[6] The ancient sources do not specify the exact motivations, but they were likely influenced by the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, long-standing tensions between Jews and Greeks, the Fiscus Judaicus tax, messianic expectations, and hopes for a return to Judaea.

In Egypt, Libya and Cyprus, Jewish actions were primarily directed against local populations rather than the Roman authorities,[8] with accounts from historians like Cassius Dio and Eusebius, as well as epigraphical evidence, documenting extreme violence, including mass killings and the destruction of temples.

[20] His account survives only in an abridged version created in the 12th century by the Byzantine scholar Xiphilinus,[21][22] whose anti-Jewish sentiment may have distorted the original text,[18] which assigns the blame to the Jewish population.

[25][26] Among several anecdotes, he recounts his narrow escape from capture, fleeing a Jewish ship via wilderness paths and boat near Pelusium, and describes the destruction of the Pompey monument near Alexandria.

[25][34] These narratives, which focus on Roman actions rather than the Greeks or Egyptians, were likely influenced by the heightened anti-Roman sentiment following the Bar Kokhba revolt,[35] which occurred about fifteen years later and had disastrous consequences for the Jews of Judaea.

The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE left a profound impact, compounded by the imposition of the Fiscus Judaicus the same year, a humiliating tax levied on all Jews within the Roman Empire.

[5] Contemporary Jewish texts, such as the Third Sibylline Oracle, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch, reflect these themes, emphasizing anticipation of a messianic figure, the ingathering of the exiles, and the eventual rebuilding of the Temple.

[23] The defeat of the Jews in the First Jewish Revolt of 66–73 CE amplified hostility towards them in Egypt, resulting in legal and violent exclusion from civic positions and higher business fees.

[5] In Libya, earlier disturbances in 73 CE, which resulted in the deaths and dispossession of many wealthy Jews, may have weakened the moderating influence of the Jewish elite, thereby enabling more radical elements to gain prominence and push for revolt.

"[42] John M. G. Barclay argues that the significant damage to Cyrenaica's infrastructure during the uprising implies that the Jews involved intended to leave the province, probably planning to ultimately reach Judaea.

[9] Eusebius refers to Lukuas as "king",[45][9] a title that has prompted some scholars to speculate on a possible messianic motivation behind the uprising, though evidence supporting this theory remains limited.

[9] They are said to have engaged in cannibalism, mutilation, and other brutal acts, including using the victims' skins and entrails to make clothing and belts, and staging gladiatorial and wild beast shows.

[48] A Hadrianic milestone commemorates the repair of the road connecting Cyrene with its port, Apollonia, "which had been overturned and smashed up in the Jewish revolt," possibly in anticipation of a Roman military advance from the sea.

[15][9] The presence of a deeply incised seven-branched menorah—a symbol indicative of Jewish presence—on a road northwest of Balagrae may suggest, according to Reynolds, that Jews deliberately sought to disrupt the route connecting Cyrene with neighboring regions to the west.

[26] Pucci Ben Zeev, however, contends that this document actually describes Greek attacks on Jews, rather than the beginning of a Jewish uprising, and prefers to date the revolt's start to 116 CE.

[26] Evidence from ostraca found in the Jewish quarter of Edfu, in Upper Egypt, indicates that tax receipts for Jews ceased by the end of May 116, suggesting this date as the earliest possible start for the revolt in that city.

[26] Eusebius recounts that unrest in Egypt initially arose when Jewish communities, seized by a spirit of discord (stasis), engaged in civil conflict with their Greek neighbors.

[50] Papyrological evidence indicates that the revolt indeed affected extensive areas, including the Athribite district, the region around Memphis (noted for its antisemitism), the Faiyum, Oxyrhynchus, and the Herakleopolite nome.

[54][55] Both pagan and Christian sources describe the revolt as having a profound impact, with Dio claiming that "two hundred and forty thousand perished" in Cyprus, and Orosius asserting that "all the Greek inhabitants of Salamis were killed".

"[10] Allen Kerkeslager writes that the Jewish uprisings threatened the stability of the Roman Empire by disrupting grain shipments, prompting Trajan to divert Marcius Turbo from the Parthian front.

[10] One papyrus details plans to mobilize large forces, including fleets from Misenum and Ravenna, the Legio III Cyrenaica, and auxiliary units such as the Cohors I Flavia Cilicum equitata.

[10] Native Egyptians and Greeks, driven by entrenched anti-Jewish sentiments intensified by wartime conditions and imperial support, eagerly joined the Romans in attacking Jews.

[58] Roman repression was severe, with Appian describing it as an extermination of the Jewish population in Egypt,[59][60][61] and Arian writes that Trajan asked "to destroy the nation entirely, but if not, at least to crush it and stop its presumptuous wickedness.

In CPJ 664c, a letter dated 20 December 117, a woman named Eudaimonis urged her son Apollonios, the strategos of Heptakomia, to remain in his secure residence—a warning that hints at persistent danger.

[69] Instead, Dio refers to a broader rebellious movement in the region during the summer of 116 CE, where Quietus was one of several generals charged by Trajan to suppress the revolts, recovering Nisibis and besieging and sacking Edessa, both located in northern Mesopotamia.

After Trajan's military campaigns in Mesopotamia, General Lusius Quietus was appointed governor of Judaea and likely brought additional forces, including possibly the vexillatio of Legio III Cyrenaica.

[16] No Jewish inscriptions from Egypt have been securely dated from the period following the revolt until the fourth century, and Egyptian papyri that mention Jews predominantly refer to isolated individuals rather than communities.

[86] The Roman authorities initiated a large-scale recolonization of Cyrenaica after the destruction caused by the revolt, sending 3,000 veterans under the command of the prefect of Legio XV Apollinaris to settle in the region.

Eusebius' Chronicon and Orosius report extensive destruction in Salamis and Alexandria, with Orosius noting that Libya would have remained depopulated without Hadrian's resettlement efforts:[16]The Jews [...] waged war on the inhabitants throughout Libya in the most savage fashion, and to such an extent was the country wasted that, its cultivators having been slain, its land would have remained utterly depopulated, had not Emperor Hadrian gathered settlers from other places and sent them thither, for the inhabitants had been wiped out.

[108] David Frankfurter argues that the festival incorporated ritual re-dramatization of the victory, portraying the Jews as Typhonians (followers of Set-Typhon) and their defeat as the triumph of Horus-Pharaoh, with their expulsion presented as a purification of the land.