« Kitos War »: destruction of the communities of Alexandria, Cyrene, and Cyprus

While Trajan was conducting his campaign against the Parthians, the Jewish communities of Cyrenaica, Egypt, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia rose up almost simultaneously. The leaders of the revolt, Loukouas in Cyrenaica and Artémion in Cyprus, are named by the sources; the former is given the title of king by the chroniclers.

The insurrection was of extreme violence on both sides. The temples of Cyrene, whose restoration inscription still survives, were destroyed, the countryside ravaged; the repression, carried out in Mesopotamia by Lusius Quietus, annihilated the communities that had risen up. Cyprus subsequently banned Jews from its territory, on pain of death, including shipwreck survivors.

Alexandria, already struck fifty years earlier, lost what remained of its great community and its institutions; the Egyptian papyri show Jewish property confiscated and a local festival long celebrating the victory.