram.
It is generally agreed that this was the line of Agrippa’s wall on
the north-east and east,[330] but some writers suppose that the
modern north wall represents the farthest extension of Jerusalem in
Agrippa’s time throughout its course, and they have placed Psephinus
at the mediæval “Tancred’s Tower,” within the north-west angle of the
present city. This tower, however, does not suit the description by
Josephus, since it is neither octagonal nor has it an extensive view.
The masonry, even of the oldest part, is of the twelfth century, and
the foundations of an older wall between this tower and the Damascus
Gate have also been proved to be the work of the Crusaders. If we
follow the description of Josephus, Psephinus must have been farther to
the north-west, and outside the present wall. The Women’s Towers must
also have been about 300 yards farther north than the Damascus Gate,
if they were only 3 furlongs from the tomb of Helena; and the broad
fosse, south of the “House of Stoning,” defines the approximate line of
Agrippa’s wall as running from a block of rock west of the north road
where there was an angle, and thence south-east, and then east over the
Caverns of the Kings.
As regards any remains of this wall, large stones, with well-dressed
faces and drafts after the Herodian style, have been found in several
places towards the north-west outside Jerusalem, and these may have
belonged to Agrippa’s wall; but it is very doubtful if any of them are
in their original positions. One group, excavated by Sir Charles Wilson
in 1864, forms the side of a tank, and the stones have evidently been
re-used--probably farther north than the line of the wall to which
they originally belonged. In 1838 there were remains of a wall, and
foundations which Dr. Robinson describes as those of a “large tower,”
extending north-west, beyond the modern city, towards the Russian
cathedral, which was not then built. He describes “large hewn blocks
of stone,” and regards this line as having “belonged very distinctly
to the third wall.” This was still to be seen in 1847, and Herr
Konrad Schick, who saw the remains, speaks of a “strong wall,” but
unfortunately they have now entirely disappeared. Such remains are not
to be found towards the north-east outside the present north wall,
which seems clearly to have been here built on the old line.[331]
[Sidenote: AGRIPPA]
In the time of Agrippa Jerusalem therefore extended over about 300
acres, and--judging from the density of population in the modern
city--it must have had about 30,000 inhabitants. The old city, bounded
by the “second wall,” occupied only 200 acres, and it does not seem
likely that the town would have become half as large again in the
short interval of ten years which elapsed between the Crucifixion and
the accession of Agrippa, especially as these were not particularly
prosperous years. Thus, though the “second wall” was the northern limit
of the fortress in the time of our Lord, it is probable that Bezetha
had already been built over, and that the houses extended on the flat
ground outside the rampart, on the north-west, even before the date of
the Crucifixion. This would involve the abandonment of the traditional
site of Calvary as not being outside the city, but we have already seen
that this site in all probability lay even within the second wall.
The wall of Agrippa appears to have been still unfinished when its
building was stopped by Claudius, and in 70 A. D. Titus found it
incomplete[332] towards the north-west. Josephus says, “The first
fortification was lower, and the second did not join it; the builders
neglecting to build the wall strong where the new city was not much
inhabited.” He is speaking of the west part of the wall, though on the
east as well there seems to have been no very formidable rampart north
of Antonia. The death of Agrippa I., in 44 A. D., marks the beginning
of Jewish troubles, and no later builder attempted to strengthen
Jerusalem farther on the north.
Events hurried on to the final catastrophe during the quarter of a
century that now followed,[333] and the narratives of Josephus are full
of allusions to the city and to its topography. The Christians at
Jerusalem were persecuted by Agrippa just before his death. James the
Less was killed by the sword, and Peter was imprisoned.[334] Cuspius
Fadus, the eighth procurator, was then appointed by Claudius, and he
took away again from the priests the custody of the high-priest’s
vestments, which were kept in Antonia. In 49 A. D., under Ventidius
Cumanus, Roman soldiers insulted the Temple at the Feast of Passover.
A riot followed, and a massacre turned the feast into mourning and
defiled the Holy House with blood. In 52 A. D. Felix replaced Cumanus,
and the discontent of the Jews increased under his rule when Nero
became emperor two years later. Of Felix, who married Drusilla, sister
of Agrippa II., Tacitus says that “he exercised all kind of barbarity
and extravagance, as if he had royal authority with the disposition of
a slave.” “He had been a good while ago set over Judæa, and thought
he might be guilty of all sorts of wickedness with impunity,” relying
on the power of his brother Pallas at Rome. Cumanus was then ruling
Galilee, and Felix, “by the use of unseasonable remedies, blew up the
coals of sedition into a flame, and was imitated by his partner in the
government, Ventidius Cumanus.”[335]
[Sidenote: JAMES THE GREAT]
A short respite of four years, under Porcius Festus and Albinus (60
to 64 A. D.), preceded the fatal selection of Gessius Florus, the
last procurator. During this time the Temple was finished,[336] and
Agrippa II. rebuilt the Hasmonæan palace. This gave great offence
to the priests, because it had a view of the inner Temple; and they
built a screen on the cloister wall which Festus ordered them to
remove. Agrippa had been given authority over the Temple by Claudius,
and refused to expend its treasure on a projected rebuilding of the
eastern cloister, though he did not object to the paving of the city.
