Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Clivedurdle · 10-17-2007, 12:46 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70)

Interestingly notes that Josephus is considered unreliable and notes the importance of this in xian belief.

Quote:

After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the Fortress, the Romans finally launched a secret attack, overwhelming sleeping Zealot guards and taking the Fortress. This was the second highest ground in the city, after the Temple Mount, and provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire, when a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus' goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Most likely, Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple, dedicated to the Roman Emperor and to the Roman pantheon.

Burning is not enough to destroy stone!

And

Quote:

Messianic claims did shape the ultimate schism between Judaism and Christianity, which came about sixty years later, in the course of the Bar Kokhba's revolt (132–135).

Sarpedon · 10-17-2007, 01:01 PM

when I was a christian, I was told this story: So much gold and silver where kept inside the temple, that when it burned, the precious metals melted, and ran into the spaces between the stones, causing the greedy romans to disassemble the whole thing, to recover the gold.

And as for the wailing wall, thats easy: It isn't part of the temple, it never was. Its whats left of a much later arab fortress.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

10-17-2007, 01:01 PM	#12
Sarpedon Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Minnesota, the least controversial state in the le Posts: 8,446	when I was a christian, I was told this story: So much gold and silver where kept inside the temple, that when it burned, the precious metals melted, and ran into the spaces between the stones, causing the greedy romans to disassemble the whole thing, to recover the gold. And as for the wailing wall, thats easy: It isn't part of the temple, it never was. Its whats left of a much later arab fortress.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.