S8 Ep241: Professor Barry Strauss. In 132 AD, Simon Bar Kokhba led a major rebellion, utilizing underground tunnels and guerrilla warfare to ambush Roman forces. Viewed by many, including Rabbi Akiva, as a Messiah, he established a short-lived administration that i

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🗓️ 25 December 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Professor Barry Strauss. In 132 AD, Simon Bar Kokhba led a major rebellion, utilizing underground tunnels and guerrilla warfare to ambush Roman forces. Viewed by many, including Rabbi Akiva, as a Messiah, he established a short-lived administration that issued coins before Rome ruthlessly crushed the revolt and killed him at Betar.

1850 SIEGE JERUSALEM

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBS Iron the World. I'm John Batchel.
0:09.4	Barry Strauss is the author of the new book, Jews versus Rome.
0:14.2	This is two centuries of rebellion, but we come now to the last major rebellion in the
0:19.8	holy land until and if, many centuries later.
0:24.4	This is a rebellion that we know because of a man's name, Simon Barcochpa.
0:30.7	The year is 132, in other words, 15 years into Hadrian's empire.
0:37.5	Hadrian is very successful in all directions.
0:41.1	He's a defensive-minded emperor then, not the offensive that Trajan was.
0:46.6	You all know him best is Hadrian's Wall, which you can visit in North Britain.
0:51.9	He built other defensive positions as well.
0:54.9	And then Simon Bar Kokpa.
0:56.5	Who was he?
0:57.1	What do we know about him, Professor?
0:59.8	Well, we don't know as much as we'd like.
1:02.5	We know that his real name is not Simon Bar Kokop.
1:05.7	It's Simon Bar Koseba or Kosova.
1:09.7	And that either refers to Barmeen, Son of. It either refers to the name of his father or to the town that he
1:16.6	came from and much disagreement about where that town might have been.
1:22.6	Bar Khochpa is a nom de guerre.
1:24.7	It's a name he takes on for the war and it's a very significant name because
1:28.2	it means the son of the star, a son of a star. And that is one of the terms used to refer to
1:35.2	the Messiah. It's very clear that his followers thought he was the Messiah and perhaps the
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