By January 25, 2009 Read More →

Siege of Gamla, 67 CE

GamlaSeptember 67 CE- Vespasian besieges Gamla.

Early October 67 CE- Vespasian breaks into Gamla but suffers defeat.

October 20, 67 CE- Gamla falls.

Josephus describes the Battle of Gamla in detail in The Jewish War Vol. III, Book IV-

…On that day Titus, who had now returned, indignant at the reverse which the Romans had sustained in his absence, selected two hundred cavalry and a body of infantry, and quietly entered the town. The guards, apprised of his entry, flew with shouts to arms. News of the incursion rapidly spreading to the interior of the town, some, snatching up their children and dragging their wives after them, fled with their wailing and weeping families up to the citadel; those who faced Titus were incessantly dropping; while any who were debarred from escape to the heights fell in their bewilderment into the hands of the Roman sentries. On all sides was heard the never ending moan of the dying, and the whole city was deluged with blood pouring down the slopes…

The Fall of Gamla, Flavius Josephus, BAR 5-01, Jan-Feb 1979.

Archaeologists at Gamla found an ancient synagogue, a tower and an olive press, evidence of life at Gamla. They also found evidence of the Roman siege- the picks the Romans used to climb the walls, thousands of missile stones and arrowheads, as well as coins minted by the rebels stamped “For the salvation of Holy Jerusalem.”

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