A Brief Anatomy of the Jewish Revolts against Rome

Abstract

The Roman-Jewish wars have been much summarized and ana- lysed (e.g. Schu, 1973; Smallwood, 1976; Goodman, 1987). The discussion which follows gives the background to the Jewish retreat to cultural nationalism following defeat. Almost nothing is known of the wars of 115–17 and 132–5 CE. However, Josephus’ history of the Great Revolt of 66–70 CE is ‘by far the most important contemporary account of any event in the history of the Roman Empire’ (Millar, 1993, p. 367). This is because Josephus, Jewish priest turned general turned ‘traitor’1 turned imperial historian writing in Greek, was a participant and eyewitness of the revolt. After the war, he became a pensioner of the Flavian emperors Vespasian and Titus, whose family name he adopted. He was allowed to live in Vespasian’s former villa in Rome, where he wrote the Jewish War (c. 75–80 CE), dedicated to his patrons.