The Siege Progresses
April - Breaching the Third Wall: Titus began by establishing camps around the city and constructing siege works opposite the third wall. The defenders made several sorties to disrupt this work, sometimes successfully. But Roman engineering and numerical superiority prevailed. After fifteen days of battering, the Romans breached the third wall and poured into the northern suburbs. The defenders retreated to the second wall.
May - The Second Wall Falls: The second wall proved tougher. It was older, stronger, and the defenders fought desperately to hold it. The Romans breached it after four days of battering, but the defenders counterattacked and actually drove them out. It took three more days of fighting before the Romans finally secured the second wall. The defenders retreated to the Temple Mount and the upper city, where the siege entered its most brutal phase.
May-June - The Circumvallation: Recognizing that direct assault on the remaining fortifications would be costly, Titus decided to starve the defenders into submission. He ordered the construction of a circumvallation—a siege wall completely encircling Jerusalem to prevent any escape or resupply. This wall, approximately five miles long and studded with thirteen forts, was completed in just three days. Three days! It's a testament to Roman engineering capabilities and the size of Titus's workforce.
The circumvallation had devastating effects. No food could enter the city. No one could escape. The famine intensified dramatically. Josephus describes people eating leather, grass, eventually resorting to cannibalism. Bodies piled up in the streets. Disease spread rapidly in the crowded, unsanitary conditions. The defenders' strength ebbed as starvation took its toll.
July - Assault on the Antonia Fortress: After allowing the famine to weaken the defenders, Titus resumed active operations in July. His target was the Antonia Fortress, a stronghold adjacent to the Temple Mount that provided access to the Temple complex. The Romans constructed massive earthen ramps to bring siege towers and battering rams to bear on the fortress walls.
The defenders, despite their weakened condition, fought with desperate courage. They tunneled under the Roman ramps and set fires that caused the ramps to collapse, destroying weeks of Roman work. But Roman persistence eventually prevailed. On July 24, Roman soldiers scaled the walls of the Antonia Fortress at night and overwhelmed the defenders. The fortress fell, giving the Romans a foothold on the Temple Mount itself.