Diaspora Revolt

Second Jewish–Roman War
Part of the Jewish–Roman wars
Provinces of the Roman Empire involved in the Diaspora Revolt (117 CE)
Date 115–117 CE Location Diaspora Revolt: Egypt Cyrenaica Cyprus Mesopotamia Kitos War: Judaea Result Revolt quelled Ethnic cleansing of Jews in Egypt, Cyrenaica and Cyprus Halt of further Roman expansion to the east
Belligerents
Roman Empire Local populations	Jewish rebels, primarily in: Egypt Cyrenaica Cyprus Mesopotamia Judaea
Commanders and leaders
Trajan # Hadrian Marcius Turbo Lusius Quietus	Lukuas (Andreas) Julianus  Pappus  Artemio

The term "Diaspora Revolt" (115–117 CE; Hebrew: מרד הגלויות, romanized: mered ha-galuyot, or מרד התפוצות, mered ha-tfutzot, 'rebellion of the diaspora'; Latin: Tumultus Iudaicus), also known as the Trajanic Revolt and sometimes as the Second Jewish–Roman War, refers to a series of uprisings that occurred in Jewish diaspora communities across the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Trajan. These revolts occurred while Trajan was engaged in his Parthian campaign in Mesopotamia, which provided a favorable opportunity. The ancient sources do not specify the exact motivations, but they were likely influenced by the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, long-standing tensions between Jews and Greeks, the Fiscus Judaicus tax, messianic expectations, and hopes for a return to Judaea.

The uprisings unfolded almost simultaneously across various provinces of the Roman East. In Egypt, Libya and Cyprus, Jewish actions were primarily directed against local populations rather than the Roman authorities, with accounts from historians like Cassius Dio, as well as epigraphical evidence, documenting extreme violence, including mass killings and the destruction of temples. In contrast, the rebellion in Mesopotamia seems to have been part of a broader resistance against Roman expansion into Parthian-ruled territories.

Marcius Turbo, one of Trajan's top generals, was dispatched with both land and naval forces to suppress the uprisings in Egypt and Libya. Literary sources suggest that the Jewish population in these regions faced severe reprisals and devastation. Meanwhile, General Lusius Quietus quelled the revolts in Mesopotamia and was subsequently appointed governor of Judaea. It was during this time that the lesser-known and less-understood Kitos War unfolded, involving Jewish unrest in Judaea. The uprisings were likely suppressed before autumn 117, possibly as early as summer, just prior to Trajan's death; however, some unrest may have persisted into the winter of 117–118.

The Diaspora Revolt appears to have resulted in the devastation or annihilation of Jewish communities in Egypt, Libya, and other regions. There was significant damage to buildings, temples, and roads, especially in Cyrene and other parts of Cyrenaica. A festival celebrating the victory over the Jews continued to be observed eighty years later in the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. Fifteen years after these uprisings, the Bar Kokhba revolt erupted, marking the last major Jewish attempt to regain independence in Judaea. After its failure, the Jewish population in Judaea was significantly reduced, and the community's center shifted to Galilee. In the Diaspora, the largest Jewish communities were concentrated in Parthian Mesopotamia and Roman-ruled Asia Minor and Italy.

Primary sources

The two primary sources on the Diaspora Revolt are Cassius Dio and Eusebius. Dio's account covers the revolt in Cyrene extensively, discusses Cyprus briefly, and mentions Egypt only in passing. He also describes the Roman suppression of a revolt in Mesopotamia without explicitly mentioning the Jews.

Eusebius, writing in the early 4th century, offers an account on the revolt in both his Chronicon and Ecclesiastical History, with a particular emphasis on the uprisings in Egypt. He also discusses a Jewish rebellion in Mesopotamia and events in Cyprus. In addition to his own narrative, Eusebius mentions that Greek historians provide accounts of the revolt similar to his, though he seems unaware of Cassius Dio’s version. Eusebius's portrayal contrasts with Dio's, which emphasizes atrocities, offering a more neutral tone.

