The Jewish War Begins (66-67 CE)

During the brief reign of Agrippa the Great, Judea returned to a pinnacle of wealth and prestige that had not been seen since the reign of Queen Alexandra a century earlier. Although the Kingdom reverted to a Roman province upon his death in 44, Judea’s prosperity endured. But underneath the pomp and finery, things were starting to go very, very wrong.
PATREON: / samaronow
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Sources:
Flavius Josephus
The Jewish War
www.amazon.com/Jewish-War-Rev...
Flavius Josephus
Antiquities of the Jews
Available free via Project Gutenberg: www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/...
Simon Schama
The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BCE-1492 CE
amazon.com/Story-Jews-One-Find...
0:00 Intro
0:22 Judea under Nero
2:34 The Caesarea Incident
4:47 The Three Events
6:02 The Royalist Temple Siege
7:39 Beit Horon
9:43 The Judean Provisional Government
11:01 Josephus
14:02 Yodfat

[@SidheKnight]

"Begun, the Jewish War has" - Rabbi Yoda

[@illerac84]

Cue the Imperial March

[@MegaBlueShit]

One correction. The last time a Roman army was completely routed and beaten before the Jewish rebellion, was not during the civil wars. It was in 9 AD in the Battle of the Teutoburg forest.

[@illerac84]

Ok, no need to repost. Was just going to say this.

[@zangoloid]

unrelated to the video but seeing you succeed makes me happy

[@DecxUser]

🥳

[@mattbenz99]

Wait, was the leader of the ancient Jewish republic actually named Ben Gurian? The same name as the first Prime Minister of the state of Israel?

[@avivbaltsan7583]

Yes. The first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, was originally named ‘David Green’ but true to the Zionist tradition he changed his name into a Hebrew one, and inspired by the Jewish war he became ‘David Ben Gurion’.

[@arawn1061]

@@avivbaltsan7583 that is so cool

[@Mag1cA]

@@avivbaltsan7583 he did it before he knew he'd become the first prime minister, just stating the obvious :)

[@clearwatercaladesi8157]

this is what these imposters do , change their names to names from history, total jokers. gomers children are not shem's the semites 😂

[@jeffmoncalieri7491]

@@clearwatercaladesi8157 2/10

[@guynehemia4029]

A Jewish republic founded by Ben Gurion. Sounds familiar.

[@littleantukins4415]

Definitely not a coincidence

[@bomoose]

david ben gurion changed his name

[@guynehemia4029]

@@bomoose and?

[@mcpopcorn3195]

​@@guynehemia4029 He changed his last name to ben gurion as he was inspired by the jewish war

[@Artur_M.]

I finally decided to check out your work and I have to say that it's pretty great! Honestly, I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of interesting channels about history but I guess that is a good kind of a problem to have. I assume that you are planning to present Jewish history throughout the ages. I would love to see you cover one day such things as the Statute of Kalisz, the Council of Four Lands or Berek Joselewicz.

[@SamAronow]

I don't like to talk about the future of this channel because my scripts are constantly evolving...but I'm an Aronow, of course I'm covering the Beardlings.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

This is going to work, I have a feeling.

[@iib9123]

Hahaha

[@Mag1cA]

we'll keep fighting, what's the worst that could happen?

[@michaelfishman3976]

I did not know that Josephus saved himself by calling Vespasian the Caesar. Is this, perhaps, a parallel to the Talmudic account of R Jochanan b Zakkai being smuggled out of Jerusalem, encountering Vespasian, and greeting him with “Hail Caesar?” And just as Vespasian was about to kill Jochanan for that, a herald came from Rome to announce that Vespasian was now the new Caesar. So Vespasian granted Jochanan 3 requests, the most famous one being a “vineyard in Jamnia”, which became the new location of the Sanhedrin.

[@timcent7199]

Read the complete works of Josephus. You'll bury yourself for weeks reading all about Jewish revolt.

[@tcironbear21]

I just found your channel yesterday and have gotten this far into the series. I am really fascinated by how "modern" the Jews are over time. Getting good chunk of my understanding of Jewish politics through the filter of Christianity and Gentiles in general, I had expected I much more archaic, rigid, and theocratic system. But the Jews seemed to be pretty good at incorporating and improving upon gentile political organization when they encountered good ideas. It many ways it reminds me of how the Japanese are able to readily incorporate foreign ideas into their society without diluting their own culture.

