John of Giscala

(Middle of 1st century AD)

   A leader of the Jewish revolt. When Judea flared into revolt against Roman rule in AD 66, one of the insurgent leaders in the Galilee was Jochanan ben-Levi, who came from Giscala (Gush Halav), near Lake Tiberias. He figures in The Jewish War by JOSEPHUS Flavius simply as John of Giscala.

   Josephus, then a young priest, was sent by the government in Jerusalem to take charge of the Galilee area. This was no doubt resented by the local leaders of the independent and martial Galilean hillmen, especially as Josephus was out of sympathy with the revolt and tried to restrain them from provoking the Romans. Relations between him and John were very strained, and Josephus called John a liar and a thief when he later wrote the history of the war. They fought bitterly over such matters as confiscating food for supplying the troops and exacting money for defence.

   In 67, the Roman general VESPASIAN landed on the Judean coast with a large expeditionary force, and his son Titus was sent with a legion to subdue the Galilee. Josephus was surrounded in the fortress of Jotapata and surrendered, defecting to the Romans. John was besieged in Giscala, but by delaying parleys on surrender terms on the plea that it was the Sabbath, he managed to slip away with some of his followers and reached Jerusalem. Josephus describes in detail the dissension among the Jewish defenders of the capital. The moderate faction may have been willing to submit to the Roman forces, but were overpowered by the more militant Zealots with the help of the Idumeans, an Arab people converted to Judaism some generations earlier. John of Giscala emerged as the dominant figure in the internal struggles, though his position was challenged by the Zealot leader, Simeon BAR-GIORA. In 70, after a prolonged siege in which the defenders suffered great privation, the city fell. It was sacked by the Roman troops, the Temple destroyed, and the inhabitants massacred or taken captive. John was among the captives carried off to Rome and paraded in the triumphal procession that marked the crushing of the Jewish revolt.