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I Love History

THE FART THAT KILLED THOUSANDS!

The following story is true. It can be found in the Works of Flavius Josephus, specifically in [i]The Second Jewish War.[/i]

Jerusalem has always been a city of unrest, but never more so than under the Roman occupation in the years following the death of Christ. About 20 years after the Crucifixion of Jesus, thousands of pious Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival, as was the ongoing custom. Their goal was to pray inside the Great Temple. As always, there was the potential of unrest in the air, so Governor Ventidius Cumanus took precautions. He stationed a troop of Roman soldiers along the roof of the portico that surrounded the vast Court of the Gentiles, a wide area that could accommodate the large number of worshipers. Hopefully their formidable presence would keep a semblance of order among the immense crowd.
The Jews were praying in silence, with bowed heads, all facing the Holy of Holies.
One of the Roman soldiers stationed along the roof thought he would inject a bit of excitement into this otherwise dull scene.
Turning his back to the crowd, the soldier let down his underpants, flipped up the skirt of his military tunic, and bent over to moon the worshipers.
“Hey, check this out!” he yelled amid the reverent silence.
The Jews looked up to see the soldier wagging his bare bottom at them while the other soldiers laughed.
The Jews stood there in shock, not knowing what to say or do in response to this insult.
But the soldier went further. While in his bending position he blew a tremendously loud fart that shattered the silence.
There were murmurs of indignation, then shouts of anger from the great crowd. Some began to throw stones at the soldier and his buddies. In retaliation the soldiers shouted anti-Jewish insults at the crowd. Things were getting very ugly indeed!
Apparently someone ran next door to the Fortress Antonia, which stood beside the Temple and was the garrison of the occupying Roman army, and where Governor Cumanus stayed.
“There’s trouble at the temple!” came the warning.


“Call out the legion—on the double!” ordered Cumanus.
It did not take long for the legion to assemble. An ideal legion consisted of six thousand men, but a "working" legion was probably around four thousand--still an intimidating number. The Jews were now rioting, demanding apologies and suggesting that the rude soldier be punished.
Josephus is not clear whether the soldiers stood along the roof of the portico or actually entered the courtyard itself, but they were fully armed with military swords, spears and arrows. The sight of the soldiers, armed to the teeth, threw panic into the crowd of Jews who tried to run. But there was only one way out, down a great pair of stairways that led from the Court of the Gentiles to the street below (The steps are still there today). Most of the Jews trampled each other in their panic as they tried desperately to escape before the Romans could fire arrows or slice them up with their swords. Josephus claims that nearly 30,000 people were killed on that day. Modern historians cast doubt upon that high a number, but it is agreed that the death toll was devastatingly high, and surely in the thousands.
As far as I know, this was the only riot in history that was instigated by a fart.

 
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