Goddamn it, Carl! – Vespasian #17

About this episode

The episode discusses the final stages of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, focusing on the desperate actions of rebels, the burning of the temple gates, and the connections between historical figures and Gospel narratives.

It's August 70 CE, and the siege of Jerusalem is entering its apocalyptic final act. In this episode, Cameron and Ray pick up where the last one left off — starving rebels launching desperate sorties against exhausted Roman legionaries, Titus ordering his men to burn down the silver-coated temple gates to finally crack open the last Jewish stronghold, and the mounting pressure on one of the ancient world's most sacred structures. Before the walls even fall, Cameron takes a deep dive into the remarkable cast of Jesuses and Ananiases haunting Josephus's account of the war — including a wild-eyed plebeian prophet named Jesus son of Ananias, who spent seven years and five months wandering Jerusalem's streets howling "Woe to Jerusalem!" until a Roman siege engine stone ended his career mid-prophecy. Cameron draws pointed connections between this forgotten street-prophet and the Gospel accounts of Jesus of Nazareth, noting that the Gospel of Matthew — written around 75–80 CE, after Jerusalem had already fallen — may owe more to Josephus's war stories than to genuine prophecy. Then history's most consequential act of arson takes centre stage: against Titus's explicit orders, an unnamed…

People in this episode

Hosts: Cameron, Ray

Topics covered

• siege of Jerusalem
• Roman history
• Josephus
• Gospel accounts

Keywords

• Vespasian
• Titus
• Jesus son of Ananias
• ancient history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Vespasian, the Gospel of Matthew, Life Of The Caesars

Places: Jerusalem, Syria

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