Gaius Cestius Gallus (governor of Syria)

Gaius Cestius Gallus (d. 67 AD) was the son of a consul in ancient Rome and himself a suffect consul in 42.

He was legate of Syria from 63 or 65. He marched into Judea in 66 in an attempt to restore calm at the outset of the Great Jewish Revolt. He succeeded in conquering Beit She'arim "the new city" also called Bezetha, in the Jezreel Valley, seat of the Great Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme religious court) at the time, but was unable to take The Temple Mount.

While withdrawing he was defeated at Beth-horon and lost almost an entire legion, about 5,300 infantry and 480 cavalry, at the hands of Eleazar ben Simon. During his retreat to the coast he was closely pursued and harassed until and being forced to battle near Beth Horon, and only succeeded in making good his escape to Antioch by sacrificing the greater part of his army and a large amount of war material.

Soon after his return Gallus died (before the spring of 67), and was succeeded in the governorship by Licinius Mucianus. Emperor Nero appointed General Vespasian, the future Emperor, instead to crush the rebellion.

References

• Tacitus, Hist. v. 10, 13
• Suetonius, Vespasian, 4
• Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 14-20
• Emil Schürer, History of the Jewish People, div. i. vol. ii. p. 212 (Eng. tr., 1890).

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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