| Bandits, Prophets & Messiahs: Â Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus by Richard A. Horsley with John S. Hanson
This book was invaluable in understanding the deeper causes of the Jewish revolts against Rome. Â Horsley goes beyond the simple explanations and looks at the economic and social factors that allowed the differences between Rome and Jerusalem to erupt into bloody conflicts. Horsley explains that the major revolts would not have happened without the support or desperation of the masses. Â He breaks down the traditions and beliefs that support the ideology behind the uprisings but also describes the stratification within Jewish culture that many times made the Jewish elite complicit with Roman authority and Jewish peasants at odds with both Rome and the high priests. Â When the peasants became over-taxed by both the Roman tax collectors and their tribute to the Temple they had little option but to revolt. Â But it was their history and traditions that sustained their efforts and gave them the will to fight to the death. Most of the book deals with the First Jewish Revolt from AD 66 to 70 but many of the same underlying factors led to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Â Horsley looks at these conflicts from the peasantry’s perspective – from the point of view of the people who actually fought these wars, the ones who gave up their lives to try and make a better future for their people. Â He goes beyond the common history of the conflicts and the elitist interpretation gleaned from Josephus’s Jewish War and offers what feels like a truer account of the causes and motivations that led to and sustained the wars. |
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| Rome & Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations by Martin Goodman
This extensive book covers in detail the complex relationship between Rome and Jerusalem through the 1st Century and the major conflicts and revolts up through the Bar Kokhba revolt in AD 132. Â It also explores the aftermath of these wars and the Rome and Jerusalem that emerged from them. Goodman compares Roman and Jewish views from every angle including cultural, political and religious. Â He writes about the two culture’s differing views on morality, the afterlife, sex, family, political power, religious authority, and many other aspects of life. Â He shows how these views contributed to the conflicts that arose in the Jewish holy land and throughout the Roman Empire. Â For anyone interested in a deeper understanding of the major Jewish revolts this book is a must. The account Goodman gives of the Bar Kokhba revolt is straightforward and adds only a little to what can be found elsewhere. Â For research, this book was much more valuable for the insights concerning the Jewish views and opinions of the Romans and vice versa. Â The centrality of religion and faith in Jewish political control in contrast to the superficial religious ceremonies in Roman government shows just one of the glaring gulfs between these two cultures. |
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Chapter 1, Second Half
Chapter 1 (cont.)
I told him to get up, using my sword to show him what I meant in case he didn’t speak Latin. I prodded him back to where Tempest was laying on a blanket of blood-soaked leaves. The fighting was over, and I only saw our men cleaning their swords. Speratus walked out from around the brambles and over to the dead man.
He kicked the behemoth in the side, “Impressive work. Are you alright?â€
“I’m fine. He was all bluster and no finesse.†I knelt down next to Tempest. Her breathing was labored and choked with blood.
Speratus continued, “The bastards killed Marius, an arrow clean through the neck. And Sarkis got his leg pinned to his horse, shredded it up when he fell off, but he’ll live as long as he doesn’t bleed out. Lucius will take over as signifier for now.â€
He kept talking, but my attention was on Tempest. She had saved me more times than I could remember. She followed my every lead regardless of her own safety, and I led her right into that brigand’s axe. The wound was deep, and she wasn’t going to last much longer. I didn’t want to see her suffer, so I took my sword and placed the tip behind her left front leg. I drove it into her heart as quickly as I could. She shuddered and I felt the muscles in her neck go limp.
Speratus had stopped talking and was watching me, “Take Marius’s horse, he doesn’t need it anymore.â€
I nodded. I pulled some rope from my saddle and went to the boy. He offered no resistance as I bound his hands, but he kept looking over at the other archer, who was starting to moan and roll his head.  Speratus walked over, pulling a knife from his belt. The boy’s eyes grew wide, and I turned just as Speratus pulled the man’s head back and slit his throat like a freshly pinned deer. The boy lurched forward and screamed the Celtic word for father. I recognized it because it was what my sons called me. They’d learned it from their mother, who was born into a local Celtic tribe called the Brigante. I held the boy back. I knew Speratus would not hesitate to do the same to him if provoked. The boy dropped to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes.
I turned to Speratus, “What did you do!â€
He casually cleaned the blade of his knife, “What? He tried to kill you. Given the chance, he’d just as soon slit your throat or mine. Besides, we don’t need a wounded Celt taking time away from our injured men.â€
“He was no threat to anyone. I thought we were supposed to civilize these people not murder them.â€
“Always the idealist. Why didn’t you try to civilize him?†Speratus pointed the knife at the man I killed. “These people don’t want what we have. They’re perfectly happy skimming off the edges and taking what doesn’t belong to them.†Looking down at the archer and then at the boy he continued, “An example has to be set so they know that we aren’t going to let them get away with it. Either they accept the rules, or they die resisting.â€
“Nice speech.  You do realize that was his father?†I said.
Speratus clenched his jaw, “Have you forgotten who is in charge here? My actions are not yours to question.â€
When he asserted his rank, I knew I’d pushed him far enough, and to some extent he was right. These men weren’t going to change their ways regardless if we tried to convince them with swords or rhetoric. They no more wanted the life of a Roman then I wanted the life of a Celt.
Speratus walked away. I went over to the man with the axe and picked up the knife he had intended for my back. As a Roman soldier and especially as the duplicarius, I was entitled to whatever loot I found on the battlefield. This benefit alone drove many of the soldiers. If they made it to retirement, they would get their citizenship, if they didn’t have it already, along with a nice piece of land and be able to live comfortably on all their spoils.
Most of the items I kept I passed along as gifts or offerings. I didn’t need a dead man’s belongings haunting me. If it was an admirable opponent I might keep some small trinket as a tribute, but most I gave to the legion to support the unit or left in shrines for Mirthras and Silvanus.
Passing back by the boy’s father, a glint of metal caught my eye. The boy was still on his knees, staring blankly at the ground. I rolled the man over and found an ornate sword and scabbard attached to his belt. I cut the belt and pulled the sword free. The handle was made of bronze with two fanciful heads at its base that curved back toward the center. The scabbard was even more impressive with two elaborately carved eagles twisted in an aerial battle. The sword was old but in good shape. Also around the man’s neck was an amulet. Wiping away the blood, I could see it was made of gold and engraved with strange marks. They didn’t appear to be Celtic runes, but it was made of gold and I could get a decent exchange for it.
I walked back over to the boy and pulled him to his feet.
“Someday boy, if the gods see fit, you’ll be able to earn this sword back.â€Â I cut away his bonds. “For now though, you at least deserve the right to bury your father,” I said.
Bar Kokhba Revolt from Cassius Dio
This is an excerpt from Roman History by Cassius Dio (c. AD 155-229). It is one of the few historical references to the Bar Kokhba Revolt and only hints at the violence inflicted on the Jewish people of Iudaea.
Book LXIX
12 At Jerusalem he (Hadrian) founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This brought on a war of no slight importance nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable that foreign races should be settled in their city and foreign religious rites planted there. So long, indeed, as Hadrian was close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they remained quiet, save in so far as they purposely made of poor quality such weapons as they were called upon to furnish, in order that the Romans might reject them and they themselves might thus have the use of them; but when he went farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied the advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and might meet together unobserved under ground; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at intervals to let in air and light.
13 At first the Romans took no account of them. Soon, however, all Judaea had been stirred up, and the Jews everywhere were showing signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans, partly by secret and partly by overt acts; many outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness for gain, and the whole earth, one might almost say, was being stirred up over the matter. Then, indeed, Hadrian sent against them his best generals. First of these was Julius Severus, who was dispatched from Britain, where he was governor, against the Jews. Severus did not venture to attack his opponents in the open at any one point, in view of their numbers and their desperation, but by intercepting small groups, thanks to the number of his soldiers and his under-officers, and by depriving them of food and shutting them up, he was able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively little danger, to crush, exhaust and exterminate them. Very few of them in fact survived.
14 Fifty of their most important outposts and nine hundred and eighty-five of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out. Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate, a result of which the people had had forewarning before the war. For the tomb of Solomon, which the Jews regard as an object of veneration, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed, and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their cities. Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war. Therefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the emperors, “If you and our children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health.”
Read more of Cassius Dio’s Roman History at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html
IUD̠A РA Novel
Welcome the official site of Iudæa – the story of a Roman cavalry officer who is pulled from his assignment patrolling Hadrian’s Wall in Britannia to the hills of Iudaea where a Jewish rebellion rages.  Ripped from his family, the conflict challenges everything he knows: his friendships, his ideals, the very purpose of his life.  The story reveals the Roman world of the 2nd century and the events surrounding the epic Bar Kokhba Revolt while showing one man’s struggle to reconcile his responsibilities as a soldier, a husband, and a father.
Over the next six months I will release half a chapter a week for curious readers. Â I hope you enjoy the story and I welcome all your comments and constructive criticism concerning both the history and the quality of the writing.
I will also be posting 1 or 2 additional posts a week showing the history behind the story and illustrations and images to compliment the writing.
