{{Short description|Leader of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE)}} {{Other uses|Bar Kokhba (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Simon bar Kokhba<br />{{nobold|{{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כּוֹכְבָא}}|rtl=yes}}}} | title = Prince of Israel | image = Arthur Szyk (1894-1951). Bar Kochba (1927), Paris.jpg | image_size = 255px | caption = Watercolour and gouache impression of Bar Kokhba by Polish-Jewish artist Arthur Szyk (1927) | reign = 132–135<ref name="Encyclopedia.com:Simeon Bar Kochba">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Simeon Bar Kochba |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/judaism-biographies/simeon-bar-kokhba |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=14 May 2019}}</ref> | coronation = | full name = | occupation = Military leader | religion = Judaism | birth_name = Simon bar Koseba ({{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כֹסֵבָא}}|rtl=yes}})<ref name="Beit HaTfutsot: Who's A Real Hero? An Historic Glimpse on Simon Bar Kokhba">{{cite web |last1=Derman |first1=Ushi |title=Who's A Real Hero? An Historic Glimpse on Simon Bar Kokhba |date=3 May 2018 |url=https://www.bh.org.il/blog-items/whos-a-real-hero-an-historic-glimpse-on-simon-bar-kokhba/ |publisher=Beit HaTfutsot |access-date=14 May 2019 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127175501/https://www.bh.org.il/blog-items/whos-a-real-hero-an-historic-glimpse-on-simon-bar-kokhba/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = 135 | death_place = Betar, Judea, Roman Empire | burial_date = | burial_place = }} '''Simon bar Kokhba''' ({{Langx|tmr|שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כּוֹכְבָא}} {{Transliteration|he|Šīm‘ōn bar Kōḵḇāʾ{{px2}}}}) pronounced '''Shimon Bar-Kokhva''' or '''Simon bar Koseba''' ({{Lang|he|שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר כֹסֵבָא}} {{Transliteration|he|Šīm‘ōn bar Ḵōsēḇaʾ{{px2}}}}), commonly referred to simply as '''Bar Kokhva''',{{Efn|Starting in the 16th century, based on Akiva's homily in y. Taanit 4:5 that "A כוכב ''star'' set out from Jacob (Num. 24:17) -- ben כוזבא ''Kosiba'' set out from Jacob".}} was a Jewish military leader in Judea. He lent his name to the Bar Kokhba revolt, which he initiated against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. Though they were ultimately unsuccessful, Bar Kokhba and his rebels did manage to establish and maintain a Jewish state for about three years after beginning the rebellion. Bar Kokhba served as the state's leader, crowning himself as ''nasi'' ({{Literal translation|prince}}).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=KANAEL |first=B. |date=1971 |title=Notes on the Dates Used During The Bar Kokhba Revolt |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=39–46 |jstor=27925250 |issn=0021-2059}}; {{Cite journal |last=BOURGEL |first=J. |date=2023 |title=Ezekiel 40–48 as a Model for Bar Kokhba's Title "Nasi Israel"? |url=https://www.academia.edu/100046237 |journal=Journal of Ancient Judaism |volume=1 |issue= aop |pages=1–36}};</ref> Some of the rabbinic scholars in his time believed him to be the long-expected Messiah.
In 135, Bar Kokhba was killed by Roman troops in the fortified town of Betar. The Judean rebels who remained after his death were all killed or enslaved within the next year, and their defeat was followed by a harsh crackdown on the Judean populace by the Roman emperor Hadrian.
