Bar Kokhba revolt

The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE),Template:Efn also known as the Bar Kokhba war,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn the War of Betar,Template:Efn and the Third (or Second) Jewish–Roman War,Template:Efn was the last and most devastating of three major Jewish rebellions against the Roman Empire. The rebels, led by Simon bar Kokhba, succeeded in establishing an independent Jewish state in Judaea that lasted several years. The revolt was ultimately crushed by the Romans, resulting in the near-depopulation of Judea through mass killings, widespread enslavement, and the displacement of much of the Jewish population.

Resentment toward Roman rule in Judaea and nationalistic aspirations remained high following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple during the First Jewish Revolt in 70 CE. The immediate triggers of the Bar Kokhba revolt included Emperor Hadrian's decision to rebuild Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, a Roman colony dedicated to Jupiter, extinguishing hopes for the Temple's reconstruction, as well as a possible ban on circumcision. The rebels used guerrilla tactics and underground hideouts embedded in their villages. Simon bar Kokhba was declared "nasi" (prince) of Israel, and the rebels established a full administration, issuing their own weights and coinage. Contemporary documents celebrated a new era of "the redemption of Israel".

The tide turned when Hadrian appointed one of Rome's most skilled generals, Sextus Julius Severus, to suppress the rebellion. Severus was supported by an unusually large concentration of forces, including six full legions, auxiliary and reinforcements from up to six additional legions. Hadrian himself also directed operations for a time. The Romans systematically devastated towns, villages, and the countryside. In 135 CE, the fortified stronghold of Betar, the rebels' center of resistance, was captured and destroyed, and Simon bar Kokhba was killed. Many rebels and refugees sought shelter in caves, particularly in the Judaean Desert, but Roman troops besieged these hideouts, cutting off supplies and killing, starving, or capturing those inside.

The consequences of the revolt were disastrous. Ancient and contemporary sources estimate that hundreds of thousands were killed, with many others enslaved or exiled. The historical heart of Judea was largely depopulated, and the spiritual center of Jewish life shifted to Galilee and the growing diaspora. Messianic hopes became more abstract, and rabbinic Judaism adopted a cautious, non-revolutionary stance. The divide between Judaism and early Christianity also deepened. The Romans imposed harsh religious prohibitions, including bans on circumcision and Sabbath observance, expelled Jews from the vicinity of Jerusalem, limited their entry to one annual visit, and repopulated the city with foreigners.Template:Campaignbox Bar Kokhba revolt

Sources

Reconstructing the Bar Kokhba revolt is challenging due to the limited and fragmentary nature of the surviving sources.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Unlike the First Jewish revolt, which was extensively documented by the contemporary historian Josephus, the Bar Kokhba revolt lacks a similarly detailed chronicle.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Historians must rely on a limited set of literary sources, each varying in reliability, intent, and chronology,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn including rabbinic literature, Greco-Roman and Christian writings, with additional insights from archaeological findings.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Cassius Dio, a Roman statesman and historian of Greek origin writing in the early 3rd century CE,Template:Sfn provides the most detailed surviving Roman account of the revolt in his Roman History.<ref name="Dio">Cassius Dio, Translation by Earnest Cary. Roman History, book 69, 12.1–14.3. Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation: Harvard University Press, 1914 thru 1927. Online in LacusCurtius:[1]Template:Dead link and livius.org:[2] Template:Webarchive. Book scan in Internet Archive:[3].</ref>Template:Sfn This work has survived only through an 11th-century aepitome by John Xiphilinus, which is generally considered faithful to Dio's original language and content.Template:Sfn Dio's account presents the revolt from a military standpoint, describing the underground hideouts of Jewish rebels, though he does not mention Bar Kokhba by name.Template:Sfn He also discusses the unity of the global Jewish population and notes some non-Jewish involvement.Template:Sfn His account offers valuable insight into the scale and devastation of the conflict, highlighting the severe losses on both sides.Template:Sfn

Eusebius, a 4th-century bishop and historian from Caesarea Maritima, offers a Christian interpretation of the revolt, framing Jewish suffering as divine punishment for the crucifixion of Jesus.Template:Sfn Despite this theological bias, his account is significant due to his access to valuable sources, including the library of Pamphilus, church archives in Aelia Capitolina, earlier Christian writers such as Aristo of Pella and Julius Africanus, and possibly pagan texts.Template:Sfn Eusebius provides key details missing from Dio (whom he likely neither knew nor used as a source)Template:Sfn such as naming Tineius Rufus as the Roman governor of Judaea, identifying Bar Kokhba (as Barchochebas, interpreted as 'son of a star'), and citing Bethar (Beththera) as the site of the final siege.Template:Sfn Though influenced by a supersessionist perspective,Template:Sfn his geographical proximity and access to lost materials and Jewish traditions make his writings an important, albeit ideologically filtered, source for the revolt.Template:Sfn

The Historia Augusta, a late Roman collection of imperial biographies compiled in the 4th century CE,Template:Sfn devotes only a single sentence to the revolt in its Life of Hadrian, briefly noting one of its possible causes.Template:Sfn This portion of the work is believed to draw on relatively reliable Latin sources from the Severan period (193–235 CE), making it roughly contemporary with Dio's account.Template:Sfn

Rabbinic literature, including the Mishnah, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, and various midrashim, provides key Jewish references to the revolt. Though these texts primarily focus on Jewish law (halakhah) and were not intended as historical chronicles, they contain narrative sections (aggadah) that preserve stories, teachings, legal rulings, and reflections related to the period.Template:Sfn While shaped by theological and didactic goals, some of these traditions are seen as preserving genuine historical memory, especially when supported by archaeological or external sources.Template:Sfn Many stories about the revolt, such as those regarding the fall of Betar, appear in aggadic material, particularly in the Babylonian Talmud (e.g., Gittin 55b–58a), the Jerusalem Talmud (Taanith iv 8, 68d–69b), and midrashim like Lamentations Rabbah.Template:Sfn These passages offer insight into how the Jewish people experienced and interpreted the events.Template:Sfn A distinctive contribution of rabbinic literature is its portrayal of Bar Kokhba, the only source to explicitly describe him as a messianic figure and to preserve two conflicting accounts of his death.Template:Sfn Additionally, rabbinic texts recount Roman executions of sages and religious persecution after the revolt,Template:Sfn expressing both sympathetic and critical views on its leaders and outcomes.Template:Sfn

File:Bar Kokhba's papyrus.png

A cluster of papyri containing Bar Kokhba's orders discovered at the Cave of Letters in the Judaean Desert by Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin

Archaeological discoveries, beginning with finds in 1952, have transformed scholarly understanding of the revolt.Template:Sfn Chief among them are papyri discovered in the Cave of Letters in the Judaean Desert, including legal documents and correspondence between Bar Kokhba and his subordinates.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Among roughly 30 surviving texts, three are in Greek, while the rest are in Hebrew and Aramaic.Template:Sfn These documents offer direct insight into the rebels' administration, military organization, religious practices, and internal challenges,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn though they provide limited information about the military course of the revolt itself.Template:Sfn Additional evidence comes from coins minted by the rebels, which help estimate the revolt's duration and reveal its goals:Template:Sfn the restoration of Jewish independence and the rebuilding of the Temple.Template:Sfn

Ante bellum

Judaea between the two revolts

Between 66 and 73 CE, Judaea was the epicenter of the First Jewish Revolt. The Roman suppression campaign—led first by Vespasian and then by his son, Titus—culminated in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the devastation of Jerusalem, the spiritual and national heart of the Jewish people.Template:Sfn Large numbers of Jews died from war, famine, disease, and massacres, while many others were captured or displaced.Template:Sfn Yet communal life gradually recovered in Judaea,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and the Jewish population continued to form a relative majority.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, the trauma of Jerusalem's destruction left a profound mark on Jewish thought. Messianic and apocalyptic expectations endured, with works such as 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch expressing hopes that Rome would soon be overthrown by divine action.Template:Sfn

In the revolt's aftermath, Judaea underwent administrative restructuring: a senatorial-rank legate was appointed as governor, and Legio X Fretensis, which had taken part in the conquest of Jerusalem, was permanently stationed there, establishing its base amid the city's ruins.Template:Sfn The regions of Judea and Idumaea were designated as a military zone, administered directly by officers of the legion.Template:Sfn Former soldiers, along with other Roman citizens, established themselves in the province.Template:Sfn

In 115 CE, during the reign of Emperor Trajan, a widespread Jewish uprising known as the Diaspora Revolt erupted across the eastern Mediterranean, affecting communities in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia, and continued until 117. Epigraphic and later literary notices also indicate that Judaea itself saw a Roman campaign at this time, remembered in rabbinic tradition as the "Kitos War"—a designation drawn from the name of the Moorish general Lusius Quietus, whom Trajan placed in charge of the province to enforce order.Template:Sfn Hostilities may have been stoked by Roman cult acts in Jerusalem: Hippolytus reports that a legion under Trajan set up an idol called Kore, while an inscription records soldiers of Legio III Cyrenaica dedicating an altar or statue to Serapis in the city during Trajan's final year.Template:Sfn

With Hadrian's accession to the throne following Trajan's death in 117, Quietus was dismissed from his role in Judaea and replaced by Marcus Titius Lustricus Bruttianus.Template:Sfn Around this time, a second legion—Legio II Traiana Fortis, redeployed after Hadrian abandoned Trajan's eastern conquests—was stationed in the province.Template:Sfn This brought the garrison to two legions and raised Judaea's standing to that of a provincia consularis,Template:Sfn placing it under a proconsul, a higher-ranking official. Soldiers of the new legion were quickly set to work on infrastructure: by around 120 CE, milestones indicate the construction of a road from Ptolemais (Acre) to Sepphoris and Caparcotna, establishing Caparcotna as a northern base and securing the key corridor between Judea, Galilee, Egypt, and Syria.Template:Sfn Efforts to repopulate the region with loyal settlers, including discharged Roman soldiers, aimed to secure the territory but ultimately led to the alienation of its Jewish population.Template:Sfn

Causes

Ancient sources identify two distinct triggers for the outbreak of the revolt.Template:Sfn Cassius Dio attributes it to Jewish anger over Emperor Hadrian's decision to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman colony, Aelia Capitolina.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Historia Augusta cites a Roman ban on circumcision, a central Jewish practice, as the immediate cause.Template:Sfn Modern scholarship generally recognizes a combination of these causes in explaining the outbreak of the revolt.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Establishment of Aelia Capitolina

