Titus Flavius Josephus (Roman Name) born Yosef ben Matityahu (Jewish Name) is a somewhat controversial but fascinating character in history – and one of the main characters in Cry for Jerusalem. Called both a traitor and a historian – he was born in Jerusalem to a priestly father and mother of royal ancestry. Fighting against the Roman’s initially in the first Jewish Roman war as head of the Jewish Forces in Galilee he was captured and imprisoned and eventually defected and earned Roman Citizenship. No matter what your opinion is of him (and there’s a lot more to his story) he recorded Jewish History through a series of works -These works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus' works are the chief source next to the Bible for the history and antiquity of ancient Palestine.

Simon bar Giora was the leader of one of the major Judean rebel factions during the First Jewish–Roman War in 1st-century Roman Judea, who vied for control of the Jewish polity while attempting to expel the Roman army, but helped incite a bitter war in the process. A major player in the events that led to the Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE Simon is another controversial figure providing as much destruction and turmoil to the people of Jerusalem as factions fought for control of the city internally, as he did against the Romans.

​

No known image of Simon exists

In 66 AD, Vespasian was appointed to suppress the Jewish revolt underway in Judea. The fighting there had killed a previous governor. Two legions, with eight cavalry squadrons and ten auxiliary cohorts, were therefore dispatched under the command of Vespasian.

During this time he became the patron of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish resistance leader captured at the Siege of Yodfat, who would later write his people's history in Greek. Ultimately, thousands of Jews were killed and the Romans destroyed many towns in re-establishing control over Judea; they also took Jerusalem in 70 CE. Vespasian is remembered by Josephus (writing as a Roman citizen), in his writing as a fair and humane official. Which can be seen as others as debatable given some of his actions in war.

Josephus (as well as Tacitus), reporting on the conclusion of the Jewish war, reported a prophecy that around the time when Jerusalem and the Second Temple would be taken, a man from their own nation, would become governor "of the habitable earth". Josephus interpreted the prophecy to denote Vespasian and his appointment as emperor in Judea.

Vespasian went on to become Roman emperor from 69 to 79 CE.

Titus was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.

Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judea during the First Jewish–Roman War. The campaign came to a brief halt with the death of emperor Nero in 68, launching Vespasian's bid for the imperial power.

When Vespasian was declared Emperor, Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion. In 70, he besieged and captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the city and the Second Temple. After an exhausting siege which lasted 47 days, the city fell, with an estimated 40,000 killed. For this achievement Titus was awarded a triumph; the Arch of Titus commemorates his victory to this day.

As emperor, Titus is best known for completing the Colosseum.

Gessius Florus was the Roman procurator of 

Judea from 64 until 66 CE.  He was noted for his tensions against the Judean and Jewish population, and is credited by Josephus as being the primary cause of the First Jewish–Roman War. By favoring the Greek population over the Judean and angering the Jewish population via imprisoning them and sending soldiers into Jerusalem to raid the city and arrest city leaders. Arrested individuals were whipped and crucified despite many of them being Roman citizens.

Yohanan ben Zaccai one of the Tannaim, an important Jewish sage in the era of the Second Temple, and a primary contributor to the core text of Rabbinical Judaism, the Mishnah. His name is often preceded by the honorific title, "Rabban." He is widely regarded as one of the most important Jewish figures of his time and his escape from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, that allowed him to continue teaching, may have been instrumental in rabbinic Judaism surviving the destruction.

During the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War, he argued in favor of peace; according to the Talmud, when he found the anger of the besieged populace to be intolerable, he arranged a secret escape from the city inside a coffin, so that he could negotiate with Vespasian (who, at this time, was still just a military commander).

Upon the destruction of Jerusalem, Yochanan converted his school at Yavne into the Jewish religious center

Known for his tumultuous reign as Emperor marked with tyranny and scandal Nero was emperor at the beginning of the First Jewish Roman war.

​

In 66, there was a Jewish revolt in Judea stemming from Greek and Jewish religious tension. In 67, Nero dispatched Vespasian to restore order. This revolt was eventually put down in 70, after Nero's death. This revolt is famous for Romans breaching the walls of Jerusalem and destroying the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

​

His second wife Poppaea was friends with Gessius Florus’s wife Cleopatra – which is how he got his appointment as Judean procurator – and caused havoc in Jerusalem.

Agrippa II , was the eighth and last ruler from the Herodian dynasty. He reigned over territories outside of Judea only as a Roman client. Agrippa was overthrown by his Jewish subjects in 66 and supported the Roman side in the First Jewish–Roman War.

In the seventeenth year of Agrippa's reign Agrippa tried desperately to avert a war with Rome, Agrippa failed to prevent his subjects from rebelling By 66 the citizenry of Jerusalem expelled their king, Agrippa, and his sister, Berenice, from Jerusalem. During the First Jewish-Roman War of 66–73, he sent 2,000 men, archers and cavalry, to support Vespasian, showing that, although a Jew in religion, he was entirely devoted to the Roman Empire. He accompanied Titus on some campaigns, and was wounded at the siege of Gamla. After the capture of Jerusalem, he went with his sister Berenice to Rome, where he was invested with the dignity of praetor and rewarded with additional territory.

Agrippa was a friend to the historian Josephus, having supplied him with information for his history, Antiquities of the Jews Josephus preserved two of the letters he received from him