Appian provides an eyewitness account of the revolt in the surviving portions of his Roman History. Among several anecdotes, he recounts his narrow escape from capture, fleeing a Jewish ship via wilderness paths and boat near Pelusium, and describes the destruction of the Pompey monument near Alexandria. His neutral tone is similar to that of Eusebius, who is believed to have used Appian as a source. Also active in the second century, Arrian—who wrote a lost work on the Parthians that included references to Trajan's actions against the Jews—is also believed to have been used by Eusebius.

Rabbinic literature, particularly Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah 5:1, contains multiple references to the revolt, including the destruction of the Great Synagogue of Alexandria and the slaughter of Jews. This account may be shaped by the heightened anti-Roman sentiment following the Bar Kokhba revolt, as evidenced by the focus on the Romans in descriptions of the revolt and the attribution of responsibility to Trajan.

Background

Depiction of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, 70 CE. This event contributed to the sense of unrest and messianic expectations that played a significant role in the Diaspora Revolt

The motivations behind the revolts are complex and not easily discernible due to the lack of direct sources addressing the underlying causes. However, a prevailing sense of unrest and dissatisfaction among the Jewish population of the time can be traced to several factors. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE left a profound impact, compounded by the imposition of the Fiscus Judaicus the same year, a humiliating tax levied on all Jews within the Roman Empire. This period also witnessed widespread messianic expectations—a belief in the coming of a redeemer, a descendant of David, who would bring transformative change and restore the Davidic kingdom in Israel—as well as a longing for the re-establishment of the Jewish state. Contemporary Jewish texts, such as the Third Sibylline Oracle, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch, reflect these themes, emphasizing anticipation of a messianic figure, the ingathering of the exiles, and the eventual rebuilding of the Temple. The messianic aspect of the revolt is perhaps suggested by Eusebius referring to Lukuas, the leader of the Jewish rebels in Libya, as "king," suggesting that the uprising evolved from an ethnic conflict into a nationalist movement with messianic ambitions for political independence.

Local conditions further contributed to the unrest, especially in Egypt, where longstanding social, economic, political, and ideological tensions between Jews and Greeks had escalated since the third century BCE. The situation deteriorated under Roman rule, leading to notable but sporadic violence in various eastern cities, including severe riots in Alexandria in 29 BCE, 38 CE, 41 CE, and 66 CE. The defeat of the Jews in the First Jewish Revolt of 66–73 CE amplified hostility towards them in Egypt, resulting in legal and violent exclusion from civic positions and higher business fees. The conflict intensified anti-Jewish rhetoric in Egypt and exacerbating mutual hostilities between Jews and Egyptians. In the years leading up to the Diaspora Revolt, incidents of anti-Jewish violence by Greeks occurred in 112 and the summer of 115 CE. These attacks, especially the latter, were likely direct catalysts for the Jewish uprising in the region. In Libya, earlier disturbances in 73 CE, which resulted in the deaths and dispossession of many wealthy Jews, may have weakened the moderating influence of the Jewish elite, thereby enabling more radical elements to gain prominence and push for revolt. Additionally, the destruction of the Jewish landholding aristocracy exacerbated economic hardships for Jewish tenant farmers, pushing them into cities and worsening their plight.

William Horbury writes that the revolt was influenced by a strong national hope and local interpretations of messianic expectations, particularly the return of the diaspora and the rebuilding of the Temple. He adds that Jews in the diaspora may have been influenced by the concepts of "liberty" and "redemption," which were central to the First Jewish Revolt and likely spread to Jewish communities in Egypt, Cyrene, and possibly Cyprus through refugees and traders from Judaea. This idea is supported by Josephus' account of Sicarii refugees in Cyrene, the discovery of First Jewish revolt coinage in Memphis and near Cyrene, and traces of these themes in diasporic literature.

E. Mary Smallwood suggests that the movement could be seen as an ancient form of Zionism, with the goal of returning Jewish exiles from North Africa to Palestine. The advance of the Cyrenaican Jews into Egypt, marked by widespread destruction, may have been intended as the initial phase of this large-scale migration. Shim'on Applebaum writes that the movement aimed at "the setting up of a new Jewish commonwealth, whose task was to inaugurate the messianic era." John M. G. Barclay argues that the significant damage to Cyrenaica's infrastructure during the uprising implies that the Jews involved intended to leave the province, probably planning to ultimately reach Judaea. Similarly, Horbury writes that the Jewish forces likely aimed to return to and defend Judaea.

