Pilgrim Numbers on Passover

Josephus

The Jewish War 2.280

ca. 75

As long as Cestius Gallus was busy in Syria with the administration of his province, no one dared to approach him with a formal complaint against Florus. But when he visited Jerusalem at the start of the feast of unleavened bread, he was besieged by a crowd of at least three million, begging him to show some concern for what was happening to the…

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Josephus describes a Passover visit to the Temple by the Syrian governor Cestius Gallus, during which Gallus is accosted by a large group of pilgrims complaining about his subordinate Florus, the Roman procurator over Judaea (r. 64–66 CE). The figure that Josephus gives for the number of pilgrims—“at least three million”—is clearly exaggerated but gives a sense of the enormous crowd that descended on the Temple for the festival. For the larger context of this episode, see “Roman Corruption.”

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Creator Bio

Josephus

37–100

Flavius Josephus was born into a prominent Jewish priestly family and served as a general stationed in the Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE). He was captured by the Romans and eventually integrated into the Flavian imperial aristocracy, who commissioned him to compose chronicles of the Jewish–Roman war and the history of the Jews. Josephus’ works, all written in Greek, include The Jewish War, Jewish Antiquities, Against Apion, and his autobiography, Life of Josephus. These writings provide important insights into the Judaisms of the Second Temple period and include one of the few surviving accounts of the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.

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