As Vespasian bided his time in Caesarea, things were playing out just as he had expected in Jerusalem—the zealots were tearing each other apart, and in the process, plunging the city further and further into bloody chaos and desolation. John of Gischala, began to act more and more like a tyrant among the zealots and grew more and more hostile to them because he had designs on trying to establish himself as a king. Eventually, he and his men broke away from the rest of the zealots, resulting in yet one more faction among the zealots in Jerusalem. Not only did the people (who were effectively held hostage within their own city) have to worry about the approaching war that Rome was going to bring to the city, they also lived in fear of not only John of Gischala’s tyranny, but the other seditious elements among the zealots as well.
With all that going on in Jerusalem, the Sicarii who had fortified themselves at Masada began to raid the surrounding Judean villages. Many Jews escaped the Sicarii raids and went to Vespasian to plead with him to save them from the Sicarii terrorists. And so, Vespasian sent a portion of his army under the command of Placidus to secure the countryside. Soon, much of Judea was back in firm Roman control—only Jerusalem and its immediate environs was left to subjugate.
Yet it was at that very time that the political situation in Rome quickly descended into chaos, and this had an immediate impact on Vespasian’s Judean campaign. In Gall of that spring of AD 68, Vindex had begun a revolt against Nero as Vespasian was in the process of taking Jericho and securing the southern Judean countryside along the Dead Sea. When he had gotten word of the revolt against Nero, Vespasian quickly marched back to Caesarea to make final preparations for the assault on Jerusalem. While in Caesarea, though, the news came that Nero was dead, and that Galba had been declared to be emperor. Vespasian chose to sit tight in Caesarea until he received official orders from the new emperor. The assault upon Jerusalem would be delayed.
Six months later, in January of AD 69, though, Galba was assassinated in Rome by Otho, who succeeded him as emperor. With Otho as the new emperor, and since it was still winter, Vespasian chose to stay in Caesarea until the spring, when he would then move against Jerusalem.
The Bloody Simon ben-Giora
During those months when Vespasian waited in Caesarea, Simon ben-Giora made his move for yet more power. This was the Simon who, back at the outset of the uprising, had successfully harassed Roman units under the command of Cestius; and this was the Simon to whom a number of Jews who had been freed by the Idumeans had fled (this was after the Idumeans had initially made their way into Jerusalem to assist the zealots, only to regret having done so, and then choosing to leave Jerusalem).
Simon and his followers had initially stayed in the lower part of the fortress at Masada, with the Sicarii, yet eventually moved out into the countryside and continued to build up a considerable fighting force. So much so that when the zealots of Jerusalem got word of it, they went out to fight him because they saw him as a threat. Simon’s forces, though, beat back the zealots to the walls of Jerusalem. At that time, though, Simon choose not to assault Jerusalem, but instead he went to gain control of Idumea and continue to build up his forces. Soon, Simon ben-Giora had subdued Idumea and had recruited many Idumean fighters.
The zealots of Jerusalem, though they wouldn’t meet Simon in open battle, chose to set ambushes for his forces in an attempt to weaken him. During one of their ambushes, they were able to take Simon’s wife hostage and bring her back to Jerusalem. That was not a smart move.
When Simon was told that the zealots were holding his wife as hostage in Jerusalem, he marched his army to the city walls. Instead of making a direct assault, though, Simon choose to terrorize any and everyone who ventured out of the city in order to terrify the zealots into releasing his wife. His men caught everyone who came out of the city gates to gather herbs or sticks—these people were often unarmed and aged. Simon then openly tortured them and slaughtered them in full view of the city walls. He continued to hack at the dead bodies relentlessly, seemingly having gone mad with rage—so much so that it seemed to some that he was ready to actually rip at the dead flesh with his teeth.
Those he didn’t kill, he would chop off their hands and then send them back into the city with their bleeding stumps—and with a singular message to the zealots: Simon ben-Giora had sworn an oath to the God of the universe that, unless the zealots immediately released his wife to him, unharmed, he would break down the city walls and inflict the same punishment on every citizen he caught—regardless of age or sex, with no regard to whether or not they were actually guilty or innocent. Everyone was going to pay dearly.
The zealots promptly released Simon’s wife to him. And although Simon relented a bit from his terrorizing everyone who ventured outside the city, he and his men choose to stay camped outside the city walls. He was not satisfied. His lust for vengeance had not be quenched.