Uprisings

The Jewish uprisings erupted almost simultaneously across various Diaspora regions in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. In Egypt, Libya and Cyprus, Jewish actions were primarily directed against local populations rather than the Roman authorities. In contrast, the rebellion in Mesopotamia appears to have been part of a broader resistance against Roman expansion into areas ruled by the Parthian Empire. There is no evidence that Jewish communities in Asia Minor participated in the revolt, and the Jewish community in Rome also did not join the uprising. Eusebius links the revolts in Libya and Egypt, while late Syriac sources mention that Jews from Egypt fled to Judaea. However, there is no definitive evidence of a coordinated effort.

Libya

The ruins of Cyrene, Libya. The city's center was extensively damaged during the revolt, with public baths, the Caesareum, and several temples destroyed.

In Libya, Jews launched attacks against their Greek and Roman neighbors, led either by Andreas (according to Dio/Xiphilinus) or Lukuas (according to Eusebius). These could have been two separate individuals or a single person known by both names—a common practice at the time. Eusebius refers to Lukuas as "king", a title that has prompted some scholars to speculate on a possible messianic motivation behind the uprising, though evidence supporting this theory remains limited. Eusebius writes that the Jews of Libya collaborated with the Jews of Egypt, forming a symmachia (military alliance). He also mentions that, at one point, the Jews of Libya moved into Egypt.

Dio's account describes the Jews of Libya as engaging in shockingly violent and cruel behavior. They are said to have engaged in cannibalism, mutilation, and other brutal acts, including using the victims' skins and entrails to make clothing and belts, and staging gladiatorial and wild beast shows. Dio reported that the Jewish rebels in Cyrenaica were responsible for approximately 220,000 Gentile deaths, though this figure is likely exaggerated for rhetorical effect. The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia notes that "(Dio's) descriptions of the cruelties perpetrated by the Jews at Cyrene and on the island of Cyprus are probably exaggerated." Pucci Ben Zeev writes that this portrayal should be examined within the broader context of how revolts by "barbarians" against the Romans were typically described in periodical historiography. She notes that the atrocities attributed to the Jews by Dio are not more egregious than those he ascribes to the Britons during the Boudican revolt in 61 CE or to the Bucoli, a group of Nile Delta herdsmen, during their uprising in Egypt in 171 CE.

Epigraphical sources provide evidence of attacks on religious and civic structures, including temples and statues. In Cyrene, for instance, the sanctuary of Apollo witnessed the destruction and burning of the baths, porticoes, ball-courts, and other nearby structures during the uprising. The temple of Hecate also suffered destruction and was burned down in the uprising. Significant damage is also recorded at the Caesareum and the temple of Zeus. Bishop Synesius, a native of Cyrene from the early 5th century, also refers to the devastation caused by the Jews, four centuries after the revolt.

The archaeological evidence, including inscriptions, sheds light on the significant destruction caused by the Jews in Cyrenaica during the revolt. A Hadrianic milestone commemorates the repair of the road connecting Cyrene with its port, Apollonia, "which had been overturned and smashed up in the Jewish revolt," possibly in anticipation of a Roman military advance from the sea. Joyce Reynolds notes significant damage to the sanctuary of Asclepius at Balagrae, west of Cyrene, which was later rebuilt under the Antonine dynasty. The presence of a deeply incised seven-branched menorah—a symbol indicative of Jewish presence—on a road northwest of Balagrae may suggest, according to Reynolds, that Jews deliberately sought to disrupt the route connecting Cyrene with neighboring regions to the west. The destruction of a small second-century temple near modern El Dab'a in Marmarica is likely also attributable to the Jewish rebels.

Egypt

The Jewish revolt in Egypt is often believed to have started around October 115 CE, based on papyrus CPJ II 435, which details a conflict between Jews and Greeks. Pucci Ben Zeev, however, contends that this document actually describes Greek attacks on Jews, rather than the beginning of a Jewish uprising, and prefers to date the revolt's start to 116 CE. Evidence from ostraca found in the Jewish quarter of Edfu, in Upper Egypt, indicates that tax receipts for Jews ceased by the end of May 116, suggesting this date as the earliest possible start for the revolt in that city. The latest possible date for the revolt's start is the beginning of September 116, as indicated by CPJ II 436, a concerned letter, from the wife of the strategos Apollonios in Hermoupolis.

