The Kitos War (115 Year 115 was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar–117 Year 117 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar) (Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s: מרד הגלויות: mered ha'galuyot or mered ha'tfutzot (מרד התפוצות), translation: Rebellion of the exile) is the name given to the second of the Jewish-Roman wars The Jewish-Roman wars were a series of revolts by the Jews of Iudaea Province against the Roman Empire. Some sources use the term to refer only to the First Jewish-Roman War and Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135). Other sources include the Kitos War (115–117) as one of the Jewish-Roman wars; however this revolt started in Cyrenaica, and merely its. Major revolts by diasporic A diaspora is the movement or migration of a group of people, such as those sharing a national and/or ethnic identity, away from an established or ancestral homeland. When capitalized, the Diaspora refers to the exile of the Jewish people and Jews living outside ancient or modern day Israel Jews in Cyrene (Cyrenaica) Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony in present-day Shahhat; Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times, Cyprus This article treats the history of Cyprus during Classical Antiquity, from the 8th century BC to the Middle Ages. The earliest written records relating to Cyprus date to the Middle Bronze Age , see Alasiya, Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran and Aegyptus The Roman province of Egypt was established in 30 BC after Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) defeated his rival Mark Antony, deposed his lover Queen Cleopatra VII and annexed the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt to the Roman Empire. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai Peninsula (which would later be conquered by spiralled out of control resulting in a wide spread slaughter of Roman citizens and others by the Jewish rebels. The rebellions were finally crushed by Roman legionary forces, chiefly by the Roman general Lusius Quietus, whose nomen By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen (given name), nomen (or nomen gentile or simply gentilicium, being the name of the gens or clan) and cognomen (name of a family line within the gens). Sometimes a second or third cognomen, called agnomen, was added later gave the conflict its title, as "Kitos" is a later corruption of Quietus.
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Revolt
In 115 Year 115 was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar the emperor Trajan Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was Roman Emperor from AD 98 to 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a non-patrician family in the Hispania Baetica province (modern day Spain), Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the German frontier, and successfully was in command of the eastern campaign against the Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in the Ancient Near East, and a counterweight and eastern boundary to the Roman Empire of the Mediterranean Basin. The Roman invasion had been prompted over the imposition of a pro-Parthian king on the throne of Armenia after a Parthian invasion of that land. This encroachment on the traditional sphere of influence of the Roman Empire— the two empires had shared hegemony over Armenia since the time of Nero some 50 years earlier — could only lead to war.
As Trajan's army advanced victoriously through Mesopotamia, Jewish rebels in its rear began attacking the small garrisons left behind. A revolt in far off Cyrenaica Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya and also an ex-province or state ("muhafazah" or "wilayah") of the country (alongside Tripolitania and Fezzan) in the pre-1963 administrative system. What used to be Cyrenaica in the old system is now divided up into several "shabiyat" (see administrative divisions in soon spread to Egypt and then Cyprus, inciting revolt in Judaea. A widespread uprising centred at Lydda Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain 15 kilometers (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2007, it had a population of 67,000, roughly 80 percent Jewish and 20 percent Arab threatened grain supplies from Egypt to the front. The Jewish insurrection swiftly spread to the recently conquered provinces. Cities with substantial Jewish populations – Nisibis Nusaybin is a city in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey populated by Kurds, Assyrian/Syriacs, Arabs, Edessa Edessa is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa, Seleucia Seleucia was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Opis (later Ctesiphon), Arbela – joined the rebellion and slaughtered their small Roman garrisons.