The Devil on the Inside is Just as Bad as the Devil on the Outside
With Simon ben-Giora encamped outside the city walls, and with both John of Gischala’s men, as well as the other zealot group headed by Eleazar, inside the city walls, the innocent people of Jerusalem found themselves in what could be described as nothing short of hell on earth.
John’s men had been given full permission by John to go about plundering the houses of the rich, killing the men and raping their wives. And then, in what could be described as the very depths of perverse depravity, John’s men started to deck themselves out in women’s clothing, paint their faces with women’s make-up, and then go about the city, engaging in the worst kinds of depravity. Josephus himself put it this way:
“And thus did they roll themselves up and down the city, as in a brothel house, and defiled it entirely with their impure actions; nay, while their faces looked like the faces of women, they killed with their right hands; and when their gait was effeminate, they presently attacked men, and became warriors, and drew their swords from under their finely dyed cloaks and ran everyone through whom they alighted upon.”
The people of Jerusalem found their situation hopeless: they knew Rome was going to come and destroy the city eventually, and yet in the meantime their options were either to be killed and ravaged by the tyrants within the walls, or to try to escape, only to be destroyed by the tyrant outside the walls.
The actions of John’s men were so heinous even to Eleazar and his men, that they mounted a successful attack on John’s men and pushed them out of the temple precincts and into part of the lower city. Some of the zealots then decided to make an appeal to Simon ben-Giora—the tyrant outside the city walls. They sent Matthias the high priest out to Simon to invite him into the city in order to put an end to John once and for all.
Simon was no fool, although the zealots clearly were. Think of it: the very zealots who had taken his wife hostage were now appealing to him for help…and were actually opening the city gates for him. Simon quickly accepted their offer, and soon was being welcomed into the city by the throngs of citizens as their savior. In their derangement, they actually thought they were about to be freed from the tyranny of John.
What Simon did instead was secure his own authority in the city and prepare to take vengeance on the very zealots who had invited him in. As far as he was concerned, they were still his enemies. And so, with John and his zealots still holed up in the temple precincts, Simon ben-Giora took possession of Jerusalem in April of AD 69, during the third year of the war, right around the same time another upheaval was happening in Rome.
Further Turmoil in Rome
In April AD 69, Rome was plunged into further turmoil. Three months into his reign, Otho was challenged by Vitellius, the commander of the Roman legions in Germany. And after Otho’s forces lost a key early battle and surrendered to Vitellius, Otho, wishing to spare Rome a prolonged civil war, committed suicide. Vitellius was declared by his troops to be the third emperor of Rome in the last four months.
Yet the declaration of Vitellius as the new emperor was not accepted by everyone. In particular, when news reached Judea that Otho had committed suicide and that Vitellius’ troops had declared him to be emperor, Vespasian’s troops decided it was time to act. The last years of Nero were chaotic for Rome; Galba had lasted for only nine months, Otho for only three; and there were serious questions regarding Vitellius. In short, Vespasian’s troops decided that Vespasian should be the next emperor, and thus declared him to be so. Reluctantly, Vespasian eventually accepted their plea and quickly made arrangements to head to Rome to confront Vitellius.
Before he left Judea, Vespasian made sure to do two things. First, having remembered that Josephus had prophesied he would eventually be made emperor, Vespasian ordered that Josephus be released from his bonds. Second, Vespasian appointed his son Titus to take over the Judean campaign and to lead the assault on Jerusalem. Titus then encouraged Josephus to stay with him as the Roman legions marched to Jerusalem.
By December of AD 69, Vitellius was dead and Vespasian was the new emperor of Rome. Yet it was once again winter, so Titus and his forces had to wait through another season before finally marching to Jerusalem. After two years of waiting, the Judean campaign would finally be moving forward once again in the spring of AD 70.
Thanks for this great series. Perhaps I missed it, but what are the primary sources for these happenings, and how reliable do you judge them?
I am simply going through Josephus’ account. So, generally speaking, quite reliable–of course Josephus goes to lengths to portray himself in the best possible light. A good book I read on the Jewish war was “Israel in Revolution” by David M. Rhoads.
As far as I know, academic historians consider Josephus a fairly reliable source since he lived through most of what he recorded about the Jewish War (even though he did switch sides). His argument that the Messiah was actually the Roman Emperor Vespasian was certainly novel.
Pax.
Lee.