Eusebius recounts that unrest in Egypt initially arose when Jewish communities, seized by a spirit of discord (stasis), engaged in civil conflict with their Greek neighbors. This unrest was soon followed by the advance of Jewish forces from Cyrene, led by Lukuas, who then achieved an initial victory over the Greeks. The Greeks escaped to Alexandria, massacring its Jewish population. Lukuas's forces, supported by Egyptian Jews who rallied to his side, continued to plunder the Egyptian chora (countryside) and destroy various districts throughout Egypt. Papyrological evidence indicates that the revolt indeed affected extensive areas, including the Athribite district, the region around Memphis (noted for its antisemitism), the Faiyum, Oxyrhynchus, and the Herakleopolite nome. Further south, fighting also impacted the Kynopolite, Hermopolite, Lycopolite, and Apollinopolite districts. It seems that the Jewish forces were well-organized and capable of presenting serious military challenges to their adversaries; as they moved through Egyptian villages, they quickly overcame local resistance.

Appian, who was in Egypt during the revolt, reports that the Jews destroyed the shrine of Nemesis near Alexandria. He states that this destruction was "for the needs of the war," suggesting a tactical move to remove a strategic point of advantage for the enemy, possibly repurposing the stone to fortify their own defenses. This action, along with other attacks on pagan temples in Egypt and Cyrenaica, may explain the term 'impious Jews' used in some papyri. Appian also notes that the Jews took control of the waterways near Pelusium, at the easternmost tip of the Nile Delta. This information is corroborated by CPJ II 441 and the later Ethiopic chronicle of John of Nikiû, which discusses the Babylon Fortress.

Papyri indicate that the Greeks, led by strategoi, retaliated against the Jews, with assistance from Egyptian peasants and Romans. Prefect Rutilius Lupus is noted to have personally participated in these engagements. Some efforts were successful, as evidenced by the recorded "victory and success" of Apollonios near Memphis; however, due to many Roman forces being deployed in Mesopotamia, the remaining troops, including the Legio XXII Deiotariana and part of the Legio III Cyrenaica, were insufficient to restore order effectively.

Cyprus

Most of what we know about the events in Cyprus comes from literary sources, as epigraphical evidence is limited, indirect, and difficult to interpret. Dio reports that the Jews, led by Artemion, rebelled in Cyprus. Eusebius' Chronicon states that the Jews attacked the island's pagan inhabitants and destroyed the prominent port city of Salamis. Both pagan and Christian sources describe the revolt as having a profound impact, with Dio claiming that "two hundred and forty thousand perished" in Cyprus, and Orosius asserting that "all the Greek inhabitants of Salamis were killed". A Roman army was dispatched to the island and soon reconquered the capital. After the revolt had been fully defeated, laws were created that forbade any Jews from living on the island. This law extended to the point where Jewish shipwreck survivors would be punished for trying to seek safety on Cypriot shores.

Suppression

According to Eusebius, Trajan sent Marcius Turbo, one of his leading generals, "with land and sea forces including cavalry. He waged war vigorously against them in many battles for a considerable time and killed many thousands of Jews, not only those of Cyrene but also those of Egypt." Allen Kerkeslager writes that the Jewish uprisings threatened the stability of the Roman Empire by disrupting grain shipments, prompting Trajan to divert Marcius Turbo from the Parthian front.

Turbo arrived in Egypt in late 116 or early 117. He was likely accompanied by the cohors I Ulpia Afrorum equitata and the cohors I Augusta praetoria Lusitanorum equitata, both present in Egypt in 117 CE, with the latter suffering heavy losses during the early summer of the same year. One papyrus details plans to mobilize large forces, including fleets from Misenum and Ravenna, the Legio III Cyrenaica, and auxiliary units such as the Cohors I Flavia Cilicum equitata. Legio XXII Deiotariana and Legio III Cyrenaica fought against the Jews, with the names of specific Roman legionaries from these units recorded as being killed in combat. Native Egyptians and Greeks, driven by entrenched anti-Jewish sentiments intensified by wartime conditions and imperial support, eagerly joined the Romans in attacking Jews. The early severe losses suffered by the Roman military had resulted in the conscription of locals into the army, and the presence of seasoned Roman troops, eager for retribution, further exacerbated the violence.