Under Albinus,[337] James the “brother of Jesus who was called Christ”
was stoned to death by an illegal order of the Sanhedrin, according to
the famous passage in Josephus, and Agrippa was obliged to depose the
high-priest Ananus, because of the wrath of Albinus, whose consent had
not been given to this third execution at the “House of Stoning.” It
was probably after this persecution, about 64 A. D., that the surviving
disciples left Jerusalem. James the Great was alive at Jerusalem in
58 A. D., so that there is no difficulty as to his martyrdom about
62 A. D. But it is remarkable that, on the occasion of Paul’s last
visit to Jerusalem, Peter is not mentioned, though he was still one
of the “pillars” in 52 A. D. He had perhaps died in the interval, and
the belief in his later martyrdom at Rome is not supported by any
statement in the New Testament. The diminished band of the Apostles
withdrew before the time of the great revolt, and found peace at the
little village of Pella beyond Jordan, escaping the miseries of the
final siege, the “beginning of sorrows” when false Messiahs, such as
Eleazar and the Egyptian prophet, appeared, and when there were “wars
and rumours of wars” throughout Palestine. Within the time of the
first generation they saw the end of their world. “For the days shall
come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee
even with the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not
leave one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy
visitation.”[338]
The Roman world was not likely to prosper under an emperor like
Nero, who would not trouble himself with its more serious affairs,
and Gessius Florus was a bad procurator under an evil master. Cestius
Gallus, governor of Syria,[339] in vain attempted to restore order
when he visited Jerusalem, and received the appeal of the Jews against
their tyrant, who was accused of appropriating the sacred treasures.
Florus entered Jerusalem in wrath, and allowed his soldiers to pillage
the upper market. He is said to have crucified many Jews, and to have
ordered a massacre, in spite of the entreaties of Berenice, while a
procession of priests preceded by harpers and singers strove to pacify
the insurgents. The Romans drove the mob with clubs to the Bezetha
quarter, but failed to gain entry into Antonia, and Florus withdrew
to the citadel of the upper city. The Jews appear to have barricaded
the approach to the Temple by cutting down the cloisters on the north.
The citizens, supported by Berenice, appealed to Cestius, and Florus
retreated to Cæsarea.
[Sidenote: THE REVOLT]
Agrippa II. now returned from Egypt to Jamnia, near Joppa, and to him
the Jews also appealed. Cestius sent his envoy Neapolitanus, who was
received at Siloam, escorted round the walls, and after worshipping
in the Temple returned to Syria. Agrippa from his palace addressed
the crowd, and Berenice wept before them. But when he attempted to
collect the arrears of taxation he was stoned, and left Jerusalem in
disgust. The fanatical spirit of the rioters was fanned by Eleazar,
son of the high-priest, and the more moderate and peaceful party were
forced to seek refuge with the Romans in the upper city fortress. The
fierce “siccarii,” or “dagger men,” drove the soldiers of Agrippa into
this citadel. They burned the house of the high-priest, the palaces of
Agrippa and Berenice, and the place of the “archives” where the legal
contracts were stored: they thus destroyed any records of their debts
or agreements. Some of the priests were forced to hide in underground
vaults, while others fled to the “upper palace” built by Herod the
Great. The rebels attacked Antonia, which fell into their hands
after two days, and was set on fire; they then attacked the western
citadel, driving the Romans to the three towers Hippicus, Phasaelus,
and Mariamne. They were led by a certain Menahem, who for the moment
eclipsed Eleazar: he was the son of Judas the Galilean, and assumed
royal state. The high-priest was found hidden in the aqueduct tunnel
and was killed, which roused his son Eleazar to attack Menahem, who
fled to Ophel. Metellius, the Roman commander, reduced to extremities
when one of the towers of the western fortress had been undermined, at
length was forced to treat with Eleazar. The Romans laid down their
shields and swords, but some were then slain, and others compelled to
become Jews. There seems to have been no more than a single cohort
(perhaps 1,000 men) in the city, which thus fell entirely into the
hands of the fanatical party.
The Roman governors, selected by emperors like Nero, were no doubt both
corrupt and incapable; but the hatred of Semitic peoples was a survival
of the ancient hatred of Carthage. The Romans despised a civilisation
and a religion which were far more ancient and more lofty than their
own. The Jews, when governed honestly, were content to remain under
the empire; they only asked for freedom to follow their own law, as
they had asked the Greeks in earlier days. But Roman prejudices against
them can best be understood by reading Tacitus, who hated them, or
the poets, who knew only the more degraded class of Jewish hucksters
crowded in the ghetto in Rome. Tacitus says that “the Jews were the
only people who stood out, which increased the rage” of the Roman
race. He supposed that they came originally from Crete, or from Libya,
or from Assyria, and he repeats the libels which are attributed to
Manetho the Egyptian priest. He had heard of Moses as a law-giver,
but his belief that the image of an ass was adored in the Temple may
have arisen from some distorted account of the Cherubim, if these may
be regarded as having had animal forms, as in the vision of Ezekiel.
