First Jewish–Roman War

Aerial view of Masada in the Judaean Desert with the Dead Sea and Jordan in the distance

The First Jewish–Roman War was the first and biggest of the Jewish–Roman wars in the Judaea province. It is often called The Great Revolt. It happened from 66–70 AD, and ended with the Empire winning.

It began in 66 AD in Caesarea, where there was religious tension between the Greek and Jewish population. It turned into an anti-taxation protest against Rome. In Caesarea, the Greeks sacrificed animals in front of a Jewish Synagogue. This resulted in the Jews ceasing sacrifices to the Roman Emperor. General Gallus went up against the rebels and lost a crucial battle at Beth Horon in 68 AD.

After this defeat, Emperor Nero replaced Gallus with Vespasian. He crushed the Northern and Southern leadership and the rebellion began to fall apart. Later that year, Nero was deposed. The Roman forces besieged Jerusalem and breached the walls by 70 AD. Once they got into the walls, the Roman soldiers burned and ransacked the city also destroying the Second Temple. The final stronghold at Masada was taken in 73 AD and when the Roman soldiers broke through the defences, they discovered all the defenders had committed suicide. As a result, most of the Jews in the area were scattered or sold into slavery. The final death toll, according to Josephus who was often wrong about numbers, was over one million.

First Jewish–Roman War Media

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  Ruins at Caesarea, site of the 66 CE ethnic riots ignited by a Greek's sacrifice of birds in front of a Jewish synagogue

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  Scale model reconstruction of the Temple Mount during the first century CE, part of the Holyland Model of Jerusalem, with the Second Temple in the center and the Antonia Fortress to the upper right

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  The Bethoron area, viewed from Modi'in. In Autumn 66, Jewish rebels ambushed a retreating Roman army under Gallus on this road, annihilating a force equivalent to a full legion.

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  In 67 CE, General Vespasian was appointed by Emperor Nero to suppress the Jewish revolt, beginning his campaign in the Galilee

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  Yodfat, in Galilee, fell to Vespasian after a 47-day-long siege in summer 67. Josephus, the revolt's key source, commanded the defense, switching sides after the city fell.

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  The wealthy Jewish village of Ein Gedi, located near the Dead Sea, was pillaged and ravaged by Sicarii from Masada

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  Coins from the Year of the Four Emperors. Following Nero's death in June 68, a delay of about a year occurred, during which Vespasian left Judaea to contest the imperial throne

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  A coin issued by the rebels in 68, note Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. Obverse: "Shekel, Israel. Year 3." Reverse: "Jerusalem the Holy"

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  In the winter of 69/70, Titus, the son of Vespasian, returned to Judaea with an army of nearly 50,000 soldiers and initiated the siege of Jerusalem

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  The destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, painting by Francesco Hayez, 1867