The Strange Supernatural Signs and Omens that Preceded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD

This book by Thomas Lewin is one of the best I have ever read on any subject. I'm surprised that Hollywood has yet to turn this seminal historical event into a movie.

It would be quite the epic.
Thanks for posting the link.

Thomas Lewin. Oy vey!

Was he biased for the Hebrews?

Last Edited by Vigorous Daily Handjob on 06/01/2020 03:17 AM

No. He was impartial in his account of this seminal but tragic event. The opening paragraphs set the tone of this exceptional work:

"In A.D. 70, and therefore thirty-seven years after the Crucifixion of our Lord, which was in A.D 33, Titus, the son of Vespasian, and who had been left in command of the forces in Judaea on the elevation of his father to the Imperial purple, commenced his march against Jerusalem, the only city in which the rebellion, begun in A.D. 66, was still maintaining itself.

Titus at this time was in his twenty-ninth year. He did not exceed the ordinary height, but was well proportioned and strongly built. His countenance was lighted up with good humour, and at the same time carried a dignified air that repelled intrusive familiarity. One of the most accomplished men of the age in literary and polite acquirements, he could speak and write well, improvise a jeu d'esprit, take down a speech in shorthand, and was so skillful in penmanship, that, as he said of himself, had he not been Emperor he might have made a first-rate Forger. He was not inferior in military prowess, for no one could draw the bow with such unerring aim, as on one occasion twelve of the enemy, transfixed by as many of his arrows, could testify. He was a good swordsman, as he had proved in many a hand to hand combat, and was particularly noted for dexterity in horsemanship. He had served as military tribune with credit under Vespasian in Britain, and had since commanded a brigade with equal or greater success in Judaea. If not entitled to rank with the great captains of antiquity, he was perfectly conversant with, the art of war, and fully capable of conducting a campaign against a bold and resolute enemy. Titus, who was all amiability as Emperor, is said in these his earlier years to have leaned towards cruelty, and I fear that our narrative will furnish some substantial grounds for the accusation. As Emperor, also, he was a pattern of chastity, but in Judaea he became acquainted with the Cleopatra of the age, Berenice, the sister of Agrippa, King of Trachonitis, greatgrandson of Herod, and they lived together until he ascended the throne of the Caesars, when deference to public opinion led to a separation, which is reported to have been a painful one on both sides. The rumour was rife that he had promised her marriage, but there was no tribunal which could award damages against a Caesar.


Of the forces at the disposition of Titus we can only form an approximate estimate, as Josephus has nowhere stated the exact amount. In the first place, he had four legions or regiments of the line, viz. the famous 10th, which had immortalised itself under the first Caesar in Gaul and Britain, now commanded by Larcius Lepidus; the 12th, which had somewhat tarnished its laurels by a precipitate flight from Jerusalem at the outbreak of the war in a.d. 66; the 5th, commanded by Sextus Cerealis; and the 15th, commanded by Titus Phrygius. The strength of a legion was usually about 4,200, which would yield for the four legions 16,800. These were the regulars, but the Romans had also in their pay a large force of irregulars formed into cohorts. Under Vespasian there had been twenty-three cohorts,of which ten contained 1,000 each, and the other thirteen 600 each, making together 17,800. It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty what proportion of these auxiliaries was present with Titus, as two Egyptian cohorts only, of 1,000 each, are mentioned incidentally as commanded by Fronto Liturnius. However, the siege of Jerusalem was the great event of the war, and the utmost resistance was to be expected, and I think we may assume (after allowing deductions for garrison duty in distant parts) that one half at least of the whole number, or 8,900, were assembled under the walls of Jerusalem.

Such was the amount of the regulars and irregulars of the Roman army proper; but besides these Titus had under his banners the contingents furnished by the various potentates of Syria, the feudatories of Rome, as by Agrippa, King of Trachonitis; Antiochus, King of Commagene; Sohemus, King of Emesa; and Malchus, King of Petra. In an earlier stage of the war, the first three had furnished each 2,000 foot, and the last 5,000 foot, making together 11,000. At the present juncture the whole of these troops had probably been called upon to cooperate.

Hitherto we have spoken of the infantry, but Titus had also with him a considerable body of cavalry. Frequent mention is made of them in the course of the siege, and they were employed in repelling sallies, bringing assistance on sudden emergencies, scouring the country in search of supplies, and cutting off communication by the ordinary roads. Each legion had attached to it a squadron of 120 horse, making together 480. Titus had also a body-guard of picked men to the number of 600. Thirteen of the cohorts had been recently accompanied by squadrons of 120 each, making together 1,500; and assuming, as in the case of the cohorts, that one half were present, we may reckon them at 750. Of the allies, it is mentioned in the course of the war that Agrippa, Antiochus, Sohemus, and Malchus had each furnished 1,000 horse, making together 4,000; but as cavalry would not be so much in request as infantry at a siege, we shall allow only one half of these, or 2,000.
The sum total of the Roman army would therefore, upon a rough estimate, stand as follows:

Infantry:

Four legions of 4,200 each: 16,800
Auxiliary cohorts in Roman pay: 8,900
Contingents of the allies: 11,000
Total Infantry: 36,700

Cavalry

Legionary squadrons: 480
Bodyguard: 600
Squadrons of auxiliary cohorts: 750
Squadrons furnished by allies: 2,000
Total Calvary: 3,830

Making a grand total of: 40,530

These computations can scarcely be regarded as excessive. That the troops collected at Jerusalem amounted together to a very large force, may be inferred from the fact that they were able to erect a wall of circumvallation round the whole of Jerusalem, and five miles in length, in the course of three days. I am by no means sure that our estimate has not been considerably underrated, as we know that the Roman army in Judaea had not long before been computed by Josephus at about 60,000 men, besides camp followers.

The King Agrippa, of whom we have spoken, was the Agrippa before whom and whose sister, Bernice, Paul pleaded with so much eloquence in the time of Festus, and who was almost persuaded to be a Christian. He had not the courage to forfeit his petty kingdom by refusing to serve against his country; but at the same time he was not so devoid of feeling but that his ignominious position at the side of Titus caused him some compunction. Not so, however, with the renegade Tiberius Alexander, the prefect of Egypt, who gloried in his shame. By renunciation of the faith of his fathers, and by abject flatteries and a plausible address mixed with considerable abilities, he had contrived to win favour at the court of Rome, and had risen to distinction. A bad man may be a good officer where interest does not conflict with duty, and in all the army there was no one on whom Titus had more reliance than on Tiberius Alexander. So much so that he was second in command under Titus, and no one contributed more to the downfall of Jerusalem than this artful and unprincipled timeserver.

There was in the Roman army at this time one descendant of Abraham whose character has been the subject of warm discussion. By some he has been venerated as almost inspired, and by others he has been pronounced an accomplished rogue. By his own account he had taken a leading part in the rebellion, and commanded in Galilee; but the Roman power had been too much for him, and, after a gallant defense of Jotapata, he was made prisoner, but had recently been set free, and was now in attendance upon Titus as interpreter. We allude to Joseph, son of Matthias, commonly called Josephus, an eyewitness from first to last of the siege which we are about to describe, and who has furnished a graphic account of the horrible scenes of carnage and famine that ended only with the total destruction of the city. His pen may not have the Attic elegance of Thucydides, for he wrote in a foreign tongue, and he cannot lay claim to the character of an impartial historian, for Josephian hyperbole has become almost a proverb; but, allowing for exaggeration where the honour of his own countrymen or that of his imperial patrons is concerned, we may look upon his narrative as a tolerably faithful account of the actual occurrences. For the halo of light which the Wars and Antiquities have thrown upon the Christian religion we ought to be deeply grateful. Had these .works not come down to us, what a cloud of darkness would have hung over the birth and rise of Christianity!

Titus set forward on his march from Caesarea, the Roman capital of Palestine, about the beginning of April. He had then with him the 5th and 15th legions, and the auxiliary cohorts, and most of the allies. The 10th legion had been quartered during the winter at Jericho, in the plain of the Jordan, and the 5th at Emmaus, or Nicopolis, now Amwas, halfway between Jerusalem and Jaffa, and these two legions were to join him before Jerusalem on a day fixed. The order in which the army of Titus marched was this: first came the allies; then Titus and his bodyguard; after him the cavalry; then the engines of war for the siege; the cohorts of auxiliaries; the legions or troops of the line, six abreast, with the eagle at the head; and lastly the baggage and the rear-guard.

Titus directed his march through Samaria, and arrived about 10th April at Gophna, where he encamped. The next day he advanced to Gibeah of Saul, somewhat less than four miles from Jerusalem. Gibeah of Saul was so named from its having been the birthplace and residence of the first King of Israel. It lay on the east side of the great north road, and was seated on a knoll or eminence, now covered with ruins, and called Tuleil el Ful.