==Name == ===Documented name=== Documents discovered in the 20th century in the Cave of Letters give his original name, with variations: Simeon bar Kosevah ({{Script/Hebrew|שמעון בר כוסבה}}), Bar Kosevaʾ ({{Script/Hebrew|בר כוסבא}}) or Ben Kosevaʾ ({{Script/Hebrew|בן כוסבא}}{{ltr}}).<ref name=ejuda>{{Cite book| isbn = 978-0-02-866097-4 | editor-last1 = Skolnik| editor-first1 = Fred| editor-first2 = Michael| editor-last2= Berenbaum| publisher= Thomson Gale| title = Encyclopaedia Judaica| date = 2007| volume= 3| pages=156–7}}</ref> It is probable that his original name was Bar Koseba.<ref name="EncJud">{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Judaica |title=Bar Kokhba: The Man and the Leader |publisher=Thomson Gale |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bar-kokhba |access-date=23 January 2017}}</ref> The name may indicate that his father or his place of origin was named Koseva(h), with Khirbet Kuwayzibah being a likely nominee for identification;<ref>{{cite book|editor=Henning Graf Reventlow |author= Aharon Oppenheimer |contribution=Leadership and Messianism in the Time of the Mishnah |title=Eschatology in the Bible and in Jewish and Christian Tradition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8OqGFGyAwYC&pg=PA162|year=1997 |publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-85075-664-4|page=162}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure|first=Claude R.|last=Conder|year=1887 |edition=1887|page=143|publisher=R. Bentley & Son |url=https://archive.org/stream/tentworkinpales00fundgoog#page/n168/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>Tamén, {{cite book |title=Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure|url=https://archive.org/stream/tentworkinpales00fundgoog#page/n168/mode/1up|last=Conder|first=Claude R.|year=1887 |edition=1887|page=143|publisher=R. Bentley & Son }}</ref> others, namely Emil Schürer, think the surname may have been an indication of his place of birth, in the village known as Chozeba (maybe Chezib)<ref>{{cite book |last=Schürer |first=E. |author-link=Emil Schürer |title=Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi [A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ] |series=Geschichte de jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi.English |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |translator=Miss Taylor |volume=1 |date=1891 |location=New York |page=298 (note 84) |language= en |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah63dv;view=1up;seq=308 }}</ref> but might as well be a general family name.<ref name="EncJud"/>
===Nicknames=== During the revolt, the Jewish sage Rabbi Akiva regarded Simon as the Jewish messiah. The Jerusalem Talmud (Taannit 4:5) records his statement that the Star Prophecy verse from Numbers 24:17,<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|24:17}}</ref> "There shall come a star out of Jacob,"<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1033-akiba-ben-joseph Akiba ben Joseph] article in the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) by Louis Ginzberg</ref> referred to him. This was based on identification of the Hebrew word for star, ''kokhav'', and his name, ''bar Kozeva.'' The name Bar Kokhba, which references this statement of Akiva, does not appear in the Talmud, but only in ecclesiastical sources, until the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |chapter= BAR KOKBA AND BAR KOKBA WAR |chapter-url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2464-bar-cochba-bar-cochbah |encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia |date= 1906 |editor-last= Singer |editor-first= Isidore |first=S. |last= Krauss |volume=2 |pages= 506–507 |quote= Bar Kokba, the hero of the third war against Rome, appears under this name only among ecclesiastical writers: heathen authors do not mention him; and Jewish sources call him Ben (or Bar) Koziba or Kozba...}}</ref> The Jerusalem Talmud (''Taanit'' 4:5) and the Babylonian Talmud (''Sanhedrin'' 93b and 97b) mention him by the name of Bar Kozeva.