In 129–130 CE, Hadrian toured the eastern provinces, promoting Hellenistic culture. The region's non-Jewish population honored him with new city names and festivals.Template:Sfn During his visit of Judaea, he decided to rebuild the destroyed Jerusalem as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina,Template:Sfn after his family nameTemplate:Efn and in honor of Capitoline Jupiter.Template:Sfn This decision enraged the Jews, extinguishing their hopes of rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple.Template:Sfn The foreign desecration of Jerusalem had previously sparked Jewish revolt in the 160s BCE, when Antiochus IV's spoliation of the Temple led to the Maccabean Revolt.Template:SfnTemplate:Multiple images

Historians once debated whether the founding of Aelia Capitolina triggered the Bar Kokhba revolt or was imposed afterward as punishment. This debate arose from conflicting accounts in ancient sources. Cassius Dio wrote that Hadrian established Aelia Capitolina on Jerusalem's ruins and erected a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. According to his account, this provoked "a long and serious war, since the Jews objected to having gentiles settled in their city and foreign cults established."<ref>Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXIX, 12, 1–2</ref>Template:Sfn In contrast, Eusebius described the colony as a punitive measure,Template:Sfn writing: "when the city had been emptied of the Jewish nation and had suffered the total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, it was colonized by a different race, and the Roman city which subsequently arose changed its name."<ref>Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, IV, 6.3–6.4</ref>Template:Sfn Later, the discovery of Aelia Capitolina coins at sites abandoned before the revolt and buried with Bar Kokhba coins confirmed Dio's version: the colony was founded before the uprising.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn

A rabbinic story, seemingly set during Hadrian's reign,Template:Sfn recounts that the Romans initially intended to rebuild the Temple, but a Samaritan dissuaded them by warning that the Jews would rebel once their city was restored.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn The historicity of this account has been questioned, as the motif of a malevolent Samaritan is common in Jewish literature;Template:Sfn it may instead reflect Jewish disappointment that the Romans ultimately did not rebuild the Temple.Template:Sfn

Classicist historian Mary E. Smallwood writes that the foundation of Aelia Capitolina was likely "an attempt to combat resurgent Jewish nationalism" by secularizing the Jewish holy capital.Template:Sfn According to historian Martin Goodman, Hadrian established the colony as a "final solution for Jewish rebelliousness," aiming to permanently erase the city and prevent future uprisings among Jews in Judaea or the diaspora.Template:Sfn The foundation of a Roman colony—rather than a Hellenistic polis—was designed to transplant foreign populations and impose Roman religious practices. While Hadrian founded many cities, this case was unique in that it was "not to flatter but to suppress the natives."Template:Sfn

Ban on circumcision

Another often-cited cause for the revolt is a possible ban on the Jewish practice of circumcision (Brit milah).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Historia Augusta states, "In their impetuosity the Jews also began a war, as they had been forbidden to mutilate their genitals,"<ref>Historia Augusta, Life of Hadrian, XIV, 2</ref> which is interpreted as a reference to the prohibition of circumcision. However, the reliability of this account is questionable, as the Historia Augusta was written centuries after the events and is prone to anecdote and error.<ref>Benjamin H. Isaac, Aharon Oppenheimer, 'The Revolt of Bar Kochba:Ideology and Modern Scholarship,' in Benjamin H. Isaac, The Near East Under Roman Rule: Selected Papers , Brill (Vol. 177 of Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. 177: Supplementum), 1998 pp. 220–252, 226–227</ref><ref>Aharon Oppenheimer, 'The Ban on Circumcision as a cause of the Revolt: A Reconsideration,' in Peter Schäfer (ed.) The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest, Mohr Siebeck, 2003 pp. 55–69 [55f].</ref>

Scholars have long debated whether the ban occurred before the revolt, as suggested by the Historia Augusta, or as a punishment afterward, as indicated by rabbinic literature.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Previous emperors like Domitian and Nerva had enacted restrictions on bodily mutilation, including castration.Template:Sfn It is also recorded that in the 140s, before 155 CE, Antoninus Pius, Hadrian's successor, granted Jews permission to circumcise their sons (though not proselytes), suggesting a prior prohibition.<ref>Modestinus, Rules, 48.8.11</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

If Hadrian had indeed banned circumcision before the revolt, some scholars suggest it may have been driven by his view of the practice as barbaric, consistent with his admiration for Hellenistic cultural norms.Template:Sfn E. Mary Smallwood proposes that Hadrian imposed a universal ban, which was later lifted by Antoninus Pius, who allowed exceptions for Jews.Template:Sfn She cites Talmudic passages implying the ban preceded the revolt, including one where Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus permitted hiding circumcision knives in peril.Template:Sfn However, historian Peter Schäfer argues that Hadrian, being a political pragmatist, would likely have avoided such a measure, as it would have provoked unrest among the Jewish population.Template:Sfn

Internal factors

In addition to the immediate causes, broader factors likely contributed to an atmosphere ripe for revolt. One such factor may have been eschatological anticipation: nearly sixty years had passed since the destruction of the Second Temple, and some may have expected divine intervention as the symbolic seventy-year mark approached. This expectation was rooted in the precedent of the Babylonian exile, which ended seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple and culminated in its rebuilding—fulfilling a biblical prophecy attributed to Jeremiah. When redemption failed to materialize, growing frustration may have fueled a readiness to rebel.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Additional factors believed to have contributed to the revolt include changes in administrative law, the growing presence of legally privileged Roman citizens, shifts in agricultural practices from landownership to sharecropping, and the effects of a possible economic downturn.Template:Sfn Rising nationalism, likely intensified by the Diaspora Revolt, also played a role.Template:Sfn Economic hardship following the First Jewish Revolt may have further fueled unrest, as many Jews lost their land to Roman veterans and collaborators, creating a dispossessed class that likely formed a key base of support for Simon bar Kokhba.Template:Sfn His own charismatic leadership is likewise considered a major catalyst for the uprising.Template:Sfn

Rebel state

During the first year of the revolt, the Jewish rebels succeeded in establishing a functioning state, and life in Judaea appears to have continued with relative stability. This is evidenced by land lease agreements from the period involving substantial financial transactions.Template:Sfn At the same time, the revolt disrupted Jewish communities beyond Judaea, as reflected in accounts of individuals fleeing from Zoar in Transjordan to Ein Gedi sometime after 132 CE.Template:Sfn The biblical phrase "House of Israel" may have been employed as a designation for the network of communities under Simon bar Kokhba, as indicated by the term's appearance in two documents from the time of the revolt and in a post-revolt scroll dated to "Year 4 of the Destruction of the House of Israel" (c. 140 CE).Template:Sfn

Leadership

The revolt was led by Simon bar Kokhba, whose support was likely driven by his personal qualities and abilities, including his charisma.Template:Sfn Revolt-era coins refer to him by the title nasi, meaning "prince".Template:Sfn The rabbinic sages of the time, known as the tannaim, were divided in their views of the uprising—some supported it, while others remained opposed.Template:Sfn According to rabbinic literature, the influential sage Rabbi Akiva, endorsed Bar Kokhba as the messiah,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn a redeemer expected to restore the Davidic kingdom and usher in an era of peace and prosperity.Template:Sfn However, this view was challenged by the contemporary rabbi Yohanan ben Torta,Template:Sfn who, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, retorted to Akiva, "Grass will grow on your cheeks, and the Messiah will not yet have come!"<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit, IV, 8</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Coin showing the revolt leader's name, Simeon bar Kokhba

The name Template:Lang does not appear in the Talmud but is found in early ecclesiastical sources.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Sfn Previously, historians debated whether Template:Lang, meaning "son of the star" in Aramaic,Template:Sfn was his original name, with some suggesting that the name Template:Lang (meaning "son of disappointment" or "son of lies"Template:Sfn in this interpretation), found in rabbinic texts, was a later, derogatory term.Template:Sfn However, documents discovered in the Judaean Desert in the 1950s revealed that his original name was Template:Lang.Template:Sfn The Hebrew or AramaicTemplate:Sfn surname ben Kosiba is believed to derive from his place of origin,Template:SfnTemplate:Efn though it could also be a patronymic.Template:Sfn The title Template:Lang was likely bestowed upon him by Rabbi Akiva, based on the "Star Prophecy": "A star (Template:Lang) rises from Jacob."Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Seventeen letters discovered in the Judaean Desert offer insight into Bar Kokhba's personality.Template:Sfn The documents portray him as a demanding and involved military leader, personally overseeing matters of discipline and logistics. His uncompromising style is evident in sharp threats and rebukes directed at his subordinate officers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In one letter, he threatens punishment for sheltering individuals, presumably those avoiding conscription, from Tekoa. In another, he warns a commander, Jeshua ben Galgula, saying, "I shall put your feet in fetters as I did to Ben Aphlul!"Template:Sfn The letters also reflect his strong religious devotion, including observance of Shabbat and the laws of tithes and offerings.Template:Sfn In one letter, Bar Kokhba instructs his men to procure Template:Lang (palm branches) and Template:Lang (citrons) to fulfill the mitzvah of the Four Species during the festival of Sukkot.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Rabbinic literature, reflecting elements of folk memory shaped over the two to three centuries following the revolt, portrays Bar Kokhba as a heroic and fearsome figure of immense strength and severity, whose death could only be brought about by divine intervention.Template:Sfn He is said to have slain large numbers of Roman soldiers by throwing massive catapult stones single-handedly at them.Template:Sfn Rabbinic legend also recounts that he tested his soldiers by requiring them either to sever a finger or to uproot a cedar tree.Template:Sfn However, according to rabbinic traditions, the true strength of the revolt lay not in Bar Kokhba's physical might, but in the spiritual support of the sages; once that was lost following Bar Kokhba's killing of one of them, the rebellion collapsed.Template:Sfn

Military

Bar Kokhba led a well-organized army structured in a hierarchical system with designated ranks, including a "head of a camp." His letters indicate a clear chain of command, listing figures such as Judah bar Manasse, commander of Kiryath Arabaya, and Johnathan bar Beysayan and Masabala bar Simeon, commanders of Ein Gedi.Template:Sfn These documents also suggest that his forces were composed of devout Jews.Template:Sfn According to rabbinic sources, some 400,000 men were at the disposal of Bar Kokhba at the peak of the rebellion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coinage

The newly established independent state issued its own coinage by overstriking existing Greek and Roman coins with Jewish symbols and inscriptions.Template:Sfn From the first year of the revolt, there are silver tetradrachms featuring the Temple on the obverse with the word "Jerusalem." On the reverse, a Template:Lang and Template:Lang are depicted, along with the inscription "Year One of the Redemption of Israel."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Efn As in the Maccabean Revolt and the First Jewish Revolt, Hebrew underwent a resurgence, its presence on coins and documents reinforcing its role as a symbol of Jewish nationhood and independence.Template:Sfn

