27

Simon ben Gioras, a charismatic hothead with a silver tongue, attracted the disaffected to his side in ever growing numbers. Ananus, unable to control him, had turned him and his followers out of Jerusalem, in the hope that a spell of rough living in the desert would moderate his rabidly anti-Roman views.

He had been wrong. Gioras swiftly realised that the hard life of a desert nomad had little appeal to either him or his followers, so he had continued to use Masada as a base.

When the news of Ananus’ death reached Masada, he knew this was the time to make a move. He and his followers left for the hill country, sending scouts to the outlying villages and small towns. The message they carried to the downtrodden and dispossessed was simple. Follow Gioras and become rich. If you were a slave you would instantly be free. Why work in the fields all day for a master who took everything you produced? Gioras would put a sword in your hand; help you to take back that which was rightfully yours.

Unsurprisingly, he quickly attracted recruits. Men sick of working like the donkeys they drove for subsistence wages.

With what was soon a substantial force, he swept through the villages in the hill country picking up more recruits. His growing reputation as a warlord and an evangelist became feared in the towns and by their authorities, as respectable citizens began to support him. His next move was to establish a secure base in eastern Judaea.

In the border area of Idumaea lies the Pharan Valley, sheltered by limestone cliffs where the dominant sound to reach one’s ears is the bleating of goats, the sound of servitude. These cliffs and their many caves provided him with a ready-made citadel; accommodation for what was now an army, storage for his loot and the vast quantities of grain he had seized.

The authorities in Jerusalem, worried that Gioras intended to attack the city, decided on a pre-emptive strike. They assembled an army and marched out of Jerusalem full of confidence. Gioras had no choice but to meet them head on. In the ensuing conflict he inflicted heavy casualties, forcing the remnants of the citizen army to retreat back to Jerusalem.

They left a victorious Gioras to return to his base in the Pharan valley, where having regrouped he mounted an attack on the town of Hebron, seizing its new corn harvest and a surprising amount of money from its unresisting inhabitants.

When news of this reached Jerusalem it was the cause of much sorrow and anger. The Jews of the Holy City held the little town in special reverence, it being the oldest town in the region. At two thousand, three hundred years old it was older even than Memphis in Egypt.

It was also a sacred site of immense importance to both Jew and Arab, who acknowledged Abraham as a common ancestor, who had settled there after migrating to Hebron from Mesopotamia when his descendants moved to Egypt. Cut from single blocks of limestone, the sarcophagi of the father of nations and his wife Sarah were housed in a cave on the edge of town; a place of pilgrimage for Jews and Arabs.

From Hebron, Gioras with his whole army, now fifty thousand in number of which fifteen thousand were heavy infantry, swept across Idumaea. Meeting with little resistance, he determined to build a reputation as a great general, a man to be feared as much as respected. Aping the Romans, Gioras put the land to fire and sword.

The Zealots in Jerusalem, afraid to face Gioras’ forces in open battle, started a hit and run campaign against him. The barren hill country was ideal for laying ambushes. Its stony heights and steeply sloping canyon walls of bare rock were its only passes. Even these had to be negotiated with care. As a constant reminder of their instability, shards of razor sharp scree constantly dribbled down their unstable flanks. In this fissured wasteland, such a trap resulted in the capture of Gioras’ wife and her servants. Delighted with their prize, the zealots raced back to the city, convinced that Gioras would immediately surrender to ensure his wife’s safe return. The result was the very opposite of what they had hoped for. Incandescent with rage, Gioras camped outside the city walls. Anybody who ventured outside, for whatever purpose, irrespective of age or sex, was taken prisoner and tortured to death.

At night, many were burnt alive in cages hung on poles outside the city gates, their agonised shrieks shattering the night air, making sleep impossible. Others had their hands chopped off, and endured the agony of having the bleeding stumps cauterized with a red hot iron. These unfortunates were then allowed to return to the city, with their severed limbs in baskets strapped to the backs of mules. They also carried a message, a warning that worse was to come if Gioras didn’t get his wife back. These threats terrified the citizens and the zealots equally, so they returned his wife.

Meanwhile, Vespasian launched a campaign to subdue those parts of Judaea that had not surrendered. Cerealis, commanding the Fifth Legion, swept through upper Idumaea, smashing through the town of Caphera, razing it to the ground. He then assaulted the town of Capharin, which promptly opened its gates. Without pause, Cerealis pointed his legion towards Hebron which kept its gates closed, but with little effect. Within days Cerealis had forced an entry and put the entire population to death, before burning the town to the ground.

This marked the subjugation of the entire region. Only the great Herodian fortresses remained defiant - Herodium, Masada and Machaerus - marooned to be dealt with at a later date. Now the Roman eagle was poised to swoop on Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem hundreds of Idumaeans who had joined John’s forces rebelled. Taken by surprise, many of John’s zealots were cut down. The rest fled, taking refuge in an old royal palace once owned by the Adiabenian royal family.

Hard on their heels, the chasing Idumaeans followed them in before the gates could be shut. From there the retreat continued as a bloody running battle into the Temple, where John had set up his military HQ as well as his living quarters. Seeing John besieged, the citizen army spread througout the city rallied to his side. The citizen army’s leaders, who were the remaining chief priests, held a council and voted to admit Gioras into the city.

Gioras, convinced that he was destined to be King of the Jews, chosen by God to be the nation’s salvation, agreed to be their ruler. He entered the city hailed as deliverer and protector, resulting in John of Gischala and his supporters becoming trapped in the Temple.

Supported by the citizen army led by the priests, Gioras attacked the Temple. John, making a stand on the colonnades and battlements, beat off these early assaults but not without heavy losses. One advantage John did have was that of looking down on his enemies, which enabled his archers to fire down on Gioras’ forces with deadly effect.

The dead and the dying were strewn everywhere. Corpses of priests and laymen were piled one upon another. The blood of men and sacrificed beasts pooled into lakes in the sacred courts. In the meantime, increasing numbers of heavy missiles smashed against the altar and sanctuary, debris falling on the priests and worshippers who, in spite of everything, were still paying homage to God. Destitute, homeless people had had no option but to flee to Jerusalem for sanctuary. Satisfied that he had added to the city’s considerable burden of refugees, Gioras again camped outside the walls, killing anybody who ventured outside.

The weeping citizens declared they feared Gioras outside more than the Romans - and that the zealots inside were more terrifying than either. Of these the Galileans were the worst. It was they who supported John of Gischala and he rewarded them by giving them licence to loot the city. The houses of the prosperous were sacked and their owners killed after being tortured to reveal any hidden wealth. Their wives and children were raped for sport, before being allowed to die.

The factions fighting for control of the city were now divided into three. Simon and his zealots, who had captured the Temple treasury; John of Gischala and his supporters, who were being directly targeted by the zealots; Gioras and his Messianic army, who was determined to emerge as the outright sole winner.

The entire city was a sectarian battle ground. Between them, the citizens were being ripped apart as though by hyenas. The old prayed for the Romans to come and save them. Loyal peace loving citizens, terrified and utterly dismayed, knew they had no say in the tragedy being played out. With their lives engulfed in catastrophe, they could not even flee. In their grief and fear, they were bottled up inside by the warring parties and outside by the Romans.

Large flocks of vultures gathered over the city, riding the thermals, ominous smuts of black spiralling in a cobalt sky.