Editing Second Temple (section)

== Destruction of the Temple ==
{{Main|Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)}}
[[File:David Roberts - The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70.jpg|thumb|Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (1850 painting by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]]). Looking southwest]]In 66 CE, the Jewish population of Judaea launched a [[First Jewish–Roman War|rebellion]] against the Roman Empire. Four years later, on the Hebrew calendrical date of [[Tisha B'Av]], either 4 August 70<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hebrew Calendar |url=http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=70 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224224205/http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=70 |archive-date=2018-12-24 |access-date=2018-11-14 |website=www.cgsf.org}}</ref> or 30 August 70,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsrGEFpW80UC&pg=PA212 |title=A Dictionary of the Roman Empire |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-510233-8 |page=212 |language=English |access-date=2022-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830022914/https://books.google.com/books?id=HsrGEFpW80UC&pg=PA212 |archive-date=2023-08-30 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Roman legion]]s under [[Titus]] [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|retook and destroyed much of Jerusalem and Herod's Temple]]. Josephus, while an apologist for the Empire, claims the burning of the Temple was the impulsive act of a Roman soldier, despite Titus's orders to preserve it, whereas later Christian sources, traced to [[Tacitus]], suggest that Titus himself authorized the destruction, a view currently favored by modern scholars, though the debate persists.<ref>{{Citation |last=Goldenberg |first=Robert |title=The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple: its meaning and its consequences |date=2006 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 4: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period |volume=4 |pages=194–195 |editor-last=Katz |editor-first=Steven T. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/destruction-of-the-jerusalem-temple-its-meaning-and-its-consequences/A3D597AAE094CCFDCCE188FFD48CD16C |access-date=2024-09-16 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521772488.009 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8}}</ref>

Historical accounts relate that not only the Jewish Temple was destroyed, but also the entire Lower city of Jerusalem.<ref>Josephus (''[[The Jewish War]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D3 6.6.3.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830022915/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D3|date=2023-08-30}}). Quote: "...So he (Titus) gave orders to the soldiers both to burn and plunder the city; who did nothing indeed that day; but on the next day they set fire to the repository of the archives, to Acra, to the council-house, and to the place called Ophlas; at which time the fire proceeded as far as the palace of queen Helena, which was in the middle of Acra: the lanes also were burnt down, as were also those houses that were full of the dead bodies of such as were destroyed by famine."</ref> Even so, according to Josephus, Titus did not totally raze the towers (such as the ''Tower of Phasael'', now erroneously called the [[Tower of David (northeast tower)|Tower of David]]), keeping them as a memorial of the city's strength.<ref>Josephus (''The Jewish War'' 7.1.1.), Quote: "Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasael, and Hippicus, and Mariamme, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison; as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valour had subdued."</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ben Shahar |first=Meir |author-link= |date=2015 |title=When was the Second Temple Destroyed? Chronology and Ideology in Josephus and in Rabbinic Literature |journal=Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period |language=en |publisher=Brill |volume=46 |issue=4/5 |page=562 |doi=10.1163/15700631-12340439 |jstor=24667712}}</ref> The [[Midrash Rabba]] (''Eikha Rabba'' 1:32) recounts a similar episode related to the destruction of the city, according to which Rabban [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]], during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, requested of [[Vespasian]] that he spare the westernmost gates of the city ({{Langx|he|פילי מערבאה}}) that lead to Lydda ([[Lod]]). When the city was eventually taken, the Arab auxiliaries who had fought alongside the Romans under their general, Fanjar, also spared that westernmost wall from destruction.<ref>Midrash Rabba (''Eikha Rabba'' 1:32)</ref>

The [[Arch of Titus]], which was built in [[Rome]] to commemorate Titus's victory in Judea, depicts a [[Roman triumph]], with soldiers carrying spoils from the Temple, including the [[temple menorah]]. According to an inscription on the [[Colosseum]], Emperor [[Vespasian]] built the Colosseum with war spoils in 79–possibly from the spoils of the Second Temple.<ref>{{cite web |author=Bruce Johnston |date=15 June 2001 |title=Colosseum 'built with loot from sack of Jerusalem temple' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1311985/Colosseum-built-with-loot-from-sack-of-Jerusalem-temple.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1311985/Colosseum-built-with-loot-from-sack-of-Jerusalem-temple.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |work=Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The sects of Judaism that had their base in the Temple dwindled in importance, including the [[priesthood (ancient Israel)|priesthood]] and the [[Sadducees]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alföldy |first=Géza |year=1995 |title=Eine Bauinschrift aus dem Colosseum |journal=[[Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik]] |volume=109 |pages=195–226 |jstor=20189648}}</ref>

Although Jews continued to inhabit the destroyed city, Emperor [[Hadrian]] established a new [[colonia (Roman)|Roman ''colonia'']] called [[Aelia Capitolina]]. At the end of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] in 135 CE, many of the Jewish communities were massacred. Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem.<ref name="Lester2010" /> A [[Roman temple]] was set up on the former site of Herod's Temple for the practice of [[Roman religion]].