Additional sourcing:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_events_named_massacres
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalem#Roman_rule_.286_CE_.E2.80.93_638_CE.29
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem#Roman-Persian_wars
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamilla
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_revolt_against_Heraclius#Capture_of_Jerusalem
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasanian_conquest_of_Jerusalem
- https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/outrage-israeli-plan-build-historic-muslim-cemetery
- https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2015-08-19/outrage-at-israeli-plan-to-build-on-historic-muslim-cemetery/
- https://hnn.us/articles/125435.html
- https://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=17&sub_subj_id=179
- https://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=22&Issue=2&ArticleID=4
- https://members.bib-arch.org/publication.asp?PubID=BSBA&Volume=22&Issue=2&ArticleID=14
- Ancient Jerusalem revealed: excavations 1993-1999
- Author: Hillel Geva
- Publisher: Jerusalem : Israel Exploration Society, 2000.
- http://books.google.com/books?ei=_rCATLTkFpOesQO49OH2Bw&ct=result&id=geEuAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Ronny+Reich%22+The+Ancient+Burial+Ground+in+the+Mamilla+Neighbourhood&q=mamilla#search_anchor
- Robert Schick. The Christian Communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic Rule: A Historical and Archaeological Study. Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 2. Princeton: The Darwin Press, Inc., 1995.
- Zeidan Kaffafi and Robert Schick, eds. Jerusalem Before Islam. BAR International Series 1699. Oxford: Archaeopess, 2007.
| Mamilla Massacre | |
|---|---|
 1854 photo of the Mamilla Pool or Reservoir, site of the Mamilla Massacre | |
| Location | Jerusalem |
| Date | 614 CE |
The Mamilla massacre occurred in 614 after the Siege of Jerusalem (614) during the course of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 and the Jewish revolt against Heraclius of 610-625 CE.[1] After the fall of the city, Persian and Jewish forces concentrated surviving members of the Christian population as prisoners in a reservoir in the Mamilla district of Jerusalem where thousands died or were killed by their conquerors.
Ancient Accounts
editAccording to the contemporaneous account of a Palestinian monk known as Antiochus Strategos of Mar Saba, 24,518 Christians—more than a third of the entire Christian death toll of 66,509 in Jerusalem—died or were killed by Persians and Jews.[2] Strategos describes the deaths at Mamilla as follows:
... the multitude of people suffocated one the other, and fathers and mothers perished together owing to the confinement of the place. Like sheep devoted to slaughter, so were the crowd of believers got ready for massacre. Death on every side declared itself, since the intense heat, like fire, consumed the multitude of people, as they trampled on one another in the press, and many perished without the sword ...
Thereupon the vile Jews ... conceived an evil plan ... For in the eyes of the Persians their importance was great, because they were the betrayers of the Christians. And in this season then the Jews approached the edge of the reservoir and called out to the children of God, while they were shut up therein, and said to them: 'If ye would escape from death, become Jews and deny Christ; and then ye shall step up from your place and join us. We will ransom you with our money, and ye shall be benefited by us.' But their plot and desire were not fulfilled, their labours proved to be in vain; ... when the unclean Jews saw the steadfast uprightness of the Christians and their immovable faith, then they were agitated with lively ire, like evil beasts, and thereupon imagined another plot. As of old they bought the Lord from the Jews with silver, so they purchased Christians out of the reservoir; for they gave the Persians silver, and they bought a Christian and slew him like a sheep.[3]
Add quotes from:
- Sebeos
- Theophanes
- Eutychius
Modern Accounts & Historiography
editThe historiography of this massacre is discussed at length in Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence by Elliott Horowitz, Professor of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University. Horowitz notes that the massacre of Christian children, women, and men by Jews was documented in several 7th century sources. Also, referring to three non-Jewish, 19th century historians, Horowitz writes: "Both in citing that number [90,000 dead], the highest offered by any Byzantine chronicler, and in speaking openly of Jewish vengeance against the Christians of Jerusalem, they were matched by two of the greatest Jewish scholars of the nineteenth century, Saloman Munk and Heinrich Graetz ..."
Archaelogical Evidence
editIn 1989, the municipality of Jerusalem began during the course[???] "With a high degree of certainty, the skeletal remains of Mamilla represent the massacred Christian population of Jerusalem."[4]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Gil Zohar. "Massacre at Mamilla." Jerusalem Post. March 2, 2006. Accessed: September 2, 2010.
- ^ Elliott Horowitz. Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2006) pp. 228-247. ISBN 978-0691124919.
- ^ Antiochus Strategos. The Capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 AD. Accessed: September 2, 2010.
- ^ Yossi Nagar, Cecil Taitz, and Ronny Reich. "What can we make of these fragments? Excavation at 'Mamilla' Cave, Byzantine period, Jerusalem." International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 1999. 9:29-38. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(199901/02)9:1<29::AID-OA456>3.0.CO;2-3.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamilla Massacre}} [[Category:614]] [[Category:Jerusalem]] [[Category:7th-century conflicts]] [[Category:Battles of the Roman-Persian Wars]] [[Category:Battles of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Jerusalem]] [[Category:Sieges of Jerusalem|614]] [[Category:7th century in the Byzantine Empire]] [[Category:Sieges involving the Byzantine Empire]] [[Category:Holy Land during Byzantine rule]]