Roman persecution of Christians reached its height following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD for which, according to Tacitus, Nero’s Government blamed the Christians. It is the tradition of the Church that both Peter and Paul were imprisoned for nine months under Nero and were put to death in the year 67 AD. St Peter was crucified in Nero’s Circus, the site of which is now partially occupied by St Peter’s Basilica, while St Paul, because he was a citizen of Rome, was led outside the walls to be beheaded. The following year in Palestine the settlement at Qumran was completely destroyed by the Romans. The Scribes, seeing the approaching legions, hastily stored their scrolls in the nearby caves, where they safely remained.
At this time the Roman Army in Palestine was under the command of Vespasian and his 29 year old son Titus. Vespasian had commanded the Second Legion, the Augusta, which had trained principally in southern Britain. He had quickly subdued the West Country of modern England, carrying the strength of Roman arms from the Solent to the Exe. Therefore the men chosen to fulfil the prophecy of Christ that “Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles” were trained in Britain itself. While Vespasian was engaging in the Jewish Wars, however, Nero committed suicide. In the civil war which followed, Vespasian became Emperor of Rome, being proclaimed as such at Caesarea on the sea-coast of Palestine. He left the last phase of the Jewish Wars, the actual destruction of Jerusalem, to his son, Titus, and made his way back to Rome to assume control of the Empire.
Herod’s splendid Temple was now completed and, although most of the suburbs of Jerusalem had suffered much in rioting and siege, the magnificent edifice stood intact as a wonder of the world, described as such by Josephus in his great work, “Wars of the Jews”.
Many there must have been in Jerusalem who remembered the words of Christ saying that when the time of vengeance was at hand they should not even take up their household goods but should flee to the hills. This the first Christians dutifully did, making their way to Pella, south of the Lake of Galilee.
It was early in May of the year 70 AD that Titus entered the suburbs of the new town of Jerusalem and ordered Josephus to persuade his fellow countrymen to lay down their arms. The reply from Zealots and citizens alike was pure defiance and the city came under a desperate siege. Josephus says of this:
“Of those who perished by famine in the city the number was prodigious and the miseries which they underwent were unspeakable. So those that were very distressed by the famine were desirous to die and those already dead were esteemed happy for they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries.”
At the beginning of July the castle of Antonia, which stood near the hall in which Pontius Pilate had condemned Jesus to death, was captured by the Romans. This castle was placed on the northern wall of the Temple. For most of that month the battle for the Temple continued, since the Jews were convinced that they would be delivered from their perils at any time by the Lord, who would protect His ancient sanctuary. Titus called repeatedly for surrender and placed the blame for any resultant sacrilege on the Jews themselves, since he had no wish to desecrate their Temple. Nevertheless furious fighting continued unabated and it was to be Titus and his men who were the last to see the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem as Jesus Himself had seen it.
Early in August the Romans reached the Holy of Holies and one soldier, inspired, as Josephus puts it, “by a certain divine fury,” snatched a burning torch and, lifting himself on the shoulders of his comrade, threw it through the golden window, so that flames enveloped the Sanctuary of the lord. Josephus goes on:
“Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers, who were fighting, with a loud voice and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dinned by a greater noise; neither did they attend to the signal he made with his hand, as some of them were still distracted with fighting and others with passion…And now, since Caesar was in no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the Temple with his commanders, and saw it, with what was it, which he found to be far superior to the descriptions of foreigners and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it…And thus was the holy house burned down without Caesar’s approval.”
Even then the Jews would not surrender and once again the battering rams were pushed to the walls of Jerusalem until the city was literally beaten into the dust. Thus had come true the whole prophecy which Jesus had spoken when he said, “For there shall be great distress upon the land and wrath unto this people and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
Thus were the Jews dispersed throughout the World and the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem was no more. At this time also the Temple at Leontopolis in Egypt was destroyed by order of Vespasian, and so, excluding perhaps those of the Therapeutae or Essenes of Egypt, none there was to sing the Laus Perennis in this world.
So it was that Karl Marx wrote in a letter to Engels: ‘If Titus had not destroyed my fatherland, I would not have been the enemy of all fatherlands.’
To be continued
© Pretani Associates 2014