At Gibeah Titus halted his army, and, at the head of his bodyguard of 600, set forward himself to reconnoiter. As he had no fear of encountering an enemy, he wore only his ordinary foraging cap, and was without any corselet. At the end of three miles he reached the crown of the hill called Scopus, or BelleVue, and here, all at once, Jerusalem and its environs lay unrolled, as on a map, before him. They were just one mile distant, but so clear and bright was the day that the doomed city seemed to be at his feet, and to be already within his grasp. Jerusalem, as he gazed upon it, had a simplicity and compactness about it that indicated a city ' at unity with itself.' On the left or east it was bounded by the deep dark valley of Jehoshaphat, and therefore called Kedron, or the Gloomy; on the right or west and on the south it was girt in by the elbowing valley of Hinnom. On the north only was no ravine, for there, without the city, was a broad expanse, a champ de Mars, about half a mile square, encompassed on the north and east by the valley of Jehoshaphat, which here first runs from west to east, and then, turning southward, deepens as it descends towards the city. On the east side of Jerusalem, about half-way down, rose majestically to the skies, and glittered in the sun, the white terraces of the Temple, rising one above another, and crowned at the top with the Holy of Holies, the habitation of Jehovah. On the opposite or west side, about half-way down, frowned the formidable towers of the castle of David, the palace of Herod; and nearer to him, at the north- west corner of the city, was the Psephinus or Rubble Tower, the tallest and stateliest, though not the most finished, of all the bulwarks, the more conspicuous from its position on the highest and most commanding eminence. Titus dwelt upon the scene for a few minutes in silence, and perhaps cherished a hope, in the cause of humanity, that all this magnificence might become his without the destruction of the inhabitants; that he might take so goodly a hive without killing the bees: but the wrath of heaven was not to be thus appeased.

He now descended the hill of Scopus, and crossed the shallow valley of Jehoshaphat, running there from west and east, and ascended the open plateau at the north of the city. As he passed along the beaten road, he could not but admire the beautiful villas of the wealthy citizens that lined the sides, the orchards of olive, and gardens teeming with the fresh blossoms of spring. All was so calm and peaceful, that apparently he might continue his course up to the very Damascus Gate, flanked as it was by strong towers. Prudence, however, whispered that he was in presence of the enemy, and he turned off by a road to the right, which led in the direction of the Rubble Tower, at the north-west corner of the city. Titus and a few troopers had already left the main road, and the rest were following him, when suddenly a dark and dense column of men, at a rapid step, was seen pouring along the road, and before his guard could recover from their surprise, the thunderbolt was launched against them, and the body-guard was broken in two. Titus and his immediate comrades were intercepted in the by-lane, and the cavaliers that were still on the road, thinking that Titus was doing the same, wheeled about and fled. Titus was alive to the danger, and prepared for the worst. To ride across country to the camp was impossible, from the walls and gardens that like a net- work covered the whole space. To press on towards Psephinus might be to fall into a snare, and be carried he knew not whither. In a moment his mind was made up, and drawing his sword, and driving his spurs into his steed, he shouted to those about him, 'Comrades, follow me!' and dashed at once into the midst of the enemy. Javelins flew and swords gleamed. One trooper at his side rolled from his horse; another was dismounted and a prisoner; but Titus and the rest (thanks to the mettle of their horses and their trusty blades) forced their way unscathed through the throng, and rejoined the bodyguard, now in dismay from discovering that Titus was not amongst them. The fact was, that the signalmen from the top of the Women's Towers, which flanked the Damascus Gate, had descried the approach of the little band in the distance, and a sally was ordered; and, from a bend in the road before the gates, the column had not been observed until it had pounced upon its prey. This little incident gave Titus a wholesome taste of the desperate courage of the enemy, and served him as a lesson for all the remainder of the war. Had he been cut off on this, the threshold of the campaign, it is hard to say what might not have been the consequences. No one possessed the same authority as Titus over the legions, auxiliaries, and allies; and had jealousies and factions sprung up in the camp as in the city, Jerusalem might have escaped, as a bird from the snare of the fowler..."

[link to babel.hathitrust.org (secure)]

There aren't many 29 year-olds alive today who can wipe their own asses, let alone lead an army.

esubius and josephus history of the early church. it was the time of wrath. endtime narrative today is a crock

Just had deja vu reading that longer passage. Whoa.

thank you op , this is an early morning tasty . mmmmm good.

Thanks for the link!!!

Shalom!!!

Shalom. The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD is a tragic event in world history, and Lewin's account is among the finest ever written.

The terrible desolation of Jerusalem in 70 AD doesn't take away from the fact that Israel is still the Promised Land:

You people are funny, always talking shit about the youth but who were their teachers?

Morons.

You've dug your own grave creating these useful idiots. Enjoy the deathcamps a.k.a. senior center.

What evidence do you have to shofar it?

Hebrews his own tea.

Heaven is the promised land.

Was the promised land covered in the blood ?

Or was it meant to be milk and honey?

Wake up. please.

What Toad was it in?

This is 496 page book!
Can someone just summarize the signs, would
be easier than taking 2 months to read this book!

7 out

great thread!

Excellent point.

Crikey, what would we have done without you

^^^THIS^^^

You taught yourself to look at your phone all day, hug trees and eat vegan.

Fuck outta here kid, do some push-ups

Its as if the book of Revelation, and all of the warnings Jesus gave were about that event.....

NOT CURRENT EVENTS

Mark of the beast is finally clear to those who can see.

It appears you are blind.

You dont study ancient writing very much, do you?

Its ok to be ignorant, for example; the mark of the beast (number or number of his name) are all references to Emperor Nero.

Current events dont confirm scripture, scripture confirms itself.

Great thread!

so...... in other words....?