Jewish-Roman War Begins

Tensions that have been building for decades finally explode when Roman procurator Gessius Florus seizes silver from the Temple treasury. Jewish rebels overwhelm the Roman garrison in Jerusalem and defeat a full legion under Cestius Gallus. Rome responds by sending Vespasian with 60,000 troops to systematically reconquer the province. The war scatters the Jerusalem church, disrupts Paul's network of congregations, and ultimately destroys the Temple — the defining catastrophe that forces both Judaism and Christianity to reimagine themselves.