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The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem Flashcards

Flavius Josephus · Public domain edition · 423 cards · 112 chapters

Flavius Josephus argues that the destruction of Jerusalem resulted from internal Jewish factionalism and Roman retaliation rather than Roman cruelty alone. This deck covers his preface, his account of the Maccabean revolt and Hasmonean dynasty, and the events leading to the temple's burning.

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Chapter 1 · Question

Why does Josephus say he wrote this history?

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Section 14 cards

Why does Josephus say he wrote this history?
Josephus says earlier accounts were unreliable: some wrote from hearsay, others flattered the Romans or hated the Jews, so their writings gave accusations or praise but not accurate truth. He aims to give both sides accurately for readers under Roman rule, having himself fought against the Romans and been present at later events.
Chapter 1
Whom does Josephus blame for Jerusalem's destruction?
The author argues that a seditious temper among the Jews destroyed the city, and that tyrants among the Jews brought Roman power against them. He claims Titus Caesar pitied the people oppressed by the seditious and voluntarily delayed taking the city to allow the authors of the revolt time to repent.
Chapter 1
How does Josephus describe his treatment of both sides?
Josephus says he will not extol the Romans out of opposition to their flatterers, nor raise his countrymen's actions too high, but will relate both parties' actions with accuracy. He asks indulgence for lamentations over his country's miseries, distinguishing the facts (history) from the grief (the writer), even if that breaks the rules of history writing.
Chapter 1
What earlier period does Josephus say he will only summarize?
Josephus says he will not now write the Jews' antiquities — their origins, revolt from Egypt, travels, and later removals — since many Jews and some Greeks already composed accurate histories of the ancestors. He begins where those writers and the prophets leave off, covering events before his own age briefly and the war of his time at length.
Chapter 1

Section 24 cards

What does Josephus promise to describe about the temple and city in his preface?
Josephus says he will describe the three walls around Jerusalem and their measures, the strength of the city, the structure of the temple and holy house, the measures of those edifices and of the altar, certain festivals, the purifications of purity, the sacred ministrations and garments of the priests and high priests, and the nature of the most holy place, concealing or adding nothing.
Chapter 2
According to Josephus, under what circumstances was the temple burnt?
Josephus states that the temple was burnt against the consent of Caesar. He also promises to relate how many sacred things laid up in the temple were snatched out of the fire, the destruction of the entire city with the signs and wonders that preceded it, and the taking of the tyrants captive.
Chapter 2
How did Antiochus Epiphanes treat the Jews after taking Jerusalem?
Antiochus plundered the temple and stopped the daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months. Not satisfied, he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country, keep infants uncircumcised, and sacrifice swine's flesh on the altar. Those who opposed him, especially the most approved, were put to death, and Bacchides tormented the worthiest inhabitants.
Chapter 2
How did Matthias and his son Judas respond to Antiochus's persecution?
Matthias, a priest of Modin, armed himself with his five sons and slew Bacchides with daggers, then fled to the mountains. So many followed that he came down, beat Antiochus's generals, and drove them out of Judea, becoming prince by the people's consent; he left the government to Judas, his eldest son, who made a league with the Romans.
Chapter 2

Section 34 cards

How did Judas die after his victory at Adasa?
Judas gathered survivors and gave battle again to Antiochus's generals at a village called Adasa, where he was too hard for his enemies and killed a great number of them; but he was at last himself slain also. Not many days afterward his brother John was slain by a plot laid against him by Antiochus's party.
Chapter 3
How did Jonathan, Judas's successor, meet his death?
Jonathan strengthened his authority by friendship with the Romans and a league with Antiochus the son, but the tyrant Trypho, guardian to Antiochus's son, plotted against him. Trypho caught Jonathan by a wile at Ptolemais with few companions, put him in bonds, and after being driven away by Simon, put Jonathan to death.
Chapter 3
How did Simon's siege of Ptolemy at Dagon end?
Hyrcanus besieged Ptolemy, but Ptolemy brought out Hyrcanus's mother and brethren, beat them with rods on the wall, and threatened to throw them down unless Hyrcanus withdrew. Hyrcanus was overcome by affection, and the siege was delayed until the sabbatical year of rest came, freeing Ptolemy, who then slew the mother and brethren and fled to Zeno.
Chapter 3
How did Hyrcanus raise money to end Antiochus's siege of Jerusalem?
Antiochus besieged Hyrcanus in Jerusalem. Hyrcanus opened the sepulcher of David, the richest of all kings, took thence about three thousand talents, and induced Antiochus by the promise of three thousand talents to raise the siege. Josephus notes he was the first of the Jews who had money enough and began to hire foreign auxiliaries.
Chapter 3

Section 44 cards

How was Antigonus killed, and what did Josephus say this illustrated?
Antigonus came in armor to show it to his brother, trusting him, but was slain by bodyguards in the dark passage called Strato's Tower. Josephus calls him an eminent instance of how calumny destroys good-will and natural affection, and how none of our good affections are strong enough to resist perpetual envy.
Chapter 4
Why did the Essene Judas think his prophecy had failed?
Judas had foretold Antigonus would die that day at Strato's Tower, but saw him alive by the temple, and Strato's Tower was six hundred furlongs away with four hours of the day already gone. News then came that Antigonus was slain in a subterraneous place also called Strato's Tower, and this ambiguity caused the prophet's disorder.
Chapter 4
How did Aristobulus die after murdering Antigonus?
Aristobulus repented, and his distemper worsened as he was disturbed by thoughts of his crime, until his bowels were torn by grief and he threw up much blood. A servant carrying out the blood slipped at the very place Antigonus was slain, spilling it on the murdered man's bloodstains. Hearing the cry, Aristobulus wept, said God's eye saw his crimes, and died after reigning only a year.
Chapter 4
What did Alexander Janneus do to eight hundred captives and their families?
After driving the rest into the city Berneselis and demolishing it, Alexander carried the captives to Jerusalem, and his barbarity reached impiety: he ordered eight hundred hung upon crosses in the midst of the city while their wives and children had their throats cut before their eyes, and he watched while drinking and lying with his concubines. Eight thousand opponents then fled Judea.
Chapter 4

Section 54 cards

How did Alexandra's rule relate to the Pharisees' power?
The author states that Alexandra hearkened to the Pharisees to an extraordinary degree and that they gradually insinuated themselves into her favor, becoming the real administrators of public affairs. They banished and recalled whom they pleased, holding royal authority while the expenses and difficulties fell to Alexandra. He summarizes that she governed other people while the Pharisees governed her.
Chapter 5
How did Alexandra handle her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus?
She made Hyrcanus the elder high priest, both because of his age and because his inactive temper made him unlikely to disturb the public. She kept the younger son Aristobulus with her as a private person because of the warmth of his temper. Later Aristobulus used her illness to seize the fortresses and make himself king.
Chapter 5
What did the Pharisees do to Alexander's former associates under Alexandra?
They slew Diogenes, a man of figure and a former friend of Alexander, accusing him of advising the king to crucify the eight hundred men. They also persuaded Alexandra to put to death the rest who had irritated Alexander against them. The author says she was so superstitious as to comply. Those in danger fled to Aristobulus, who persuaded her to spare them on account of their dignity but expel them from the city.
Chapter 5
How did Scaurus and Pompey become involved in the brothers' dispute?
Antipater persuaded Hyrcanus to flee to Aretas, king of Arabia, who supplied fifty thousand footmen and horsemen; Aristobulus was driven to Jerusalem until Scaurus, a Roman general sent into Syria by Pompey, raised the siege. The author says Aristobulus's three hundred talents weighed more with Scaurus than the justice of the cause. Hyrcanus and Antipater then fled to Pompey, who marched against Aristobulus.
Chapter 5

Section 63 cards

How did Pompey exploit Jewish religious practice during the siege of the temple?
Pompey noticed the Jews abstained from all work on the seventh days for religious reasons, so he raised his bank on those days while restraining his soldiers from fighting, since the Jews only acted defensively on sabbaths. This let him fill the valley and erect towers and siege engines brought from Tyre against the wall.
Chapter 6
Why did Pompey make Hyrcanus high priest after taking Jerusalem?
Pompey made Hyrcanus high priest because he had shown great alacrity on Pompey's side during the siege and had kept the multitude in the country from fighting for Aristobulus, which they were otherwise ready to do. Josephus says Pompey thereby acted the part of a good general, reconciling the people more by benevolence than by terror.
Chapter 6
What was the human cost of the temple's capture, and what grieved the nation most?
Twelve thousand Jews were slain, while few Romans died though more were wounded. Many priests continued the divine worship undisturbed and were slain offering drink-offerings and burning incense; the greatest part were killed by their own countrymen of the adverse faction. Josephus says nothing affected the nation so much as the holy place, never before seen, being laid open to strangers.
Chapter 6

Section 74 cards

How did Gabinius reorganize Judea's government after taking Alexandrium?
Gabinius brought Hyrcanus to Jerusalem and committed the care of the temple to him, but ordained the other political government to be an aristocracy. He divided the whole nation into five conventions, assigning portions to Jerusalem, Gadara, Amathus, Jericho, and Sepphoris in Galilee. Josephus says the people were glad to be freed from monarchical government and were governed thereafter by an aristocracy.
Chapter 7
What happened to Aristobulus after he fled Rome and raised another revolt?
Aristobulus took Alexandrium, then retreated to Machaerus with about eight thousand armed men after dismissing the unprofitable multitude. The Romans under Gabinius's officers defeated his party; five thousand fell and about two thousand fled to a hill. He was taken after resisting two days, sent as a prisoner to Rome with his son Antigonus, and confined by the senate, though his children were returned to Judea.
Chapter 7
How did Crassus and Cassius each act toward Judea and its wealth?
Crassus, succeeding Gabinius in Syria, took all the rest of the gold belonging to the temple of Jerusalem for his Parthian expedition, including the two thousand talents Pompey had not touched; he later perished with his army after crossing the Euphrates. Cassius then stopped the Parthians, marched into Judea, took Taricheae, enslaved thirty thousand Jews, and slew Pitholaus on Antipater's advice.
Chapter 7
How did Antipater aid Mithridates and what did Caesar grant him?
Antipater persuaded Arabians and Syrian men of power to assist Mithridates, came with three thousand armed men, and at Pelusium brought down a wall and leaped in first. He later rescued Mithridates' endangered wing, losing about eighty men while Mithridates lost about eight hundred. Caesar gave him Roman citizenship, freedom from taxes, and marks of friendship, and confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood.
Chapter 7

Section 84 cards

What offices did Antipater assign to his sons Phasaelus and Herod?
Antipater made his eldest son Phasaelus governor of Jerusalem and the surrounding parts, while he sent his next son Herod, who was very young, with equal authority into Galilee. Josephus notes Antipater settled the country's affairs himself because Hyrcanus was inactive and unfit to manage the kingdom.
Chapter 8
Why was Herod summoned to trial before Hyrcanus, and what was the outcome?
Hyrcanus was urged that Herod had slain many men, including the robber chief Hezekias, without his command, contrary to Jewish law, which permits no one to be killed until condemned in judgment. Hyrcanus summoned Herod to trial; Sextus Caesar warned Hyrcanus to acquit him, and Hyrcanus did so, being otherwise inclined since he loved Herod.
Chapter 8
How did Herod respond after his trial, and who restrained him?
Herod, supposing he had escaped punishment without the king's consent, retired to Sextus at Damascus and prepared not to obey a future summons. Made general of Coelesyria and Samaria by Sextus, he grew formidable; angered by the accusation, he led an army to Jerusalem to overthrow Hyrcanus, but his father and brother persuaded him to spare the king and be grateful for his acquittal.
Chapter 8
How did Sextus Caesar die, and who succeeded him?
Sextus Caesar, president of Syria and kinsman of the great Caesar, was treacherously slain by Cecilius Bassus, who acted out of good-will to Pompey and took authority over his forces. Caesar's other commanders attacked Bassus to punish the murder, and Antipater sent aid by his sons. As the war lengthened, Marcus came out of Italy as successor to Sextus.
Chapter 8

Section 93 cards

How did Antipater die, and who was responsible?
Malichus, fearing the power and hopes of Antipater's son Herod, corrupted one of the king's cup-bearers with money to give Antipater a poisoned potion. Antipater died at a feast, a victim of Malichus's wickedness. Josephus notes he was otherwise active in managing affairs and had recovered the government for Hyrcanus and preserved it in his hands.
Chapter 9
How did Herod punish Malichus, and what did Hyrcanus say afterward?
At the taking of Laodicea, Herod invited Hyrcanus and Malichus to supper, then sent word to the tribunes, who killed Malichus with many wounds on the sea-shore by Cassius's order. Hyrcanus swooned, then said Cassius had saved him and his country by cutting off one plotting against both, though Josephus says it is uncertain whether he meant it or spoke from fear.
Chapter 9
Why did Antony make Herod and Phasaelus tetrarchs?
A hundred leading Jews accused the brothers before Antony at Daphne, with Messala defending them and Hyrcanus standing by. Antony asked Hyrcanus which party was fittest to govern, and Hyrcanus answered that Herod and his party were. Antony, already favorably disposed because Antipater had hospitably received him when he marched into Judea with Gabinius, then constituted the brothers tetrarchs and committed Judea's government to them.
Chapter 9

Section 104 cards

What did Lysanias promise Barzapharnes to restore Antigonus to the kingdom?
Lysanias, who had succeeded his father Ptolemy as governor of Chalcis, prevailed on the Parthian governor Barzapharnes with a promise of a thousand talents and five hundred women to bring Antigonus back to his kingdom and turn Hyrcanus out of it. Pacorus, the king's son, was thereby induced to support the plan, marching along the sea-coast while ordering Barzapharnes to fall upon the Jews.
Chapter 10
How did Herod escape the Parthian plot, and where did he take his family?
Herod suspected the Parthians from the start and refused to leave the city despite Pacorus's assurances; warned by his brother's seizure and urged by Alexandra not to trust them, he fled by night with his nearest relatives. He fought off pursuers, came to the stronghold of Masada, left eight hundred men as a guard for the women with provisions, and hurried on to Petra in Arabia.
Chapter 10
What did Antigonus do to Hyrcanus, and why?
Antigonus himself bit off Hyrcanus's ears with his own teeth as Hyrcanus fell on his knees to him, so that Hyrcanus could never again take the high priesthood upon any change of affairs, since officiating high priests had to be complete and without blemish. The Parthians then took Hyrcanus away bound and carried him to Parthia.
Chapter 10
How did Phasaelus die, according to Josephus?
Phasaelus, bound and unable to use sword or hands, prevented abuse by dashing his head against a stone, dying with great bravery. Josephus also reports another account: that he recovered from the stroke but a surgeon sent by Antigonus filled the wound with poison. Either way, Josephus says the beginning of his death was glorious, and he died comforted that Herod survived to avenge him.
Chapter 10

Section 114 cards

Why did Herod bring his brother's seven-year-old son to Arabia?
Herod hurried to Arabia hoping to get money from King Malichus to ransom his brother Phasaelus while he was still alive. He reasoned that if the king would not give a free gift, he would borrow enough to redeem his brother, offering the son of the man to be redeemed as a pledge. He was ready to give three hundred talents, but Phasaelus was already dead.
Chapter 11
How did Malichus justify expelling Herod from Arabia?
King Malichus sent word commanding Herod to leave his country, using the Parthians as a pretense—claiming their ambassadors had ordered Herod cast out of Arabia. In reality, Josephus says, the Arabians wanted to keep back what they owed to Antipater and avoid repaying his sons for the free gifts their father had made them. Malichus also took the advice of powerful men who wanted to deprive Herod of Antipater's deposits.
Chapter 11
Why did the Roman senate vote to make Herod king?
Antony was moved by Herod's changed fortunes, Antipater's hospitality, and Herod's own virtue, and wanted him made king—Herod had earlier been made tetrarch by Antony. The contest with Antigonus also mattered: Antigonus was seen as seditious, an enemy of the Romans who took power through the Parthians. Caesar was even better disposed, remembering his father's goodwill. Antony told the senate Herod's kingship would help in the Parthian war.
Chapter 11
How did Herod defeat Silo's pretext for abandoning the siege?
Silo, corrupted by Antigonus's bribes, had soldiers clamor for pay and winter quarters, since the countryside around the city was laid waste. Herod appealed to Silo's captains and many soldiers not to abandon him, since he was sent by Caesar, Antony, and the senate, and promised to supply their needs that very day. He then brought such abundance of provisions that Silo's pretenses were cut off, and arranged further supplies from Samaria to Jericho.
Chapter 11

Section 124 cards

How did Herod take Sepphoris, and what did his troops gain there?
Herod reached Sepphoris in very great snow and took the city without difficulty, because the guards fled before it was assaulted. He then let his followers who had been in distress refresh themselves, since the city held a great abundance of necessaries.
Chapter 12
How did Herod's men attack the robbers hidden in the caves?
The caves sat in craggy precipices reachable only by narrow winding paths, above vast steep valleys, so Herod was long doubtful. He finally let his hardiest men down in chests to the cave mouths; they slew the robbers and their families and sent in fire on those who resisted.
Chapter 12
What did the old man with seven children do at the cave, and how did Herod respond?
When Herod proclaimed that those who surrendered would be spared, the old man's children and wife urged him to let them go out. Instead he stood at the cave mouth and slew each son as he emerged, then his wife, threw the bodies down the precipice, and threw himself after them. Herod, watching nearby, was moved to compassion and begged him to spare the children, but the old man refused and reproached Herod on the lowness of his descent.
Chapter 12
Why did Herod go to Antony at Samosata, and what resulted?
Herod marched to Antony to accuse Machaerus of maladministration, though Machaerus begged and obtained reconciliation. Hearing Antony was besieging Samosata near the Euphrates, Herod hurried there to show courage and oblige Antony. He soon ended the siege, slew many barbarians, took large prey, and Antony heaped more honors on him and forced Antiochus to deliver up Samosata.
Chapter 12

Section 134 cards

What happened to Herod's house after the feast at Jericho, and how did he interpret it?
After the feast ended and all guests had left, the house fell down immediately, though Herod had escaped. He judged this to be a common signal of the dangers he would undergo and of how he should escape them in the coming war, and he gained the reputation of being very dear to God.
Chapter 13
How did Herod capture the village where the enemy had taken refuge?
Herod pressed hard on the enemy's rear and entered the village with them. Every house was filled with armed men and upper rooms crowded with defenders. After beating those outside, he pulled the houses to pieces and plucked out those within; many perished when roofs were shaken down, and soldiers killed those fleeing the ruins.
Chapter 13
How long did Jerusalem hold out against Herod and Sosius, and what finally broke the siege?
The city bore a siege of five months. Some of Herod's chosen men ventured onto the wall and fell into the city, followed by Sosius's centurions. They first seized what was about the temple, and the army poured in, slaughtering vast multitudes in narrow streets and houses with no mercy shown to infants, the aged, or women.
Chapter 13
What did Herod do to stop his foreign auxiliaries from entering the temple and plundering the city?
Herod restrained the auxiliaries' eagerness to see the temple and the holy house by exhortations, threatenings, and force, thinking victory worse than defeat if forbidden things were seen. He also forbade spoiling the city, and when Sosius claimed plunder was the soldiers' due reward, Herod paid every soldier from his own money.
Chapter 13

Section 144 cards

How did Herod deal with the two factions in Jerusalem after taking the city?
Herod distinguished the city's multitude: those on his side he bound closer by conferring honors on them, while those of Antigonus's party he slew. Since his money ran low, he converted all his ornaments into money and sent it to Antony and those around him, though this could not exempt him from all sufferings, since Antony was by then bewitched by Cleopatra.
Chapter 14
What did Cleopatra persuade Antony to take from Herod, and on what terms did Herod recover it?
Cleopatra persuaded Antony to take away much of Herod's country, including the palm plantation at Jericho where the balsam tree grows, and all cities on this side of the river Eleutherus except Tyre and Sidon, and bestow them on her. Herod pacified her with large presents and hired back the torn-away places at a yearly rent of two hundred talents.
Chapter 14
Why did Cleopatra arrange for Herod to fight the Arabians, and how did her scheme backfire?
Cleopatra plotted so that if Herod won he would make her mistress of Arabia, and if he lost, of Judea, destroying one king by the other. But the contrivance favored Herod: he took hostages at once, gathered a great body of horse, and conquered the Arabian army near Diespous, though the Arabians later rallied at Kanatha and routed his men when officers disobeyed orders.
Chapter 14
How did Herod interpret the earthquake, and what arguments did he use to encourage the Jews?
Herod argued the Jews' dread of the Arabian invasion was unreasonable, since the earthquake was a providential chastisement but fear of men is unmanly. He suggested God laid a bait for the Arabians, that fortune is mutable, that fear teaches caution while confidence leaves men unguarded, and that earthquakes follow nature without foreboding further calamity. He urged them to fight to avenge the murdered ambassadors.
Chapter 14