He admits that “among themselves there is an unalterable fidelity and
kindness always ready at hand,” yet adds, “but bitter enmity against
all others.” “The Jews have no idea of more than one divine being,” is
his comment on the religion of the race, and he contradicts himself
when he says, “They have no images in their cities, much less in their
temples.” But the enmity felt against Israel was political rather than
religious. Jerusalem was the last stronghold of a nation which refused
to be absorbed in the cosmopolitan system of the empire.
[Sidenote: ROUT OF CESTIUS]
Against this rebellious city Cestius Gallus now hastened from
Syria,[340] and with the 12th legion from Cæsarea he reached Beth-horon
and Gibeon, where Simon, son of Gioras, attacked him in rear on a
sabbath day. This caused three days’ delay, after which he encamped
at Skopos (“the view”), which was 7 furlongs north of Jerusalem, at
the high ridge where the city first becomes fully visible on the north
road. No attempt was made by the rebels to defend the unfinished wall
of Agrippa, or the northern suburbs, and the Romans set fire to Bezetha
and to the wood market. Cestius then attacked the upper city at the
high saddle by the royal towers but desisted after five days. Intrigue
and treachery are the bane of generals, and Florus desired apparently
that Cestius should fail, with 10,000 men, to retake the city which he
had deserted, leaving only 1,000 to guard it. According to Josephus,
Florus intrigued with officers of the auxiliary cavalry; and a certain
Tyrannius Priscus induced Cestius to attack Antonia and the Temple
instead of the upper city. The commander found his troops unreliable
and his officers untrustworthy. He was also perhaps ill himself, for he
died (according to Tacitus) shortly after, “whether by fate or that he
was weary of life is uncertain.” He gave up when probably on the eve of
success, and retreated to Gibeon to await reinforcements. But he was
vigorously pursued, and after two days the retreat became a rout, and
he lost half the legion and all his cavalry. The remnant fled down the
Beth-horon pass to Antipatris and Cæsarea. This second defeat of Rome
occurred in the twelfth year of Nero, some time in October, so that
further operations became difficult till the next spring.
The disasters thus brought on the empire by Florus and Nero cost
Rome four years of effort to repair, and entailed the systematic
reduction of the whole of Palestine. On the death of Cestius, Vespasian
was ordered to the east in the year 66 A. D. His ability had been
shown twenty years before, when, at the age of thirty-seven, he was
commanding in Britain, where he subdued the isle of Vectis. He was now
pro-consul in Africa, and had thus a wide experience of war in the west
and in the east alike. He made his base in Syria, and gathered a force
of four legions, ordering reinforcements from Egypt to fill the ranks
of the 5th and 10th, or Macedonian and Fretensis, legions.[341] His
plan was to conquer the country completely from the north, in order
finally to march on Jerusalem from all sides except the south. The war
thus began in Galilee, and it was not till February, 68 A. D., that
Gadara submitted, and allowed of his advance to Jericho in May. This
success gained him the confidence of the Romans; and the 5th, 10th, and
15th legions, whom he met in Syria, knew him well, having served under
him before. The 12th legion was made up to strength by drafts from the
22nd and 23rd legions stationed at Alexandria. On July 1, 69 A. D.,
Vespasian was proclaimed emperor, and left for Italy. The final triumph
was thus reserved for his brave and able son Titus.
A Roman legion, at this period of history, answered to a division,
consisting of 5,000 to 6,000 regular infantry, with the same number
of auxiliaries, and 300 cavalry. In addition to a force of at least
40,000 men, Titus had also a number of native allies. The Arabs sent
5,000 archers and 1,000 horsemen, and Agrippa--who joined the army in
Galilee--brought 1,000 foot and 1,000 horse. Thus Josephus is probably
right in estimating the total at about 60,000 in all. This army indeed
represented a very moderate force for the reduction of the whole
country and for the conquest of the difficult mountain region round
Jerusalem, though the Crusaders afterwards took the city with 40,000
men. It was very important, not only for the Flavian family, but for
the peace of the world, that there should be no further defeat of Rome,
and a margin of safety was desirable. The fighting force in Jerusalem
did not probably exceed 20,000 in all, and though a proportion of three
to one was barely sufficient for the besiegers of so strong a fortress,
the Romans were far superior in discipline and in the use of engines of
war.
The final concentration began in the spring of 70 A. D. The 5th, or
Macedonian, legion came up from Emmaus Nicopolis on the west; the 10th
(Fretensis) from Jericho to the Mount of Olives; the 15th (Apollinaris)
marched on Gophna, north of Bethel; and the disgraced 12th legion
(Fulminata) joined them from Cæsarea. Thus in the final advance the
last named was in the centre--at Skopos--with the 10th to its left and
the 15th to its right, the 5th and the auxiliaries forming the reserve
in rear. In this order the forces remained till the later stages of the
siege, when the 5th legion came into the fighting line against Antonia,
and the 10th was transferred to the right centre, joining the 15th in
the attack on the upper city.
