Bar Kochba

Silver tetradrachm from the time of the uprising

Simon bar Kochba ( Aramaic שמעון בר כוכבא , Schim'ôn Bar Kochba or Schim'on Bar Kochva , "son of the star"; died 135 , actually Schim'on bar Kosiba) was a Jewish rebel and messianic pretender who lived from 132 to 135 after Christ led the Bar Kochba uprising against the Roman Empire under Emperor Hadrian .

His past life is in the dark. During the uprising, he achieved considerable success against the Romans, but later had to retreat to the Betar fortress and was besieged there. When the Roman troops stormed Betar, Bar Kochba was killed.

Surname

There are few sources about Bar Kochba. His personal name Shimon (German "Simon") was found on coins from the time of the uprising. On the other hand, some coins carry the words "year one of the redemption of Israel" or "for the freedom of Jerusalem".

His Aramaic epithet "Bar Kochba", which was given to him by Rabbi Akiba according to the Jewish legend , means son of the star based on the messianic prophecy of the "star out of Jacob" ( Num 24.17  EU ). After his failure, he was renamed "Bar Koseba" ("son of a lie") in rabbinical literature .

The epithet was written in many variations. Well-known variations are:

• Ben Kosiba ( Hebrew בן־כוזבא)
• Ben Koziba / Koziva
• Bar Kokhba / Kokhva ( Aramaic בר־כוכבא)
• Bar Cochba
• Bar Kosba / Kozba
• Bar Kozevah
• Bar Kokheba
• Bar Cocheba

In the 1960s, some letters from Bar Kochba were found in caves in Wadi Murabbaʿat and Nahal Hever on the west bank of the Dead Sea near the oasis of En Gedi , which are now kept in the Israel Museum. In a Greek letter, the name σιμων χωσιβα, Simon Chosiba appears. In contrast to the Hebrew or Aramaic language, which only write the name in consonants (KSBA), the vocalization is clear.

reception

Israeli historiography

In the official historiography of Israel , Bar Kochba is considered a hero of Jewish resistance to oppression and a role model for the defensive Jew. The political scientist Jehoshafat Harkabi , who believes Bar Kochba to be an irrationalist who led his people into a senseless, suicidal and hopeless struggle, proposed a revision of this prevailing view of history in 1983 in order to warn of the dangers of irrational politics today from yesterday's mistakes.

Artistic reception

Visual History of Israel (Arthur Szyk)

Arthur Szyk combined various high points of Jewish history in the lithograph Visual History of Israel (from the unfinished cycle Visual History of Nations) , created in the year the state was founded in 1948. In the center is the blue Star of David with the words "Time of our freedom". To the left of the star Bar Kochba, to the right the prophet Ezekiel , who prophesied the return of the people of Israel from exile. Above center the three leaders of Israel in the Torah: Moses , Aaron and Hur; outside the two kings David and Solomon . At the bottom in the center the double tablet of the Ten Commandments , next to it a pioneer ( Chalutz ) and an Israeli soldier.

Musical reception

Libretto by Goldfadens Bar Kochba (1917)

Abraham Goldfaden achieved with the Yiddish melodrama “Bar Kochba, the son of the stars, or the last days of Jerusalem” (בר כוחבא דער זוהן פון דעם שטערן אדער דיא לעצטע טעג פון ירושternים Bar Kokhba, der , di last teg fun yerusholayim ) great successes.

The play has a prologue and four acts. The main characters are Rabbi Eleazar and his daughter Dinah, who is in love with Bar Kochba and is being courted by the jeweler Pappus. The Roman governor has Dinah taken hostage in order to bring Bar Kochba under his control. Bar Kochba fights with a lion in the amphitheater and tames it. Then he besieges Jerusalem to free Dinah. Dinah falls to her death from the walls of Jerusalem so that Bar Kochba will not give in because of her; Bar Kochba then conquered Jerusalem. As ruler of Jerusalem, Bar Kochba has Eleazar condemned for betraying his people - Eleazar vainly protests his innocence and calls Bar Kochba a false messiah. Change of scene after Betar: Bar Kochba receives the news that the Romans have conquered Jerusalem. The spirit of Eleazar appears to him and announces that all is lost. Bar Kochba commits suicide, his military leader kills Pappus, and the play ends with the penetration of the murdering Roman soldiers into the burning fortress.

Trivia

Bar Kochba is the lyrical theme of the song Son Of A Star by the Israeli band Desert , which was released on their album Never Regret .

swell

Although there are hardly any literary sources on Bar Kochba, papyri and coins from him have survived:

• Naphtali Lewis (Ed.): The documents from the Bar Kokhba period in the cave of letters. Greek papyri; Aramaic and nabatean signatures and subscriptions . Israel Exploration Soc., Jerusalem 1989, ISBN 965-221-009-9 .
• Jigael Jadin, Jonas Greenfield, Ada Yardeni (Eds.): The documents from the Bar Kokhba period in the cave of letters. Hebrew, Aramaic and Nabatean-Aramaic papyri . 2 volumes Israel Exploration Soc., Jerusalem 2002, ISBN 965-221-046-3 .
• Leo Mildenberg: The Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War . Aarau 1984.

literature

• Menahem Mor: The Second Jewish Revolt. The Bar Kokhba War, 132-136 CE. Brill, Leiden 2016, ISBN 978-90-04-31462-7 .
• Werner Eck : Challenging Rome. Bar Kochba in the fight against the Roman Empire. The image of the Bar Kochba uprising reflected in the new epigraphic tradition. Rome 2007.
• Richard G. Marks: The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park 1993, ISBN 978-0-271-00939-1 .
• Jigael Jadin : Bar Kochba. Archaeologists on the trail of the last prince of Israel . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1971, ISBN 3-455-08702-7 .
• Paul von Rohden : Barkocheba . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 21.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Wolffsohn : Israel - history, politics, society, economy. 7th edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15654-5 , p. 38.
2. ↑ Bar Kokhba, the first fun di shtern, or, di last teg fun yerusholayim. In: Digital Yiddish Theater Project. Retrieved July 8, 2019 . 

Web links

• LIVIUS: Simon ben Kosiba , there too
• Text of the letters.