Berenice of Cilicia (daughter of Herod Agrippa I)

Berenice, the daughter of King Agrippa I, attempts to ease Judeo-Roman tensions in 65, but she and other moderates prove unable to control the increasingly desperate populace.

There has been a long tradition of hostility between the large Hellenized populations of Palestine and the Jews (also a problem in the Diaspora, most notably at Alexandria during the reign of Caligula).

Gessius Florus, the Roman procurator of Judaea, upon taking office in Caesarea in 64 had begun a practice of favoring the local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population.

The Greeks, noticing Florus' policies, have taken advantage of the circumstances to denigrate their Jewish neighbors.

One notable instance of provocation occurs while the Jews are worshiping at their local synagogue and a Hellenist sacrifices several birds on top of an earthenware container at the entrance of the synagogue, an act that renders the building ritually unclean.

In response to this action, the Jews send a group of men to petition Florus for redress.

Florus, despite accepting a payment of eight talents to hear the case, refuses to listen to the complaints and instead has the petitioners imprisoned.

The son of the Kohen Gadol (high priest) Eliezar ben Hanania, in reaction, ceases prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the Temple.

Protests over taxation join the list of grievances and random attacks on Roman citizens and perceived 'traitors' occur in Jerusalem.

Joseph returns to Jerusalem on the eve of a general revolt against Roman rule.

Florus further angers the Jewish population of his province by having seventeen talents removed from the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, claiming the money is for the Emperor.

In response to this action, the city falls into unrest and some of the Jewish population begins to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus were poor.

Florus reacts to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders.

The arrested individuals are whipped and crucified despite many of them being Roman citizens.

The pro-Roman king Agrippa II has expended large sums in beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, especially Berytus.

His partiality for the latter has rendered him unpopular among his own subjects, and the capricious manner in which he has appointed and deposed the high priests make him disliked by the Jews.

Agrippa fails to prevent his subjects from rebelling, and urges instead that they tolerate the behavior of the Florus.

But in 66 the Jews expels him and his sister Berenice, who, fearing the worst, flee to Galilee.

Urged on by the fanatical Zealots, the Jews oust Florus and set up a revolutionary government in Jerusalem that extends its influence throughout the whole country.

Along with many others of the priestly class, Joseph counsels compromise but is drawn reluctantly into the rebellion.

Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brings a legion, the XII Fulminata, and auxiliary troops as reinforcements to restore order.

All available troops in autumn 66 are mustered, formed into a column and sent to confront the rebellion’s perceived center.

Ideally, such a show of force would have allowed the Romans to regain the initiative and prevent the rebellion from developing and growing stronger.

Gallus conquers Bezetha, in the Jezreel Valley, soon to be the seat of the Great Sanhedrin (Jewish supreme religious court), but is unable to take The Temple Mount.

The Roman forces invest Jerusalem, then for uncertain reasons, withdraw back towards the coast, closely pursued by rebel scouts.

The organization of the Jews is better than it had been previously.

As the Romans near the pass of Beth Horon, they are ambushed and come under attack from massed missile fire, and are then suddenly rushed by a large force of infantry, twenty-four hundred Zealots led by Eleazar ben Simon.

The Romans cannot get into formation within the narrow confines of the pass and lose cohesion under the fierce assault.

The equivalent of an entire legion is destroyed.

Gallus succeeds in escaping with a fraction of his troops to Antioch by sacrificing the greater part of his army and a large amount of war material.

After the massacre, the Jewish Zealots go through the Roman dead, stripping them of their armor, helmets, equipment, and weapons.

Eleazar, returning to Jerusalem with substantial loot, will use the wealth acquired in this decisive victory as political leverage during the battle for power in Jerusalem in 67-69.

The battle of Beth-Horon is one of the worst defeats suffered by regular Roman troops against a rebelling province in history, encouraging many more volunteers and towns to throw their lot in with the rebels.

A full-scale war is now inevitable.

Agrippa II goes to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem; his sister Berenice also goes to Rome, where she is reportedly courted by Titus.

Josephus, too, takes up residence in the city.

Upon Titus’ arrival in Rome in 71, he is awarded a triumph.

Accompanied by Vespasian and Domitian, he rides into the city, enthusiastically saluted by the Roman populace and preceded by a lavish parade containing treasures and captives from the war.

Josephus describes a procession with large amounts of gold and silver carried along the route, followed by elaborate reenactments of the war, Jewish prisoners, and finally the treasures taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah (the seven-branched golden candelabrum used during the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, and which signifies, among other things, the seven days of creation) and the Pentateuch.

Simon Bar Giora is executed in the Forum, after which the procession closes with religious sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter.