Section 154 cards

How did Herod present himself to Caesar at Rhodes after Actium?
Herod sailed to Rhodes to meet Caesar without his diadem, dressed and appearing as a private person but behaving as a king. He concealed nothing, admitting Antony had made him king and that he had served Antony loyally, sending auxiliaries and corn, and advising Antony to kill Cleopatra. He asked Caesar to judge how faithful a friend, not whose friend, he had been.
Chapter 15
How did Caesar respond to Herod's speech at Rhodes?
Caesar told Herod he would not only be safe but would be king more firmly than before, judging him worthy to reign because of the firmness of his friendship. He said Antony did well to prefer Cleopatra, since her madness gained Caesar a friend, noted Herod's aid against the gladiators, and promised to confirm the kingdom by decree and grant further kindnesses.
Chapter 15
What territories did Caesar add to Herod's kingdom after Cleopatra and Antony died?
After entering Egypt and the deaths of Cleopatra and Antony, Caesar gave Herod the country Cleopatra had taken from him, plus Gadara, Hippos, Samaria, and the maritime cities Gaza, Anthedon, Joppa, and Strato's Tower. He also gave him four hundred Galatians as a bodyguard, formerly Cleopatra's. Josephus says nothing induced Caesar to give these so strongly as the generosity of the recipient.
Chapter 15
Why was Trachonitis given to Herod, and what else did Caesar grant him?
Zenodorus had sent robbers from Trachonitis against the Damascenes, who appealed through Varro, president of Syria. Caesar ordered the robbers' nest destroyed, Varro cleared the land, and Caesar later gave it to Herod so it would not again shelter robbers against Damascus. Caesar also made Herod procurator of all Syria, with other procurators unable to act without his advice, and after Zenodorus died gave him the land between Trachonitis and Galilee.
Chapter 15

Section 164 cards

What did Herod name his harbor city, and to whom did he ascribe its honor?
Herod built the harbor city with arches, a quay, and three great Colossi on each side of the entrance, plus a temple of Caesar overlooking the mouth of the haven. He dedicated the city to the province and the haven to the sailors, but ascribed the honor of the building to Caesar and named the city Cesarea accordingly.
Chapter 16
How did Herod commemorate his family and friends in his building projects?
Herod built Antipatris, a city in a fine plain with rivers and trees, as a monument to his father. He fortified a citadel above Jericho and called it Cypros for his mother, named a Jerusalem tower Phasaelus for his brother, and built Phasaelis in the valley north of Jericho. He also named a fortress Herodium after himself.
Chapter 16
What benefits did Herod confer on the Eleans and the Olympic games?
Perceiving the Olympic games had come to nothing for want of money and that the remains of ancient Greece were nearly gone, Herod became a combatant in the fifth-year games while sailing to Rome, and settled perpetual revenues of money on the Eleans. Josephus says his memorial as a combatant there can never fail.
Chapter 16
Why did Herod execute Hyrcanus and the young Aristobulus?
Herod slew Hyrcanus, his wife's grandfather, on the pretense of plotting against him; Josephus says the real provocation was that Hyrcanus was fitter to be king. Herod had given Aristobulus the high priesthood at seventeen, then had him drowned at Jericho; when the child approached the altar in holy vestments, the crowd wept.
Chapter 16

Section 174 cards

What secret order did Herod give Joseph before traveling abroad?
Herod committed Mariamne to Joseph, his sister Salome's husband, and secretly instructed him that if Antony killed Herod, Joseph should kill Mariamne. Joseph, without ill intent, revealed the order to Mariamne to show how much Herod loved her. When Herod returned, Mariamne confronted him with it, and Herod, in jealousy and rage, had both Joseph and Mariamne slain.
Chapter 17
How did Salome and Herod's mother turn Herod against Mariamne?
They reproached Mariamne and, indignant at her insults, raised a calumny that she was unfaithful to Herod's bed. They accused her of sending her picture to Antony in Egypt, arguing her lust was so extravagant she showed herself to a man mad after women who had power to use violence on her. The charge struck Herod like a thunderbolt, feeding his jealousy and fear.
Chapter 17
What conditions did Caesar set for Herod's reconciliation with his sons?
After Alexander confuted the poisoning charge before Caesar, Caesar rejected the accusations and reconciled Herod to his sons. The conditions were that the sons should in all things be obedient to their father, and that Herod should have power to leave the kingdom to whichever of them he pleased. Herod later declared all three sons kings while retaining the administration himself.
Chapter 17
How did Herod present his three sons to the people in Jerusalem?
Herod gathered the people, presented his three sons, gave an apologetic account of his absence, and thanked God and Caesar for settling his house. He declared the three would be kings, citing age and nobility as grounds for succession, and asked the people to respect each according to birth. He stressed that he gave royal honors only, keeping the burden of administration himself.
Chapter 17

Section 184 cards

How did Antipater work against his brothers Alexander and Aristobulus?
The author describes Antipater as cunning and politic: he concealed his hatred, suborned Alexander's acquaintances with money or flattery to report his words, and passed their reports to Herod with additions. He also pretended to defend Alexander, then contrived so the king would resent him, aiming to make it believed Alexander plotted to kill Herod.
Chapter 18
Why did Glaphyra increase hatred against Alexander and Aristobulus?
Glaphyra, Alexander's wife, claimed noble descent from Temenus on her father's side and Darius son of Hystaspes on her mother's, and boasted she was superior to all others in the kingdom. She reproached Herod's sister and wives with ignoble descent, saying they were chosen for beauty, not family. All these wives hated Alexander because of her boasting.
Chapter 18
What did the tortured eunuchs confess about Alexander?
Three eunuchs close to Herod — his butler, his cook, and the one who put him to bed — were bribed by Alexander to let him use them obscenely. Tortured, they confessed the criminal conversation and the promises: Alexander told them not to hope in old Herod, who colored his hair, but in the successor, who would soon reward friends and punish enemies.
Chapter 18
How did Herod treat Pheroras and Salome despite accusations?
Pheroras had been accused of plotting to poison Herod and of preparing to flee to the Parthians with the woman he loved; Salome was accused by Pheroras of agreeing to marry Silleus, procurator of Obodas, Herod's enemy. Both were convicted or implicated, yet Herod pardoned Pheroras and Salome, while the family's suspicion settled on Alexander.
Chapter 18

Section 194 cards

How did Herod respond to the confessions that terrified him?
Herod dared not publish the confessions immediately. Instead he sent spies by night and day to inquire closely into all that was done and said, and put to death anyone merely suspected of treason. Josephus says the palace was full of horribly unjust proceedings: people forged calumnies out of personal hatred, lies were easily believed, and punishments were inflicted sooner than the calumnies were forged.
Chapter 19
What did Archelaus do to change Herod's mind about Alexander?
Archelaus arrived from Cappadocia pretending fury at Alexander, demanding to tear him apart and complaining his daughter was polluted. This stratagem calmed Herod, who let him read Alexander's four books. Archelaus then gradually shifted blame onto those named, especially Pheroras, suggesting the young man was plotted against rather than plotting, and that wicked persuaders mislead the young.
Chapter 19
How did Pheroras secure his safety after Archelaus's intervention?
Seeing the king's inclinations change and that Archelaus's friendship could do everything, Pheroras took Archelaus's advice. He put on black cloth, came with tears, threw himself at Herod's feet, confessed he had acted wickedly and was guilty of all charges, blaming his love for a woman. Archelaus then excused him with domestic examples, comparing a kingdom to a body where a swollen member should be healed, not cut off.
Chapter 19
Who was Eurycles and what did he do in Judea?
Eurycles was a Lacedaemonian whom Josephus calls corrupt, driven by desire for money and luxury that Greece could not satisfy. He presented Herod with splendid gifts as bait and received them back manifold, but valued gifts as nothing unless he imbrued the kingdom in blood. By flattery, subtle talk, and lying encomiums he found Herod's blind side and became one of his most intimate friends, later overturning the reconciliation with Alexander.
Chapter 19

Section 204 cards

How did Eurycles gain Alexander's and Aristobulus's trust?
Eurycles falsely claimed to be an old acquaintance of Archelaus, Alexander's father-in-law, and used that pretense of friendship to be admitted into Alexander's familiarity. He then recommended himself to Aristobulus as well, and by different methods imposed on each brother, ultimately being hired principally by Antipater and betraying Alexander.
Chapter 20
What did Caesar reply when Herod's envoys delivered his letters at Rome?
Caesar was troubled at the young men's case but did not think he ought to take from the father the power of condemning his sons. He wrote back granting Herod power over his sons, but advised him to examine the plot in a public court with his kindred and provincial governors as assessors, putting them to death if guilty, but moderating punishment if they only meant to flee.
Chapter 20
What verdict did Saturninus give at the court at Berytus?
Saturninus, who sat first as Caesar's letters appointed, condemned the young men but not to death, saying it was not fit for him, who had three sons of his own present, to vote for the destruction of another's sons. The two lieutenants gave the like vote; Volumnius and those after him condemned the young men to die, some out of flattery and some out of hatred to Herod.
Chapter 20
How did Herod present his case, and where were his sons during the trial?
Herod did not produce his sons in open court, knowing they would be pitied and Alexander could answer the charges; they were held at Platane, a village of the Sidontans. He inveighed against them as if present, urging the plot charge faintly for lack of proofs, but insisting on their reproaches, jests, and injurious carriage, then asked each assessor's sentence.
Chapter 20

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Who was Tero, and what did he dare to tell Herod?
Tero was an old soldier of the king whose son was a friend of Alexander. Indignant at the injustice, he went to Herod and warned that the king was heeding wicked men against his own sons, that Pheroras and Salome had been spared while the sons were destroyed, and that Antipater's brothers' deaths would make him hated by the soldiers. Herod immediately ordered Tero, his son, and the named captains seized.
Chapter 21
How did the barber Trypho insert himself into Tero's case?
Trypho the barber leaped out from the crowd in a kind of madness and accused himself, claiming Tero had urged him to cut Herod's throat with his razor while trimming him, promising that Alexander would reward him richly. Herod examined Tero, his son, and the barber by torture; the others denied it, but Tero was racked more severely. Trypho was later put to death with the captains and Tero.
Chapter 21
What did Tero's son say under torture, and how was it received?
When Herod ordered Tero racked more severely, his son, out of pity, promised to reveal everything if his father's torture stopped. Herod agreed, and the son said his father, persuaded by Alexander, had intended to kill the king. Some said this was forged to free his father from torments; others said it was true. Herod then accused the captains and Tero before an assembly, and they were killed by thrown wood and stones.
Chapter 21
Why did Antipater fear Herod's betrothals of the orphans?
Herod betrothed the orphaned children of Alexander and Aristobulus into his family, weeping and praying God would look more kindly on them than on their fathers. Antipater saw this as a threat to his succession: if Alexander's sons had Archelaus and Pheroras as curators, his power would be undermined. He begged Herod to change the marriages, and the king eventually did so after being won over by flattery.
Chapter 21

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What choice did Herod give Pheroras regarding his wife?
Herod assembled his friends and kindred and accused Pheroras's wife of affronting his daughters, supplying the Pharisees with money against him, and turning Pheroras into his enemy with love potions. He then told Pheroras to choose between keeping faith with his brother or with his wife. Pheroras answered that he would rather die than forsake her.
Chapter 22
Why did Antipater go to Rome, and what did Herod give him?
Antipater secretly attended the night meetings despite Herod's order to avoid Pheroras and his household. Fearing Salome was watching him, he arranged through his Italian friends to live at Rome, and they wrote that he should be sent to Caesar. Herod sent him with splendid attendance and much money, and gave him his testament, which bequeathed the kingdom to Antipater and named Herod, son of Mariamne, as Antipater's successor.
Chapter 22
What did Pheroras's wife say Pheroras told her while dying?
Under Herod's oath of pardon, she said Pheroras had called her to him while dying and confessed he had misjudged his affectionate brother and contrived to kill him. He called himself repaid for his impiety and told her to burn the poison Antipater had left, so he would not be liable to the avenger in the invisible world. She burned most of it but kept a little out of fear of Herod.
Chapter 22

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What did Bathyllus bring when examined to convict Antipater?
Bathyllus, Antipater's freedman, brought a second deadly potion—the poison of asps and juices of other serpents—intended for Pheroras and his wife to use against the king if the first potion failed. He also brought letters Antipater had written against his brothers Archelaus and Philip, the king's sons being educated at Rome.
Chapter 23
How did Antipater conceal money spent bribing letter-writers against his brothers?
Antipater bought costly garments, variously woven carpets, and silver and gold cups, then presented an expense account totaling two hundred talents—his main pretense being his lawsuit with Sylleus—so that the large outlays on furniture would hide the money used to hire men to write the letters.
Chapter 23
Why did no one inform Antipater of his misfortunes during seven months in Rome?
Although seven months passed between Antipater's conviction and his return, none of those who came to Rome told him of his troubles in Judea, so great was the hatred all men bore him. Josephus suggests perhaps the ghosts of his murdered brethren stopped the mouths of those who intended to tell him.
Chapter 23
How did Herod receive Antipater when he came to the palace?
Herod stretched out his hands, turned his head away, and cried out that Antipater's desire to embrace him was itself an indication of a parricide under such accusations. He refused the touch, called him a vile wretch, and appointed Varus, president of Syria, as judge, giving Antipater until the next day to prepare his defense.
Chapter 23

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What did Antipater offer as proof of his innocence before Herod?
Antipater argued that if he were a parricide he could not have traveled by land and sea without misfortune, and he cited letters from Caesar, who called him Philopater, as more trustworthy than the calumnies against him. He then asked that fire and racks be brought to torture him, insisting that if guilty he ought not to die without torture.
Chapter 24
How was the poison accusation against Antipater tested?
Varus, the Roman official, had the potion given to a condemned malefactor then in prison, who died upon the spot. Varus then spoke privately with Herod, wrote an account of the assembly to Caesar, and departed after a day's stay. Herod bound Antipater and sent word to Caesar of his misfortunes.
Chapter 24
What plot involving Salome and Acme was uncovered after the trial?
A servant of Antiphilus brought letters from Acme, a maid-servant of Caesar's wife Julia, to Herod. Acme claimed she had found a letter by Salome among Julia's papers and sent it privately. The letter contained bitter reproaches of Herod; it was proved that Antipater had forged it and corrupted Acme to send it.
Chapter 24
Why did Judas and Matthias urge young men to cut down the golden eagle?
These two teachers of the law held that images or representations of animals were unlawful in the temple, and Herod had set a golden eagle over the great gate. They told their followers it was glorious to die for the laws of their country, since the soul is immortal and eternal happiness awaits those who die for that cause.
Chapter 24

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What diseases afflicted Herod before his death, and how did diviners interpret them?
Josephus describes a gentle fever, intolerable itching over his whole body, continual pains in his colon, dropsical tumors about his feet, inflammation of the abdomen, putrefaction of his privy member producing worms, difficulty breathing unless sitting upright, and convulsions of all his members. The diviners said these diseases were a punishment upon him for what he had done to the Rabbins.
Chapter 25
What scheme did Herod order Salome and Alexas to carry out upon his death?
Herod gathered the most illustrious men of the Jewish nation from every village into the Hippodrome at Jericho and shut them in. He told Salome and Alexas to send soldiers to surround them and slay them immediately upon his death, so that all Judea and every family would weep at his death whether they wished to or not.
Chapter 25
How did Herod die, and how long had he reigned?
Herod attempted suicide with a knife but was stopped by his cousin Achiabus. After learning Antipater had been condemned, he had Antipater slain and buried at Hyrcanium, then altered his testament, making Archelaus his successor and Antipas tetrarch. He survived the slaughter of his son five days and died, having reigned thirty-four years since Antigonus was slain and thirty-seven since the Romans made him king.
Chapter 25
What happened to the imprisoned notables and how was Herod's funeral conducted?
Before the soldiers knew of Herod's death, Salome and her husband dismissed those in bonds, saying the king had changed his mind and would have each sent home. After the assembly at Jericho's amphitheater, where Ptolemy read Herod's epistle and testament, Archelaus prepared a magnificent funeral: a gold bier with precious stones, a purple bed, diadem and gold crown, scepter in hand, guards and army in arms, and five hundred servants with sweet spices. The body was carried two hundred furlongs to Herodium for burial.
Chapter 25

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According to the notes, what did Cassius do in Syria and Judea?
The notes state that Cassius, one of Caesar's murderers, was a bitter oppressor and exactor of tribute in Judea, levying seven hundred talents (about half of King Herod's later yearly revenues), with Galilee paying only one hundred talents. The annotator also observes that Cassius set tyrants over all Syria, suggesting his part in killing Caesar came not from zeal for public liberty but from a desire to be a tyrant himself.
Chapter 26
How do the notes use the earthquake to date Herod's reign?
The note argues that Herod's seventh year, with a great earthquake in early spring, came shortly before the battle of Actium, known from Roman historians to be in early September, 31 BCE. This fixes Herod's reign as beginning in 37 BCE, which the annotator calls beyond rational contradiction. The note adds that this seventh year contained the latter part of a Sabbatic year, so the earthquake occurred in Judea during that Sabbatic year.
Chapter 26
What does the note say about Josephus's two versions of Herod's speech?
The note observes that Herod's speech is set down twice by Josephus, here and in Antiquities Book XV, to the very same purpose but by no means in the same words. From this the annotator concludes that the sense was Herod's but the composition was Josephus's own.
Chapter 26
How does the note explain Josephus's phrase 'after forty days'?
The note explains that Josephus himself interprets 'after forty days' as 'on the fortieth day' in Antiquities Book XIV. Similarly, Josephus's statement that Herod lived 'five days' after ordering Antipater slain is interpreted by him as dying 'on the fifth day afterward.' The annotator, citing Dean Aldrich, notes that this way of speaking is familiar to Josephus.
Chapter 26

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Why did Pheroras refuse to divorce his low-born wife despite Herod's pressure?
The editor's note suggests Pheroras kept his wife because he believed, and Herod suspected, that the Pharisees' prediction would come true: that the crown of Judea would pass from Herod to Pheroras's posterity, most likely through this very wife. His obstinacy and her admission to the counsels of the court ladies are best explained by that expectation.
Chapter 27
How did Archelaus handle the crowd mourning those Herod executed for the golden eagle?
After mourning his father seven days and feasting the multitude, Archelaus spoke from a golden throne, refusing the diadem until Caesar confirmed the succession. When crowds mourned those Herod killed for cutting down the golden eagle and demanded the high priest be deposed, he tried persuasion, sending his general, but the seditious stoned his envoys and later his soldiers.
Chapter 27
What happened when Archelaus sent soldiers against the rioters at the Passover?
At the Feast of Unleavened Bread, crowds bewailed the executed Rabbins and begged to support sedition. Archelaus privately sent a tribune with a cohort to restrain the troublemakers; the multitude stoned the soldiers and killed them, wounding the tribune. Judging the crowd uncontainable without bloodshed, he sent his whole army, killing about three thousand as they sacrificed; the rest fled to the mountains.
Chapter 27
Why did Antipas go to Rome to contest Herod's second testament?
Antipas sailed to Rome insisting the former testament naming him king was valid over the later one. Salome and many of Archelaus's kindred promised to assist him, though they first preferred living under their own laws with a Roman governor, and only failing that wanted Antipas as king. He relied chiefly on the orator Ireneus and brought his mother and Ptolemy.
Chapter 27

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Who accused Archelaus before Caesar, and what was his main argument?
Salome's son Antipater, described as the shrewdest of Archelaus's antagonists, accused him of already exercising royal authority in deeds while merely contending for the kingdom in words. He claimed Archelaus had set himself on the throne, given kingly answers, altered the army, granted dignities, complied with the people's requests, and freed prisoners his father had bound. He also charged that Archelaus's mourning was feigned and that he had slaughtered a multitude at the temple.
Chapter 28
How did Nicolaus defend Archelaus's claim to the succession?
Nicolaus argued the temple slaughter was unavoidable, since those slain had become enemies not only of Archelaus's kingdom but of Caesar, who was to decide the matter. He claimed Archelaus's accusers had advised him to do other blameworthy things. Above all, he argued the later testament was valid because Herod had appointed Caesar to confirm the succession: one prudent enough to yield power to the world's lord could not misjudge his heir.
Chapter 28
What did Caesar do after hearing both sides, and what did he still deliberate?
Caesar weighed the claims, considered the kingdom's burden, revenues, and Herod's many children, and read letters from Varus and Sabinus. He assembled the principal Romans, with his adopted son Caius in the first seat, and let the pleaders speak. After Nicolaus finished, Archelaus fell silently at Caesar's knees; Caesar raised him kindly and said he was worthy to succeed his father, but made no firm determination, deliberating whether to name a testamentary heir or divide the government among Herod's posterity.
Chapter 28
What happened when Sabinus provoked the Jews at Pentecost?
Sabinus compelled the citadel keepers to surrender the strongholds and searched for the king's money, arming his servants. At Pentecost a huge multitude gathered from Galilee, Idumea, Jericho, and Perea—not for worship but out of indignation—and besieged the Romans in three camps. Sabinus fled to the tower Phasaelus and signaled the legion to attack. The Romans burned the cloisters; many Jews perished by fire, sword, or their own hands, and soldiers plundered about four hundred talents from the temple treasure.
Chapter 28

