Zealot Temple Siege

Zealot Temple Siege
Part of the First Jewish–Roman War
Excavated remains of staircase from the Temple in Jerusalem, May 2009
Date 68 AD Location Jerusalem, Judea Result Siege of Temple by forces of Hanan ben Hanan fails; Siege of Jerusalem by Edomites reinforcing Zealots succeeds.
Belligerents
Zealots Sicarii Edomites	Judean rebels Sadducees Pharisees Peasantry
Commanders and leaders
Zealot Commander(s): Unknown Edomite Commanders: John Jacob ben Sosa Simon ben Cathlas Phineas ben Clusothus	Ananus ben Ananus †
Strength
Unknown number of Zealots 20,000 Edomite men	6,000 men
Casualties and losses
Unknown	6,000, plus mass civilian casualties

Judean rebels

The Zealot Temple Siege (68 AD) was a short siege of the Temple in Jerusalem fought between Jewish factions during the Great Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire (66–70 AD). The forces of Ananus ben Ananus, a Jewish priest and former High Priest of Israel, besieged the Zealots who held the Temple.

According to the historian Josephus, Ananus incited the people to rise up against the Zealots who were in control of the Temple. When John of Giscala led the Zealots to believe that Ananus had contacted the Roman General Vespasian for assistance in retaking control of all Jerusalem, the Zealots, driven to desperation, asked the Edomites (Idumeans) for assistance in preventing the delivery of the city to the Romans. When the Edomites arrived, the Zealots opened the gates of Jerusalem to them, and the Edomites slaughtered ben Hanan's (Ananus ben Ananus) forces, killing him as well. After freeing the Zealots from the Temple, they massacred the common people.

Jerusalem remained in the control of the Zealots until 70 AD, when it was sacked by Rome and the Temple was destroyed.

The Zealots were a political movement in 1st century Judaism that sought to incite the people of Judaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms. The Great Jewish Revolt began in the year 66 AD with Greek and Jewish religious tensions and expanded into anti-taxation protests and Jewish attacks upon Roman citizens. However, by the year 68, Jewish resistance in the North had been crushed and the Roman General Vespasian had established his headquarters at Caesarea Maritima. The leaders of the collapsed Northern revolt, John of Giscala and Simon Bar Giora, managed to escape to Jerusalem, but brutal civil war erupted as the Zealots and the fanatical Sicarii executed anyone advocating surrender.

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