The First Flames of War

The earlier conflict at Caesarea soon devolved into open armed conflict, which the Roman procurator, Felix, tried unsuccessfully to suppress. In his effort to bring the conflict to a resolution, Felix sent dignitaries from both sides to plead their cases in Rome before Nero (r. 54–68 CE). Josephus describes the open conflict that arose upon the return of the delegates as “trivial” but nevertheless “the initial pretext for the conflict.”

Josephus recounts that Florus accepts a bribe from the Jews to intervene so as to quiet the conflict but then does nothing. The continued conflict becomes a pretense to steal money from the Temple treasury. A number of Jews respond to Florus’ taking money from the treasury by mocking him. When the Jewish leaders do not hand over those who had mocked him, Florus orders his troops to ransack the Upper Market and kill whomever they find there. The soldiers do not limit themselves to the Upper Market and do much worse. Josephus reports that Florus goes so far as to have Jews with Roman citizenship flogged and crucified.

The Jewish leadership continues to appeal to the demonstrating crowds, begging them not to provoke more suffering by angering Florus further. The masses desist. Annoyed by the pause in violence in Jerusalem, Florus works behind the scenes to reignite the violence and succeeds. In May of 66 CE, Roman soldiers kill many Jews during an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem, as the Roman soldiers try to take control of the Herodian fortress of Antonia, controlled by the Jews. Overwhelmed by enemy fire from above, Florus and his soldiers are forced to retreat to their camp. In fear that Florus will return to try to take the Antonia fortress, the Jewish revolutionaries destroy the connection from the fortress to the Temple, which forces Florus to rethink his strategy for capturing the Temple treasury—his main aim.

Florus tells the Jewish leadership that he is quitting the city. In turn, they promise that there will be no further revolutionary activity. Florus leaves one fresh cohort of Roman soldiers and returns to Caesarea.