Bar Kokhba is depicted on the coins as "Simeon, Prince of Israel." Coins from the first year also feature the inscription "Eleazar the priest," though the identity of this figure remains uncertain and debated.Template:Sfn Some scholars identify him as Eleazar, Bar Kokhba's uncle, who was executed for seeking negotiations with the Romans, according to rabbinic literature.Template:Sfn Regardless, this suggests that Bar Kokhba may have been preparing for the Temple's reconstruction, appointing a High Priest to officiate once it was restored.Template:Sfn The coins suggest that restoring the Temple and its services was indeed a key goal, as they feature the Temple's facade and other related symbols.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

For coins from the second year and undated coins, additional inscriptions appear, including "For the Freedom of Israel" and "For the Freedom of Jerusalem."Template:Sfn Also depicted on the coins are grapevines, palm trees, musical instruments such as harps and trumpets, and Temple vessels including amphorae and jugs.Template:Sfn

Territory

The exact extent of Bar Kokhba's control remains uncertain.Template:Sfn It is widely agreed that the rebels held all of Judea, including the villages of the Judaean Mountains, the Judaean Desert, and northern parts of the Negev Desert.Template:Sfn Evidence from the distribution of Bar Kokhba coinage suggests that rebel-held territory stretched from the Arad–Beersheba region in the south to areas north of modern Ramallah, reaching westward toward the lowlands near Kiryat Gat and Shoham, and eastward to the western shore of the Dead Sea and the southern Jordan Valley.Template:Sfn

Scholars continue to debate whether the revolt extended beyond this core region. Two main schools of thought have emerged: Maximalists argue that rebel control may have extended beyond Judea, incorporating other parts of the province, including Galilee and the Golan, while minimalists limit rebel control to Judea and its immediate surroundings.Template:Sfn Whether the rebels captured Jerusalem or resumed sacrificial worship on the Temple Mount remains unclear.Template:Sfn

Jerusalem

Despite the reference to Jerusalem on Bar Kokhba coins, as of early 2000s, archaeological finds, and the lack of revolt coinage found in Jerusalem, supported the view that the revolt did not capture Jerusalem.<ref name="Eshel-2">Template:Harvnb: "Returning to the Bar Kokhba revolt, we should note that up until the discovery of the first Bar Kokhba documents in Wadi Murabba'at in 1951, Bar Kokhba coins were the sole archaeological evidence available for dating the revolt. Based on coins overstock by the Bar Kokhba administration, scholars dated the beginning of the Bar Kokhba regime to the conquest of Jerusalem by the rebels. The coins in question bear the following inscriptions: "Year One of the redemption of Israel", "Year Two of the freedom of Israel", and "For the freedom of Jerusalem". Up until 1948 some scholars argued that the "Freedom of Jerusalem" coins predated the others, based upon their assumption that the dating of the Bar Kokhba regime began with the rebel capture Jerusalem." L. Mildenberg's study of the dies of the Bar Kokhba definitely established that the "Freedom of Jerusalem" coins were struck later than the ones inscribed "Year Two of the freedom of Israel". He dated them to the third year of the revolt.' Thus, the view that the dating of the Bar Kokhba regime began with the conquest of Jerusalem is untenable. lndeed, archeological finds from the past quarter-century, and the absence of Bar Kokhba coins in Jerusalem in particular, support the view that the rebels failed to take Jerusalem at all."</ref> In 2020, the fourth Bar Kokhba minted coin and the first inscribed with the word "Jerusalem" was found in Jerusalem Old City excavations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite this discovery, the Israel Antiques Authority still maintained the opinion that Jerusalem was not taken by the rebels, because more than 22,000 coins Bar Kokhba coins had been found outside Jerusalem but only four were found within the city. The Israel Antiques Authority's archaeologists Moran Hagbi and Dr. Joe Uziel speculated "It is possible that a Roman soldier from the Tenth Legion found the coin during one of the battles across the country and brought it to their camp in Jerusalem as a souvenir."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Galilee

Most scholars agree that, unlike its active role in the First Jewish–Roman War, the Galilee—a region with a Jewish majorityTemplate:Sfn—did not participate in the Bar Kokhba revolt, for reasons that remain unclear.Template:Sfn The archaeological record presents a complex picture. Nineteen underground hideout systems were discovered in Galilee.Template:Sfn they closely resemble those associated with Bar Kokhba's forces in Judea. However, a key distinguishing factor is the absence of Bar Kokhba coinage in the Galilean context.Template:Sfn In addition, the survival and continuity of Jewish settlement in Galilee following the suppression of the revolt—unlike in Judea, where Jewish communal life was nearly eradicated—have been interpreted as further indicators that the region either did not join the uprising or was subdued at an early stage.<ref name="Harkabi1983">Template:Cite book</ref> An alternative hypothesis by Barak Olshanetsky posits that the Galilee may have participated in the early stages of the revolt but withdrew after Bar Kokhba consolidated power around 132–133 CE. He attributes this possible withdrawal to opposition to Bar Kokhba's leadership or ideology.Template:Sfn

Further findings have contributed to scholarly debate. Historian Werner Eck has proposed that a monumental Roman arch unearthed at Tel Shalem in the Upper Jordan Valley, bearing reference to Emperor Hadrian, commemorated a major Roman victory over Bar Kokhba's forces in Galilee.<ref name=":03">Template:Harvnb: "Why raise a monumental arch as a document of Hadrian's victory near Tel Shalem – a place by no means remarkable? Why not near Beithar, the centre of the Jewish uprising? The answer surely must be that Galilee felt the revolt more than has hitherto been conceded. A decisive battle may have been won here, not far from Caparcotna, the camp of the Second Legion in Judaea."</ref> This view is contested by historian Menahem Mor, who argues instead that the arch marked Hadrian's visit to the region in 130 CE.Template:Sfn He considers a Bar Kokhba-related battle implausible,Template:Sfn citing the lack of revolt coinage and destruction layers, as well as Galilee's geographic and logistical isolation from Judea.Template:Sfn A destruction layer uncovered in the southern synagogue at Hammat Tiberias has been dated to the late first third of the 2nd century CE.Template:Sfn In addition, archaeological excavations at Khirbet Wadi Hamam, near the Sea of Galilee, revealed evidence of destruction that has been dated to the reign of Hadrian, supported by a coin hoard discovered within a destruction layer. This event may correspond either to military activity during the revolt or to earlier unrest associated with the deployment of the Roman Legio VI Ferrata in the region during the 120s CE.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Nevertheless, archaeologist Uzi Leibner emphasizes the need for broader excavations before reaching firm conclusions.Template:Sfn

Perea

The region of Perea (a Jewish part of TransjordanTemplate:Sfn) is also thought to have taken part in the revolt, and archaeological evidence suggests that its Jewish settlements were affected during the conflict. Destruction and abandonment layers from early 2nd-century sites such as Tel Abu al-Sarbut (in the Sukkoth Valley), al-Mukhayyat, and Callirrhoe may reflect violence or displacement linked to the revolt.Template:Sfn Additional signs of Roman suppression include a 151 CE papyrus naming a Roman veteran from Meason in Perea—implying land confiscation—and a 2nd-century inscription of the Sixth Legion at As-Salt (Gadara).Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Moreover, a Roman fortification system in the Jordan Valley, dated to the Bar Kokhba period, appears strategically positioned to target Jewish settlements in northern Perea.Template:Sfn

Foreign participation

According to Cassius Dio, the Jewish rebels were aided by "many outside nations," who were eager "for gain."Template:Sfn Menahem Mor suggests that non-Jewish populations in the region may have indeed joined the revolt alongside the Jews, though their numbers are difficult to assess. These participants likely came from the lower classes in Hellenistic cities, motivated by a desire to undermine the Roman-backed aristocracy and improve their own socio-economic conditions.Template:Sfn In contrast to western Samaria, which had a Jewish population involved in the revolt, central Samaria, predominantly Samaritan, appears to have remained uninvolved and largely unaffected.Template:Sfn

Christian sources accuse Bar Kokhba of persecuting Christians in Judea during the revolt.Template:Sfn Justin Martyr, a 2nd-century Christian apologist, states that Christians who refused to acknowledge Bar Kokhba's authority and join his cause were subjected to "dreadful torments."<ref>Justin Martyr, First Apology, 36.1</ref>Template:Sfn Similarly, Eusebius writes that Christians suffered "all kinds of persecutions" and were killed by the rebels for refusing to support Bar Kokhba's campaign against Roman forces.<ref>Eusebius, Chronicle of Hadrian, XVII</ref><ref>Bourgel, Jonathan, ″The Jewish-Christians in the storm of the Bar Kokhba Revolt″, in: From One Identity to Another: The Mother Church of Jerusalem Between the Two Jewish Revolts Against Rome (66–135/6 EC). Paris: Éditions du Cerf, collection Judaïsme ancien et Christianisme primitive, (French), pp. 127–175.</ref>Template:Sfn Scholar David A. deSilva notes that these accounts are given some credibility by Bar Kokhba's own letters, which reveal a readiness to employ violence even against his officers.Template:Sfn Historian Shaye J. Cohen suggests that the persecution of Christian Jews may have stemmed from Bar Kokhba's messianic aspirations, observing that he "could not abide the messianic claims of another."Template:Sfn

Historian Glen Bowersock suggested of linking the Nabateans to the revolt, writing "a greater spread of hostilities than had formerly been thought... the extension of the Jewish revolt into northern Transjordan and an additional reason to consider the spread of local support among Safaitic tribes and even at Gerasa."<ref name="The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered">The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered by Peter Schäfer, Template:ISBN</ref>

Course of the revolt

Initial stages of war

The Bar Kokhba revolt and the establishment of the Bar Kokhba administration likely began in the summer of 132 CE.Template:Sfn Simeon Bar Kokhba's forces waited for Hadrian to leave before launching the uprisings.Template:Sfn Learning from the failures of the First Jewish Revolt, the Jews carefully planned the rebellion.<ref name="Haaretz:The Bar Kochba Revolt: A Disaster Celebrated by Zionists on Lag Ba'Omer">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn Cassius Dio reports that the insurgents avoided open battle, instead occupying strong natural positions reinforced with underground hiding complexes, allowing them both refuge and concealed movement:

The Jews [...] did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied the advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and might meet together unobserved underground; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at intervals to let in air and light.