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Who was Athrongeus, and how did he organize his revolt?
Athrongeus was a shepherd who set himself up as king, relying on his bodily strength, his contempt for death, and his four like-minded brothers. He placed armed troops under each brother as generals and commanders, wore a diadem, and overran the country for a long time, killing Romans and the king's party alike, sparing no Jew if gain could be made.
Chapter 29
How did Varus punish the most guilty rebels at Jerusalem?
After the Jews' camps dispersed at his approach, Varus sent part of his army against the authors of the commotion. Those who seemed least involved he put into custody, but the most guilty he crucified, about two thousand in number. He then sent the Idumean captains' leaders to Caesar for examination.
Chapter 29
What did the Jewish ambassadors ask Caesar at Rome, and who answered them?
Fifty ambassadors, backed by more than eight thousand Jews at Rome, accused Archelaus before Caesar's council in Apollo's temple. They recounted Herod's cruelties and Archelaus's murder of three thousand citizens, then asked that Judea be joined to Syria and ruled by Roman commanders. Nicolaus rose and confuted them, accusing the Jewish nation of being hard to rule and disobedient to kings.
Chapter 29
How did Varus deal with the Arab auxiliaries and the Idumean rebels?
Varus found the Arabians acting not as auxiliaries but according to their own passions, harming the country out of hatred for Herod, so he sent them away. He then marched with his own legions against the ten thousand still in arms in Idumea; by Achiabus's advice they surrendered before battle. Varus forgave the multitude but sent their captains to Caesar, who executed certain of Herod's kinsmen.
Chapter 29

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How did Caesar divide Herod's kingdom among his sons after hearing both sides?
Caesar gave half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus as Ethnarch, promising kingship later if he proved worthy. The other half became two tetrarchies: Antipas received Perea and Galilee (200 talents), while Philip received Batanea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and parts of Zeno's house about Jamnia (100 talents). Archelaus's ethnarchy included Idumea, Judea, and Samaria, with Samaria eased a quarter of its taxes for not having revolted.
Chapter 30
How was the false Alexander exposed and punished by Caesar?
A Jew raised at Sidon claimed to be Alexander, slain by Herod, exploiting his facial resemblance. He deceived Jews at Crete and Melos, collecting money, then came to Rome. Caesar, who knew Alexander's features from Herod's accusation, saw the man's countenance differed and his body was more robust, like a slave's. The impostor was put among the rowers for his strength; his persuader was executed.
Chapter 30
What dream did Glaphyra have, and what happened afterward?
Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia, had been wife to Alexander, Herod's son, then to Juba of Libya, and was widowed. She married Archelaus the ethnarch, who divorced Mariamne for her. In Judea she dreamed Alexander stood by her, reproaching her for taking a third husband, his own brother, and saying he would soon have her again whether she willed it or not. She died hardly two days after telling the dream.
Chapter 30
What were the three Jewish philosophical sects and the Essenes' distinctive practices?
Josephus names three sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essens, the last claiming severer discipline. The Essenes reject pleasures as evil, esteem continence, and neglect wedlock while raising others' children. They despise riches and hold all possessions in common, so no one is richer or poorer. They consider oil a defilement, value sweat and white garments, carry nothing when traveling except weapons for fear of thieves, and neither buy nor sell among themselves.
Chapter 30

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How long must a newcomer wait and prove himself before joining the Essenes?
Josephus describes a graded admission: the candidate follows the sect's way of life for a year while excluded, receiving a hatchet, girdle, and white garment; then he shares the waters of purification but still does not live with them, and his temper is tried two more years. Only if worthy is he admitted, and before touching common food he must take tremendous oaths.
Chapter 31
What does Josephus say about the Essenes' oaths and their view of swearing?
The Essenes swear only upon full admission, vowing piety to God, justice to men, harm to none, hatred of the wicked, fidelity to all and especially rulers, refusal to abuse authority, love of truth, and secrecy about their doctrines even at the risk of death. Josephus says they avoid oaths generally, esteeming swearing worse than perjury, since one who cannot be believed without God is already condemned.
Chapter 31
How are expelled Essenes punished, and how are they received back?
Those caught in heinous sins are cast out of the society. Because their oath and customs bind them, they cannot eat food found elsewhere, so they are forced to eat grass and starve until they perish. Josephus says many are received back when at their last gasp, out of compassion, since the misery endured to the brink of death is judged sufficient punishment for their sins.
Chapter 31
What does Josephus report about Essene beliefs on the soul and afterlife?
Josephus says their doctrine holds bodies corruptible and souls immortal, coming from subtle air and joined to bodies as prisons; freed from the flesh, souls rejoice and mount upward. Good souls dwell beyond the ocean in a mild region, bad souls in a dark tempestuous den of endless punishment. Josephus notes this resembles Greek notions of the islands of the blessed and Hades, and says these doctrines encourage virtue and restrain vice.
Chapter 31

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How did the Pharisees and Sadducees differ on fate and free will?
The Pharisees ascribe all to fate and God, yet allow that acting rightly or wrongly is principally in men's power, though fate cooperates in every action. The Sadducees take away fate entirely, hold that God is not concerned in our doing evil, and say good and evil are each person's own choice, to act as they please.
Chapter 32
What did the Pharisees and Sadducees each teach about the soul?
The Pharisees say all souls are incorruptible, but only good men's souls are removed into other bodies, while bad men's souls are subject to eternal punishment. The Sadducees take away belief in the immortal duration of the soul altogether, along with punishments and rewards in Hades.
Chapter 32
How did Pilate respond to Jewish protests over Caesar's ensigns in Jerusalem?
Pilate sent the ensigns into Jerusalem by night, provoking an uproar. When Jews petitioned him at Cesarea, he refused; they lay prostrate five days and nights. He then surrounded them with soldiers in three ranks and threatened slaughter, but the Jews bared their necks, ready to die rather than transgress the law. Pilate, surprised, ordered the ensigns carried out.
Chapter 32
Why did Petronius hesitate to set up Caius's statue in the temple?
Caius sent Petronius with an army to place his statue in the temple, ordering him to slay resisters and enslave the rest. Petronius left the army and statues at Ptolemais, argued the Jews' petition was unreasonable since other nations set up Caesar's images, but was astonished at their readiness to die for the law and dismissed them without success.
Chapter 32

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Why did Petronius finally decide to risk appealing to Caius himself?
The multitude had stayed idle for fifty days around seed time, so the country risked lying untilled. Petronius gathered them and said he would run the hazard himself: either, by Divine assistance, he would prevail with Caesar and escape danger along with them, or, if Caesar stayed enraged, he would expose his own life for so great a number.
Chapter 33
What message did Agrippa carry from Claudius to the senate?
Claudius said he had not sought the empire but was hurried away by the soldiers, and thought it unjust to desert their zeal; it was dangerous to have been once called to the empire. He promised to rule as a good prince, not a tyrant, satisfied with the title of emperor while permitting all to advise him, and the death of Caius showed him how soberly to act.
Chapter 33
What did Agrippa do to Jerusalem's walls, and why did it fail?
Agrippa did not waste his wealth on small matters but began to encompass Jerusalem with a wall which, had it been brought to perfection, would have made it impracticable for the Romans to take by siege. His death at Cesarea, before he had raised the walls to their due height, prevented it. He had reigned three years, after governing his tetrarchies three other years.
Chapter 33

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Why did Cumanus refuse the Galileans' request to punish the murderers?
The leading Galileans asked Cumanus to come into Galilee and punish the authors of the murder before the evil became incurable, arguing nothing else would keep the multitude from blows. Cumanus postponed their supplications to other affairs he was then about and sent the petitioners away without success.
Chapter 34
How did Jerusalem's rulers stop the crowd marching on Samaria?
The rulers of Jerusalem ran out clothed in sackcloth with ashes on their heads and begged the multitude to disperse, warning that revenge on the Samaritans would provoke the Romans against Jerusalem. They urged compassion for country, temple, children, and wives rather than avenging one Galilean. The Jews complied and dispersed, though many turned to robbing in hopes of impunity.
Chapter 34
What did Quadratus do when he reached Lydda?
Quadratus crucified all those Cumanus had taken alive, then at Lydda heard the Samaritan affair, sent for eighteen Jews he learned were involved in the fight, and beheaded them. He sent two of the most powerful men, Jonathan and Ananias the high priests, Artanus son of Ananias, and other eminent Jews to Caesar, as he did with the most illustrious Samaritans, and ordered Cumanus and Celer to sail to Rome.
Chapter 34
How did the Sicarii kill and escape detection at festivals?
The Sicarii slew men in daylight in the midst of the city, chiefly at festivals, mingling among the multitude with daggers concealed under their garments to stab their enemies. When a victim fell dead, the murderers joined those expressing indignation, so they appeared persons of such reputation they could not be discovered. The first man slain was Jonathan the high priest.
Chapter 34

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How did Albinus's conduct as procurator differ from Festus's?
Festus pursued and destroyed robbers, but Albinus, his successor, engaged in widespread wickedness: he plundered property, burdened the nation with taxes, and let prisoners' relatives redeem robbers for money, so only those who paid nothing stayed jailed. He also sold leave to the seditious in Jerusalem. Josephus says these were the seeds that brought the city to destruction.
Chapter 35
Why did Florus want the Jews to revolt against Rome?
Josephus says Florus expected that if peace continued, the Jews would accuse him before Caesar; but if he provoked a revolt, their far greater misery would divert attention from his lesser crimes. So he daily increased their calamities to induce rebellion, and after taking the eight talents he still marched troops against Jerusalem.
Chapter 35
What incident at Caesarea escalated into open war?
A Caesarean Greek owned land near the Jews' synagogue, refused their offers to buy it, and built shops leaving only a narrow passage. When Jewish youths stopped the work, Florus took eight talents to halt it but left instead. Then a seditious Caesarean set an inverted earthen vessel at the synagogue entrance and sacrificed birds, polluting the place and provoking blows.
Chapter 35
How did Florus respond to Jerusalem's protest over the temple money?
Florus sent men to take seventeen talents from the sacred treasure, claiming Caesar wanted them. The people rushed to the temple, called on Caesar, and some of the seditious mocked Florus by carrying a basket and begging coins for him as if he were destitute. Instead of going to Caesarea to quell the unrest, he marched horsemen and footmen against Jerusalem to subdue it by terror.
Chapter 35

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What unprecedented act of Roman cruelty did Florus commit against equestrian-order Jews?
Josephus states that Florus ventured to do what no one had done before: he had men of the equestrian order whipped and nailed to the cross before his tribunal. Although they were Jews by birth, they held Roman dignity. This new method of barbarity made the day's calamity heavier; about three thousand six hundred people, including wives, children, and infants, were destroyed that day.
Chapter 36
How did Bernice try to stop Florus's slaughter, and what happened to her?
Bernice, Agrippa's sister, was in Jerusalem performing a thirty-day vow—abstaining from wine and shaving her head—and stood barefoot before Florus's tribunal, repeatedly sending her guards to beg him to stop the killings. He ignored her, regarding only his profit from plunder. The soldiers' violence even endangered her, and she escaped only by fleeing to the palace and staying there overnight with her guards.
Chapter 36
What trap did Florus set when the cohorts came from Cesarea?
Florus told the high priests the people must go out to meet the cohorts from Cesarea as proof of loyalty. Secretly he ordered the centurions to have their men not return the Jews' salutations and to use weapons if anyone spoke against him. When the Jews saluted and got no answer, the seditious cried out against Florus—the signal—and the soldiers attacked with clubs and cavalry.
Chapter 36
Why did the seditious tear down the temple cloisters joining Antonia?
After the riot, the seditious feared Florus would return and seize the temple through the tower Antonia. So they immediately climbed onto the cloisters of the temple that joined Antonia and cut them down. This cooled Florus's avarice: he had been eager to obtain the temple treasures and wanted Antonia for that purpose, but once the cloisters were broken down he abandoned the attempt.
Chapter 36

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What did the Jewish multitude ask the king and high priests to permit?
They asked for leave to send ambassadors to Nero to accuse Florus, so that their silence would not make them seem responsible for the great slaughters or the first beginners of the war. They made it clear they would not stay quiet if anyone blocked the embassy.
Chapter 37
How did Agrippa arrange the assembly, and where did he place Bernice?
Agrippa called the multitude together into a large gallery and placed his sister Bernice in the house of the Asamoneans so she could be seen by them. That house was over the gallery, at the passage to the upper city, where the bridge joined the temple to the gallery.
Chapter 37

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According to the speech, why do some young men favor war with Rome?
The speaker says some are eager for war because they are young and have no experience of the miseries war brings. Others want war from an unreasonable hope of regaining liberty, and still others hope to profit from the confusion of public affairs by seizing what belongs to those too weak to resist. He addresses them so the inexperienced may grow wiser and change their minds.
Chapter 38
How does the speaker answer the complaint against the procurators?
He argues that if the aim is revenge on injurious governors, that is not the same as a war for liberty; and if servitude itself is intolerable, complaints against particular governors are beside the point. He adds that Caesar did not send wicked governors by command, since rulers in the west cannot easily see or hear what happens in the east, and that a bad procurator will soon be replaced.
Chapter 38
What does the speaker say about the timing of the Jews' bid for liberty?
He argues the desire for liberty comes too late: they should have struggled never to lose it when Pompey first entered the country. He says one once brought into subjection and then running away is a refractory slave rather than a lover of liberty, and that their ancestors, better off in money, strength, and courage, still could not withstand a small Roman force.
Chapter 38
Which peoples does the speaker cite as submitting to Rome despite strong claims to liberty?
He lists the Athenians, who once burned their own city and drove Xerxes out, yet now serve Rome; the Lacedemonians of Thermopylae and Plataea; the Macedonians under Philip and Alexander; and many Asian, Thracian, Illyrian, Dalmatian, Gallic, German, British, and African nations. He argues the Jews would be the only people to think servitude to Rome a disgrace.
Chapter 38

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What did Agrippa say the Jews had done that amounted to making war on Rome?
Agrippa argued that the people had already acted like those making war on the Romans: they had not paid the tribute due to Caesar, and they had cut off the temple cloisters from joining the tower Antonia. He said they would prevent any occasion of revolt if they rebuilt the joining and paid the tribute, noting the citadel did not belong to Florus and the tribute was not owed to Florus.
Chapter 39
What did Josephus call the true beginning of the war with the Romans?
Josephus says the true beginning of the war was Eleazar son of Ananias, governor of the temple, persuading those who officiated in the Divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice for any foreigner. On this account they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar. Many high priests and principal men urged them not to omit the customary sacrifice for their princes, but they would not be prevailed upon.
Chapter 39
What did the moderates argue about foreigners' sacrifices in their speech at the brazen gate?
The men of power, high priests, and principal Pharisees argued that their forefathers had adorned the temple largely with donations from foreigners and had always received foreign offerings. They said the forefathers had placed those donations about the temple, still visible, and were far from rejecting anyone's sacrifice. They warned that rejecting Caesar's offering risked losing their own and the city's principality.
Chapter 39
Why did the seditious burn the archives, and what did Manahem do after Masada?
The seditious burned the place where the archives were kept to destroy creditors' contracts and dissolve obligations for paying debts, hoping to win over debtors and the poorer sort against the wealthy. Earlier, Manahem son of Judas the Galilean retired to Masada, broke open Herod's armory, armed his own people and other robbers, and returned to Jerusalem in the state of a king, becoming leader of the sedition.
Chapter 39

Section 403 cards

How did the high priest Ananias and his brother Hezekiah die?
The high priest was caught hiding in an aqueduct the next day and was slain together with his brother Hezekiah by the robbers. After this, the seditious besieged the towers and guarded them so that no soldier could escape. Josephus presents the overthrow of the strongholds and the death of Ananias as events that inflated Manahem's arrogance and cruelty.
Chapter 40
Why did Eleazar's party attack Manahem in the temple?
Eleazar and his followers argued it was improper, having revolted from the Romans for liberty, to hand that liberty to one of their own people and bear a master meaner than themselves. Even if someone had to govern public affairs, they said another was fitter than Manahem. They assaulted him as he went up to worship in royal garments with armed followers.
Chapter 40
What happened to the Jews of Scythopolis who fought alongside the city?
Jews of Scythopolis fought against their own countrymen, but the city suspected them and ordered them to go with their families to a neighboring grove to prove fidelity. After waiting two days to lull them, the people of Scythopolis cut their throats on the third night, killing above thirteen thousand and plundering them. Simon, son of Saul, killed his family and himself rather than die by enemies.
Chapter 40

Section 414 cards

Which Syrian cities spared their Jewish residents, and why does Josephus suggest they did so?
Antioch, Sidon, and Apamea spared the Jews among them, refusing to kill or bind them. Josephus offers two explanations: perhaps their own numbers were so great they despised the Jews' attempts, but he thinks the greater part of the favor came from commiseration for those who made no innovations. The Gerasans also harmed no resident Jews and escorted those wishing to leave as far as their borders.
Chapter 41
How did Noarus treat the seventy men from Batanea, and how did Agrippa respond?
The seventy most distinguished men of Batanea asked for an army to guard against tumult. Noarus, left in charge of Agrippa's kingdom while Agrippa was at Antioch, sent the king's armed men by night and slew all seventy without Agrippa's consent, being a lover of money. When Agrippa learned of it, he did not dare put Noarus to death out of regard for Sohemus, but immediately ended his procuratorship.
Chapter 41
What privileges did Alexander the Great grant the Jews of Alexandria, and did Roman rulers revoke them?
Because of the Jews' readiness in assisting him against the Egyptians, Alexander gave them equal privileges in the city with the Grecians, a reward continued by his successors. They also set apart a particular place for the Jews to live unpolluted, and granted they be called Macedonians. When the Romans took Egypt, neither the first Caesar nor any successor thought of diminishing these honors.
Chapter 41
What happened to the Jews in Alexandria's Delta quarter, and how many died?
After the seditious mocked Tiberius Alexander's entreaties, he sent the two Roman legions in the city plus five thousand soldiers from Libya, permitted to kill, plunder, and burn houses. They rushed into Delta where Jews lived together. The Jews resisted a long while but were destroyed unmercifully, infants and aged shown no mercy, until fifty thousand lay dead. Alexander then ordered the Romans to retire.
Chapter 41

Section 424 cards

Why did Cestius retreat from Jerusalem without a clear reason?
Josephus states Cestius withdrew without any reason in the world, unaware that the besieged despaired and the people were ready to admit him. He also ignored Ananus's party, who were prepared to open the gates. Josephus suggests God's aversion to the city and sanctuary prevented Cestius from ending the war that day.
Chapter 42
What happened to the Roman army during its retreat from Jerusalem?
The Jews pursued the withdrawing Romans, attacking the rear and flanks with darts. The Romans could not turn or break ranks because they were heavy with armor while the Jews were light and mobile. Priscus, Longinus, and Emilius Secundus were among the slain; the army barely reached Gabao, losing much baggage.
Chapter 42
How did the Jews' attack on the Sabbath affect the first battle with Cestius?
The Jews left the Feast of Tabernacles, took up arms, and attacked in a sudden, disorderly manner, disregarding their usual strict observance of the Sabbath. Josephus says this rage made them forget the religious observance and thus too hard for their enemies. They broke into the Roman ranks, killing 515 Romans while losing only 22 of their own.
Chapter 42
What did Agrippa attempt before Cestius attacked the city?
Agrippa sent Borceus and Phebus to persuade the Jews to lay down arms, promising Cestius would grant full forgiveness. The seditious, fearing the multitude would accept, killed Phebus before he spoke and wounded Borceus, who escaped. The people, angry, stoned and beat the seditious and drove them into the city.
Chapter 42