[@muhammetaliarslan2708]

Great videos! Cant stop binging all of your videos all-day .

[@richardglady3009]

Great video, as always. Thank you for all your hard work in its production.

[@thefisherking78]

IDK how I found you recently (not Reddit) but I'm loving your commentaries and will be chewing through your back catalog for quite a while. Love it!

[@MrBert86]

Okay the Star Wars music during that one battle sequence may be the best editing decision I’ve ever seen 👌🏻

[@SludgeMan90]

Binge-watching the entire series. this is amazing stuff man. Id let you revise the entire curriculum of how history is taught in Israeli schools

[@littleswol1]

Great video. I look forward to the next one!

[@gorgeeshmorgee4660]

I have been dreading reaching this video. Well done as always, but what a sad cascade of events.

[@Rudster14]

This was definitely one of your best videos so far

[@davidk2897]

Good, but two errors. Arminius and the Germans gave the Romans a much bigger defeat in 9CE. Also Vespasian took part in the invasion of Britain, but did not lead it.

[@VSP4591]

It is all different. It was something else.

[@timcent7199]

This by far the best presentation on this subject. It felt like I was a blind man in a picture theatre and similar to listening to sport on the radio. (That's a good thing).

[@Cybernaut551]

Thank you for informing us.

[@user-pr4uw2gv7m]

i like the choices of songs. beautifulli done

[@marcelfoster7997]

So I kinda found this Chanel through historvica...I love this I can’t believe it’s never been explored before!

[@KrazyKaiser]

I love them mocking the Romans and then also just fucking mercing a few of them.

[@YaaqovShenkin]

Loved this video and how much more intense the history gets at this point, already getting excited for the Bar Kokhba revolt. Also bought the book and looking forward to reading that

[@clearwatercaladesi8157]

take a dna test to see if you connect to that land. lol

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

honestly josefus could have added a catch that said something like if you become emperor you must help the jews or something like that

[@FlaviusBelisarius-ck6uv]

Vespasian would've seen *right through* that and would've had Josephus put to the sword like the rest of Jotapata. See, something Sam didn't mention in the video is that, during the siege, Vespasian managed to catch a runner trying to sneak out of Jotapata and intercepted a letter Josephus had addressed to John of Giscala, the letter alluding to other letters that had been sent prior that Vespasian had not managed to intercept. The letter requested reinforcements and reminded him that this was not the first time reinforcements had been called for. Josephus ended the letter by proclaiming he could hold out until the 47th day and then the city would fall and it would be John's fault for not reinforcing him. The city indeed fell on the 47th day and Vespasian was madly curious how Joseph could have predicted that.

[@whippet71]

Great history lesson, thank you!

[@shpilbass5743]

What's the background music for the battle at Brit horon? It rocks

[@whitelady1063]

אגב אחלה סרטון אולי תוכל לעשות פרק מעל יוספוס? by the way great vid, maybe you can make a video about Yosefus?

[@SamAronow]

He will be a central figure in the next three videos.

[@tonylast9181]

Yosefus is the subject of a BBC series on the Jewish revolt

[@platylobiumobtuseangulum1607]

Ben Gurion!? Wait, I've heard that name before - or should I say a very long time later!

[@Joshfitterman]

Great video but I’m curious why you take Josephus’ version of the story over the version centered around R Yohanan b Zakai?

[@andrewsuryali8540]

