Massacre at Beth Horon
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The October 66 massacre at Beth Horon near the Galilean city of Beth Horon was a battle between the Roman Empire and the rebellious province of Judea during the Jewish War.
| date | October 66 AD |
|---|---|
| place | Beth Horon , Judea , today Israel , 15 km northwest of Jerusalem |
| output | Victory of the Jewish resistance fighters |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 36,000 men, 6,000 of them from the Roman Legion , plus 30,000 men in auxiliary troops | Tens of thousands of insurgents |
| losses | |
|
6,000 dead, plus more wounded |
Unknown |
Prehistory and beginning of the uprising
The Roman procurator Gessius Florus is said to have enriched himself with the tax revenue of the Jews during his tenure and to have driven up taxes in the province of Judea and in Jerusalem . In Jerusalem there were therefore violent protests against the Roman governor. As the Jewish population of the procurator Florus Gessius a sum of 600 sesterces was guilty, he ordered his soldiers in May 66 in the temple penetrate and the debt of the people from the temple treasury to settle. In fact, the Romans captured 435 kilograms of silver, causing unrest among Jews across the city. There were further violent demonstrations and public mockery of the governor. In revenge, Florus sent a cavalry unit and a cohort to Jerusalem. The soldiers looted the town's marketplace and any house. The Jews, deeply injured in their religious feelings, succeeded in defeating Gessius Florus' cavalry unit, while Florus was able to flee Jerusalem. The Jews also destroyed the governor's Roman cohort (around 500 men). The Romans now lost all control over the province of Judea. Nevertheless, some influential rabbis , above all Jochanan ben Sakkai , tried to prevent the impending war, but only an increasingly small number of the people spoke out in favor of ben Sakkai's views.
The massacre
The ruling emperor Nero sent the governor of Syria , Gaius Cestius Gallus with the Legio XII Fulminata and around 30,000 auxiliary troops against Jerusalem in October of the year 66 . The attempt by Gaius Cestius Gallus to take the Jewish capital by siege failed. On his retreat to Galilee, his troops were ambushed by the Jewish resistance fighters under Shimon bar Giora in front of the city of Beth Horon, 15 kilometers from Jerusalem . The Romans, though well trained and excellently armed, were unable to take and defend their battle formation in the rugged terrain. The Jews, some of whom were armed with slingshots, killed around 6,000 Roman soldiers and others were wounded. The Roman legionary eagle was lost. The defeat at Beth Horon was the worst for Rome that it had ever suffered from rebels.
consequences
The victory at Beth Horon finally brought the warring factions among the Jews to power. A rebellion and war with Rome were now inevitable - the Jewish war broke out. Nevertheless, the insurgents' parties were at odds with one another until the end, which weakened their cause. The warring parties under their leaders Shimon bar Giora, Johann von Gischala and Josephus ben Mathitjahu, the later Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus , acted largely independently of one another. Gaius Cestius Gallus died in his province of Syria the following year. The general and later emperor Vespasian , who had fallen out of favor under Nero, together with his son Titus , received the supreme command to suppress the uprising .
See also
swell
- The Imperial Roman Legions - XII - Tripod, hard luck Legion; the Imperial Roman Legions - XII - Tripod, http://hauburn.tripod.com/LegXII.html