Battle of Beth Horon (66)

Battle of Beth Horon

Date	66 CE
Location	Bethoron
Result	Judean victory

Belligerents

Roman Empire

Jews of Iudaea Province

Commanders and leaders

Cestius Gallus

Simon Bar-Giora

Strength

Entire XII Fulminata legion. Vexilations from III Gallica, IIII Scythica and VI Ferrata. Several cohorts of auxiliaries.

Many tens of thousands in local Jewish militias

Casualties and losses

6,000 troops killed, XII Fulminata lost aquila

Unknown

The Battle of Beth Horon was a battle fought in 66 CE between the Roman army and Jewish rebels in the First Jewish-Roman War.

Judea came under Roman influence in 63 BCE, when Roman general Pompey arrived in the Levant as part of the Roman campaign against Mithridates VI of Pontus. In 37 BC Rome installed Herod the Great as a client king of Judea, helping him oust the Parthian-backed leader Antigonus II Mattathias. Shortly after Herod's death, Judea was partitioned among his sons as tetrarchy, but due to disturbances by 6 CE it came under direct Roman control and, with the exception of a small autonomous region in the north, became a Roman province, ruled by prefects appointed by Rome.

In 66 CE, long-standing Greek and Jewish religious tensions worsened after Jewish worshippers witnessed Greek civilians sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue in Caesarea and complained to the authorities. The Roman garrison did not intervene, leading to the triggering of popular protests against Roman taxation. The protests were ignored by the governor until public attacks in Jerusalem on Roman citizens and others accused of having Roman sympathies, led the army garrison to intervene. The soldiers were attacked as they moved through the city by an increasing proportion of the Jewish residents; many troops were killed and the rest evacuated Jerusalem. As news of this action spread, many other towns and Jews joined the rebellion. Fearing the worst, the pro-Roman king Agrippa II and his sister Berenice fled Jerusalem to the Galilee.

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