Cyrenaica
In Cyrenaica, the rebels were led by one Lukuas or Andreas, who called himself "king" (according to Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea, c. 263–339, called Eusebius Pamphili, became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314AD. Eusebius, historian, exegete and polemicist is one of the more renowned Church Fathers. He was a scholar of the Biblical Canon. He wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, and On Discrepancies). His group destroyed many temples, including those to Hecate Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic and crossroads, Jupiter Jupiter or HOVE was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder in Roman mythology. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter (or Diespiter) Optimus Maximus ("Father God the Best and Greatest"). As the patron deity of ancient Rome, he ruled over laws and social order. He was the chief god of the, Apollo In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities. The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine, healing, and plague; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and, Artemis Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron < Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals". In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis (Greek: Ἄρτ, and Isis Isis was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshiped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and, as well as the civil structures that were symbols of Rome, including the Caesareum, the basilica The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas begin to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC, and the thermae The terms balnea or thermae (from Greek thermos 'hot') were the words the ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths. The Greek and Roman populations were murdered on sight.[citation needed]
The 4th century Christian historian Paulus Orosius records that the violence so depopulated the province of Cyrenaica that new colonies had to be established by Hadrian:
"The Jews ... waged war on the inhabitants throughout Libya in the most savage fashion, and to such an extent was the country wasted that, its cultivators having been slain, its land would have remained utterly depopulated, had not the Emperor Hadrian gathered settlers from other places and sent them thither, for the inhabitants had been wiped out."[1]
"'Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put one Andreas at their head and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks. They would cook their flesh, make belts for themselves of their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood, and wear their skins for clothing. Many they sawed in two, from the head downwards. Others they would give to wild beasts and force still others to fight as gladiators. In all, consequently, two hundred and twenty thousand perished. In Egypt, also, they performed many similar deeds, and in Cyprus under the leadership of Artemio. There, likewise, two hundred and forty thousand perished. For this reason no Jew may set foot in that land, but even if one of them is driven upon the island by force of the wind, he is put to death. Various persons took part in subduing these Jews, one being Lusius, who was sent by Trajan."[2]
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901. It is now a public domain resource on the Cyrene massacres:
"By this outbreak Libya Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībiyā pronunciation ; Libyan vernacular: Lībya pronunciation (help·info); Amazigh: ), officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ( Arabic: الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الإشتراكية العظمى Al-Jamāhīriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah al-Lībiyyah aš-Š was depopulated to such an extent that a few years later new colonies had to be established there (Eusebius, "Chronicle" from the Armenian, fourteenth year of Hadrian). Bishop Synesius, a native of Cyrene in the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the devastations wrought by the Jews ("Do Regno," p. 2)."[3]
Egypt
Then Lukuas moved towards Alexandria Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort. Alexandria extends about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in north-central Egypt. It is home to the, entered the city which had been abandoned by the Roman troops in Egypt under the leadership of governor Marcus Rutilius Lupus, and set fire to the city. The pagan temples and the tomb of Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey /ˈpɒmpi/ or Pompey the Great (September 29, 106 BC – September 29, 48 BC), was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He came from a wealthy Italian provincial background, and established himself in the ranks of Roman nobility by successful leadership in several campaigns. Sulla were destroyed. Trajan sent new troops under the praefectus praetorio Quintus Marcius Turbo, but Egypt and Cyrenaica were pacified only in autumn 117 Year 117 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Cyprus
In Cyprus Cyprus (pronounced /ˈsaɪprəs/ ; Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipros]; Turkish: Kıbrıs), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipriaˈci ðimokraˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti) is an Eurasian island country in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey a Jewish band under a leader named Artemion had taken control of the island, killing thousands of civilians. "Under the leadership of one Artemion, the Cypriot Jews participated in the great uprising against the Romans under Trajan Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was Roman Emperor from AD 98 to 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a non-patrician family in the Hispania Baetica province (modern day Spain), Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the German frontier, and successfully (117), and they are reported to have massacred 240,000 Greeks (Dio Cassius, lxviii. 32)."[4] A small Roman army was dispatched to the island, soon reconquering the capital. After the revolt had been fully defeated, laws were created forbidding any Jews to live on the island.
Mesopotamia
A new revolt sprang up in Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran, while Trajan Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was Roman Emperor from AD 98 to 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a non-patrician family in the Hispania Baetica province (modern day Spain), Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the German frontier, and successfully was in the Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf or simply The Gulf by most Arab states, and Gulf of Basra by Turkey, although none of the. Trajan reconquered Nisibis Nusaybin is a city in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey populated by Kurds, Assyrian/Syriacs, Arabs (Nusaybin in Turkey), the capital of Osroene Edessa Edessa is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa, and Seleucia on the Tigris (Iraq), each of which housed large Jewish communities.
A pro-Roman son of the Partian king Osroes I Osroes I of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire c. 109–129. He succeeded his brother Pacorus II. For the whole of his reign he contended with the rival king Vologases III based in the east of Parthia, named Parthamaspatas, had been brought on the expedition as part of the emperor's entourage. Trajan had him crowned in Ctesiphon as king of the Parthians. "Trajan, fearing that the Parthians, too, might begin a revolt, desired to give them a king of their own. Accordingly, when he came to Ctesiphon, he called together in a great plain all the Romans and likewise all the Parthians that were there at the time; then he mounted a lofty platform, and after describing in grandiloquent language what he had accomplished, he appointed Parthamaspates king over the Parthians and set the diadem upon his head." (Dio Cassius). With this done, Trajan moved north to take personal command of the ongoing siege of Hatra Hatra is an ancient ruined city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It is today called al-Hadr a name which has occurred once in the inscriptions, and it stands in the ancient Iranian province of Khvarvaran. The city lies 290 km (180 miles) northwest of Baghdad and 110 km (68 miles) southwest of Mosul.
