{"id":29,"date":"2010-08-28T15:37:39","date_gmt":"2010-08-28T15:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/?p=29"},"modified":"2010-08-28T15:37:39","modified_gmt":"2010-08-28T15:37:39","slug":"history-behind-story-bar-kokhba-revolt-ad-132-135","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"History behind story: Bar Kokhba Revolt AD 132 – 135"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cassius Dio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history<\/a> points out that the Bar Kokhba revolt was a violent and catastrophic event for the population of Iudaea.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

While Iudaea<\/em> takes artistic license with Sextus Julius Severus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The story also attempts to stay true to the circumstances of the war and the nature of the conflict.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike the war of AD 70, the historical and archaeological evidence suggests the Jewish rebels spent a considerable amount of time planning the revolt.\u00c2\u00a0 The rebels had learned the lessons of previous generations.\u00c2\u00a0 They stockpiled weapons and avoided getting trapped in the major cities where Rome had the patience and resources to lay a prolonged siege.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prince of Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 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, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153son of star\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Regardless of his religious significance, he had a major impact on the military and political history of the region.\u00c2\u00a0 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to last.\u00c2\u00a0 Hadrian inflicted the full force of Rome against the rebels.\u00c2\u00a0 With over 12 legions and a policy of genocide against the Jewish people, there was little hope Bar Kokhba\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Israel would last.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 He banned Jewish rites like the reading of the Torah and the practice of circumcision.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0And finally he renamed Iudaea, Syria Palestine.\u00c2\u00a0 The region was referred to as Palestine until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Bar Kokhba and the revolt check out these resources:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org\/jsource\/Judaism\/revolt1.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bar_Kokhba_revolt<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cassius Dio\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history points out that the Bar Kokhba revolt was a violent and catastrophic event for the population of Iudaea.\u00c2\u00a0 It had a lasting effect on the Jewish people and was a major contributor of the Jewish Diaspora as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,14,20,23,24],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-bar-kokhba","tag-iudaea","tag-jerusalem","tag-palestine","tag-roman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.iudaeanovel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}