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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jun. 14, 2025
Update	: Jun. 14, 2025
Parts	: 25

Synopsis:




Continuing our discussion from part thirteen, while I have jumped a little ahead in our story by sharing some excerpts from Book 6, let us return to Book 5 Chapter 6 where Titus has ordered the construction of the siege ramps and towers, as well as the bringing in of the battering rams and the catapults, also known as machines of war. As you may recall, after surveying the outer wall which surrounded Jerusalem, Titus decided to make his assault by the tomb of the high priest, John Hyrcanus, being as the wall did not appear to be as strong there. His plan was to thus capture the Upper City, followed by the Antonia fortress, and eventually by the capture of the temple itself where John of Giscala and his violent band of thugs were holed up.

Being as the Romans were now busy constructing their ramps and towers, and bringing in their engines of war, the people of Jerusalem assumed that they would have a small breathing space between the ongoing violence. For his part, John of Giscala remained in the temple, even though his faction was eager to attack the enemy without. But concerning Simon bar Giora, he was of quite a different mindset. Josephus informs us that not only did John's men attack the Romans from high upon the wall, but they made sallies -- sorties -- against them as well.

While the Jewish sorties, shooting arrows -- or darts -- and catapulting stones at each other continued day and night for some time, despite all of this, the Romans were eventually able to complete their siege ramps so that they were within ramming distance of the outer wall. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And now, upon the finishing the Roman works, the workmen measured the distance there was from the wall, and this by lead and a line, which they threw to it from their banks, for they could not measure it any otherwise, because the Jews would shoot at them, if they came to measure it themselves; and when they found that the engines could reach the wall they brought them thither. Then did Titus set his engines at proper distances, so much nearer to the wall, that the Jews might not be able to repel them, and gave orders they should go to work;"

----- End Quote -----

At this point, both the common people of Jerusalem, as well as the seditionists themselves were filled with terror when they heard some kind of unusual noise. Josephus describes it as a "prodigious noise", which suggests that he believed it to be a sign from God. At the same time, even though the two factions hated each other, and did not trust each other in the least, once again they realized that they had a common enemy in the Romans. Thus, they again formed one body so as to fight against them. Josephus describes it in this way:

----- Begin Quote -----

". . . and when thereupon a prodigious noise echoed round about from three places, and that on the sudden there was a great noise made by the citizens that were within the city, and no less a terror fell upon THE SEDITIOUS themselves; whereupon both sorts seeing the common danger they were in, contrived to make a like defence. So those of different factions cried out one to another, that they acted entirely as in concert with their enemies; whereas they ought however, notwithstanding God did not grant them a lasting concord, in their present circumstances to lay aside their enmities one against another, and to unite together against the Romans. Accordingly Simon gave those that came from the temple leave, by proclamation, to go upon the wall; John also himself, though he could not believe Simon was in earnest, gave them the same leave. So on both sides they laid aside their hatred and their peculiar quarrels, and formed themselves into one body; they then ran round the walls, and having a vast number of torches with them, they threw them at the machines, and shot darts perpetually upon those that impelled those engines which battered the wall; nay, the bolder sort leaped out by troops upon the hurdles that covered the machines, and pulled them to pieces, and fell upon those that belonged to them, and beat them, not so much by any skill they had, as principally by the boldness of their attacks."

----- End Quote -----

As these sorties and skirmishes continued between the Jews and the Romans, the Jewish insurrectionists tried to set fire to and destroy the Romans' engines of war, which they failed to do. Towards the end of Book 5 Chapter 6, Josephus informs his readers that Titus caught a certain Jew and had him crucified in front of the wall, hoping to drive fear into the Jews, so that they would desist in their attacks, as we see by this excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now, it happened at this fight, that a certain Jew was taken alive, who, by Titus's order, was crucified before the wall, to see whether the rest of them would be affrighted, and abate of their obstinacy."

