A.D. 66
MAY - The Roman Procurator Florus demands 17 talents from the Jewish Temple treasury. This is the triggering insult for the Jews to begin their revolt.
• The Roman garrison in Jerusalem is overrun by rebels, who take control of the city. The rebels cause cessation of all sacrifices to the Roman Emperor, thus challenging Rome head-on.
• Florus cannot handle the situation, so the (Roman) Syrian Governor, Cestius Gallus, is called in to subdue the rebellion. He attacks Jerusalem, gets up to the walls of the Temple, then unexpectedly withdraws, suffering heavy losses in retreat.
• In the lull between his retreat and the next Roman attacks, Jerusalem is fortified by the Zealots.
• The Christian community in Jerusalem flees the country, to Pella in Decapolis.
A.D. 67
FEBRUARY – The Roman Emperor Nero sends his general. Vespasian, to Judea to subdue the rebellion. Now the rebellion is no longer a regional difficulty, but a serious conflict for the Roman Empire. This formal dispatching of Nero’s army to Judea is the official beginning of the War against the Jews. It was the event that marked the legal commencement of hostilities beyond a regional police
action.• Vespasian and his son Titus attack the lands of Judea.
OCTOBER - All of Galilee is subdued.
A.D. 68
• During the spring, the invasion continues, with the Roman army slowly driving south toward Jerusalem.
JUNE – The Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide.
• Vespasian suspends operations in Judea temporarily, waiting for word of events in Rome.
• Three emperors take the throne in Rome in quick succession, during this unsettled period. The first is Galba.
A.D. 69
JANUARY 15 – Galba is murdered in Rome by Otho who proclaims himself emperor.
APRIL 15 – Otho commits suicide and his rival, Vitellius becomes emperor.
JUNE – Vespasian resumes operations in Judea. Then Vespasian is proclaimed princeps. He transfers command of the Jewish war to his son Titus and heads for Rome.
JULY – Vespasian is proclaimed emperor by the army.
DECEMBER 20 – Vitellius is beheaded in Rome and Vespasian is installed as emperor there.
A.D. 70
• In the spring, Titus reaches Jerusalem.
MAY – The Roman army breaches the 1st and 2nd walls of Jerusalem. Mass executions of escapees begin – up to 500 crucifixions per day outside the city. Titus has a “circumvallatio” or earthen berm wall built to completely enclose the city for the siege. Famine begins within Jerusalem.
JUNE/JULY – On the 17th of Tamuz the Tower of Antonia is destroyed by the Romans, who are breaching the city’s defenses as the famine takes its toll. The Romans are shocked at the conditions inside the city, including
cannibalism.AUGUST – The Romans take the Temple and the city. The Temple of Herod is entered and set afire by a reckless Roman torch and is destroyed. The Jewish sacrifices, “the Daily Sacrifice,” cease forever. The Romans set up their ensigns and standards against the Temple and worship
them and their general, Titus.
A.D. 71
• Triumphal procession held in Rome for Titus and Vespasian celebrating the victory.
A.D.72
• Various “mopping up” battles carried out throughout Judea to round up the last of the rebellious Zealots and their followers.
A.D. 73
APRIL 15 – The last of the rebelling enclaves falls to the Romans when the mountain fortress of Masada is taken after a long siege. This represents the final official act of the Jewish War.
• In all seven years of war, over one million Jews were killed and nearly one hundred thousand were taken into captivity.
From the official, legal beginning of the war in February of A.D. 67, To the destruction of the temple of Herod in Jerusalem in August of AD. 70, is a period of three and one half years. This is the period of time referred to in many prophecies in the Bible for the prophesie destruction of the Jewish state (see Daniel 12. Revelation 11 & 12). The entire seven years of the war corresponds precisely with the prophetic final “one week” of Daniel 9:27, with the destruction of the temple occurring just in the middle of the time (3 1/2 years in) as prophesied:
“…and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined wrath shall be poured upon the desolate.”