Bar Kokhba revolt

The Bar Kokhba revolt (Hebrew: מֶרֶד בַּר כּוֹכְבָא Mereḏ Bar Kōḵəḇā) was a large-scale armed rebellion initiated by the Jews of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. Lasting until 135 or early 136, it was the third and final escalation of the Jewish–Roman wars. Like the First Jewish–Roman War and the Second Jewish–Roman War, the Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in a total Jewish defeat; Bar Kokhba himself was killed by Roman troops at Betar in 135 and the Jewish rebels who remained after his death were all killed or enslaved within the next year.

Roman rule in Judea was not well-received among the Jewish population, especially after the destruction of the Second Temple during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70. The Romans had also continued to maintain a large military presence across the province; pushed unpopular changes in administrative and economic life; constructed the colony of Aelia Capitolina over the destroyed city of Jerusalem; and erected a place of worship for Jupiter on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where the Jews' Second Temple had stood. Rabbinic literature and the Church Fathers emphasize the role of Quintus Tineius Rufus, the erstwhile Roman governor of Judea, in provoking the Bar Kokhba revolt. The charismatic and messianic nature of Bar Kokhba may have also been a factor in popularizing the uprising across all of Judea.

With the onset of the conflict, initial rebel victories established an independent Jewish enclave covering much of the province for several years. Bar Kokhba was appointed nasi (נָשִׂיא, lit. 'prince') of the rebels' provisional state, and much of Judea's populace regarded him as the Messiah of Judaism who would restore Jewish national independence. This initial setback for the Romans led Hadrian to assemble a large army — six full legions with auxiliaries and other elements from up to six additional legions, all under the command of Sextus Julius Severus — and launch an extensive military campaign across Judea in 134, ultimately crushing the revolt.

The killing of Bar Kokhba and the subsequent defeat of his rebels yielded disastrous consequences for Judea's Jewish populace, even more so than the crackdown that had taken place during and after the First Jewish–Roman War. Based on archeological evidence and ancient sources, Judea was heavily depopulated as a result of many of the Jews being killed or expelled by Roman troops, and a significant number of captives were sold into slavery. Following the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the center of Jewish society shifted from Judea to Galilee. The Jews were also subjected to a series of religious edicts by the Romans, including an edict that barred all Jews from entering Jerusalem. The Bar Kokhba revolt also had philosophical and religious ramifications; Jewish belief in the Messiah was abstracted and spiritualized, and rabbinical political thought became deeply cautious and conservative. The rebellion was also among the events that helped differentiate Early Christianity from Judaism.