Footnote

b For example, the building of a wall to enclose the northern suburb of Jerusalem by Herod Agrippa I had been stopped by orders from the suspicious emperor of Rome, Claudius Caesar. After the retreat of the troops of the Roman General Cestius Gallus in 66 C.E. the Jews neglected to prepare for a long siege should the Romans return to resume the siege of Jerusalem. Added to this, when the Romans did return under General Titus, it was suddenly, taking the city’s defenders by surprise. To make matters worse, the defenders fell to fighting among themselves in a civil war. They deserted their strongholds, where, except by famine, they could not have been easily subdued.