After the conquest of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Byzantines, Khosrow II ordered to transfer the true cross to Tisophon.

Amidst the conflict, Sasanian king Khosrow II had appointed Shahrbaraz, his spahbod (army chief), to lead an offensive into the Diocese of the East of the Byzantine Empire.

Under Shahrbaraz, the Sasanian army had secured victories at Antioch as well as at Caesarea Maritima, the administrative capital of Palaestina Prima.

Successfully capturing the city and the harbour had given the Sasanian Empire strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea.

[5] The Sasanians' advance was accompanied by the outbreak of a Jewish revolt against Heraclius; the Sasanian army was joined by Nehemiah ben Hushiel[6] and Benjamin of Tiberias, who enlisted and armed Jews from across Galilee, including the cities of Tiberias and Nazareth.

[7][1] By mid-614, the Jews and the Sasanians had captured the city, but sources vary on whether this occurred without resistance[3]: 207  or after a siege and breaching of the wall with artillery.

Unlike in earlier times when Jews had supported Christians in the fight against Shapur I, the Byzantines had now become viewed as oppressors.

Following the unopposed capture of Jerusalem, control of the city was handed to Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias.

[6][17] He began making arrangements for the building of the Third Temple, and sorting out genealogies to establish a new High Priesthood.

Nehemiah ben Hushiel and his council of sixteen righteous were killed along with many other Jews, some throwing themselves off the city walls.

[3]: 207  According to Antiochus Strategos, the abbot Modestos set out to Jericho where he mustered a force from the Byzantine troops which were garrisoned there.

However, once the Byzantine troops caught sight of the overwhelming Persian army encamped outside the city walls, they fled, fearing a suicidal battle.

[2] Israeli archaeologist Ronny Reich estimates a death toll of 60,000 people before the Persian authorities put an end to the killing.

[22][20] The city is said to have been burnt down, however, neither wide spread burning nor destruction of churches have been found in the archaeological record.

The Christian death toll of 17,000 was later corrupted to 57,000 in T'ovma Artsruni work History of the House of the Artsrunik'.

[4] According to Antiochus, shortly after the Persian army entered Jerusalem, an "unprecedented looting and sacrilege" took place.

[39] In the Sefer Zerubbabel Aaron's rod, Elijah and Nehemiah ben Hushiel will be hidden in the city of Tiberias.

After Nehemiah ben Hushiel takes' possession of Jerusalem he proceeds to sorts out Israel's genealogical lists according to their families.

The Sefer Zerubbabel states that Shiroi King of Persia will stab Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Israel.

[40] Three piyyut attributed to Eleazar ben Killir are thought to be based on an early version of the Sefer Zerubbabel.

The Jewish leader who is called Messiah ben Joseph arises among them and within three months reaches the top.

[19]: 171 The fall of Palaestina Prima to the Persians was mentioned as a contemporary event in the 30th sūrah of the Qur'an, Sūrat ar-Rūm.

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari and the Khuzistan Chronicle both report that the search for fragments of the true cross involved torturing clergymen.

[17] The Chronicon Paschale is notable because it does not accuse the Jews of Anti-Christian violence or sedition during the fall of Jerusalem in 614.

A mass burial grave at Mamilla cave was discovered in 1989 by Israeli archeologist Ronny Reich near the site where Strategos recorded the massacre took place.

The large number of bones "suggests that thousands of people were buried there," though the poor preservation permitted the identification of only 526 individuals.

As stated by archaeologist Gideon Avni: Demographic continuity might have resulted from population exchange by the victorious Jewish rebels, but apparently also the Christian habitation remained relatively constant, despite the disturbance by the Persian conquest, and no significant impact on the population of Jerusalem was made during the following period of Sassanid-Jewish dominance.

[2] In 2013, a treasure was found in the Old City of Jerusalem by archaeologists, containing a large hoard of Persian coins from the 5th to early 7th centuries and a golden medallion.

[46] The find was discovered in a ruined Byzantine public structure a mere 50 meters from the Temple Mount's southern wall.

[46] The way the items were found suggests one bundle was carefully hidden underground, whereas the second was apparently abandoned in haste and scattered across the floor.