The primary non-Jewish sources are an epitome of Cassius Dio’s Roman History and a handful of lines by the ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea. He had active support of most of the rabbis – in contradistinction to the first two revolts against Rome. It did not end until Hadrian died. All told, Bar Kochba eventually mustered an army of almost 350,000. The war began as a guerrilla struggle against Rome in 13… This happened while he commanded a very large force at the city Beitar, which was the key to Jerusalem. His state was conquered by the Romans in 135 following a two-year war. The Bar Kokhba War reminds us that freedom is not free. His name was Shimon (or Simon) bar Kosiba. The next war was led by one of the most enigmatic people to appear in Jewish history, a man whom we know very little and yet for the role he played we should know a great deal. He also forbade Jews from living there. Simon bar-Kokhba ("Son of a star"; originally named "bar-Koziba"; later referred to by Jews as "bar-Kosiba", "son of a lie") was the last significant false Messiah.In 130 AD, Emperor Hadrian forbade Jews from visiting Jerusalem and ordered that a temple to the idol Jupiter be constructed on the site of the Second Temple, ruined since the revolt of 70 AD. But the victory had cost Hadrian dear, and, in his report to the Roman Senate on his return, he omitted the customary salutation “I and the Army are well” and refused a triumphal entry. The revolt did not begin until it had found its leader. That led to the second of the three wars against the Romans. He was not content merely killing these great rabbis, but doing it in public display of brutality and torture, hoping to crush the spirit of the Jewish people. As long as the Jews had their religion no one would ever really be able to eradicate them entirely. After Y. Aharoni, Carta’s Atlas of the Bible, Heb. His successor, Antoninus Pious, not only overturned his decrees but was very benevolent toward the Jews. By any measure it was a large and fearsome Jewish army. Foremost among the martyrs was Rabbi Akiva. Yet, in a fit of almost insane paranoia Bar Kochba accused the great sage, Rabbi Elazar, of being the spy and executed him. Jewish tradition is rich with stories about the “10 Martyrs Murdered by the [Roman] Government.” It is during Hadrian’s reign that this happened. The sobriquet Bar Kokhba, “Son of a Star,” was given to him in accord with Num. Comment: Jesus of Nazareth and Simon ben Kosiba are the only Jewish leaders who are positively identified as Messiahs in the Jewish sources: Jesus is explicitly called "Messiah" by Flavius Josephus , Ben Kosiba in several rabbinical treatises. Supposedly of the line of David, some hailed him as the Messiah, inferred from his name change, Kosba to Kokhba (“Son of the Star” from Numbers 24:17). Yet during this period, the name of bar Kokhba was equated with that of the Messiah. The Jews took Aelia by storm and badly mauled the Romans’ Egyptian Legion, XXII Deiotariana. Judaea was desolated, the remnant of the Jewish population annihilated or exiled, and Jerusalem barred to Jews thereafter. Bar Kokhba, original name Simeon Bar Kosba, Kosba also spelled Koseba, Kosiba, or Kochba, also called Bar Koziba, (died 135 ce), Jewish leader who led a bitter but unsuccessful revolt (132–135 ce) against Roman dominion in Judaea.. During his tour of the Eastern Empire in 131, the Roman emperor Hadrian decided upon a policy of Hellenization to integrate the Jews into the empire. He felt that the destruction of Lod would guarantee that the Jews would not rebel again. After the end of the desastrous rebellion, the rabbis called him "Bar Koziba", which means "son of the lie". In that year, Simon bar Kochba (Simon son of the star), was confirmed by the great Rabbi Akiba as the Messiah. By the third year of his reign there were already signs of disenchantment. Bar Kochba and Messiah ben Joseph? They saw it as a real chance to bring down the Roman Empire. The decrees of Hadrian were the most fearsome in history against the Jewish people. Updates? His feats of personal valor were legendary, which all lent to a superhuman aura about him. The final battle of the war took place in Bethar, Bar-Kokhbas headquarters, which housed both the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court) and the home of the Nasi (leader). It was total war. Thanks for this lesson. It was a tremendous blood bath. After 135 CE, when the rebellion was crushed, Hadrian acted even more ruthlessly and set about on a campaign to wipe away not only the remnants of the Jewish people but the memory that they had ever existed. Indeed, it could be said that Bar Kokhba's dream was not fulfilled until the State of Israel was founded on 14 May 1948. Coin of Bar Kochba: the temple with a Messianic star The story of Simon ben Kosiba's war against the Romans can be read here . Bar-Kochba believed himself to be the Messiah, and was hailed as such by Rabbi Akiba. Accumulating arms by deceiving the Roman authorities, the Jews awaited a suitable opportunity, and when Hadrian left they openly rebelled. Britannica now has a site just for parents! Enraged by these measures, the Jews rebelled in 132, the dominant and irascible figure of Simeon bar Kosba at their head. The Jews were naturally unable to accept such an idea, but they