==Revolt leader== {{Main|Bar Kokhba revolt}} [[File:Knesset Menorah P5200010 Bar Kochvah.JPG|thumb|Simon bar Kokhba on the Knesset Menorah]] [[File:Barkokhba-silver-tetradrachm.jpg|right|thumb|Bar Kokhba silver Shekel/tetradrachm. Obverse: the Jewish Temple facade with the rising star, surrounded by "Shimon". Reverse: a lulav and etrog, the text reads: "to the freedom of Jerusalem"]] [[File:Bar Kokhba Coin.jpg|right|thumb|Bar Kokhba silver Zuz/denarius. Obverse: trumpets surrounded by "To the freedom of Jerusalem". Reverse: a kinnor<ref>{{cite book |editor=Geoffrey W. Bromiley |editor2=Everett F. Harrison |editor3=Roland K. Harrison |editor4=William Sanford |title=The International standard Bible encyclopedia|date=2009|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=978-0-8028-3785-1|page=440|edition=[Fully rev.].}}</ref> surrounded by "Year two to the freedom of Israel"]]
===Background=== Despite the devastation wrought by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), which left the population and countryside in ruins, a series of laws passed by Roman Emperors provided the incentive for the second rebellion.<ref>''Historia Augusta'', Hadrian 14.2, where the Caesar forbade Jews to circumcise their infants. See also Babylonian Talmud (''Avodah Zarah'' 8b and ''Sanhedrin'' 14a) where the Roman authority forbade Jews from appointing Jewish judges to adjudicate in cases of indemnities and fines.</ref> Based on the delineation of years in Eusebius' ''Chronicon'' (whose Latin translation is known as the Chronicle of Jerome) the Jewish revolt began under the Roman governor Tineius (Tynius) Rufus in the 16th year of Hadrian's reign, or what was equivalent to the 4th year of the 227th Olympiad. Hadrian sent an army to crush the resistance, but it faced a strong opponent, since Bar Kokhba, as the recognised leader of Israel, punished any Jew who refused to join his ranks.<ref name="tertullian.org">[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_chronicle_03_part2.htm] ''Chronicle of Jerome'', s.v. Hadrian. See also Yigael Yadin, ''Bar-Kokhba'', Random House New York 1971, p. 258.</ref> Two and a half years later, after the war had ended, the Roman emperor Hadrian barred Jews from entering Aelia Capitolina, the pagan city he had built on the ruins of Jewish Jerusalem. The name Aelia was derived from one of the emperor's names, Aelius.<ref name="EdwardWalford1855">{{cite book |author1= Sozomen|author-link1=Sozomen |author2=Philostorgius |author-link2=Philostorgius |translator= Edward Walford|title=The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen and The Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |location=London |year=1855|page=481 (epitome of book VII, chapter 11)|language=en |oclc=224145372 }}</ref> According to Philostorgius, this was done so that its former Jewish inhabitants "might not find in the name of the city a pretext for claiming it as their country."<ref name="EdwardWalford1855" />
===Overview=== For many Jews of the time, this turn of events was heralded as the long-hoped-for Messianic Age. The Romans fared very poorly during the initial revolt facing a unified Jewish force, in contrast to the First Jewish–Roman War, where Flavius Josephus records three separate Jewish armies fighting each other for control of the Temple Mount during the three weeks after the Romans had breached Jerusalem's walls and were fighting their way to the center.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} Being outnumbered and taking heavy casualties, the Romans adopted a scorched earth policy which reduced and demoralised the Judean populace, slowly grinding away the Judean will to sustain the war.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web |date=2025-01-01 |title=Bar Kokhba {{!}} Biography, Revolt, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bar-Kokhba-Jewish-leader |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
During the final phase of the war, Bar Kokhba took up refuge in the fortress of Betar.<ref name="britannica.com"/> The Romans eventually captured it after laying siege to the city.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}
The Jerusalem Talmud makes several claims considered as non-historical by modern scholarship. One such claim is that the duration of the siege was of three and half years, although the war itself lasted, according to the same author, two and half years.{{Efn|The 2nd century chronicler, Rabbi Yose b. Halpetha (Halafta), says in his work, ''Seder Olam'', chapter 30, that the wars waged by Ben Koziba (i.e. Bar Kokhba) lasted two and half years, although the siege on the Jewish stronghold, Betar, is said to have lasted three and a half years.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, Taanit 4:5 (24a) and Midrash Rabba (Lamentations Rabba 2:5).</ref>}} Another part of the Talmudic narrative is that the Romans killed all the defenders except for one Jewish youth, Simeon ben Gamliel II, whose life was spared.<ref>Jerusalem Talmud, ''Taanit'' 4:5 (24a–b)</ref> According to Cassius Dio, 580,000 Jews were killed in overall war operations across the country, and some 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed to the ground, while the number of those who perished by famine, disease and fire was beyond finding out.<ref>''Dio's Roman History'', Epitome of Book LXIX, 14:1-2; pp. 447-451 in Loeb Classical Series.</ref>
