The Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD Trivia Quiz

Answer: Herod the Great

Rome's history in the Levant mainly begins with the formation of the province of Syria in 63 BC. Julius Caesar later appointed Antipater the Idumaean as a Roman procurator, and his son Herod the Great defeated his Hasmonean rivals to gain control of the region in 37 BC. Following Herod's death in 4 BC, his kingdom was divided up between his three sons and his sister, whose domains began to be incorporated into the Roman province of Iudaea in 6 AD. Iudaea was ruled by prefects until 41 AD, when Agrippa I ruled temporarily as King, followed by procurators until around 70 AD, and then legates.

Answer: Caesarea Maritima

Caesarea Maritima, often called Caesarea, was built by Herod the Great and named after Caesar Augustus. In the 60s AD, it was home to a substantial Greek population. While many Jews had become Hellenised, much of the community had very tense relations with the Greeks. Roman governors frequently favoured the Greeks, who had citizenship while the Jews were disenfranchised. Caesarea's synagogue was built on Greek-owned land, and arguments erupted when the land was turned into a building site and access to the synagogue blocked. Florus accepted bribes from the Jewish elite to block the work but took no action and left to visit Samaria. Fighting broke out when Greeks violated the Law of the Torah by sacrificing birds at the synagogue, and the Roman cavalry was sent in. Various Jews fled with their Torahs to keep them safe and travelled to Samaria to petition against Florus, who instead arrested the delegation for removing Torahs from Caesarea.

He then incensed the population even more by demanding a large amount of money from the Temple funds, and he brought in as many as 1000 troops and many of the inhabitants were massacred.

Answer: Eleazar ben Ananias

Eleazar ben Ananias was the Temple Captain and the son of the former high priest Ananias. Eleazar's pro-revolutionary group abolished the imperial cult at Jerusalem, while his father's group sought to reinstate it. The latter sent a delegation to both Florus and Herod Agrippa II as they prepared a counter-revolutionary coup.

In 66 AD, the revolutionaries took the Lower City while the royal armies took the Upper City. The revolutionaries were joined by Zealots from the countryside, also known as Sicarians ("dagger-carriers"), and the royal armies fled with the Jewish nobles. Having now taken the Upper City, the revolutionists burned the houses of Ananias and Herod Agrippa II, and the pro-Herodians sought refuge in the Royal Palace. Barely withstanding the assault from the revolutionaries, the pro-Herodians sought terms. Ananias was found hiding and was executed. Now that the pro-Herodians had been defeated, the people were still hesitant to allow the Zealots to form a government, who were seen as a threat to Eleazar's group.

The Zealots were defeated and an unstable aristocratic government was formed.

Answer: Beth-Horon

By November 66 AD, Gallus's army was trapped inland, cut off from the coast and surrounded by revolutionaries. He decided to withdraw, and the Roman column moved slowly from Jerusalem toward Antioch. They were constantly attacked in skirmishes, and morale sank as soldiers were killed and the survivors became so exhausted that they abandoned their baggage. Gallus's army got a little breathing space when it reached their former camp at Gibeon, but as they travelled toward Beth-Horon, the pass they were going through narrowed, with steep slopes on either side.

The crowded mass of troops were easily targeted by the Jewish fighters, many of whom fought with slings and javelins. Gallus only escaped after night had fallen, leaving 400 men to defend Beth-Horon.

When the Jews realised what had happened, they defeated the defenders, but Gallus got away. Nonetheless, they had defeated a massive Roman army, and according to Suetonius even captured a legion's eagle standard. Their success buoyed up many of the villagers around Palestine to join the revolution; war had begun in earnest.

Answer: True

The Battle of Beth-Horon marked a turning point. Now the Jewish people were at war against Rome. Pro-Herodians who remained in Jerusalem now fled, and the remaining anti-Roman pro-revolutionaries formed a government under former high priest Ananus ben Ananus. Most government posts were granted to other priests and nobles, with the lower-class revolutionaries largely left out. This led to tensions between the ruling aristocracy and the prominent independent militias, and resulted in what was called Dual Power in the Russian Revolution: two rival political powers separated by class conflict. So while having to fight against Rome, the revolutionists were also fighting among themselves, between aristocrats and radical militias.

The new government did indeed mint coins commemorating their independence. There were three denominations: quarter shekel, half shekel, and shekel. Furthermore they assigned governors to eight military districts across the country.

Answer: Josephus

Born Yosef ben Matityahu (or Joseph ben Matthias) in 37 BC, Flavius Josephus was a Hellenised Jewish aristocrat. Governer of Galilee, he initially fought against the Roman army and fortified many towns, the strongest of which was Yodfat. Yodfat was besieged in 67 AD for 47 days by Vespasian's troops, whose son Titus finally broke into the garrison during a night-time raid.

Many of the inhabitants were killed, including women and children, and others were sold into slavery. Josephus was hiding in a pit, and wanted to accept Vespasian's offer of safe conduct if he surrendered voluntarily.

It is said that he tricked the others in the hiding place into a suicide pact; the lots were fixed, and he and another remaining survivor surrendered to the Romans.

In 71 AD, Josephus travelled to Rome with Titus and was granted Roman citizenship, taking the name Titus Flavius Josephus. Josephus's writings must be read with caution, as they are written with the man's prejudiced pro-Roman stance evident in them.

Answer: Simon bar Giora

The three main militias that overthrew the Ananus government were Eleazar's Zealots, John of Gischala's Galileans, and Simon bar Giora's Idumaeans. The groups saw each other as threats rather than allies and led attacks on each other, including the capture of Simon's wife by the Zealots. Simon gained control of Idumaea and his ranks were swelled by many new recruits.

When Simon led this bandit army against Jerusalem, the high priests negotiated with him and allowed the army into the city. The three groups continued to attack each other from the regions each controlled in the city. Simon had new coins minted and inscribed with "Redemption of Israel".

The conflict between the three generals and their armies markedly weakened the city against the coming siege in 70 AD.

Answer: Titus

Titus's father Vespasian had been declared emperor in the previous year following the civil war after Nero's suicide, and so his son replaced him as Roman military commander while Vespasian returned to Rome. The factional fighting between the radical militias meant that they were not as prepared for a siege of Jerusalem as they might otherwise have been.

For example, food stores had been destroyed on purpose. Titus's army captured the Third and Second Walls of the city and sent Josephus to negotiate a surrender.

They refused, and Titus moved to attack the First Wall and the Antonia Fortress. The Jews destroyed these efforts by tunnelling mines beneath the Roman platforms. The mines were held open by wooden props, which were then burned away in a controlled fashion, causing the tunnel and the Roman platforms to collapse. Titus staged a mass crucifixion of poor escapees from the city in a bid to terrorise the city into capitulation.

However, famine was raging through the city, to the point that normal burial practice was suspended and the corpses simply dumped over the city wall.

The Roman army destroyed the Antonia Fortress and captured the Temple Mount, burning the Temple. After the Royal Palace was captured, Jerusalem fell, and the terrible sack began.

Answer: Simon bar Giora

Vespasian and Titus were celebrated in the great triumph, whose procession included 700 Jewish fighters who had been picked out. The Roman army had taken many more prisoners, many of whom were killed immediately or kept to fight to the death in Rome's arenas.

After Jerusalem's fall, Simon bar Giora hid in the tunnels beneath the Temple Mount, and at one point reappeared from underground at the site of the Temple wearing regal garments. It is unknown why he did his, if it was part of a plan, but he was captured and sent to Caesarea and finally to Rome.

When the triumphal procession ended at the Temple of Jupiter, Simon's body was dragged along the ground and scourged, and finally he was thrown to death from the Tarpeian Rock.

Answer: Masada

Masada is formed of a rock topped by a plateau, surrounded by cliffs. There are reportedly only two precipitous paths up to the plateau, and the site was surrounded by a wall 5 meters high. Furthermore, it was well stocked with food, water, and weapons. Following the sack of Jerusalem, Eleazar ben Ya'ir and his Sicarian followers fled to Masada, where they held out for several years. Roman troops continued to hunt down Jewish rebels, and they took Herodium, Machaerus, and the Forest of Jardes shortly before besieging Masada. Flavius Silva brought 15,000 men, and realised that they would have to storm Masada, which could have held out almost indefinitely because of their defenses and supplies.

By the time the Roman victory was inevitable, Eleazar convinced the almost 1000 people inside to join a suicide pact, so when the Romans gained entry the next morning, they met no resistance.