The Engravings Scrawled on Large Stone Just Discovered Outside Jerusalem May Finally Answer 2,000-Year-Old Questions

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Jason Howerton.

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists said Tuesday they have discovered a large stone with Latin engravings that lends credence to the theory that the reason Jews revolted against Roman rule nearly 2,000 ago was because of their harsh treatment.

Shmulik Freireich, an Israel Antiquities Authority conservationist works on a commemorative inscription in stone dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian that was found outside Jerusalem's Old City, at the Rockefeller museum in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the stone bears the name of the Roman emperor Hadrian and the year of his visit to Jerusalem, a few years before the failed Bar Kochba revolt in the second century A.D. The inscription backs up historical accounts that Rome's Tenth Legion was present in Jerusalem in the run-up to the revolt.

The cause of the Jewish revolt, which resulted in their exile, is disputed. It is unclear whether they rose up independently or were provoked by harsh Roman measures, but the presence of the legion would give credence to the latter.

A 2,000-year-old commemorative stone inscription dedicated by the Roman army to Roman Emperor Hadrian, is seen in east Jerusalems Rockefeller museum on October 21, 2014. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Hadrian is reviled in Jewish history for imposing dictates aimed at persecuting Jews and forcing them to abandon their religion.

Along with Jewish accounts, the history of the Bar Kochba revolt is also known from the works of Roman historian Cassius Dio, who mentions that Hadrian visited Jerusalem in 129 A.D., three years before the revolt erupted.

The stone was found outside Jerusalem's Old City.

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