John of Giscala

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John of Giscala, also known as Yohanan me-Gush Halav (Hebrew: יוחנן מגוש חלב‎) or Johannes ben Levi (birth date unknown; death date after 70), was one of the Jewish leaders in the First Jewish-Roman War.

The Romans attacked Gush Halav, John's home town in Galilee and burned it to the ground. John helped to rebuild the city, hereby gaining the support of the people of Giscala. He used these people and about 500 fugitives to organize a large resistance against the Romans. Altogether their numbers reached about 5,000. When he asked Josephus if he could attack the emperor's grain store Josephus, at that time the governor of Galilee, refused. John took the grain store anyway and then built walls around Giscala. This sparked Josephus's long-term hatred of John. This also started the Northern part of the First Jewish-Roman War. After John's revolt in the North was put down by Vespasian, John fled to Jerusalem. After Jerusalem was taken over, John was taken to Rome. According to Josephus he was sentenced to life in prison. In some recent italian studies (see external links) you can read this John could be the author of the Book of Revelation.

[edit] John of Giscala in the Arts

John of Giscala was the subject of the Italian drama, Giovanni di Giscala (1754) by Alfonso Varano. The work inspired the Italian opera, Giovanni di Giscala (1855) by Giovanni Gaetano Rossi (mus.) and Alfonso Cavagnar (libr.).^[1]