Life Of Caesar

<p>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 Roman soldier — dubbed "Carl" by Cameron and Ray in an extended bit of comedy gold — hurled a burning torch through a golden-framed window of the Temple, setting in motion a conflagration that consumed one of the ancient world's greatest buildings while Titus himself was still inside the Holy of Holies. The looting that followed was so spectacular it caused a gold glut across Syria, halving the price of the metal. Titus freed roughly 40,000 non-combatants into the smouldering ruin of their city — good news delivered alongside very bad news. The end of the siege is now finally within sight.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/goddamn-it-carl-vespasian-17/">Goddamn it, Carl! – Vespasian #17</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>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 daring pre-dawn raid, a legionnaire named Longus cuts his own throat rather than surrender or burn, and a soldier called Artorius survives a sixty-foot jump by landing on — and killing — his tentmate Lucius, who had agreed to catch him in exchange for his inheritance. Through it all, Josephus insists it wasn't the Romans but God himself who condemned the Jews, a theological contortion Cameron links to the writing of the Gospel of Mark and the birth of Christianity from the ashes of the Temple. There's also a lengthy and highly entertaining detour into medieval witch trials, broomsticks, and the surprisingly pharmaceutical origins of flying — Cameron has been reading Carlo Ginzburg, and he has things to tell you about salves and sticks that will change how you watch *Wicked* forever.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/slip-trip-and-slit-vespasian-16/">Slip, Trip, and Slit – Vespasian #16</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-13-titus-likes-it-tight/">Vespasian #13 – Titus Likes It Tight</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/gallienus-the-pragmatist-who-kept-rome-alive/">Gallienus: The Pragmatist Who Kept Rome Alive</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-7-birds-betrayal-and-the-birth-of-christianity/">Vespasian #7 – Birds, Betrayal, and the Birth of Christianity</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-6-bitumen-blood-and-bias/">Vespasian #6 – Bitumen, Blood, and Bias</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-5-circumcision-sabbath-and-salt/">Vespasian #5 – Circumcision, Sabbath, and Salt</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-4-marc-hyden-author-emperor-titus/">Vespasian #4 – Marc Hyden, author, “Emperor Titus”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-3-the-sticky-wicket/">Vespasian #3 – The Sticky Wicket</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-2-big-dick-imperium-vespasians-real-power-brokers/">Vespasian #2 – Big Dick Imperium: Vespasian’s Real Power Brokers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vespasian-1-welcome-to-vespasian/">Vespasian #1 – Welcome to Vespasian</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-20-despite-everything-i-was-your-emperor/">Vitellius #20 – Despite Everything, I Was Your Emperor</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-19-romes-civil-war-gets-horny/">Vitellius #19 – Rome’s Civil War Gets Horny</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-14-order-66/">Vitellius #14 – Order 66</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-9-strike-first-strike-hard-no-mercy/">Vitellius #9 – STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-5-the-mule-guy/">Vitellius #5 – The Mule Guy</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/vitellius-1-the-third-new-emperor/">Vitellius #1 – The Third New Emperor</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>

<p>The post <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com/otho-12-fortitude-and-firmness/">Otho #12 – Fortitude and Firmness</a> appeared first on <a href="https://lifeofcaesar.com">Life Of The Caesars</a>.</p>