Slip, Trip, and Slit – Vespasian #16

About this episode

The episode explores the horrific events during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, as described by Josephus.

It's 70 CE, the walls of Jerusalem are crumbling, and the city is eating itself alive — literally. In this episode of Life of Caesar, Cameron and Ray wade deep into Josephus's harrowing account of the final, grinding assault on the Antonia Fortress and the Temple Mount, where the siege of Jerusalem has reached a level of horror almost beyond comprehension. Titus is still trying to take the city intact, still offering surrender terms that rebel leader John of Gischala keeps refusing, even as 600,000 corpses have been thrown out of the gates and the starving population has been reduced to eating dung, leather belts, and — in one unforgettable episode — a widow named Mary from Perea who roasts and eats her own infant son, leaving even Jerusalem's most hardened killers staggering into the street in shock. Meanwhile, the Roman assaults keep producing their own gruesome catalogue of disasters: brave volunteers like Sabinus the Syrian and the Abian centurion Julian charge the walls in spectacular solo acts of courage, only to be undone by the cruel physics of hobnailed caliga boots sliding out on blood-slicked marble floors. A trumpeter and sixteen centuries break into the Antonia in a…

People in this episode

Hosts: Cameron, Ray

Topics covered

• Jerusalem
• Roman siege
• Josephus
• Vespasian
• history

Keywords

• siege
• Antonia Fortress
• Temple Mount
• Titus
• John of Gischala

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Life of Caesar, the Gospel of Mark, Slip, Trip, and Slit – Vespasian #, Life Of The Caesars

Places: Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, Perea

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