PETAR STOJAKOVIC SHORT STORIES volume I BANJA LUKA, 2020 1 EXECUTION The Roman governor of Judea, the procurator and the hegemon Pontius Pilate, had a conversation with the High Priest Caiaphas about how the preparations for the upcoming Passover festival were taking place. Five cohorts of Roman soldiers had already been deployed on the main access routes, overseeing who, among the pilgrims, were entering the city. Two cohorts, headed from Caesarea, a port city in the north of the country, were only half a day riding from Jerusalem and would be deployed in the city itself as reinforcements to Roman soldiers who had already been there and who were in charge of keeping peace and arresting the perpetrators and Zealots. The Zealots often had used the Passover season to destroy the emperor's eagles and invite people to rebel against Rome. The procurator knew the history of Jerusalem well. He knew it was the capital of David's empire even ten centuries ago. David's successor, his younger son Solomon, expanded and adorned the city. He also erected defense walls, imperial palace and magnificent temple. It was the temple of God in which the Ark of the Covenant was kept. During great holidays, people prayed there. The incense and fruits of the harvest were burned, and sacrifices were offered on the altar to God. There were many people employed in the service and maintenance of the Temple. At the time of Passover, harvest and gathering, pilgrims from everywhere were arriving at Jerusalem for worship while singing psalms. It is then said that all roads lead to Jerusalem, not to Rome. At the time of the Paschal festival commemorating the exodus of the Jews from the Egyptian slavery, the population of the city often increased as many as tenfold, because for most of the common people it was the center of all Jews, not only of those from Judea, but also of those from Edom, in the South, and those from Samaria and Galilee, a little further to the North of Jerusalem. This First Temple, erected by Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonian ruler Nabu-kudurri-usur six centuries later, when the Jews fall again into slavery this time it was Babylonian. Having been liberated from the Babylonian slavery and returning to Jerusalem, which the Jews celebrate as their second exodus, they erected the Second Temple. The procurator and hegemon Pontius Pilate also knew that the Second Temple and the city walls were destroyed by the Roman legions under the command of General Pompey which conquered the Jewish provinces of Samaria and Galilee in the North to Judea and Edom in the South. The construction of the Third Temple began during the time of the King of Herod the Great, appointed by the Romans, and the works were still ongoing, but religious ceremonies did not stop for a single day. The procurator was mostly concerned about some groups of Zealots that might mix with not only thousands of pilgrims who arrived every day but also with numerous builders and carpenters working on the reconstruction of the city walls. The stream of pilgrims were pouring in the city daily, and among them there were charlatans, astrologers, magicians, stars, prophets, thieves, rogues, robbers and murderers. If rebels and villains were infiltrated among them, then it would be difficult to detect them. Pilate had already received news from his informants, and also from the High Priest Caiaphas that half a million people could come to celebrate the Passover in the city this year, which was almost ten times the number of people who lived there 2 permanently. Other cities, Caesarea, Khan, Nazareth, Jericho, Hebron, and Qumran did not have much fewer inhabitants during the year than Jerusalem, but during the Passover, Jerusalem became several times bigger than them, because only one God's temple is inhabited by God, and it is this one in Jerusalem. There is no place like this and it cannot be found anywhere else, because the Ark of the Covenant is kept in the Temple of Jerusalem. Therefore, the stream of the pilgrims began pouring like a spring from the mountains to the city even a month before the beginning of the Paschal festival. Jerusalem then shadowed all other cities of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, even Antioch in Syria, Corinth in Greece, Alexandria in Egypt, and Tars in Cilicia. And Ephesus, the capital of the farthest Roman province of Asia, famous for its 127-pillar temple, dedicated to the goddess of fertility and abundance, Artemis, was forgotten at that time of the year. The excitement in Jerusalem was growing, becoming greater and greater as each day of spring in the month Nisan passed approaching the Passover festival. It could not be said that the procurator worried much, but he was certainly uncomfortable. He thought