were also unable to explain to him why it was unacceptable and could only be built on that mountain in Jerusalem. The revolt established a three-year-long independent Jewish state in which Bar Kokhba ruled as nasi ("prince"). The war became so serious that in the summer of 134 Hadrian himself came from Rome to visit the battlefield and summoned the governor of Britain, Gaius Julius Severus, to his aid with 35,000 men of the Legion X. Jerusalem was retaken, and Severus gradually wore down and constricted the rebels’ area of operation, until in 135 Bar Kokhba was himself killed at Betar, his stronghold in southwest Jerusalem. Thousands of Jewish refugees fled to Bethar during the war. Simon ben Kosevah, or Cosibah, known to posterity as Bar Kokhba (Hebrew: שמעון בן כוסבה‎; died 135 CE), was a Jewish military leader who led the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. In those instances the rabbis were at best neutral. In the writings of Dio Cassius it says that he had an army of 200,000, each of whom was strong enough to uproot a tree. Beitar fell to the Romans on Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, in 135 CE, adding it to calamitous national tragedies of the Jewish people. ed., 1966. Bethar was a vital military stronghold because of its strategic location on a mountain ridge overlooking both the Valley of Sorek and the important Jerusalem-Bet Guvrin Road. There is no evidence that bar Kokhba succeeded in rebuilding the Temple or even renewing the sacrificial services. That is how he got the name “Kochba,” which means “star.” In essence, Rabbi Akiva crowned him the Messiah. Therefore, he issued decrees that outlawed Judaism on the pain of death. However, he looked in the wrong places. During four of those years there was an independent Jewish state. Others remained skeptical. Since Bar Kokhba was proclaimed as Messiah and Messiah was expected to build Ezekiel’s Temple, then perhaps the platform is the remains of the Temple of Bar Kokhba. Extent of the Bar Kokhba revolt in its first year, 132 C.E. However, other sages felt strongly that Bar Kokhba was not the Messiah, and two incidents vindicated them. Bar Kokhba remains an important historical figure in Israel today because he was the last leader of a Jewish state before the rise of Zionism in modern times. Simon bar Kokhba (Hebrew: שמעון בר כוכבא ‎) (died CE 135) was the Jewish leader of what is known as the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE, establishing an independent Jewish state which he ruled for three years as Nasi ("Prince"). It would continue for the next three years and is more commonly known for its leader, Simeon bar Kokhba, as the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. In this war, the most influential rabbi lent his name to the cause, was Akiva ben Joseph. His independent kingdom lasted for three years before being crushed through great Roman effort. During his tour of the Eastern Empire in 131, the Roman emperor Hadrian decided upon a policy of Hellenization to integrate the Jews into the empire. Bar Kokhba achieved considerable success at first. Omissions? Only forty years after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jews attempted to rebuild it –with the permission of the Roman government. He first reconquered the Galilee to cut the Romans off from the sea. A second Messiah figure, Messiah ben Joseph, also emerged in rabbinic literature. When one goes to Jerusalem today, the mountains around the Temple Mount (such as the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus) are taller. As the pressure of Rome bore down upon him he began to worry about betrayal and was on the lookout for spies. Although Rabbi Akiva had proclaimed Bar Kokhba as king messiah, this messianic hopeful was eventually killed and the revolt bearing his name was put down and the Temple Mount left without a Jewish Temple. Then he surrounded Jerusalem and forced them out. Most notable of all, he employed an army of slaves to plow over the Temple Mount. After the destruction, the surviving Jewish leaders tried and were able to reestablish relations with Rome rather rapidly. Their main headquarters was in the city of Lod. Yet as victories go, Simon Bar Kochba's was a Pyrrhic one. His messianic credentials were established by referencing the prophecy concerning a star out of JACOB (Num 24.17) not (for example) referencing 2 Sam.7 or the Judah prophecy in Genesis 49. For the first time, the Jews presented a united … He was able to uproot a tree while riding a horse. Teaching Torah was the worst “crime” a Jew could commit under these circumstances. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In the ancient world that was an enormous army, greater in number than the entire Roman army. Unlike the revolt of 66 CE, the historical sources on the Bar Kochba Revolt are scanty at best. Peerbolte 7 summarises as follows; There are three elements which would point especially towards identification with Bar Kokhba. Bar Kokhba, original name Simeon Bar Kosba, Kosba also spelled Koseba, Kosiba, or Kochba, also called Bar Koziba, (died 135 ce), Jewish leader who led a bitter but unsuccessful revolt (132–135 ce) against Roman dominion in Judaea. Bar Kochba was eventually killed in battle. Circumcision was proscribed, a Roman colony (Aelia) was founded in Jerusalem, and a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was erected over the ruins of the Jewish Temple. He, too, entertained ideas of allowing the Jews to rebuild the Temple and have a measure of autonomy. Therefore, the ability of these leaders to restore relatively normal relations was unusual, to say the least. It is remarkable considering that the Romans had never suffered as many casualties in any of their wars. However, he made certain conditions that were untenable, one of which was that it should be built in a different location. Much of what we know concerning the Bar Kokhba Revolt comes from a cache of letters written by Bar Kokhba and his followers. This would be fitting as Bar-Kokhba was descended from the Davidic dynasty (which is the Messianic dynasty according to Jewish tradition) and the Messianic hopes of the nation centered around him. Rabbi Akiva was so widely respected among the people that if he saw in Shimon messianic qualities then the people immediately elevated him to the level of the Messiah. Their hopes were dashed. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Shimon bar Kochba’s reputation became so great that, according to the records of the times, many non-Jews came to fight in his army. The Romans pursued them and dealt with them very severely, massacring of all its inhabitants, including Pappus and Lulianus. He was able to hold back a Roman catapult. Immediately after this war, Trajan was assassinated and succeeded by Hadrian. After reading the name of Jerusalem “Aelia Capitolina” I went into the wipi website and they make Hadrian look like a sweet smelling flower. He simply lowered it almost 1,000 feet. Tradition holds that the name Bar Kokhba was given to him by Rabbi Akiva, who believed that the rebel leader might be the Messiah. Hadrian did not stop there. 24:17(“A star shall go forth from Jacob”), taken to refer to the messiah. In between the first one (see Jerusalem Destroyed) and this one, there was a little known conflict called the Kitos War, which was fought primarily outside Judea.But the Great Revolt and the Bar Kokhba revolt were fought wholly within the Jewish homeland. He realized that the final solution to the Jewish problem lay not only in killing Jews but in destroying Judaism. The leader of this revolt was Shimon bar Kokhba. Simon ben Kosiba, surnamed Simon bar Kochba ("son of the star") was a Jewish Messiah. It was likely changed to Bar-Kokhba during the revolt, as a reference to a verse in the Bible referring to the Messiah as a star (kokhav). He forbade mention of the name Jerusalem and renamed the holy city, Aelia Capitolina. Many people were not very happy with the Romans and their ways. The Roman historian Dion Cassius noted that the Christian sect refused to join the revolt. Rabbi Aqiva, the head of the Yeshiva at Yavne, is said to have declared that the successful Jewish commander was the Messiah. On Lag Ba'Omer, Israeli children celebrate the Jewish rebels' victory over the Romans 2,000 years ago. However, the rabbis objected to such an act of self-mutilation, and therefore he resorted to the test of “simply” uprooting trees. The name means ‘son of a star’ (from the prophecy in Num. The helps us understand very well why the Christians would take no part in the war; it would have made one messiah too many. It was Rabbi Akiva who ascribed to Shimon bar Kochba the famous messianic verse: “A star will shoot forth from Jacob” (Numbers 24:17). According to Dio Cassius and Jewish sources, at least a half a million Jews were killed. Bar Kochba followed the same strategy that the Jews had followed in the first rebellion against Rome. The Bar Kochba Revolt: A Disaster Celebrated by Zionists on Lag Ba'Omer . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Bar Kokhba took the title nasi (“prince”) and struck his own coins, with the legend “Year 1 of the liberty of Jerusalem.”. Shortly, Ben Kozba became known as Bar Kokhba (Bar Kochba), which means son of a star, based on a verse in the Torah (Numbers 24:17) that likens the Messiah to a star. 24:17); he was the leader of guerrilla forces who fought the Romans from 132 to 135 CE when the emperor Hadrian prepared to erect a temple to the god Jupiter on the site of the Jerusalem Temple. Documents discovered in the modern era Rabbi Akiva. Then they began calling him, “Bar Koziba,” meaning the son of a lie; a false messiah. Overall, Hadrian unleashed and eight to ten year reign of persecution after the defeat of Bar Kochba almost unmatched in Jewish history. In many ways, the Bar Kochba Revolt differed markedly from its predecessors. Many details of the war are unclear to us. Bar Kokhba managed unite many followers and raise a very large army. Map 1. That is how he got the name “Kochba,” which means “star.” In essence, Rabbi Akiva crowned him the Messiah. The Je… It is not at all clear that Bar Kokhba himself had any pretensions to be the Messiah. It eroded all chance of reconciliation. No discussion of the rabbinic Messiah can ignore the figure of Shimon Bar Kokhba, the leader of the Judean revolt against Rome from the 132-135 CE.According to several rabbinic sources, Rabbi Akiba, the greatest sage of the time, proclaimed that Bar Kokhba was the Messiah. While by no means comprehensive, these sources do provide several important details. If Kochba was not a