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JewishHistoryעברית

Siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the Second Temple

Date
April 70 CE – September 70 CE
Location
JerusalemIsrael
Then part of
Roman province of Judaea
Perpetrators
  • Roman army under Titus (Military)
Killed (estimate)
1,100,000[3]Josephus' figure for all who died during the siege, most of them, he says, pilgrims trapped in the city at Passover. He also gives 97,000 captives taken over the whole war. Modern population estimates make the death toll implausible; see the dispute note.
Locality

3,700% of the Jewish population of Jerusalem[5]The killed estimate is higher than the population estimate.

Country

44% – 180% of the Jewish population of Roman province of Judaea (c. 70 CE)[7]The killed estimate is higher than the population estimate.

Worldwide

18% – 92% of the worldwide Jewish population (c. 70 CE)[7]

Category
Massacre
Confidence
DisputedThe only death toll comes from Josephus, who wrote under Flavian patronage and gives 1,100,000 dead in the siege. Modern estimates of the city's resident population are far smaller (Reich suggests about 30,000), so the figure cannot be reconciled with the city's size unless very large numbers of pilgrims and refugees were present, as Josephus claims. No source gives a defensible lower figure. The calendar of the siege is also uncertain because Josephus' month names can be read in more than one system.

Summary

In April 70 CE, around Passover, Roman forces under Titus besieged Jerusalem, the last major stronghold of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome. The Romans encircled the city with a wall to cut off supplies, while rival Jewish factions fought one another inside and famine spread. In August the Romans broke through, killed much of the remaining population and burned the Second Temple; the upper city fell in September. Josephus reports that 97,000 people were taken captive in the course of the war.

Sources

  1. Kate Lohnes, Siege of Jerusalem. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. First Jewish Revolt. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, Book VI (trans. William Whiston). LacusCurtius, University of Chicago
  4. Chronology of the Jewish War, 66-70. Livius.org
  5. Ronny Reich, A note on the population size of Jerusalem in the second temple period. Revue Biblique (abstract, University of Haifa) (2014)

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 1,200,000 – 6,000,000[7]c. 70 CEDellaPergola concurs with 600,000–1 million Jews in the Land of Israel and a similar or slightly higher Diaspora (about 1.2–2 million worldwide). Higher estimates of 4–6 million around the Mediterranean (Beloch, Juster, Baron), of whom roughly half in the Land of Israel, remain in circulation; Botticini and Eckstein tabulate about 4.5–5 million circa 65 CE.
  • Roman province of Judaea: 600,000 – 2,500,000[7]c. 70 CEDellaPergola concurs with 600,000–1 million in the Land of Israel (Avi-Yonah, Albright, Broshi). Higher figures put roughly half of a 4–6 million Mediterranean total in the land; Botticini and Eckstein tabulate 2.5 million in Palestine circa 65 CE.
  • Jerusalem: 30,000[5]Reich's estimate of the city's resident population in the late Second Temple period. Josephus' death toll includes pilgrims and refugees present for the siege.

Sources for population estimates

  1. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2025)
  2. Sergio DellaPergola, Notes toward a Demographic History of the Jews. Genealogy 8(1) (2024)
  3. Jewish Population of Europe in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
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  5. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Voluntary Conversions and Diaspora: A Human Capital Interpretation of Jewish History. American Economic Association annual meeting paper (2007)
  6. Jews in the USSR (1926–1959). Demographic Changes. JewishGen Belarus SIG (table compiled from the 1939 All-Union census)
  7. Mandate for Palestine. Report of the Mandatory to the League of Nations (Palestine Administration, 1922). United Nations UNISPAL (British mandatory report) (1922)
  8. José Hinojosa Montalvo, La sociedad y la economía de los judíos en Castilla y la Corona de Aragón durante la Baja Edad Media. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval (1993)
  9. The Contagion of Violence. 1391 and the Jews of the Spanish Kingdoms. Palgrave / Springer chapter (preview) (2021)
  10. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Religious Norms, Human Capital, and Money Lending in Jewish European History. Handbook chapter PDF via zvi-eckstein.com
  11. Sergio DellaPergola, Some Fundamentals of Jewish Demographic History. Berman Jewish Policy Archive (PDF) (2001)
  12. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, THE CHOSEN FEW: HOW EDUCATION SHAPED JEWISH HISTORY, 70–1492 (book summary). Bar-Ilan University Economics seminar PDF (Princeton University Press forthcoming summary)
  13. Joseph Jacobs, Statistics. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
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  17. Russia (Census Statistics). Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906)
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  19. Игорь Виленский, Оценка сокращения численности еврейского населения Российской Империи и СССР (1897–1926). Еврейская Старина (2024)
  20. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank / Israel CBS host (2025)
  21. Sergio DellaPergola, Demographic Trends in Israel and Palestine: Prospects and Policy Implications. American Jewish Year Book 2003, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2003)
  22. Population of Israel/Palestine by Religion (1553–Present). Jewish Virtual Library (citing CBS, British Mandate publications, Bachi and others)
  23. US Jewish Population Pocket Demographics 2.0. Berman Jewish DataBank / Jewish Federations of North America (2018)
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  29. Robin R. Mundill, The Jews under Edward I (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews
  30. Stéphane Mechoulan, The Expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306: a modern fiscal analysis. University of Toronto Department of Economics working paper (2004)
  31. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Appendix A: Sources and Methodology for Section 2 (Jewish and total population in Germany-Austria and Poland-Lithuania). Authors' appendix PDF (citing Weinryb, Stampfer, Kupovetsky, Guggenheim, Toch, Battenberg, Israel) (2018)
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  37. Davis Trietsch, Die Juden der Türkei. Länder und Völker der Türkei, Heft 8 (Leipzig) (1915)
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  46. France. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  47. Belgium. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  48. Norway. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  49. Denmark. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  50. Greece. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  51. Lithuania. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  52. German Jews during the Holocaust, 1939–1945. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
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  54. Jacqueline Shields, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries. Jewish Virtual Library
  55. Lebanon Virtual Jewish History Tour. Jewish Virtual Library
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  57. Algeria (Vital Statistics). Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
  58. Archives juives n°45/2 — Les Juifs d'Algérie. Archives Juives / Les Belles Lettres (2012)
  59. EHRI Country Report — Tunisia. European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
  60. Leon Shapiro, World Jewish Population. American Jewish Year Book 1981 (estimates for 1979), via Berman Jewish DataBank (1981)
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  62. Sara Koplik, The Demise of the Jewish Community in Afghanistan, 1933–1952. SOAS University of London (PhD thesis abstract / deposit page) (2001)
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  64. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the USSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)
  65. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the Uzbek SSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)