The Jerusalem Destruction by the Romans in 70 AD, as Exemplified at the “Burnt House”

What is known as the First Jewish Revolt against Rome began in 66 AD. Emperor Nero sent General Vespasian to crush the rebellion. Vespasian’s plan was to first defeat the countryside and to take Jerusalem last. Part way through the war Nero died and Vespasian was made emperor. He left for Rome leaving his son Titus to finish the war and take Jerusalem. In 70 AD the siege of Jerusalem began. The rebel’s defeat was imminent, only an act of God could save them. But the rebels were themselves divided into neighborhood factions who battled amongst themselves as much as with the Romans. This only hastened their downfall. Famine in the city was horrible as was the bloodshed between the Jewish factions. The Romans breached the city walls and took the city. Those citizens who survived were paraded back in Rome as slaves. Jerusalem and its temple were totally leveled. Stone block walls that had survived the fire were pulled down. Only the three towers of Herod the Great’s palace guards (by today’s Jaffa Gate) were left standing – nothing else (today they are incorporated into the Tower of David Museum). The Romans left a garrison in the three towers to make sure Jerusalem was not rebuilt by the remaining Jews of the outlining territory. We owe the full story of the Jewish War to the historian Josephus.

Jerusalem remained a ruin for about 50 years. Then the Emperor Hadrian (117 to 138 AD) established a new city built on top of the old. Hadrian named the new city Aelia Capitolina, and Jews were forbidden to live there. After 900 years, the main streets of today’s Jerusalem still follow the same course as the main streets of Aelia Capitolina.

There have been several excavations within the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. One excavated a home that was destroyed in 70 AD in the upper class Herodian Quarter. The walls and roof had collapsed in fire. But the bottom floor remained. There were found household items including stone vessels. These were valued, as stone could never be rendered ritually impure. Also found was a stone weight with an inscription “of Bar Katros.” The Bar Katros family were known to be temple priests. Therefore this was the home of a priestly family.