780 ’ j E R U ! 
mon took and deftroyed it, tfiat it might never again fall 
into the poffelfion of the enemy. This citadel had kept 
Jerufalem twenty-fix years dependent on the king of Sy¬ 
ria. John Hyrcanus, fon of Simon Maccabeus, entered 
upon the governorfhip and high-pviefthood, after the death 
of his father, in 3919 ; and the fame year Antiochus Si- 
detes, incenfed at the Ioffes which he had fuffered by Si¬ 
mon Maccabeus, declared war againft Hyrcanus, and be- 
fieged Jerufalem, deftroyeci the walls of the city, and then 
retired with all his forces. 
During the reign of Herod the Great, otherwife called 
the Afcalonite, Jerufalem received many additions and 
embellishments. In the year 4030, he constructed a fuperb 
royal palace, a theatre, and an amphitheatre, to celebrate 
various kinds of games in honour of Auguftus. Herod 
liketyife conceived a defign of rebuilding the temple, or 
rather of enlarging that which had been erefted after the 
return of the Jews from the Babylonifh captivity, and ac¬ 
cordingly began his work, in the eighteenth year of his 
reign, and completed it in eighty years. 
Under the emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate being pre- 
£dent of Judea for the Romans, our Lord and Saviour 
Jefus Chrilt, at the age of thirty-three was condemned to 
death, on the falfe accufation of the Jews, and crucified 
on Mount Calvary, which was then without the walls of 
the city. 
In the year 66 of the Chriftian xra, and the twelfth of 
the reign of Nero, Geffius Floras, the procurator of Ju¬ 
dea, had by his injustice and extortion reduced that rich 
country to a miferable condition ; and, adding cruelty to 
rapine, was the principal eauSe of the Hebrews attempt¬ 
ing to throw off the Roman yoke. Being declared rebels, 
they began to commit every kind of iniquity. The Ro¬ 
mans employed the fevereft pur.ifhments to reduce thefe 
people to obedience, but ftiil without effect. Having at¬ 
tacked Ceftius Gallus, the governor 1 of Syria, they obliged 
him to retire ; and this fuccefs infpired them with frelh 
hopes and courage. The flames of war being thus kind¬ 
led in Judea, Nero entrusted the management of it to his 
general, Vefpafian, who accompanied by his fon Titus, and 
a powerful army, arrived in Syria in the year 67 of the 
Chriftian oera. Vefpafian, foon after being chofen empe¬ 
ror,Lent orders to his fon Titus to continue the war againft 
the Hebrews, and fet out for Rome, where he arrived 
amidft the acclamations of the populace, in the year 70 of 
the Chriftian xra. Jerufalem at this time was torn by 
different contending factions, and a prey to all the miferies 
of a civil war within its own walls. Nothing was feen 
throughout the whole city but flaughter, tumult, and mur¬ 
der ; while-patriotifm was made a pretence for commit¬ 
ting every fpecies of atrocity. In this miferable ftate was 
the city of Jerufalem and all Judea, when, on the 14th of 
April, in the year 70, Titus undertook the fiege of the 
former, having encamped at the diftance of feven ltadia, 
or a mile, from it. On the 4th of May, Titus made him¬ 
feif mafter of the firft v/all of Jerufalem, and caufed a great 
part of it towards the north to be demolished. Notwith¬ 
standing this fuccefs, he offered very favourable terms to 
the beiieged, if they would fubmit, but his offer was re¬ 
jected. Five days after, he took the lecond wall, from 
which he was however repulfed ; but in four days more 
he again-got into his poffeftion, and demolished what re¬ 
mained of it in the northern quarter. Having failed in 
his attempt to batter down the third wall,' he made new 
propolals to the Hebrews, through the medium of Flavius 
Jofephus, who had been taken prifoner, and, after re¬ 
ceiving his liberty, had attached himfeif to the Romans, 
and was with Titus in his encampment. The greater part 
of the people were inclined, to accept the eafy conditions 
propofed them by jofephus in the name of the emperor; 
but, being oppoled by fome zealots, Jofephus was treated 
with every mark of indignity and reproach. After this 
behaviour, there remained no more mercy for the Hebrews. 
