To research his latest book, historian Lindsay Powell set out on the trail of the rebel leader who, in AD132, led an uprising of the Jewish people against the Roman Emperor. Who was Bar Kokhba? And what caused the war?
For my latest book I wanted to tell the true story of the consequential clash between a rebel leader and a Roman emperor. A version of it is told in Israel today in a song learned by school children about a Jew called Bar Kokhba who rode a lion and freed his nation from the Roman occupiers.
Wait! What? A man on a lion? It was a totally unexpected question as I began my inquiries. Rather than present a straight-forward chronological narrative I decided that the search itself was an intrinsic part of my telling of the story.
Research is essential homework for writing history. In fact, the root of the word is the Greek istoria meaning ‘inquiry’. For me as a historian it is the most fun part my work. My inquiry often begins with mystery about a person or an event and the question ‘why?’. Like a historical detective I then follow the trail of evidence, written and archaeological, visit ancient places, interview experts, and assemble the pieces into a coherent narrative which I can share with my readers.
Hadrian is the emperor in my story. I began my quest in London at the British Museum. It is where, years before, I saw the exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict. There I met with the curator, Thorsten Opper, who had organised that special exhibition. I interviewed him about the famous, bearded Roman emperor.
It turns out that Hadrian – who built the eponymous wall in Britain – was a clever but complex man in whom culture and cruelty were combined.
Touring the empire was one of his great passions. He left Rome for years on end, inspecting the legions on the frontiers, grilling public officials, and distributing benefactions to communities. Those included rebuilding theatres and temples, and even entire cities. One of these construction projects might even even been the cause of a war.
My inquiries then took me to Israel. Tracing the route of Hadrian’s second tour I went to Caesarea. Today this is a major archaeological site, but at the time of the emperor’s visit in AD130 it was a prosperous, bustling city thriving on trade passing through its harbour on the Mediterranean. Visiting the remains of the governor’s residence or praetorium I imagined Hadrian quizzing his deputy, Tineius Rufus, about the situation in the province.
Assured by Rufus that all was well, the emperor and his entourage went to Jerusalem. In his day the city was a building site. It had been left as a ruin after the First Jewish War, which saw the Temple razed in AD 70. Since his accession in 117 Hadrian had had a plan for remaking it as a shining city on a hill, one his retired soldiers could call home. When he visited in the summer of 130 the City of David was being transformed into a colony with a temple dedicated to the gods of the City of Romulus.
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At the Israel Museum, set in manicured parkland in Jerusalem, I met with the curator, David Mevorah. He was hosting an exhibition, Hadrian: An Emperor Cast in Bronze. I talked with him about the emperor and what he did that so offended the Jews. Confirming Opper’s assessment of the man, he told me Hadrian had likely misunderstood the deep, emotional connection the Jews had with Jerusalem. The sources also mention a ban on circumcision, and a halt to studying the Torah (know to Christians as the Pentateuch).
The Jews were enraged enough to go to war. A man named Shim’on came forward to lead the revolt. By tradition the Jewish sage, Rabbi Akiba, saw in him the King Messiah in fulfillment of a biblical prophecy. Akiba called him Bar Kokhba, ‘Son of a Star’.
The uprising erupted in AD132. Shim’on’s supporters quickly overwhelmed the outposts manned by Roman soldiers, taking over the entire inland district of Judea. Roman law was replaced by the Laws of Moses. Roman coins were over-struck with approved emblems of the rebel administration, specimens of which have been found all over the region. Shim’on referred to himself as ‘president’. He called his country Israel.
Driving in my rental car across the peaceful Judean Hills and the gently undulating pastures of the Shephelah it was shocking to think that they were once battlefields. The ancient sources describe how Jewish fighters appeared from hiding places to attack Roman troops, and then vanished.
To see some for myself I went to Adullam and Horbat ‘Etri near Beit Guvrin. These fortified villages, indeed, had underground storage rooms and chambers used by the armed farmers, just like the ones described in the sources.
Tineius Rufus had two legions as well as units of auxiliary soldiers of his own, but badly underestimated the speed and extent of the Jewish revolt. His initial response proved ineffective. Hadrian then sent his best commander to direct counterinsurgency operations. That man was Julius Severus, governor of Britannia. He arrived with handpicked officers and troops from the island and immediately set to work. Augmented with detachments of troops from other provinces, he divided up the army units and began to attack the fortified settlements one by one.
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Severus’s new strategy proved effective. As the war progressed the fortunes of rebel-held Israel deteriorated. Jewish refugees began to gather in a hilltop town called Betar. There, in AD135, Bar Kokhba made his last stand. There is a consensus among archaeologists that modern Battir is the most likely candidate for this place.
Lying in the territory of the Palestinian Authority, it is set in a lovely valley now on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Remains of Shim’on’s hurriedly erected defensive wall still stand in places. Two crack legions surrounded and besieged the town, and took it. Jewish texts record that the streets, fields, and streams were red with blood from the massacre.
The war did not end there, however. On the western shore of the Dead Sea the oasis town of Ein Gedi had thrived during the conflict. When news arrived that Betar had fallen its inhabitants fled to caves up in the valleys. They faced a horrible fate. Remains of an army camp show that the Romans simply waited for the people trapped in the so-called Cave of Horrors and Cave of Letters below to starve to death.
To find out what happened after the war ended I drove to Tel Aviv. The Eretz Israel Museum was hosting an exhibition, entitled Bar Kokhba: Historical Memory and the Myth of Heroism. My museum guide explained how, during the next 1,800-plus years, Bar Kokhba became a legend. Increasingly persecuted, Jews in the Diaspora from Spain to Ukraine were inspired by the story of this ancient warlord, transforming him into a hero to sustain their hope of establishing a new homeland with Jerusalem as its capital.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, novels, plays, and operas told increasingly fanciful versions of the Bar Kokhba story. Long caricatured as weak, across Europe teams of Jewish men and women competed in sports and gymnastic events under the moniker ‘Bar Kochba’ as part of a movement to create the ‘Muscular Jew’.
In the interwar years armed Jewish resistance groups championed Bar Kokhba as an inspirational figure in their own military struggle against the British and Palestinian Arabs during the period of the colonial mandate. After the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 (also known as the ‘Partition Resolution’) the State of Israel finally came into being on 14 May 1948.
In schools in the new Israel, Bar Kokhba was the subject of children’s books, poems, and songs in which the warlord escaped from captivity on a lion. (About that lion you’ll have to read the book). Plates, playing cards, and postage stamps too commemorated the name of Bar Kokhba. Today modern Israelis still celebrate Bar Kokhba with bonfires and songs on the annual Lag B’Omer holy day.
When I embarked on the search for the truth of the Bar Kokhba War I had no idea that I was also going to be exploring the extraordinary foundation story of today’s Israel. That is the joy of historical research: the journey can lead one to unexpected revelations as well as destinations.
Bar Kokhba: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome by Lindsay Powell is published on 13 October, 2021.
Find out more about Bar Kokhba by Lindsay Powell.
Images:
- Bronze statue of Bar Kokhba by Henrik Hanoch Glitzenstein, 1905, photo by Carole Raddato: Flickr
- Statue of Hadrian commemorating Roman military victory over Bar Kokhba, Israel Museum, photo by FollowingHadrian: Wikimedia
- Coin struck under Bar Kokhba in 133: Wikimedia
- Ruins of Horbat ‘Etri: Wikimedia
- Bar Kokhba by Arthur Szyk, 1927: Wikimedia
- Bronze statue of Bar Kokhba, photo by Carole Raddato: Flickr
