Gaius Cestius Gallus (d. 67 AD) was a Roman senator and general who was active during the

Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

. He was

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

for the second ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of the year 42 as the colleague of

Gaius Caecina Largus The gens Caecinia was a plebeian family of Etruscan origin at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Cicero, and they remained prominent through the first century of the Empire, before fading into obscurity in the ti ...

. Gallus was the son of

Gaius Cestius Gallus Gaius Cestius Gallus (d. 67 AD) was a Senate of the Roman Empire, Roman senator and general who was active during the Principate. He was Roman consul, suffect consul for the second ''nundinium'' of the year 42 as the colleague of Gaius Caecina Larg ...

, ordinary consul in 35.

Governor of Syria

Gallus was proconsul of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

from 63 or 65. He marched into

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...

with a force of over 30,000 men in September 66 in an attempt to restore order at the outset of the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...

. As assembled at

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

, Gallus' army comprised '' Legio XII Fulminata'', detachments from the three other legions based in Syria, six cohorts of auxiliary infantry and four alae of cavalry. These regular troops were supported by 14,000 allies provided by

Agrippa II Herod Agrippa II (; AD 27/28 – or 100), officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes shortened to Agrippa, was the last ruler from the Herodian dynasty, reigning over territories outside of Judea as a Roman client. Agrippa II fled ...

and other client rulers.

Jewish Revolt

With his force reduced by detachments sent to occupy Galilee and the Judean coast, Gallus turned inland to subdue Jerusalem. After suffering losses amongst his baggage train and rearguard, Gallus reached Mount Scopus and penetrated the outer city, but was apparently unable to take

The Temple Mount ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. After a siege of nine days, Gallus decided to fall back to the coast. His decision appears to have been based on the loss of siege equipment by ambush and the threatened cutting of his supply lines as the October rains began. The war-like faction in Jerusalem, under Shimon bar Giora, rose up against the Roman contingent, pursuing them as far as Antipatris, via

Beit Horon Beit Horon ( he, בֵּית חוֹרוֹן) is a communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Bordering Route 443 between Modi'in and Jerusalem, the biblical pass of Beit Horon (Joshua 10:10), after which it is named, it falls under the juris ...

.Cf.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

, '' De Bello Judaico'' (The Jewish War
2.19.22.19.9
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initially estimated the number of Roman losses at 515, but in the ensuing rout, the dead among the Imperial Roman army numbered 5300 infantrymen, and 380

cavalrymen Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating a ...

. This incident befell the Roman army in the lunar month of Heshvan, during the 12th year of the reign of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

, and marked the beginning of the war with Rome.

Death

Soon after his return to Syria, and before the spring of 67, Gallus died. According to Titus Flavius Josephus the legate was broken by shame at a major and unexpected Roman defeat. Gallus was succeeded in the governorship of Syria by Licinius Mucianus. Emperor

appointed the future Emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

as commander of the Roman forces assembled in the province to crush the rebellion in Judea.

References

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

, Hist. v. 10, 13 *

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

, Vespasian, 4 *

, Bell. Jud. ii. 14-20 * Emil Schürer, ''History of the Jewish People'', 1st edn. div. i. vol. ii. p. 212 (Eng. tr., 1890); vol. 1, pp. 487f of Vermes and Millar's 1973 re-edition. * S. G. F. Brandon, 'The Defeat of Cestius Gallus', A.D. 66, ''History Today'' vol.xx. pp. 38–46 (1970) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cestius Gallus, Gaius 67 deaths 1st-century Roman consuls 1st-century Roman governors of Syria Generals of Nero Imperial Roman consuls Year of birth unknown People of the First Jewish–Roman War Roman legates Cestii

Governor of Syria

Jewish Revolt

Death

See also

References