----- End Quote -----

By this point, the Romans were gaining the advantage, being as the siege ramps had been completed, the battering rams and catapults were in place, and the towers which had been built on these raised banks were higher than the Jews could reach with their various weapons. To make matters worse, the battering rams had been pounding away at the outer wall. And thus, as we learn in Book 5 Chapter 7 Paragraph 2, by the fifteenth day of the siege, the Romans had made a breach in the outer wall -- or third wall -- surrounding Jerusalem, as Josephus describes in the following excerpt:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now, these towers were very troublesome to the Jews, who otherwise opposed the Romans very courageously; for they shot at them out of their lighter engines from those towers, as they did also by those that threw darts, and the archers, and those that flung stones. For neither could the Jews reach those that were over them, by reason of their height, and it was not practicable to take them, nor to overturn them, they were so heavy, nor to set them on fire, because they were covered with plates of iron. So they retired out of the reach of the darts, and did no longer endeavour to hinder the impression of their rams, which, by continually beating upon the wall, did gradually prevail against it; so that the wall already gave way to the Nico, for by that name did the Jews themselves call the greatest of their engines, because it conquered all things. And now, they were for a long while grown weary of fighting, and of keeping guards, and were retired to lodge on the night-times at a distance from the wall. It was on other accounts also thought by them to be superfluous to guard the wall, there being besides that, two other fortifications still remaining, and they being slothful, and their counsels having been ill concerted on all occasions; so a great many grew lazy and retired. Then the Romans mounted the breach, where Nico had made one, and all the Jews left the guarding that wall, and retreated to the second wall; so those that had gotten over that wall opened the gates, and received all the army within it. And thus did the Romans get possession of this first wall, on the 15th day of the siege, which was the seventh day of the month Artimisius, [Jyar], when they demolished a greater part of it, as well as they did of the northern parts of the city, which had been demolished also by Cestius formerly."

----- End Quote -----

NOTE: Please notice that Josephus writes that the Jews named the greatest Roman battering ram Nico, "because it conquered all things". As it turns out, quick online research revealed to me that this is actually a Greek word which literally means "victory". So it makes me wonder if the Jews named it this because they realized that their demise was not that far into the future.

With this successful breach, Titus and the Romans were at last inside the outer perimeter of the city itself. As we continue reading in Book 5 Chapter 7, having breached the outer wall, for days the Jewish insurrectionists and the Romans fought valiantly on the wall itself, as well as in sallies when the Jewish seditionists boldly ventured out in bodies of men to attack the Romans. In the midst of all of this fighting, a certain Jew named Castor, along with ten of him men, tried to deceive Titus into believing that they desired peace. However, when Castor eventually showed his true deceptive hand by trying to kill an emissary who had gone to negotiate with him, Titus realized the Jewish deception, and thus more earnestly used the battering ram to penetrate the second wall.

As we begin Book 5 Chapter 8, we learn that after five more days of using their battering rams, the Romans were finally able to breach the second wall. However, at this point in his narration, Josephus describes how Titus made a mistake when he failed to make the breach in the wall large enough so that the Romans could quickly escape, should the battle turn against their favor. Aside from this fact, as we have seen before, Josephus goes to great lengths to paint Titus as a patient, compassionate, merciful man even during times of war. As a result, contrary to the laws of war, he chose to not destroy the merchant shops or kill the people who he encountered upon breaching the second wall. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Now Caesar took this wall there on the fifth day after he had taken the first: and when the Jews had fled from him, he entered into it with a thousand armed men, and those of his choice troops, and this at a place where were the merchants of wool, the braziers, and the market for cloth, and where the narrow streets led obliquely to the wall. Wherefore if Titus had either demolished a larger part of the wall immediately, or had come in, and, according to the law of war, had laid waste what was left, his victory would not I suppose, have been mixed with any loss to himself. But now, out of the hope he had that he should make the Jews ashamed of their obstinacy, by not being willing, when he was able, to afflict them more than he needed to do, he did not widen the breach of the wall, in order to make a safer retreat upon occasion; for he did not think they would lay snares for them that did them such a kindness. When therefore, he came in, he did not permit his soldiers to kill any of those they caught, nor to set fire to their houses neither; nay, lie gave leave to THE SEDITIOUS, if they had a mind, to fight without any harm to the people, and promised to restore the people's effects to them; for he was very desirous to preserve the city for his own sake, and the temple for the sake of the city."