[Sidenote: THE FACTIONS]
The defenders of the city were divided into three factions,[342] which
fought one another within the walls. The Zealots, under the command of
John of Gischala, and Eleazar son of Simon, sent in 68 A. D. to the
Idumæans for assistance, and these wild warriors were admitted during
a terrible storm by the fanatics, who sawed the bars of the city gate,
closed by order of the high-priest. They passed through the city to the
Temple, where they surprised the guards; and the high-priest himself
was slain. But after creating anarchy by the murder of many of the
moderate party, and of Zachariah, son of Baruch, who was accused--like
Jeremiah--of being a friend of the foe, and who fell in the middle of
the Temple, the Idumæans--like other Arabs--got tired of the war, and
desired to return home with their plunder. The better class of the
inhabitants preferred the Romans to the Zealots, and many of them also
deserted the city. Vespasian, who had heard of the death of Nero, which
occurred on June 16, 68 A. D., showed no signs of advance on the town,
and John of Gischala was left for a time to tyrannise over Jerusalem.
But, in April of the next year, Simon, son of Gioras, brought back the
Idumæans in the third year of the war, and drove John into the Temple,
where he erected four towers in the cloisters, one on the north-west
above the lower city, another on the north-east, a third as a signal
tower on the top of the Pastophoria (or “Chamber of Offerings”[343]),
where a priest used to stand to announce the sabbath by blowing a
trumpet, and the fourth near the Xystos, apparently at the east end
of the Tyropœon bridge. Simon made another tower at its west end, to
prevent the faction of John having access to the upper city. John soon
quarrelled with Eleazar, who held the inner temple, and, when the
Romans appeared at Passover time in 70 A. D., he succeeded in obtaining
entrance into the courts, and treacherously made himself master of the
whole. His forces, including the Zealots, are reckoned at 8,400 men by
Josephus. He defended the eastern hill from Bezetha to Ophel, while
Simon, with a total force of 15,000 men, including 5,000 Idumæans, held
the rest of the city to the west.
[Illustration: JERUSALEM IN 70 A. D.
REFERENCES
1 _The Xystos_
2 _The Council House_
3 _The Pool Strouthios_
4 _The Tower Hippicus_
5 _The Tower Phasaelus_
6 _The Tower Mariamne_
7 _The Bridge_
8 _The Double Gate_
9 _The Triple Gate_
10 _The Shushan Gate_
11 _The Gate Tadi_
G = Gate]
The Romans were first seen three days before the Passover, when
Titus camped on Skopos; but the siege is only reckoned by Josephus
as beginning after the feast, on Abib 23. It lasted for 134 days, or
more than four months, and ended in the heat of summer some time in
August.[344] The details are important, as illustrating the topography
of the city, and can be easily understood by the light of our previous
studies: some of the places mentioned appear, however, to have been
built after the time of Herod the Great. Thus, in addition to the
two palaces of the upper city, we now find in the lower city two
others built by the royal family of Adiabene during their residence
in Jerusalem. The first of these was the palace of Queen Helena in
“the middle of Akra,” and the other that of her son Monobasus near
Siloam. The sons and brothers of Izates--Helena’s eldest son--were
in Jerusalem during the siege, but gave themselves up to Titus after
the fall of the Temple.[345] We also learn that there was a monument of
John Hyrcanus in the west part of the lower city, and one of Alexander
Jannæus, probably east of the Temple. We hear for the first time of
the pools Strouthios and Amygdalon, and of the Serpent’s Pool outside
the city, as also of Herod’s monuments and the tomb of Ananus, with
other places that have been already mentioned. But the fortifications
remained much in the same condition in which they had been left by
Agrippa I. nearly thirty years before the siege.
[Sidenote: THE RECONNAISSANCE]
The first reconnaissance of the city by Titus nearly led to disaster,
probably because he underestimated the daring of the defenders. He
came down the north road to the tomb of Helena,[346] where he began
to diverge to the right in order to examine the tower Psephinus. In
the neighbourhood of Agrippa’s wall there were enclosed gardens, with
stone walls and ditches, and the Romans were entangled in the narrow
lanes outside the city. Titus was not even wearing his armour when the
Jews sallied suddenly out of the Women’s Towers, and, under cover of
the garden walls, cut off the advanced party of horsemen from their
supports on the north road, and showered darts at Titus, who, however,
escaped unwounded. The legions now began to make their camps at and
in rear of Skopos, and on the Mount of Olives, probably not very far
east of the central or Skopos camp.[347] A second sally[348] astonished
the 10th legion while so employed, at a distance of 6 furlongs from
the city. The Romans were here twice thrown into confusion by the
first surprise and by a second daring attack, and were twice rallied
by Titus himself, whose courage saved a serious defeat on his left
flank, and taught his soldiers confidence and discipline. After this
he began to clear the approaches by levelling the garden walls and
hedges, and cutting down the fig and olive trees to the very foot of
Agrippa’s wall, and on the west to “Herod’s monuments,” which have
now disappeared, but which were close to the Serpent’s Pool, which
seems to have been that now known as the Birket Mâmilla. This work was
interrupted by another desperate sally from the Women’s Towers; but
after four days’ labour the besieging force took up its positions, the
intention of Titus being to break in on the north-west, and thus, as
in former sieges, to attack the upper city at the saddle north of the
royal towers, and the Temple at Antonia. The headquarters were advanced
to within 2 furlongs of the north-west angle at Psephinus, and by Abib
24 the banks defending the siege engines were completed.
