Rabbinic Constructions of the Past: The Bar Kokhba Revolt

In the many years in which Jews lived under Roman rule following the destruction of the Temple, tensions with the empire led to periodic outbreaks of violence and rebellion in both Judaea and the diaspora. Between 115 and 117 CE, revolts broke out among the Jews of Alexandria and Cyrene and were suppressed by the emperor Trajan (see “The Diaspora Revolt, 115–117 CE”). In Judaea, revolt broke out again in 132 CE, apparently in response to the policies of the emperor Hadrian, who issued a ban on circumcision and decreed that Jerusalem be rebuilt as Aelia Capitolina, a pagan city dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The leader of the revolt was a messianic figured named Simeon bar Kosiba, also known as Bar Kokhba, “son of a star” (an allusion to Numbers 24:17). Roman forces took several years to suppress the revolt, striking the final blow at Beitar. Subsequently, Judaea was devastated and the Jews living there were exiled or sold into slavery (see The Bar Kokhba Revolt and Its Aftermath, 132–135 CE).

The rabbis vividly recalled the persecution of Jews by the Roman Empire, although the specific stories that they told were frequently fictionalized or invented. Hadrian was particularly remembered for the massacre at Beitar that put an end to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Yet it is unclear whether or to what extent the rabbis supported the revolt itself. Rabbinic literature refers to Simeon bar Kosiba as Bar Koziba, “son of a liar,” due to his claim to be the Messiah, which claim the rabbis ultimately rejected.