Episode 70: The warrior Jews who terrified Rome, with Barry Strauss

Between the outbreak of the Jews’ Great Revolt against Rome in the year 66 CE and the final suppression of the Bar Kochba Revolt in 135, the Jews of the Roman Empire constituted the empire’s single biggest headache. None of the countless conquered peoples controlled by that world power had ever rebelled quite so often or for so long.

Jewish memory, largely forged by the rabbinic account of these revolts as doomed failures, tends to minimize their scale and impact and the chances they had for success.

But a new book by Prof. Barry Strauss, a military historian specializing in the Greco-Roman period, argues that the Jewish revolts against Rome were not quite the folly that later generations of Jews would judge them. The Jews had a longstanding military tradition, skill and experience at irregular warfare, and good reason to hope that the Parthian Empire - itself home to a significant loyal and supported Jewish community - would come to their aid. Indeed, the first battle between the Jews and the Roman legions occupying Judea ended in a dramatic rout of a Roman legion.

Few subject peoples frightened the great empire quite as much or for as long as the stubborn Jews.

Prof. Strauss joins the podcast to talk about this astonishing saga of Jewish courage and military prowess - as well as the internal divisions and foolish decisions that ultimately doomed their cause.

Strauss is the Corliss Page Dean Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies Emeritus at Cornell University. He has written over a dozen books on ancient Roman and Greek history.

His newest one is “Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire.” It was published earlier this year.

This episode is sponsored by Shimon Parker, a member of the Sydney Jewish community, in hopes that his grandchildren Ziggy, Archie and Duke will grow up to be proud Jews.

Shimon asked to dedicate the episode to the victims of the massacre on Bondi beach on the first night of Hanukkah and especially to Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the 41-year-old assistant rabbi of the local Chabad who was murdered while hosting a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. Rabbi Schlanger served for 18 years as an emissary of Chabad. He is remembered as a pillar of the local Jewish community who was devoted to enriching Jewish religion and culture, who was generous with his time and kind to all. In the words of Levi Wolff, a rabbi at Sydney’s Central Synagogue, “Eli was ripped away from us in the midst of doing what he did best, spreading Yiddishkeit, spreading love and joy and caring for his people.” Eli is survived by his wife Chayale and their five children, including their two-month-old baby who was wounded in the attack.

Listeners can support Rabbi Schlanger’s family through these dark times at this page https://www.charidy.com/elischlanger/G. The link was sent to us directly by the family.

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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.