Galilee campaign (67)
Roman campaign to crush the Great Revolt in Galilee.
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The Galilee campaign of 67 was a Roman military operation ordered by Emperor Nero and led by general Vespasian to suppress the Great Revolt of Judea. It is unusually well-recorded for the era, largely because the captured Jewish rebel leader Josephus later became a court historian under the Flavian dynasty and wrote a detailed account of the sieges and internal politics.
Background
The Jewish population of Galilee mostly lived in villages that were easy to defend. Since they could not fight the Romans in open battle, they withdrew into these settlements, forcing the Romans to besiege them.
Josephus wrote that he fortified many locations, such as Yodfat, Tiberias, and Gamla, and claimed to have raised an army of 100,000 men. Historian Lester L. Grabbe calls this number grossly exaggerated. In reality, only Josephus’s mercenaries and personal guard, about 5,000 men, were under his direct control.
Timeline
After the defeat of Gallus, Emperor Nero entrusted command of the war to Vespasian, a 57-year-old former consul chosen for his proven energy and obscure family name. Vespasian traveled overland from Corinth to Syria, gathering three full legions: V Macedonica and X Fretensis, which had fought in Armenia, and XV Apollinaris, marched from Alexandria to Akko-Ptolemais by his son Titus. The force was bolstered by 23 auxiliary cohortes, six alae of cavalry, and troops from local rulers including Antiochus IV of Commagene, Agrippa II, Sohaemus of Emesa, and Malchus II of Nabatea.
Vespasian established his base at Akko-Ptolemais in summer 67. Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee, surrendered by pledging loyalty to Rome. Gabara was captured in the first assault, with all males reportedly killed and survivors enslaved. The Romans then besieged Yodfat, a town of about 7,000 people, which fell after 47 days.
Defenders used materials to absorb projectiles and battering ram strikes, counterattacked with boulders and boiling oil—the first recorded use of that tactic—and dozens of arrowheads and ballista stones were later found at the site.
Did You Know?
- Josephus took the name Flavius after his capture and worked as a court historian.
- By 68, Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and proceeded to cleanse the coastline.
More in Military Campaigns Involving the Roman Empire
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Galilee campaign (67) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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