Section 434 cards

How did Cestius escape the Jews, and what happened to the 400 men he left behind?
Cestius despaired of a public march and contrived to run away. He selected four hundred of his most courageous soldiers, placed them at the strongest fortifications, and ordered them to erect their ensigns at the morning guard so the Jews would believe the whole army remained. He then marched the rest away silently thirty furlongs. At morning the Jews found the camp empty, attacked the four hundred, slew them with darts, and pursued Cestius.
Chapter 43
What losses did the Romans suffer in this defeat, and on what date did it occur?
The Jews pursued the Romans as far as Antipatris, then returned to take the engines, spoil the dead bodies, and gather the prey the Romans left behind, coming back singing to their metropolis. The Jews lost only a few, but had slain of the Romans five thousand and three hundred footmen and three hundred and eighty horsemen. The defeat happened on the eighth day of the month Dius (Marchesvan), in the twelfth year of Nero's reign.
Chapter 43
What did the people of Damascus do to their Jews, and why did they fear their own wives?
When the people of Damascus learned of the Romans' destruction, they set about slaughtering the Jews among them. They had already cooped the Jews up in the place of public exercises out of suspicion. They distrusted their own wives, almost all of whom were addicted to the Jewish religion, so their greatest concern was concealing the plan from them. They cut the throats of ten thousand unarmed Jews in a narrow place in one hour, with nobody to disturb them.
Chapter 43
How did Josephus organize his Galilean army and administration, and what did he model on the Romans?
Josephus chose seventy prudent elders to rule all Galilee and seven judges in every city for lesser quarrels, reserving greater causes involving life and death for himself and the seventy. He built walls around many Galilean towns, allowing Sepphoris and Gischala to build their own. He raised over a hundred thousand young men, then organized them Roman-style with captains of tens, hundreds, and thousands, since he despaired of teaching them arms but saw obedience came from many officers.
Chapter 43

Section 443 cards

How did John of Gischala use the oil trade to enrich himself at Josephus's expense?
Pretending Syrian Jews needed oil from other nations, John asked Josephus's leave to send oil to their borders. He bought four amphorae with Tyrian money worth four Attic drachmae and sold each half-amphora at that same price. Since Galilee was especially fruitful in oil and he held the sole privilege, he gathered an immense sum, which he then used against the man who granted the privilege.
Chapter 44
Why did the crowd at Taricheae turn against Josephus after the stolen goods were brought to him?
The young men of Dabaritta had robbed Ptolemy, Agrippa's and Bernice's steward, of garments, silver cups, and six hundred gold pieces, and brought it all to Josephus at Taricheae. He blamed them for the violence and deposited the goods with Eneas, intending to return them. The thieves, angry at gaining no share, spread word that Josephus would betray the people, and a hundred thousand armed men gathered against him.
Chapter 44
How did Josephus escape the two thousand armed men who threatened him at his house?
Josephus got on his roof, signaled for silence, and claimed he could not hear them over the noise. He said he would comply with their demands if they sent some of their number in to talk. When the leaders entered, he drew them to a retired part of the house, shut them in, and had them whipped until their inward parts appeared naked. He then sent them out all bloody, so the crowd threw away their arms and ran.
Chapter 44

Section 454 cards

How did Josephus retake Tiberias with only empty ships and seven guards?
Josephus shut Taricheae's gates, gathered 230 ships on the lake with only four mariners each, and sailed toward Tiberias keeping the vessels distant. The empty ships floated offshore while he approached with seven unarmed guards. The people on the walls, thinking the ships were full of armed men, threw down their arms and begged for mercy. He then detained the senate and populace and carried them to Taricheae.
Chapter 45
What punishment did Josephus order for Clitus, the revolt's chief author?
The people cried out that Clitus was the chief author of the revolt and asked Josephus to spend his anger on him alone. Josephus, intending to slay nobody, ordered his guard Levius to cut off both of Clitus's hands. Levius refused out of fear. Clitus, seeing Josephus ready to leap out and do it himself, begged to keep one hand and cut off the other himself.
Chapter 45
How did Josephus handle the plunder of Gischala, Sepphoris, and Tiberias?
After retaking Gischala, which had revolted along with Sepphoris, Josephus gave his soldiers leave to plunder it. He then gathered all the plunder together and restored it to the inhabitants. He did the same for Sepphoris and Tiberias. His stated aim was to instruct the cities by letting them be plundered while regaining their goodwill by returning their money.
Chapter 45
What did John do after losing three thousand followers to Josephus?
Josephus had a proclamation made that he would seize the effects of those who did not forsake John within five days and burn their houses and families. Three thousand of John's party immediately left him and laid down their arms at Josephus's feet. John then withdrew with two thousand Syrian runagates from open attempts to secret treachery, privately sending messengers to Jerusalem to accuse Josephus of seeking tyrannical power.
Chapter 45

Section 462 cards

What practice of the Essens does Josephus describe regarding oaths?
The Essens refused to swear and considered swearing on ordinary occasions worse than perjury. The editor notes this matches injunctions of Jesus and St. James, but all admit exceptions for solemn causes and great necessities. The same Essens, in the next section, require tremendous oaths of new members to perform duties to God and neighbor, without supposing they break the rule against swearing at all.
Chapter 46
Why does the editor suspect Tacitus's account of Felix as procurator over Samaria?
The editor doubts it because Tacitus wrote about remote places from Rome; the claim of two procurators, one over Galilee and one over Samaria simultaneously, is without example elsewhere; and Josephus, living in Judea at the time, appears to know nothing of Felix's procuratorship before Cumanus's death. The editor suggests Felix may have been a subordinate judge earlier, but does not believe he was procurator of Samaria before.
Chapter 46

Section 474 cards

According to the notes, why does Agrippa's speech seem genuinely his own?
The notes argue that while Josephus usually composed speeches in elegant Greek style, this speech is plain and full of undeniable facts, suggesting it is Agrippa's own words. Josephus had great friendship with Agrippa, who may have supplied it himself. Agrippa's constant doctrine was that the Roman empire was raised and supported by Divine Providence.
Chapter 47
What two notable facts does the note on sections 28-29 observe?
First, it records an early example in Josephus of enemies attacking the Jews' country while the males were gone to one of the three sacred festivals, which God had promised to prevent during the theocracy. Second, it notes the seditious Jews broke the sabbath by fighting offensively, contrary to the universal doctrine and practice of their nation in those ages.
Chapter 47
Why did Nero choose Vespasian to command the war in Judea?
Nero judged Vespasian equal to the task: he was an old man in the camp, trained in war from youth, had pacified the west after German disorders, and had recovered Britain, earning his father Claudius a triumph. Nero also saw his sons as hostages for fidelity and their flourishing age as fit instruments. Perhaps Providence was paving the way for Vespasian's later emperorship.
Chapter 47
What did Vespasian do after receiving command of the armies in Syria?
Nero sent him to command the armies in Syria with great encomiums. Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia, where Titus had been with Nero, to Alexandria to bring back the fifth and tenth legions. Vespasian himself crossed the Hellespont and came by land into Syria, where he gathered the Roman forces plus considerable auxiliaries from neighboring kings.
Chapter 47

Section 484 cards

Why did the Jews attack Ascalon after defeating Cestius?
The Jews, elated by their unexpected success against Cestius, could not restrain their zeal and carried the war to remoter places. They gathered their hardiest soldiers and marched on Ascalon, an ancient city 520 furlongs from Jerusalem that was always hostile to the Jews, intending to make their first effort against it. The expedition was led by Niger the Persite, Silas of Babylon, and John the Essene.
Chapter 48
Why were the Jews defeated at Ascalon despite their numbers?
Josephus attributes the defeat to the Jews' deficiencies in war: they were unskillful fighters against skilled ones, footmen against horsemen, disordered against united ranks, poorly armed against fully armed, and driven by rage rather than sober counsel, while the Romans obeyed orders exactly. Antonius's cavalry broke their first ranks, and the wide plain suited the horsemen, who slaughtered them until evening, leaving ten thousand dead including generals John and Silas.
Chapter 48
How did Niger survive the burning tower at Bezedeh?
After the second defeat at Ascalon, the fleeing Jews, including Niger, were driven into a strong tower in a village called Bezedeh. The Romans set the wall on fire rather than spend time besieging it, and left rejoicing, assuming Niger was destroyed. But he leaped into a subterraneous cave in the innermost part of the tower and was preserved; on the third day he spoke out of the ground to those searching to give him a funeral, filling the Jews with unexpected joy.
Chapter 48
Why did Vespasian value Sepphoris and garrison it?
The inhabitants of Sepphoris of Galilee met Vespasian at Ptolemais, having earlier given their faith to Cestius Gallus and received a Roman garrison. They welcomed Vespasian and promised to assist him against their own countrymen, and he delivered them as many horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient against Jewish incursions. Josephus notes the danger of losing Sepphoris was no small one, since it was the largest city of Galilee, naturally strong, and a security for the nation's fidelity to Rome.
Chapter 48

Section 494 cards

How does Josephus describe the boundaries and extent of Judea?
Josephus says Judea's northern boundary is the village Anuath (Borceos), its southern limit a village near Arabia called Jordan, and its breadth runs from the river Jordan to Joppa. Jerusalem sits in the middle, which is why some call it the Navel of the country. Its maritime places reach as far as Ptolemais, and it was divided into eleven portions, with Jerusalem supreme over the rest.
Chapter 49
How did Josephus's attack on Sepphoris affect Galilee, according to the chapter?
Josephus marched on Sepphoris hoping to take it before it revolted, but he proved too weak and failed both to force the place and to persuade its people to surrender. This provoked the Romans, who out of anger burned the plain day and night, stole cattle, killed those able to fight, and enslaved the weaker. Josephus says Galilee was filled with fire and blood, with walled cities as the only refuge.
Chapter 49
What was the composition and size of Titus's army at Ptolemais?
Titus sailed from Achaia to Alexandria and marched quickly to Ptolemais, joining his father's fifth and tenth legions with the fifteenth. Eighteen cohorts followed the legions, plus five cohorts and a troop of horse from Cesarea and five troops of horse from Syria. Auxiliaries came from Antiochus, Agrippa, Sohemus, and Malchus. Josephus totals sixty thousand, besides servants trained in war.
Chapter 49
How does Josephus describe Roman military discipline and camp routine?
The author argues Roman dominion came from valor, not fortune, because soldiers drill daily as if at war, making exercises unbloody battles and battles bloody exercises. Camps are four-square, leveled, walled with towers and engines, with four gates and streets, the general's tent in the center like a temple. Trumpets signal sleeping, rising, and marching; on departure they burn the camp so enemies cannot use it.
Chapter 49

Section 504 cards

Why did the Romans prefer planned counsel over lucky success?
The author argues Romans took counsel before acting, so they seldom erred and easily corrected mistakes. They judged errors made after consultation better than rash success owed to fortune, because fortuitous advantage tempts inconsiderateness, while consultation makes men more careful; chance advantages are not credited to the gainer, and unexpected misfortunes are softened by having taken the best counsel possible.
Chapter 50
How did Roman law and discipline treat cowardice and disobedience?
Their preparatory exercises strengthened both bodies and souls, and fear hardened them for war: the laws imposed capital punishment not only for running from the ranks but for slothfulness and lesser inactivity. Generals were even more severe than the laws, offsetting any charge of cruelty by great rewards for valiant soldiers. Obedience to commanders was so ready it adorned peace, and in battle the army acted as one body.
Chapter 50
What was the marching order of Vespasian's army out of Ptolemais?
Light-armed auxiliaries and archers went first to prevent ambushes and search suspicious woods. Then came the fully armed foot and horse, then ten men per hundred to measure the camp, then road-levelers and wood-cutters. Next were the commanders' carriages with horsemen, Vespasian himself with select troops, the legion's 120 horsemen, siege engines on mules, tribunes, the eagle ensigns, trumpeters, the main army six deep, servants with baggage, mercenaries, and a rear guard.
Chapter 50
Why did Placidus's surprise attack on Jotapata fail?
Placidus marched on Jotapata, the strongest city, expecting an easy surprise and glory. But the men of Jotapata knew of his approach, came out, and fought briskly, defending country, wives, and children. They routed the Romans, wounded many, and killed seven, while losing three of their own, because the Romans retreated in order and their armor covered them, and the Jews threw weapons from a distance rather than closing. Placidus fled.
Chapter 50

Section 514 cards

Why did Vespasian consider Josephus entering Jotapata a divine gift?
A deserter told Vespasian that Josephus had gone into Jotapata. Vespasian believed that if he captured the city he would take all Judea, provided he also got Josephus under his power. He judged it the greatest advantage, brought about by providence, that the enemy's most prudent man had shut himself up in a place of sure custody. He sent Placidus with a thousand horsemen and Ebutius to surround the city so Josephus could not escape privately.
Chapter 51
How did Josephus protect workmen raising Jotapata's wall against missiles and fire?
Josephus ordered the wall built higher. When workmen protested that darts made this impossible, he had piles fixed and raw hides of newly killed oxen spread before them. The hides yielded and hollowed when stones struck, so they received them; other darts slid off, and thrown fire was quenched by the hides' moisture. Under this cover the workmen raised the wall by day and night until it was twenty cubits high, and he added towers and strong battlements.
Chapter 51
Why did Vespasian abandon assault and decide to starve Jotapata instead?
Vespasian was irritated by Josephus's stratagem and the citizens' boldness; encouraged by the new wall, they made daily sallies, plundered, and set fire to Roman works. He therefore made his army stop fighting and resolved to lie around the city and starve them into surrender, supposing they would either beg for mercy from lack of provisions or perish by famine. He calculated he would conquer more easily by giving them an interval and attacking when famine had weakened them, while guarding against their coming out.
Chapter 51
What water problem afflicted Jotapata during the siege, and how did Josephus respond?
The besieged had plenty of corn and other necessaries but lacked water, since the city had no fountain and people usually relied on rain water, which is rare in that country in summer. Josephus, wishing to prolong the siege, ordered drink given out by measure. The people found this scanty ration harder than actual want, grew more thirsty and despondent, and Romans opposite could see them taking water by measure and killed many with javelins.
Chapter 51

Section 524 cards

How did Josephus counter Vespasian's hope that the city's water would run out?
Josephus ordered many clothes to be soaked and hung out along the battlements, so the whole wall suddenly ran with water. The Romans were discouraged and consternated, seeing the Jews able to waste so much water in sport when they had supposed them short of enough to drink. Vespasian despaired of taking the city by want of necessaries and returned to arms.
Chapter 52
How did Josephus get supplies into the city past the Roman watch?
He used a rough, uneven place that was hard to ascend and therefore unguarded. He sent men along the western parts of the valley with letters, procuring necessaries in abundance from Jews outside the city. He told them to creep along by the watch and cover their backs with wool-bearing sheep-skins, so that if spied at night they might be taken for dogs. This worked until the watch detected the contrivance and surrounded the place.
Chapter 52
What reasons did Josephus give the people for leaving the city?
Josephus concealed that he meant to go for his own safety and said he would go out for their sakes. Staying could do them little good while they were safe, and if taken he would only perish uselessly with them. If free of the siege, he would gather the Galileans in great multitudes and draw the Romans off by another war. He also argued the Romans would relax once they heard he had fled.
Chapter 52
How did Vespasian respond to the Jews' desperate sallies?
Vespasian ordered his armed men to avoid their onset and not fight it out with men under desperation, saying nothing is more courageous than despair, and that their violence would be quenched when they failed of their purposes, as fire is quenched when it wants fuel. He held that Romans should gain victories as cheaply as they could, since they were not forced to fight but only to enlarge their dominions. He repelled the Jews largely with Arabian archers, Syrian slingers, and stone-throwers.
Chapter 52

Section 534 cards

How did a minor wound to Vespasian affect the Roman army during the siege?
A Jew defending the city hit Vespasian with a dart in the foot, wounding him only slightly because of the great distance. When soldiers near him saw his blood, a report spread through the whole army that the general was wounded; most left the siege and ran to him in fear, and Titus came first out of concern for his father, throwing the multitude into great confusion.
Chapter 53
What did Josephus order his men to do when the Romans shouted and shot arrows?
Josephus told his men to stop their ears when the legions shouted so they would not be frightened, and to bend down on their knees and cover themselves with shields to avoid the multitude of enemy darts. They were to retreat a little until the archers emptied their quivers, then leap out suddenly when the Romans laid their scaling instruments.
Chapter 53
What desperate measure did Josephus use against the Romans ascending the wall?
Taking necessity as his counselor in extreme distress, Josephus ordered scalding oil poured on the Romans whose shields protected them. Large quantities were brought and poured on all sides, and the vessels were thrown down while still hissing from the heat. The oil ran under their armor, burned their flesh, and dispersed the united band, who tumbled from the wall in pain.
Chapter 53
How did the Romans finally gain the wall despite the Jewish defense?
The Jews grew weary from continual defense with no reserves to relieve them, while fresh Roman soldiers kept replacing those who were tired or thrust down. Encouraging one another and joining shields side to side, the Romans became a body of men not to be broken; thrusting the Jews away as though themselves one body, they began to get upon the wall.
Chapter 53

Section 544 cards

What two stratagems did the Jews of Jotapata use to make Roman ascent boards slippery?
The Jews poured oil on the boards, and later poured boiling fenugreek on them, so that Romans could neither keep their feet going up nor coming down. Men fell backward onto the machines or onto the bank and were slain, since the Jews, freed from hand-to-hand fighting, could throw darts at them. That evening the Romans were called off with many slain and more wounded, while Jotapata lost only six killed though over three hundred were wounded.
Chapter 54
How did Vespasian's iron-plated towers change the siege, and how did the Jews respond?
Vespasian ordered the banks raised higher and three towers built, each fifty feet high, covered with iron plates so they were firm by weight and hard to set on fire. From them archers, stone and dart engines, and slingers shot down unseen at the wall's defenders. The Jews could neither escape the darts nor avenge themselves on invisible enemies, and their hand-thrown darts could hardly reach the towers, so they fled the walls and attacked the shooters outside.
Chapter 54
What happened to the people of Japha after Trajan's attack?
Trajan, commander of the tenth legion, was sent with one thousand horsemen and two thousand footmen against Japha. When its people fled to the first wall, Romans entered with them; their own citizens shut the second wall's gates, fearing Romans would force in. Caught between walls, many were killed by Romans, by their own men's swords, and by their own swords, cursing their fellow citizens. Twelve thousand died there; later Titus took the city, and total slain with the earlier fight was fifteen thousand, with two thousand one hundred thirty captives.
Chapter 54
How was Jotapata finally taken, and what did the Romans do inside?
On the forty-seventh day of the siege, a deserter told Vespasian the watch fell asleep near the last watch before dawn. Though Vespasian suspected him, knowing Jewish loyalty and that one man of Jotapata had smiled while crucified under torture without revealing anything, he kept the man in custody and prepared the army. Titus and the tribune Domitius Sabinus first mounted the wall, cut the watch's throats, and entered quietly; a mist and sleep delayed discovery until the army was inside. The Romans, remembering the siege, spared none, driving people down the precipice, and many of Josephus's chosen men killed themselves rather than die by Romans.
Chapter 54

Section 554 cards

What happened to the Roman centurion Antonius at the taking of Jotapata?
A man hiding in the caverns asked Antonius to reach him his right hand as a pledge of safety and help him out. Antonius incautiously extended his hand, and the man stabbed him under the loins with a spear, killing him immediately. Josephus notes the Romans might have boasted the siege's end was bloodless on their side had Antonius not died by this treachery.
Chapter 55
How did Josephus describe his surrender to the Romans?
Josephus says he recalled dreams in which God signified the future calamities of the Jews and the fortunes of the Roman emperors, and he was versed in the sacred books as a priest. He prayed that since God was depressing the Jewish nation and had chosen his soul to foretell events, he would give himself up willingly, protesting he went not as a deserter of the Jews but as a minister from God.
Chapter 55
What arguments did Josephus give his men against suicide?
Josephus argued self-murder is unmanly and impious against God the Creator, comparing it to a pilot who sinks his own ship out of fear of a storm. He said no animal kills itself, the desire for life is a law engraved in all creatures, the soul is immortal and a deposit from God, and the law orders the bodies of suicides exposed unburied until sunset, while allowing enemies to be buried.
Chapter 55
How did the Jews with Josephus react to his willingness to surrender?
They came about him in a body, invoking the laws of their forefathers and accusing him of loving life and slavery, of having a false reputation for manhood and wisdom, and of forgetting how many he had persuaded to die for liberty. They offered him their right hand and a sword, saying he would die either as general of the Jews or as a traitor, and began thrusting their swords at him.
Chapter 55

