Alexandria Uprising of the Kitos War
About
Jewish rebels under Lukuas overran Alexandria in 116 CE after the Roman governor fled, burning the tomb of Pompey and torching temples across the city. An initial clash saw Alexandria's Greek population routed before they regrouped and killed the Jews trapped inside the city. Trajan dispatched his top general Marcius Turbo with a fleet, cavalry, and infantry to retake Egypt. By August 117 Turbo had crushed the revolt and driven its survivors toward Judaea.
What happened here
A Roman army fights the way it camps: in lines, by drill, on ground chosen if possible. The legions form up in cohorts with gaps that let ranks rotate, throw a volley of heavy javelins at close range, and then close with the short sword, pushing behind the shield. Auxiliaries hold the flanks and do most of the cavalry work and most of the skirmishing. Battles are short and decided by whether one line breaks, and the killing happens in the pursuit rather than the fighting. The camp is dug and palisaded every night regardless. Afterwards the dead are stripped and the field is looted for days; the ground is remembered locally long after the campaign is a paragraph in someone's history.
In ancient writing
- Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 4.2
Describes the Jewish uprising against the Greeks of Alexandria and Trajan's dispatch of Marcius Turbo with land and sea forces.
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.32
Describes the Jewish revolts across Cyrenaica, Egypt, and Cyprus during Trajan's reign and their suppression.
Sources
- Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.2
- Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.32
- Wikipedia: Kitos War
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →