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History behind story: Bar Kokhba Revolt AD 132 – 135

Cassius Dio’s history points out that the Bar Kokhba revolt was a violent and catastrophic event for the population of Iudaea.  It had a lasting effect on the Jewish people and was a major contributor of the Jewish Diaspora as those who survived fled to other lands or became enslaved.  While historians for many years mentioned little about the revolt and gave more attention to the uprising in AD 70 that was documented in detail by Jewish general turned historian, Josephus, modern archaeology has shed new light on the significance of Bar Kokhba and his establishment of the state of Israel in spite of Roman resistance.

While Iudaea takes artistic license with Sextus Julius Severus’s journey to Iudaea from Britannia, history clearly states that Emperor Hadrian summoned this skillful general from the far side of the empire to put down the uprising.  The story also attempts to stay true to the circumstances of the war and the nature of the conflict.  Unlike the war of AD 70, the historical and archaeological evidence suggests the Jewish rebels spent a considerable amount of time planning the revolt.  The rebels had learned the lessons of previous generations.  They stockpiled weapons and avoided getting trapped in the major cities where Rome had the patience and resources to lay a prolonged siege.  They constructed elaborate cave networks under the cities and along the major routes where they could store their supplies and send out strategic attacks against the legions.  They also avoided much of the infighting that occurred during the previous revolt but there were still many among the high priests who questioned Bar Kokhba and his right to rule as Nasi Israel, “Prince of Israel”.  The prominent Jewish sage Rabbi Akiva backed Bar Kokhba and entertained the notion that he was the Jewish Messiah partly based on the meaning of his name, “son of star”.  His legacy though would be more complicated with some in the rabbinical tradition calling him Ben-Kusiba, a term implying he was a false messiah.

Regardless of his religious significance, he had a major impact on the military and political history of the region.  For a period of time, he created an independent Jewish state that minted its own coins and was able to keep Roman legions at bay, but it wasn’t to last.  Hadrian inflicted the full force of Rome against the rebels.  With over 12 legions and a policy of genocide against the Jewish people, there was little hope Bar Kokhba’s Israel would last.  After the final battle of Bethar, where it is believed Bar Kokhba died of disease days before the walls of the fortress were breached, Hadrian had Jerusalem plowed under and rebuilt as the pagan city Aelia Capitolina.  He banned Jewish rites like the reading of the Torah and the practice of circumcision.   And finally he renamed Iudaea, Syria Palestine.  The region was referred to as Palestine until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

To learn more about Bar Kokhba and the revolt check out these resources:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokhba_revolt

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Book Reviews: Rome & Jerusalem; Bandits, Prophets & Messiahs

Bandits, Prophets & Messiahs:  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.  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.   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.  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.  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.  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.   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.
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.  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.  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.  He shows how these views contributed to the conflicts that arose in the Jewish holy land and throughout the Roman Empire.  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.  For research, this book was much more valuable for the insights concerning the Jewish views and opinions of the Romans and vice versa.  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.