Sound Familiar?
The insurrection never had full popular support. The empire that had established its rule, somewhat reluctantly, in this populous and fractious Middle Eastern land was the greatest the world had known.
Those who knew anything about the empire realized it was insanity to oppose its wealth and military might with makeshift weapons. Many leaders in the cities understood that more could be gained by cooperation with this occupying power than by fighting it.
But not all the people understood that, especially the country people. They resented the foreign occupiers and their alien, inferior religion. And among them, the leaders found recruits, young men convinced that God was on their side. They made suicide pacts and fought to the death.
Many of the insurgents were canny supporters of the old regime, who fought to regain political power and mistrusted the zealots. The religious rebels considered them impious. When they lacked the common enemy of the empire, the two factions turned on one another.
Soon the country was in turmoil, and even the capital city was infested by insurgents. They kidnapped powerful men who were cooperating with the occupiers, accused them of being "traitors to our common liberty," and slit their throats.
Want to know how it turns out? You'll have to go read the great historian of this war, Joseph Ben Matthias, better known by his Roman name, Flavius Josephus. But you can get a hint of the flavor of the 66 C.E. rebellion of the Jews of Palestine by reading a book written in that torn-apart country, by a man known only as Mark.
Those who knew anything about the empire realized it was insanity to oppose its wealth and military might with makeshift weapons. Many leaders in the cities understood that more could be gained by cooperation with this occupying power than by fighting it.
But not all the people understood that, especially the country people. They resented the foreign occupiers and their alien, inferior religion. And among them, the leaders found recruits, young men convinced that God was on their side. They made suicide pacts and fought to the death.
Many of the insurgents were canny supporters of the old regime, who fought to regain political power and mistrusted the zealots. The religious rebels considered them impious. When they lacked the common enemy of the empire, the two factions turned on one another.
Soon the country was in turmoil, and even the capital city was infested by insurgents. They kidnapped powerful men who were cooperating with the occupiers, accused them of being "traitors to our common liberty," and slit their throats.
Want to know how it turns out? You'll have to go read the great historian of this war, Joseph Ben Matthias, better known by his Roman name, Flavius Josephus. But you can get a hint of the flavor of the 66 C.E. rebellion of the Jews of Palestine by reading a book written in that torn-apart country, by a man known only as Mark.
Labels: historical parallels, Josephus
