The city of Jerusalem

by C. R. Conder

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.

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.

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.