Section 564 cards

How did Josephus avoid being killed by his own men at Jotapata?
Josephus proposed that they commit mutual deaths by lot: whoever drew the first lot would be killed by the one with the second, and so on, so that no one would perish by his own hand. The men found the proposal just. Josephus drew a lot himself and was left with one other man, whom he persuaded to trust him and live.
Chapter 56
What prediction did Josephus make to Vespasian, and how was it received?
Josephus told Vespasian privately that he came as a messenger from God, that Vespasian and his son Titus would become emperor, and that Nero's successors would not last until Vespasian. Vespasian first thought it a cunning trick for self-preservation, but later believed it after other signs and after captives confirmed Josephus had foretold Jotapata's fall on the forty-seventh day and his own capture.
Chapter 56
Why did the people of Joppa turn to piracy, and what happened to them?
Refugees from demolished cities and men who had escaped their enemies rebuilt Joppa as a refuge, but the surrounding region was laid waste by war and could not support them, so they built piratical ships and raided the seas near Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Vespasian sent foot and horse against the city; the people fled to their ships, a violent wind wrecked them, and 4,200 bodies were thrown out of the sea.
Chapter 56
How did Titus and the Roman commanders react on seeing Josephus captured?
The Romans crowded to see him with mixed reactions: some rejoiced, some threatened him, distant ones cried for his death, and those near recalled his deeds with concern at his changed fortune. The commanders relented at the sight of him. Titus pitied him, considering the power of fortune and how quickly affairs turn in war, and helped persuade his father to preserve him.
Chapter 56

Section 574 cards

Why did Vespasian establish a camp at Joppa after taking it twice?
Vespasian wanted to stop the pirates from returning to Joppa. He built a camp where the citadel had stood, leaving a body of horsemen and a few footmen. The footmen guarded the camp while the horsemen raided the surrounding country, destroying neighboring villages and smaller cities every day.
Chapter 57
How did Jerusalem first react to the reported fate of Jotapata?
Many at first disbelieved the report because of the scale of the calamity and because no eyewitness survived to confirm it; only rumor spread the news. The truth became known gradually from places near Jotapata. Fictitious details were added, including a false report that Josephus had been slain, which filled Jerusalem with public sorrow and mourning for about thirty days.
Chapter 57
How did Jerusalem's attitude toward Josephus change once he was known to be alive?
The city had mourned Josephus as dead with a public lamentation lasting until the thirtieth day. When it learned he was alive and among the Romans, treated better than captives, the people turned vehemently angry. Some abused him as a coward, others as a deserter, and the city was full of indignation and reproaches against him.
Chapter 57
What argument did Titus make to his horsemen before fighting at Taricheae?
Titus urged his men to remember they were Romans and that the Jews, though bold and despisers of death, were a disorderly, unskilled body, more a rout than an army. He stressed Roman discipline, armor, cavalry, and leadership, and argued that courage and obedience, not numbers, win wars. He also said he would enter the danger first.
Chapter 57

Section 584 cards

Why did Titus urge his men to attack the city without waiting for reinforcements?
Titus argued that God was giving the Jews up to them and that the noise inside the city showed the defenders were in uproar against one another. He said they must hurry, prevent the enemy from reuniting, and also prevent their own men from joining, so that they alone could take the city. He added that no great thing is accomplished without labor and danger.
Chapter 58
How did the natural inhabitants of the city fare compared with the foreigners during the capture?
The natural inhabitants had opposed the war from the start and avoided fighting, hoping Titus would give them his right hand for security. The foreigners, who were numerous, pressed for fighting. Titus slew the authors of the revolt and then stopped further slaughter out of commiseration for the inhabitants, while the foreigners who had not fled made opposition and were killed.
Chapter 58
What did the test with chaff reveal about the source of the Jordan?
Panium was thought to be the Jordan's fountain, but the water was believed to travel there secretly from Phiala, a round pool whose water stays level at its edges. When Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis, he had chaff thrown into Phiala and it was found at Panium, showing the hidden connection. Agrippa later adorned Panium at his own expense.
Chapter 58
What happened to the Jews who fled onto the lake in ships?
Vespasian fitted out vessels and pursued them. The Jews' small ships were fit only for piracy and too weak to fight the Romans, and their few mariners feared to approach. Stones thrown at armored Romans only made noise, while Roman darts reached the Jews; some were drowned with their ships, run through with long poles, or killed as they tried to swim or reach shore. None escaped.
Chapter 58

Section 594 cards

How did Vespasian resolve his dilemma over killing the surrendered prisoners at Taricheae?
Vespasian feared killing them openly would anger the countryside and shrank from breaking his assurances of safety, but his friends argued nothing done against Jews was impiety and that profit must precede fitness. He gave ambiguous liberty, allowed only the Tiberias road, then had Romans seal the roads and shut the prisoners in the city.
Chapter 59
What did Vespasian do with the prisoners after confining them in the stadium at Taricheae?
He ordered the old men and useless persons killed, numbering one thousand two hundred. From the young men he chose six thousand of the strongest and sent them to Nero to dig through the Isthmus, and sold the remaining thirty thousand four hundred as slaves, besides those he presented to Agrippa, who also sold his for slaves.
Chapter 59
Who does Josephus say the prisoners at Taricheae largely were, and what was their character?
Josephus says the rest of the multitude were Trachonites, Gaulanites, people of Hippos, and some of Gadara, the greatest part seditious persons and fugitives of such shameful character that they preferred war before peace. The prisoners were taken on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus, called Elul.
Chapter 59
What does the footnote say about Vespasian's action at Taricheae?
The footnote calls it the most cruel and barbarous action Vespasian ever did in the whole war, done with great reluctance, after public assurance of sparing the prisoners' lives, and when all confessed they were in no way guilty of sedition against the Romans. It adds Titus did not consent, and mocks the officers' arguments as admirable court doctrines.
Chapter 59

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Why did Vespasian's men attack Gamala so fiercely after Agrippa was hit?
King Agrippa approached the walls to urge surrender and was struck on the right elbow by a slinger. The Romans were then driven to press the siege both by indignation on the king's behalf and by fear for themselves, reasoning that men so enraged against one of their own nation, who advised only what benefited them, would show no restraint toward foreigners and enemies.
Chapter 60
How did the collapsing houses at Gamala destroy the Romans?
Romans fleeing into the low houses overloaded them, so the houses fell suddenly; one falling house shook down many beneath it, and those in turn brought down others. Many were crushed, some lost limbs, and a greater number were suffocated by the dust. The Gamalans took this as God's assistance and pressed the enemy onto the rooftops, stoning them in the narrow streets.
Chapter 60
How did Vespasian escape when he was caught inside Gamala?
Vespasian stayed with the hard-pressed troops and went up toward the highest parts of the city before he realized it, left with only a few men since Titus had been sent to Mucianus in Syria. Deeming flight unsafe and unfitting, he formed a testudo with his companions' shields and bore the enemy's attacks until they noticed his courage and slackened, then retired without showing his back.
Chapter 60
What stratagem let Placidus defeat the Jews who came down from Mount Tabor?
Placidus invited them to peace with offers of his right hand and intercession, while they came down intending to attack him unawares. When they began to fight, he feigned flight, drew them far out into the plain, then turned his horsemen back, beat them, and cut off the retreat of the rest. The survivors left Tabor for Jerusalem, and the country people surrendered the mountain when their water failed.
Chapter 60

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How was Gamala finally breached by the Romans?
Three soldiers of the fifteenth legion, during the morning watch, silently undermined a high tower near them, rolled away five of its strongest stones, and withdrew. The tower suddenly collapsed with a great noise, its guards falling headlong, and the guards elsewhere fled in confusion. The Romans entered the city only on the twenty-third day of Hyperbereteus, remembering their earlier ill success.
Chapter 61
What natural event aided the Romans at Gamala's citadel?
Josephus reports that a divine storm arose against the Jews holding the rocky citadel: it carried Roman darts upon them, made their own missiles return back, and drove them obliquely away. The wind was so violent the Jews could not stand on the precipices nor see the Romans ascending, so the Romans got up and surrounded them.
Chapter 61
How did John deceive Titus at Gischala?
John answered Titus that he accepted his proposals, but asked that the Jewish law be respected by allowing them to observe the seventh day, on which it was unlawful even to treat of peace. Josephus says this was a trick, not regard for the Sabbath: John feared being deserted if the city were taken and hoped to flee by night. Titus was prevailed on and pitched camp at Cydessa.
Chapter 61
What were the casualties when Gamala was taken?
The Romans, enraged by remembrance of those slain at their former entrance, slew four thousand, while five thousand had thrown themselves, with their children and wives, down the precipices into the valley. Josephus says the Romans' anger appeared less extravagant than the madness of those taken. Only two women, daughters of Philip, and Philip himself escaped, having lain concealed.
Chapter 61

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How did John escape the Romans at night, and what happened to his followers?
John fled to Jerusalem by night with armed men and many non-combatants, including women and children, taking them about twenty furlongs before abandoning them. Titus sent horsemen who could not overtake John, but they killed six thousand of the women and children and brought back almost three thousand. Titus was greatly displeased at failing to punish John.
Chapter 62
Why did Titus restrain the disturbers of the city with threats rather than executions?
Titus feared that many would accuse innocent persons out of private animosities if he tried to distinguish the guilty, and thought it better to leave a guilty person in his fears than destroy an innocent one alongside him. He reasoned that fear and shame might reform an offender, but punishment of the dead could never be retrieved.
Chapter 62
What did John of Gischala tell the Jerusalem crowd about the Romans?
John urged the people to war, claiming the Romans were weak and extolling his own power. He jested that the Romans, though they took wings, could never fly over Jerusalem's wall, since they had struggled to take the villages of Galilee and broken their war engines against those walls. The author notes this corrupted many young men, while prudent elders foresaw ruin.
Chapter 62
What happened to Antipas and other eminent men seized by the robbers in Jerusalem?
The robbers openly seized Antipas, of royal lineage and entrusted with public treasures, then Levias and Sophas son of Raguel, also of royal lineage, plus principal men of the country. Fearing their powerful families might avenge them, they sent John "son of Dorcas" with ten sword-bearing men to kill the prisoners, claiming falsely that these men had plotted to surrender Jerusalem to the Romans.
Chapter 62

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How did the zealots change the appointment of high priests?
The robbers took it upon themselves to appoint high priests, disannulling the traditional succession by family and ordaining unknown and ignoble persons so these appointees would support their wicked undertakings. Those who received the honor without desert were forced to comply with those who bestowed it.
Chapter 63
What did Ananus blame the people for in his speech?
Ananus argued the people had nourished the tyrants by their sufferance: they overlooked the first few, kept silent as they grew numerous, and by conniving when the zealots took arms effectively armed them against themselves. He urged them to act rather than wait for the Romans to pity them.
Chapter 63
What did Ananus say about the Romans compared to the zealots?
Ananus argued that even if taken by the Romans, they would suffer nothing harder than what the zealots had already brought. He noted the Romans respected sacred bounds and viewed the sacred walls with horror, while native-born Jews walked the holy places with hands still warm from slaughtering countrymen. He suggested the Romans might prove supporters of their laws.
Chapter 63

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Why did Ananus refuse to attack the inner temple court?
Ananus thought it unlawful to bring the multitude into that court before they were purified, and he did not think fit to attack the holy gates even though the zealots threw stones and darts from above. Instead he chose six thousand armed men by lot to guard the cloisters in rotation, though some wealthy men hired poorer substitutes to serve their guard turns.
Chapter 64
How did John of Gischala betray Ananus's party to the zealots?
John went about with Ananus by day and night, learned the people's deliberations, and divulged their secrets to the zealots before they were well agreed upon. His excessive flattery and constant uninvited attendance made him suspected, but he was too powerful to remove. He swore an oath to the people's side, then told the zealots Ananus was sending to Vespasian.
Chapter 64
What false claims did John make to the zealots inside the temple?
John claimed Ananus had prevailed on the people to send ambassadors to Vespasian inviting him to take the city, and had appointed a fast for the next day so they might gain temple admission on religious grounds or by force. He urged the zealots to seek foreign help, hinting covertly at the Idumeans without naming them, and warned that pardon was unlikely.
Chapter 64
Why did the zealots decide to summon the Idumeans?
Fearing the people would attack soon and that Ananus was betraying the city to the Romans, the zealots resolved to call in the Idumeans. They sent a letter claiming Ananus had deceived the people and was surrendering the metropolis, and that they themselves were held in the temple for liberty's sake. Josephus calls the Idumeans a tumultuous nation delighting in change.
Chapter 64

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Who led the twenty thousand Idumeans who came to Jerusalem?
The Idumeans gathered twenty thousand men in battle array and came to Jerusalem under four commanders: John, Jacob the son of Sosas, Simon the son of Cathlas, and Phineas the son of Clusothus. They assembled sooner than the time set in the proclamation, each seizing arms to defend the liberty of their metropolis.
Chapter 65
What did Jesus the high priest urge the Idumeans to do from the tower?
Jesus, eldest of the high priests next to Ananus, spoke from the tower over against the Idumeans. He argued they had come to support the vilest of men, and proposed they either join in cutting off the tyrants, lay aside arms and enter as kindred to judge the case, or leave both sides alone while watching the city's passages.
Chapter 65
How did the Idumeans respond to Jesus's speech?
The Idumean multitude paid no attention to Jesus's words and were enraged because they did not meet a ready entrance into the city. Their generals resented the offer to lay down arms, viewing it as equal to captivity to throw them away at any man's injunction. Simon son of Cathlas with difficulty quieted his men's tumult.
Chapter 65
What did Simon son of Cathlas accuse the Jerusalem rulers of doing?
Simon accused the rulers of shutting the city's gates against their own nation while being prepared to admit the Romans, and of walling up a city once open to all foreigners who came to worship. He said the Idumeans would preserve the house of God and fight both attackers from abroad and betrayers from within.
Chapter 65

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What did the night storm and earthquake signal, according to Josephus?
Josephus says the storm of violent wind, huge rain, continuous lightning, terrible thunder, and earthquake bellowings was a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men. He adds that anyone would guess these wonders foreshowed grand calamities. Both the Idumeans and Ananus's party misread the signs: the Idumeans feared God was angry at their taking arms, while Ananus's side thought God fought as their general.
Chapter 66
How did the zealots open the city gate for the Idumeans?
The zealots took saws belonging to the temple and cut the bars of the city gate to pieces, opening the gate facing the Idumeans. The noise of the wind and thunder drowned out the sound of the saws so the guards did not hear. This happened after Ananus, because the storm was so terrible, gave the guards in the cloisters leave to sleep.
Chapter 66
What happened to Ananus and Jesus after the Idumeans entered?
The Idumeans sought out the high priests; when they caught Ananus and Jesus they slew them, stood on their bodies in jest, and upbraided Ananus with his kindness to the people and Jesus with his speech from the wall. They cast the bodies out without burial, though Jews normally buried even crucified men before sunset. Josephus says Ananus's death was the beginning of the city's destruction.
Chapter 66
How does Josephus characterize Ananus and his death's significance?
Josephus calls Ananus venerable and very just, a lover of parity with the meanest people, a prodigious lover of liberty, and an admirer of democracy who preferred public welfare and peace above all. He was sensible the Romans were not to be conquered and foresaw war and destruction. Josephus argues that if Ananus had survived, the Jews would have compounded matters with Rome, and dates the overthrow of the wall from his death.
Chapter 66

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What did the zealots and Idumeans do to noblemen and youths they captured?
They bound them and shut them in prison, postponing slaughter in hopes some would join their party. When none complied, preferring death to enrollment among them, the prisoners were scourged and tortured until, with difficulty, they were slain. Those caught by day were killed at night and their bodies thrown out to make room for new prisoners. Josephus says twelve thousand of the better sort perished this way.
Chapter 67
How did the seventy judges rule in the trial of Zacharias, and what happened next?
The seventy judges, assembled as a show of judicature without proper authority, returned a verdict of not guilty, choosing to risk death themselves rather than condemn him. The zealots clamored at the acquittal, and two of the boldest fell on Zacharias in the middle of the temple and slew him, mocking that this verdict would prove a surer acquittal, then threw his body into the valley below.
Chapter 67
Why did Vespasian refuse to let the Romans march on Jerusalem immediately?
Vespasian argued that attacking now would unite the Jews and turn their full force against Rome, whereas waiting would let them be consumed by their own sedition. He said God was acting as the Romans' general, granting victory without danger, and that a quietly obtained success is more profitable than battle's risks. He added that conquering now would credit their sedition, not Roman bravery.
Chapter 67

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How did the zealots' guard of Jerusalem's exits treat rich versus poor deserters?
The zealots guarded every passage out of the city and killed anyone caught attempting to flee, assuming they were defecting to the Romans. Josephus states that a deserter who gave money escaped, while one who gave nothing was judged a traitor. Thus the rich purchased their flight with money, while only the poor were slain.
Chapter 68
What ancient oracle did the zealots unwittingly fulfill, according to Josephus?
Josephus reports an ancient oracle that the city would be taken and the sanctuary burned by right of war when sedition invaded the Jews and their own hand polluted the temple of God. He says the zealots did not quite disbelieve these predictions but made themselves the instruments of their accomplishment.
Chapter 68
What did the Sicarii do at Engaddi during the feast of unleavened bread?
The Sicarii, holding the fortress of Masada, came down by night undetected and overran the small city of Engaddi. They struck before the citizens could arm themselves, dispersed them, and cast them out. They slew above seven hundred of those who could not flee, mainly women and children, then carried off the city's goods and fruits to Masada.
Chapter 68
How did Gadara come to surrender to Vespasian, and how did the seditious party react?
The men of power in Gadara sent an embassy to Vespasian without the knowledge of the seditious, desiring peace and to save their effects, since many citizens were rich. The opposite party discovered this as Vespasian approached, despaired of holding the city, seized Dolesus, slew him and abused his body, then fled. The people admitted Vespasian with acclamations.
Chapter 68

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How did Placidus's pursuit end at the Jordan River?
Placidus drove the fleeing multitude to the Jordan, which recent rains had made unfordable. Trapped, they were forced to fight; the Romans threw darts and pushed many into the current. Josephus reports fifteen thousand slain, a vast number forced into the river, and two thousand two hundred taken prisoner, plus livestock as plunder.
Chapter 69
Why did the guards at the village wall hesitate to shut the gates?
The guards could not bear to exclude the refugees from Gadara because their own people were among them, yet admitting them meant likely perishing together. While they crowded at the wall, the Roman horsemen closed in; the guards finally shut the gates, but Placidus assaulted and took the wall by dark, destroying the useless multitude while the powerful fled.
Chapter 69
Why did Vespasian hurry to finish the Jewish war?
Hearing of commotions in Gaul, where Vindex and men of power had revolted from Nero, Vespasian hurried the war forward. He foresaw coming civil wars and danger to the government itself, and thought that pacifying the eastern empire first would lighten fears for Italy. During winter he garrisoned villages and cities, then campaigned from spring.
Chapter 69
What does Josephus say about the fountain at Jericho?
Josephus reports that the fountain was once sickly and corruptive, blasting earth, trees, and children, until the prophet Elisha threw in an earthen vessel of salt and prayed. Thereafter it was wholesome, fertile, and prolific, watering a plain seventy furlongs long and twenty broad, nourishing palms, balsam, and other rare trees.
Chapter 69

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What happened when Vespasian tested the buoyancy of Lake Asphaltites?
Vespasian ordered men who could not swim to have their hands tied behind them and be thrown into the deep; they all floated as if a wind forced them upward. Josephus says the lake is so light or thick that it bears up the heaviest things thrown in, and it is hard to make anything sink to the bottom.
Chapter 70
How was bitumen from Lake Asphaltites harvested and what was it used for?
Laborers caught the black clods of bitumen that floated on the surface and drew them into their ships. The substance was so tenacious that the ship hung upon the clods until they were set loose with the menstrual blood of women and with urine, to which alone it yields. Bitumen was used for caulking ships and mixed into many medicines for curing bodies.
Chapter 70
Why did Vespasian postpone his march on Jerusalem after Nero's death?
Vespasian had fortified the places around Jerusalem and was preparing to march when he learned Nero was dead. He waited to see where the empire would be transferred, and after hearing Galba was made emperor he attempted nothing until Galba should send directions. He sent Titus to salute Galba, but Galba was slain after seven months and eight days.
Chapter 70
How did Simon of Gerasa build up his following before attacking Jerusalem?
Driven from the Acrabattene toparchy by Ananus, Simon joined the robbers at Masada, then left them and went into the hill country. He proclaimed liberty to slaves and a reward to those already free, gathering wicked men from all quarters. His army grew from slaves and robbers until much of the populace obeyed him as king, and he openly prepared to assault Jerusalem.
Chapter 70