that something could get out of control and turn into a rebel or, even worse, that the Zealots might start the riots, and then use them for the general rebellion of people against Rome. If such a report was sent to Rome, the Emperor Tiberius would certainly not invite him to his birthday celebration, as he had done so far. Only he, the governor of Judea, among all the eastern provincial governors, was in the emperor’s lodge during the battle of gladiators in the arena last year. The emperor rewarded him knowing how difficult it was for him to keep control of the troubled province, to stifle rebellions and to enforce Roman laws. The entertainments and feasts that Tiberius organised in the arena, at the stadium, the circus and the amphitheater were still vivid in his memories. Pilate remembered well that Tiberius entrusted food preparation for his last year birthday party, not only to public chefs, but also to the hosts of respectable houses were involved. The gladiators, who had already become famous and who were said to be brave fighters, were dragged out of the arena and kept for the events. Pilate recalled how Tiberius liked to repeat the saying that Guy Julius Caesar uttered persecuting his opponent General Pompey. When Pompey escaped from Rome in Brindisi, leaving his army at the mercy of Caesar's legions, he said: "Now I am attacking the army without a leader, and then I will turn into a leader without an army." What now calmed the hegemon down was that a whole legion was deployed in the city and around it on time. On the accesses to the main gate of the city that admitted columns of pilgrims from the direction of Hebron, Jericho, Kumran, Vitania and other cities that once were parts of the mighty David's empire, there was one cohort. The guards and on-callers were placed on small roads and forest paths, so the city was surrounded. In the event of a rebellion, no one would be able to withdraw unnoticed, even under the protection of the night, which the organisers of rebellions and uprisings had often done before. Ten days ago, the procurator learned that, three months before, the Emperor of Tiberias had ordered three legions from Rome to move to the remote eastern provinces of the Empire. The hegemon was surprised that nothing he had not been informed from Rome, as was always the case. It had been customary until then that the town councilors of the eastern provinces were informed on time about greater movements of the Roman legions in that direction. He anxiously thought that the Emperor Tiberius could dismiss him because the legate who commanded the legion of Jerusalem had not yet visited him, although he had already been to Rome twice, demanding from the 3 Emaror at least five cohorts, if not the whole legion, to keep peace in Judea during the Passover. The procurator still hoped that both legions would arrive in Judah on time and be deployed in Jerusalem and Caesarea as an additional reinforcement, although he did not know anything reliably about this. By this act, the Emperor would again demonstrate great efforts of the governor of Judea, and that it was not easy for him. It would also eliminate the last doubts that arose after unconvincing stories that the emperor intended to soon dismiss several Roman rulers in the eastern provinces of the empire because of the failure to apply Roman laws and the mild punishment for the rebels who had demolished imperial eagles and disobeyed Roman laws. It had been more than half a century since the Roman commander of Pompey conquered Judea and Jerusalem, and later other Jewish provinces. After many rebellions supressed in blood, the Romans put Herod the Great in power, their vassal, loyal to Rome. Herod, whom the Jews despised, because he was appointed by the Romans, and for whom they said was not a Jew, in order to get the affection of the people, began great works, and in just twenty years, the city experienced great changes. Many theaters, amphitheaters and even a hippodrome had been built like those in Greece and Rome. Herod also began building the Third Temple according to the plan and on the foundations of the First, Solomon's Temple. The Third Temple was built of white stone and coated with gold panels, and the whole plateau where the temple was located was covered with colorful stone slabs making mosaics that could be seen only on the squares of the largest cities of the Empire. But most Jews continued to despise Herod because of his non- Jewish origin. The Pharisees called him: the slave from Edom. But he was more persistent and decisive than ever to gain the affection of people, and therefore married Mariamne from the Hasmonean dynasty, restored the temple, developed foreign trade by building a harbor in Caesarea, kept order in the kingdom, and reduced taxes.