Simon bar Kokhba

Simon bar Kokhba led the last Jewish revolt against Rome and ruled an independent state for about three years. Almost nothing is known of his origins. His name appears in his own surviving letters as Shimon bar Kosiba; Rabbi Akiva is said to have applied to him the verse about a star coming out of Jacob, from which Bar Kokhba, son of a star, derives — and after the defeat his opponents called him Bar Koziba, son of a lie. The revolt began in 132, and its causes are given variously as Hadrian's decision to refound Jerusalem as a Roman colony named Aelia Capitolina with a temple to Jupiter on the temple mount, and a prohibition on circumcision. It was better prepared than the revolt of 66. The rebels had stockpiled weapons, built and connected hundreds of underground complexes across Judaea for concealment and ambush, and avoided pitched battle initially. Bar Kokhba was recognised as Nasi, prince of Israel. He struck his own coinage, overstruck on Roman issues, dated by the years of the redemption of Israel, and his letters — found in caves near the Dead Sea in the 1950s and 60s — show him administering land leases, requisitioning supplies and disciplining subordinates in peremptory terms. Rome committed enormous force under Julius Severus, recalled from Britain, and reduced the country position by position rather than fighting. The last stand was at Betar in 135. Cassius Dio reports 580,000 Jewish dead and fifty fortresses destroyed. Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina and Jews were barred from Jerusalem.

• Lived: 90 CE – 135 CE
• Nationality: Jewish
• Roles: rebel_leader, military_leader