Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero and the Jewish Revolt: The Spark of 66 AD
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Nero's love for Greece — his performances, his Grand Tour, his declaration of freedom for the province of Achaia. But while he was busy being a philhellene, something was boiling over in another part of the eastern Mediterranean: Judaea. Luna: The Jewish revolt? I know that ended badly — the Temple destroyed, Masada. But that all happened after Nero, right? Lucas: Right, the war itself lasted from 66 to 73 AD, and the worst of it — the siege of Jerusalem, the burning of the Temple — came under Vespasian and Titus, after Nero was dead. But the spark that set it off? That happened on Nero's watch, in 66 AD. And in many ways, Nero's own policies and personality helped light the fuse. Lucas: The province of Judaea had been a trouble spot for decades. The Romans had a habit of appointing procurators — governors — who were either incompetent, corrupt, or both. The last straw seems to have been Gessius Florus, who became procurator around 64 AD. According to Josephus, our main source, Florus was awful even by Roman standards — he openly plundered regions, and when Jews protested, he had them arrested or crucified. Luna: But why did it escalate into a full-scale war? There had been protests before. Lucas: Good question. What made 66 different was a combination of factors. First, there was a deep religious tension. The Jews were exempt from worshipping the emperor — a special privilege granted by Julius Caesar — but some Roman officials began to push the limits. Florus demanded that the Jews pay him tribute from the Temple treasury, which they saw as sacrilege. Then, in Caesarea, a Greek city with a large Jewish population, the Greeks built a synagogue next to a pagan temple and offered sacrifices — essentially mocking the Jews. When Jews complained, Florus sided with the Greeks and arrested Jewish leaders. Luna: That sounds like the kind of thing that would explode. Lucas: It did. In May of 66 AD, Florus sent soldiers to Jerusalem to collect the arrears from the Temple treasury. The soldiers entered the city, and when a crowd gathered to protest, they were attacked. Hundreds were killed. The Jewish population responded by seizing control of the Temple Mount and cutting off the daily sacrifice offered for the emperor. That was a direct act of rebellion — refusing to pray for the emperor was tantamount to declaring war. Lucas: The Roman governor of Syria, Cestius Gallus, marched south with the Twelfth Legion to restore order. He almost succeeded — he reached Jerusalem, laid siege, and was on the verge of breaching the walls. Then, inexplicably, he withdrew. Josephus says the Jewish rebels ambushed his retreating army in the Beth Horon pass, killing nearly six thousand Romans. That defeat was a disaster. It shattered the myth of Roman invincibility and convinced many Jews that they could win. Luna: So Nero had a full-blown rebellion on his hands, right when he was in Greece. Lucas: Exactly. Nero was in Corinth at the time, preparing for the Isthmian Games. When the news arrived, he didn't panic — at least not publicly. He appointed Titus Flavius Vespasianus — you know him as Vespasian, the future emperor — to take command of the war. Vespasian was an experienced general, but Nero didn't give him a huge army. Nero was also worried about Parthia, which had just made peace after a long war, so he didn't want to strip the eastern frontier. Still, Vespasian — along with his son Titus — began a methodical campaign to crush the rebellion. Luna: But Nero never saw the outcome of that war, did he? Lucas: No. By the time Vespasian had subdued most of the countryside and was preparing to besiege Jerusalem, Nero was dead — killed in the civil war of 68-69. Ironically, the Jewish revolt indirectly helped Vespasian become emperor: his troops proclaimed him emperor in 69 while he was still in Judaea. So Nero's mishandling of the province set in motion events that would lead to his own dynasty's replacement. Lucas: But let's step back and think about the deeper causes. There's a reason Judaea was so volatile. The Jewish population was deeply divided: between the priestly aristocracy, who collaborated with Rome, and the common people; between moderates like King Agrippa II, who tried to prevent war, and radicals like the Zealots and Sicarii, who wanted to expel the Romans by force. Agrippa actually gave a famous speech in Jerusalem just before the revolt, begging the people not to fight — he argued that Rome was simply too powerful. But he was shouted down. Luna: And Nero himself — did he have any direct role in triggering the revolt? Lucas: Indirectly, yes. Nero appointed Florus because Florus was married to a friend of Nero's wife Poppaea. Poppaea, interestingly, had some sympathy for Jewish causes — she intervened on behalf of Jewish priests earlier. But Florus was her husband's appointee. Also, Nero's self-absorption and focus on Greece meant he paid little attention to the eastern provinces until the crisis was already out of control. He was more interested in his artistic career than in governing. Luna: So neglect was part of the problem. Lucas: Partly. But also, the Roman approach to Judaea was fundamentally flawed. The Romans never really understood Jewish monotheism — they saw it as stubborn atheism, because Jews refused to worship the gods everyone else worshipped. And the procurators, who were often of low social status, were more interested in making money than in ruling justly. Florus was just the worst in a long line of bad governors. Lucas: There's one more factor: the imperial cult. In many provinces, the emperor was worshipped as a god, and that was a way of showing loyalty. But for Jews, that was impossible. They could pray for the emperor, but they couldn't sacrifice to him. When the Roman administration started demanding divine honors — even indirectly — it created a crisis of conscience. Simon the Just, a Jewish leader, said the world stands on three things: Torah, temple service, and acts of kindness. The Romans were threatening the temple service. Luna: That makes the revolt seem almost inevitable. Lucas: Many historians argue it was. The Jewish historian Josephus, who fought on the Jewish side before defecting to Rome, wrote that the war was caused by a combination of Roman misrule and Jewish factionalism. He blamed the Zealots especially — he called them bandits. But he also acknowledged that Florus deliberately provoked the war to cover up his own crimes. So it's a messy story, with blame on both sides. Lucas: Honestly, if today was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps us ad-free and digging into these stories. And if you've been with us through the whole Nero series, thanks for that too. Luna: Yeah, we really appreciate the support. It helps us keep this going. Lucas: So where does that leave us with Nero? He didn't start the Jewish war — the causes were deeper than any one emperor. But his neglect, his bad appointments, and his obsession with Greece meant he was the wrong man at the wrong time. Within three years of the revolt, Nero was overthrown, and the war he left behind would reshape the empire. Luna: And it set the stage for Vespasian's rise. Lucas: Exactly. The Jewish revolt is often overshadowed by the Great Fire of Rome and Nero's persecution of Christians, but it was arguably more consequential in the long run. It ended the special status of Jews in the empire, destroyed the Temple, and led to the diaspora that lasted for nearly two thousand years. And it was on Nero's watch that the first match was struck.