===Outcome and aftermath=== So costly was the Roman victory, that the Emperor Hadrian, when reporting to the Roman Senate, did not see fit to begin with the customary greeting "If you and your children are healthy, it is well; I and the legions are healthy."<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0593%3Abook%3D69%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D3 In greek]: 'εἰ αὐτοί τε καὶ οἱ παῖδες ὑμῶν ὑγιαίνετε, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι: ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ στρατεύματα ὑγιαίνομεν</ref><ref>Cassius Dio: Roman History 69.14:3; The Archaeology of the New Testament, E.M. Blaiklock, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI, p. 186</ref>
In the aftermath of the war, Hadrian consolidated the older political units of Judaea, Galilee and Samaria into the new province of Syria Palaestina, which is commonly interpreted as an attempt to complete the disassociation with Judaea.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://cojs.org/cojswiki/When_Palestine_Meant_Israel,_David_Jacobson,_BAR_27:03,_May/Jun_2001 |title= When Palestine Meant Israel, David Jacobson, BAR 27:03, May/Jun 2001 |publisher=Cojs.org |access-date=2011-08-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111004095715/http://cojs.org/cojswiki/When_Palestine_Meant_Israel,_David_Jacobson,_BAR_27:03,_May/Jun_2001 |archive-date=2011-10-04 }}</ref><ref name="Lehmann">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337|title=Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy|access-date=2008-07-06|last=Lehmann|first=Clayton Miles|date=Summer 1998|encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces|publisher=University of South Dakota|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012143021/http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337|archive-date=2008-10-12}} </ref><ref name=Sharonp4n>Sharon, 1998, p. 4. According to Moshe Sharon: "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebellious Judaea", the Roman authorities renamed it ''Palaestina'' or ''Syria Palaestina''.</ref>
==Archaeological findings== In the late 20th and 21st century, new information about the revolt came to light from the discovery of several collections of letters, some possibly by Bar Kokhba himself, in the Cave of Letters overlooking the Dead Sea.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Diggers|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872343,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220112038/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872343,00.html|archive-date=December 20, 2008|quote=The Bar Kochba explorers—160 soldiers, students and kibbutz volunteers—had been led to the desert badlands just west of the Dead Sea by Archaeologist and former General Yigael Yadin. They found a treasure their first day at the diggings. In the same bat-infested, three-chambered Cave of Letters where he had discovered the rebel chieftain's papyri orders just a year ago. Archaeologist Yadin found some 60 more documents in a goatskin and a leather bag.|magazine=Time|date=May 5, 1961|access-date=2009-08-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Shimeon bar Kosiba|url=https://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/bk07.html|title=Texts on Bar Kochba: Bar Kochba's letters|publisher=Livius|access-date=2011-08-07|archive-date=15 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515053257/http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/jewish_wars/bk07.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> These letters can now be seen at the Israel Museum.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/AllResults.aspx?redirectpostback_12=&searchbox=bar%20kokhba&bssearch=4,0,3,0,1,0|title= Bar Kokhba|publisher= Israel Museum: Jerusalem|access-date= 2011-08-07|archive-date= 2011-10-06|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111006021434/http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/AllResults.aspx?redirectpostback_12=&searchbox=bar%20kokhba&bssearch=4,0,3,0,1,0}}</ref>
In March 2024, a coin bearing the inscription "Eleazar the Priest" was found along with "Year 1 of the Redemption of Israel" on the bottom.<ref>https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/rare-coin-from-the-time-of-the-bar-kokhba-revolt-discovered-in-the-judean-desert-4-mar-2024#:~:text=A%20rare%20coin%20from%20the,bearing%20the%20name%20“Simeon”.title= Rare coin from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt discovered in the Judean Desert | Ministry of Foreign Affairs | access-date= 2024-03-18</ref>
==Ideology and language== According to Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Bar Kokhba tried to revive Hebrew and make Hebrew the official language of the Jews as part of his messianic ideology. In ''A Roadmap to the Heavens: An Anthropological Study of Hegemony among Priests, Sages, and Laymen (Judaism and Jewish Life)'' by Sigalit Ben-Zion (page 155), Yadin remarked: "it seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state."