Turbo's mission seemingly included not only quelling the revolt but also exterminating Jews in the affected areas. Roman repression was severe, with Appian describing it as an extermination of the Jewish population in Egypt, and the Jerusalem Talmud noting the destruction of the celebrated Great Synagogue of Alexandria. Turbo's military actions may have extended to Libya, where a Roman praefectus castrorum was killed.

In Cyprus, the suppression of the Jewish revolt was led by Caius Valerius Rufus, one of Trajan's generals. The military actions there might also corroborate the Babylonian Talmud's claim that the blood of Jews killed in Egypt reached as far as Cyprus.

Scholarly debate surrounds the precise end date of the Jewish uprising. Miriam Ben Zeev argues that the revolt was likely suppressed before autumn 117, and possibly by summer, prior to Trajan's death. The reassignment of Marcius Turbo to Mauretania following Hadrian's accession as emperor in August 117 appears to support this timeline. However, Noah Hacham and Tal Ilan point to evidence suggesting more prolonged unrest. In CPJ 664c, a letter dated 20 December 117, a woman named Eudaimonis urged her son Apollonios, the strategos of Heptakomia, to remain in his secure residence—a warning that hints at persistent danger. This correspondence, along with a subsequent letter concerning the same family, suggests that instability continued in some areas into the winter of 117–118 CE.

Related events

Events in Mesopotamia

Limited literary sources regarding Roman violence against Jews in Mesopotamia during Trajan's Parthian campaign have prompted scholarly debate over whether a distinct Jewish revolt, comparable to those in other provinces, occurred in this region or if Jewish resistance was part of a broader anti-Roman movement within the conquered Parthian territories. Eusebius' Chronicon reports that Trajan suspected the Jews in Mesopotamia "would also attack the inhabitants," prompting him to send General Lusius Quietus to suppress them harshly. Eusebius further notes that Quietus "murdered a great number of the Jews there." Later Christian sources also describe a military campaign led by Quietus against the Jews.

In contrast, Cassius Dio's account does not mention a Jewish uprising or a campaign against Jews in Mesopotamia. Instead, Dio refers to a broader rebellious movement in the region during the summer of 116 CE, where Quietus was one of several generals charged by Trajan to suppress the revolts, recovering Nisibis and besieging and sacking Edessa, both located in northern Mesopotamia. Notably, the Jews are not mentioned in this context; while Dio does provide a brief reference to Quietus subduing the Jews, this reference is made in the context of the revolts in Egypt, Cyprus, and Cyrenaica, without specifying a geographic location. Miriam Pucci Been Zeev suggests that the sources describing Jewish resistance in Mesopotamia are likely part of a broader resistance in the Parthian territories occupied by the Romans, probably driven by the Jews' relatively favorable position within the Parthian Empire, which contrasted with their harsher treatment under Roman rule.

The "Kitos War" in Judaea

Further information: Kitos War

Around the time of the Diaspora revolt, a lesser-known and understood conflict called the "Kitos War" occurred in Judaea. After Trajan's military campaigns in Mesopotamia, General Lusius Quietus was appointed governor of Judaea and likely brought additional forces, including possibly the vexillatio of Legio III Cyrenaica. Jewish sources date the "Kitos War" to fifty-two years after the destruction of the Second Temple and sixteen years before the Bar Kokhba revolt, resulting in restrictive legislation and a ban on teaching Greek.

Late Syriac sources mention unrest in Judaea, claiming that Jews from Egypt and Libya were defeated by Roman forces there. An inscription from Sardinia mentions an expeditio Judaeae among Trajan's military campaigns. Additionally, Judaea's status changed from praetorian to consular, and a second permanent legion was added before 120 CE. According to Martin Goodman, this addition reflects Roman concerns about potential future revolts in Judaea, despite the evident hesitation of Jews in the province to join the uprisings in the diaspora—a cautionary stance that may have played a role in the eventual outbreak of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132 CE.

