Jerusalem riots of 66
Jerusalem riots of 66 refer to the massive unrest in the center of Roman Judea, which became the catalyst of the First Jewish–Roman War.
Timeline
According to Josephus, the violence of the year 66 initially began at Caesarea, provoked by Greeks of a certain merchant house sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. The Roman garrison did not intervene there and thus the long-standing Hellenistic and Jewish religious tensions took a downward spiral. In reaction, one of the Jewish Temple clerks Eleazar ben Hanania ceased prayers and sacrifices for the Roman emperor at the Temple.Protests over taxation joined the list of grievances and random attacks on Roman citizens and perceived 'traitors' occurred in Jerusalem. Tension reached a breaking point when Roman governor Gessius Florus sent Roman troops to remove seventeen talents from the Temple treasury, claiming the money was for unpaid taxes.
In response to this action, the city of Jerusalem fell into unrest and some of the Jewish population began to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus was poor. Rioters even attacked a garrison, killing the soldiers. When a Syrian governor tried to intervene, he failed to improve the situation. Florus reacted to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders, who were later whipped and crucified, despite many of them being Roman citizens.