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LEISTAI IN JUDAEA
threw open its gates to the Romans. Troops were sent in search of John; he
had already reached Jerusalem when they came across the supporters he had
left in the lurch. Six thousand of them are supposed to have died. 86
In Jerusalem John joined the Zealots 87 – now for the first time named
explicitly as such by Josephus. 88 However, he kept his recruitment secret
since in public he pretended to be working for the Zealots’ opponents, led
by the high priest Ananus. This, again, is what Josephus says, making out
John to be a secret agent of the Zealots. 89 If one were to believe Josephus, it
was John who helped bring about a major polarisation between opposing
views in the city. After a while he eventually parted company with a section
of his own supporters, the consequence of his inability to subordinate himself
to the decisions of a community and his desire to establish a ‘tyranny’. 90
However, according to Josephus, the remaining Zealots gave themselves up
to him so enthusiastically that he was able to take his arbitrary behaviour
and the licentiousness of his followers to new heights. 91 Meanwhile, resistance
to him had grown so strong in Jerusalem that the group led by the
high priest, Ananus, supported by the Idumaeans who had originally stood
by John, summoned Simon, son of Giora, to help them topple John. Thus
Simon took over the city, while John’s Zealots took refuge in the Temple. 92
A third grouping, a further branch of the Zealots under the leadership of
Eleazar, son of another Simon, likewise hostile to John, held the innermost
court of the Temple. 93 John must now fight on two fronts, 94 but managed
to overcome his enemies inside the Temple, which caused the conflict to be
concentrated anew between the two main groups under their principals,
Simon and John. 95 When Titus began his siege of the city, the opposing
parties came together under pressure of the outside threat. 96 Together they
defended the Temple and the Antonia fortress against the Romans, who had
now entered the city. 97 In the last phase of the siege, John – Josephus cannot
hide his feeling of outrage at this – even took hold of the Temple treasure,
a sacrilege from which, as he says, even the Romans had always recoiled. 98
After the fall of the Antonia, Titus opened up negotiations with John with
a view to avoiding the storming and destruction of the Temple. As his agent
he appointed – Josephus! Because John did not take up this offer of talks he
was, as far as Josephus was concerned, without doubt the man responsible
for the ruination of Judaism’s central shrine. 99
After the burning of the Temple, Titus sought an interview with John
and Simon. We are told that he tried in vain to persuade the leaders of the
rebellion to surrender. 100 Josephus remarks ruefully that in sacking Jerusalem
the rebels raged about worse than the Romans. 101 Finally John and
Simon gave themselves up. The latter was led in Titus’ triumph and then
killed; John was sentenced to imprisonment for life. 102
John of Gischala may be numbered among those latrones or leistai who, as
defeated political enemies, were dismissed as ‘bandits’ by the victor, Rome.
Following his desertion, Josephus may be seen as both a self-apologist and a
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