Aftermath

Destruction of Jewish communities

Replica of a Roman milestone found at Shahhat, near Cyrene, with an inscription documenting the repair of a road damaged during the Jewish uprising, carried out under Hadrian

The suppression of the revolt saw a devastating campaign of ethnic cleansing, which effectively led to the near-total expulsion of Jews from Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and many parts of Egypt. Historical evidence indicates that Jewish communities were either annihilated or forced into migration, with only a few survivors possibly remaining in isolated areas on the fringes of Roman control.

In Egypt, the Jewish community faced near-total annihilation during the revolt. According to Appian, Trajan 'was utterly destroying the Jewish people in Egypt'; papyri and inscriptions confirm the widespread destruction of Jewish populations across many regions of the country. Jewish lands were confiscated, and Trajan instituted a new registry, the Ioudaikos logos, to account for the lands that had previously belonged to the Jews. The Jewish community in Alexandria appears to have been entirely eradicated, with the only survivors likely being those who had fled to other regions at the onset of the uprising. The large synagogue of Alexandria, celebrated in the Talmud, was destroyed, and the Jewish court in Alexandria might have been abolished.

After 117 CE, Jewish presence in Egypt and Libya virtually disappears from historical sources. No Jewish inscriptions from Egypt have been securely dated from the period following the revolt until the fourth century, and Egyptian papyri that mention Jews predominantly refer to isolated individuals rather than communities. In the Faiyum region, which previously had substantial Jewish communities, mid-2nd century CE tax records show only one Jew among a thousand adult males. Moreover, no Jewish tax receipts have been discovered in Edfu from after 116 CE. It was not until the third century that Jews re-established communities in Egypt, but they never regained their former influence.

In Cyrenaica, a gap in the evidence following the revolt suggests that the region was virtually depopulated of Jews due to their migration to Egypt and subsequent massacres by non-Jews. After the war ended, laws were placed ordering the exile of Jews from Cyrene, which Renzo De Felice said "reduced the flourishing [Jewish] community of Cyrene to insignificance and set it on the road to an inevitable decline." According to De Felice, many of the Jews expelled joined Berber tribes, particularly those around modern-day Sirte. A substantial Jewish community was not reestablished in Cyrenaica until the fourth century.

Cassius Dio reports that in Cyprus, "no Jew may set foot on that island, and even if one of them is driven upon the shores by a storm he is put to death." This claim is corroborated by archaeological evidence, which indicates no Jewish presence on the island until the fourth century.

Impact on the eastern provinces

In Egypt, the aftermath of the revolts caused agricultural decline, shortages of slave labor and textiles, and an economic crisis with unstable prices and a shortage of essentials like bread. Roman troops in Egypt suffered significant losses, with some units experiencing 30–40 percent casualties. Egypt's agricultural hinterlands were heavily impacted by the war, and many farmlands remained unrecovered and underproductive for decades. Despite this, census data do not show a major demographic disruption in the overall population.

In Cyrenaica, there was significant damage to buildings, temples, and roads, especially in Cyrene, where the city's center was extensively destroyed. The physical destruction of the city was significant enough that Hadrian had to completely rebuild the city at the beginning of his reign according to archaeological findings.

Eusebius' Chronicon and Orosius report extensive destruction in Salamis and Alexandria, with Orosius noting that Libya would have remained depopulated without Hadrian's resettlement efforts:

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 Emperor Hadrian gathered settlers from other places and sent them thither, for the inhabitants had been wiped out.

In Alexandria, the damage was less extensive than Eusebius suggests, who claimed the city was "overthrown" and required rebuilding by Hadrian. The primary loss was the sanctuary of Nemesis, where Pompey's head was buried, which was destroyed by Jewish forces possibly in retaliation for Pompey's desecration of the Temple in 63 BCE. The Ptolemaic Serapeum and other structures were likely damaged later by Egyptian and Cyrenaican Jews, rather than by Alexandrian Jews.

The total destruction of Salamis is also questioned, as it received the title of metropolis in 123 CE, suggesting not all damage was as severe as reported. Some Roman actions, such as Trajan's colony in Libya and Hadrian's edict favoring Egyptian peasants, may not be directly linked to the uprisings and could relate to pre-existing conditions.

