Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 4356406, member: 72790&quot;]Most of us who collect ancient and medieval coins are also astute students of history as well and we are all familiar with those events that are commonly spoken of and known as &quot;The fall of... . as in the Fall of the Alamo, the fall of the Third Reich&quot;, that sort of thing. In ancient and medieval history we speak of the Fall of the Roman Empire or the Fall of Constantinople, or the Fall of Jerusalem, both in ancient time and in the medieval Crusades. Let&#039;s take a look at one these &quot;falls&quot;, one which occurred on April 16, in the year of 73 AD.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the evening of April 15,73 AD, Eleazar ben Yair summoned some 960 of his followers for what would be his last speaking to them. We have this speech from the Jewish historian (Flavius) Josephus) who probably heard of it from two women and their children, so although some of the speech may have been contrived by the historian (a common literary device of ancient historians) it may also be an accurate representation of what Eleazar said to his Zealot followers. The next day, April 16, would end what had begun some eight years before, when the Jewish people, exasperated by a series of incompetent, actually ruthless procurators, and inspired by a series of messiahs preaching the replacement of Roman rule by a Divinely centered theocracy, took up arms and drove the Roman troops from not just Jerusalem but pretty much all of Judaea and Galilee as well. Neither the Roman governor in Syria nor the Emperor, Nero, in Rome thought a whole lot about the uprising. Nero was losing his grip on affairs in the city and the governor had been having problems, many problems, with the provinces to his south where the Jewish population was constantly fighting with the Gentile populations of the region. Nero appointed the competent commander, Vespasian to deal with the problem.</p><p><br /></p><p>Vespasian commanded quite an army, not just several legions of Roman troops but their accompanying auxiliaries and a considerable contingent of troops from the nearby client states. One of these contingents was a force of archers and slingers from the Kingdom of Commagene and was commanded by the king himself, Antiochus IV. Vespasian would need them all as early attempts by Roman troops under the Governor of Syria, Cestius Gallus, to crush the rebellion, failed and the Romans incurred significant losses. Vespasian took his son, Titus, with him as part of the young man&#039;s training for greater things later but Vespasian almost lost Titus when he approached too close to the walls of Jerusalem and was nearly killed or captured.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Roman assault on Jerusalem was placed on hold as Vespasian had to digest the news of Nero&#039;s overthrow and three Roman commanders discovering that emperors could be made elsewhere than in Rome. For over a year Galba, Otho and Vitellius battled it out for succession to the throne and Vespasian had his supporters back in Rome who saw to it that when Vitellius was killed by the city mob, the throne was offered to Vespasian. Vespasian returned to Rome and left the Roman Army under the command of Titus to take Jerusalem. That would be the most difficult task of all. Jerusalem was placed under siege and while the Roman Army tried to batter its way in, the population within was battling not only the Romans outside the walls but themselves within them. Even before Titus was able to undermine and batter his way into the city much of the population had been killed by both famine and bloody civil war between several rival factions. The massacre of the still living inhabitants was atrocious and the Temple Of Jerusalem was sacked and burned to the ground. It was never rebuilt. Titus would return to Rome to help his father celebrate a great triumph (which the self serving Josephus got to review from the imperial box).</p><p><br /></p><p>But the rebellion was not quite over. A small army of Jewish insurgents (less than a thousand) still held out in the fortress of Masada located near the Dead Sea, surrounded by a very hostile and bleak desert landscape. The emperor, Vespasian, was determined to blot out the very memory of this remnant remainder of Zealots (and as Josephus calls them, sicarrii, dagger men). The Roman commander, Silva, with the Tenth legion and attendant auxiliaries undertook the task of taking a fortress built upon a mountain plateau. Although less than a thousand Zealots were in the fortress their position seemed unassailable, until Silva had his men build a ramp some hundred feet high to get to the level of Masada&#039;s walls. Once there the Romans were abled to batter and burn their way to a breach in the walls. Only they never had the chance to avenge their losses of the long siege and fighting. As the Romans made ready to finish off the garrison, and their families inside the next morning, Eleazar&nbsp; would give that final speech to his followers. Rather than the men face crucifixion and the women brutal ravishing and then they and their children enslavement, Eleazar would have them take their own lives. That night the Zealots killed their own wives and children, then slew themselves. When the Romans battered down the last of the walls the next morning, they encountered, first, only silence and then a sight that must have shaken even the most hardened of Roman soldiers. Two women and a few children were found hiding within the wreckage. Apparently they were allowed to live, at least for a while. Their ultimate fate is unknown.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, as we come to the day of April 16th let us reflect on what history holds for us and perhaps our troubles are not the only troubles that people have had to go through. Below are some coins associated with the Jewish uprising . First is an aureus of Nero issued to accompany the Neronian Games so issued close to the day when the Jewish uprising started in 66 AD. Next are two denarii of Galba and Vitellius (sorry, no Otho) whose attempts to seize the imperial throne for themselves distracted Rome from the Jewish uprising and&nbsp; led to Vespasian&#039;s coming to power. Next is a dupondius of Vespasian, himself and beside that a sestertius of Titus who, of course would succeed his father to the throne in 79 AD. It has PAX on the reverse but perhaps SOLITUDO would have been more appropriate. The other coin&nbsp; is a bronze of King Antiochus IV, of Commagene, one of the Roman client state&#039;s rulers who aided the Romans. He was removed from his throne in 72 AD, perhaps disappointing the emperor or his son for his Judaean performance (or liking the Parthians a bit too much). My apologies for not including any of the Jewish coins the insurgents issued but I simply don&#039;t have any, but perhaps some members here might have some, especially of the coins minted in Jerusalem using struck over Roman denarii. Perhaps some might have coins issued during the second Jewish rebellion during Hadrian&#039;s reign as there would be another.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1101900[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1101901[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in