Jerome also wrote: "And the citizens of Judea came to such distress that they, together with their wives, their children, their gold and their silver, in which they trusted, remained in underground tunnels and deepest caves."<ref>Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, 2.15</ref>Template:Sfn Archaeological evidence has confirmed ancient accounts of Jewish preparations for the Bar Kokhba revolt.Template:Sfn Hundreds of underground hideout complexes have been identified across almost every populated area,Template:Sfn with approximately 350 systems mapped within the ruins of 140 Jewish villages as of 2015.<ref name="nrg">Template:Langx [4] NRG. 15 July 2015.</ref> These systems were extensively employed in the Judean Hills, the Judean Desert, and the northern Negev, with smaller concentrations in Galilee, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. Many private houses were outfitted with underground chambers designed to exploit the narrowness of the passages for defensive purposes and ambushes.Template:Sfn The interconnected cave networks served both as refuges for combatants and as shelters for their families.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

A hideout complex at Horvat Burgin

Dio also states that the Jews manufactured their own weapons in preparation for the revolt: "The Jews [...] purposely made of poor quality such weapons as they were called upon to furnish, in order that the Romans might reject them and that they themselves might thus have the use of them." However, there is no archaeological evidence to support Dio's claim that the Jews produced defective weapons. In fact, weapons found at sites controlled by the insurgents are identical to those used by the Romans.Template:Sfn

Betar (alternatively Beitar, Bethar, Bether), a town situated at the edge of a mountain range southwest of Jerusalem,Template:Sfn was chosen as the rebels' headquarters due to its strategic proximity to Jerusalem, abundant springs, and defensible position.Template:Sfn Excavations at the site—known today as Tel Betar in Hebrew and Khirbet el-Yehud ("the ruins of the Jews") in Arabic—have revealed fortifications likely built by Bar Kokhba's forces.Template:Sfn Whether these defenses were constructed at the beginning of the revolt or later in the conflict remains uncertain.Template:Sfn

Roman mobilization and emergency measures

Rome assembled a broad force from multiple provinces to suppress the uprising,Template:Sfn with at least nine legions involved either entirely or through detachments (vexillationes).Template:Sfn Two of these legions—Legio X Fretensis and Legio VI Ferrata—were already stationed in Judaea at the time of the conflict.Template:Sfn They were joined by reinforcements from nearby regions, including Legio III Cyrenaica, which arrived from Bostra in Arabia, and Legio V Gallica, arriving from Syria.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Syria's consular legate, Gaius Poblicius Marcellus, departed his province to lead troops into Judaea, making it likely that other units from Syria were involved as well.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hadrian appointed a tribune from a legion in Pannonia to bring further detachment.Template:Sfn Some scholars propose that Legio XXII Deiotariana, last attested in Egypt in 119 CE, was destroyed during the early phase of the revolt. While its exact fate remains uncertain, its disappearance from Roman military records has been linked by some to the conflict in Judaea.Template:Sfn

Emperor Hadrian dispatched several of his best military commanders to suppress the uprising, foremost among them Sextus Julius Severus, who was transferred from his prestigious post as governor of Britain—an extraordinary move suggesting a state of emergency.Template:Sfn The shift from Britain, a top-tier military command, to Judaea—a relatively minor province—was highly unusual and underscores the gravity of the situation.Template:Sfn Although Dio names only Severus, his use of the plural "generals" implies that multiple senior commanders may have held independent commands, and several received the ornamenta triumphalia, a rare military honor in this period.Template:Sfn Hadrian himself joined the campaign in person for a time, as noted by Cassius Dio.Template:Sfn This is supported by inscriptions describing an Template:Lang during which the emperor participated.Template:Sfn Additional signs of the emergency include the transfer of marines from the classis Misenensis, a senior fleet of the Roman navy, into Legio X Fretensis, which required granting them Roman citizenship,Template:Sfn and the unusual state-led conscription of soldiers in Italy and the Alpine provinces—regions not typically used for recruitment at that time.Template:Sfn

Territory held by the rebels in blue.

Some scholars have suggested that Roman operations during the revolt extended as far north as the Galilee. Werner Eck, for example, has proposed—based on the remains of the arch at Tel Shalem—that a major battle occurred in the area, possibly near Kefar Othnai, close to the nearby legionary base.<ref name=":03" />

Fall of Betar

Fortification at Betar, Bar Kokhba's last stand

After losing many of their strongholds, Bar Kokhba and the remnants of his army withdrew to the fortress of Betar, which subsequently came under siege in the summer of 135. Legio V Macedonica and Legio XI Claudia are said to have taken part in the siege.<ref>Charles Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological Researches in Palestine during the Years 1873–1874, London 1899, pp. 463–470</ref>

Bar Kokhba and his followers hastily erected a defensive wall around the settlement, using earth fill and reused structures.Template:Sfn To encircle the stronghold, the Romans constructed a siege wall and established two central camps to the south, likely cutting off access to the spring—the site's main water source.Template:Sfn Slingstones and arrowheads found on the fortification wall attest to the fighting at the site, which the Romans stormed without needing a siege ramp.Template:Sfn Many slingstones were quickly hewn by the rebels and stockpiled atop the wall, but not all were used before the battle ended.Template:Sfn

Weapons found at the ruins of Betar

According to Jewish tradition, Betar was breached and destroyed on Tisha B'Av,Template:Efn the same date commemorating the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.<ref>Mishnah, Ta'anit, IV, 6; Babylonian Talmud, Ta'anit, 29a</ref>Template:Sfn After the conquest and slaughter of the defenders, the site was destroyed and never rebuilt.Template:Sfn The Jerusalem Talmud describes the bloodshed at Betar as immense, stating that the Romans "went about slaughtering them until a horse sunk in blood up to its nostrils, and the blood carried away boulders that weighted forty sela until it went four miles into the sea", even though Betar was "forty miles distant from the sea."<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit 4:5 (24a); Midrash Rabba (Lamentations Rabba 2:5).</ref>Template:Sfn

Betar's fall effectively marked the end of the Roman campaign in Judea's hill country, though the war continued as Roman forces pursued remaining rebels in other regions.Template:Sfn According to Lamentations Rabbah, Hadrian established three guard posts–in Hammat, Bethlehem, and Kefar Lekitaya—to capture Jewish rebels attempting to flee. He dispatched heralds announcing that Jews in hiding should come out to receive a reward from the emperor. Those who complied were surrounded and killed in the Valley of Beit Rimmon.<ref>Lamentations Rabbah, 5:1</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn According to scholar William Horbury, these guard posts probably marked the boundary of the area surrounding Jerusalem from which Jews were now excluded.Template:Sfn

Mop-up operations

In the later phases of the revolt, many Jews sought refuge in caves, most of them located on high, nearly inaccessible cliffs in Israel's Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. These were primarily large natural caverns with minimal man-made modifications.<ref name=":1" />Template:Sfn Archaeological and textual evidence suggest that refugees from various regions of Judea fled to refuge caves during this period. Refugees from Ein Gedi dispersed among multiple sites: small groups fled to the Har Yishai Cave and the Cave of the Pool in Nahal David, while larger groups sought refuge in Nahal Hever, which would later yield some of the most significant archaeological discoveries.Template:Sfn Caves north of Ein Gedi such as Salvadora, the Cave of the Figs, and the Caves of the Spear also likely received residents from the area.Template:Sfn From the Jericho region, inhabitants fled to the caves of Ketef Jericho, while people from Archelais or Phasaelis, and possibly the Jewish toparchy of Aqraba, escaped to Wadi er-Rashash and 'Araq en-Na'asaneh in Wadi Daliyeh.Template:Sfn Refugees from the Herodium area likely sheltered in the el-Masia Cave or Wadi Murabba'at, while those from the southern Hebron Hills appear to have reached the Cave of the Tetradrachm in Nahal Hever, as well as caves in Nahal Ze'elim and Nahal Harduf.Template:Sfn

House keys taken by refugees to the Cave of the Letters, a refuge cave in the Judaean Desert, hoping to return home

Drawing on lessons from the First Jewish–Roman War, the rebels assumed that isolated desert shelters would provide better odds of survival than open battle or the defense of towns. However, they underestimated the tenacity of Roman pursuit, which continued for months after Betar's fall.Template:Sfn Roman forces discovered and besieged roughly half of these caves, at times building siege camps above them to cut off supplies and force surrender through starvation.Template:Sfn Archaeological evidence—including skeletal remains and embedded arrowheads—indicates that some died from hunger, thirst, or Roman assaults.Template:Sfn A legend in Lamentations Rabbah tells of Jews trapped in a cave who, in desperation, resorted to cannibalism; one son unknowingly ate his father and cried, "Woe to me! I have eaten the flesh of my father."<ref>Lamentations Rabbah, 1:45</ref>Template:Sfn

Historians disagree on the duration of the Roman campaign following the fall of Betar. While some claim further resistance was broken quickly, others argue that pockets of Jewish rebels continued to hide with their families into the winter months of late 135 and possibly even spring 136. By early 136 however, it is clear that the revolt was defeated.<ref>Mohr Siebek et al. Edited by Peter Schäfer. The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered. 2003. p. 160. "Thus it is very likely that the revolt ended only in early 136."</ref> According to archaeologist Boaz Zissu, the conflict continued at least into January 136.Template:Sfn The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 93b) says that Bar Kokhba reigned for a mere two and a half years.

Consequences

Destruction and extermination

The revolt had catastrophic consequences for the Jewish population in Judaea, resulting in massive loss of life, widespread enslavement, and extensive forced displacement. The scale of devastation surpassed even that of the First Jewish–Roman War, leaving Judea proper in a state of desolation.<ref name=":04" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn Shimon Applebaum estimates that about two-thirds of Judaea's Jewish population died in the revolt.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn Some scholars characterize these consequences as an act of genocide.<ref name=":04">Template:Harvnb: "These texts, combined with the relics of those who hid in caves along the western side of the Dead Sea, tell us a great deal. What is clear from the evidence of both skeletal remains and artefacts is that the Roman assault on the Jewish population of the Dead Sea was so severe and comprehensive that no one came to retrieve precious legal documents, or bury the dead. Up until this date the Bar Kokhba documents indicate that towns, villages and ports where Jews lived were busy with industry and activity. Afterwards there is an eerie silence, and the archaeological record testifies to little Jewish presence until the Byzantine era, in En Gedi. This picture coheres with what we have already determined in Part I of this study, that the crucial date for what can only be described as genocide, and the devastation of Jews and Judaism within central Judea, was 135 CE and not, as usually assumed, 70 CE, despite the siege of Jerusalem and the Temple's destruction."</ref><ref name=":05">Template:Harvnb: "In the aftermath of the Roman victories over the Jews of Palestine (Judaea) during the first century CE, at which time the Temple was destroyed (70 CE) and the last remnants of Jewish opposition to Roman rule under Simeon Bar Kochba were snuffed out at Betar (135 CE), the Jews were a devastated people. Over half a million had been killed in the aftermath of the wars, their cities had been laid waste, and the survivors were dispersed through slave markets across the known world. In what was a clear case of genocide, the Jewish state was extinguished, and would not appear again for over 1,800 years."</ref>