Davidide (descendant of David) how could Rabbi Akiva declare bar Kochba as the Messiah? The Romans were so hard pressed that Hadrian brought his best general and all of his troops from England, Gaul, Germany and all of the provinces scattered throughout the Roman world. Firstly, Bar Kokhba appears to have been hailed as a messiah by rabbi Akiba.9 Secondly, it is reported that Bar Kokhba persecuted those Christians who did not deny Jesus or refused to partake in Bar Kokhba’s rebellion against Rome.10 Thirdly, the false messiah is characterized as ‘a liar’ (tr. Those who supported him saw him as a messianic figure. Bar Kokhba was able to defeat Roman forces garrisoned in Jerusalem, and for about two years an independent Jewish state was established. This in combination with his charismatic personality produced a natural leader that captured the heart and soul of the Jewish people. Rabbi Gershom and rabbi Aha and perhaps others agreed. They made a strong effort to deliver the Jewish people from under the Roman yoke. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Yet throughout the four Gospels we read that Yeshua did have “scent”, he did have this special ability to know what was in men’s hearts. They did not join the first rebellion, but the reason they didn’t join the second rebellion is because Rabbi Akiva declared Bar Kokhba the Messiah, and the disciples of Yeshua knew that Bar Kokhba was not the Messiah, and that brought a great calamity and finally the exile of the Jews from Judea to Galilee, and from there to the rest of the Roman Empire. They had never experienced such as bitter war as the ten year war they had with the Jews. It followed a long period of tension and violence, marked by the first Jewish uprising of 66-70 CE, which ended with the destruction of the Second Temple, and the Kitos War (115-117 CE). The second war took place in about 110 CE and was led by two brothers with Roman names, Pappus and Lulianus (the Roman name Julius or Julian). The war is also briefly mentioned by the Church father Jerome. As testified in Yadin’s book he was a very charismatic, intelligent person, as well as a religiously observant and pious Jew. The Bar Kochba Revolt (132–136 CE) was the third and final war between the Jewish people and the Roman Empire. Even so, the Jewish people after Hadrian were crushed almost beyond recognition. He felt that the rabbis had turned against him. The reason was simple: Rome felt itself threatened as no other time. Simon bar Kokhba was believed to be the Messiah by Rabbi Akiva, the greatest rabbinical sage of his generation, because he led a successful independence revolt against Rome. Its secret fortifications and entrances were revealed to the Romans by insiders — but not the rabbis, as Bar Kochba feared. Hadrian literally reconstructed the landscape in order to prove to the Jews that it would never be rebuilt again. Between 132 and 135, he was the leader of the last resistance against the Romans. Today there are a number of archaeological sites that could be Beitar, which was the location of the last great battle of this war, but the exact site is not known conclusively. He had a great and sincere faith. Simon ben Kosevah, or Cosibah, known to posterity as Bar Kokhba (Hebrew: שמעון בן כוסבה ‎; died 135 CE), was a Jewish military leader who led the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE.The revolt established a three-year-long independent Jewish state [dubious – discuss] in which Bar Kokhba ruled as nasi ("prince"). 9 Secondly, it is reported that Bar Kokhba persecuted those Christians who did not deσy Jκsus or rκλusκι to pζrtζπκ iσ ”ζr Koπνbζ s rκbκllioσ ζμζiσst Roςκ. The Emperor at the time was named Trajan and they negotiated with him at length to rebuild the Temple. However, Beitar was betrayed. These were discovered in the “Cave of Letters” by Bedouin in the 1950s.The letters describe a guerrilla war against the Romans, with Jewish rebels utilising a network of caves and tunnels for military purposes. In either event, the Jews were so well-fortified and supplied they could have held out at Beitar indefinitely. In effect, he decided to “solve the Jewish problem” once and for all. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. However, due to Roman pressure and internal dissention he apparently never got to actually rebuilding it. The first one lasted from 63 to 73 CE, culminating in the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem. The war had no chronicler such as Josephus Flavius, at least none whose work has survived. Bar Kochba’s defeat marked the end of any sort of Jewish autonomy in the Jewish homeland until the twentieth century. The tannaim were divided, some supporting his rebellion, others not. The Bar Kochba Revolt was a Jewish rebellion, led by Simon bar Kochba, against the Roman Empire that ultimately failed. Reputedly of Davidic descent, he was hailed as the Messiah by the greatest rabbi of the time, Akiva ben Yosef, who also gave him the title Bar Kokhba (“Son of the Star”), a messianic allusion. Bar Kokhba was a Jewish and false messiah who led one of the greatest rebellions of his people against the Romans in an attempt to take back Judea at any cost. 8 Firstly, Bar Kokhba appears to have been hailed as a messiah by rabbi Akiba. 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