What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?



The Romans Carry off the treasures of the Temple
Relief fromTitus Arch, Rome

The “Three Weeks”, a period of mourning for the loss of the Temple observed by the Jewish people, began this Monday night on the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz.  During that period we recall the awful climax of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans in the year 70 CE in which the Temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed.  Tradition holds that on 17th of Tammuz the walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans.

Amongst Jews there has always been a tension between admiration for the great achievements of the Romans and anger and resentment for the way in which they abused their power.  A story in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 33 b) illustrates this well.



Roman Bathhouse - Hypercaust

Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Jose, and Rabbi Shimon were sitting together and Yehuda, the son of proselytes, sat before them.  Rabbi Yehuda opened the conversation, saying:  "How beautiful are the works of this nation (the Romans).  They have established markets.  They have built bridges.  They have opened bathing-houses." 

Rabbi Jose said nothing, but Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said: "All these things they have instituted for their own sake. Their markets are gathering-places for harlots.  They have built baths for the purpose of indulging themselves in their comforts.  They have built bridges to collect tolls from those who cross them." 

This month two discoveries in Jerusalem were announced that illustrate both the technical achievements and the brutality of the Romans.

Roman Road Beit Hanina: Assaf Peretz
Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority 

The Romans are famous for their roads.  A good transport system was vital for the military, financial and administrative maintenance of their empire.  Major roads were built to a high technical standard with inns and forts along the way.  The routes and sometimes the surfaces of major Roman roads have survived for thousands of years.  In the Beit Hanina neighbourhood of Jerusalem an archaeological excavation preceded the laying of a new drainage pipe.  The work revealed a beautifully preserved section of a major road from the Roman period linking the port of Jaffa to Jerusalem.  The surface is made of large flat stones that would have been comfortable to walk on.   It is well worn – a testament to the volume of traffic it carried. 

In Roman times, like today, there were two main routes from Jaffa to Jerusalem.  They followed a common path from the coast as far as Lod.  From there one road led through Sha’ar HaGai following today’s Route 1.  A second headed further north via Modi’in and Beit Horon along the line of our Route 443.  It is a section of this road that was discovered in Beit Hanina.  In some places a modern road had been laid only a few centimetres above the Roman road.  The Roman surface must have been visible until just a few decades ago.

In the year 70 CE the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem.  A terrible famine resulted that was made worse by the rebels who hunted for food in the homes of their fellow Jews.  The historian Josephus wrote: 

As the famine grew worse, the frenzy of the partisans increased with it….For, as corn was nowhere to be seen, men broke into the houses and ransacked them.  If they found any, they maltreated the occupants for saying there was none.  If they did not, they suspected them of having hidden it more carefully and tortured them. ...

Many secretly exchanged their possessions for one measure of corn - wheat if they happened to be rich, barley if they were poor.  Then they shut themselves up in the darkest corners of their houses where some through extreme hunger ate their grain as it was.  Others made bread, necessity and fear being their only guides.  Nowhere was a table laid… (Jewish War, V, 428).

The Finds: Photo Vladimir Naykhin
Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Three whole cooking pots and an oil lamp were discovered in the cistern of a house that had stood near the Western Wall in the area of Robinson’s Arch.   The residents of the house had gone down into the cistern to eat their remaining food in secret.  The archaeologist directing the excavation, Eli Shukron, said that these are the first finds that connects us directly with the famine during the siege of Jerusalem.



And finally here is a clip from the Monty Python film The Life of Brian on the same theme.  John Cleese who plays Reg tries to arouse his fellow members of the “People’s Front of Judea” to rebel against the Romans but encounters some difficulty.