For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE
by Guy MacLean Rogers
Yale, £25, pp. 721
The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, has a central place in Jewish consciousness. Many Jews still commemorate it with a day of fasting every year on Tisha B’Av. The loss of the Temple dramatically reshaped Judaism by greatly accelerating trends that were already visible. Once the Temple sacrifices ceased, the priestly caste lost its influence, and authority in religious matters shifted entirely towards the scholarly rabbi. And the Jews of Palestine were scattered across the Roman Empire, as far west as Spain and as far north as the banks of the Rhine.