Cestius Gallus had left his rams and catapults behind him in his
hurried flight, and these were now used by the defenders, who were
instructed by those legionaries who had been saved by becoming Jews
when the cohort left by Florus laid down its arms. They were, however,
ill-accustomed to the use of the balistæ, which threw stones and darts;
and the engines of the besiegers (rams, balistæ, and siege towers) were
superior to those of the defence, some engines of the 10th legion being
able to throw a stone of one and a half hundredweight for a quarter of
a mile. The Jews watched the white stones soaring through the air, and
warned the defenders, crying in Aramaic, “The stone is coming”[349];
but the Romans afterwards discoloured the projectiles to make them less
visible.
[Sidenote: AGRIPPA’S WALL TAKEN]
The description of Jerusalem at the time of its fall, given by
Tacitus,[350] is brief, but so like the longer accounts of Josephus
as to have been supposed to be founded on them; it contains, however,
details which seem original. He says that “there were other walls
beneath the royal palace, besides the tower of Antonia, with its top
particularly conspicuous.... The temple was like a citadel, having
walls of its own.... The cloisters wherewith the temple was enclosed
were an excellent fortification. They had a fountain of water that ran
perpetually, and the mountains were hollowed underground; they had,
moreover, pools and cisterns for the preservation of rain water....
Moreover, the covetous temper that prevailed in the time of Claudius
gave the Jews an opportunity of purchasing with money leave to fortify
Jerusalem. So they built walls in time of peace.” The estimate of
population by Tacitus is, however, not much less exaggerated than the
incredible calculations of Josephus; but the latter gives a very fair
idea of the proportion between the actual combatants and of their
respective numbers.
On the fifteenth day of the siege, after the corner of a tower was
shaken by the battering ram of the 15th legion, and a sally from the
“secret gate” near Hippicus had been repulsed, the wall of Agrippa was
taken, in spite of the destruction of three siege towers. The defenders
apparently found the line of defence too extended for their numbers,
and many--grown weary of fighting and watching--had retired to the
inner city to sleep. The Romans demolished the rampart, and wasted the
north quarter of the town, which had already been partly destroyed by
Cestius Gallus. The camp of Titus was moved within Agrippa’s wall to a
place on the north-west of the second wall known as the “Camp of the
Assyrians,” in memory of the attack made on Hezekiah in 703 B. C.,
when the Assyrian leaders stood outside the wall by the “Conduit of the
Upper Pool.” Simon therefore endeavoured to prevent the building of new
banks by sallies from Hippicus on this side, at the gate by which “the
water was brought in” to that tower by the ancient conduit of Ahaz, as
it is still brought in to the citadel even now.
On the twentieth day of the siege the second wall was breached, and the
Romans broke in on the north at “a place where were the merchants of
wool, the braziers, the market for cloth, and where the narrow streets
led obliquely to the wall.” They were, however, driven out again, and
the wall was not finally taken till three days later, when a truce was
called to see if the Jews would submit. As no overtures were made by
the defenders, the new banks against the upper city and Antonia were
begun on the twenty-eighth day, and finished on the thirty-seventh day
of the siege, when the struggle again became desperate.[351]
The bank erected by the 10th legion is described as being near the Pool
Amygdalon, and that of the 15th legion was 30 cubits from it--evidently
on the west--at the monument of the high-priest John Hyrcanus. A
few words may be spared to discuss these sites.[352] Josephus wrote
his “Wars of the Jews” in Aramaic,[353] but whether he personally
translated this work into Greek may be doubted, as the translator shows
signs of imperfect acquaintance with the language of the original. Thus
it is probable that Amygdalon (“the almond”) is only a transliteration
really for _Ha-Migdolon_ (“the great tower”). The pool is not noticed
till after the second wall had been taken, at its weakest point on
the north-west, where (as described in 134 B. C.) the ground was on
the same level inside and outside the rampart.[354] It seems clear
therefore that this pool was the tank now known as “Hezekiah’s Pool,”
near the great tower of Phasaelus. The monument of John Hyrcanus must
have been to its west, and is described as being outside the second
wall, though only about 40 feet either from the pool or from the
Roman bank, which must have been on the saddle west of the pool. This
description defines pretty closely the line of the second wall at this
point. The banks raised by the Romans were for the protection of those
who worked the rams, balistæ, and siege towers, and for this reason
John’s monument could not have been far north of the wall of the upper
city. All the notices agree in placing it somewhere near the Pool
Amygdalon to the west.
