Bar Kokhba: Hadrian's Worst Nightmare

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In AD132 began the bloody struggle over who would rule a nation. The clash of two ancient cultures was fought between two strong-willed leaders, Hadrian, the cosmopolitan ruler of the vast Roman Empire, and Shim’on, a Jewish military leader who some believed to be the ‘King Messiah’.

During the ‘Second Jewish War’ – the highly motivated Jewish militia sorely tested the highly trained professional Roman army. The rebels withstood the Roman onslaught for three-and-a-half years (AD132–136) and established an independent nation, headed by Shim’on as its president. The outcome of that David and Goliath contest was of great consequence, both for the people of Judaea and for Judaism itself.

Having journeyed across three continents to establish the facts, historical detective Lindsay Powell draws on archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions, militaria, as well as secular and religious documents, to detail the people and events at a crucial time in world history.

Author of Bar Kokhba: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome, Lindsay joins Dan to discuss who Shim’on (known today as ‘Bar Kokhba’) was, how Hadrian, the Roman emperor who built the famous Wall in northern Britain, responded to the challenge and how, in later ages, ‘Bar Kokhba’ became a hero for the Jews in the Diaspora.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi buddy, welcome to Dan Snow's History here. We've got Lindsay Powell back on the podcast.
0:04.9	He's been on a couple of times he's a great writer about classical history and we're talking
0:08.0	about one of the most terrible uprisings and counterinsurgencies in Roman history today.
0:13.3	The Jewish revolt which has become synonymous with its charismatic leader, Shimon Bar Kochba,
0:20.9	under the rule of the Emperor Hadrian in about the 130s. Israel, Palestine, Judea rose up
0:28.1	in terrible revolt against the Romans. Roman troops were ambushed and units destroyed and the
0:33.9	Romans were forced out of vast army to Judea to smash this revolt and after it they wiped the
0:39.8	name of Judea off the map and the area became known as Syria Palestine from that point on.
0:44.4	I have been to a place that could have been the final battle you'll hear Lindsay talk about
0:48.4	Bitar. I've been to that site in Israel, Palestine today just inside the West Bank. It's about 8
0:55.3	kilometres or so 5 miles south of Jerusalem and it bears the name of Kierbet El-Yahud
1:01.8	if excuse the pronunciation which in Arabic means ruin of the Jews. It's that a tantalizing name link
1:08.8	with a place that once saw the Jews so catastrophically defeated by Roman forces.
1:15.4	It's extraordinary moment of classical history. Thank you Lindsay Powell for coming to talk
1:18.6	about it. If you want to hear more episodes of the podcast with Lindsay Powell or classical history
1:22.8	including our episode of our Rise of Series, The Rise of Hannibal, you can do so history at TV.
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