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What does Josephus report about Hebron's age and history?
The people of the country say Hebron is more ancient than any city in that land, and even than Memphis in Egypt, reckoning its age at 2,300 years. They relate it was the habitation of Abram, progenitor of the Jews, after he left Mesopotamia, and that his posterity went from there into Egypt; monuments of excellent marble are still shown there, plus a large turpentine tree six furlongs off said to date from the creation.
Chapter 71
How did Simon respond when the zealots seized his wife?
Rather than yield, Simon grew angry and, unable to reach those who wounded him, vented rage on unarmed elderly people leaving Jerusalem for herbs or sticks, torturing and killing them and cutting off many hands to send into the city. He swore by God that unless his wife was restored he would break down the wall and punish all citizens, sparing no age and distinguishing neither guilty nor innocent. The threats frightened the zealots into returning her.
Chapter 71
Why did Jerusalem's leaders admit Simon, and what resulted?
To overthrow John, the high priests and people—urged on, Josephus says, by God turning their counsels to the worst advice—decided to invite Simon in, sending the high priest Matthias to beseech him. They welcomed him as savior, but once inside with his army Simon secured his own authority and regarded those who invited him as no less enemies than the zealots. Josephus calls this remedy worse than the disease.
Chapter 71

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How did Simon gain possession of Jerusalem, and in what year of the war?
Simon took Jerusalem in the third year of the war, in the month Xanthicus (Nisan). John and his multitude of zealots were shut up in the temple, had lost their power in the city, and had been plundered by Simon's party, so they despaired of deliverance. Simon then assaulted the temple with the people's assistance while the zealots defended from the cloisters and battlements.
Chapter 72
Why did the zealots' position give them an advantage in defending the temple?
The zealots stood on the cloisters and battlements and threw darts from a superior height, seldom failing to hit their enemies. They had also erected four large towers beforehand so their darts came from higher places: one at the north-east corner of the court, one above the Xystus, one over against the lower city, and one above the Pastophoria. Simon's men therefore fell in considerable numbers.
Chapter 72
Why did Vespasian want to gain control of Alexandria and Egypt?
Vespasian wanted Alexandria because Egypt supplied corn to Rome; if he controlled the food supply, he hoped to dethrone Vitellius, who could not hold out if the Roman multitude went hungry. He also wanted to join the two legions at Alexandria to his other legions, and Egypt's natural defenses made it a safeguard against fortune.
Chapter 72
How did Vespasian come to accept the empire, according to Josephus?
The commanders and soldiers met in companies and declared Vespasian emperor, urging him to save the government. Josephus says Vespasian had long been concerned for the public but did not intend to seize rule himself, preferring private safety to the dangers of dignity. He refused at first; the commanders pressed harder, and soldiers with drawn swords threatened to kill him unless he accepted, so he finally yielded.
Chapter 72

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Why did Vespasian decide to free Josephus from his bonds?
Vespasian recalled that Josephus had foretold his rise to the empire while Nero was still alive, a prediction he had once dismissed as a fiction born of fear but which time had shown to be divine. Considering it shameful that such a man remain a prisoner, he summoned his commanders and ordered Josephus set at liberty.
Chapter 73
What did Titus advise regarding Josephus's chain, and why?
Titus argued that the scandal of Josephus's imprisonment should be removed along with the chain itself. Rather than merely loosening the bonds, he said they should be cut to pieces, so Josephus would be like a man never bound at all—the usual method for those bound without cause. Vespasian agreed, and a man came in and cut the chain.
Chapter 73
How did Cecinna's plan to defect to Antonius Primus unfold?
Cecinna, sent by Vitellius with a great army, feared to fight Antonius and persuaded his centurions and tribunes to defect by belittling Vitellius and exaggerating Vespasian's power. His soldiers repented that same night, attacked him, and put him in bonds as a traitor. Antonius then attacked, routed them, and plundered Cremona.
Chapter 73
What happened to Vitellius and the Capitol according to this chapter?
Sabinus seized the Capitol with night-watch cohorts and was joined by Domitian, but German soldiers took the hill, killed Sabinus, and burned and plundered the temple. Vitellius was later dragged through Rome, abused, and beheaded after ruling eight months and five days. Josephus says over fifty thousand were slain in the fighting.
Chapter 73

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According to the notes, what happened to the Jewish high priesthood under the seditious?
The notes describe the utter disgrace and ruin of the high priesthood, when undeserving, ignoble, and vile persons were advanced to that holy office by the seditious. Such high priests were then obliged to comply with and assist those who advanced them in their impious practices. The named high priests include Jesus son of Damneus, Jesus son of Gamaliel, Matthias son of Theophilus, and Phannias son of Samuel, called a prodigious ignoramus.
Chapter 74
Why does the note say Ananus's conduct was inconsistent regarding the temple courts?
The note observes that Ananus, the best of the Jews at that time, was very uneasy at the zealots' profanation of the Jewish courts of the temple, yet did not scruple the profanation of the court of the Gentiles, which in the Savior's days was made a market-place and a den of thieves. Josephus calls the two inner courts holy places but, as far as the note recalls, never gives that character to the court of the Gentiles.
Chapter 74
How does the note explain Josephus's release and honorable treatment by the Romans?
The note compares Josephus to Daniel, who was preferred by Darius and Cyrus for foretelling the destruction of the Babylonian monarchy, and to Jeremiah, freed and honorably treated by Nebuzaradan for foretelling Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians. Likewise Josephus was set at liberty and honorably treated for foretelling the advancement of Vespasian and Titus to the Roman empire. The note calls these eminent instances of Divine Providence and the certainty of Divine predictions.
Chapter 74

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Who were the three faction leaders and where did each hold power?
Eleazar son of Simon held the inner court of the temple with his zealots. John held the cloisters and lower position, fighting enemies above him. Simon son of Gioras, invited in by the people, controlled the upper city and much of the lower. John was caught between Eleazar above and Simon below, so he used engines of war against those above.
Chapter 75
What did John and Simon do to the city's grain stores, and why did Josephus see this as fatal?
John set fire to houses full of corn and other provisions, and Simon did the same when John retreated. Josephus says they acted as if on purpose to serve the Romans, destroying what the city had laid up against the siege. Almost all the corn that could have lasted many years was burnt, so the city was taken by famine.
Chapter 75
How did John use the temple materials Agrippa had provided?
Agrippa had brought timber at great expense so the temple could be raised twenty cubits higher, but the war interrupted the work. John cut the timber and used it to build towers and engines of war, erecting them behind the inner court opposite the west end of the cloisters, the only side where he could place them.
Chapter 75

Section 764 cards

Why did Titus march out of Cesarea with his legions?
Titus gathered part of his forces and ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem, then marched from Cesarea with the three legions that had served under his father in Judea, plus the twelfth legion formerly beaten with Cestius. That legion marched with greater alacrity to avenge its earlier losses to the Jews. He sent the fifth legion through Emmaus and the tenth by Jericho, and was joined by auxiliaries from kings, Syria, and Egypt.
Chapter 76
What happened when Titus rode out to view Jerusalem's strength?
Titus took six hundred select horsemen to observe the city and test whether the Jews would submit. When he left the straight road toward the tower Psephinus, a large number of Jews rushed out at the Women's Towers and intercepted him. Unarmored, he charged through the enemy to rejoin his men and escaped to camp, though two of his companions were killed.
Chapter 76
How did the approach of the Roman camps affect the factions inside Jerusalem?
The foreign war briefly halted the Jews' internal strife. Seeing the Romans pitching three camps, the seditious urged one another to act rather than watch walls being built to coop them in, and they attacked the tenth legion as it fortified its camp. The Romans, caught disordered with arms laid aside, were routed until Titus sent reinforcements, reproached the fleeing troops, and drove the Jews back.
Chapter 76
Where did Titus place the camps around Jerusalem?
Titus moved from the Valley of Thorns to Scopus, about seven furlongs from the city, and ordered a fortified camp there for two legions, with another camp three furlongs behind for the fifth legion so the night-marchers could fortify with less fear. The tenth legion, arriving via Jericho, was ordered to encamp six furlongs from Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, separated from the city by the Cedron valley.
Chapter 76

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How did Titus respond when his friends urged him to retreat from the Jewish attack?
Titus ignored his friends' pleas to fall back, instead opposing the attackers and striking them on the face, forcing them back and killing those he turned. He pressed on large numbers as they came down the hill. Josephus claims Caesar twice delivered the entire legion when it was in jeopardy, giving it time to fortify camp.
Chapter 77
What stratagem did the Jews use against the Romans near the Women's Towers?
Some Jews pretended to be ejected from the city by peace-favoring residents, while those on the wall cried for peace and threw stones at their own men. When Roman soldiers rushed between the towers, the Jews surrounded them and the wall threw down stones and darts, killing many. Titus, suspicious because they had refused his offer via Josephus a day earlier, had ordered his men to stay.
Chapter 77
How did Titus rebuke his soldiers after the ambush, and what did he say about the Jews?
Titus told his officers the Jews act with care and circumspection, contriving stratagems and ambushes, and succeed because they are obedient and faithful to one another. The Romans, he said, failed through disorder and by acting without their commanders in Caesar's presence. He warned that Roman law punishes those who break order, and that even conquering without orders brings disgrace.
Chapter 77
What happened when the other legions pleaded for the soldiers who had broken ranks?
Titus's speech made it evident he intended to enforce the law against all involved, and the guilty soldiers sank into despair, expecting a just and swift death. The other legions then surrounded Titus and begged him to pardon the rashness of a few in view of the better obedience of the rest, promising they would make amends through more virtuous conduct in future.
Chapter 77

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How did Titus respond to the soldiers' request after the Jews' stratagem?
Caesar complied with the soldiers' desires and prudence: he judged that single persons should be punished by real executions, but great multitudes should receive only reproofs. He was therefore reconciled to the soldiers while charging them to act more wisely in future, and he considered how to get even with the Jews for their stratagem.
Chapter 78
How was Jerusalem's third wall built, and why was it left unfinished?
Agrippa, father of the present king, began the third wall because Bezetha's inhabitants needed cover, but stopped after laying foundations for fear Claudius Caesar would suspect innovation. The Jews later raised it to twenty cubits with battlements and turrets, totaling twenty-five cubits. Josephus says the city could not have been taken had it been finished as begun, with stones twenty cubits long and ten broad.
Chapter 78
What were the dimensions and features of the tower Psephinus?
Psephinus stood at the north-west corner, elevated above the third wall, and Titus pitched his own tent there. It was seventy cubits high, an octagon, and afforded a prospect of Arabia at sun-rising and of the utmost limits of the Hebrew possessions westward at the sea.
Chapter 78
What three towers did Herod build in the old wall, and whom were they named for?
Herod built Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne in the old wall, naming them for his friend, his brother, and his wife. Josephus says they surpassed all in the habitable earth for largeness, beauty, and strength. Hippicus was square, twenty-five cubits by twenty-five and thirty high, reaching eighty cubits total; Phasaelus about ninety cubits; Mariamne fifty cubits.
Chapter 78

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How were the tower stones described in size and appearance?
Josephus says the tower stones were white marble cut from rock, each twenty cubits long, ten broad, and five deep. They were so exactly joined that each tower looked like a single natural rock later shaped by craftsmen, with joints barely visible. The old wall beneath them stood on a high hill and was itself thirty cubits taller, making the towers appear much higher.
Chapter 79
What did the stone partition in the temple declare, and in what languages?
A three-cubit stone partition surrounded the second court, called the Sanctuary, with pillars at equal distances declaring the law of purity in Greek and Roman letters: that no foreigner should go within that sanctuary. The second court was reached by fourteen steps from the first court and was four-square with its own wall.
Chapter 79
What did the colors of the Babylonian veil symbolize?
Josephus says the veil before the inner doors was a Babylonian curtain embroidered with blue, fine linen, scarlet, and purple. He interprets the scarlet as fire, the fine flax as earth, the blue as air, and the purple as sea, calling the mixture a kind of image of the universe. The curtain also depicted heavenly mysteries except the twelve signs.
Chapter 79
Who covered nine temple gates with silver and gold, and which gate surpassed them?
Josephus says Alexander, the father of Tiberius, poured silver and gold over the nine gates, including their jambs and lintels. But one gate outside the inner court of the holy house was of Corinthian brass and greatly excelled those covered with silver and gold. Each gate had two doors thirty cubits high and fifteen broad.
Chapter 79

Section 803 cards

What was the Holy of Holies, and who could see it?
The inmost part of the temple was twenty cubits and was separated from the outer part by a veil. Josephus says there was nothing at all in it; it was inaccessible, inviolable, and not to be seen by anyone, and was called the Holy of Holies. The high priest entered the most sacred part only once a year, on the fast day.
Chapter 80
What did the high priest wear, and when?
When officiating, the high priest wore breeches to the thighs, an inner linen garment, and a blue seamless round garment with fringed work reaching the feet, hung with golden bells and pomegranates (signifying thunder and lightning), plus an embroidered girdle, ephod with twelve stones, and a mitre with a golden crown engraved with the sacred name. He wore these only when entering the most sacred part, once a year.
Chapter 80
How did the tower of Antonia guard the temple?
Antonia stood at the corner of the west and north cloisters, built by Herod on a rock fifty cubits high with a smooth stone face. It had four corner towers, the southeast one seventy cubits high so the whole temple could be viewed, and passages down to both cloisters. A Roman legion always lay there and went armed among the cloisters on Jewish festivals to watch the people.
Chapter 80

Section 812 cards

What happened when the Roman siege engines opened fire from three places?
A prodigious noise echoed from three places, with great noise from the citizens and terror among the seditious. Both factions, seeing the common danger, laid aside their hatred and quarrels and formed one body, running the walls with torches to throw at the machines and shooting darts at those impelling the engines; the bolder ones leaped out to tear down the hurdles.
Chapter 81
What happened to the tower the Romans erected, and how did the army react?
One of the three fifty-cubit towers fell down about midnight on its own. Its great noise caused fear in the army; supposing the enemy was attacking, they ran to arms, and a tumult arose. Unable to tell what happened, they feared one another and demanded the watchword, like people under panic, until Titus informed them of the truth and they cleared the disturbance.
Chapter 81

Section 824 cards

Why did the Jews stop trying to stop the Roman battering rams?
The Roman towers were too high to reach, too heavy to overturn, and covered with iron plates so they could not be set on fire. The Jews therefore retired out of dart range and ceased hindering the rams, which kept beating the wall until it gave way to the engine the Jews called Nico, meaning it conquered all things.
Chapter 82
How did Titus respond to Castor's pretended surrender at the tower?
Titus believed Castor was in earnest, stopped the ram, and offered his right hand. Castor's men quarreled and feigned death, delaying the attack while he sent word to Simon. After Castor threw a stone at the deserter Eneas, Titus saw the deceit, concluded mercy in war is pernicious, and had the engine work more strongly in his anger.
Chapter 82
What mistake does Josephus say Titus made after taking the second wall?
Josephus argues Titus should have widened the breach or laid waste the city by the law of war. Instead, hoping to shame the Jews from obstinacy, he left the breach narrow, forbade killing and burning, and offered to restore the people's effects. The fighting men took this humanity as weakness, attacked the Romans inside, and nearly cut them off.
Chapter 82
What did Titus say distinguishes true courage from madness?
Titus said inconsiderate violence is madness, and that true courage is joined with good conduct. He commanded his men to take care, while fighting, that they receive no harm, and thereby show themselves truly valiant. Josephus also notes Titus secured his soldiers from harm while seeking to overcome the enemy.
Chapter 82

Section 834 cards

After the Romans were driven from the second wall, what did the Jews believe?
The fighting men in the city were lifted up by their success and thought the Romans would never venture into the city again, and that if they kept within it they would not be conquered. Josephus attributes this to God blinding their minds for their transgressions, so they could not see the Romans' greater forces or the famine creeping upon them.
Chapter 83
How did the seditious regard the deaths of the people within the city?
The seditious supposed the destruction of the people to be an easement to themselves. They wanted only those preserved who opposed peace with the Romans and were resolved to live in opposition to them, and were pleased when the multitude of the contrary opinion was consumed, as being then freed from a heavy burden.
Chapter 83
How did Titus use the four-day pay distribution, and what effect did it have?
Titus relaxed the siege and had the army put into battle-array before the enemy while every soldier received his subsistence money, with arms uncovered and horsemen in fine trappings. The sight was grateful to his own men and terrible to the enemy; the whole old wall, the north side of the temple, and the houses were full of spectators, and great consternation seized even the hardiest Jews.
Chapter 83
What did Josephus argue to the Jews from outside the wall?
Josephus urged them to spare themselves, their country, and their temple, noting the Romans reverenced their sacred rites though foreigners. He argued Roman power was invincible, that their forefathers had submitted to the Romans knowing God was with them, and that fighting for liberty should have been done at first; he warned famine would fight for the Romans even if the walls held.
Chapter 83

Section 844 cards

What does Josephus cite as proof that God, not arms, saved the Jews?
Josephus recounts Abraham recovering Sarah without war, the Exodus from Egypt after four hundred years of slavery, the Philistines stricken after taking the ark, and Sennacherib's army of 185,000 destroyed in one night by an angel. He argues the nation never succeeded by war but failed whenever it fought, and that God acted as their General when they committed matters to him.
Chapter 84
Which defeats does Josephus attribute to Jewish sins rather than Roman strength?
Josephus says Zedekiah's resistance to Babylon brought capture and the temple's demolition, Antiochus Epiphanes' attack left the sanctuary desolate three and a half years, and the quarrels of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus brought Pompey, who took the city after three months. Herod and Sosius besieged it six months before plundering it, all as punishment for sins.
Chapter 84
What terms does Josephus say the Romans actually offer the Jews?
Josephus claims the Romans demand only the customary tribute the fathers paid, and if granted it they will not destroy the city or touch the sanctuary. They will also grant freedom to posterity, secure possessions, and preserve the holy laws. He contrasts this with Sennacherib, who took money and still came to burn the temple.
Chapter 84
How does Josephus explain the springs flowing for Titus as a sign?
Josephus says the springs outside the city, including Siloam, had failed so badly under Jewish control that water was sold by measure, but since Titus arrived they run more plentifully than before, enough for men, cattle, and gardens. He reads this as God favoring the Romans, just as water signs accompanied the Babylonian siege, and concludes God has left the sanctuary.
Chapter 84

Section 854 cards

Why did many of the people want to desert to the Romans?
The people were strongly inclined to desert because they would be freed from the miseries they endured in the city while not becoming slaves to the Romans. Some sold their possessions, even treasures, for little, and swallowed pieces of gold to hide them from the robbers. After escaping, Titus let many go into the country wherever they pleased.
Chapter 85
How did the seditious treat the rich versus the poor during the famine?
The richer sort were destroyed either way: they were killed under the pretense of deserting, but really so the robbers could seize their goods. The poor suffered from the guards, while men of dignity and wealth were brought before the tyrants themselves, often accused of plotting or betraying the city to the Romans.
Chapter 85
What methods did the robbers use to find concealed food?
The robbers searched private houses for corn and tormented those who denied having any; if none was found, they tormented them worse, suspecting concealment. They judged by the body: the well-fed were assumed to have food, the wasted were left to die. They also stopped up privy passages and drove sharp stakes up the fundaments to force confessions of bread or barley-meal.
Chapter 85
Why did Titus not stop the crucifixion of captured Jews?
Titus pitied the captured, who were whipped, tortured, and crucified before the wall, sometimes five hundred a day. He did not forbid the cruelty mainly because he hoped the Jews might yield out of fear of the same treatment. He also judged it unsafe to release those taken by force and useless to guard so many.
Chapter 85

Section 864 cards

Who was Antiochus, and what did he do at the wall?
Antiochus Epiphanes came to the city with armed men, including a band called the Macedonian band, young men armed and instructed after the Macedonian manner. He was a warlike, bold man who made a sudden assault on the wall, guarding himself from Jewish darts while shooting his own. Titus smiled and said he would share the pains of an attack with him.
Chapter 86
How did John undermine the Roman banks at the tower of Antonia?
John undermined the ground over against the tower of Antonia as far as the banks, supporting the ground with crosswise beams. He then brought in materials daubed with pitch and bitumen and set them on fire. As the supporting beams burned, the ditch yielded suddenly and the banks fell in with a prodigious noise, discouraging the Romans.
Chapter 86
What did Titus decide to do instead of more banks or direct assault?
Titus rejected lying idle, fighting a doomed enemy, and rebuilding banks for lack of materials. He judged encircling the whole city with a wall the best way to prevent secret exits and stop provisions entering, so the Jews would despair or be weakened by famine. He said it is not fit for Romans to undertake small works.
Chapter 86
Why did the Romans hold their posts despite the Jewish assault?
The Roman law was terrible: whoever left his post, whatever the occasion, was to die. So the body of soldiers preferred to die fighting courageously rather than as punishment for cowardice, and stood firm. Many who had run away turned back out of shame, and the Romans gave way more to the Jews' boldness than to the harm received.
Chapter 86