I'd say the video itself makes a very clear explanation. The modern Jewish interpretation is that Josephus plagiarized Yohanan ben Zakkai's story and inserted himself. However, how would a Hillelite rabbi in Jerusalem understand Roman internal politics enough to have made the prediction that someone like Vespasian would have believed such a treasonous prophecy? Why would he have even conceived it? The problem is that the modern Jewish histriography is based too much on the idea that he didn't have to. That it WAS a true prophecy. However, if we apply strict historical method and say there's no such thing as prophecy, there is every likelihood that, if Yohanan ben Zakkai had truly made the "prophecy" he would most likely have based it on Josephus' earlier one. It made more sense for Josephus to have come up with the prophecy because he'd known Rome, and after his trip with the Jewish embassy there he would have had some inkling of the instability of Nero's reign and of Vespasian's high status under Claudius and Nero himself, enough to have come up with the "prophecy" on the fly. By the time he was writing the book he'd been cornered into a position where he NEEDED to stick to the story. However, the way he wrote about his "prophecy" in the book is actually almost exactly the same in style and wording as in those other places where he brags about his pharisaic Jewish credentials, which we know is total bullshit. He knew he was lying. It shows. Josephus didn't believe his own prophecy, but unfortunately for him luck was actually on his side that one time. The significantly more likely possibility is that there was never a prophecy and Josephus came up with the story to hide what was likely him singing like a canary to Vespasian and Titus and betraying Jews left and right. Later Jewish history-makers, unaware of this, simply borrowed the story and retroactively used it to explain why Yohanan ben Zakkai was spared. In truth, there was no reason for Vespasian, who was at that time still hoping for a mass surrender, to reject Yohanan ben Zakkai's entreaties, prophecy or not. However, this would have tarnished the rabbi's reputation in the eyes of Jews after the war, so something would have had to be added to the story to absolve him of the accusation of treason.

[@Joshfitterman]

@@andrewsuryali8540 this is a good take, but I wouldn’t call it obvious. Any interpretation is a postulate, and I was just interested to understand what the thinking was and if he had sources I hadn’t heard from to support one over the other. If he was just postulating I like to hear the thought behind it. That said, I asked him and he answered me over Patreon (if anyone was also curious), saying “Josephus' version was published in the year 75, just after the war while Vespasian was Emperor, whereas Yohanan ben Zakai's version was only passed down orally until being published in the Gemara in 220. I think it's clear from the context that Josephus' story was conflated with that of YBZ by later students.”

[@andrewsuryali8540]

​@@Joshfitterman I guess the problem here is that there were two different questions. I answered based on my (apparently erroneous) assumption that we both already knew about the history of the sources, but turns out you also needed to ask what the sources were. My original post is a postulate of how things might have played out given that we already knew the story of Yohanan ben Zakkai came much later than Josephus' book. I honestly thought it was common knowledge. Sorry.

[@benswolo8899]

Nice pick, the dudok kwartet

[@richardglady3009]

Great video. Thank you.

[@charlesstuart7290]

In the Hollywood movie Barabas there is a armed action that was obviously based on the Battle of Beit Horon in the Jewish War.

[@SezarOroo]

Is that Star wars music in the background?

[@jorgetorres6162]

Thank you, thank you. Well done

[@aheroicdose]

Well, Teutoborg was after the civil wars to which you refer, and was a bigger loss (tre legio rekt).

[@ibnyahud]

I'm curious as to who the actual one that said that to Vespasian was Josephus or R' Yohanon Ben Zakkai of course given that the Talmud was written centuries later, so statistically the Talmudic version was probably propaganda... but it's not impossible for Josephus to have been lying either, as Bellum Iudaicum was published years later as an official Flavian account that does seem a tad embellished...

[@rickmiller8893]

This is probably one of the most significant videos ever made if you are into... How to word it based on your beliefs?..let's say... Not available to have the energy needing to read Josephus.

[@erinaltstadt4234]

Thank you, this is great.

[@whitelady1063]

one day you will blow and have like 100k subs

[@rursus8354]

Good video, neutral tone and informative. However I'm in doubt whether Judaea was a rich province. Perhaps the Herodians were rich. I don't think that private property was an issue in Judaea either. Perhaps the concept of a private temple might have been big no-no, since the YHWH-cult was centralized to Jerusalem.

[@whitelady1063]

אתה תעשה סירטונים אחרי שתגיע למרד בן כוסיבא? Would you continue making videos after reaching the Bar Kochva revolt?

[@SamAronow]

Yes.

[@mokied]

I feel like Josephus escapades in the Galilee could have enjoyed a stand-alone 20 minutes episode. Also dare I call bullshit on the whole Josephus coming up with the math formula story. I think he just rigged the lot.

[@saltMagic]

So much theory in this, with so little record.

