The Massacre of Christians at Mamilla Pool, 614 A.D.
The Massacre of Mamilla Pool near Jerusalem in 614 A.D. is one of those events about which every critic of the jews needs to know as it provides a brutal blow to the jewish claims of eternal historical victim-hood and oppression by Christians. I have previously commented on it by proxy in regard to Antiochus of Palestine's comments on the jews and the fall of Jerusalem in 614 A.D. (1)
To summarize: the events at Mamilla Pool involve the deliberate genocide of the unarmed and completely innocent Christian population of Jerusalem by jews.
I felt that it deserved its own short article, especially as Israel Shamir's piece on the subject is good, but it needed a bit more added to it in my view. (2)
To begin with lets remind ourselves of the events of 614 AD as they are narrated by Antiochus of Palestine.
To wit:
'Thereupon the vile Jews, enemies of the truth and haters of Christ, when they perceived that the Christians were given over into the hands of the enemy, rejoiced exceedingly, because they detested the Christians; and they conceived an evil plan in keeping with their vileness about the people. 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; because the children of Holy Church chose death for Christ's sake rather than to live in godlessness: and they reckoned it better for their flesh to be punished, rather than their souls ruined, so that their portion were not with the Jews. And 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. The Christians however rejoiced because they were being slain for Christ's sake and shed their blood for His blood, and took on themselves death in return for His death...
When the people were carried into Persia, and the Jews were left in Jerusalem, they began with their own hands to demolish and burn such of the holy churches as were left standing...
How many souls were slain in the reservoir of Mamel! How many perished of hunger and thirst! How many priests and monks were massacred by the sword! How many infants were crushed under foot, or perished by hunger and thirst, or languished through fear and horror of the foe! How many maidens, refusing their abominable outrages, were given over to death by the enemy! How many parents perished on top of their own children! How many of the people were bought up by the Jews and butchered, and became confessors of Christ! How many persons, fathers, mothers, and tender infants, having concealed themselves in fosses and cisterns, perished of darkness and hunger! How many fled into the Church of the Anastasis, into that of Zion and other churches, and were therein massacred and consumed with fire! Who can count the multitude of the corpses of those who were massacred in Jerusalem!' (3)
Antiochus' narrative is itself is rather clear as to the direct jewish responsibility for the killing of the Christians at Mamilla Pool. Now, as Shamir notes, jewish historians have been at pains to deny all responsibility (since, as we all know, jews can never do anything wrong) and have even edited the events out of their works on jewish history (4) as well as blamed the massacre on the Persians (in direct contradiction to what the source material tells us) in modern Israeli narratives. (5)
One notable instance of silence on the massacre was written by the Israeli academic historian Shmuel Safrai who commented as follows:
'At the beginning of the seventh century, the Persians set out on their conquests in the East, and in the year 614 they reached the borders of Palestine. Their approach set off a powerful messianic fermentation, which is reflected in several works written at the time whose theme is the Redemption. The Armenian historian Sebeos reported: 'As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined by the Persians and made common cause with them.' The Jews assisted the invaders materially in their conquest of Galilee. From there the invading army turned to Caesarea and continued its conquests down to Apollonia, then eastwards to Lydda and from there to Jerusalem, which was captured in May 614. Jewish forces also took part in the conquest of Jerusalem, Sophronius, a contemporary monk who lived near Bethlehem, wrote in a poem: 'God-seeking strangers and citizens of the city [Jerusalem]/... When they faced the Persians and their Hebrew friends/Hastened to close the city gates.'
The Persians handed Jerusalem over to Jewish settlers, who proceeded with the expulsion of the Christians and the removal of their churches. At the head of Jerusalem stood a leader whom we know only his messianic name: Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph. The sacrificial cult may even have been resumed. Jewish rule in Jerusalem lasted three years. In 617 there was a reversal of Persian policy. For reasons are not sufficiently clear, the Persians made peace with the Christians. The Jews, on the other hand, did not, and the Persian authorities were forced to fight them.' (6)
What is interesting in Safrai's account is that he points out the messianic religious fanaticism of the jews and also how much they hated Christians, but while he keeps up the general narrative: he never mentions the nasty details.
As far as Safrai seems to suggest: nothing happened other than the Christians were expelled from Palestine by jews.
However the massacre of Mamilla Pool as recorded by Antiochus did happen.
We can see this in the published findings of the archaeological excavations in the area of Mamilla Pool, of which the Israeli archaeologist Yossi Nagar has summarized the salient points as being: (7)
A) The ratio of male to female bodies was 38:100.
B) There are half the amount of adults than in comparative grave sites/cemeteries.
C) The bodies are not those of jews or Bedouin.
As Nagar points out: the bodies are likely those of non-combatants (i.e., wives and children) who were 'indiscriminately slain' while their men were away fighting or had perished in battle (i.e., in a massacre of the innocents). When we compare what Nagar reports to what Antiochus tells us: it is clear that we are looking at the mothers and children tormented and butchered by jewish fanatics for nothing more than the latter's demented hated of non-jews (and Christians in particular).
In other words: we are looking here at a cast iron instance of the jews committing wholesale genocide. Since even authorities on the subject don't think the Persians were conducting a religious or war of extermination against Christianity! (8)
However as Safrai relates: the jews were because they believed their long-awaited Messiah had turned up and the long-awaited butchering of non-jews could begin!
References
(1) https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/antiochus-of-palestine-on-the-jews
(2) http://www.israelshamir.net/English/mamilla.htm#_edn7
(3) Frederick Conybeare, 1910, 'Antiochus Srategos: The Capture of Jerusalem in 614 AD', English Historical Review, Vol. 10, pp. 508-509
(4) For example Max Margolis, Alexander Marx, 1945, 'A History of the Jewish People', 1st Edition, Jewish Publication Society of America: Philadelphia
(5) https://www.thinkisrael.com/Tourism_Euk/Articles/Attractions/Pages/Hidden%20Treasures%20in%20Jerusalem.aspx
(6) Shmuel Safrai, 1976, 'The Era of the Mishnah and Talmud (70-640)', p. 362 in Hayim-Hillel Ben-Sasson (Ed.), 1976, 'A History of the Jewish People', 1st Edition, Weidenfeld & Nicholson: London
(7) http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_eng.aspx?sec_id=17&sub_subj_id=179
(8) Beate Dignas, Engelbert Winter, 2007, 'Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals', 1st Edition, Cambridge University Press: New York, pp. 151; 230-231