The Jewish War: First half of Book 6

[cahn]

Last week: Sieges are awful. Josephus tells us that Titus really totally felt bad about all the awfulness (even though he didn't stop them) and there is a theory that maybe by "us" he meant "Berenice." Titus had dancing boys?? (Josephus does not mention any, sadly.) Does Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of Mormon owe anything to Josephus speaking truth to the wicked? Unclear. Talmud on the Sages vs. the Zealots as an interesting correlated story to Josephus. Poppea's complexity including both an interest in (conversion to?) Judaism as well as being ruthless; comparison to Constantine's much better press.

This week: The temple is destroyed.

Next week: End of Book 6.

Comments

Re: Recap

[cenozoicsynapsid]

And certainly there are no more woods around Jerusalem to this day. (At least that I recall, though I was there decades ago.)
Oh, forgot to mention. In my recollection, Jerusalem is actually greener than much of the surrounding (lower and hotter) part of Judea. A quick glance at Google Earth confirms this: the area between Bet Shemesh and Jerusalem is more wooded than practically anything until you get to Caesaria. Of course, what is and isn't wooded has a lot to do with later periods of warfare and devastation, as well as the climate.