Section 874 cards

Why did Titus order a wall built around Jerusalem, and how long did it take?
Titus ordered the army to build a circumvallation wall to cut off all hope of escape and liberty of going out of the city. The wall was forty furlongs long, one abated, with thirteen garrison places totaling ten furlongs. It was completed in three days, which Josephus calls incredible, since it would naturally have required months.
Chapter 87
What happened to Matthias, the high priest who urged Simon's admission?
Simon condemned Matthias son of Boethus to death for being on the Roman side without allowing him to defend himself, and condemned three of his sons with him; a fourth fled to Titus. Matthias begged to die before his sons, but Simon ordered him slain last, so he watched his sons die first, and their bodies were left unburied.
Chapter 87
What did Judas son of Judas propose, and how did Simon respond?
Judas, one of Simon's under-officers guarding a tower, argued with ten trusted men that they should surrender the wall to the Romans to save themselves and the city. He called to the Romans about the third hour, but Titus was delayed. Simon learned of it, seized the tower before surrender, and put the men to death in sight of the Romans, mangling and throwing down their bodies.
Chapter 87
How does Josephus describe the famine's effect on Jerusalem's people?
Josephus says famine devoured people by whole houses and families; upper rooms were full of dying women and children, lanes full of the aged dead, and the young wandered like shadows and fell dead. The sick could not bury the dead, and many died while burying others. He reports no lamentation, since famine confounded natural passions, and a deep silence seized the city.
Chapter 87

Section 884 cards

What happened to Josephus when a stone struck his head during his circuit of the city?
Josephus fell down giddy, and the Jews sallied out and nearly dragged him into the city; Caesar sent men who fought to protect him, and he was carried away, hearing little of what was done. The seditious supposed they had killed him and rejoiced, but he soon recovered and came out, exhorting the people to desert on the promised security.
Chapter 88
What happened to deserters who reached the Romans after starving in the city?
Many, puffed up by famine and swollen like dropsical men, suddenly overfilled their empty bodies and burst asunder, except those skillful enough to restrain their appetites and take food gradually. A further plague followed: Syrians and Arabians, hoping for gold the deserters had swallowed, cut open their bellies; about two thousand were thus dissected in one night.
Chapter 88
How did Titus respond when he learned of the practice of dissecting deserters for gold?
Titus was furious and nearly surrounded the guilty with his horse to shoot them, but their number was too great. He called together the commanders of the auxiliary troops and legions, rebuked both his own soldiers and the Arabians and Syrians, threatened death for repeat offenders, and ordered a search for suspects. Josephus adds that love of money defeated fear of punishment.
Chapter 88
What did John do when he could no longer plunder the people?
John turned to sacrilege, melting down many sacred utensils given to the temple, along with ministering vessels — caldrons, dishes, tables — and even pouring vessels donated by Augustus and his wife. He emptied sacred wine and oil kept for burnt-offerings and distributed it to the multitude, who used over a hin each in anointing and drinking, claiming those fighting for the temple should live of the temple.
Chapter 88

Section 893 cards

How does Josephus use the titles 'king' and 'Caesar' for Titus?
Josephus calls Titus 'a king' and 'Caesar' even while Titus was only the emperor's son and general of the Roman army, with Vespasian still alive. The note compares this to the New Testament calling Archelaus 'king' though he was properly only an ethnarch, and to Jews calling Roman emperors 'kings' though they never took that title.
Chapter 89
What does the note say about the watchword 'The Stone Cometh'?
The note's editor says he cannot tell the meaning of this signal, or what mistake is in the reading, since Greek and Latin manuscripts all agree on it. He rejects Hudson's conjectural change to 'the arrow or dart cometh,' noting Josephus used a Chaldee word for son (bar), not the similar Hebrew ben and eben, and that the engine threw great stones, not darts.
Chapter 89
What does the note observe about the Siloam fountain drying up?
The note calls the drying up of the Jerusalem fountain of Siloam when the Jews wanted it, and its flowing abundantly when the Jews' enemies wanted it, remarkable instances of Divine Providence punishing the Jewish nation when it had grown very wicked. The note says this happened both in the days of Zedekiah and of Titus.
Chapter 89

Section 904 cards

What did the Romans do to gather materials for their siege banks, and how long did it take?
The Romans raised their banks in twenty-one days, having cut down all the trees in the country adjoining the city for ninety furlongs around. Josephus describes the resulting landscape as desolate, noting that a foreigner who had formerly seen Judea's beautiful suburbs would lament at the change, and one who knew the place before would not recognize it.
Chapter 90
Why did the finished banks cause fear among both Romans and Jews?
The Jews expected the city would be taken unless they could burn the banks; the Romans expected that if the banks were burnt they could never take the city, since materials were scarce and soldiers were failing under hard labor. Josephus adds that the Jews' courage under misery discouraged the Romans more than the city's calamities did.
Chapter 90
What happened when John and his party went out with torches to burn the Roman banks?
They failed and returned discouraged before nearing the banks. Josephus says they went out in distinct parties at intervals, slowly and timorously, lacking the boldness and united assault he calls peculiar to the Jewish nation. The Romans were set in array, guarded the banks with bodies and armor, and their engines threw darts and stones, so the attackers retired without doing anything.
Chapter 90
What unexpected event occurred the night after the Romans brought their engines, and how did each side react?
The ground gave way and the wall fell suddenly, shaken by the battering rams where John had earlier undermined the banks. The Jews pulled up courage because the tower of Antonia still stood; the Romans' joy was quenched by sight of another wall John's party had built within. The new wall seemed weaker and easier to reach through the fallen sections, yet nobody dared go up first, since the first to venture would surely be killed.
Chapter 90

Section 914 cards

How does Titus justify making an exhortation before a dangerous assault?
Titus argues that exhortations to men facing no peril are inglorious and reveal the speaker's cowardice. He says such speeches should be used only when affairs are dangerous yet worth attempting by everyone. He then urges his soldiers to climb the wall, promising rewards and glory, and claims God assists the Romans while the Jews' sufferings show God's anger against them.
Chapter 91
What rewards does Titus promise the first man to mount the wall?
Titus says he would blush if he did not make the first man to mount the wall envied by others through his rewards. If that man survives, he shall have command over others now his equals. Titus adds that the greatest rewards will accrue to those who die in the attempt, since he claims souls slain by the sword in battle are received by the ether and become good demons and propitious heroes.
Chapter 91
Who was Sabinus and what happened to him after he reached the wall's top?
Sabinus was a Syrian-born soldier of the cohorts, small and lean in body but of great courage, who volunteered first to ascend the wall, followed by eleven others. He drove the Jews back and reached the top, but then stumbled on a large stone and fell. Alone and down, he was struck by darts from every side until he died; three of his companions were crushed with stones and eight wounded were carried back.
Chapter 91
How did the Romans finally take the tower of Antonia?
Two days after Sabinus's attempt, twelve frontline men gathered the standard-bearer of the fifth legion, two horsemen, and a trumpeter. About the ninth hour of night they went silently through the ruins to the tower of Antonia, killed the sleeping first guards, took the wall, and had the trumpeter sound. The guard fled, imagining a great number had ascended. Titus then came up with his commanders and chosen men.
Chapter 91

Section 924 cards

How did the centurion Julian die during the assault on the temple?
Julian, a centurion from Bithynia famed for skill, strength, and courage, leaped out alone and drove the Jews back to the inner court. Running on the temple pavement, he slipped on his nail-studded shoes and fell; the fleeing Jews turned back and surrounded him, striking with spears and swords. He fought from the ground, stabbing many, until his limbs were shattered and his throat was cut.
Chapter 92
What charge did Titus give Josephus regarding John, and how did John respond?
Titus ordered Josephus to tell John that if he wished to fight he could come out with his men without destroying city or temple, and that sacrifices could be offered by Jews of his choosing. Josephus spoke in Hebrew; the people fell silent and sad, but John reproached him and said he never feared the city's capture because it was God's own city.
Chapter 92
How did Josephus answer John's claim that God would protect the city?
Josephus argued sarcastically that John had kept the city pure and the temple unpolluted, yet had deprived God of the daily sacrifice while Romans tried to keep the laws observed. He cited King Jechoniah, who surrendered voluntarily to Babylon to save the sanctuary, as an example, and said the prophets foretold the city's fall when countrymen slaughtered each other.
Chapter 92
How did Titus treat the high priests and nobles who deserted to the Romans?
Titus received the deserters kindly, including the high priests Joseph and Jesus and sons of high priests and Matthias. Knowing they would not willingly live after other nations' customs, he sent them to Gophna to remain until the war ended, promising to restore each to his possessions. The seditious falsely claimed these deserters had been slain to deter further defections.
Chapter 92

Section 932 cards

Why did the Jews wound more of their own men than the enemy in the night fight?
The confused noise and darkness prevented them from distinguishing voices or sight, and passion and fear added blindness, so they struck at anyone. The Jews were dispersed and attacked at random, mistaking their own returning men for Romans. The Romans suffered less because they fought joined under shields with a watch-word.
Chapter 93
How did Titus stop his cavalry from losing horses to Jewish raids?
Because horsemen foraging let their horses feed without bridles, Jews sallied out and seized them. Titus judged the horses were lost more through his men's negligence than Jewish valor, so he had one soldier who lost his horse capitally punished. The terror made the rest keep their horses with them always.
Chapter 93

Section 944 cards

Why did the Jews burn part of their own cloister joined to the tower of Antonia?
Josephus says the Jews, pressed as the war crept toward the holy house, cut off the north-west cloister joined to the tower of Antonia and broke off about twenty cubits, treating these as infected limbs removed to stop a distemper spreading. They made a beginning of burning the sanctuary, and later lay still while the temple was first set on fire, deeming the spreading fire to their own advantage.
Chapter 94
How did the Jews trap the Romans on the western cloister?
The seditious filled the space between the beams and roof of the western cloister with dry materials, bitumen and pitch, then retired as if tired. Many rash Romans followed and set up ladders, while the prudent stayed back. The Jews set the cloister on fire; some Romans leapt into the city or to the enemy, many broke their limbs, and some killed themselves with their swords.
Chapter 94
What did the low-statured Jonathan do, and how did he die?
Jonathan, short and of despicable appearance and no family standing, went out at the high priest John's monument, insulted the Romans, and challenged their best to single combat. Pudens, a horseman, ran out and was overcome; Jonathan cut his throat and exulted on the body. Priscus, a centurion, shot a dart through him as he leaped about.
Chapter 94
What did Mary of Bethezob do during the famine, and how did the seditious react?
Mary, daughter of Eleazar of Bethezob beyond Jordan, besieged in Jerusalem after guards seized her food, killed and roasted her nursing son, ate half, and kept the rest hidden. When the seditious smelled the food and threatened her, she uncovered the remains and invited them to eat. They left trembling, and the whole city was filled with horror at the deed.
Chapter 94

Section 954 cards

What did Titus argue about burning the temple during his council of commanders?
Titus argued the Romans should not take revenge on inanimate objects instead of the men themselves, and that burning so vast a work would harm the Romans, since the temple was an ornament to their government while it stood. Fronto, Alexander, and Cerealis agreed with him. Earlier, some commanders had urged demolishing it, or burning it only if the Jews fought from it.
Chapter 95
How did the temple actually catch fire, according to Josephus?
After Titus retired to the tower of Antonia, the seditious attacked again and the Romans drove the Jews back to the holy house. Then one soldier, without orders and, Josephus says, hurried on by a divine fury, snatched burning material and was lifted by another soldier to set fire to a golden window on the north side, spreading flames to the rooms around the holy house.
Chapter 95
What did Caesar say in excusing himself before God about the Jews' suffering?
Caesar said he had offered the Jews peace, liberty, and oblivion of former insolent practices, but they chose sedition over concord, war over peace, and famine before satiety. He claimed they began by burning the temple the Romans had preserved, so they deserved such food, and that this act of eating an own child ought to be covered by overthrowing their country itself.
Chapter 95
What happened when Romans brought ladders to the cloisters before the gates were fired?
The Jews did not interrupt the Romans raising the ladders, but once they climbed up, the Jews attacked: thrusting some down headlong, meeting and slaying others, beating those descending before they could raise shields, and throwing down ladders full of armed men. The Jews eventually seized the engines, and the rest of the Romans retired, though none died without doing service.
Chapter 95

Section 963 cards

Why could Titus not stop the burning of the temple?
Titus ran from his tent and ordered soldiers to quench the fire by voice and hand signal, but they did not hear him, being deafened by greater noise and distracted by fighting and passion. Neither persuasions nor threatenings restrained the legions, and one soldier threw fire on the gate hinges in the dark, so the holy house burned without Caesar's approbation.
Chapter 96
What did Josephus say about the timing of the temple's destruction?
Josephus notes the temple was burnt in the same month and day as the earlier burning by the Babylonians. He reckons 1,130 years, seven months, and fifteen days from Solomon's foundation to its destruction in Vespasian's second year, and 639 years and 45 days from Haggai's rebuilding in Cyrus's second year.
Chapter 96
How did two eminent priests die with the temple?
Some priests pulled up the lead-covered spikes from the holy house and shot them at the Romans instead of darts; gaining nothing, they retired to the eight-cubit wall. Two eminent priests, Meirus son of Belgas and Joseph son of Daleus, who could have surrendered to the Romans or taken their fortune with the others, threw themselves into the fire and were burnt with the holy house.
Chapter 96

Section 974 cards

What prodigies did Josephus say preceded Jerusalem's destruction?
Josephus lists a sword-shaped star and a year-long comet, a light shining around the altar and holy house for half an hour at the ninth hour of the night, a heifer giving birth to a lamb in the temple, the heavy brass eastern gate opening of its own accord, and chariots and troops seen among the clouds before sunset. The sacred scribes interpreted these as portending the coming desolation.
Chapter 97
How did the learned men interpret the temple gate opening by itself?
The vulgar took the self-opening brass gate as a happy prodigy, as if God were opening the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood that the security of the holy house was dissolved of its own accord and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies, and they publicly declared it foreshadowed the coming desolation.
Chapter 97
Who was Jesus, son of Ananus, and what did he cry?
A plebeian husbandman who, four years before the war, at the Feast of Tabernacles, began crying 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people.' He continued seven years and five months, was whipped by rulers and Albinus, and was killed by a stone from an engine.
Chapter 97
What did Josephus say about the ambiguous oracle of a ruler from their country?
Josephus says the Jews took the oracle 'one from their country should become governor of the habitable earth' to mean themselves, and many wise men were deceived. He argues it actually denoted Vespasian, appointed emperor in Judea. He concludes men cannot avoid fate even seeing it beforehand, and the Jews interpreted signals by their own pleasure or despised them until their destruction.
Chapter 97

Section 984 cards

What terms did the tyrants propose to Titus, and why did he refuse them?
They said they could not accept his offer because they had sworn never to do so, but asked leave to pass through the wall with their wives and children and go into the desert, leaving the city to him. Titus was indignant that captives should make their own terms as if conquerors, and proclaimed that he would spare nobody and henceforth treat them according to the laws of war.
Chapter 98
What arguments did Titus use to show Roman power exceeded that of the Jews?
Titus asked whether they relied on numbers, confederates, bodily strength, walls, or courage. He noted that even the Germans serve Rome, the Britons are enclosed by the ocean's wall yet adore Roman arms, and the Carthaginians were conquered. He concluded that only Roman kindness had stirred them, since Rome gave them the land, kings of their own nation, and their ancestral laws.
Chapter 98
What did Titus claim he had done to avoid destroying the temple and city?
Titus claims he came unwillingly, rejoiced when the people favored peace, spared them after long fighting, gave his right hand to deserters, and kept his promises. He says he brought siege engines unwillingly, restrained soldiers from slaughter, urged peace after every victory, and near the temple offered a quiet exit and permission to fight elsewhere. The author presents this as Titus's own speech.
Chapter 98
What happened to the Roman horseman captured by the seditious, and how did Titus punish him?
The seditious killed the captured footman and dragged him through the city. The horseman, brought before Simon and then handed to Ardalas for execution, ran to the Romans while the executioner was drawing his sword. Titus did not put him to death, but because he had been taken alive, stripped him of his arms and ejected him from his legion, a penalty the author says was severer than death to one with a sense of shame.
Chapter 98

Section 994 cards

What did the priest Jesus son of Thebuthus do to earn pardon from Titus?
He came out of the temple after receiving Caesar's oath of security, on condition he deliver up precious things deposited there. He handed over two gold candlesticks like those in the holy house, tables, cisterns, vials of solid gold, veils, garments, precious stones, and many sacred vessels. The treasurer Phineas also revealed priestly coats, girdles, purple, scarlet, cinnamon, cassia, and spices. Titus granted him the same pardon given to voluntary deserters.
Chapter 99
How did the Idumean commanders' attempt to surrender to Titus end?
The Idumean commanders met privately and sent five men to Titus, asking for his right hand of security. Titus, thinking the tyrants would yield once the Idumeans withdrew, eventually complied and sent the five back. But Simon saw the preparations to march out, slew the five envoys, imprisoned their commanders—the most eminent being Jacob son of Sosas—and garrisoned the walls more heavily.
Chapter 99
Why did the Romans take the upper city's towers without bloodshed?
The towers were too strong for any mechanical engines, and could only have been taken by famine. Yet the tyrants abandoned them of their own accord, terrified before the Romans crossed the breach; Josephus attributes this to the power of God and Roman good fortune. The Romans placed ensigns on the towers and celebrated, finding the war's end lighter than its beginning.
Chapter 99
What did the Romans find when they entered houses to plunder Jerusalem?
They found entire families of dead men and upper rooms full of corpses of those who died by famine. The Romans stood in horror at the sight and went out without touching anything. Yet they showed no such compassion for the living: they ran through whom they met, obstructed lanes with bodies, and the blood was so abundant that it quenched the fire of many houses.
Chapter 99

Section 1004 cards

What did Titus say explained the fall of Jerusalem's strong towers?
Titus marveled at the towers' solid height, large stones, and exact joints, and declared that God had been the Romans' assistant in the war, since it was God who ejected the Jews from these fortifications; no hands of men or machines could have overthrown them. He left the towers standing as a monument to his good fortune.
Chapter 100
How did the Romans sort the captives after the killing ended?
Caesar ordered that only those in arms be killed; the aged and infirm were slain anyway. Fronto judged the rest: the seditious and robbers were executed, tall handsome youths reserved for the triumph, those over seventeen sent in bonds to the Egyptian mines or to provinces for the theatres and wild beasts, and those under seventeen sold as slaves.
Chapter 100
What numbers does Josephus give for captives and for the dead in the siege?
Josephus reports 97,000 carried captive during the whole war and 1,100,000 who perished during the siege. He says most of the dead were of the same nation but not citizens of the city, having come up from the whole country for the feast of unleavened bread and been suddenly shut in by the army, which brought pestilence and then famine.
Chapter 100
How did Josephus support his claim that Jerusalem could hold such crowds?
He cites the census taken under Cestius: the high priests counted the Passover sacrifices, from the ninth hour to the eleventh, with no fewer than ten persons per sacrifice. They found 256,500 sacrifices, which at ten per company amounts to 2,700,200 pure and holy persons, excluding lepers, the diseased, menstruating women, and foreigners.
Chapter 100

Section 1014 cards

According to the notes, who caused Jerusalem's destruction, and what did Titus want?
The notes state that the seditious Jews were the direct cause of their own destruction and of the burning of the city and temple, and that Titus earnestly and constantly labored to save both. The editor says this is evident everywhere in Josephus. The zealots and robbers refused all terms of submission, voluntarily choosing to reduce the citizens to famine.
Chapter 101
Why does the editor doubt Josephus's account of Matthias's fourth son?
Josephus earlier said the fourth son fled to the Romans before his father and brothers were killed, but in this passage says after. The editor thinks the earlier account is probably truer, since had the son not escaped beforehand he would have been caught and killed with them. He calls the later version a small inadvertence of Josephus.
Chapter 101
What does the editor say about mothers eating their children during the siege?
Josephus claims no parallel sieges were recorded before this time. The editor doubts later parallels match, since in shipwreck or desert cases people killed others only when they saw no other way to survive. Here the Romans were willing and eager to grant the Jews their lives, liberties, city, and temple, but the zealots and seditious refused all terms, so the editor supposes the case remains unparalleled.
Chapter 101
What does the editor note about the number of Jews at the passover?
The editor says the number per paschal lamb, between ten and twenty, agrees with the thirteen at Jesus's last passover. By Josephus's own reasoning the total should be ten times the lambs, about 2,565,000, but present copies give 2,700,000. He also notes no foreign nation ever came to destroy the Jews at a solemn festival from Moses's days until this time.
Chapter 101