---- End Quote -----

Aside from this strategic mistake, Josephus relates how the Jews now had the advantage, because they were very familiar with the layout of the narrow streets of Jerusalem, while the Romans were not. While Josephus describes how merciful Titus was, the Jews viewed it as his weakness. Furthermore, they erroneously assumed that Titus was making this gesture because he was not able to take the rest of the city. Thus, they continued to fight, in the belief that they could still successfully repel the Romans. To make matters worse, as we have discussed earlier in this series, the seditionists did NOT leave any room for talk of peace and surrender. Anyone who voiced such an opinion had their throat slit, presumably by the Sicarii, or dagger men. Thus again, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"As to the people, he [meaning Titus] had them of a long time ready to comply with his proposals; but as to the fighting men [meaning the Jewish insurrectionists], this humanity of his seemed a mark of his weakness, and they imagined that he made these proposals because he was not able to take the rest of the city. They also threatened death to the people, if they should any one of them say a word about a surrender. They moreover cut the throats of such as talked of a peace, and then attacked those Romans that were come within the wall. Some of them they met in the narrow streets, and some they fought against from their houses, while they made a sudden sally out at the upper gates, and assaulted such Romans as were beyond the wall, till those that guarded the wall were so affrighted, that they leaped down from their towers, and retired to their several camps. Upon which a great noise was made by the Romans that were within, because they were encompassed round on every side by their enemies; as also by them that were without, because they were in fear of those that were left in the city. Thus did the Jews grow more numerous, perpetually, and had great advantages over the Romans, by their full knowledge of those narrow lanes; and they wounded a great many of them, and fell upon them, and drove them out of the city. Now these Romans were at present forced to make the best resistance they could, for they were not able, in great numbers, to get out at the breach in the wall, it was so narrow."

----- End Quote -----

Once again, according to Josephus, Titus came to the rescue by sending some backup help, and the remaining Romans were eventually able to exit the city. However, this victory in being able to repel the Romans only served to deceive the Jewish seditionists even more. Thus, they became convinced that the Romans would no longer pursue trying to take over their city. Furthermore, as he had done before, Josephus again points out that this deception was by God's very own design, and that He had blinded their minds to the truth of the situation.

As we learned earlier in this series, despite the way that Josephus has been vilified by some modern-day parties, the truth of the matter is that he was very clear-minded about all of these events. He eventually came to understand how God's hand was in all of it. Furthermore, as we have seen, he squarely placed the blame for Jerusalem's destruction on the stubborn insurrectionists -- the Zealots, Sicarii and other violent thugs -- who refused to bend the knee to the superior Roman forces under General Titus.

In the following excerpt, Josephus reveals how these violent men truly only cared for themselves, and how much they could enrich themselves, even by exploiting and killing their own people. They cared little for the common people, and chose to ignore the fact that poverty and famine had already begun to take a serious toll on the populace of the city. In fact, those wicked men felt relieved when famine began to kill off the common people, because they were mainly interested in preserving the lives of those people who wanted to continue fighting against the Romans, as we see here:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And thus were the Romans driven out, after they had possessed themselves of the second wall. Whereupon the fighting men that were in the city were lifted up in their minds, and were elevated upon this their good success, and began to think that the Romans would never venture to come into the city any more; and that, if they kept within it themselves, they should not be any more conquered. For God had blinded their minds for the transgressions they had been guilty of, nor could they see how much greater forces the Romans had than those that were now expelled, no more than they could discern how a famine was creeping upon them; for hitherto they had fed themselves out of the public miseries, and drank the blood of the city. But now poverty had for a long time seized upon the better part, and a great many had died already for want of necessaries; although THE SEDITIOUS indeed supposed the destruction of the people to be an easement to themselves; for they desired that none others might be preserved, but such as were against a peace with the Romans, and were resolved to live in opposition to them, and they were pleased when the multitude of those of a contrary opinion were consumed, as being then freed from an heavy burden."

