Our archenemy today was a religious and patriotic man, a real nuisance to an increasingly Hellenistic Empire. His obstinacy and sedition provoked one of the bloodiest reprisals in history, also ordered by a character whom the passage of time has classified as more of a philosopher than a soldier.
Thirtieth installment of “Archienemies of Rome “. Collaboration of Gabriel Castelló
It is not known exactly when he was born Simon bar Kokhba (שמעון בן כוסבא), also called ben Koziba (בן כוזיבא) in other sources, who led the great rebellion of the Jews against the Roman Empire. His name entered history when the Taná Raví Akiva ben Iosef , rabbinical scholar and influential person of the Sanhedrin, granted him the name of Bar Kokeba (from the Aramaic “Son of a Star ”, referring to the Bible verse Numbers 24:17, “A star will descend from Jacob ”) In this way, Akiva pointed to Ben Kochba as the authentic Messiah that would liberate the Jewish people from their oppressors.
But why is this Akiva fueled a full-fledged rebellion against the Roman authorities? The explanation is simple:after the capture of Jerusalem by the troops of the Emperor Vespasian's son, Titus , in the year 70, the delicate balance between Roman government and Jewish tradition that had begun with Herod was broken. The city was fiercely looted, the Temple burned and destroyed and many of the sacred elements of the Jewish cult ended up exhibited as booty of the Flavio during his Triumph through the streets of Rome. To the religious humiliation was added the almost one hundred thousand dead and slaves that caused that rebellion of the assassins. The Sanhedrin never met again in Jerusalem, he was moved to Yavne and a legion, the Tenth Fretensis , was left as custody of the province of Judea, with a praetor and not a prefect as its highest authority. In equivalent to our days, Rome applied a kind of martial law in the area.
Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem
Sixty years later, Emperor Hadrian he decided to remodel the old city again, but calling it Aelia Capitolina (Aelia by his name, Publio Elio Adriano , Capitoline by the Great Father Jupiter). Not content with that, in his line of "civilizing" the primitive Jews, the emperor issued a decree expressly prohibiting the practice of circumcision, as well as respect for the Sabbath and other religious laws. You have to think that for a man as "Hellenic edge" as Hadrian was, circumcision was nothing more than an aberrant mutilation. At that time, doctors knew nothing about the origin of infections and their close relationship with infant mortality, the real reason why a clean foreskin allowed more children to reach maturity. As a last attempt to reach a pact, the Ravi Akiva led a delegation that met with the Roman praetor, Turnus Rufo , but he ignored the request of the Jews. The spark of sedition was burning brightly in ever-unruly Judea...
According to Casius Dio , the revolt broke out when Turno Rufo decided to move the VI Ferrata to the capital of Judea to ensure a quiet refoundation of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina. It was the year 132 when Akiva , outraged by the Roman provocation, summoned the Sanhedrin and the chosen ones to carry out the long-awaited rebellion. In that secret meeting, the Raví and his associates decided how to raise the entire province without falling into the errors that Simón Bar Giora committed in the revolt of 1960. The new Simon, the presumed Messiah , was chosen to execute the plans of the Sanhedrin:he successfully raised the city and province against Rufo, annihilating the X Ferrata along the way. and to the XXII Deiotariana who intended to assist the praetor from his base in Egypt. In a very short time, Simon bar Kochba He controlled all of Roman Judea, acting as a military leader supported unconditionally by the toughest faction in the religious sector.
News of the rebellion soon reached Antioch, where the emperor Hadrian happened to be. . Unable to react quickly to this unexpected sedition, it took nearly two and a half years to mobilize the twelve legions that came from all over the East, including from the Danube, and place them under the command of a man of great reputation in military affairs, Sixth Julius Severus Until then Governor of Britain. Meanwhile, Simon bar Kobja was officially proclaimed “Nasí ”, Prince of Israel, ruled all of Judea as a sovereign, minting coins with the motto “Israel's Redemption Age ”. With the help of his ally Akiva as the undisputed leader of the Sanhedrin, who had resumed the sacrifices and trades of Judaism proscribed by the government of Rome, as the months passed he felt stronger, in addition to becoming a magnet for the rest of the scattered Jews. throughout the Empire who returned to their land called by the illusion of his liberating message.
But Rome was never a comfortable enemy, what's more, Hadrian he inherited from his predecessor the largest territorial extension that the Empire had, so he could not allow a seditious subjugated people to destabilize the always insecure eastern border. Severe made ensign of his cognomen . Always avoiding a pitched battle of uncertain outcome, in the summer of 135 he entered Jerusalem with blood and fire, with greater crudeness and brutality than in the assault by Titus's troops. Ravi Akiva was captured during the war and taken to Caesarea, a Roman base since Herod's time, where he was accused of violating Hadrian's decree that expressly prohibited the teaching of the Torah . Roman jailers in the East were never known for their indulgence:Akiva ben Yosef he was tortured with incandescent iron combs that tore off the skin in strips, called “cat nails ", till die. He is one of the ten martyrs of Judaism who is still revered today.
Akiva's Martyrdom
After the fall of Jerusalem, the “Nasí And the most faithful of him fled to the fortress of Bethar (Beitar) By direct orders of Hadrian, Julius Severus followed them, surrounded them and took Bethar by assault without any mercy, leading to the death of all those who resisted there. This is how the Talmud picks it up . Furthermore, it took seventeen years for the Roman authorities to allow the burying of the piled-up remains of the rebels who remained there as a feast for the vultures. Bar Kobja he died at Bethar, defending his creed and country to his last breath. As a tribute to his courage, the first president of the modern state of Israel changed his real name, David Grüm , by David Ben Gurion in tribute to one of the brave officers who accompanied Simón bar Kobja to death . Not all Jews supported that rebellion. His detractors, both Jews and "pro-Romans", called him Simon bar Koceba (“the son of lies ”), mocking his messianic obstinacy.
According to Casius Dio , the revolt of Simon bar Kochba 580,000 Jews were killed, as well as the assault of fifty cities and 985 villages. As we have seen, the casualties were not few on the other side either. When the emperor sent notification to the Senate of his victory, he excluded the protocol phrase “ I and the legions are well ” in consideration of the defenestrated X and XXII. In addition, there was no triumph for the deed of Severus, this being the only known case in which a victorious legate did not claim his moment of glory in the streets of Rome.
Hadrian
To avoid new temptations, Adriano he ordered the burning of the holy books of the Jews on the Temple hill, the Torah and the Jewish calendar were banned. On the site of the Temple two statues were erected, one of Jupiter and one of him. The Roman province of Judea disappeared, joining Syria Palaestina , name inspired by the Philistines, secular enemies of the Jewish people. As a final humiliation, all Jews were forbidden to enter Aelia Capitolina … Perhaps it was a Hispanic, Hadrian, who started the diaspora of the Jews in that bloody summer of 135?