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Bar Kokhba revolt

See also: Hadrian § Third Roman–Jewish War (132–136)
Bar Kokhba revolt
מֶרֶד בַּר כּוֹכְבָא‎
Part of the Jewish–Roman wars
Close-up view of the rebellion's leader on a large menorah sculpture in Jerusalem
Detail of Simon bar Kokhba from Benno Elkan's Knesset Menorah
Date132–136 CE
(main phase: autumn 132 – summer 135)
Location
Judea, Roman Empire
Result Roman victory
  • Restructuring of Judea as Syria Palaestina
  • Massacre of the Judean populace
  • Suppression of Jewish religious/political autonomy by Hadrian
  • Expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem
Territorial
changes		 Destruction of the rebels' Jewish state by the Roman army
Belligerents
Roman Empire Judeans
Commanders and leaders
Units involved
  • Bar Kokhba's army
  • * Bar Kokhba's guard
  • * Local militias
  • Samaritan youth bands
Strength
2 legions – 20,000 (132–133)
5 legions – 80,000 (133–134)
6–7 full legions, cohorts of 5–6 more, 30–50 auxiliary units – 120,000 (134–135)		 200,000–400,000 militiamen
• 12,000 Bar Kokhba's guard force
Casualties and losses
Legio XXII Deiotariana possibly destroyed[1]
Legio IX Hispana possibly disbanded[2][a]
Legio X Fretensis sustained heavy casualties[3]		 500,000–600,000 killed[4][5]

The Bar Kokhba revolt (Hebrew: מֶרֶד בַּר כּוֹכְבָא Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ‍) was a large-scale armed rebellion initiated by the Jews of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire in 132 CE.[6] Lasting until 135 or early 136, it was the third and final escalation of the Jewish–Roman wars.[7] Like the First Jewish–Roman War and the Second Jewish–Roman War, the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in a total Jewish defeat; Bar Kokhba himself was killed by Roman troops at Betar in 135 and the Jewish rebels who remained after his death were all killed or enslaved within the next year.

Roman rule in Judea was not well-received among the Jewish population, especially after the destruction of the Second Temple during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70. The Romans had also continued to maintain a large military presence across the province; pushed unpopular changes in administrative and economic life;[8] constructed the colony of Aelia Capitolina over the destroyed city of Jerusalem; and erected a place of worship for Jupiter on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where the Jews' Second Temple had stood.[9] Rabbinic literature and the Church Fathers emphasize the role of Quintus Tineius Rufus, the erstwhile Roman governor of Judea, in provoking the Bar Kokhba revolt.[10] The charismatic and messianic nature of Bar Kokhba may have also been a factor in popularizing the uprising across all of Judea.[11]

With the onset of the conflict, initial rebel victories established an independent Jewish enclave covering much of the province for several years. Bar Kokhba was appointed nasi (נָשִׂיא, lit. 'prince') of the rebels' provisional state, and much of Judea's populace regarded him as the Messiah of Judaism who would restore Jewish national independence.[12] This initial setback for the Romans led Hadrian to assemble a large army—six full legions with auxiliaries and other elements from up to six additional legions, all under the command of Sextus Julius Severus—and launch an extensive military campaign across Judea in 134, ultimately crushing the revolt.[13]

The killing of Bar Kokhba and the subsequent defeat of his rebels yielded disastrous consequences for Judea's Jewish populace, even more so than the crackdown that had taken place during and after the First Jewish–Roman War.[14] Based on archeological evidence, ancient sources, and contemporary analysis, between 500,000–600,000 Jews are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.[5] Judea was heavily depopulated as a result of the number of Jews killed or expelled by Roman troops, with a significant number of captives sold into slavery.[15][16][17] Following the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the center of Jewish society shifted from Judea to Galilee.[18] The province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina[19] as an intended punishment for the Jews and as a result of the desires of the region’s non-Jewish inhabitants.[20] The Jews were also subjected to a series of religious edicts by the Romans, including an edict that barred all Jews from entering Jerusalem.[9][21] The Bar Kokhba revolt also had philosophical and religious ramifications; Jewish belief in the Messiah was abstracted and spiritualized, and rabbinical political thought became deeply cautious and conservative. The rebellion was also among the events that helped differentiate Early Christianity from Judaism.[22]

  1. ^ L. J. F. Keppie (2000). Legions and veterans: Roman army papers 1971–2000. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-07744-8. pp. 228–229.
  2. ^ Menachem, Mor, Two Legions: The Same Fate?, JSTOR 20186341
  3. ^ Mor, M. The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE. Brill, 2016. p. 334.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Raviv, Dvir; Ben David, Chaim (2021-05-27). "Cassius Dio's figures for the demographic consequences of the Bar Kokhba War: Exaggeration or reliable account?". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 34 (2): 585–607. doi:10.1017/S1047759421000271. ISSN 1047-7594. S2CID 236389017.
  6. ^ Axelrod, Alan (2009). Little-Known Wars of Great and Lasting Impact. Fair Winds Press. p. 29. ISBN 9781592333752.
  7. ^ for the year 136, see: W. Eck, The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View, pp. 87–88.
  8. ^ Davies, W. D. (William David); Finkelstein, Louis; Horbury, William; Sturdy, John; Katz, Steven T.; Hart, Mitchell Bryan; Michels, Tony; Karp, Jonathan (1984). The Cambridge history of Judaism. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-521-21880-1.
  9. ^ a b Hanan Eshel, 'The Bar Kochba revolt, 132-135,' in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, pp.105-127, p.105.
  10. ^ Katz, Steven T. (2006). The Cambridge history of Judaism. Cambridge University press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8.
  11. ^ Mor 2016, p. 11.
  12. ^ John S. Evans (2008). The Prophecies of Daniel 2. Xulon Press. ISBN 9781604779035. Known as the Bar Kokhba Revolt, after its charismatic leader, Simon Bar Kokhba, whom many Jews regarded as their promised messiah
  13. ^ "Israel Tour Daily Newsletter". 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
  14. ^ Taylor, J. E. (15 November 2012). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199554485. These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tell us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction
  15. ^ Mor 2016, p. 471.
  16. ^ Powell, L.; Dennis, P. (2017). The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–136: The last Jewish revolt against Imperial Rome. Campaign. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-4728-1799-0.
  17. ^ Jones, A.H.M. (1971). The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (2nd ed.). Oxford. p. 277. This provoked the last Jewish war, which seems from our meager accounts [...] to have resulted in the desolation of Judaea and the practical extermination of its Jewish population.
  18. ^ David Goodblatt, 'The political and social history of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel,' in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, Cambridge University Press, 2006 pp.404-430, p.406.
  19. ^ Isaac, Benjamin (2015-12-22), "Judaea-Palaestina", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.3500, ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5, retrieved 2024-04-09
  20. ^ Eck, Werner (2015-07-30), "Bar Kokhba", Oxford Classical Dictionary, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1056, ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5, retrieved 2024-04-09
  21. ^ Eshel 2006, pp. 105–127.
  22. ^ M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 p. 143


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