==Character== {{Quote box | width = 25em | align = right | bgcolor = #ACE1AF | quote = "From Shimʻon ben Cosibah to Yeshuʻa ben Galgulah and to the men of the Gader, Peace. I call heaven to my witness that I am fed-up with the Galileans that be with you, every man! [And] that I am resolved to put fetters on your feet, just as I did to Ben ʻAflul."<br /><br />(Original Hebrew)<br /><br /> {{Script/Hebrew|'''משמעון בן כוסבה לישע בן ג[ל]גלה ולאנשי הכרך{{efn|Milik read: הב]רך]; Tzeitlin read: חבריך}} שלו[ם]. מעיד אני עלי ת שמים יפס[ד]{{efn|Milik: יפס?; Tzeitlin: [ופס[ק}} מן הגללאים שהצלכם{{efn|Tzeitlin: שהצלת}} כל אדם שאני נתן תכבלים{{efn|Milik: ת כבלים}} ברגלכם כמה שעסת[י] לבן עפלול [ש]מעון ב[ן]{{efn|Milik: ב[ן כוסבה] על [נפשה]}}'''}} | source = ––Murabba'at 43 Papyrus<ref>{{cite book|title=Textbook of Aramaic, Hebrew and Nabataean Documentary Texts from the Judaean Desert and related material|first=ʻAda|last=Yardeni|publisher=Hebrew University of Jerusalem on behalf of the Ben-Ṣiyyon Dinur Center for the Study of Jewish History|place=Jerusalem|year=2000|pages=155–159 |language=he |oclc=610669723}}; P. Benoit, J.T Milik and R de Vaux, "Les grottes de Murabba'at" - ''Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD)'' II, Oxford: Clarendon, 1961, pp. 243-254.</ref> }}
===Talmud=== Simon bar Kokhba is portrayed in rabbinic literature as being somewhat irrational and irascible in conduct. The Talmud<ref name="ReferenceA">Jerusalem Talmud, ''Ta'anit'' 4:5 (24b); same episode repeated in Midrash Rabba (Lamentations Rabbah 2:5)</ref> says that he presided over an army of Jewish insurgents numbering some 200,000, but had compelled its young recruits to prove their valor by each man chopping off one of his own fingers. The Sages of Israel complained to him why he marred the people of Israel with such blemishes. Whenever he would go forth into battle, he was reported as saying: "O Master of the universe, there is no need for you to assist us [against our enemies], but do not embarrass us either!"<ref name="ReferenceA" /> It is also said of him that he killed his maternal uncle, Rabbi Elazar Hamudaʻi, after suspecting him of collaborating with the enemy, thereby forfeiting Divine protection, which led to the destruction of Betar in which Bar Kokhba himself also perished.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Hadrian is thought to have personally supervised the closing military operations in the siege against Betar. When the Roman army eventually took the city, soldiers carried Bar Kokhba's severed head to Hadrian, and when Hadrian asked who it was that killed him, a Samaritan replied that he had killed him. When Hadrian requested that they bring the severed head (Greek: ''protome'') of the slain victim close to him that he might see it, Hadrian observed that a serpent was wrapped around the head. Hadrian then replied: "Had it not been for God who killed him, who would have been able to kill him!?"<ref>Jerusalem Talmud (''Ta'anit'' 4:5 [24b])</ref>
===Eusebius=== According to Eusebius' ''Chronicon'', he severely punished the Christians with death by different means of torture for their refusal to fight against the Romans.<ref name="tertullian.org" />