Titus caufed the hands of thofe who had voluntarily 
fought flicker in the Roman camp to be cut off, and fent 
1 A L E M. 
them back to _the city, and others were crucified in tbs 
fight of their countrymen. Famine, in the mean time, be¬ 
gan to make dreadful havock among ,the people. Of this 
calamity, and the diftreftes it occasioned, Jofephus gives 
fuch a. pathetic account as cannot fail of exciting horror— 
He tells us, that the effefts of hunger were fo great, that 
a noble lady, called Mary, devoured the flefli of her own 
Son ; and that this action appeared fo unnatural to Titus* 
that he fwore that lie would bury the remembrance of it 
under the ruins of Jerufalem. In order to haften the 
capture of the city, he caufed all the trees which were 
within the diftance of fome miles from Jerufalem to be cut 
down, and employed them in his machines and military 
works. Having made every neceflary difpofition for con¬ 
tinuing his operations with vigour, he applied his batter¬ 
ing rams to the third wall, that is to fay the wall enclof- 
ing the fortrefs, and made himfeif mafter of the tower 
called Antonia. The Romans, being defirous of getting 
poffeffion of the Temple without deltroying it, were 
obliged to fuftain a fierce conflict in it; but a Soldier, in¬ 
stigated by fome unknown motive, threw a burning torch 
into the northern part of it, where there was a great 
quantity of combuftible materials, by which means it was. 
fet on fire. This magnificent building, therefore, was 
reduced to allies ; and tht Hebrews, with great grief and 
Sorrow, faw a monument destroyed which was the princi¬ 
pal objeft that had animated their hopes, and awakened 
their courage. In Short, on the Second of September, iia 
the year-71 of the Chriftian sera, and the fecond of the 
reign of Vefpafian, the city of Jerufalem fell entirely into 
the hands of Titus. It was then given up to be plun¬ 
dered by the foldiers, and moft of its inhabitants were put 
to the fword. According to the order of Titus, the city, 
was destroyed to its foundations; and even the ruins of 
the temple were demoliflied. Jofephus fays, that.the num¬ 
ber of prisoners taken during the whole time of the war 
was ninety-Seven thousand; and that the number killed 
in the city during the fame period amounted to eleven 
hundred thoufand ; but Tacitus, who lived in the firSt 
century, in the time of Vefpafian and Titus, , heard it re¬ 
ported, that the number of the befieged, including thofe 
of every age and fex, was only Six hundred thoufand,' 
Notwithstanding the dellruftion of their country, a good 
many jews remained in it, and even in Jerufalem, or ra¬ 
ther in new buildings which they erefted amidfithe ruins 
of the city ; but they now paid tribute to the Romans, 
and were entirely'lubjeCt to their laws. In the year 118, 
they attemped to rebel, but were foon ovecome by Tinius 
Rufus, the Roman prefident in Palestine. On account of 
the turbulent difpofition of thefe people, Adrian, it ap¬ 
pears, highly incenfed at their conduft, refolved the fame 
year to level the city of Jerufalem with the ground ; that, 
is to fay, thofe new buildings erefted by the Hebrews 5. 
to deftroy three towers left by Titus for the convenience 
of the Roman garrrifon ; and to fow fait in the ground on 
which the place had Stood. Whatever may have beers, 
the caul'e that induced Adrian to make this devastation, 
and to (how fo much refentment againft the remains of a 
wretched nation, he fulfilled the prophecy of our Saviour, 
who foretold that neither in the city nor the temple fnouid 
one Stone be left upon another. This, therefore, may be 
called the final destruction-of Jerusalem, which took place 
forty-Seven years after that of Titus. 
Adrian, defirous of building a new city on the ancient 
Site of Jerufalem, began this enterprife in the-year 119 of 
the Chriftian sera, and the Second of his reign. It was then 
called /Elia, after his own name JElius, and formed a Ro¬ 
man colony. The Christians, who ever fince the time of 
Jefus ChriSt had continued to increafe, and to inhabit Jeru- 
lalem,and the new city offElia, or JEW?. Capitolina, Some-, 
times 'protected and Sometimes perfecuted by the. Roman 
emperors, began at length, in the time of Conltantine the- 
Great, to enjoy a little tranquillity. But this was a Short¬ 
lived change; So that, when the emprefs Helena, mother 
of Conltantine the Great, came to vilit this city, (he found 
is 
