What Caused General Titus To Enter Jeusalem?

Nadene Goldfoot                                       

 Queen Alexandra Salome of Judea ruled from 76-67 BCE.  She succeeded her husband, Alexander Yannai and revered his inimical policy toward the Pharisees, traditionally by his dying request.  Salome handed internal control to the Pharisees while retaining responsibility for the army and foreign policy.  Her appointment of her oldest son, Hyrcanus as high priest and heir was opposed by his younger brother, Aristobulus.  Talmudic sources, which speak of Salome  as sister of Rabbi Simeon Ben Shetah, regard her favorably, but Josephus is critical, of course.  

The death of Hasmonean queen Alexandra Salome plunged Judea into a civil war between her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. After Aristobulus had ousted his elder brother from both the throne and the high priesthood in Jerusalem, Antipater the Idumean advised Hyrcanus to enlist the aid of King Aretas III of Nabataea. In return for the promise of territorial concessions, Aretas provided Hyrcanus with 50,000 soldiers, and their joint forces besieged Aristobulus in Jerusalem.

                                           

Pompey had followed the successful conclusion of the Third Mithridatic War with the creation of the Province of Syria and had spent the years of 64 and 63 BCE in bringing law and order to the region.  Events in Judea prompted Aemilius Scaurus, Pompey's legate in Damascus, to arrive in Jerusalem. When 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.

In 63 BCE the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem. The Romans ruled through a local client king and largely allowed free religious practice in Judaea. At times, the divide between monotheistic and polytheistic religious views caused clashes.    

During the 1st century CE, Judea was an insignificant Roman province situated at the edge of the Empire. Rome does not appear to have believed that this province had the potential to inflame the empire and put Roman rule in danger. The local power in Judea was entrusted to governors of the equestrian rank, the lower class of the Roman public service officials, who were not allowed to command Roman legions, a sure sign that the province did not count for much in Roman eyes. 

The fact is that the Roman authorities continued to allow multitudes of Jews to gather in Jerusalem for the three Holiday of Pilgrimage (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot), indicating that there was no fear of rebellion. Moreover, the Romans did not object to the Jewish Diaspora contributing the Half-Sheqel tax to the Temple in Jerusalem, and they allowed the Temple authorities to accumulate significant wealth, which was utilized for local purposes. In short, Judaea was treated as a small distant province of limited concern to the emperors.

                                                   

Titus was the son of Vespasian, Roman Emperor from 69 to 79 and took over command of the Roman army in Judea from his father.                                       

Nero had sent Vespasian in 67 to subdue the Judean rebellion and by 68 he had conquered Galilee, Transjordan, and the Judean coast before suspending operations on receiving the news of Nero's death.  In 69, he became emperor, and the campaign was concluded by his son, Titus.  Vespasian patronized Josephus and the Talmud speaks of his favorable treatment of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai.   

The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been controlled by Judean rebel factions since 66 CE, following the Jerusalem riots of 66, when the Judean provisional government was formed in Jerusalem.

The Great Jewish Revolt  began in the year 66 CE, during the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, originating in Roman and Jewish religious tensions. The crisis escalated due to anti-taxation protests and attacks upon Roman citizens by the Jews. The Roman governor, Gessius Florus, responded by plundering the Second Temple, claiming the money was for the Emperor, and the next day launching a raid on the city, arresting numerous senior Jewish figures.  This ticked the Jews off immensely.  This prompted a wider, large-scale rebellion and the Roman military garrison of Judaea was quickly overrun by the rebels, while the pro-Roman king Herod Agrippa II, together with Roman officials, fled Jerusalem.  Having better arms and soldiers, the Romans squelched the rioting.  

             Recreation by archaeologists on Arch of Titus.  

He created the Arch of Titus showing the Jews taken from Jerusalem bearing the golden artifacts from the Temple, taken as slaves.  

The account of Josephus described Titus as moderate in his approach and, after conferring with others, ordering that the 500-year-old Temple be spared. According to Josephus, it was the Jews who first used fire in the Northwest approach to the Temple to try and stop Roman advances. Only then did Roman soldiers set fire to an apartment adjacent to the Temple, starting a conflagration which the Jews subsequently made worse. Of course, Josephus is writing for a Roman audience, and his continuing life depends on pleasing them, so take this word with a grain of salt.  The Jews had more reason to keep the Temple from catching on fire than these Roman soldiers.  

Siege of Jerusalem, (70 CE), Roman military blockade of Jerusalem during the First Jewish Revolt. The fall of the city marked the effective conclusion of a four-year campaign against the Jewish insurgency in Judaea. The Romans destroyed much of the city, including the Second Temple. The majority of information on the siege comes from the copious notes of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. 

Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done), [Titus] Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as they were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall enclosed the city on the west side. 

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Jerusalem-70  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War