Section 1023 cards

What rewards did Titus give to soldiers who had distinguished themselves in the war?
Titus had the names of the bravest read out and commended them publicly, rejoicing in them as in his own exploits. He placed gold crowns on their heads, gold ornaments on their necks, and gave them long gold spears and silver ensigns, promoted each to a higher rank, and distributed silver, gold, and garments from the spoils. He then sacrificed oxen and feasted the army.
Chapter 102
How was Simon son of Gioras captured, and what did Titus order done with him?
Simon hid in a subterranean cavern with friends, stone-cutters, and provisions, hoping to dig out and escape, but provisions failed. He emerged near the former temple site in a white frock and purple cloak, astonishing onlookers. Terentius Rufus learned the truth and bound him. Titus ordered Simon kept for the triumph at Rome.
Chapter 102
How were Jewish captives treated at the shows Titus held at Caesarea and Berytus?
At Caesarea Philippi Titus exhibited all sorts of shows in which many captives were destroyed, some thrown to wild beasts and others forced to fight one another. At Caesarea, for Domitian's birthday, over two thousand five hundred were slain by beasts, burning, or fighting each other. At Berytus, for his father's birthday, a great multitude of captives perished the same way.
Chapter 102

Section 1033 cards

Why did the Antiochians turn against the Jews after the fire?
Antiochus, a Jew, accused his own father and other Jews of plotting to burn the city, and later blamed them for the fire that destroyed the market-place, archives, and royal palaces. The Antiochians, already hostile and in disorder, believed him. The legate Cneius Collegas later found the accused Jews innocent; the fire was set by debtors hoping to destroy the public records.
Chapter 103
What privileges had the Jews of Antioch received from the kings after Antiochus Epiphanes?
Though Antiochus Epiphanes had laid Jerusalem waste and spoiled the temple, his successors restored the brass donations to the Jews of Antioch, dedicated them to their synagogue, and granted them equal citizen privileges with the Greeks. Later kings continued this treatment, so the Jews multiplied greatly, adorned their temple, and made many Greek proselytes.
Chapter 103
Why did the Germans revolt against Rome, and how was it put down?
Josephus cites the Germans' rash nature, their hatred of Roman governors, and the opportunity offered by Rome's internal disorder and frequent changes of rulers; Classicus and Vitellius encouraged them. Petilius Cerealis attacked and defeated them, and Domitian, though very young, marched against them, so they submitted and returned to Roman rule without further harm.
Chapter 103

Section 1044 cards

How did the Sarmatian invasion of Mysia end under Rubrius Gallus?
Vespasian sent Rubrius Gallus to punish the Sarmatians, who had crossed the Danube unnoticed, slain frontier guards and the legate Fonteius Agrippa, and ravaged Mysia. Gallus killed many in battle; the survivors fled home in fear. He then secured the region by placing ever more numerous garrisons, making it impossible for the barbarians to cross the river again, ending the war suddenly.
Chapter 104
What is remarkable about the Sabbatic River Titus saw in Syria?
It lies between Arcea, in Agrippa's kingdom, and Raphanea. Its current is strong with plenty of water, then its springs fail for six days and the channel lies dry; on the seventh day it runs again as before, unchanged. Josephus says this order has been observed perpetually and exactly, and the name comes from the Jewish sacred seventh day.
Chapter 104
How did Titus respond to the Antiochenes' requests against the Jews?
The people of Antioch met Titus on the road and begged him to expel the Jews from their city; he refused, giving them only a quiet hearing. Pressed again at the theater, he answered that the Jews' country was destroyed and no place would receive them. He also refused to remove the brass tables of Jewish privileges, letting them keep their former rights.
Chapter 104
What did the triumphal pageants depict, and what led the procession?
The pageants, some three or four stories high, showed a happy country laid waste, enemies slain or captured, walls and fortifications overthrown by machines, fire on temples, houses falling on owners, and rivers running through burning land — what the Jews said they suffered. On top of each stood the captured city's commander. The spoils of the Jerusalem temple, including the golden table and seven-branched candlestick, made the greatest figure.
Chapter 104

Section 1054 cards

What was the Roman custom at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus during a triumph?
The Romans stayed at the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus until someone brought news that the enemy's general had been slain. In this triumph the general was Simon, son of Gioras, who had been led among the captives with a rope on his head and tormented by those drawing him; Roman law required condemned malefactors to be slain in the forum. When his death was reported, the people shouted for joy and the sacrifices were offered.
Chapter 105
What did Vespasian do with the golden vessels and the Jewish Law after the triumphs?
Vespasian built a temple to Peace, finished quickly and gloriously beyond human expectation, and adorned it with pictures and statues, collecting there rarities people once traveled the world to see. He laid up in it the golden vessels and instruments taken from the Jewish temple as ensigns of his glory. But he ordered the Law and the purple veils of the holy place kept in the royal palace itself.
Chapter 105
Why did Bassus consider Machaerus necessary to demolish?
Bassus judged it highly necessary to demolish Machaerus, lest its strength draw many into rebellion. The place was a rocky hill of great height, ringed by deep valleys hard to cross and impossible to fill with earth; the west valley ran sixty furlongs to Lake Asphaltites, and the east valley was a hundred cubits deep. Herod had earlier walled the summit and built towers 160 cubits high.
Chapter 105
How did Bassus use Eleazar to force the surrender of Machaerus?
Eleazar, a bold young defender, was seized outside the gates by Rufus, an Egyptian in the Roman camp. Bassus had him stripped, set before the city, and whipped; when the Jews lamented, Bassus set up a cross as if to hang him, aggravating their grief. Eleazar urged surrender, and the Jews yielded contrary to custom, sending messengers to surrender the citadel and asking to take Eleazar with them. Bassus accepted and restored him.
Chapter 105

Section 1064 cards

How did Bassus trap the Jews hiding in the forest of Jarden?
Bassus surrounded the whole place with his horsemen so that anyone bold enough to break through had no way of escaping, and he ordered his footmen to cut down the trees of the wood where the Jews had fled. The Jews then made a general attack, but no more than twelve Romans fell, with a few wounded, while all three thousand Jews were killed, including Judas, son of Jairus, their general.
Chapter 106
What did Caesar order regarding Judea and the Jews' tribute after the war?
Caesar sent a letter to Bassus and to Liberius Maximus, the procurator of Judea, ordering that all Judea should be exposed to sale, since he founded no city there but reserved the country for himself. He assigned only eight hundred dismissed soldiers a place of habitation called Emmaus, sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, and laid a tribute on Jews everywhere, requiring two drachmae yearly into the Capitol as they had paid to the temple.
Chapter 106
Why did Petus accuse Antiochus of Commagene of plotting rebellion?
Cesennius Petus, president of Syria, sent an epistle to Caesar claiming Antiochus and his son Epiphanes had resolved to rebel and had made a league with the king of Parthia. Josephus says whether this was out of regard to truth or hatred of Antiochus was never thoroughly discovered. Caesar believed Petus and gave him authority to act, and Petus fell upon Commagene before Antiochus expected him.
Chapter 106
How did Vespasian treat Antiochus after his capture?
When Petus sent Antiochus in bonds to Rome, Vespasian could not endure a king being brought to him that way, preferring regard for their ancient friendship over inexorable anger. He ordered the bonds taken off while Antiochus was still on the road, directed him not to come to Rome but to live at Lacedemon, and gave him large revenues so he might live not only in plenty but like a king.
Chapter 106

Section 1074 cards

Who succeeded Bassus as procurator of Judea, and what fortress did he besiege?
Flavius Silva succeeded Bassus as procurator. Seeing the rest of the country subdued, he gathered his scattered army and marched against the one remaining stronghold in rebellion, Masada, held by Eleazar, a powerful man and commander of the Sicarii, who had seized it by treachery.
Chapter 107
Who first built the fortress Masada, and who later rebuilt it?
Josephus states that Jonathan the high priest first built a fortress on the hilltop and called it Masada. Later, King Herod took great care in rebuilding the place, adding a white-stone wall, towers, a palace, and water reservoirs cut into the rock.
Chapter 107
Why did Herod fortify Masada, according to the report Josephus cites?
Josephus reports that Herod prepared Masada as a refuge against two dangers: fear of the Jewish multitude, lest they depose him and restore their former kings, and the greater, more terrible danger from Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, who openly urged Antony to kill Herod and give her the kingdom of Judea.
Chapter 107
How long did Herod's stored provisions last, and how did Josephus explain it?
The corn, wine, oil, pulse, and dates found by Eleazar were nearly a hundred years old from the time Herod laid them in until the Romans took the place, yet the Romans found the leftovers uncorrupted. Josephus supposes the cause was the air, the fortress being so high and free of earthy, muddy particles.
Chapter 107

Section 1083 cards

How did the Sicarii counter the Roman battering ram at Masada?
They built a second wall inside the breached one, made soft and yielding to absorb machine blows. It was framed of parallel rows of long wooden beams with earth packed between, bound by cross beams. When struck, the blows were weakened by its yielding, and the shaken materials packed tighter, making the pile firmer than before. Silva then ordered burning torches thrown on it.
Chapter 108
What happened when the Romans set fire to the wooden inner wall?
The wall, chiefly wood, caught quickly and its hollowness spread the fire to a mighty flame. At first a north wind drove the flame down onto the Romans, who feared for their machines. Then the wind suddenly changed to the south, as if by Divine Providence, and drove the fire against the wall through its entire thickness. The Romans returned to camp joyfully, crediting God's assistance.
Chapter 108
What does Eleazar argue to persuade the Sicarii to kill themselves?
He argues they long ago resolved never to serve Romans or any but God, and now must make that resolution true. God has condemned the Jewish nation for sins against their own countrymen; the unconquerable fortress and abundant supplies did not save them, and the fire turning back showed God's anger. He urges killing wives and children, then one another, and burning money and the fortress, sparing only provisions to prove they chose death over slavery.
Chapter 108

Section 1094 cards

How did Eleazar's audience react to his first speech urging death?
Some auditors zealously embraced his advice and thought death a good thing, but the more "effeminate" listeners pitied their wives and families; facing their own certain death, they looked at one another and declared dissent through tears. Seeing this fear, Eleazar feared their lamentations would weaken the courageous hearers, so he continued exhorting them with arguments on the immortality of the soul.
Chapter 109
What arguments does Eleazar give for the immortality of the soul?
Eleazar argues the soul is divine yet imprisoned in a mortal body, sharing its miseries; once freed from that weight, it reaches its proper place of purity, free of misery, invisible like God, and incorruptible. He offers sleep as proof: when the body does not distract them, souls rest sweetly, converse with God, and foretell the future. He also cites the Indian philosophers, who eagerly release their souls from their bodies.
Chapter 109
What examples does Eleazar cite of Jews slaughtered without Roman involvement?
Eleazar argues the Romans are not the true cause of the Jews' destruction. He cites Caesarea, where citizens attacked Jews observing the seventh-day festival, killing men, wives, and children; Scythopolis, which warred against Jews on account of the Greeks despite their goodwill; Damascus, which slaughtered eighteen thousand Jews with wives and children; and Egypt, where over sixty thousand were killed with torments.
Chapter 109
What does Eleazar claim God has decreed for the Jewish nation, and what does he urge?
Eleazar claims God has decreed that the whole Jewish nation be deprived of life because they did not use it rightly, and that the Romans are merely an occasion, not the true cause. He urges his hearers to die bravely with their children and wives while pity is still in their power, rather than become slaves facing torture, and to leave the Romans astonished at their deaths.
Chapter 109

Section 1104 cards

At Masada, how did the defenders arrange the killing of their own group?
After slaying their wives and children and burning their possessions, they chose ten men by lot to kill the rest. Each man lay down beside his family and offered his neck. The ten then cast lots among themselves; the one chosen killed the other nine and finally himself, after checking that none remained alive.
Chapter 110
Who survived the mass suicide at Masada, and how were they found?
An elderly woman and another woman related to Eleazar, superior to most women in prudence and learning, hid in underground caverns with five children and a supply of water. They came out when they heard the Romans shout and told them what had happened; the second woman clearly described all that was said and done.
Chapter 110
How did the Romans react upon entering Masada?
They expected battle, but found a terrible solitude, fire, and silence. Hearing a shout, the hidden women emerged and explained what had been done. The Romans did not easily believe such a desperate deed, put out the fire, and found the multitude of slain. They took no pleasure in it, though done to enemies, but wondered at the courage and contempt of death.
Chapter 110
Why did the Sicarii who fled to Alexandria cause trouble, and what happened to them?
They urged Jews to assert liberty, regard the Romans as no better than themselves, and God as sole Lord. Leading Jews accused them of bringing calamities, and the assembly seized six hundred. Those fleeing to Egypt and Thebes were caught; under torture none would call Caesar lord, and children likewise refused, amazing onlookers.
Chapter 110

Section 1114 cards

Who closed the temple at Alexandria and what was taken from it?
Lupus, governor of Alexandria, on receiving Caesar's letter, came to the temple, carried out some of the donations dedicated to it, and shut the temple up. His successor Paulinus removed all remaining donations, threatened the priests severely, and barred worshippers from the sacred place, making it entirely inaccessible. Josephus says the temple stood three hundred and forty-three years before being shut up again.
Chapter 111
How did Jonathan the weaver deceive the Jews of Cyrene?
Jonathan, a Sicarii and a weaver by trade, won over many of the poorer sort by promising to show them signs and apparitions, and led them into the desert. He concealed his knavery from the other Jews of Cyrene, but the leading men informed Catullus, governor of the Libyan Pentapolis, who sent horsemen and footmen, easily defeating the unarmed men. Jonathan fled but was captured after a diligent search.
Chapter 111
What did Jonathan do when captured, and how did Catullus respond?
To escape punishment, Jonathan falsely accused the richest Jews of having put him up to his deeds. Catullus readily accepted the calumnies, magnified them, and even taught the Sicarii to accuse falsely. He had Alexander and his wife Bernice slain first, then all the rich Jews, no fewer than three thousand, confiscating their effects for Caesar's revenues. He also extended accusations to leading Jews at Alexandria and Rome, including Josephus.
Chapter 111
How did Vespasian and Catullus's fates differ at the end?
Catullus brought Jonathan and his companions to Rome in bonds, expecting no inquiry, but Vespasian suspected the matter, found the accusations unjust, cleared the Jews on account of Titus's concern, and punished Jonathan by torment and burning alive. Catullus received no severe condemnation then, but later died of a wasting distemper, crying that he saw the ghosts of those he had slain, his entrails corroding until they fell out. Josephus calls this an instance of Divine Providence.
Chapter 111

Section 1124 cards

What does Josephus report about provisions stored for sieges, according to Pliny?
Josephus cites Pliny and others confirming a strange paradox: provisions laid up against sieges will continue good for a hundred years. The editor Spanheim notes this upon the passage. The claim is presented as an unusual assertion supported by external testimony rather than as Josephus's own observation.
Chapter 112
How does the editor characterize Eleazar's speeches on death and the soul?
The editor calls the speeches in this and the next section, put in Eleazar's mouth, exceedingly remarkable and on the noblest subjects: contempt of death and the dignity and immortality of the soul. He notes such notions appear not only among Jews but among the Indians, and suggests the philosophic lady who survived may have remembered their substance, which Josephus clothed in his own words.
Chapter 112
What does Reland observe about the meaning of Egypt in Josephus's account?
Since Josephus says some Sicarii went from Alexandria into Egypt and Thebes there, Reland observes, following Vossius, that Egypt sometimes denotes Proper or Upper Egypt, distinct from the Delta and lower parts near Palestine. He adds that those claiming it never rains in Egypt must mean Upper Egypt, since it does rain in the other parts.
Chapter 112
What discrepancy does the editor note about Onias's temple in Egypt?
The editor notes that elsewhere, in the War and Antiquities, this temple is said to be like the one at Jerusalem, but here it is said to be not like it but like a tower. He suspects the reading, suggesting either the negative particle should be blotted out or the word 'entirely' added.
Chapter 112

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All questions and answers

Why does Josephus say he wrote this history?

Whom does Josephus blame for Jerusalem's destruction?

How does Josephus describe his treatment of both sides?

What earlier period does Josephus say he will only summarize?

What does Josephus promise to describe about the temple and city in his preface?

According to Josephus, under what circumstances was the temple burnt?

How did Antiochus Epiphanes treat the Jews after taking Jerusalem?

How did Matthias and his son Judas respond to Antiochus's persecution?

How did Judas die after his victory at Adasa?

How did Jonathan, Judas's successor, meet his death?

How did Simon's siege of Ptolemy at Dagon end?

How did Hyrcanus raise money to end Antiochus's siege of Jerusalem?

How was Antigonus killed, and what did Josephus say this illustrated?

Why did the Essene Judas think his prophecy had failed?

How did Aristobulus die after murdering Antigonus?

What did Alexander Janneus do to eight hundred captives and their families?

How did Alexandra's rule relate to the Pharisees' power?

How did Alexandra handle her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus?

What did the Pharisees do to Alexander's former associates under Alexandra?

How did Scaurus and Pompey become involved in the brothers' dispute?

How did Pompey exploit Jewish religious practice during the siege of the temple?

Why did Pompey make Hyrcanus high priest after taking Jerusalem?

What was the human cost of the temple's capture, and what grieved the nation most?

How did Gabinius reorganize Judea's government after taking Alexandrium?

What happened to Aristobulus after he fled Rome and raised another revolt?

How did Crassus and Cassius each act toward Judea and its wealth?

How did Antipater aid Mithridates and what did Caesar grant him?

What offices did Antipater assign to his sons Phasaelus and Herod?

Why was Herod summoned to trial before Hyrcanus, and what was the outcome?

How did Herod respond after his trial, and who restrained him?

How did Sextus Caesar die, and who succeeded him?

How did Antipater die, and who was responsible?

How did Herod punish Malichus, and what did Hyrcanus say afterward?

Why did Antony make Herod and Phasaelus tetrarchs?

What did Lysanias promise Barzapharnes to restore Antigonus to the kingdom?

How did Herod escape the Parthian plot, and where did he take his family?

What did Antigonus do to Hyrcanus, and why?

How did Phasaelus die, according to Josephus?

Why did Herod bring his brother's seven-year-old son to Arabia?

How did Malichus justify expelling Herod from Arabia?

Why did the Roman senate vote to make Herod king?

How did Herod defeat Silo's pretext for abandoning the siege?

How did Herod take Sepphoris, and what did his troops gain there?

How did Herod's men attack the robbers hidden in the caves?

What did the old man with seven children do at the cave, and how did Herod respond?

Why did Herod go to Antony at Samosata, and what resulted?

What happened to Herod's house after the feast at Jericho, and how did he interpret it?

How did Herod capture the village where the enemy had taken refuge?

How long did Jerusalem hold out against Herod and Sosius, and what finally broke the siege?

What did Herod do to stop his foreign auxiliaries from entering the temple and plundering the city?

How did Herod deal with the two factions in Jerusalem after taking the city?

What did Cleopatra persuade Antony to take from Herod, and on what terms did Herod recover it?

Why did Cleopatra arrange for Herod to fight the Arabians, and how did her scheme backfire?

How did Herod interpret the earthquake, and what arguments did he use to encourage the Jews?

How did Herod present himself to Caesar at Rhodes after Actium?

How did Caesar respond to Herod's speech at Rhodes?

What territories did Caesar add to Herod's kingdom after Cleopatra and Antony died?

Why was Trachonitis given to Herod, and what else did Caesar grant him?

What did Herod name his harbor city, and to whom did he ascribe its honor?

How did Herod commemorate his family and friends in his building projects?

What benefits did Herod confer on the Eleans and the Olympic games?

Why did Herod execute Hyrcanus and the young Aristobulus?

What secret order did Herod give Joseph before traveling abroad?

How did Salome and Herod's mother turn Herod against Mariamne?

What conditions did Caesar set for Herod's reconciliation with his sons?

How did Herod present his three sons to the people in Jerusalem?

How did Antipater work against his brothers Alexander and Aristobulus?

Why did Glaphyra increase hatred against Alexander and Aristobulus?

What did the tortured eunuchs confess about Alexander?

How did Herod treat Pheroras and Salome despite accusations?

How did Herod respond to the confessions that terrified him?

What did Archelaus do to change Herod's mind about Alexander?

How did Pheroras secure his safety after Archelaus's intervention?

Who was Eurycles and what did he do in Judea?

How did Eurycles gain Alexander's and Aristobulus's trust?

What did Caesar reply when Herod's envoys delivered his letters at Rome?

What verdict did Saturninus give at the court at Berytus?

How did Herod present his case, and where were his sons during the trial?

Who was Tero, and what did he dare to tell Herod?