Describing the devastating consequences of the revolt, several decades after its suppression, the Roman historian Cassius Dio (Template:Circa–235) wrote: "50 of their most important outposts and 985 of their most famous villages were razed to the ground. 580,000 men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out, Thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate."<ref name="ReferenceA">Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXIX, 14.1–2</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn While scholars such as Peter Schäfer have suggested that Dio's figures may be exaggerated, possibly to account for the heavy Roman military losses,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn recent studies suggest that the numbers could be accurate. In 2003, Cotton described Dio's figures as highly plausible, given accurate Roman census declarations.<ref name=":052">Template:Harvnb: "A list of the sort we have here may give us an idea of how the Romans could have come by precise numbers for the casualties incurred by the Jews during the Bar Kokhba revolt. The number given by Cassius Dio (39.14.1) of 580,000 Jews killed in the war has often been questioned as exaggerated. It need not have been: the Romans could easily have compared the data summarized in the census returns from before and after the revolt by consulting such lists - though of course this says nothing about what Cassius Dio did with his source, or about the reliability of the transmission of the number in our manuscripts of this writer."</ref> In 2021, an ethno-archaeological comparative analysis by Dvir Raviv and Chaim Ben David also supported the accuracy of Dio's figures, concluding that his data represent a "reliable account, which he based on contemporaneous documentation."Template:Efn

Archaeological evidence indicates that many sites in Judea suffered damage, destruction, or abandonment,Template:Sfn to the extent that Jewish settlement in Judea was almost completely eradicated by the revolt's end.Template:Sfn Literature from the Tannaim, early rabbinic scholars, reflects the devastation, with recurring expressions such as "Who sees the towns of Judaea in their destruction..." and "When Judaea was destroyed, may it soon be rebuilt."Template:Sfn To date, no site in the region has revealed a continuous occupation layer throughout the 2nd century AD.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The findings show clear signs of devastation or depopulation within the first few decades of the century, followed by a period of abandonment.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When some of these former Jewish settlements were reoccupied in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, the new inhabitants were typically non-Jews, as reflected in their distinct material culture, which differed significantly from that of the earlier Jewish population.Template:Sfn

Expulsion and enslavement

Expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem during the reign of Hadrian. A miniature from the 15th-century manuscript "Histoire des Empereurs".

Jewish survivors faced harsh punitive measures from the Romans, who often used social engineering to stabilize conflict zones.<ref name=":43">Template:Cite book</ref> In the aftermath of the war, Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and a broad surrounding area, encompassing nearly the entire traditional district of Judea.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn The Romans proceeded with the construction of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem and barred Jews from entering, except once a year on the day of Tisha B'Av.<ref>H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, p. 334: "Jews were forbidden to live in the city and were allowed to visit it only once a year, on the Ninth of Ab, to mourn on the ruins of their holy Temple."</ref>

Eusebius writes: "[...] all the families of the Jewish nation have suffered pain worthy of wailing and lamentation because God's hand has struck them, delivering their mother-city over to strange nations, laying their Temple low, and driving them from their country, to serve their enemies in a hostile land."<ref>Eusebius of Caesarea, Demonstratio Evangelica, VIII, 4, 23</ref> Jerome provides a similar account: "in Hadrian's reign, when Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the Jewish nation was massacred in large groups at a time, with the result that they were even expelled from the borders of Judaea."<ref>Jerome, Commentary on Daniel (translation by Gleason L. Archer), III, ix, 24</ref> According to Jerome, Hadrian "commanded that by a legal decree and ordinances the whole nation should be absolutely prevented from entering from thenceforth even the district round Jerusalem, so that it could not even see from a distance its ancestral home." He also notes that Jews were only allowed to visit the city to mourn its ruins, paying for the privilege.Template:Sfn Dialogue with Trypho, a 2nd-century Christian apologetic text by Justin Martyr, presents a theological dialogue with a Jewish fugitive from the Bar Kokhba revolt, then residing in Corinth, Greece.Template:Sfn

Roman policy also involved the mass enslavement and deportation of Jewish captives, a practice also observed after the revolt of the Salassi (25 BCE), the wars with the Raeti (15 BCE), and the Pannonian War (c. 12 BCE).<ref name=":43" /> William V. Harris estimates that more than 100,000 Jews were enslaved.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The slave market was reportedly flooded with Jewish captives, who were sold into slavery and dispersed across the empire,Template:Sfn significantly expanding the Jewish diaspora.<ref name="Powell, p.8122">Powell, The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–136, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, ç2017, p. 81</ref> The 7th-century Chronicon Paschale, drawing on earlier sources, states that Hadrian sold Jewish captives "for the price of a daily portion of food for a horse."<ref name=":43" /> Jerome reports that following the war, "innumerable people of diverse ages and both sexes were sold at the marketplace of Terebinthus," adding that "For this reason it is an accursed thing among the Jews to visit this acclaimed marketplace".<ref>Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, VI, 18.5–6</ref> In another work, he notes that thousands were sold there.<ref name=":43" /> Those not sold were transported to Gaza for auction, while many others were relocated to Egypt and other regions.<ref name="Powell, p.8122" /> Jerome also mentions Jewish captives settled by Hadrian in the Cimmerian Bosporus.Template:Sfn<ref>Jerome, Commentary on Obadiah, 20.21</ref>

The suppression of the revolt and the ensuing harsh conditions led to a large influx of refugees, some of whom settled in Babylonia, contributing to its spiritual growth in the following centuries.Template:Sfn In response to post-revolt emigration, rabbinic instructions sought to discourage leaving the Land of Israel, emphasizing that one should live there "even in a town where the majority of inhabitants are Gentiles," rather than abroad, even "in a town where all the inhabitants are Jews."<ref>Tosefta, Avodah Zarah, 4:3</ref>Template:Sfn A recurring teaching asserts that "living in the Land of Israel is equivalent to all the other commandments of the Torah."<ref>Tosefta, Avodah Zarah, 4:3; Sifrei Devarim, 80:4</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

Religious suppression and execution of sages

Following the revolt, Hadrian implemented a series of harsh religious decrees aimed at dismantling Jewish nationalism in Judaea,Template:SfnTemplate:Efn the first such measures since the decrees of Antiochus IV in the 160s BCE.Template:Sfn These included the outlawing of Torah study, the Hebrew calendar, and other core expressions of Jewish religious life. Jewish scholars were executed, and sacred texts were publicly burned. Hadrian further desecrated the ruins of the Temple by erecting statues of Jupiter and himself on the site. These measures remained in force until his death in 138 CE, after which conditions eased somewhat,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn though Jews continued to be banned from entering Jerusalem, with the sole exception of visits on Tisha B'Av, the day of mourning for the Temple's destruction.<ref name="MAY84">M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 p. 143</ref>

This period of repression left a profound impact on rabbinic memory, later referred to in tradition as a time of Template:Lang (Template:Script/Hebrew), meaning "destruction" or "desolation."Template:Sfn Rabbinic texts attach a curse to Hadrian's name—"May his bones rot!".Template:Sfn The Tosefta states that Rabbi Ishmael, a 2nd-century sage, likened the decrees to a second destruction, describing them as an effort to "uproot the Torah" from among the Jews.<ref>Tosefta, Sotah 15:10</ref>Template:Sfn The Jewish response included both covert observance and open defiance, with some choosing martyrdom—a pattern that would reappear in later episodes of Jewish history.Template:Sfn According to rabbinic literature, Rabbi Akiva, one of the most revered figures in Jewish tradition, was arrested for studying the Torah and flayed with iron combs while reciting the Shema, Judaism's central declaration of faith.<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 61b</ref>Template:Sfn Rabbi Judah ben Baba was executed after ordaining new rabbis in secret,<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 14a</ref>Template:Sfn while Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai reportedly went into hiding in a cave with his son for several years to escape execution.Template:Sfn These events are remembered not only in halakhic literature but also in midrashic texts and liturgical poetry, particularly in the stories of the Ten Martyrs, which became emblematic of Jewish martyrdom and resistance to religious persecution.Template:Sfn

According to a rabbinic midrash, the Romans executed eight leading members of the Sanhedrin (the list of Ten Martyrs includes two earlier rabbis): Rabbi Akiva; Haninah ben Teradion; the interpreter of the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Huspith; Eleazar ben Shammua; Hanina ben Hakinai; Jeshbab the Scribe; Judah ben Dama; and Judah ben Bava. The date of Akiva's execution is disputed, some dating it to the beginning of the revolt based on the midrash, while others link it to final phases. The rabbinic account describes agonizing tortures: Akiva was flayed with iron combs, Ishmael had the skin of his head pulled off slowly, and Haninah was burned at a stake, with wet wool held by a Torah scroll wrapped around his body to prolong his death.

Confiscation of lands and resettlement

Roman inscription found in Battir mentioning Legio V and Legio XI

Following the revolt, the Romans appear to have confiscated land that had either reverted to Jewish control during the inter-revolt period or had been appropriated by the Bar Kokhba state.Template:Sfn This policy, echoing measures taken by Vespasian after the First Revolt, is suggested by Eusebius' reference to the "enslavement" of Jewish territory in the uprising's aftermath.<ref>Ecclesiastical History, IV, 6, 1</ref>Template:Sfn Rabbinic literature also refers to "Hadrian's vineyard," a vineyard in Galilee said to stretch from Tiberias to Sepphoris, its boundaries marked by the bodies of Jews killed at Betar.<ref>Lamentations Rabbah II, 2, § 4; Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit, IV, 5</ref>Template:Sfn E. Mary Smallwood suggests that this story may symbolize widespread land confiscations and the establishment of Roman estates in the region following the revolt.Template:Sfn

Artistic, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence from post-revolt Judea indicates that the Roman authorities resettled the region with a diverse population. This included army veterans and immigrants from the western parts of the empire, who settled in Aelia Capitolina and its surroundings, administrative centers, and along main roads. Additionally, immigrants from the coastal plain and neighboring provinces such as Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia settled in the Judean countryside.<ref name="Klein2010">Klein, E. (2010), “The Origins of the Rural Settlers in Judean Mountains and Foothills during the Late Roman Period”, In: E. Baruch., A. Levy-Reifer and A. Faust (eds.), New Studies on Jerusalem, Vol. 16, Ramat-Gan, pp. 321–350 (Hebrew).</ref><ref>קליין, א' (2011). היבטים בתרבות החומרית של יהודה הכפרית בתקופה הרומית המאוחרת (135–324 לסה"נ). עבודת דוקטור, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן. עמ' 314–315. (Hebrew)</ref><ref>שדמן, ע' (2016). בין נחל רבה לנחל שילה: תפרוסת היישוב הכפרי בתקופות ההלניסטית, הרומית והביזנטית לאור חפירות וסקרים. עבודת דוקטור, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן. עמ' 271–275. (Hebrew)</ref> This pagan population later gradually adopted Christianity, contributing to its rise in the area during late antiquity.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> One of the primary groups that benefited from the Jewish decline was the Samaritans. Capitalizing on the depopulation of Jewish areas, they expanded from Samaria into northern Judea, the coastal plain, and the Beit She'an Valley. This is reflected in a saying attributed to Abbahu in the Jerusalem Talmud, according to which thirteen towns were settled by the Samaritans during the period of anti-Jewish persecutions.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin, 4, 65c; Yevamot, 8, 9d</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