----- End Quote -----

Can you, dear reader, even begin to imagine such depth of wickedness? Is it any wonder that the wrath of God soon fell upon them? Yet despite their best efforts to repel the Roman forces under Titus' command, Josephus informs us that after three more days of resistance, on the fourth day, the Jews could no longer hold back the Romans, and the second wall was taken and entirely demolished, as we read here:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And this was their [the seditionists'] disposition of mind with regard to those that were within the city, while they covered themselves with their armour and prevented the Romans, when they were trying to get into the city again, and made a wall of their own bodies over against that part of the wall that was cast down. Thus did they valiantly defend themselves for three days; but on the fourth day they could not support themselves against the vehement assaults of Titus, but were compelled by force to fly whither they had fled before; so he quietly possessed himself again of that wall, and demolished it entirely. And when he had put a garrison into the towers that were on the south parts of the city, he contrived how he might assault the third wall."

---- End Quote -----

At this point in his narration, as we enter Chapter 9 of Book 5, with the second perimeter wall having now been destroyed, Josephus describes how Titus decided to relax the siege, in order to give the seditionists within the city more time to consider their inevitable doom, in the hope that they would finally come to their senses. Titus likewise engaged in a psychological ploy whereby the Roman army was placed, fully armed, in battle array so that they might receive their pay. This was done in full view of the Jerusalemites who in great multitudes gazed down at the Romans from the innermost city wall which had not yet been breached. The goal, of course, was obviously to show the Jews -- both the common people and the insurrectionists alike -- the full force of the Roman army, and to drive even more fear into them. Thus, Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"A RESOLUTION was now taken by Titus to relax the siege for a little while, and to afford the seditious an interval for consideration, and to see whether the demolishing of their second wall would not make them a little more complaisant, or whether they were not somewhat afraid of a famine, because the spoils they had gotten by rapine would not be sufficient for them long; so he made use of this relaxation in order to compass his own designs. Accordingly, as the usual appointed time when he must distribute subsistence money to the soldiers, was now come, he gave orders that the commanders should put the army into battle array, in the face of the enemy, and then give every one of the soldiers their pay. So the soldiers, according to custom, opened the cases wherein before their arms lay covered, and marched with their breastplates on, as did the horsemen lead their horses in their fine trappings. Then did the places that were before the city shine very splendidly for a great way; nor was there anything either so grateful to Titus's own men, or so terrible to the enemy as that sight. For the whole old wall, and the north side of the temple, was full of spectators; and one might see the houses full of such as looked at them; nor was there any part of the city which was not covered over with their multitudes; nay, a very great consternation seized upon the hardiest of the Jews themselves, when they saw all the army in the same place, together with the fineness of their arms, and the good order of their men."

----- End Quote -----

Josephus then remarks that he thought that upon seeing the full force of the Roman army, the seditionists would have surely changed their minds and surrendered, except for the fact that they had committed such horrid things against the people of Jerusalem, that the only thing that they [meaning the seditionists] could imagine, was that the Romans would never forgive them for their vile atrocities against their own people, and would thus torture them and then put them to death. So in their corrupt minds, the only recourse seemed to be to continue to fight against the Romans to the death, even if it resulted in the death of both the innocent and the guilty within the city. Thus Josephus writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"And I cannot but think that THE SEDITIOUS would have changed their minds at that sight, unless the crimes they had committed against the people had been so horrid, that they despaired of forgiveness from the Romans; but as they believed death with torments must be their punishment, if they did not go on in the defence of the city, they thought it much better to die in war. Fate also prevailed so far over them, that the innocent were to perish with the guilty, and the city was to be destroyed with THE SEDITIOUS that were in it."

----- End Quote -----

We are next informed that after having relaxed the siege for four days straight while the army was paid, in the hope that the Jews would reconsider and surrender, the insurrectionists still showed no sign of submitting to the Romans. Thus, Titus resumed constructing siege ramps -- or banks -- at the tower of Antonia, as well as at the monument to John Hyrcanus. As we learned earlier in this series, General Titus' plan was to take the Upper City at John's tomb, and to take the temple at the tower of Antonia.