Here is a tentative schedule of upcoming posts:
May 21 – Chapter 1, First Half
May 24 – History – Cassius Dio
May 27 – Chapter 1, Second Half
May 30 – Book Reviews: Rome and Jerusalem & Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs
June 2 – Chapter 2, First Half
June 5 – History – Overview of Bar Kokhba Revolt
June 8 – Chapter 2, Second Half
June 11 – Book Review: The Roman Cavalry & The Roman Army at War 100 BC – AD 200
June 14 – Chapter 3, First Half
Thank you for your interest and I hope you come back often,
Jim Branch
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Chapter 1, First Half
Chapter 1Â
We were galloping along a ridge when the rain began to fall.  It was late afternoon. A thick fog was forming in the lower valleys and the sky was heavy with clouds. The spring rain was cold but it provided some relief from the day’s ride and the stiff leather armor. The horses thundered along the hillside as the sound of creaking saddles and loose saddlebags mixed with the steady beat of the hooves.
There were sixteen of us, half the unit, led by Speratus, our decurion and commanding officer.  His red cloak billowed in the wind as conspicuous as a rooster’s crest.  He drew his sword and waved it in the air to get our attention. Still at a full gallop, he pointed off to the north just below the horizon.  I was the duplicarius, second in command, and in the back keeping the men in line.  Through the mist, I could barely make out a cart being pulled by a mule with a handful of men walking alongside. We turned our mounts off the ridge and down the steep slope. The horses jumped and slid to keep their footing on the muddy ground. When I looked up again the men with the cart were running and whipping the mule to go faster. They were heading for the tree line and a small opening in the brush where the trail disappeared into the woods. We urged the horses into a full gallop across the plain between us and the brigands. We dodged stumps and mud holes left from when the forest was cleared for timber and firewood. The cart was in the woods by the time we reached the opening and the trail was little more than a muddy stream.
We barreled into the narrow opening. I leaned close to Tempest and cut away branches and briars with my sword. What little sunlight there was disappeared, and my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark woods. Not more than a couple hundred feet ahead of us, I saw a bright spot in the thick canopy. The ruts left by the cart led into a clearing. We rode into the glen, and Speratus swung his sword above his head instructing us to fan out. The clearing was encircled by bunches of blackberries and other thorny shrubs. The mule stood harnessed to the cart in the center of the meadow munching on the wet grass, oblivious to the horses.
Our six archers readied arrows and scanned the woods beyond the underbrush. We knew it was an ambush, but it was going to take more than a bunch of muddy brigands to defeat fully trained, Roman cavalry.  For a moment everything was silent except the heavy breathing of the horses. The rain had died to a light drizzle, and the woods beyond the clearing were dark and full of mist. I heard the bow creak before I saw the first arrow. I turned Tempest toward its source and jabbed my heels into her sides. We lurched forward. My shield protected my head and torso. Guttural screams echoed off the trees. Arrows whizzed by in all directions, and my shield shuddered as they stuck in the wood. I urged Tempest toward the edge of the clearing. She vaulted over the brambles. Thorns cut her belly, as she crashed to the other side. Landing outside the clearing, I saw two men drawing their next arrows, one on either side of me. I swung my sword at the one on the right splintering his bow and knocking him back. The other one ran for cover giving me the advantage.  Using the bottom of my shield, I opened a bloody gash on the back of his head. He stumbled and fell to the ground.
Before I could pull up, a giant of a man charged out from behind a large oak. He was bare-chested and standing his ground. He swung a large axe and screamed like a banshee. The axe sunk deep into Tempest’s chest. She rolled forward tossing me out of the saddle. I used my shield to ease the fall and rolled away from the madman, but before I could get up, the axe was slicing toward me. On one knee, I held up my shield and braced myself. The axe caught the edge of my shield and ripped it off my arm leaving a long red burn from my elbow to my wrist. The axe came at me again. I rolled to the side. It clipped my scale armor and sunk into the forest floor. I slashed back wildly managing to nick him in the side. In one motion he ripped the axe from the ground and swung it again. I jumped back hitting a tree. The axe came within inches of my face and sprayed me with mud. Continuing the motion, he brought the axe over his head and with both hands brought it down toward my skull. I dropped to the ground; the axe sunk into the tree. His abdomen exposed, I drove my sword into his chest under his ribs. His expression shifted from rage to surprise, as he looked down at my sword. He let go of the axe with his left hand and grabbed my shoulder. The bastard was strong. I couldn’t pull away. The surprise left his eyes, and his right hand reached for a large knife at his waist. He raised the knife above his head.  Instead of trying to get away, I pushed my sword up to the hilt. The point came out his back, and he slumped over. He stunk of sweat and dung, and I twisted to the side to slough him off. He fell to the ground like he was made of lead.
Remembering the other archer, I turned to look for him. He was standing on the other side of Tempest looking down at the dead man with a dumb look on his face.  Before I could stand up and straighten my armor, he turned and bolted into the woods. He had no armor and no weapons besides the broken bow. He would easily outrun me, so I picked up a dead branch off the ground and threw it at his legs. I got lucky. It caught him behind the knees, and he fell into the underbrush. I had my sword at his back before he could stand. He rolled over to face me, and I realized that he was not more than sixteen, no older than my eldest son.