The Discovered Manuscripts: Chilling Testimonies From the Battles Between Jews and Romans

The Diaspora Rebellion: What Led to the Forgotten Jewish Uprising from History?

The Rebels Against Rome: The Story of the Martyrs of Lod Who Died for Kiddush Hashem

In the year 115 CE, the Diaspora Rebellion began. Jews throughout the Roman Empire grew tired of the Roman rule, tired of the disdainful treatment from Emperor Trajan, fought against the Roman garrison, and stopped paying taxes and the 'Jewish tax.'

After the uprising in Cyrene and the Land of Judah, the rebellion spread to Egypt. The air was already boiling for a year, uprisings happened in Syria, and even the Land of Israel was unsettled. And so, the miracle of rebellion also broke out in Egypt. The Roman commander in Egypt was a Greek named Lupus. The Jews assassinated him, killed his soldiers, and began pursuing the Romans and Greeks in the country. They fled to Alexandria, and the Jews followed them.

The leader of the Jews was a man named Lucius, considered by some Jews to be the Messiah. They besieged Alexandria, broke into it, and destroyed many Roman and Greek soldiers. In a preserved papyrus, a letter from Odimonis, the wife of Apollonius, wrote to him, 'May the Jews not catch you.' In another papyrus, a Roman soldier describes, 'On the twentieth day, our men entered battle, they were at a disadvantage, and many of them were slaughtered by the Jews.'

The Jews destroyed the Egyptian Temple of Nemesis and captured the ports to destroy the enemies fleeing to their ships. The Roman-Egyptian historian Appian describes his escape from the Jewish brigades. He ran with all his might to the Pelusium port on the Nile, where Roman ships awaited. To his right and left, Jews chased with battle cries, and he saw that the warship he aimed for was also captured by the Jews. At the last moment, another Roman ship arrived, and he leaped into it, and they disappeared from view, leaving many of his companions to be slaughtered by the furious Jews. Egypt was free of Romans and Greeks.

But the emperor, of course, did not remain silent. He sent the renowned commander Quintus Turbo, who fought the Jews for a whole year. After a long and bloody war, where many pagan temples and similarly many synagogues were destroyed, the Roman army triumphed. The Jews of Alexandria were completely annihilated. The Great and magnificent synagogue, hundreds of years old, was destroyed and demolished. After two thousand years, archaeologists found remnants of fortifications in the ancient synagogues and temples from that period, where the Jews fortified themselves and fought to the death.

In Cyprus, the Jews, led by a man named Artemius, rose up. They destroyed the city of Salamis in the east of the island (near today's Famagusta), which was the Roman center in the country. Two hundred and forty thousand Romans died on the soil of Salamis. The emperor raged with fury and sent Lucius Quietus to suppress the rebellion. The Jews of Cyprus were also annihilated to the last one, and a law was established in the state prohibiting Jewish entry. A Jew whose boat drifted to Cyprus with the currents would be executed. In the Jerusalem Talmud, in Tractate Sukkah, it is told that the blood of the Jews of Egypt flowed into the Mediterranean and drifted with the currents to Cyprus, where it mingled with the spilled blood of Cypriot Jews.

Jewish communities around the world were destroyed and ceased to exist: Aram Naharaim, Libya, and more. In a papyrus found in Egypt, dated eighty years after the rebellion, it is mentioned that the Egyptians celebrate annually the victory over the Jews.

For two years, the best warriors of the Roman Empire fought against the Jews worldwide instead of conducting Rome’s foreign wars. Emperor Trajan succeeded in destroying the Jewish communities, but his dreams of conquests vanished. This was his last war, his health deteriorated, and he retired from leading the army. From then on, the Romans blessed their emperors, 'May you be as great as Trajan,' while the Jews remembered him as 'Trajan, Crusher of Bones.'