Eastern Mediterranean 132: Bar Kokhba Revolt

In 130 Hadrian visited Judea and decided to build Aelia Capitolina—a new city dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter—on Jerusalem’s ruins. This act antagonized the Jewish population, who revolted under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba. The outcome would be the bloodiest of the Jewish–Roman wars and the last serious attempt at Jewish independence for centuries.

Main Events

118 First Hadrian–Osroes Treaty

In 118 the Roman emperor Hadrian acknowledged the situation in Parthia by recognizing Osroes I as Shah and made the former Roman client king of Parthia, Parthamaspates, the king of Osroene. By this action, Hadrian completed the abandonment of Trajan’s provinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, as well as the Roman client state of Characene. However, Osroes’ rival Shah Vologases III also made gains, with Trajan recognizing him as the client king of Armenia. in wikipedia

123 Osroene Crisis

In 123 Parthamaspates—former Roman client king of Parthia and now Roman puppet king of Osroene—was overthrown by a member of the Abgarid dynasty, either Abgar or Ma’nu VII bar Ezad. Shah Osroes I of Parthia supported the new king, creating a short crisis with the Roman Empire. Peace was restored later that year with a second Hadrian–Osroes treaty, in which Parthia recognized Osroene as a Roman client under an Abgarid king. in wikipedia

130? Aelia Capitolina

In 130 the Roman emperor Hadrian visited Jerusalem, which still lay in wreckage after its destruction in 70 AD. Hadrian considered rebuilding the city as a gift to the Jewish people, but later changed his mind and decided to construct a Roman colony on the site, to be inhabited by his legionaries. The new city was named Aelia Capitolina and was dedicated to both Hadrian and the Roman god Jupiter. in wikipedia

? ?? 132–4 Aug 135 Bar Kokhba Revolt

In 132, apparently incensed by the Roman construction of Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem, Jewish partisans led by Simon ben Koseba began an insurgency against Roman rule. By summer they had seized control of settlements throughout Judea, prompting the prominent Rabbi Akiba to declare ben Koseba to be Bar Kokhba (‘son of a star’). After a number of unsuccessful Roman attempts to handle the situation, legions dispatched from Britain under Sextus Julius Severus defeated the rebels, killing Bar Kokhba and his followers in the Siege of Betar (135). Some 580,000 men perished in the war and one or more legions may have been destroyed. in wikipedia