70

Events in 70 1

• 70 Destruction of Jerusalem In 70 AD, Titus — son of Emperor Vespasian — besieges and destroys Jerusalem, ending the First Jewish-Roman War. The Second Temple is burned; the Arch of Titus in Rome commemorates the triumph with a relief of the Menorah being carried away. Perhaps 1.1 million Jews die in the siege and subsequent massacres; 97,000 are enslaved. The Jewish Diaspora — the dispersal of the Jewish people across the Mediterranean — accelerates dramatically. The Colosseum in Rome is built partly with the spoils of Jerusalem.