(The triumphal Arch of Titus, which stands at one entrance to the Forum, memorializes the victory of Titus.)

Where Domitian’s political and military career had ended in disappointment, his private affairs are more successful at this time.

Vespasian has attempted to arrange a dynastic marriage between his youngest son and the daughter of Titus, Julia Flavia, but Domitian is adamant in his love for Domitia Longina, going so far as to persuade her husband, Lucius Aelius Lamia, to divorce her so that Domitian himself can marry her, which he does in 71.

Despite its initial recklessness, the alliance is very prestigious for both families.

Domitia Longina is the younger daughter of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, the respected general and honored politician, who, following the failed Pisonian conspiracy against Nero in 65, had been forced to commit suicide.

The new marriage not only reestablishes ties to senatorial opposition, but also serves the broader Flavian propaganda of the time, which seeks to diminish Vespasian's political success under Nero.

Instead connections to Claudius and Britannicus are emphasized, and Nero's victims, or those otherwise disadvantaged by him, rehabilitated.

Joseph ben Matthias, through the patronage of Vespasian, becomes a Roman citizen and changes his name to Flavius Josephus.

In 75, Josephus begins work on a firsthand account of the tragic events of the Jewish revolt.

The Jewish War, a description of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BCE to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War in CE 70, is an invaluable, if biased, eyewitness history of the failed rebellion.

The book was written originally in Josephus's "paternal tongue", probably Aramaic, though this version has not survived.

It will later be translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself.

During the Jewish war, Titus had begun a love affair with Berenice, sister of Agrippa II.

The Herodians had collaborated with the Romans during the rebellion, and Berenice herself had supported Vespasian upon his campaign to become emperor.

In 75, she returns to Titus and openly lives with him in the palace as his promised wife.

The Romans are wary of the Eastern Queen and disapprove of their relationship.

When the pair is publicly denounced by Cynics in the theater, Titus caves in to the pressure and sends her away, but his reputation further suffers.

Between 71 and 79, much of Vespasian's reign is a mystery.

Historians report that Vespasian ordered the construction of several buildings in Rome.

Additionally, he survived several conspiracies against him.

Vespasian has helped rebuild Rome after the civil war, adding the temple of Peace and the temple to the Deified Claudius.

In 75, he erects a colossal statue of Apollo, begun under Nero, and he dedicates a stage of the theater of Marcellus.

He also begins construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, situated between the Esquiline and Palatine hills, near the southeast end of the Forum.

The structure is popularly called the Colosseum because it stands next to a colossal one hundred and twenty foot- (37.2 meter-) high statue (now demolished) of Nero.

Vespasian also begins rebuilding the temple on the Capitoline Hill, destroyed—for the second time—in the civil strife of 69.

Vespasian is immediately succeeded by his son Titus, who is supported by the Praetorian Guard and the Senate.

Because of his many alleged vices, many Romans fear at this point that he would be another Nero.

Against these expectations, however, Titus will prove to be an effective Emperor and will become well-loved by the population, who praise him highly when they find that he possesses the greatest virtues instead of vices.

One of his first acts as Emperor is to publicly order a halt to trials based on treason charges, which have long plagued the principate.

The law of treason, or maiestas law, was originally intended to prosecute those who had corruptly 'impaired the people and majesty of Rome' by any revolutionary action.

Under Augustus, however, this custom had been revived and applied to cover slander or libelous writings as well, eventually leading to a long cycle of trials and executions under such emperors as Tiberius, Caligula and Nero, spawning entire networks of informers that have terrorized Rome's political system for decades.

Titus puts n end to this practice, against himself or anyone else, declaring: "It is impossible for me to be insulted or abused in any way.

For I do naught that deserves censure, and I care not for what is reported falsely.

As for the emperors who are dead and gone, they will avenge themselves in case anyone does them a wrong, if in very truth they are demigods and possess any power."

(Cassius Dio, Roman History LXVI.19) Consequently, no senators will be put to death during his reign; he thus keeps to his promise that he would assume the office of Pontifex Maximus "for the purpose of keeping his hands unstained".

(Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Titus) The informants are publicly punished and banished from the city, and Titus further prevents abuses by introducing legislation that make it unlawful for persons to be tried under different laws for the same offense.

Finally, when Berenice returns to Rome, he sends her away.

As Emperor he will become known for his generosity, and Suetonius states that upon realizing he had brought no benefit to anyone during a whole day he remarked, "Friends, I have lost a day.” Although his administration is marked by a relative absence of major military or political conflicts, Titus faceds a number of major disasters during his brief reign.

On August 24, 79, two months after his accession, Mount Vesuvius erupts, resulting in the almost complete destruction of life and property in the cities and resort communities around the Bay of Naples.