Agrippa’s Soldiers Arrive in Jerusalem; the Festival of Xylophory
As soon as Agrippa’s soldiers arrived in Jerusalem, it became clear that regaining control of the entire city immediately was out of the question. And so, they, along with the city leaders and the high priests, were able to take possession of Mt. Zion and the upper city, while the zealots and the seditious among Jerusalem were able to control the lower city and the Temple complex. Meanwhile, the Roman garrison in Jerusalem had retreated to the Antonia Fortress that overlooked the Temple complex.
There was no way such a precarious situation would hold.
And hold, it did not. For the next day, the 14th day of Ab (i.e. August)—the day before the Jewish Festival of Xylophory—the zealots mounted an assault upon the upper city. Led by the sicarii, the zealots drove the city leaders and Agrippa’s soldiers out from the upper city. They then proceeded to set on fire the house of Ananias the high priest, as well as the palace of Agrippa. In addition, they made it a point to set the repository on fire as well—for that was where all the debt records were kept. Thus, it was a calculated action to destroy all the records of debt that had been crushing the populace for years.
Some of the city leaders hid in underground vaults, while others (along with the king’s soldiers) retreated further and took refuge in the upper palace.
With most of the upper city taken, the zealots then turned their attention to the Antonia Fortress. And so, on the next day, they “celebrated” the Festival of Xylophory by making an assault on Antonia. After the initial siege, they were able to break in, slaughter the Roman garrison, and set the entire citadel on fire. Some of the Roman soldiers were able to flee Antonia and escape to the upper palace, where the other city leaders and Agrippa’s soldiers were holed up.
And so, the zealots turned their attention back to the upper palace…
The Sixth Day of Elul (i.e. Three weeks later)
For the next three weeks, the city leaders were holed up in the upper palace, while the zealots kept it under siege. It was during all this, though, that Menahem, one of the zealot leaders, had mounted the assault on Masada. Now, Menahem was the grandson of the famous Jewish zealot leader, Judas the Galilean, who had led a revolt against Rome back in AD 6, when Quirinius, the legate of Syria, had imposed a census for tax purposes. It was Judas’ revolt back in AD 6 that had sparked the entire zealot movement that had persisted for the next 60 years.
In any case, Menahem was practically seen as zealot royalty. Therefore, it was utterly not surprising what he did next: he broke open the king’s armory at Masada, armed his troops up to the teeth, and then marched to Jerusalem as a king. When he arrived, he took control of the revolt and ordered the zealots to maintain the siege of the upper palace.
On the sixth day of Elul (the next month after Ab) after the zealots had dug a tunnel under the main tower and burned its foundations, causing the entire structure to fall, the city leaders and soldiers in the upper palace surrendered. Menahem promised all who were in the upper palace that they would be allowed to leave, unharmed.
…all, except the Roman soldiers.
Knowing that they had no chance if they came out willingly, the Roman soldiers attempted to escape the palace and flee to the royal towers of Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne. Once they realized the Roman soldiers had fled, Menahem’s troops chased after them and slew as many as they could before Romans were able to find safety in the royal towers.
And so, as the zealots set up a new siege of the royal towers, Menahem and his men began to search for the high priest who was still in hiding. When they found him and his brother hiding in an aqueduct, Menahem didn’t waste any time, and killed them on the spot.
The End of Menahem, and the Rise of Eleazar
Over the next few weeks, though, Menahem proved himself to be a blood-thirsty and power-hungry tyrant to his fellow Jews. For Menahem had not only declared himself to be king, but he began to dress in the royal garments. And so, as is often the case with unscrupulous and murderous revolutionaries, Menahem soon met his demise as he was worshipping in the Temple, when Eleazar, the priest who had originally ordered the foreign sacrifices to be stopped, ordered his men to attack Menahem and his men.
Many of Menahem’s men fled Jerusalem and, led by Menahem’s cousin—Eleazar ben-Jarius—retreated back to Masada. Meanwhile, Menahem himself had initially escaped to Ophla, but was soon captured and taken back to Jerusalem alive, where Eleazar ordered that he be tortured to death.
With Menahem dead, the Roman general Metilius who, along with his men, were still holed up in the royal towers, made an appeal to Eleazar. He told Eleazar that he and his men would voluntarily hand over their weapons and armor if he promised them that he would allow them to leave the city in peace. Eleazar quickly agreed to the terms.
Yet just because Eleazar had killed the tyrant Menahem, that did not mean Eleazar was necessarily a good man. After all, he had instigated the revolt by ordering the foreign sacrifices to cease. And so, true to form, Eleazar soon showed his true colors. As Metilius and his men had come out of the towers and were preparing to leave the city, Eleazar ordered his men to slaughter them.
Metilius, though, he kept alive. Eleazar gave Metilius a choice: either be killed or agree to get circumcised and become a Jew. Metilius decided it was not his time to die yet, and so, he agreed to get circumcised. Metilius the Roman general became Metilius the Jew.
