Bar-Kokhba -Bar-Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome - Yigael Yadin
Bar-Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome
A Riveting Archaeological Chronicle Unearthing the Secret Caves, Military Dispatches, and Final Refuges of the Judean Resistance
A Riveting Archaeological Chronicle Unearthing the Secret Caves, Military Dispatches, and Final Refuges of the Judean Resistance
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: Bar-Kokhba: The Rediscovery of the Legendary Hero of the Last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome
- Author: Yigael Yadin
- Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
- Publication Date: 1971 (First British Edition)
- ISBN-13: 9780297003458 (ISBN-10: 0297003453)
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Printing.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium heavy cloth boards with bold gilt-stamped typography along the spine; complete with original illustrated dust jacket.
- Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 271 pages. Lavishly illustrated with an expansive visual archive of over 200 full-colour and monochrome plates, aerial excavation maps, tactical plans, and photographic facsimiles of the original papyrus dispatches.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
- Exterior / Boards: The original heavy cloth boards are structurally sound, flat, and square. The gilt lettering along the spine is untarnished and bright. Corners are crisp with no significant trace of shelf indentation or bumping. The spine panel remains firm, unbowed, and upright.
- Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and remarkably clean. Internal pages, high-gloss color plates, and archaeological diagrams are completely free of modern reader annotations, highlights, dog-ears, or thumb marks.
- Provenance: Pristine collector's state; entirely free of previous owner signatures, institutional library stamps, or dealer pencil notations.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good (VG)
- Condition: Bright and complete. Displays light rubbing and minor edge wear along the upper and lower margins, entirely consistent with careful handling of a heavy, oversized volume over the decades. Free of major tears or sun fading.
- Protection: Carefully preserved and safely enclosed within an archival-grade protective cellophane sleeve.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1971, Bar-Kokhba is a monumental milestone in biblical archaeology and ancient military history. Written by legendary soldier-archaeologist General Yigael Yadin—celebrated author of Masada—the volume documents the gripping firsthand account of the 1960–1961 military-style expeditions into the treacherous desert canyons near the Dead Sea. There, from a near-inaccessible crevice in the "Cave of Letters," Yadin’s team made a discovery that stunned the world: the actual written dispatches of Simon Bar-Kokhba, the elusive guerrilla commander who led the final, bloody Jewish revolt against Emperor Hadrian’s Roman Legions between 132 and 135 CE.
Yadin details how these extraordinary finds brought Bar-Kokhba out of the romantic shadows of myth and restored a real-life historical figure to light. The book serves as a definitive record of the primary archaeological evidence of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt discovered in situ. These physical assets include massive hoards of Roman coins overstruck with rebel propaganda, bronze ritual vessels captured from Roman camps, fragments of clothing, weapons, arrowheads, and the tragic remains of the rebels themselves inside the "Niche of Skulls." Crucially, the papyrus documents reveal the daily logistics of the resistance and the moving legal archive of a wealthy refugee named Babata, offering an unmatched window into Second Temple sociology and ancient international law. This beautifully protected first edition remains an indispensable cornerstone reference work for serious collectors of biblical archaeology, Roman military history, and classical Judaica.
Author Profile: General Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin (1917–1984) was an internationally renowned Israeli archaeologist, military commander, and politician. Serving as the second Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he later transitioned into academia, reading archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yadin revolutionized field archaeology by utilizing military logistics and helicopters to excavate inaccessible desert terrain. His landmark excavations at Hazor, Qumran, Masada, and the Judean desert caves fundamentally altered modern understanding of classical history, cementing his legacy as one of the most brilliant and dramatic archival explorers of the 20th century.
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