==In popular culture== thumb|150px|Stamp of Israel dedicated to Simon bar Kokhba, 1961 [[File:תוספת לערך ויקיפדיה חנוך הנריק גליצנשטיין בר כוכבא ברונזה 1905.jpg|thumb|150px|Bronze statue of Simon bar Kokhba sculpted in 1905 by Enrico Glicenstein. Currently in Eretz Israel Museum]]
Since the end of the nineteenth century, Bar-Kochba has been the subject of numerous works of art (dramas, operas, novels, etc.),<ref>G. Boccaccini, ''Portraits of Middle Judaism in Scholarship and Arts'' (Turin: Zamorani, 1992).</ref> including: * {{Transliteration|he|Harisot Betar: sipur `al dever gevurat Bar Kokhva ve-hurban Betar bi-yad Adriyanus kesar Roma}} (1858), a Hebrew novel by Kalman Schulman * ''Bar Kokhba'' (1882), a Yiddish operetta by Abraham Goldfaden (mus. and libr.). The work was written in the wake of pogroms against Jews following the 1881 assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia. * ''Bar Kokhba'' (1884), a Hebrew drama by Yehudah Loeb Landau * ''The Son of a Star'' (1888), an English novel by Benjamin Ward Richardson * {{lang|fr|Le fils de l'étoile}} (1903), a French opera by Camille Erlanger (mus.) and Catulle Mendès (libr.) * ''Bar-Kochba'' (1905), a German opera by Stanislaus Suda (mus.) and Karl Jonas (libr.) * {{Transliteration|yi|Rabbi Aqiba und Bar-Kokhba}} (1910), a Yiddish novel by David Pinsky * ''Bar-Kokhba'' (1929), a Hebrew drama by Shaul Tchernichovsky * ''Bar-Kokhba'' (1939), a Yiddish drama by Shmuel Halkin<ref>Estraikh, Gennady (2007). "Shmuel Halkin". ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. 2nd ed. Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2016-12-16.</ref> * ''Bar-Kokhba'' (1941), a Yiddish novel by Abraham Raphael Forsyth * {{lang|hu|A csillag fia}} (1943), a Hungarian drama by Lajos Szabolcsi * {{lang|da|Steiersønne}} (1952), a Danish novel by Poul Borchsenius * ''Prince of Israel'' (1952), an English novel by Elias Gilner * ''Bar-Kokhba'' (1953), a Hebrew novel by Joseph Opatoshu * ''Son of a Star'' (1969), an English novel by Andrew Meisels * ''If I Forget Thee'' (1983), an English novel by Brenda Lesley Segal * {{Transliteration|he|Kokav mi-mesilato. Haye Bar-Kokhba}} ''(A Star in Its Course: The Life of Bar-Kokhba)'' (1988), a Hebrew novel by S.J. Kreutner * {{Transliteration|he|Ha-mered ha-midbar. Roman historiah mi-tequfat Bar-Kokhba}} (1988), a Hebrew novel by Yeroshua Perah * ''My Husband, Bar Kokhba'' (2003), an English novel by Andrew Sanders * ''Knowledge Columns'' (2014), an American rap song by Dopey Ziegler *''Son Of A Star'' (2015), song by Israeli metal band Desert * ''Les armées de Dieu'' (2025), historical novel by Stephane Luchmun - Editions Le Lys Bleu
Another operetta on the subject of Bar Kokhba was written by the Russian-Jewish emigre composer Yaacov Bilansky Levanon in Palestine in the 1920s.
John Zorn's Masada Chamber Ensemble recorded an album called ''Bar Kokhba'', showing a photograph of the Letter of Bar Kokhba to Yeshua, son of Galgola on the cover.
===The Bar Kokhba game=== {{see also|Twenty Questions}} According to a legend probably invented in Budapest Bar Kokhba sent a scout to the Roman camp. The scout was captured and tortured including having his tongue ripped out and hands cut off, but escaped and was able to return to Bar Kokhba who asked simple questions which only needed the scout to nod or shake his head.