[@CybermanKing]

When you don’t study for the test but still ace it.

[@VSP4591]

According to Josephus, the war on Rome was declared for religious reasons, not economic reasons. The Zealots and Sicaries wanted to be free from Roman rule and absolute independence. Nothing more nothing less. As the author of the video said, the Jews had a far better situation in the Roman Empire compared with other population: they had a Jewish King, a Jewish Grand Priest, freedom of religion, the Sanhedrim was collecting taxes end so on. Not to mention that the Temple was brand new being finished in 68 AC. So, the risks of an war with Roman Empire were sub estimated believing that Yahve will deliver the victory to the Jews as in so many cases in the past.

[@historicalminds6812]

Can you list your sources?

[@philosophicalinquirer312]

most of this comes from Josephus Roman-Jewish wars. Most historians accept it to be reliable. Sure, some numbers might be exaggerated. Some "speeches" are probably Josephus political view rather than the actual real speeches - which in some cases he could not have heard. MOST in likely to be real historicity & reliable. PARTICULARLY the speech of Agripa II pleading the surrender to Rome speech is likely to be made up "summary" of what Josephus thought Agripa II would have said. Some reasons for this such as Josephus was not present and its unlikely such complex language and long speech would be remembered or written (that was a commentary I read) Likewise, the speeches in Masada. Simply no way he would have known exactly what was said and also sound too long winded. Unlikely that survivors of Masada would have remembered a long "perfect literary" speech. Most likely - Something was said, and Josephus creates a literary masterpiece out of it i.e embellishing. However, we then get Josephus personal politics bias eg he despised the Zealots - and of course, he himself is seen as a traitor surrendering to Rome (and later "living the good life" freed) However - there are reasons to trust Josephus account. He did lead a rebellion in Galilee placing himself in plenty danger and self sacrifice prior to fall of yodfat. Once Yodfat fell, he reasoned as a pragmatist - whats the point of dying ? He also had Latin skills and highly articulate & intelligent - so he did the crafty Vespasian would be Emperor trick which worked. He also loved his people & nation and warned them that if they don't surrender Jerusalem its going to turn uglier than imaginable - and he was 100% correct ! He also believed (rightfully) that God was pissed off with the infighting and squabbling and on the Roman side as a tool of destruction.....spot on. However - that last point is problematic. Josephus is also covering his own ass that ultimately his strategy and tactics were awful and negligent. Barricading the people in fortresses against the most powerful army in the world with the latest and most powerful siege weapons ever devised was stupid. No matter how thick and high the walls. Better tactics would be all out highly mobile guerrilla warfare. (sort of thing the Germanic tribes did) Of course, Josephus does not mention this. To his credit - he was NOT military trained. i.e wrong person for the job.

[@pazreyes7794]

@@philosophicalinquirer312 sources?

[@playea123]

Josephus was such a genius that he actually hastened the fall of Yodfat....."Genius" has definitely lost its meaning.

[@alexisdespland4939]

is this ben gurion who tel aviv's airport is amed after.

[@michaelmullen8896]

Sam your work is a revelation (and you are very cute which makes me sad that you don't give your listeners more non- cartoon face). I have learned from Henry Abramson which as far as I can tell is you're only (and of course friendly) rival in anything like this important material, but his style and honestly pith are nothing compared to yours. However, I am curious about what sources you use,and how you use them. I assume, especially for a lot of this earlier material, Josephus. Ludite that I am, you may tell me that your sources are marked and easily available to anyone, and i might be initially embarrassed but then say to you that I would nevertheless be interested in a session during which you explore the sources that you have used during the recent years of your historical retellings, as well as how you use them... I know your feelings about the prophet Yirmiyahu, but I think you will agree with he was right on about about your broadcasts when he said "good job dude, ne'um Hashem"

[@yellowfish555]

the story about the prophecy is probably false. the only one who could deny it is Vespasian. and Vespasian didn't mind (quite to the contrary) that Josephus was going around saying that he prophesied about Vespasian becoming Ceaser based on an ancient Jewish prophecy.

[@noorjahan1333]

Enjoying the Jewish history of antiquities 😀

[@gsmiro]

I think another name for Yodfat is Jotapata. Beit Horon = Bethoron, and Jaffa = Jopa.

