By AD 67, the emperor Nero had chosen the old, proven general Vespasian to go in and subdue Judea. Vespasian had a proven war record from his successes in Germania and Britannia. And once chosen by Nero, Vespasian then called for his son Titus to bring the 5th and 10th legions from Alexandria assist him.
Vespasian initially set out from Antioch and made his way to Ptolemais, where he teamed up with King Agrippa’s army. As they were awaiting the arrival of Titus’ legions from Alexandria, Josephus made the decision to try and take Sepphoris the capital of the region, just four miles north of Nazareth and just south of Cana. Taking Sepphoris would have undoubtedly been a major victory for Josephus and the resistance, but Sepphoris proved to be too strong to succumb to Josephus’ assault.
Josephus, though, didn’t just fail to take Sepphoris, his attack on Sepphoris also had the impact of spurring Vespasian to act more quickly. Once Titus made his way to Ptolemais with his 60,000 troops, Vespasian made the decision to treat the entire situation according to the law of war. This was not to be played out as merely putting down a minor uprising. It was to be played out according to the harsh rules of war—the Roman advance was going to be swift, decisive, and brutal.
Vespasian’s Taking of Jotapata, and Josephus’ Surrender
After Vespasian and Titus had assembled their armies together at Ptolemais, they proceeded to advance into Galilee. He first advanced to Gadara and quickly took it, and when he took it, he showed no mercy and slaughtered all the youth of the city.
After Gadara, Vespasian turned south and advanced directly to Jotapata, the city where Josephus had his headquarters. Vespasian intended to completely demolish Jotapata—to annihilate the city where the head of the Jewish forces was, and to either kill or capture that head of the Jewish forces, would most certainly cause the rest of Galilee to surrender rather quickly.
And so, on the 22nd day of the month of Jyar (April/May), Vespasian and his army came to Jotapata. Josephus, though, had fortified the defenses of the city wall, and Vespasian’s first assault failed, as the Jews were able to drive the Roman soldiers away from the wall. After successive assaults similarly failed, Vespasian decided to put the city under siege and essentially starve them out.
Jotapata had stored plenty of food, but unfortunately for them they had access to very little water. Seeing that it was just a matter of time, Josephus tried to convince the Jews of the city that he would be able to escape from the city and rally Jews from throughout Galilee to come to the aid of the city. The Jews, though, suspected that he was simply planning to desert—and so he remained in the city and continued to defend the walls as best he could.
Meanwhile, outside the city, Vespasian’s soldiers continued to penetrate the wall with a battering ram and siege engines. Even when a Jewish fighter named Eleazar ben-Sameas was able to break the head of the battering ram, the Roman soldiers were able to quickly repair it and maintain their attack. Still, the Jewish fighters continued to hurl down large rocks and hot oil upon the Roman soldiers who were either working the battering ram and siege engines or trying to scale the walls.
But since the city was essentially holed up, Vespasian sent Titus and Trajan to take the city of Japha, which was south of Jotapata and just west of Nazareth. It fell on the 25th day of Sivan (May/June). Vespasian also sent another of his generals, Cerealis, the commander of the 5th legion, to capture Mount Gerizim—it too fell just days later, on the 27th day of Sivan.
As the siege of Jotapata went on, eventually one of the Jews of the city was able to escape from the city. He came to Vespasian and told him how demoralized the Jewish fighters inside the city were, and what part of the wall was unguarded at night, so they could be able to scale the wall and get into the city. Vespasian had learned to be extremely suspicious of the Jewish rebels, so he kept the man in custody while he ordered that a small contingent of soldiers test out that section of the wall at night.
His son Titus, along with one of his tribunes named Domitius Sabinus and a few soldiers from the 15th legion scaled that part of the wall that night and snuck into the city. They then cut the throats of the watch, while Cerealis and Placidus, two other tribunes, led a contingent of soldiers and took the city’s citadel.
The Next Morning
When the Jews of Jotapata woke up the next morning, the city was securely in the hands of the Roman army. Josephus and 40 others were able to hide in an underground den, but soon they were discovered by a woman, who then went directly to Vespasian and reported where they were. Vespasian quickly dispatched Paulinius, Gallicanus, and Nicanor, three tribunes, to the underground den to try and convince Josephus to willingly surrender—in exchange, his life would be spared.
It was then that Josephus told the 40 others that he had had a dream, and was, in fact, convinced that God wanted him to surrender to the Romans. Such a suggestion enraged the men, and they accused Josephus of being a traitor. Being afraid that they might kill him, Josephus decided essentially to talk himself out of the predicament he found himself in.
He told them that yes, it was honorable to die in battle, but given their present situation, that was something that now could not be achieved. At the same time, being good Jews, they simply could not commit suicide, for committing suicide was a crime against God. So what other choice did they have, other than to surrender? In this case, Josephus argued, surrendering was the only option—it would not be seen as dishonorable.
This, though, angered the other men even more, and so Josephus proposed that the only other option was to cast lots—the man who got the first lot would then let himself be killed by the next man, and so on—that way, they would not have to surrender, but they would not be guilty of suicide either. And so, all the men agreed that that was what was to be done.
Somehow, the final two came down to Josephus and another man. At that point, though, Josephus convinced the other man to trust him…and they went outside to voluntarily surrender.
Josephus’ Prophecy
Once outside, both of them were taken to Vespasian, who promptly informed them that they were to be sent to Nero. At that point, Josephus said to Vespasian, “Why do you send me to Nero? You, O Vespasian, will soon be Caesar, as will your son as well! Don’t send me to Nero. Bind me and keep me for your own service, O Caesar!”
Vespasian well knew of the political chaos that had been going on in Rome that entire spring. Servius Galba, the governor of one of the provinces in Hispania, was in the midst of a revolt against Nero, and that Nero was quickly losing the allegiance of his own Praetorium guard.
…and so, Vespasian decided to hold off on sending Josephus to Nero.
Within two weeks, on June 9th AD 68, Nero was dead.
