Siege of Jotapata (AD 67, 47 days)

In AD 67 Vespasian besieged Jotapata, a fortress in Galilee defended by Joseph, son of Matthias. The town held out for 47 days. Josephus describes his ruses: wet clothes hung on the walls to make the Romans believe there was no shortage of water, and boiling oil poured on soldiers under their shields. During the fighting Vespasian was slightly wounded by an arrow in the foot, and Titus was the first to run to him. On the forty-seventh day the siege banks rose above the walls; the town fell on the first day of the month of Panemus, in the thirteenth year of Nero (July 67). According to Josephus forty thousand people died, twelve hundred women and children were taken captive, and the town was razed. Joseph came out of hiding, surrendered and foretold the throne to the general. An event from the Vespasian episode, chapter “The Prisoner from Jotapata”.