In the vicinity of Jerusalem, villages were depopulated, and arable land owned by Jews was confiscated. In the following centuries, the lack of an alternative population to fill the empty villages led Roman and later Byzantine authorities to seek a different approach to benefit the nobles, and ultimately the church, by constructing estate farms and monasteries on the empty village lands.<ref>Seligman, J. (2019). Were There Villages in Jerusalem's Hinterland During the Byzantine Period? In. Peleg- Barkat O. et.al. (Eds.) Between Sea and Desert: On Kings, Nomads, Cities and Monks. Essays in Honor of Joseph Patrich. Jerusalem; Tzemach. pp. 167–179.</ref> The Roman legionary tomb at Manahat, the ruins of Roman villas at Ein Yael, Khirbet er-Ras, Rephaim Valley and Ramat Rachel, and the Tenth Legion's kilns discovered near Giv'at Ram are all indications that the rural area surrounding Aelia Capitolina underwent a romanization process, with Roman citizens and Roman veterans settling in the area during the Late Roman period.<ref name="ZissuKlein">Template:Cite journal</ref> Indications for the settlement of Roman veterans in other parts of Judea proper includes a magnificent marble sarcophagus showing Dionysus discovered in Turmus Ayya, Latin-inscribed stone discovered at Khirbet Tibnah, a statue of Minerva discovered at Khirbat al-Mafjar, a tomb of a centurion at Beit Nattif and a Roman mansion with western elements discovered at Arak el-Khala, near Beit Guvrin.<ref name="Klein2010" />

In Perea, a Roman military presence in the middle of the 2nd century suggests that the Jews there were also victims of the revolt. The name of a Roman veteran from the village of Meason in Perea appears on a papyrus that was signed in Caesarea in 151, implying that lands there had been expropriated and given to Roman settlers. A building inscription of the Sixth Legion from the 2nd century was discovered at as-Salt, which is identified as Gadara, one of the principal Jewish settlements in Perea, and provides more proof of the Roman military presence there.Template:Sfn

Renaming of Judaea to Syria Palaestina

A further and more enduring punishment was implemented by the Romans following the revolt.Template:Sfn In an effort to erase the memory of Judea and Ancient Israel, the province of Judaea—whose name carried a clear ethnic association with the Jews, being derived from the Latin IudaeiTemplate:Sfn—was officially renamed Syria Palaestina.Template:Sfn<ref name="Ariel Lewin p. 33">Ariel Lewin. The archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine. Getty Publications, 2005 p. 33. "It seems clear that by choosing a seemingly neutral name – one juxtaposing that of a neighboring province with the revived name of an ancient geographical entity (Palestine), already known from the writings of Herodotus – Hadrian was intending to suppress any connection between the Jewish people and that land." Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered" /> This act was intended to sever the region's historical association with the Jewish people,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn adopting a name associated with the (by then extinct) Philistines.Template:Sfn Although the Romans often renamed provinces, this instance is notable as the only recorded case in which a province's name was changed specifically in response to a rebellion—a measure not taken after revolts in provinces such as Britannia or Germania.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Historian Seth Schwartz writes that the name was intended to "celebrate the de-Judaization of the province."Template:Sfn Historian Werner Eck rejects the possibility that the new name reflected demographic changes following the reduction of the Jewish population—noting that a similar case in the history of Pannonia did not lead to a name change—and argues instead that it was exceptionally intended as a punishment directed against the Jews.Template:Sfn

Loss of Hebrew as a spoken language

Following the revolt, the Hebrew language largely disappeared from daily use.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> Prior to the uprising, Hebrew was still spoken as a living language by a significant portion of the Jewish population in the region of Judea. However, by the 3rd century CE, sages were no longer able to identify the Hebrew names of many plants mentioned in the Mishnah. Only a small number of sages in the southern regions continued to speak Hebrew. The Jerusalem Talmud and classical midrashic literature—where most narratives appear in Aramaic—indicate that Hebrew had become primarily a literary and formal language.<ref name=":3" />

Roman military losses

Bust of Hadrian found near Beit She'an

Roman casualties were heavy; Legio X Fretensis sustained heavy casualties during the revolt,Template:Sfn and Legio XXII Deiotariana was disbanded following the revolt, perhaps because of serious losses.<ref name="F. Keppie 2000 pp 228-229">L. J. F. Keppie (2000) Legions and Veterans: Roman Army Papers 1971–2000 Franz Steiner Verlag, Template:ISBN pp. 228–229</ref>Template:Sfn Cassius Dio notes that "Many Romans, moreover, perished in this war," so much that Hadrian, in reporting to the Roman Senate, omitted the customary greeting: "I and the army are in health,"<ref name="Cassius">Cassius Dio, Roman History</ref> — an admission that things were not entirely well. The scale of Roman fatalities is also reflected in a letter written in 162 CE by the orator Fronto to his friend, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, after a setback in Armenia. Seeking to console him, Fronto recalls: "Again, under the rule of your grandfather Hadrian, what a number of soldiers were killed by the Jews, what a number by the Britons!"<ref>The Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto – De Bello Parthico, 2 (translation by C. R. Haines)</ref>Template:Sfn Some argue that the exceptional number of preserved Roman veteran diplomas from the late 150s and 160s indicate an unprecedented conscription across the Roman Empire to replenish heavy losses within military legions and auxiliary units between 133 and 135, corresponding to the revolt.<ref>E. Werner. "The bar Kokhba Revolt: The Roman Point of View." The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 89 (1999), pp. 76–89. Template:JSTOR</ref>

Some historians argue that Legio IX Hispana's disbandment in the mid-2nd century could have also been a result of this war.<ref name="livius.org">Template:Cite web</ref> Previously it had generally been accepted that the Ninth disappeared around 108, possibly suffering its demise in Britain, according to German historian Theodor Mommsen; but archaeological findings in 2015 from Nijmegen dated to 121 contain the known inscriptions of two senior officers who were deputy commanders of the Ninth in 120 and lived on for several decades to lead distinguished public careers. It was concluded that the legion was disbanded between 120 and 197, either as a result of fighting the Bar Kokhba revolt, or in Cappadocia (161), or at the Danube (162).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Unreliable source?

Jewish continuity and the rise of Galilee

While the Jewish presence in the region declined significantly following the revolt,<ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref> a smaller yet continuous population remained. Galilee—less affected by the warTemplate:Sfn—emerged as the new demographic and religious center of Jewish life.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This period saw renewed Jewish migration to the area, which had already experienced a similar influx after the First Jewish–Roman War.Template:Sfn In the following centuries, Galilee became a major center of Jewish leadership and cultural activity, where foundational texts such as the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud were compiled between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

File:Ancient Galilee.jpg

Galilee in late antiquity

Rabbinic literature describes how, when persecution eased, scholars gathered in the Beth Rimon Valley in Galilee, and Usha became a seat of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin later relocated to other cities, including Beth She'arim and Sepphoris, before eventually settling in Tiberias as its main center.Template:Sfn Some Judean survivors resettled in Galilee and coastal cities,<ref name=":42">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":4">Miller, 1984, p. 132</ref> with some rabbinical families gathering in Sepphoris.<ref name=":4" /> Jewish communities also persisted on the periphery of Judea, in places such as Lod,Template:Sfn Eleutheropolis, Ein Gedi, and the southern Hebron Hills,Template:Sfn as well as on the coastal plain (including Caesarea), Beit She'an, and the Golan Heights.<ref name="CambridgeJudaism2">David Goodblatt, 'The political and social history of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel,' in William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, Steven T. Katz (eds.) The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period, Cambridge University Press, 2006 pp. 404–430 [406].</ref><ref name=":02">Template:Harvnb: "Land confiscation in Judaea was part of the suppression of the revolt policy of the Romans and punishment for the rebels. But the very claim that the sikarikon laws were annulled for settlement purposes seems to indicate that Jews continued to reside in Judaea even after the Second Revolt. There is no doubt that this area suffered the severest damage from the suppression of the revolt. Settlements in Judaea, such as Herodion and Bethar, had already been destroyed during the course of the revolt, and Jews were expelled from the districts of Gophna, Herodion, and Aqraba. However, it should not be claimed that the region of Judaea was completely destroyed. Jews continued to live in areas such as Lod (Lydda), south of the Hebron Mountain, and the coastal regions. In other areas of the Land of Israel that did not have any direct connection with the Second Revolt, no settlement changes can be identified as resulting from it."</ref>

Later Jewish–Roman relations

The Roman suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt led Jews to internalize Roman rule, with political expression adapting to its permanence.Template:Sfn In the following decades, the Romans seem to have recognized Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel II as a representative of the Jewish people, allowing him to convene the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court.Template:Sfn Jewish–Roman relations reached a peak under the Severan dynasty (193–235 CE),Template:Sfn particularly during the leadership of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the patriarch, who was regarded as a descendant of David. Rabbinic literature records cordial relations between the patriarch's household and the imperial family, with evidence of synagogues dedicated to members of the dynasty.Template:Sfn Judah ha-Nasi also oversaw the redaction of the Mishnah, a foundational rabbinic text.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

However, the situation later worsened. The third century was marked by instability, anarchy, and economic hardship.Template:Sfn Following this, the rise of Christianity, officially recognized by Constantine in 313, shifted Jewish–Roman relations and led to anti-Jewish imperial legislation.Template:Sfn In 351–352, the Jews of Galilee launched another revolt, provoking severe retribution.Template:Sfn Relations briefly improved under Emperor Julian, who, unlike his predecessors, opposed Christianity. In 363, he ordered the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as part of his religious pluralism effort. However, Julian was killed later that same year, and the project came to an end.Template:Sfn By the early 5th century, the patriarchate was abolished, leading to the loss of centralized Jewish leadership.Template:Sfn The period also saw attacks on Jews and synagogue burnings by fanatic monks such as Barsauma and his followers.Template:Sfn In 438, when the Empress Eudocia removed the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site, the heads of the community in Galilee issued a call "to the great and mighty people of the Jews" which began: "Know that the end of the exile of our people has come!" However, the Christian population of the city saw this as a threat to their primacy, and a riot erupted which chased Jews from the city.<ref>Avraham Yaari, Igrot Eretz Yisrael (Tel Aviv, 1943), p. 46.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During the 5th and 6th centuries, a series of Samaritan revolts broke out across Palaestina Prima. Especially violent were the third and the fourth revolts, which resulted in near annihilation of the Samaritan community.<ref>Shalev-Hurvitz, V. Oxford University Press 2015. p. 235</ref> It is likely that the Samaritan revolt of 556 was joined by the Jewish community, which had also suffered brutal suppression of their religion under Emperor Justinian.<ref>Weinberger, p. 143</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the belief of restoration to come, in the early 7th century the Jews made an alliance with the Sasanian Empire, joining the invasion of Palaestina Prima in 614 to overwhelm the Byzantine garrison, and briefly gained autonomy in Jerusalem.<ref name="Phoenicia">Template:Cite book</ref> This autonomy ended with the persecution of Jews, their expulsion from Jerusalem, and the killing or fleeing of many.Template:Sfn

