Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth Read Online Free

Egyptian
62
Death of James, the brother of Jesus
66
Death of Paul and the Apostle Peter in Rome
66
The Jewish Revolt
70
The Destruction of Jerusalem
70–71
The gospel of Mark written
73
Romans capture Masada
80–90
The epistle of James written
90–100
The gospels of Matthew and Luke written
94
Josephus writes the
Antiquities
100–120
The gospel of John written
132
Revolt of Simon son of Kochba
300
The
Pseudo-Clementines
compiled
313
Emperor Constantine issues Edict of Milan
325
The Council of Nicaea
398
The Council of Hippo Regius

PART I

    Arise! Arise!
    Put on your strength, O Zion!
    Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city;
    for the uncircumcised and the unclean
    shall never again enter you
.
    Shake off the dust from yourself, stand up
,
    O captive Jerusalem;
    release the bonds from your neck
,
    O captive daughter of Zion
.
    I SAIAH 52:1–2

Prologue
A Different Sort of Sacrifice
    The war with Rome begins not with a clang of swords but with the lick of a dagger
     drawn from an assassin’s cloak.
    Festival season in Jerusalem: a time when Jews from across the Mediterranean converge
     upon the holy city bearing fragrant offerings to God. There are in the ancient Jewish
     cult a host of annual observances and celebrations that can only be performed here,
     inside the Temple of Jerusalem, in the presence of the high priest, who hoards the
     most sacred feast days—Passover, Pentecost, the harvest festival of Sukkot—for himself,
     all the while pocketing a healthy fee, or
tithe
, as he would call it, for his trouble. And what trouble it is! On such days the city’s
     population can swell to more than a million people. It takes the full force of the
     porters and lower priests to squeeze the crush of pilgrims through the Hulda Gates
     at the Temple’s southern wall, to herd them along the dark and cavernous galleries
     beneath the Temple plaza and guide them up the double flight of stairs that lead to
     the public square and marketplace known as the Court of Gentiles.
    The Temple of Jerusalem is a roughly rectangular structure, some five hundred meters
     long and three hundred meters wide, balanced atop Mount Moriah, on the eastern edge
     of the holy city.Its outer walls are rimmed with covered porticos whose slab-topped roofs, held up
     by row after row of glittering white stone columns, protect the masses from the merciless
     sun. On the Temple’s southern flank sits the largest and most ornate of the porticoes,
     the Royal Portico—a tall, two-story, basilica-like assembly hall built in the customary
     Roman style. This is the administrative quarters of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious
     body and highest judicial court of the Jewish nation. It is also where a clatter of
     merchants and grubby money changers lie in wait as you make your way up the underground
     stairs and onto the spacious sunlit plaza.
    The money changers play a vital role in the Temple. For a fee, they will exchange
     your foul foreign coins for the Hebrew shekel, the only currency permitted by the
     Temple authorities. The money changers will also collect the half-shekel Temple tax
     that all adult males must pay to preserve the pomp and spectacle of all you see around
     you: the mountains of burning incense and the ceaseless sacrifices, the wine libations
     and the first-fruits offering, the Levite choir belting out psalms of praise and the
     accompanying orchestra thrumming lyres and banging cymbals. Someone must pay for these
     necessities. Someone must bear the cost of the burnt offerings that so please the
     Lord.
    With the new currency in hand, you are now free to peruse the pens lining the periphery
     walls to purchase your sacrifice: a pigeon, a sheep—it depends on the depth of your
     purse, or the depth of your sins. If the latter transcends the former, do not despair.
     The money changers are happy to offer the credit you need to enhance your sacrifice.
     There is a strict legal code regulating the animals that