Of course, the seditionists did everything within their power to slow down the work of the Romans as they built the ramps. Thus, we are told that the Idumaeans and Simon bar Giora's men attacked the Romans who were constructing the siege ramp nearby John's monument, while John of Giscala's men and the Zealots who were in league with him attacked the Romans who were building a siege ramp by the tower of Antonia. Thus, in Book 5 Chapter 9 Paragraph 2, Flavius Josephus describes the situation in the following manner:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Thus did the Romans spend four days in bringing this subsistence-money to the several legions. But on the fifth day, when no signs of peace appeared to come from the Jews, Titus divided the legions, and began to raise banks, both at the tower of Antonia, and at John's monument. Now, his designs were to take the upper city at that monument, and the temple at the tower of Antonia; for if the temple were not taken, it would be dangerous to keep the city itself; so at each of these parts he raised him banks, each legion raising one. As for those that wrought at John's monument, the Idumeans, and those that were in arms with Simon, made sallies upon them, and put some stop to them; while John's party and the multitude of Zealots with them, did the like to those that were before the tower of Antonia. These Jews were now too hard for the Romans, not only in direct fighting, because they stood upon the higher ground, but because they had now learned to use their own engines, for their continual use of them one day after another did by degrees improve their skill about them; for of one sort of engines for darts they had three hundred, and forty for stones, by the means of which they made it more tedious for the Romans to raise their banks."

----- End Quote -----

Despite the continued resistance by the stubborn seditionists within the city, Josephus informs us that General Titus still did not give up trying to convince the Jews to surrender. He realized that the city would either be saved by him, or else destroyed by him. And so, while the siege ramps were being constructed, Titus sent Josephus as his emissary to speak to the Jews in their own language. Josephus writes thusly:

----- Begin Quote -----

"But then Titus, knowing that the city would be either saved or destroyed for himself, did not only proceed earnestly in the siege, but did not omit to have the Jews exhorted to repentance; so he mixed good counsel with his works for the siege. And being sensible that exhortations are frequently more effectual than arms, he persuaded them to surrender the city, now in a manner already taken, and thereby to save themselves, and sent Josephus to speak to them in their own language; for he imagined they might yield to the persuasion of a countryman of their own.

So Josephus went round about the wall, and tried to find a place that was out of the reach of their darts; and yet within their hearing, and besought them in many words,"

----- End Quote -----

In his account, Josephus then goes into considerable detail regarding all of the reasoning he used in his endeavors to convince the seditionists to desist in their fighting, and to surrender Jerusalem to the Romans. Among the key points he mentioned were the following:

1. The Romans were an invincible force as previous conquests had clearly demonstrated.

2. The outer two walls of the city were already breached, and the final remaining wall was weaker than those two and would soon be breached as well.

3. It was better to live under benevolent Roman occupation than to see their country, city and temple destroyed.

4. Having already lived under Roman occupation for many years, it was madness to think that they could now throw off the Roman yoke.

5. God was now on the side of the Romans, as even their Jewish forefathers had recognized.

6. The Romans were well aware that the city was already divided in opinion. They were also aware of the fact that the famine was already taking a toll within the city, and that even if the Romans were to desist in their siege, the famine would finish the job for them.

7. The Jews should change their course of action before it was too late, and while an offer of peace was still be granted to them by Titus.

After making these various points to the Jews who mocked him as he spoke, and threw darts at him from atop the remaining wall, Josephus strongly rebuked them, and told them bluntly that they were fighting against God himself, as we see by the following excerpt which is found in Book 5 Chapter 9:

----- Begin Quote -----

"O miserable creatures! are you so unmindful of those that used to assist you; that you will fight by your weapons and by your hands against the Romans! When did we ever conquer any other nation by such means? and when was it that God, who is the Creator of the Jewish people, did not avenge them when they had been injured? Will not you turn again, and look back, and consider whence it is that you fight with such violence, and how great a Supporter you have profanely abused? Will not you recall to mind the prodigious things done for your forefathers and this holy place, and how great enemies of yours were by him subdued under you? I even tremble myself, in declaring the works of God before your ears that are unworthy to hear them: however, hearken to me, that you may be informed how you fight not only against the Romans, but against God himself."

----- End Quote -----

Please go to part fifteen for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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