Archaeology

Destroyed Jewish villages and fortresses

Archaeological excavations in Judea have revealed widespread destruction layers and abandonment deposits dating to the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt, pointing to the near-total destruction of Jewish settlement in the region.Template:Sfn These layers have been found in both above-ground structures and underground installations, including hiding complexes, burial caves, and storage facilities. In many sites, the destruction layers are followed by a gap in settlement, indicating a prolonged disruption of habitation. While the evidence is strongest in Judea, additional, though limited, signs of destruction and abandonment have also been identified in Transjordan and the Galilee.Template:Sfn

File:Hurvat-Itri-4713.jpg

The ruins of Horvat 'Ethri display a destruction layer dating to the revolt, along with a mass grave containing the remains of 15 individuals, including one with signs of beheading

Excavations at archaeological sites such as Horvat 'EthriTemplate:Sfn and Khirbet Badd ‘Isa have demonstrated that these Jewish villages were destroyed in the revolt, and were only resettled by pagan populations in the 3rd century.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Yitzhak Magen, Yoav Zionit, and Erna Sirkis, "Kiryat SeferTemplate:SndA Jewish Village and Synagogue of the Second Temple Period" (in Hebrew) Qadmoniot 117. Vol. 32 (1999) 25–32.</ref> Discoveries from towns like Gophna, known to be Jewish before the revolt, demonstrate that pagans of Hellenistic and Roman culture lived there during the Late Roman period.<ref>Klein, E, 2011, "Gophna during the Late Roman Period in Light of Artistic and Epigraphic Finds", in: A. Tavger., Z. Amar and M. Billig (eds.), In the Highland's Depth: Ephraim Range and Binyamin Research Studies, Beit-El, pp. 119–134 (Hebrew).</ref> In Horvat 'Ethri, a mass grave was discovered within a Jewish ritual bath (mikveh), and one of the individuals exhibited cut marks consistent with beheading by sword.Template:Sfn

Herodium was excavated by archaeologist Ehud Netzer in the 1980s, publishing results in 1985. According to findings, during the later Bar-Kokhba revolt, complex tunnels were dug, connecting the earlier cisterns with one another.<ref>Netzer E. and Arzi S., 1985. "Herodium Tunnels", Qadmoniot 18, pp. 33–38. (in Hebrew)</ref> These led from the Herodium fortress to hidden openings, which allowed surprise attacks on Roman units besieging the hill.

Betar

The ruins of Betar (near the modern Palestinian village of Battir, which preserves the ancient name) have yielded archaeological evidence of the Roman siege, including fortifications and weaponry.Template:Sfn The site has not been systematically excavated, but limited work by archaeologist David Ussishkin in 1984Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn—prompted by antiquities looting and modern constructionTemplate:Sfn—revealed a hastily built fortification wall and a semi-circular buttress, interpreted as signs of urgent military preparations.Template:Sfn Two Roman siege camps were identified south of the site; the larger was almost entirely destroyed by construction beginning in the 1960s.Template:Sfn Artifacts from the site include slingstones, arrowheads of a type known from Bar Kokhba-era contexts in the Judaean Desert, and pottery dating to the first and second centuries CE.Template:Sfn A concentration of 22 slingstones was found in situ on a tower roof, and their crude manufacture suggests they were produced quickly during the siege.Template:Sfn In addition, a stone inscription bearing Latin characters, discovered near the site, indicates that the Fifth Macedonian Legion and the Eleventh Claudian Legion took part in the assault.<ref name="C. Clermont-Ganneau, 1899, pp. 263-270">C. Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological Researches in Palestine during the Years 1873–74, London 1899, pp. 263–270.</ref> No post-revolt occupation layers were identified, suggesting the site was abandoned following the Roman assault.Template:Sfn

Hiding complexes

File:PikiWiki Israel 19975 Archeological sites of Israel.jpg

Entrance to a hiding complex dating from the revolt which was discovered in Hurvat Midras

The Bar Kokhba revolt has been better understood thanks to the discovery of artificially carved hiding complexes under many sites across Judea, and on a lesser level in the Lower Galilee. Their discovery is consistent with Cassius Dio's writings, which reported that the rebels used underground networks as part of their tactics to avoid direct confrontations with the Romans. Many were hewn in earlier times and were utilized by rebels during the revolt as indicated by the usage of the coinage produced by Bar Kokhba and other archaeological findings.<ref name=":1">Zissu, B., & Kloner, A. (2010). The Archaeology of the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (The Bar Kokhba Revolt)–Some New Insights. Bollettino di Archeologia online I Volume speciale F, 8, 40–52.</ref><ref>Kloner, A., Zissu, B., (2003). Hiding Complexes in Judaea: An Archaeological and Geographical Update on the Area of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. In P. Schäfer (ed), The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome. Tübingen, 181–216</ref>

Hiding complexes were found at more than 130 archaeological sites in Judea, most of them in the Judaean Lowlands, but also in the Judaean Mountains, and some also in Galilee.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Kloner A., and Zissu B., 2009, Underground Hiding Complexes in Israel and the Bar Kokhba Revolt, Opera Ipogea 1/2009, pp. 9–28</ref> Examples include: Hurvat Midras,Template:Sfn Horvat Naqiq,Template:Sfn Tel Goded, Maresha, Aboud and others.

Refuge caves and cliff shelters

During the final phase of the Bar Kokhba revolt, many Jewish rebels and civilians sought refuge in natural caves. More than 30 such caves have been identified, extending geographically from Wadi er-Rashash and Naḥal Shillo in the north to Naḥal Qina and Yahel, south of Arad, and distributed across three primary north–south zones: the eastern escarpment near the Dead Sea, the central desert plateau and ravines, and the western Judaean Mountains.Template:Sfn<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref> Excavations have uncovered a wide range of materials, well preserved due to the dry climate of the area,Template:Sfn including written records that shed light on the revolt as well as the period's language, culture, and legal practices.Template:Sfn Personal belongings such as property deeds, household keys, and luxury items suggest the refugees intended to return. Additional finds—pottery, textiles, glassware, wooden artifacts, leather sandals, and food remains—offer insight into aspects of daily life. In some cases, Roman forces besieged the caves by blocking escape routes from above, leading to the starvation of those trapped inside.Template:Sfn

File:Cave of Letters (1).jpg

The Cave of Letters, where several documents of the period, including letters from Simeon bar Kokhba to the people of Ein Gedi, were discovered

The caves found at Nahal Hever, a canyon near the Dead Sea, are particularly notable for archaeological findings found there.Template:Sfn Among them is the so-called Cave of Horrors, named for the dozens of human skeletons discovered within, including children and infants.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The cave also yielded Bar Kokhba revolt coinage,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hebrew ostraca bearing personal names,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and manuscript fragments in Hebrew and Greek, including portions of the Minor Prophets.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The nearby Cave of Letters emerged as one of the most important archaeological discoveries related to the revolt. Excavated in 1960–1961, it contained a trove of documents often dubbed the "Bar Kokhba archive,"<ref>Peter Schäfer. The Bar Kokhba War reconsidered. 2003. p. 184.</ref> including personal correspondence and administrative records from Bar Kokhba and his followers. These texts, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, have been interpreted as evidence of a multilingual population or the possible presence of non-Jewish auxiliaries among the rebel forces.<ref>Mordechai Gichon, 'New Insight into the Bar Kokhba War and a Reappraisal of Dio Cassius 69.12–13,' The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 77, No. 1 (Jul., 1986), pp. 15–43 [40].</ref> Among the most poignant finds was the archive of Babatha, a Jewish woman from the region south of the Dead Sea. Her cache of 35 legal documents, including a marriage contract, property deeds, and guardianship papers, suggests she fled with hopes of survival but likely died in the cave.Template:Sfn

File:BabathaScroll.jpg

A scroll found in the cave, part of the Babatha archive

Another significant refuge cave linked to the Bar Kokhba revolt is the Cave of the Swords, located near the Ein Gedi oasis. During excavations in 2023, archaeologists uncovered a hidden cache of Roman weaponry, including a pilum head and four iron swords, three of them still preserved in wooden scabbards with metal and leather fittings.Template:Sfn The typology of the swords, including Pompeii-type spathae and a ring-pommel sword, suggests a 2nd-century AD context. A bronze Bar Kokhba coin inscribed "for the freedom of Jerusalem," found at the cave's entrance, supports dating the cache to the revolt. Scholars believe the weapons were likely captured from Roman soldiers and hidden by Jewish rebels for future use.Template:Sfn

Coinage

As of 2023, 24 coins from the Bar Kokhba revolt have been found outside Judaea, in European provinces such as Britannia, Pannonia, Dacia, and Dalmatia. Most were discovered near Roman legionary and auxiliary camps, though not strictly in military contexts, and may have been brought by Roman soldiers involved in the revolt as souvenirs or by Jewish captives, slaves, or migrants who reached these areas afterward.<ref name="EZB2009">Eshel, H., Zissu, B., & Barkay, G. (2009). Sixteen Bar Kokhba Coins from Roman Sites in Europe. Israel Numismatic Journal, 17, 91–97.</ref><ref name="Grull2023">Grull, T. (2023), Bar Kokhba Coins from Roman Sites in Europe: A Reappraisal.</ref><ref name="CFK2018">Cesarik, N., Filipčić, D., Kramberger, V. (2018). "Bar Kokhba's bronze coin from Kolovare Beach in Zadar". Journal of the Archaeological Museum in Zadar, Vol. 32. No. 32.</ref>

Bar Kokhba coins have been discovered in hoards throughout Judea, reflecting a phenomenon also described in a baraita (an early rabbinic tradition preserved outside the Mishnah). Jews who hid these coins were later unable to recover them due to the presence of Roman garrisons, their deaths during the revolt's suppression, or the widespread destruction that obscured the hiding places. Over thirty such hoards have been found, more than from any other decade.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Tel Shalem triumphal arc and Hadrian's statue

File:Reconstruction drawing of the triumphal arch dedicated to Hadrian near the camp of the Sixth Legion at Tel Shalem, Israel Museum, Jerusalem (15472504477).jpg

