Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)
Siege of Jerusalem | |||||||
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Part of Hasmonean Civil War and Third Mithridatic War | |||||||
Pompey in the Temple of Jerusalem, Jean Fouquet 1470-1475 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Roman Republic |
Hasmonean Kingdom | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Pompey Faustus Cornelius Sulla | Aristobulus II | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Few | 12,000 |
Part of a series on |
Jerusalem |
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The siege of Jerusalem (63 BC) occurred during
Background
The death of Hasmonean queen
Pompey had followed the successful conclusion of the Third Mithridatic War with the creation of the
When Pompey himself arrived in Damascus in 63 BC, both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus visited him there. Pompey put off resolving the issue and informed the opposing parties he would resolve it once he had arrived in Judea in person. Aristobulus did not wait for Pompey's decision and left Damascus to shut himself away at his fortress of Alexandrium. That angered Pompey, who marched into Judea with his forces at the sight of which Aristobulus yielded. When Pompey's General Aulus Gabinius led a force to take Jerusalem, however, Aristobulus's supporters refused to let the Roman troops in. Incensed, Pompey had Aristobulus arrested and prepared to besiege the city.[5]
Siege
When Pompey arrived in Jerusalem, he surveyed the city:
for he saw the walls were so firm, that it would be hard to overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, that temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to.
— Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:141[6]
The troops then set about filling the ditch that protected the northern part of the Temple enclosure and building two ramparts, one next to the Baris and the other on the west. The defenders, from their superior position, sought to hinder Roman efforts. When the banks were complete, Pompey erected siege towers and brought up siege engines and battering rams from Tyre. Under the protection of slingers driving the defenders from the walls, they began to batter the walls surrounding the Temple.[5][10][11]
After three months, Pompey's troops managed to overthrow one of the Baris towers and were able to enter the Temple precinct, both from the citadel and from the west. First over the wall was a senior officer in Pompey's army named Faustus Cornelius Sulla, the son of former dictator Sulla. Faustus was followed by two centurions, Furius and Fabius, who each led a cohort, and the Romans soon overcame the defending Jews, 12,000 of whom were slaughtered. Only a few Romans troops were killed.[5][12]
Pompey himself entered the Temple's Holy of Holies, which only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and thus desecrated it. He did not remove anything, neither its treasures nor any funds, and the next day, he ordered the Temple cleansed and its rituals resumed.[13][14][15][16] Pompey then headed back to Rome, taking Aristobulus with him for his triumphal procession.[5]
Aftermath
The siege and the conquest of Jerusalem were a disaster for the Hasmonean Kingdom. Pompey reinstated Hyrcanus II as the High Priest but stripped him of his royal title though Rome recognised him as an ethnarch in 47 BC.[17]
Judea remained autonomous but was obliged to pay tribute and became dependent on the Roman administration in Syria. The kingdom was dismembered and was forced to relinquish the coastal plain, depriving it of access to the Mediterranean, as well as parts of
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Sartre 2005, pp. 40-42
- ^ a b Malamat and Ben-Sasson 1976, pp. 222-224
- ^ Sartre 2005, pp. 39-40
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:128
- ^ a b c d e f g Rocca 2008, pp. 44-46
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:141
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:143
- ^ Wightman, Gregory J. (1991). "Temple Fortresses in Jerusalem Part II: The Hasmonean Baris and Herodian Antonia". Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society. 10: 7–35.
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:61
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:145-147, mentions the towers, siege engines and slingers
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:62: "...he brought his mechanical engines and battering-rams from Tyre".
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:149-151
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:70-71
- ^ Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1:152-153
- ^ Barker 2003, p. 146
- ^ Losch 2008, p. 149
- ^ Rocca 2009, p. 7
Bibliography
- Barker, Margaret (2003). The Great High Priest: The Temple Roots of Christian Liturgy. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-08942-7.
- Josephus, Flavius. William Whiston, A.M., translator (1895). The Works of Flavius Josephus. Auburn and Buffalo, New York: John E. Beardsley. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
- Losch, Richard R. (2008). All the people in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-2454-7.
- Malamat, Abraham; Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel (1976). A history of the Jewish people. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6.
- Rocca, Samuel (2008). The Forts of Judaea 168 BC – AD 73. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-171-7.
- Rocca, Samuel (2009). The Army of Herod the Great. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-206-6.
- Sartre, Maurice (2005). The Middle East under Rome. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01683-5.