[Sidenote: SPEECH BY JOSEPHUS]
Titus appears to have been anxious to save his men, and even to save
the besieged; he now endeavoured to induce them to submit, while
afterwards he preferred the slower method of blockade to the chances
of assault on the two remaining strongholds. Josephus was commissioned
to address the defenders, which he did at some danger to himself.[355]
Though he was a priest, and a Pharisee, he was hated by the Zealots
because he belonged to the moderate party, and to the liberal school of
educated Jews who agreed with Gamaliel in Jerusalem and Philo in Egypt.
He had fought bravely in Galilee, but was disgusted with the Zealot
leaders, John and Eleazar. He had a wider knowledge of the world than
they had, and his embassy to Poppea--nearly twenty years before--had
made him favourably known at Rome.[356] Vespasian spared his life
when he was captured after the fall of Jotapata; and from that time,
knowing that the struggle for freedom was hopeless, he endeavoured
to save his country from further misery. His speech to the besieged
was on the familiar lines of which we have instances in the New
Testament, rehearsing Hebrew history from Abraham down to Herod. Its
most interesting passage, however, is that which refers to Siloam. He
regarded the Romans as being now in the right, though in the wrong when
Sosius was defeated, and that they were consequently favoured by God
in the supply of water due to the abundant rain of the season. “As for
Titus, those springs which were formerly almost dried up when they were
under your power, since he has come, run more plentifully than they
did before; accordingly you know that Siloam, as well as all the other
springs that were without the city, did so far fail that water was
strictly sold by measure, whereas they now have such a great quantity
of water, for your enemies, as is sufficient not only for drink both
for themselves and their beasts, but even to water their gardens.” This
passage agrees with the accounts of the south wall already mentioned in
placing Siloam outside its line. It is also remarkable that, while the
besieged suffered long agonies from famine, they are not said to have
suffered from thirst. No doubt the rains also filled their cisterns,
and the great tanks would have been filled up from the aqueducts before
the latter were cut off by the Romans.
The horrors of the siege, famine, rapine, and dissension within,
crucifixion and torture for those who deserted, are detailed by
Josephus. “A deep silence also and a kind of deadly night had seized
on the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these
miseries were themselves”; yet there was no thought of submission among
those desperate men who fought on for all that was dear to them--for
faith and freedom as of old. They had been goaded to rebellion after
years of oppression, and Nero was as guilty of the burning of Jerusalem
as he was of the burning of Rome. Yet without the miseries of those
four months the new world could not begin. The Christian and the Jew
alike were set free from the shackles of the past when the undying fire
went out for ever on Tammuz 17--thenceforth a fast-day in Israel.[357]
[Sidenote: THE ROMAN WALL]
All through May the struggle for Antonia went on, from the
thirty-eighth day of the siege till the sixty-eighth day. The Roman
banks in the fosse were undermined--no doubt by use of the rock tunnel
leading to the Pool Strouthios--and the Romans were forced for a time
to abandon their engines. The banks against the upper city were also
destroyed, and Titus, after these repulses, determined to surround
the city with a blockading wall, and so to starve out the defenders.
The length of 40 furlongs, or 5 miles, given by Josephus for this
vallum[358] appears to be fairly correct. It had thirteen small forts
along its line. Its appearance may be judged from the existing remains
of a similar wall, built by Silva round Masada[359] a little later,
on which I have looked down from the heights of that desert fortress
near the Dead Sea. It is a dry-stone rampart, with two large camps
behind it on the north-west and north-east. Its length is less than
3,000 yards, and in part of this distance there are six small forts on
the line at intervals of 500 feet on the average. The vallum of Titus
began near his own headquarters at the “Camp of the Assyrians,” and
stretched east through Bezetha and over the Kidron to Olivet, where it
bent at the “Rock of the Dovecote.” This point seems to be fixed by
the description of an existing rock cutting noted[360] by Sir Charles
Wilson in 1864: “Entering the village of Siloam on the north, there
is on the left a high cliff which bears evident signs of having been
worked as a quarry, and on the summit of which is a curious place
which appears to have been an old dovecote cut in the rock.” Thence
the wall went to the “other hill” (the south summit of Olivet), “over
the valley which reaches to Siloam.” It then crossed the “Valley of
the Fountain,” by which perhaps we may understand the present “Well of
Job,” and climbed the south precipice of Hinnom, near the “monument of
Ananus the high-priest,” which was probably the fine tomb now called
the “Retreat of the Apostles,” which was converted later into a chapel
with a frescoed roof.[361] The wall ran along the cliff to the west
side of the city, and turned north near a hamlet called the “House of
Erebinthi,”[362] and thus reached Herod’s monuments near the present
Mâmilla pool, and its original starting-place farther north-east. This
work is said to have been completed in three days.