The siege continued throughout the summer of 117, but the years of constant campaigning in the baking eastern heat took their toll on Trajan who suffered a heatstroke. He decided to begin the long journey back to Rome in order to recover. Sailing from Seleucia, the emperor's health deteriorated rapidly. He was taken ashore at Selinus in Cilicia, where he died and his successor, Hadrian Publius Aelius Hadrianus , commonly known as Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman Emperor from AD 117 to 138. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian is also a notable Stoic and Epicurean philosopher. A member of the gens Aelia, Hadrian was the third of the so-called Five Good Emperors, assumed the reins of government in 118.
After Trajan
The Jewish leader Lukuas fled to Judea.[5] Marcius Turbo pursued him and sentenced to death the brothers Julian and Pappus, who had been key leaders in the rebellion. Lusius Quietus, the conqueror of the Jews of Mesopotamia, was now in command of the Roman army in Judaea, and laid siege to Lydda, where the rebel Jews had gathered under the leadership of Julian and Pappus. The distress became so great that the patriarch Rabban Gamaliel II, who was shut up there and died soon afterwards, permitted fasting even on Ḥanukkah. Other rabbis condemned this measure.[6] Lydda was next taken and many of the Jews were executed; the "slain of Lydda" are often mentioned in words of reverential praise in the Talmud.[7] Pappus and Julian were among those executed by the Romans in the same year.[8]
Lusius Quietus, whom the Emperor Trajan had held in high regard and who had served Rome so well, was quietly stripped of his command once Hadrian had secured the Imperial title. He was murdered in unknown circumstances in the summer of 118, possibly on the orders of Hadrian.
Hadrian took the unpopular but far-sighted decision to end the war, abandoning much of Trajan's eastern conquests and stabilising the eastern borders. Although he abandoned the erstwhile province of Mesopotamia, he installed Parthamaspates – who had been ejected from Ctesiphon by the returning Osroes – as king of a restored Osroene. For a century Osroene would retain a precarious independence as a buffer state, sandwiched between the two empires.
The situation in Judaea remained tense for the Romans, who were obliged under Hadrian to permanently move the Legio VI Ferrata Legio sexta Ferrata , was a Roman Legion formed in 65 BC, and in existence up to at least 3 Century. It served under Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars (58–51 BC), and in the various Civil Wars of the Roman Republic in the years before and after Caesar's assassination (49–30 BC). Sent to garrison the province of Judea, it remained there for the into Judaea.
References
- ^ Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 7.12.6.
- ^ "Dio's Rome, Volume V., Book 68, paragraph 32 at Project Gutenburg". http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10890/10890-h/10890-h.htm#a68_32.
- ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - CYRENE:
- ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - CYPRUS:
- ^ Abulfaraj, in Münter, "Der Jüdische Krieg," p. 18, Altona and Leipsic, 1821
- ^ Ta'anit ii. 10; Yer. Ta'anit ii. 66a; Yer. Meg. i. 70d; R. H. 18b
- ^ Pes. 50a; B. B. 10b; Eccl. R. ix. 10
- ^ Ta'anit 18b; Yer. Ta'anit 66b
Further reading and external links
- "BAR KOKBA AND BAR KOKBA WAR" article from Jewish Encyclopedia (public domain)
- "Cyprus: In Roman Times" article from Jewish Encyclopedia (public domain)
- "Cyrene" article from Jewish Encyclopedia (public domain)
- "The revolt against Trajan", from livius.org
- [1], Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea, c. 263–339 AD, called Eusebius Pamphili, became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Eusebius, historian, exegete and polemicist is one of the more renowned Church Fathers. He was a scholar of the Biblical canon. He wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, and On Discrepancies, Ecclesiastical History The Church History of Eusebius of Caesarea was a fourth-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the development of Christianity from the first century. It was written in Greek, and survives also in Latin, Syriac and Armenian manuscripts, 4.2.
Categories: 2nd-century conflicts | 110s | Ancient Jewish Roman history Categories: Ancient Jewish history | Jewish Italian history | Jews and Judaism in Israel | Ancient Israel and Judah | Christianity and the Greco-Roman world | Religions of the Greco-Roman world | Nerva-Antonine Dynasty | Jewish–Roman wars | Jewish army units
