Editing Persecution of Christians (section)

====During the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628====
{{Main|Sasanian conquest and occupation of Jerusalem}}

Several months after the Persian conquest in AD 614, a riot occurred in Jerusalem, and the Jewish governor of Jerusalem Nehemiah was killed by a band of young Christians along with his "council of the righteous" while he was making plans for the building of the [[Third Temple]]. At this time the Christians had allied themselves with the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. Shortly afterward, the events escalated into a full-scale Christian rebellion, resulting in a battle against the Jews and Christians who were living in Jerusalem. In the battle's aftermath, many Jews were killed and the survivors fled to Caesarea, which was still being held by the Persian army.

The Judeo-Persian reaction was ruthless – Persian Sasanian general Xorheam assembled Judeo-Persian troops and went and encamped around Jerusalem and besieged it for 19 days.<ref name="abrahamson">{{cite web|author1=Abrahamson|last2=Katz|date=2004|display-authors=etal|title=The Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 compared with Islamic conquest of 638|url=http://www.alsadiqin.org/history/The%20Persian%20conquest%20of%20Jerusalem%20in%20614CE%20compared%20with%20Islamic%20conquest%20of%20638CE.pdf|website=alsadiqin.org}}</ref> Eventually, digging beneath the foundations of the Jerusalem, they destroyed the wall and on the 19th day of the siege, the Judeo-Persian forces took Jerusalem.<ref name="abrahamson" />

According to the account of the Armenian ecclesiastic and historian [[Sebeos]], the siege resulted in a total Christian death toll of 17,000, the earliest and thus most commonly accepted figure.<ref name="james">{{cite book|author=R. W. Thomson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRibSFLMER8C|title=The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos|publisher=Liverpool University Press|others=Historical commentary by James Howard-Johnston. Assistance from Tim Greenwood|year=1999|isbn=9780853235644}}</ref>{{rp| 207}} Per [[Strategius]], 4,518 prisoners alone were massacred near [[Mamilla Pool|Mamilla reservoir]].<ref name="bibleinterp.com">{{Cite web|title=The Persian Conquest of Jerusalem (614 CE) ––An Archaeological Assessment|url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/pers357904|author= Gideon Avi | publisher= University of Arizona | date=2010 | work= The Bible and Interpretation}}</ref> A cave containing hundreds of skeletons near the [[Jaffa Gate]], 200 metres east of the large Roman-era pool in Mamilla, correlates with the massacre of Christians at hands of the Persians mentioned in the writings of Strategius. While reinforcing the evidence of massacre of Christians, the archaeological evidence seem less conclusive on the destruction of Christian churches and monasteries in Jerusalem.<ref name="bibleinterp.com" /><ref name="Phoenicia">{{cite book|author=Edward Lipiński|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&pg=PA542|title=Itineraria Phoenicia|publisher=Peeters Publishers|year=2004|isbn=9789042913448|pages=542–543}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=January 2018}}

According to the later account of Strategius, whose perspective appears to be that of a Byzantine Greek and shows an antipathy towards the Jews,<ref name="Kohen">{{cite book|last=Kohen|first=Elli|title=History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire|publisher=University Press of America|year=2007|isbn=978-0761836230|page=36}}</ref> thousands of Christians were massacred during the conquest of the city. Estimates based on varying copies of Strategos's manuscripts range from 4,518 to 66,509 killed.<ref name="bibleinterp.com" /> Strategos wrote that the Jews offered to help them escape death if they "become Jews and deny Christ", and the Christian captives refused. In anger the Jews allegedly purchased Christians to kill them.<ref name="Antiochus">{{cite journal|last=Conybeare|first=F. C.|author-link=Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare|year=1910|title=Antiochus Strategos, The Capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 AD|url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/antiochus_strategos_capture.htm|journal=[[English Historical Review]]|volume=25|pages=502–517|doi=10.1093/ehr/xxv.xcix.502}}</ref> In 1989, a mass burial grave at [[Mamilla]] cave was discovered in by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich, near the site where Strategius recorded the massacre took place. The human remains were in poor condition containing a minimum of 526 individuals.<ref>{{cite web|title=Human Skeletal Remains from the Mamilla cave, Jerusalem|url=http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=17&sub_subj_id=179|access-date=8 January 2014|first1=Yossi|last1=Nagar|publisher=Israel Antiquities Authority}}</ref>

From the many excavations carried out in the [[Galilee]], it is clear that all churches had been destroyed during the period between the Persian invasion and the [[Siege of Jerusalem (636–637)|Arab conquest in 637]]. The church at [[Shavei Tzion|Shave Ziyyon]] was destroyed and burnt in 614. Similar fate befell churches at [[Evron, Israel|Evron]], [[Nahariya]], 'Arabe and monastery of [[Shlomi, Israel|Shelomi]]. The monastery at [[Kursi, Sea of Galilee|Kursi]] was damaged in the invasion.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mordechai Aviam|author-link=:he:מרדכי אביעם|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YTC-52zoooC&pg=PA239|title=Jews, Pagans and Christians in the Galilee: 25 Years of Archaeological Excavations and Surveys : Hellenistic to Byzantine Periods|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2004|isbn=9781580461719|page=239}}</ref>