[@stevenv6463]

Part of the reason Nero took the treasures of the Jewish temple is that his mismanagement was bankrupting the empire.

[@Reticulosis]

Lol when only he and the last man were left he surrendered (after having orchestrated mass suicide for everyone else)

[@alejandromadrid8075]

What do you mean by Jews didnt believe in private property? Was that part of the Jewish religion during that time?

[@philosophicalinquirer312]

I think that's inaccurate. Jewish law certainly allows private property. The Jews tried to purchase the Greek property offering exorbitantly high price - but the Greeks refused and agitated the Jews with the bird sacrifices on their property. In hindsight, does look like a pathetic squabble that led to the entire destruction of the Judea Kingdom and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews. The main problem was that the Jews did not have effective unified command and control and too much infighting. The Jews had eliminated one Roman Legion at the beginning of the war - so certainly had capacity to succeed. However - in one sense its also a ridiculous fight since they are seeking independence from the post powerful Empire super-power & armies in the world - by far. However - Germanic Barbarians were able to hold off and prevent Roman expansion across the Rhine land. Then again - comparing Jewish situation to the Germanic tribes is poor comparison. The Germanic tribes were a warrior culture in far, far more favorable terrain (Gigantic forests, swamps, rivers....) However - huge criticism being poor Jewish leadership an infighting with an *EXTREMELY* bad strategy. Locking oneself behind siege wall fortifications !!! AGAINST THE MOST POWERFUL SIEGE MACHINERY THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN (and well trained, heavy armored Legions. When the Jews succeeded - it was intelligence gathering, mobility, surprise and guerrilla warfare against a slow moving Roman Legion. (which by the way is also how Germanic tribes succeeded) So it was botched planning on the Jewish side and very good & highly disciplined tactics from Vespesian & Titus.

[@Costin_Gaming]

Nero...seriously fucking Nero.

[@barbarianater]

5:35

[@philosophicalinquirer312]

most of this comes from Josephus Roman-Jewish wars. Most historians accept it to be reliable. Sure, some numbers might be exaggerated. Some "speeches" are probably Josephus political view rather than the actual real speeches - which in some cases he could not have heard. MOST in likely to be real historicity & reliable. PARTICULARLY the speech of Agripa II pleading the surrender to Rome speech is likely to be made up "summary" of what Josephus thought Agripa II would have said. Some reasons for this such as Josephus was not present and its unlikely such complex language and long speech would be remembered or written (that was a commentary I read) Likewise, the speeches in Masada. Simply no way he would have known exactly what was said and also sound too long winded. Unlikely that survivors of Masada would have remembered a long "perfect literary" speech. Most likely - Something was said, and Josephus creates a literary masterpiece out of it i.e embellishing. However, we then get Josephus personal politics bias eg he despised the Zealots - and of course, he himself is seen as a traitor surrendering to Rome (and later "living the good life" freed) However - there are reasons to trust Josephus account. He did lead a rebellion in Galilee placing himself in plenty danger and self sacrifice prior to fall of yodfat. Once Yodfat fell, he reasoned as a pragmatist - whats the point of dying ? He also had Latin skills and highly articulate & intelligent - so he did the crafty Vespasian would be Emperor trick which worked. He also loved his people & nation and warned them that if they don't surrender Jerusalem its going to turn uglier than imaginable - and he was 100% correct ! He also believed (rightfully) that God was pissed off with the infighting and squabbling and on the Roman side as a tool of destruction.....spot on. However - that last point is problematic. Josephus is also covering his own ass that ultimately his strategy and tactics were awful and negligent. Barricading the people in fortresses against the most powerful army in the world with the latest and most powerful siege weapons ever devised was stupid. No matter how thick and high the walls. Better tactics would be all out highly mobile guerrilla warfare. (sort of thing the Germanic tribes did) Of course, Josephus does not mention this. To his credit - he was NOT military trained. i.e wrong person for the job.

