Although the second-century Jewish leader Bar Kochba tends to be thought of as the head of the Jewish revolt against Rome in Judea, generally dated from the years 132 to 135 C.E., he either deposed or killed the original leaders of the uprising mid-revolt, according to new research published by Haggai Olshanetsky, a University of Warsaw historian and archaeologist.
“In the midst of the revolt, coins bearing the name Elazar testify to the fact that Bar Kochba was not the sole commander of the insurrection in the middle period of the war,” Olshanetsky writes in the peer-reviewed journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly, published by the nearly 160-year-old Palestine Exploration Fund.
“As a result, it is most likely that Bar Kochba and Elazar the priest were among the original insurgents, who were joined by Roman Jewish soldiers,” whom the Roman historian Cassius Dio “hints were part of the revolt,” Olshanetsky writes, “or that Bar Kochba and Elazar the priest toppled the original leadership without being among their members.”
The Roman Jewish soldiers and “most likely, a portion of the original leadership may have pushed to transform the resistance into an open war, believing that it was the only way to obtain full control of the territory, and eventually full independence and victory,” per the article. “This faction of insurgents that came from the ranks of the Roman army aided in arming the rebellion with weapons that were manufactured for the Roman army, possibly as early as 130 C.E.”
Olshanetsky writes that Bar Kochba and Elazar, who may have been the former’s relative, either deposed or killed the former Jewish Roman soldiers who led the rebellion in late 132 and early 133. He suggests that the revolt began earlier, in 131.
“As a result, many of the distant territories that participated in the revolt, such as the Galilee, decided to withdraw their participation and re-join the Romans,” he writes. “Even Elazar the priest may have wanted to change sides towards the end of the war and was consequently killed by Bar Kochba.”
Olshanetsky notes that the theory is consistent with the appearance of coins with Bar Kochba’s likeness at that point and “also explains why no Roman author mentioned him as the leader of the rebels” and why coins have only been found in a small area.
“It would be extremely surprising if the best historical source, and that chronologically closest to the event, forgot or did not know who were the Jewish leaders of this war which devastated the area,” he writes.
“The suggestion of a change in leadership, and the fact that the leadership in the first part of the war came from Roman ranks, helps to explain why the rebels were so successful in the first part of the war but utterly failed in its second part,” he adds.
“It seems that the right way to write history is to completely forget everything you were told before, starting from scratch and allowing the sources to speak for themselves,” Olshanetsky stated. “If you do so, it is very clear that Bar Kochba was not the sole leader of the revolt, as implied by the Roman sources.”
Olshanetsky told JNS that Bar Kochba became a household name “because of the Zionist movement and the Jewish struggle for independence.”
“They needed heroes, and they took what was easily available from Jewish history, even if the Jewish sources were not kind to them. It is similar to viewing the zealots (Sicarii), who fought the Romans during the First Jewish Revolt, as heroes,” Olshanetsky said. “In the 1970s, after excavations started in Masada, there was also a huge debate about whether to look at them as heroes or villains. Their treatment of other Jews, and their mass suicide, made this a controversial choice.”
Instead of referring to the Bar Kochba Revolt, Olshanetsky told JNS that the best name is the “Second Judaean Revolt against Rome” or the “Second Revolt/Second Judaean Revolt.”
“Another suggestion is to call it the ‘Third Jewish Revolt’ as a short version of the ‘Third Jewish Revolt Against Rome,’” he said. “This is the case if you prefer to also include the Diaspora revolt and thus encompass all three major Jewish revolts as a series.”