135 AD · Judea Theater
135 AD
Adopting a deliberate strategy of attrition — avoiding pitched battle, isolating strongholds, and starving the population — Julius Severus ground the revolt down fortress by fortress. The final stand came at Betar, bar Kokhba's headquarters southwest of Jerusalem. The fortress fell, reportedly on the fast of Tisha B'Av, and bar Kokhba was killed. Jewish tradition remembers the slaughter that followed as so vast that, it was said, Roman horses waded in blood.
Commanders