Image: Close-up of the Arch of Titus, Rome, constructed AD 82, depicting Roman looting of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70.
A new episode has been added to the series on Eusebius of Caesarea’s The
Ecclesiastical History: book 3, chapters 5-6. Listen here.
Notes and Commentary:
This chapter focuses on the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans in AD 70, as well as the horrendous sufferings undergone by the inhabitants
of Jerusalem during the siege and before the fall of the city.
Josephus is used a source for much of the information.
In chapter 5 reference is made to a group of Christians in
Jerusalem who were “commanded by an oracle” to flee the city before its destruction
to settle in the city of Pella of the region Perea.
Eusebius sees the destruction of Jerusalem during the Passover
season as a clear sign of this having been divine retribution for the
crucifixion of Jesus.
In chapter 6 he describes the grotesque sufferings of those
under siege in Jerusalem. These focus on accounts of hunger and starvation,
that led to infighting and terrible acts of inhumanity. Not only did the beleaguered
inhabitants begin to eat belts, shoes, and leather stripped from their shields,
but they also turned to cannibalism.
The low point comes in the account of a woman named Mary of
Bathezor, who, driven mad with hunger, killed, cooked, and ate her infant son.
JTR
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