[Sidenote: THE TEMPLE TAKEN]
Meanwhile, the banks were repaired, and were ready by the sixty-sixth
day of the siege, when the summer sun was beating down mercilessly on
besiegers and besieged. Four days later the Syrian soldier Sabinus
attempted to lead a forlorn hope against Antonia. “His complexion was
black, his flesh was lean and spare and well knit, but there was a
certain heroic soul that dwelt in this small body.” He perished in
the attempt, but two nights later, about 3 a.m., the standard-bearer
of the 5th legion, with two cavalry-men and a trumpeter, surprised
the citadel, clambered up the ruins of the breach, and slew the
sentries. The Romans poured in, and the “top of the hill”--or scarp
of Antonia--being occupied, the key of the Temple fortress was in
their hands. Yet the inner Temple resisted still for thirty-five
days, till the fatal ninth of Ab,[363] the day on which, according to
the rabbis, the Holy House had been ruined by the Babylonians, and
the day also on which Bêther fell sixty-five years later. The daily
sacrifice had ceased three weeks before, also on a day of evil memory
on which Antiochus Epiphanes had burned the scroll of the Law. The
formal siege of the inner courts entailed the clearance of the Antonia
courtyard, and the erection of four banks on the north side, one at the
north-west corner of the Priests’ Court, a second at Moked, and two
others outside the Court of the Women. The outer cloisters were set on
fire, and burned fiercely in the dry season, especially because the
gilding that adorned the roofs was spread over a wax covering of the
timbers. The great gatehouse was battered, the golden gates were set on
fire. The bodies of the defenders were piled round the altar, and the
blood--not of bulls or goats, but of men--ran down the steps. Yet the
survivors still fought from the roof of the Temple itself, hurling the
leaden spikes which kept birds from nesting on the Holy House upon the
Romans below, until the fire reached them, and a few submitted and were
spared, except the priests, whom Titus ordered to be slain.
The capture of the Temple placed the lower city at the mercy of the
victors, and the soldiers plundered the Akra, the Council House, and
the Ophel, setting the whole on fire to Siloam. Yet the upper city
still held out under Simon, son of Gioras, the last left of the rebel
leaders. Eleven days after the Temple was fired, banks were begun
against this last citadel, and the siege dragged on yet for eighteen
days more,[364] till at length the rampart was breached on the west,
and the upper city also fell, after a siege of 134 days, on Elul 8,
in August. The few survivors fled to Siloam and hid in the tunnel.
Simon concealed himself in a “certain subterranean cavern,” and John in
another. The latter was forced by hunger to give himself up, and was
sentenced to imprisonment for life. The whole city was burned and the
walls entirely demolished, except the three “royal towers” and part of
the wall on the west side of the upper city, where the 10th legion was
left under Terentius Rufus. A little later, while Titus was still at
Cæsarea, “Simon, thinking he might be able to astonish and delude the
Romans--”after he had failed to mine his way out of the cavern--“put on
a white dress and buttoned on him a purple robe, and appeared out of
the ground in the place where the Temple had formerly been.” He thus
seems to have been hidden in the cave under the Ṣakhrah. He was taken
alive, and afterwards walked the Via Sacra at Rome, to meet his death
in the triumph of Titus.
[Sidenote: “LET US DEPART”]
The captives were condemned to fight wild beasts at Cæsarea. The golden
lamp, the golden table, the trumpets of Jubilee, and the Temple copy
of the law[365] (afterwards given to Josephus), were borne in triumph
on that day, as the arch of Titus still bears witness. Medals were
struck recording the great victory,[366] with the head of Vespasian
on one side and on the other Israel mourning under the palm, with the
Latin legend “Judæa Capta.” Well might they remember the prophecies
of Jesus, son of Ananus, who for eight years had walked the streets,
crying, “Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!” till the stone from an engine slew
him; and the prediction that the temple should perish when it became a
quadrangle; and, above all, that awful night[367] of the last Pentecost
ever celebrated in the sanctuary, to which Tacitus and Josephus alike
refer. “As the priests were going by night to the inner Temple as their
custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that
first of all they felt a quaking and heard a great noise”--the sound
of the great doors of Nicanor as they swung suddenly open--“and after
that they heard a sound as of a great multitude saying, Let us depart
hence.”
FOOTNOTES TO CHAPTER VIII
[321] “Wars,” V. xi. 1.
[322] “Ant.,” XVII. x. 1–10; “Wars,” II. iii. 1–4.
[323] The rulers of Jerusalem were procurators except Agrippa I., who
was king. They were as follows: Coponius, from 10 A. D.; M. Ambivius,
_c._ 12 A. D.; Annius Rufus, _c._ 13 A. D.; V. Gratus, 14 A. D.; P.
Pilatus, 25 A. D.; Marcellus, 35 A. D.; Marullus, 37 A. D.; Agrippa
I., 41 A. D.; Cuspius Fadus, 44 A. D.; Tib. Alexander, 47 A. D.; V.