In a "Bar Kokhba game" invented in Hungary, possibly by the inventor of the story, one of two players comes up with a word or object, while the other must figure it out by asking questions only to be answered with "yes" or "no". The questioner usually asks first if it is a living being, if not, if it is an object, if not, it is surely an abstraction. The verb ''kibarkochbázni'' ("to Bar Kochba out") became a common language verb meaning "retrieving information in an extremely tedious way".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rényi |first=Alfréd |url=https://real-eod.mtak.hu/12390/1/AkademiaiKiado_003423.pdf |title=A Diary on Information Theory |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |others=Translation editors: Marietta and Tom Morry |year=1984 |isbn=9630538768 |publication-place=Budapest |pages=31-32 |translator-last=Makkai-Bencsáth |translator-first=Zsuzsanna |oclc=12419196 |postscript=. Translation of: Napló az információelméletről |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405104233/https://real-eod.mtak.hu/12390/1/AkademiaiKiado_003423.pdf |archive-date=5 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 2019 |title=A Barkochba-játék Nevének Eredete: Egy Pesten Kitalált Ókori Zsidó Forradalmár |trans-title=The Origin of the Name of the Barkochba Game: An Ancient Jewish Revolutionary Invented in Pest |url=https://mazsihisz.hu/a-barkochba-jatek-nevenek-eredete-egy-pesten-kitalalt-okori-zsido-forradalmar/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260318002107/https://mazsihisz.hu/a-barkochba-jatek-nevenek-eredete-egy-pesten-kitalalt-okori-zsido-forradalmar/ |archive-date=18 March 2026 |access-date=18 March 2026 |website=Mazsihisz |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hhrf.org/szabadsag/archivum/2002/12/2dec-23.htm|title=Barkochba|website=hhrf.org/szabadsag/archivum|accessdate=19 March 2025|archive-date=29 January 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040129125743/http://hhrf.org/szabadsag/archivum/2002/12/2dec-23.htm|url-status=dead|date=23 December 2002|last=Fey|first=László|language=hu}}</ref>
==See also== * Bar Kokhba Revolt coinage * Bar Kokhba weights * Simon bar Kokhba Sculpture * Jewish Messiah claimants * Lukuas * Rabbinic stance on Bar Kokhba revolt
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} * Eck, W. 'The Bar Kokhba Revolt: the Roman point of view' in the ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 89 (1999) 76ff. * Goodblatt, David; Pinnick, Avital; Schwartz Daniel: ''Historical Perspectives: From the Hasmoneans to the Bar Kohkba Revolt In Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls'': Boston: Brill: 2001: {{ISBN|90-04-12007-6}} * Marks, Richard: ''The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature: False Messiah and National Hero'': University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press: 1994: {{ISBN|0-271-00939-X}} * Reznick, Leibel: ''The Mystery of Bar Kokhba:'' Northvale: J.Aronson: 1996: {{ISBN|1-56821-502-9}} * Schafer, Peter: ''The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered'': Tübingen: Mohr: 2003: {{ISBN|3-16-148076-7}} * Ussishkin, David: "Archaeological Soundings at Betar, Bar-Kochba's Last Stronghold", in: ''Tel Aviv. Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University'' 20 (1993) 66ff. * Yadin, Yigael: ''Bar Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome'': London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson: 1971: {{ISBN|0-297-00345-3}} {{refend}}
==Further reading== * {{cite encyclopedia |last1= Abramsky |first1= Samuel |last2= Gibson |first2= Shimon |title= Bar Kokhba |pages= 156–162 |editor-last1= Berenbaum |editor-first1= Michael |editor-last2= Skolnik |editor-first2= Fred |encyclopedia= Encyclopaedia Judaica |publisher= Thomson Gale |volume= 3 |edition= 2 |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-02-865931-2 }}
==External links== {{EB1911 poster|Barcochebas}} {{Commons category|Simon bar Kokhba}} * [http://jewishhistorylectures.org/2014/11/05/who-was-bar-kochba-jewish-biography-as-history-lecture-by-dr-henry-abramson/ Video Lecture on Bar Kochba] by Henry Abramson * [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/scrolls/program.html Cave of Letters] on Nova * [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt1.html The Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 C.E.)] by Shira Schoenberg * [https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/roman-jewish-wars/roman-jewish-wars-8/ Bar Kochba] with links to all sources (livius.org) * [https://www.kethertomalkuth.net/simon-bar-koziba Genealogy of the House of David- Simon bar Koziba]
{{Bar Kokhba revolt}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bar Kokhba, Simon}} Category:135 deaths Category:Year of birth missing Category:Bar Kokhba revolt Category:Jewish messiah claimants Category:Jewish military personnel Category:Jewish royalty Category:Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire Category:2nd-century monarchs in the Middle East Category:2nd-century Jews Category:Military personnel from Jerusalem Category:Jewish rebels Category:People from Roman Judea