Romans Destroy the Second Temple
On the ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av) in 70 CE—the same date on which Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s Temple 656 years earlier—Roman legions under Titus set fire to the Second Temple, ending the Jewish revolt and transforming Judaism forever.
Context: The Jewish Revolt:
In 66 CE, after decades of Roman misrule, corruption, and insensitivity to Jewish customs, Judea erupted in revolt. The immediate trigger was Gessius Florus, the Roman procurator, stealing silver from the temple treasury. When Jews protested, Florus had his soldiers massacre thousands in Jerusalem.
The rebellion spread rapidly. Jewish forces initially achieved remarkable victories, defeating the Roman legion sent from Syria and recapturing Jerusalem. For a brief moment, it seemed possible that Judea might win independence.
Emperor Nero sent Vespasian with three legions (about 60,000 troops) to crush the revolt. Vespasian methodically conquered Galilee and Judea, but in 69 CE—the Year of Four Emperors—Nero died and civil war erupted in Rome. Vespasian returned to Rome, became emperor, and left his son Titus to finish the campaign.
The Siege of Jerusalem (April-September 70 CE):
By Passover 70 CE, Titus surrounded Jerusalem with four legions (about 80,000 troops). The city was packed with pilgrims, and internal factions fought each other even as Romans tightened the noose.
Famine: Josephus describes horrific scenes—people eating leather, straw, and in one case, a mother cooking and eating her own child. The Jewish historian, who had defected to Rome, witnessed the siege and recorded: “Neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries.”
Three walls breached: Titus’s forces systematically breached Jerusalem’s three defensive walls. The defenders retreated to the Temple Mount for a final stand.
The Temple burns:
On the ninth of Av (August 30, 70 CE), Roman soldiers broke into the temple complex. According to Josephus, Titus wanted to preserve the temple—a magnificent structure that could showcase Roman mercy. But during fierce fighting, a soldier threw a firebrand through a window. Fire spread rapidly through the cedar-paneled interior.
Josephus describes the scene: “While the holy house was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity; but children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests, were all slain in the same manner.”
The golden implements melted in the intense heat. Soldiers tore apart stone after stone looking for gold that had melted into cracks—fulfilling Jesus’s prophecy forty years earlier: “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2).
Casualties:
Josephus claims 1.1 million Jews were killed during the revolt and siege—though modern historians consider this inflated, estimating hundreds of thousands. About 97,000 were enslaved. Jerusalem was devastated, and the temple was completely destroyed.
The Arch of Titus:
In Rome, the Arch of Titus was erected to commemorate the victory. Its relief sculptures depict Roman soldiers carrying temple treasures in triumph: the golden menorah, the table of showbread, and silver trumpets. For centuries, Jewish people avoided walking through this arch in protest.
Theological and Historical Impact:
End of the sacrificial system: With no temple, sacrifices could not be offered. The entire Levitical system described in Torah ceased to function.
Transformation of Judaism: Without temple or sacrifices, Judaism adapted:
- Synagogues became central
- Prayer replaced sacrifice
- Torah study became paramount
- Pharisees (who emphasized Torah and oral law) survived; Sadducees (who controlled the temple) disappeared
- Rabbinic Judaism emerged
Vindication of Jesus’s prophecy: Christians saw the temple’s destruction as fulfilling Jesus’s words, proving his prophetic authority.
Diaspora intensified: Though Jews had lived outside the land since Babylonian exile, the destruction of Jerusalem and temple accelerated dispersion.
End of an era: The temple had stood (in two iterations) for about 1,000 years. Its destruction marked the end of the Second Temple period and changed Judaism’s relationship to land, sacrifice, and worship.
Hope deferred: For nearly 2,000 years, Jews have mourned the temple’s destruction annually on Tisha B’Av and prayed for its rebuilding. Orthodox daily prayers still include petitions for the temple’s restoration and the resumption of sacrifices.
The Western Wall:
The only remnant is the Western Wall (Kotel)—not part of the temple building itself but a retaining wall of the Temple Mount platform built by Herod. It became Judaism’s holiest site and a place of pilgrimage and prayer.
Islamic connection:
The Temple Mount’s significance continued. In 691 CE, the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone where the temple’s Holy of Holies had stood. In 705 CE, the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built nearby. These Islamic shrines occupy the site to this day, making the Temple Mount one of the world’s most contentious religious locations.
The fire that consumed the temple on the ninth of Av in 70 CE ended an era but began new ones—rabbinic Judaism, Gentile Christianity, and eventually Islamic connection to the same sacred ground. The stones were thrown down, but their memory remains central to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam nearly two millennia later.