Roman Siege of Masada

Noah Blough

Mrs. Hatmaker

Latin, 3

11/18/2011

The middle east has been victim to many sacks and assaults, throughout the ages. One of the most recognized and well known is the sacking of Masada. The Romans laid siege to the fort because it is where the Jewish rebels took up camp and made their last stand. Was this act of Roman aggression simply Romans conquering another province, or were Romans trying to wipe out the Jewish race?

The reason why the Jews rebelled because of the growing tension of between the Jews and the Greeks. After the Greeks sacrificed a group of birds Jews started mass protests. They not only started to protest the Greeks, the protested the raised taxes. After a Jewish priest stopped sacrificing to the emperor, the pro Romans king of the Jews requested the help of the Romans. In response the Romans sent a legion which got ambushed and defeated by the Jewish rebels. Then the newly appointed emperor Vespasian sent his son, Titus to take care of the problems in Judea. After Jerusalem was sacked, Titus returned to Rome, a conquering hero. Two years later, a Roman army surrounded the Jewish Fort of Masada.

In 72 The Romans had laid siege to the city of Masada and after a year the Romans broke through the Jewish walls and saw the vast majority of the fort's population murdered each other to prevent themselves becoming slaves. To make sure the Romans knew this, Eleazars ben Ya'ir the leader of the Sicarii (Jewish Rebels), burned all of the buildings in the fort except for the food supply, to let the Romans know they could have held out for longer.

The idea of the Romans trying destroy the Jewish race is not supported by fact. The truth of the matter is that the Romans did not go from town to town killing every Jewish person they encountered. The Romans even treated the Jews with less hatred then they treated the Christians. Yes, the Romans did sack Jerusalem and the holy temples, but they did go through a genocide of the Jewish Race. Even though there were some persecution in years to come, there was no specific focus on the Jews being singled out anymore than anyone else the Romans conquered. To the Romans, the Jews were just a rebelling tribe that needed to be taken care of, which may have called for harsh treatment but not anymore than the Gauls received after Vixgorix.

The main effect of the Roman take over of Jerusalem was the Jewish disphoria across Europe.

Though some people may say the Romans “forcing” the Jews out of their homeland may be the cause for future genocides, one could argue, even if the Romans did not make the Jews disperse, another culture would have. Therefore the Romans and Titus did not in any way shape or form commit genocide or persecution against the Jews.

Sources 

Battle by R.G Grant 

http://www.inrometoday.it/phototour/romanforum/titusarch/index.htm

Adina Samuels

Latin 3

Ms. Hatmaker

18.1.2010

Christian Persecution

     The Roman Empire is well known and regarded for their inclusion of other religions in its own. So why did the Roman Empire attack Christianity with the intensity that they did? The reason is as easy as looking at the death of Jesus of Nazareth. In Christian beliefs, Jesus died as a martyr for human sins. But for Romans, who were there ones that crucified him, Jesus died a criminal and an enemy of Rome. That may be the main reason why Romans persecuted Christians and not Jews. 

     When the Jews had their own nation and the Romans conquered and controlled it, they had an idea of what the Jewish religion was about and what they were doing. Christianity, however, never had the chance to thrive as a nation, so it remained mostly underground. When there is a group of people who practice a religion that no one knows about, rumors can easily emerge. This could be another reason. 
     The rumor that really started the persecution of Christians was under the reign of Nero. In the year 64 a fire started that devastated Rome and ruined its economy. This fire was at first thought to be started by Nero. To avoid trouble from this Nero and his advisor used the Christians as a scapegoat in order to evade the rebellion of the people. This rumor successfully calmed the roman people, and lead to mass execution of the Christians. This set the attitude towards Christians for the next few hundred years.
     After a couple hundred years of minor persecution, the Diocletian took the throne and, backed by Maximian and Galerius, started withdrawing laws that previously protected Christians and issued a series of edicts that demanded they comply with traditional religious practices or die. The first edict stated that Christian churches should be burned down, Christians could not be defended in court, and any Christian of rank would be stripped of their title. At first, the edict was requested to be carried out peacefully by Diocletian. The judges instead listened to Gallerias who requested all Christians to be burned. The rest of the edicts stated that Christians needed to attend ritual sacrifices and if they choose not to they would die.

     This behavior is unfair considering it is based solely on rumors and lies. Among other things, had Nero taken the fall for his actions as opposed to blaming the Christians, a lot of this “drama” could have been avoided.

Sources: http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~james.p.burns/chroma/saints/Persecution.html