The Fall of Jerusalem 

Antonia.

1115

 The battle at the Temple therefore occurred on the seventh day from Panemus [Av] 17. Counting 

these 7 days inclusively brings us to Panemus [Av] 23, which is July 24, a Saturday. The battle began before 

dawn, about the ninth hour of the night, which would be about 3 hours before dawn. (The Jews divided the 

night into 12 hours and the day into 12 hours.) Notice that, here again, the Romans took account of the Jewish 

Sabbath when fighting against the Jews. They attacked the Temple before dawn on the Jewish day of rest, 

when they thought that the Jews would be off guard. 

    Next the Romans brought their banks (the embankments they built for getting over the walls) to the wall 

around the Temple precincts.

1116

 There followed several days of battles at the top of the walls.

1117

 Then on the 

date of Panemus [Av] 27, which is July 28, the Jews set fire to an area near the cloisters, (buildings 

surrounding the Temple Sanctuary), in order to trap and kill some of the Roman soldiers.

1118

 This fire 

destroyed one of the cloisters.

1119

 The next day (Panemus 28/July 29), the Romans burnt down the northern 

cloister entirely.

1120

 The month of Panemus here corresponds to the Jewish month of Av, not Tammuz (as has 

been generally believed). 

    The next prominent date mentioned by Josephus is Loos 8 (the month following Panemus in the 

Macedonian calendar). This month has been generally thought to correspond to the Jewish month of Av, but 

in this year, because of the previous addition of ArtemisiusII, Loos corresponded to the Jewish month of Elul. 

Josephus tells us that the Romans completed their siege works against the wall around the Temple precincts on 

Loos 8. They then moved their battering rams to a new location on that wall and they fought battles at the top 

of the wall on that day.

1121

 Loos [Elul] 8 in 

A.D.

 56 coincided with Saturday, August 7. Here again, the 

completion of Roman siege works fell upon a Saturday. 

    When Titus saw that his soldiers could not successfully get over the wall, because of strong resistance from 

the Jews, and that the walls were too strong for the Roman battering rams, he gave orders for the Temple gate 

to be set on fire.

1122

 Details about the burning of the Temple are discussed below. After the Temple and many 

of the surrounding buildings were burned down, the Romans made an assault against the upper most portion 

of the city of Jerusalem. This was the last area left to be conquered. 

    The embankments against the upper city began to be built on Loos [Elul] 20, August 19, and were 

completed in 18 days time on Gorpieus [Tishri] 7 and September 5.

1123

 The next day, Gorpieus [Tishri] 8 and 

September 6, the upper city was captured by the Romans and the siege of Jerusalem was completed.

1124

 In 

A.D.

56, the month of Gorpieus in the Macedonian calendar corresponded to the month of Tishri in the Jewish 

calendar. Thus the fall of Jerusalem was completed on Tishri 8 in 

A.D.

 56. But the generally accepted date give 

for the fall of Jerusalem is Elul 8. The generally accepted date assumes the usual synchronization between the 

Macedonian and Jewish calendars, which was actually put out of synch by the addition of the month of 

ArtemisiusII in the leap year. 

The Burning of the Temple 

    Now we come to an interesting problem in the chronology of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. 

Rabbinical tradition holds that the Temple was burned in the month of Av. But Josephus, an eyewitness to 

these events, never states that the month was Av, but rather that the month was Loos (using the Macedonian 

calendar, not the Jewish calendar). Also, as shown above, the Macedonian calendar must have added a second 

Artemisius, due to a leap year, in 

A.D.

 56. Thus the month in the Jewish calendar was Elul, not Av. 

    Why then would Rabbinical tradition call this month Av? First, the year 

A.D.

 55 should have been a leap 

year in the Jewish calendar. Ordinarily, the Jews would have added a Second Adar to the spring of 

A.D.

 55 in 

order to prepare the calendar for the coming Sabbatical year (

A.D.

 55/56). This would prevent Nisan 14 from 

falling before the Spring Equinox and would prevent a leap year from coinciding with a Sabbatical year. Leap 

years in the Jewish calendar have an extra month, a 13th month. But, in a Sabbatical year, the Jews could 

neither plant nor harvest. Sabbatical years often resulted in food shortages. The Jewish calendar would 

typically be adjusted to avoid adding the extra leap month to the Sabbatical year, so as not to lengthen the time 

when food would be in short supply. However, as explained above, the war with the Romans and the internal 

conflicts among the Jewish leaders within Jerusalem resulted in a lack of foresight concerning the calendar. 

Usually, the Jewish calendar would be controlled by the religious leaders at Jerusalem. But, at that time, 

Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of the Jewish nation. So, they did not add a Second Adar in the spring of 

223