Impact on Trajan's Parthian campaign

The simultaneous Jewish uprisings across various regions forced Trajan to divert his top military leaders from the Parthian front, impacting his campaign. The resistance in Mesopotamia, though ultimately unsuccessful in its siege of Hatra, led to a compromise with the Parthians and coincided with Trajan's illness and death. The siege of Hatra continued throughout the summer of 117, but the years of constant campaigning and reports of revolts had taken a toll on Trajan, who suffered a stroke resulting in partial paralysis. He decided to begin the long journey back to Rome to recover. As he sailed from Seleucia, his health deteriorated rapidly. He was taken ashore at Selinus in Cilicia, where he died. His successor, Hadrian, assumed the reins of government shortly thereafter.

This shift in focus from the east may have influenced Hadrian's policy of avoiding further imperial expansion, contrasting with Trajan's approach. Despite a triumph celebrated at Trajan's funerals, the Parthian war ended in failure and ensured that Babylonian Jews remained outside Roman control, as reflected in the Babylonian Talmud's assertion of their protection from Roman decrees: "The Holy One, blessed be He, knows that Israel is unable to endure the cruel decrees of Edom, therefore He exiled them to Babylonia". Orosius, writing in the early fifth century, saw the Jewish uprisings as divine punishment—a plague upon Rome—resulting from its persecution of Christians.

Bar Kokhba revolt

Fifteen years after the Diaspora Revolt, the Bar Kokhba revolt erupted in Judaea, marking the final major Jewish uprising against Roman rule and the last attempt to restore Jewish independence in the Land of Israel. The revolt was driven by a combination of factors: administrative changes in Judaea following the First Jewish–Roman War, a heavy Roman military presence, economic decline possibly linked to a shift from landownership to sharecropping, and a rise in nationalistic sentiment fueled by the Diaspora Revolt. Immediate causes debated by scholars include Hadrian's establishment of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem and a ban on circumcision.

Under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba, the Jews initially succeeded in establishing a short-lived independent state. However, the Romans responded with a massive military campaign, decisively suppressing the revolt by 135 CE. The suppression resulted in extensive destruction across Judaea, mass death, displacement, and enslavement, along with severe punitive measures. The province was renamed Syria Palaestina, and Jews faced restrictions on religious practice.

After the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Jewish population in Judaea was significantly diminished, and the Jewish center shifted to Galilee. Within the Roman Empire, the most significant Jewish diaspora communities were in Asia Minor and Italy, while the largest Jewish populations were concentrated in Central Mesopotamia, under Parthian and later Sasanian rule.

Commemoration

At Oxyrhynchus, a festival celebrating the victory over the Jews was still being observed eighty years later, as indicated by papyrus CPJ II 450. This celebration drew participants and spectators from diverse social groups, including Greco-Egyptian elites and local Egyptian peasants, suggesting its development within traditional Egyptian festival frameworks. Its annual occurrence linked it to the agricultural cycle of the period, highlighting its importance in the community.

David Frankfurter argues that the festival incorporated ritual re-dramatization of the victory, portraying the Jews as Typhonians (followers of Set-Typhon) and their defeat as the triumph of Horus-Pharaoh, with their expulsion presented as a purification of the land. The Egyptian priesthood, who had previously recast the Greek Ptolemaic rulers as traditional pharaohs, apparently led these celebrations, continuing an earlier priestly tradition that had produced anti-Jewish polemics through figures like Manetho and Chaeremon.

See also

Jewish revolts against Rome

• History of the Jews in the Roman Empire
• Jewish–Roman wars
  • First Jewish–Roman War, 66–73 CE
  • Bar Kokhba revolt, 132–136 CE
• Kitos War – a minor revolt in Judaea at the time of the Diaspora revolt
• Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus, 352 CE
• Jewish revolt against Heraclius, 614–617/625

Related topics

• Samaritan revolts, 484–572 CE
• List of conflicts in the Near East

Bibliography

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• Appian. Roman History, Fr. 19.
• Cassius Dio. Roman History, 68.32.1–3.
• Eusebius. Chronicon.
• Eusebius. Ecclestial History, 4.2.1–5.
• Orosius. Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 7.12.6–8.
• Babylonian Talmud, Sukkot 51b.
• Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkot, 5.1.55b.

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