Cumanus, 49 A. D.; Felix, 52 A. D.; P. Festus, 60 A. D.; Albinus, 62
A. D.; Gessius Florus, 64 A. D. The final revolt began in 65 A. D.
[324] “Ant.,” XVIII. iii. 1, 2, 3, iv. 1–3.
[325] “Ord. Survey Notes,” pp. 80–3; “Mem. Survey West Pal.,” vol. iii.
pp. 89–91; Bliss, “Excavat. at Jer.,” pp. 53–6, 332.
[326] “Ant.,” VIII. vii. 3; Cant. iv. 12.
[327] “Wars,” V. iv. 2, 3. See “Ant.,” XIX. vii. 2; and for the Women’s
Towers, “Wars,” V. ii. 2, iii. 3; for Helena’s tomb, “Ant.,” XX. iv. 3;
Pausanias, “Greciæ Descript.,” viii. 16; Jerome (“Epist. Paulæ”).
[328] “Ant.,” XX. iv. 3.
[329] “Ord. Survey Notes,” p. 66 and pl. xxv.; de Saulcy, “Voyage en
Terre Sainte,” 1865, vol. i. De Saulcy misread the inscription as
“Queen Sarah.”
[330] The Rev. Selah Merrill follows Robinson as to the course of this
wall, and as to most of the other disputed questions.
[331] Robinson, “Bib. Res.,” 1838, i. p. 315; “Ord. Survey Notes,”
1864, p. 72, and pl. xxxi.; Schick in _Pal. Expl. Fund Quarterly_,
1895, p. 30.
[332] “Wars,” V. vi. 2.
[333] “Ant.,” XX. i. 1, v. 2, vii. 1, viii. 5, 9, 11, ix. 1, 2, xi. 2;
“Wars,” II. xii. 1, xiii. 2, xiv. 1, 2, 6, xv. 1–6, xvi. 1–3, xvii.
1–10, xviii. 1, down to xix. 9.
[334] Acts xii. 1–23.
[335] Tacitus, “Hist.,” V. ix., “Annals,” xii., as quoted by Whiston.
[336] “Ant.,” XX. ix. 7, viii. 11; “Wars,” V. i. 5.
[337] “Ant.,” XX. ix. 1; Acts xxi. 18; 1 Cor. ix. 5; Gal. ii. 9.
[338] Matt. xxiv. 4–42; Mark xiii. 5–37; Luke xix. 42–4, xxi. 5–36.
[339] “Wars,” II. xiv. 2-xix. 9.
[340] “Wars,” II. xviii. 10-xix. 9; Tacitus, “Hist.,” V. x.
[341] “Wars,” V. i. 6; Tacitus, “Hist.,” V. i.
[342] “Wars,” IV. iv. 1, v. 1, vi. 1, vii. 1, 2, ix. 3–12, V. i. 4.
[343] No doubt at the Gate Korban (“of the offering”).
[344] See journal of siege, “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” Jerusalem vol.,
p. 4. Canon Williams made the curious mistake of reckoning by solar
months, for the details show that lunar months, of alternately 30 and
29 days, are intended by Josephus.
[345] “Wars,” V. vi. 1, VI. vi. 4.
[346] See back, p. 164.
[347] The old camp at Tellilia above a valley west of Skopos is quite
possibly one of those made in 70 A. D. See my description (“Mem. Survey
West Pal.,” iii. p. 161).
[348] “Wars,” V. ii. 3–5, iii. 2.
[349] This passage (“Wars,” V. vi. 3) indicates the Aramaic original of
the book. The Greek translator renders _eben_ “son,” instead of “stone.”
[350] “Hist.,” V. xi. xii.
[351] “Wars,” V. vii. 2-xi. 4.
[352] _Ibid._, V. vi. 2, vii. 3, ix. 2, xi. 4.
[353] _Ibid._, Preface, 1.
[354] “Ant.,” XIII. viii. 2.
[355] “Wars,” V. ix. 3, 4.
[356] “Life,” 3; “Wars,” III. vii. 2-viii. 9.
[357] “Wars,” VI. ii. 1; Mishnah, _Taanith_, iv. 6.
[358] “Wars,” V. xii. 2.
[359] See my plan and account, “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” iii. p. 417.
[360] “Ord. Survey Notes,” p. 64.
[361] “Mem. West Pal. Survey,” Jerusalem vol., p. 419.
[362] Perhaps the Aramaic really read _Beth ha Rababthi_ (_B_ and _N_
being much alike), thus connecting the place with the present Valley of
_Rabâbeh_--the Hinnom gorge.
[363] “Wars,” VI. i. 6-iv. 6; Mishnah, _Taanith_, iv. 6, 7.
[364] “Wars,” VI. viii. 1–4.
[365] Josephus, “Life,” 75.
[366] Madden, “Coins of the Jews,” pp. 183–97.
[367] Tacitus, “Hist.,” V. xiii.; Josephus, “Wars,” VI. v. 3.