Schematic reconstruction of the Arch of Hadrian in Tel Shalem, celebrating the Jewish defeat

Archaeological discoveries at Tel Shalem, a site in the upper Jordan Valley near Scythopolis and Pella, have led researchers to identify it as a Roman fort active around the time of the revolt, possibly involved in it.Template:Sfn The remains include a cuirassed bronze statue of Hadrian and a Latin inscription referencing a detachment of Legio VI Ferrata, suggesting the legion was stationed there during that period.Template:Sfn In 1977, a monumental Latin inscription dedicated to Hadrian was found reused in nearby Late Antique graves; Its scale, epigraphic features, and layout suggest it once belonged to a triumphal arch.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Gideon Foerster and Werner Eck have proposed that the inscription came from an arch erected by the Senate following the Bar Kokhba revolt, with its location—well north of the revolt's epicenter in Betar—possibly reflecting a Roman victory in the Galilee region.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, this interpretation is disputed.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

Legacy

Evolution of messianic and nationalist Jewish thought

In the aftermath of the revolt, rabbinic Judaism moved away from the active and militant strands of messianic belief that had characterized earlier periods.Template:Sfn Tannaitic sources such as the Mishnah and Tosefta emphasized halakhic observance as the primary path to religious fulfillment, prioritizing the sanctification of daily life over expectations of immediate salvation.Template:Sfn Belief in a future messianic restoration—such as the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the Davidic monarchy—remained part of rabbinic thought, but was no longer linked to revolutionary action.Template:Sfn

This shift was also reflected in rabbinic teachings that discouraged rebellion. As stated by Rabbi Jose ben Kisma in the Babylonian Talmud, "This nation [Rome] has been given reign by [a decree from] Heaven";<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah, 18a.6 (translation by Adin Steinsaltz)</ref>Template:Sfn Moreover, according to the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, one is obligated to show honor to the ruling power.<ref>Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael, Pischa, 13 (translation by Shraga Silverstein)</ref>Template:Sfn From this perspective, messianism was transformed into an eschatological vision—an expectation of redemption in the end of days—removed from immediate political action.Template:Sfn This offered religious continuity and stability in a period marked by loss and exile.Template:Sfn However, apocalyptic and visionary strands of messianism were not extinguished entirely; they resurfaced in the later amoraic period, especially in Babylonia, suggesting that these hopes continued to circulate despite earlier efforts to suppress them.Template:Sfn

The aspiration for Jewish sovereignty would remain unfulfilled for the next eighteen centuries,Template:Sfn with political expression shifting from activism to cultural and religious continuity. Doron Mendels suggested that after the revolt, Jewish nationalism in its activist form—meaning large-scale, organized efforts to establish a Jewish state—ceased. However, a passive nationalist sentiment persisted; in rabbinic circles, the aspiration for Jewish sovereignty remained alive, but did not lead to another full-scale revolt or political military movement.Template:Sfn David Goodblatt argued that Jewish nationalism did not fall after the revolt, only its political and activist expressions ceased with the loss of Jewish statehood. He noted that Jewish national identity persisted through culture, law, language and religious traditions, even in the absence of a state. While institutions like the Temple, kingship and territorial control declined, they survived in Jewish thought, messianic hopes, and communal memory.Template:Sfn

Bar Kokhba in rabbinic literature

In rabbinic traditions developed in the centuries after the revolt, Bar Kokhba was portrayed as a powerful figure whose downfall came from pride and losing divine favor.Template:Sfn Although rabbinic legends described him as possessing superhuman strength, they stressed that the revolt's real strength came from the spiritual backing of the sages.Template:Sfn His death—and the defeat of the revolt—was seen as a consequence of arrogance, interpreted through a moral lens of sin and punishment, similar to the concept of hybris in Greek thought.Template:Sfn

Talmudic tradition attributes Betar's fall to a Samaritan who acted as a fifth column and sowed discord between Bar Kokhba and his maternal uncle, Rabbi Eleazar of Modi'im. Bar Kokhba suspected Eleazar of collaborating with the enemy and killed him with a single kick. This act forfeited divine protection, and shortly thereafter, Betar was captured and Bar Kokhba was killed.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit, IV, 68d; Lamentations Rabbah, II, 2</ref>Template:Sfn According to one rabbinic legend, found in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, Bar Kokhba was executed by the sages after failing to meet the messianic expectation of judging "by scent" as described in Isaiah 11:3–4,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn however, this account is generally regarded by scholars as legendary rather than historical.Template:Sfn One rabbinic legend, found in Midrash Tanhuma, describes Hadrian as declaring himself a god after conquering Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, and exiling the people of Israel.<ref>Midrash Tanhuma, Genesis, 7</ref>Template:Sfn

The defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt is portrayed in rabbinic literature as divinely decreed.Template:Sfn In Midrash Tanhuma, when Hadrian boasts of his conquest, he is answered: "If it had not been [ordained] from the heavens, you would not have conquered. [...] now because of our sins, you have prevailed against us."<ref>Midrash Tanchuma, Buber version, appendix to Devarim, Siman 7 (translation by John T. Townsend)</ref>Template:Sfn According to Lamentations Rabbah, when Bar Kokhba's body was shown to Hadrian, the emperor ordered that the rest of the body be brought forward. It was discovered with a snake coiled around his neck, leading Hadrian to state: "If his God had not slain him, who could have overcome him?"<ref>Lamentations Rabbah, II, 2</ref>Template:Sfn Another example appears in Sifrei Devarim 323, which recounts a Roman decurio (a commander of ten horsemen) chasing a Jew in Judea. A serpent wrapped around the Jew's ankle but did not harm him. The Jew then called out: "Do not say to yourself "We are strong and they are weak." (But say to yourself: This [our subjugation of the Jews] could not have happened) "if their Rock had not sold them, and the L-rd had not delivered them (into our hands)."<ref>Sifrei Devarim, 322 (translation by Shraga Silverstein)</ref>Template:Sfn Rabbinic sources also associate the destruction of towns and villages during the revolt with transgressions of Jewish law.<ref>Lamentations Rabbah, 2:2 (translation by Sefaria)</ref>Template:Sfn

The fast day of Tisha B'Av, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples—as reflected in a Tannaitic tradition attributed to Rabbi Akiva identifying both events as occurring on this date—was expanded in the Mishnah to include tragedies from the Bar Kokhba revolt: "Beitar was captured and the city (Jerusalem) was ploughed."<ref>Mishnah, Ta'anit 4:5–6</ref>Template:Sfn Another passage in the Mishnah presents the three Jewish revolts as a sequence of national defeats, each leading to added mourning practices in the context of weddings; it states that "in the final war, they forbade brides to ride in a litter inside the city."<ref>Mishnah, Sotah 9:14 (Parma manuscript)</ref>Template:Sfn

Two Sephardic Jewish families, Rodriguez and Gradis, are traditionally said to have emigrated from Judaea to the Iberian Peninsula following the Bar Kokhba revolt, settling first in Portugal and later moving to Spain.Template:Sfn

Impact on Christianity

Although Christians regarded Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba,<ref>Justin, "Apologia", ii.71, compare "Dial." cx; Eusebius "Hist. Eccl." iv.6, §2; Orosius "Hist." vii. 13</ref> they were barred from Jerusalem along with the Jews.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The outcome of the Bar Kokhba revolt reinforced the Christian interpretation that the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE signified divine punishment, making it a key argument in anti-Jewish polemics.Template:Sfn

For Eusebius, the suppression of the revolt marked the definitive end of Jewish Christianity. According to his account, from this point, the line of circumcised bishops of Hebrew ancestry leading the Jerusalem church ended,<ref>Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.5.3–4</ref> and leadership passed to gentile bishops, as Jerusalem became part of the Church's universal mission.Template:Sfn For Justin Martyr, the Jewish defeat in the revolt was a divine confirmation that Jerusalem's devastation was both valid and final. He saw the revolt's outcome as evidence that the covenant between God and the Jewish people, and the Temple cult, had been brought to a definite end.Template:Sfn In Dialogue with Trypho, written after the revolt, he presented Jewish circumcision not merely as obsolete, but as a mark of divine punishment. He argues it was instituted that Jews would "suffer that which you now justly suffer," associating the practice with the devastation of their land, the burning of cities, the loss of produce to foreigners, and, in reference to Hadrian's decree, the prohibition against entering Jerusalem.Template:Sfn

In Zionism and modern Israel

In modern Israeli culture, the Bar Kokhba revolt was recast into a national symbol of Jewish heroism.Template:Sfn The Jewish holiday of Lag BaOmer was reinterpreted within secular Zionist tradition to commemorate Bar Kokhba's successes in the revolt, replacing earlier associations with Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai and introducing customs like bonfire lighting and playing with bows and arrows.Template:Sfn A popular legend portraying Bar Kokhba taming a lion in a Roman arena—first introduced in a 1905 novel by Israel Benjamin Levner and later adapted into a popular children's song by Levin Kipnis—became a fixture of Lag baOmer celebrations, featured in school programs and holiday festivities.Template:Sfn

In the early 1980s, a public debate over the legacy of the Bar Kokhba revolt emerged in Israel, sparked by a critical reassessment by Yehoshafat Harkabi, a professor of international relations. Harkabi questioned both the strategic rationale of the revolt and its modern commemoration, arguing that the rebels' excessive zeal and disregard for geopolitical realities led to devastation second only to the Holocaust.Template:Sfn His critique provoked strong rebuttals from scholars such as Israel Eldad and David Rokeah, who maintained that the revolt should be remembered for its ideals and courage, rather than judged solely by its outcome.Template:Sfn

Since the late 20th century, Israeli educational materials have taken a more critical and historically grounded approach to the revolt. Recent curricula encourage students to examine the differing views among Jews at the time—both supporters and opponents of the rebellion. Some programs use Lag BaOmer, which remains the main commemorative event for the revolt among secular Israeli Jews, to teach broader values such as mutual respect and tolerance, drawing from the rabbinic tradition in which Rabbi Akiva's students were said to have died due to a lack of mutual respect. Other programs integrate archaeological findings and historical analysis.Template:Sfn

See also

• History of the Jews in the Roman Empire
• Bar Kokhba hiding complexes
• Bar Kokhba refuge caves
• Bar Kokhba revolt coinage
• Jewish revolt against Heraclius, 614–617/625
• List of conflicts in the Near East
• Sicaricon (Jewish law)

Bibliography

Ancient sources

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Further reading

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External links

• Wars between the Jews and Romans: Simon ben Kosiba (130–136 CE), with English translations of sources.
• Photographs from Yadin's book Bar Kokhba
• Archaeologists find tunnels from Jewish revolt against Romans by the Associated Press. Haaretz, March 13, 2006
• "Bar Kokba and Bar Kokba War" – The Jewish Encyclopedia