[@darkmattersproject2951]

Is he Flavious Josephus

[@shandur5660]

There are two glaring in inaccuracies in you presentation. First it wasn’t “David” that told called Vespasian that he was emperor. It was the religious rabbi Rav Yohanan Ben Zakkai. When word reaached Vespasian that he was crowned emperor he rewarded Rabbi Yohanan with his request allowing him to establish a yeshiva in yavneh. You claim hat in 125 the Christian’s changed the day of rest on Sunday not Saturday. No correct. The Christian’s (Popes ) changed the Jewish law during the counsel of Nicaea in 325. What is. Your background and current religious affiliation that assures me the confidence that your series is accurate.. please explain.

[@davidwithington140]

You are right in that he is incorrect regarding the day of rest changing in 125, but your answer is also incorrect. Both Ignatius and Justin Martyr suggest that it was earlier in the 1st centuryAD, not the 4th when Christians began observing Sunday. It's an easy mistake to make considering the council of Nicea did discuss the issue of sunday, but a closer reading of the procedings show that the question was only in regards to whether Easter should be observed on sunday, not regular weekly meetings.

[@mr.warlight9086]

John Gischala, completely inept at leadership, undermines everyone, yet everyone loves him and unites under him, literally every single group despite hating each other including the Zealots and Sicariis and Galileans, because he's just so silly and everyone likes a silly dummy even though he sucks, and he survives for no reason and even the Romans keep him around for absolutely no reason. Reminds me of myself.

[@jkinggamer4020]

you know your desperate when you make a republic

[@ssach7]

8:35 god damnit, I hate being colorblind, I dont know who is who

[@ferreirap.]

The music in the background is shit. Good information though.

[@RihannaIsIluminati]

So hype

[@sonyps3780]

Respect from Serbia to Jewish people!

[@philosophicalinquirer312]

In hindsight, does look like a pathetic squabble that led to the entire destruction of the Judea Kingdom and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews. The main problem was that the Jews did not have effective unified command and control and too much infighting. The Jews had eliminated one Roman Legion at the beginning of the war - so certainly had capacity to succeed. However - in one sense its also a ridiculous fight since they are seeking independence from the post powerful Empire super-power & armies in the world - by far. However - Germanic Barbarians were able to hold off and prevent Roman expansion across the Rhine land. Then again - comparing Jewish situation to the Germanic tribes is poor comparison. The Germanic tribes were a warrior culture in far, far more favorable terrain (Gigantic forests, swamps, rivers....) However - huge criticism being poor Jewish leadership an infighting with an *EXTREMELY* bad strategy. Locking oneself behind siege wall fortifications !!! AGAINST THE MOST POWERFUL SIEGE MACHINERY THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN (and well trained, heavy armored Legions. When the Jews succeeded - it was intelligence gathering, mobility, surprise and guerrilla warfare against a slow moving Roman Legion. (which by the way is also how Germanic tribes succeeded) So it was botched planning on the Jewish side and very good & highly disciplined tactics from Vespesian & Titus.

[@mikhailv67tv]

Great history I love your passion for it. Being brought up Christian I'm so ignorant of this wonderful History, makes me wish I was brought up Jewish. Subscribed !

[@henrymellard5647]

Talents of what lol. They gave 30 kg of what

[@eugenocider]

meshuggeneh

[@FloridaMugwump]

Yeah sorry but they didn't say Jewish. Because the "Greeks" were Jews from Egypt. It is confusing in Josephus when he tries to distinguish Judean as a religion and Judean as a citizen of the country. And the bird sacrifice is from the old testament, a cure for LEPROSY. It was the Egyptian Jews saying that the Judean Jews were kicked out of Egypt for leprosy.

[@onefeather2]

Annoying loud music, wont watch.

[@KrazyKaiser]

Damn, that slaughter at Yodfat is pretty heartbreaking.

[@dloresch4]

heartbreaking in so far as it wasn't a complete annihilation, I agree

[@paul5475]

Why Jews are called Jews and not Israelites? I don't get any answer yet of this thou?. Where did the Israel name came from? And what is Israel? Means? Who are the real Israel? Cause Jews are not Israelites right?

[@adamflamm4444]

They are interchangeable. It probably started when the people were divided between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Then, when the land was called Judeah, the inhabitants were referred to as Judeans (Jews).

[@bigjohn5142]

you are biased in your presentation, trying to paint the romans as if they are the bad guys.